33 Risen#re - Chapter 361

Lirian frowned at her, “I come in here all for the purpose to take you out girl, do you think that I’ll leave without you?” Lirian asked.

“If you’re here to help my mother, then you won’t take me from here, House Kurt is going to win the war, if my mother betrays House Kurt they will me merciless to my House,” she stated like it was a done deal, with no room for doubt.

“Well you are woefully ignorant of the current affairs, but I’ll hear you out for now,” Lirian said and prompted her to go on.

“Shortly after Lord Rupid returned from Riverfall, Lord Cornick paid me a visit,” she said, and Lirian noticed for first time some real emotion in her voice, even anger, but she held it all bottled up inside.

“He started to brag about how he managed to listen in on a conversation his father had with some stranger, and he let some of the details slip to try and impress me,” she said with a hint of disgust.

Lirian found himself intrigued and prompted her to continue, “Who did his father meet?” he asked.

But she quickly shook her head, “I don’t know, he never said that part, but he told me that the man handed his father a dimensional storage filled with weapons, weapons that could turn the war around,” she said in a whisper.

“Ah,” Lirian nodded his head in understanding as things started to click in place, “You mean the ballistae?” Lirian asked for conformation and his question took her completely by surprise.

Althea looked up sharply, “How do you know about the weapons?” she asked unconsciously letting a tinge of her surprise leak into her voice.

“Haven’t you heard the screams all day, or Stanley’s big speech?” Lirian asked and was surprised when she shook her head.

“The cell doesn’t allow for sound to travel through,” she said answering Lirian’s unasked question.

Lirian nodded in understanding, “Then when is the last time you spoke with the guards to learn the news?”

Althea shook her head, “The guards don’t speak to me, and the last person I spoke to was my mother, it’s been almost a month since her last visit,” she said sadly.

“A lot has changed in the last month,” Lirian said realising that she was completely out of the loop, “For instance Cornick Kurt is dead,” Lirian said and instantly Althea’s eyes went wide, and a tinge of light returned to her previously dead eyes.

“Is that true?” she asked for reaffirmation.

“It was such a tragedy,” Lirian mused with gesture of heartfelt loss, “Struck dead by the vilest of poison’s giving him a most dreadful and painful death, oh, and the truth of the tragedy is still unknown by all,”

“For a boy to be struck down by his own…” Lirian paused and revealed a playful smile to Althea, “I almost gave away something big over there didn’t I,” Lirian said in a whimsical manner, and he could feel the joy in Althea as she learned of the news.

Her joy however was short lived because within a few moments her face lost all its emotion once again, “Even if that is true, it doesn’t change the facts, if you saw the weapons then you know it’s hopeless,” she said.

Lirian sighed “What I told you is just the surface of the calamity that has befallen House Kurt, and for calamity to continue falling upon the house, you need to come with me,” Lirian explained and motioned for her to follow him out of the room.

However, as Lirian returned to the door, she remained firmly on her bed, “I will not risk the lives of my people,” she said stubbornly and refused to move.

Lirian took a breath, ‘Calming breaths Lirian,’ he muttered to himself and decided to change tact.

“I’m done playing nice,” Lirian muttered, he was only being nice because of his new merciful approach that he was trying to understand and follow, but since she wasn’t taking it he was done playing nice.

Lirian was starting to doubt if his current philosophy on mercy was right, since no one seemed keen on taking it.

“Let me put things in a different way for you, it took quite some effort on my part to get your mother to join me on this,” Lirian said coldly.

“Hump,” Althea snorted, she didn’t care for the threatening tone, she had grown numb to such treatment, “I know what that means, if you had to work to get my mothers cooperation, it means that my mother didn’t want to do it in the first place,”

“You must have threatened her with something?” Althea said with an equal coldness.

“It’s good that you understand,” Lirian said walking close to her, “Can you guess what I threatened her with?” Lirian asked but it was rhetorical as he was pointing at her and he suddenly reach forward and caught her by the throat and lifted her in the air.

Althea struggled to break free from Lirian’s grasp but she found that it was impossible, but eventually she stopped struggling and embraced her death.

But then Lirian suddenly let go and dropped her to the ground, he realised that she didn’t mind dying in fact she welcomed it as her death would actually resolve the trouble, she was happy to die for her family, and that was when a thought struck Lirian.

“You know what I’ve changed my mind,” Lirian said, “You’re free to choose, come with me or stay?” Lirian offered like a pro-businessman one offering you a choice between two items.

All the while smiling internally like a devil, because either way if you choose either option you’ll be in a world of trouble.

“But before you choose, I want you to listen carefully to the keep,” Lirian said and pointed to his ears.

Althea frowned but did as instructed, she listened carefully but there was nothing to be heard it was quiet.

“Silence,” Lirian said with a smirk, “I snuck all the way in here, and no one has even the slightest idea,” he said, “And you know what, I can exit and return when ever I feel like it,”

“If you don’t want to come out with me then I’ll leave and never return, but then I’ll be forced to reassess the value of my alliance with your mother,”

Althea’s entire countenance change as she felt a horrendous killing intent creeping out of Lirian, it was there for barely a second, but she felt like she would go mad if it lasted for any longer.

She could already guess that Lirian was someone powerful, from the fact that he was able to get into the keep completely unnoticed, but the killing intent he displayed was something she couldn’t even fathom, ‘How many lives must he have taken to have such a wretched killing intent?’ she wonder with horror, and fear consumed her every thought.

‘If I don’t go with him he’ll kill mother,’ she realised with her heart in shambles.

“Your mother is working with me to save you from me,” Lirian said, “And now I implore you to work with me to save your mother from me,” Lirian said with a devilish smile.