They had held her people hostage and she couldn’t just spray fire on the palace. If she did, her people would hate her forever, especially the parents of the poor maidens who were now screaming before an arrow could find their way through their chests. Others were assembled in the palace gardens and tied like sheep, and as if the Arcadians knew she could do nothing, they just stared at the dragon that hovered around.

Isadora looked back and saw the knights had won against Griffin’s witches. What if there was a way? Setting the palace on fire would be bloody costly. So many people were there, the likes of a frail Zed in bed, Lord Newton, Roselyn and her mother and many court officials who would stop at nothing to curse her if she dared light the palace. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Negotiating was an option but whom would she negotiate with? Was it Griffin in the battle ground? Women and children were running away from the city, their ancestoral homes reduced to nothing but ashes. Guilt stabbed her like a knife when she discovered she had failed to protect them. She was never going to be a good leader! She looked at the dragon’s scales in self doubt.

If there was something she had to do was to save the remnants of the city. War was not always the best option. What if she sued for peace, a remedy that would give her adversaries a chance for redemption. If it failed to work, then she would have no other option but to sacrifice everyone present in the palace in order to save the thousands. Being a leader, one had to make such hard decisions, and she hated it. You had to put your people’s interests first.

The dragon hovered lower, its flapping wings raising a cloud of dust as it settled on Crescia’s sculpture on the palace’s entrance. The Arcadians came rushing with their shields high and a general on horseback came forward.

"The witches have been defeated!" Isadora announced but that didn’t seem to move the Arcadians.

"If you all surrender, I’ll forgive you. I swear that as the Queen of Crescia. But if you don’t, I’ll turn this palace and whoever is in it into ashes."

"Our Lords instructed us to kill you," the general said trying to control his horse. It was afraid at the mere sight of the dragon.

"What Lords?" Roselyn asked emerging from her hideout. The general was surprised by her presence.

"Your Highness? What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you that instead, Commander Harris?" She said walking closer and stood between Isadora and the general.

"The council gave us the orders Your Highness," Harris said.

"I command you to withdraw your knights and head back to Arcadia," Roselyn ordered but Harris seemed hesitant. "What? You won’t obey your Queen?"

"The council informed us that you are no longer a princess of Arcadia, or a queen at that matter," Harris said which had Roselyn scoff. Just as Newton had said, she thought.

"So you opt to have your knights turned to ashes than save your lives, commander Harris?"

"No... Your Highness." He looked at Isadora and said,"I sue for peace as long as you promise to keep your end of the bargain."

"Trust me, I’m a woman of her word," Isadora said. Harris signalled his knights to evacuate, his gaze never leaving Roselyn’s.

"Tell those council members I’m coming home soon and I’ll have everyone who took part in this pay, dearly," she said with a smile. Harris just nodded before he left as well.

"I didn’t know you were that diplomatic Roselyn?" Isadora asked alighting the now calm dragon.

"Just one of the many skills father taught me when I had the chance to slip in his study," she answered and curtsied. "Your Majesty."

"There comes your mother," Isadora pointed at Felista who came nearly running.

"Thank God you are fine," she said inspecting her from head to toe. Isadora was touched by her affection towards her daughter. Since she was a child, she had no one to kiss her head, no one to scold her whenever she fell, no one to turn to whenever she was sad. Roselyn was lucky to have a caring mother. All she faced in her childhood were men encouraging her to lift swords whenever she fell in the training ground. The better part of her lady life was spent like a man, a fact she had embraced since childhood, all in the name of taking vengeance against someone she had spent her whole life beside him.

If she had known Griffin was the one who had taken her parents lives, she could have split him from balls to brains that day when she heard her mother’s screams in the dancing flames. She smiled at Felista who thanked her.

"I’ll see to it that the council members who gave the order are brought to justice my queen," she promised.

"You should take your husband’s body with you. I bet it was his wish to be laid beside his ancestors in the Arcadian capital."

"Yes," she said, getting a bit sad.

"I’m sorry for your loss," Isadora said feeling empathetic for the mother daughter pair. "I’ll support Roselyn’s claim to the throne."

"That is so kind of you," Felista replied. The knights noise filled the compound as they sang songs of victory across the burning city until Alexander zoomed by the palace gates, a scared head in his hands.

"A present for my queen," he said, taking Isadora’s hands and kissing it. "Have the body brought here and burned as well," he instructed a knight.

"A stab in the stomach could do him no harm, so you opted for dissection," Isadora joked which had Alexander smile.

"Mind taking a ride with me?" She asked him. Alexander looked around to see the knights cast their gazes on the ground. They were acting all lovey dovey in front of everyone, after a war!

"The pleasure is all mine, My Queen," he answered.