Darion had deliberately spared the lives of Valdenmoor’s civilians.

That had not been an accident. It had not been mercy born from weakness either. It had been a decision.

He had stood on top of Aldric’s stone building and watched the farmland burn while considering the residential district beyond it. The houses...the streets. The ordinary people who had gone to sleep the previous night without knowing that by morning their kingdom would be on fire.

He could have burned those houses.

Vera’s accelerant would have spread through them faster than the people inside could wake properly. The fire would have moved from roof to roof, swallowing entire streets before anyone organized a response.

After what Valdenmoor had done to Percvale, after the burned homes and slaughtered livestock and dead knights, no one in Percvale would have blamed him for doing it.

But he hadn’t.

Because those people had not marched into Percvale with swords and torches.

That... mattered.

"That even makes me the better person here compared to you," Darion said with a small shrug. His tone remained calm, almost conversational. "At least I didn’t target innocent people who had nothing to do with any debt. I targeted you, your knights, your barracks and your advisors."

Aldric sat across from him in silence.

The exhaustion on the king’s face had become more visible the longer the conversation continued. The stiffness in his shoulders. The smoke stains still clinging to parts of his robe. Darion studied him quietly.

He was sure not long ago, this same man had sat speaking about Percvale as though it was already gone. As though Darion refusing to surrender his farmland had been childish stubbornness rather than resistance.

Now he sat in Percvale itself with an undead wolf between him and the exit.

Power changed direction quickly.

"I’m a man of peace," Darion continued. "I attack when attacked first."

The words sounded almost absurd considering everything that had happened that morning.

Thousands dead. A kingdom crippled. An entire military force reduced to ash and corpses.

But strangely enough, it was still true.

Gonnb had attacked first. Valdenmoor had attacked first.

Percvale had not marched on anyone unprovoked. Every escalation had started somewhere else before eventually arriving at Darion’s feet.

"I would have preferred to be left alone," Darion said. "To rebuild my territory in peace. To fix Percvale and move on with my life, to pay your debt later." His eyes remained fixed on Aldric’s. "You brought me war."

The room went quiet again.

Vera remained seated beside him, saying nothing. She simply watched the exchange with her hands rested calmly on the table, fingers lightly folded together as though this was nothing more than a business discussion and not the political dismantling of a kingdom.

Aldric finally nodded slightly.

Not agreement exactly. More acknowledgment.

His lower lip pressed briefly between his teeth as he thought.

"But how?" he asked eventually. His voice carried genuine confusion now. "Even after losing half your fighting force... how did you manage to..." He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence properly.

Darion cut him off before the question could fully form.

"Will you agree," he said calmly, "To cancel Percvale’s debt permanently, release every claim Valdenmoor has on the eastern farmland, never attack Percvale again, and tell no one that Percvale was responsible for what happened to Valdenmoor?"

Aldric stared at him.

The conditions settled heavily into the room.

The king leaned back slightly in his chair, eyes narrowing as he processed each demand one after another. Debt cancellation. Land release. Permanent non-aggression.

There was silence.

It was not a negotiation.

It was surrender.

The silence stretched.

Darion watched the man’s face carefully, expecting resistance, anger, pride or some attempt to salvage authority from the situation.

Instead, Aldric looked tired.

Finally, Aldric spoke.

"Yes," he said quietly.

Darion blinked once.

Aldric continued before anyone interrupted him. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I promise."

That made Darion pause.

Just like that?

No argument?

No outrage over the demands?

No desperate attempt to negotiate smaller terms?

For a moment, it felt wrong.

Darion had expected this part to be difficult. He had expected threats, bargaining, perhaps even refusal despite the situation. Men like Aldric did not simply surrender everything without resistance.

But then again...

Men like Aldric usually weren’t sitting exhausted in enemy territory after watching their military collapse in a single morning.

Him agreeing like this was clearly a lie.

Darion leaned back slightly in his chair, studying him.

Aldric lowered his gaze briefly toward the table.

"I don’t exactly have leverage here," the king admitted bitterly. "Your creature is standing between me and the door. My kingdom is burning. Most of my knights are dead." His jaw tightened slightly. "I would be a fool to pretend I still control this situation."

Darion remained quiet.

Then slowly, he turned his head toward Vera.

And then back to Aldric.

"That," Darion said carefully, "Is exactly why I know you wouldn’t truly mean it."

Aldric frowned.

"What?"

Darion gestured lightly toward Vera.

"That’s why I brought the witch."

Aldric’s eyes widened instantly.

For the first time since entering the room, genuine alarm crossed his face.

His gaze snapped toward Vera properly now, as though only just remembering she was there.

"What?"

The word came out sharper this time.

Confusion quickly turned into unease.

Then suspicion. Then something dangerously close to fear.

Vera finally spoke.

Her voice was calm.

"You’re going to swear an oath," she said.

Aldric stared at her.

"A magical oath," Vera continued. "One bound to intent rather than wording. If you willingly act against the agreement after swearing it..." She tilted her head slightly. "You die."

There was silence.

Aldric looked between the two of them.

Darion watched realization spread across the king’s face piece by piece.

Not normal realization.

The kind that arrived when someone suddenly understood the trap had been much larger than they initially believed.

The debt cancellation, the release and the promises.

None of it had relied on trust at all.

Aldric sat forward abruptly now.

"That’s..." he started quickly. "That’s too much to ask."

The composure he had maintained until now finally cracked slightly.

"You destroy my military, burn my farmland, seize my treasury and then expect me to..."