20. Aurelio
“…I don’t know.”
I pause before I climb up the first step. I can hear Alessia’s voice from all the way down here, at the foot of the spiral staircase in her room. Lief falls silent on my shoulder.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
That’s Mina’s voice, no doubt about it. Alessia must be bathing. The mental image that pops into my head has me thinking about turning around and finding a place to douse myself with cold water, but I stay strong and hold myself still at the bottom of the stairs, listening in.
“I don’t know. If it comes down to a choice between doing what I believe is right and letting Daelia do what she believes is right, I don’t know if it’s my place to make that choice.”
“You’re absolutely right. It’s not your place to make that choice. Only the gods may decide who’s right in that moment; doing battle with your sister would only bring bloodshed, division, and heartache. We’ll need to keep Daelia from joining the missionaries, then.”
I raise a brow. So, they’ve already started scheming without me, huh?
“What are they talking about?” Lief asks.
“Shh. I’ll explain afterward,” I whisper.
I listen in again; Alessia is the next to speak.
“Yes, we definitely will. I’ll need to find something that keeps her occupied long enough to get aid to the farming villages and intelligence from the capital. That will take, what, three months, maximum? It’s only a week’s journey to get there, and sending in spies won’t take long. Our knights that specialize in espionage travel fast and disappear even faster. It’ll take more time to organize our response to the information than to gather the information itself. The trouble is finding something worthy of Daelia’s attention, though.”
“I doubt you could send her in after the monsters. Even though the wendigo attacks have increased, quests to address them have not increased. Daelia is only permitted to serve on Holy Church business and high-profile quests, right?”
“She is, but I have a feeling we’ll need something different. Something even more remarkable than protecting the Guild Masters themselves during travel.”
There are several beats of silence after that. I feel the gears turning in my own head as I try to come up with a viable solution. I’m not sure what I missed in the initial part of this conversation, but I know that Alessia’s already made up her mind about something, so it’s best for me to just go along with it and support her the best I can.
“What do you think, Lief?” I whisper.
“I’m thinking you need a crisis,” Lief says.
“No offense, but a crisis is a terrible idea.”
“Okay, a spectacular event then, one that takes as long to prepare for as a crisis takes to clean up after.”
“An event…one that requires months of preparation…”
I tap my foot on the ground. My eyes turned skyward as I search my mind for a solution. Then, just as suddenly as the sun dives behind a cloud, an idea strikes me.
“Oh my gods, that’s it!” I shout.
I clap a hand over my mouth when I hear my voice echo across the tower. There’s a splash upstairs, then the bathroom door creaks open. I wince when I see Alessia spot me with a mortified expression on her face.
“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be out with friends!” she cries.
“Sorry. We finished up early,” I lie through gritted teeth.
Currently, Kharu is finishing up preparations for that surprise we discussed earlier. Lief and I left only after we had finished ninety percent of the setup. All that’s left is to distract Alessia with Lief’s ridiculous personality while I get Mina’s help to grab food from the kitchens.
Of course, now I’ve walked straight into a mess of my own making, and the surprise may have to wait a little while.
“Well, at least knock to let me know you’re back!” Alessia huffs.
I want to tell her she’s the most adorable woman I’ve ever seen, with pink cheeks and nothing but a towel around her body, but I know better than to say something that may incite murderous intent. Instead, I bow my head apologetically and retreat to my corner.
“I will next time. I’ll wait for you to finish up down here.”
Alessia rolls her eyes, surprising me with the slightest smile. “No, there’s no need for that. Get up here. I’m not done with my bath yet.”
She retreats into the bathroom, leaving the door open. I feel like I’ve been kicked in the gut, but in the best way possible. I exchange a disbelieving look with Lief.
“Did you hear what I heard?” I choke out.
Lief nods. “Mhm. Exactly as you heard.”
“Okay. I’ll be going, then. You wait down here.”
“Go get her, you knight in shining armor, you!”
Rolling my eyes, I run up the stairs and close the bathroom door behind me. Alessia’s already back in the water, a thin tuft of bubbles hiding her body from view. Mina, who I find seated by the changing seat, gives me a polite wave.
“Welcome back, Aurelio.”
“Thank you, Mina.”
“Forget the formalities, guys. We’re in the middle of an important discussion,” Alessia reminds us. She looks at me. “What idea did you have that was so brilliant you had to shout it?”
“You’re going to love this: a knight’s tournament.”
Mina and Alessia exchange a glance. “Tournament?”
“Yes, a tournament,” I confirm. “Knights already compete in local tournaments within their own training arenas. It wouldn’t be hard to put together one big event where all the capital’s knights competed for top prizes. We could develop a whole new ranking system that identifies our most skilled knights with this tournament.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with Daelia? How does that keep her out of Krasta?” Mina questions.
“We’ll announce the knight’s tournament with a public announcement. We don’t need the Holy Mother’s permission to reserve Daelia’s time for matters of royal importance, right? Well, we’ll announce that the winners of this knight’s tournament must face down Daelia in the final round, one on one. The top three competitors will get a go at the Hero of Celestia.”
Alessia’s eyes fly wide. “Aurelio, that’s brilliant! Dealia will have to train like hells to make sure she beats the top competitors, so she’ll be busy right up until the tournament. In the meantime, our missionaries and knights get busy in Krasta, our intelligence reports will come back to us, and the citizens of Celestia will have a big event to look forward to that boosts patriotism right when we need it the most.”
“Alessia, what if we make the prizes for the top ten knights automatic general rankings in the royal army?” Mina gasps.
I nod enthusiastically. “That’ll have every knight in the kingdom fighting tooth and nail to bring their best to this tournament.
“Right! And when the tournament’s over, we’ll have a highly trained batch of knights raring to prove themselves, especially those who didn’t perform as well as they’d hoped. We’ll be able to organize an army to march on Krasta in a matter of days.”
“If we add knights to the soldier ranks, who knows how large our army will become,” Alessia says, a grin lighting up her face. “Krasta will probably surrender just at the sight of us, and then no bloodshed will happen at all!”
Ah. She wants to march on Krasta to force an end to their civil war,I infer. Smart. That’s the fastest route to peace that I can see.
“I like this idea. We’ll have to announce it later this week,” Alessia says. “When will we be sending the missionaries, do you think?”
“Not for a couple of weeks, at least. They’ll need time to organize and gather supplies,” Mina says.
“Perfect. That gives me time to relax and iron out the details of this tournament before we announce it.” She looks at me, her eyes shining gratefully. “Thank you, Aurelio. You’re brilliant, as always.”
“No need to thank me. I just happened to come up with an idea that fit the situation. You easily could have done the same.”
“Still, I appreciate it.”
Alessia gets out of the water without giving me warning. My heart leaping into my throat, I quickly turn around while Mina helps her dry off. When she goes to get dressed behind the changing screen, Mina comes to tap me on the shoulder with a wink.
“She’s all yours.”
“Thank you,” I mumble, feeling my cheeks burn again.
She leaves the bathroom before I can stop her. I hope Lief catches her on the way out and asks the favor I’d planned.
“Hey, Aurelio. Come help me, will you?”
“Uh…can’t you get dressed yourself?” I ask.
“I’m giving you a very small window opportunity, dumbass.”
“Oh. I see.”
I practically run behind the changing screen, finding Alessia only half-dressed. She stands there confidently in her undergarments, her left hand on her hip, a slight smirk on her face. Mischief flashes through those electrifying eyes as I gaze at her.
“Careful, now. I said you only get a small window of opportunity,” Alessia says.
“I’m not touching anything!” I promise, holding my hands up in a gesture of innocence. “See? No touching!”
“Aw, that’s too bad. I was kind of hoping you would touch.”
I think my knees are going to give out on me if she teases me any more. Gulping, I take the skirt and cropped shirt Alessia hands me and struggle over which one I should put on her first. I eventually pick the shirt, which is the same one she wore on our date to the countryside a couple weeks back. I don’t dare to breathe as I pull it carefully over her head, taking care to make sure it doesn’t wrinkle or catch on her bra.
“Man, you’re far too gentle, Aurelio,” Alessia muses.
The moment I let go of her shirt, she seizes my hands, puts them under her shirt, and places them over her breasts. Even though they’re covered by a bra, my whole body lights up from the sensation, and my blood is pumping to all the wrong places already.
“Alessia, what are you doing?” I squeak.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m taking what I want,” she says.
With permission granted, I touch her a little more, enjoying the heavenly expression that crosses Alessia’s face in the wake of my touch. I’m very gentle with her, and I don’t push her against the wall, even though all my instincts are telling me to do so. Instead, I lean my forehead against hers, enjoying the tiny gasps that I’m getting out of her.
“You can do my skirt now,” she whispers.
I don’t hesitate this time. I grab her skirt, but when I have her step into it, I take my time kissing the back of her legs, moving up inch by inch as I pull up her skirt to the curve of her ass, where I leave some more kisses. Alessia’s eyes are brighter than ever when I step back in front of her, my hands lingering around her waist.
“Was that what you wanted?” I ask.
“More than what I wanted,” she replies.
I grin from ear to ear. “Good. Now, then, if you’ll come with me, I’d like to take you somewhere.”
Alessia raises a brow. “Where to?”
“A special somewhere. Within the palace grounds, of course.”
I offer my hand, and Alessia takes it.