Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Chapter 272 Voltara's Request

Lady Voltara al Famyn waited in the parlor of her guest quarters at the palace in Aedrider. The quarters they gifted her were larger than her own at home and possessed several rooms that were joined together by a shared parlor room. The parlor had five doors. Four of which led to other rooms and the last that led to the main hall.

Voltara waited for her guest on a plush, blue velvet sofa facing the main door. Flanking either side of her seat were her two best guards. A few more flanked the door to her room, which was directly behind her, and a few more still flanked the door that separated her space from the rest of the palace.

A light knock emanated from the door, and a gentle voice announced incoming guests. With a wave from her hand as permission, the guards at the door opened it to allow the guests entry. There were three of them. A pair of beautiful twins with purple hair and blue eyes and a brooding gentleman with scars marking his face, neck, and the slightly exposed parts of his upper chest.

Voltara felt like a schoolgirl for the first time in years as the young man's handsome face made her blush. She did not have the capacity to pay much attention to his features at the banquet after the grand reveal of his identity. Now that she had more than enough time to process that information, as well as the information about the truth behind House Kane. Or its connection to her home country.

She realized he was quite handsome.

Voltara coughed lightly before standing to greet the guests. "Welcome, Lord Kane, and company. I am afraid I do not know the identities of your compatriots. I am Lady Voltara al Famyn, current head of the Wisteria Concord."

The twins bowed simultaneously, and the male spoke on their behalf. "I am Desmond Adler, and this is my sister, Jade Adler. It is a pleasure to greet a leader of the Five Kings Union."

The young man's words and manners brought a smile to her face. She had already assumed that Lucius would not showcase such impeccable manners, so it was a comfort to have someone in his party who knew proper etiquette.

Lucius simply grunted, "Lady al Famyn, a pleasure to meet you again."

He ignored the fact that she was still standing and proceeded to sit down in one of the chairs opposite her sofa. In proper custom, he should have waited for her to sit first before they joined after. His improper behavior made her lips twitch, but she proceeded to sit anyway.

"I'll get to the point." Lucius said. "I am here with you at the request of Lady Tenia din Aedrider. She says that your goals align with hers, and I am to assist you with a spy in Stark Academy."

A cough found itself stuck in Voltara's throat. Under no circumstance would she have expected that a being such as Lady Tenia would have goals that aligned with her own. However, the fact they had a shared concern with what was happening at Stark Academy only furthered Voltara's own beliefs that she was on the right track.

Choosing to ignore further pleasantries, she continued to explain her purpose for appearing in the elf nation. There were concerns regarding new movements and alliances within Alorek after their concession in the war.

Information coming out of the desert nation was concerning. For some reason, the Beast King had gotten married to one of the elven princesses of the elusive nation of Haedda. Not only that, there was a mysterious third party involved in their new alliance.

Rumors had it that this mysterious other party had initiated mining operations all across Alorek. They were excavating a strange, green metal that Voltara only recently learned was called Orichalcum. No one she could find knew what its purpose was, but the country was putting a lot of resources into mining for the enigmatic material.

In order to even find out the name of this metal, Voltara had to reach out to old allies in Aedrider. This trip was initially for that purpose, but she also received a request for assistance from her only ally in the palace, which was Princess Letheya.

After the long explanation was finished, she waited for Lucius's response. Voltara found that the young man had quite the poker face, and he was completely unreadable.

After a few moments, he sighed. "It's them again, huh? Alorek has been a thorn in my side for years. Though I suppose I should thank them, it was their idiotic need for war that allowed me the freedom I experience now.

"Still, I would have expected that idiotic lion-faced bastard to stay quiet for a few years. It hasn't even been one since I embarrassed his forces at Alvora, you would think he was a glutton for punishment."

Desmond coughed and sputtered the tea he was drinking. "That was a bit much, don't you think, Lucius?"

"It was?"

"Yes, it's not like his actions are purely to inconvenience you. He's the king of a nation, and you are just one man. I doubt you even crossed his mind."

Voltara shook her head, "I doubt that. Lucius was at the signing of the peace accord we struck. King Zethis was particularly annoyed at the man we only knew as 'Titan,' and I am sure that faceless mask haunts his dreams as the personification of his defeat."

"That's kind of impressive, to be honest…" Desmond whispered softly. His words brought a smile to Lucius's face, shocking both Jade and Voltara.

"Anyway," Voltara redirected the conversation. "While looking into things with my allies here, I learned that some researchers have been experimenting with Orichalcum, and there have been intercepted leaks of information bound for Alorek. We don't know if they are trying to determine its purposes or if they only want to know what Aedrider knows."

Lucius thoughtfully thumbed his lip. "If I were to guess, they are trying to determine Aedrider's knowledge level. If they did not already determine the metal's purpose, they would not be mining it so fervently as you have explained. Alright, so what is in it for me?"

Voltara sucked in a breath of air out of concern for how the temperamental man would react. "I heard of your ally being captured. As a gift for you agreeing to my request, I can confirm that she was indeed captured at the request of one of Ayalla's supporters.

"If you complete my request to find and stop this information leak in Starke, then I will give you the names of the culprits as well as access to Seteste. I have contacts that can get you in. They have been monitoring the situation and…"

"Is she safe?" Lucius's face was twisted with worry. Fear twinkled in his eyes as he waited with baited breath at her answer.

"As safe as she can be, no one has touched her. We are lucky she is a strong fighter. They have her making money in their underground arena. As long as she can fight, no one will touch her." Voltara answered.

Lucius sighed in relief, and for a brief moment, he relaxed. "I'll help you."