Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 798: Aloria 4 ()

"Innocent?"

Neveah glanced up, her gaze settled on an unfamiliar Fae. His aura was much different from the rest and he was decked in grand armour, it was clear he was someone of importance.

Not to her.

"Do I know you?" Neveah asked, her gaze tilted to the side as she slowly rose to her feet.

The royal guard made to scramble away but a sharp glare from Neveah ensured he remained frozen in place.

"Perhaps not."

"It’s not a debate, I do not." She asserted.

"But I know you, Lady..." The man began to say again but Neveah cut him off.

"You have earned no rights to my name. And if you know me, you should know the proper way to address me... I am not your friend, Fae." Neveah said blankly. "Quite the opposite."

A tense moment of silence passed between them where she regarded this regal looking Fae with a slight frown. The royal guard attempted to retreat in that time, but stopped again when a blade of glowing magic formed in Neveah’s hand, tip poised at his throat.

"Your Grace." The regal Fae lowered his head to a bow, a strange gleam in his eyes.

"I am Lord Fintan, Clan Lord and High councilman." He introduced. "And it will be an honour if on the account of our first meeting, you spare the young warrior."

Neveah raised a brow."I have no intentions to honour you, Lord Fintan." Her wrist moved quickly, just a beat away from slitting the throat of the Fae royal guard.

"I can tell you where to find the Dragon King." Lord Fintan offered. "He knows nothing, but I do."

"You might want to keep that bargain for your own life." She replied but lowered her blade when another Fae stepped into the clearing.

This one, she recognized. He had accompanied Lady Diandre to the rider council on a few occasions.

"Lord João." Neveah acknowledged.

The ever silent battle lord lowered his head to a bow but said nothing.

"You are well acquainted, I see." Lord Fintan said.

"We’ve met." Neveah said.

"Then perhaps his words will hold more value than mine." Lord Fintan decided.

"Not really." Though her gaze shifted to Lord João. She was not well acquainted with the Fae and had only met him on two occasions previously, but he stood out for always subtly restraining Lady Diandre.

Not many noticed, but Neveah had. The Fae royal bloodline seemed to carry with it the tendency to be impulsive. This warrior...he had been the voice of reason by Diandre’s side, and the sole reason she could retain the title of representative for as long as she had.

It was difficult to believe any Fae to be honourable, but Lord João was the closest thing to that.

Neveah had known enough disdainful men in her life. It was not difficult to tell the difference.

"You annihilated a battalion of my warriors." Lord João did not begin in the best way.

Neveah tilted her head to the side. "Should I be sorry? We’re at war. If you didn’t notice. You were going to poison Fort Inferno with toxins and wipe out an entire fortress."

"But you don’t see me casting blame."

Lord João frowned visibly. His gaze shifted to the pile of bodies and pool of blood around Neveah’s boots.

"A battalion and a dozen." Neveah summed up for him, her eyes narrowed in a dark glare.

The Fae battle lord clearly did not appreciate her words. Neveah didn’t care for his feelings.

"This bloodshed... is unnecessary." Lord João finally said.

"Do you only realise that now?" She scoffed. "You have yourselves to thank for it."

Neveah relented when she noticed Lord João’s gaze was still fixed on the dismembered bodies she had left in her wake.

"I do not take pleasure in bloodshed, Lord João. But I do not shy away from it either."

"If you come for my family, I will go after three generations of yours. So it goes down in your history, that there are paths you mustn’t tow."

"Now, I have three squadrons right outside this forest. And trust that not even the beasts of time past will hinder us from running you over. The question is, how far down this path are you willing to go?"

"Because I swear to you on my honour, we will go twice further."

Lord João grimaced. His gaze returned to Neveah. "We are bound to honour the arcane wielder. In life...in death."

"Why are we having this conversation then?" Neveah’s blade hissed to life again.

"I will find that marker. If I do not, my Lord Dragons will. You can’t even stop one of us...not to mention all three."

"But by all means, do not let me hinder you from trying." Neveah smiled coldly.

Lord João palmed the hilt of his blade. "The laws do not specify which arcane wielder."

He then lowered his hand. His gaze pointedly fixed on the blade of glowing magic Neveah held.

Arcane...at the end of the matter, Demevirld was that also.

"I wanted to see it with my own eyes. That the arcane could bloom in a host not of Fae royal blood..." Lord João muttered.

"Then...my choices shall be no dishonour to my ancestors. There is no betrayal to speak of. The arcane itself...has forsaken the Fae race." His tone was barely audible, his words more for his benefit than anyone else’s.

"The arcane is just another form of magic. Like you have in your veins... like every Fae, Mer or Mage have in their veins."

"If magic in your veins made one a god incapable of being wrong, then the dragons who wield no magic would not rule over all."

"Magic is a gift and a weapon in the hands of the wrong. Nothing more, nothing less. It crowns no kings...it doesn’t determine right or wrong."

"And it surely doesn’t make Keila’s words the determinant of the fate of thousands."

"But that is up to your kind to decide. I have no more time to waste on entertaining this conversation. If you will not fight me... do not stand in my way." Neveah asserted.