Chapter 166

FELIX

The King of Abernathy had been placed in a highly-protected magical prison deep in the Dragon’s Teeth mountains, locked away with no hope of escape. His advisors and various family members were locked away with him, all facing sentences for their crimes against magic.

The leaders from the other six magical kingdoms had all agreed to absorb parts of Abernathy into their own kingdoms, effectively dissolving the once-powerful country. A co-kingdom council had been created to help assimilate the former people of Abernathy into their new homes.

The information we’d received from former Abernathy citizens in the subsequent days had been nothing short of haunting–as it turned out, the King had been committing all sorts of atrocities against his people for decades, and that was the real reason Abernathy had remained closed off for so long.

The kingdom had been corrupted beyond belief, and it was honestly a little heartbreaking to hear the stories coming out. Mila and Isla had been doing great work in helping everyone adjust to their new lives, as well as having long discussions about the use of magic in the new kingdoms.

I was on my way to a council meeting with my wife, both of us eager to meet with the five other leaders to discuss the future of the magical kingdoms moving forward. There had been so much upheaval the last year, and we all needed to present a united front.

My friends who I had fought with in Barlow had mostly managed to make it out unscathed, with the glaring exception of Albert.

Prince Lukas of Wisteria had lost a leg in battle and now walked with a cane. Prince Marcello of Sagrada suffered hearing loss in one ear. Prince Orlando of Prazole had lost most of his soldiers, but came out without a scratch on him. And Prince Nicholas of the Whitelands had lost a great deal of blood, but managed to survive.

As a sign of goodwill, we were meeting in the South Smyth Islands at the request of the new Queen, Aurelia. I knew Mila was eager to meet the young woman and connect with her, as well as excited to be making her own debut on an international council.

I was so proud of how far she had come.

The South Smyth Islands had a far more tropical climate than Fresonia, and the capital was located on the largest of the islands in the archipelago. Mila was wearing a breezy, beautiful blue sundress that I absolutely could not wait to take off later, and I myself was wearing a linen suit.

The other Kings arrived around the same time we did, all wearing warm-weather clothing of their own. Although Mila was the only spouse present at today’s meeting, I had a feeling that would change in the future.

Aurelia hosted us in a large conference room that overlooked the sea. Our dragons were all down on the beach, barking at each other and avoiding the waves. It made me smile to see the beasts all reunited again, back together as one.

As we settled into our chairs around the round conference table, Aurelia cleared her throat. “Thank you all for being here. I would be remiss if I did not thank you for your friendship and loyalty towards my cousin Albert all these years. We would all rather it be him sitting here today, but know that I will do everything in my power to be a good Queen.”

Mila beamed. “You’re doing great already.”

Aurelia offered my wife a tentative smile.

I gave the Queen a nod of thanks before turning back to the table. “We need to discuss how to handle the information on magic moving forward.”

“As in, do we tell the rest of the world?” Lukas asked.

I nodded. “Precisely.”

“It would be hard to keep it a secret at this point,” Marcello mused. “Then again, I do not want to run the risk of Sagrada getting invaded and examined by a bunch of well-meaning foreigners.”

“Hear, hear,” Orlando chimed in.

“Do you think the people would be willing to keep that a collective secret, though?” Nicholas asked doubtfully. “That is an awfully large thing to keep hidden. Especially if there are those who want to share their power.”

“From the people I’ve talked to, everyone seems mainly interested in keeping the magic protected,” Mila said. “To Marcello’s point, I don’t think anyone wants to be turned into a science experiment.”

“I don’t want the dragons involved in any more wars,” Orlando added. “I fear other countries may try to turn them into soldiers.”

“Seal the borders,” Aurelia said quietly.

We all turned to her.

“What?” Marcello asked, shocked.

“If we seal the borders, we prevent invasions and wars and dragons escaping and all that,” Aurelia continued. “We will give people the option to leave if they wish, but no one will be able to come in unless they are a true citizen of the kingdoms.”

Nicholas leaned forward, intrigued. “I’m listening.”

“If we want to keep our people safe, we have to stick together,” Aurelia said. “That was always Albert’s thoughts.”

“And if we make it easier to travel across the borders of the kingdoms,” I added, “that will aid people in their desire to travel.”

Mila nodded enthusiastically. “People can leave but we can’t have visitors.”

“Eventually we fade into obscurity,” Aurelia continued, picking up steam, “and people will no longer even have the slightest bit of curiosity about what goes on here.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Lukas said. “It protects all of us, even the dragons.”

Aurelia turned to Mila. “You have spent the most time on the ground with the civilians. Tell us, do you think this will work?”

Mila paused, carefully considering her words. “I think so, yes. Especially as we open the Library of Magic. It will be good for the people to not feel trapped, but rather, feel like they are protecting something.”

“The Library of Magic must be protected at all costs,” Marcello agreed.

“Then I think it could work,” Mila said finally.

Now it was Aurelia’s turn to smile.

“We have appointed an Ambassador of Magic,” I said, “to aid in our transition to being a fully-magical kingdom. Her role is to not only protect magical beings, but also mortals. It’s only been a few weeks since we appointed her, but we’ve found it to be extremely helpful.”

Lukas’s eyes brightened. “That’s a great idea. Maybe she would be willing to train people from other kingdoms on the best way to act as a liaison.”

Mila grinned. “I’m sure she’d be thrilled to do so.”

Eventually the conversation moved to expanding trade between the kingdoms and the future of magical passports. The more we talked, the more it felt like a weight was being lifted off my chest. No longer we were kingdoms in conflict. No–we were a team.

Mila was practically glowing as she discussed crop trade from across the kingdoms, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good she was at all of this. Not only was she kind and friendly, but she has good, smart ideas that clearly resonated with the other leaders.

She was a natural.

There was a bright future ahead for all of us, and it was time for us to step into the light.