"Have the drinks been readied?" the young king asked, taking in consideration Henry was out, he had made sure Marquis Lanz arranged the drinks without telling him anything at all of his hidden agenda.
"Fresh blood will be served once the meeting will start, sire," the Marquis said, "Would you like them to be served right now?"
"No, we shall wait for those blasted religious men and women of the clergy first," the young king replied.
Aleksander grunted and waved for the Marquis to retreat from the throne. The vampire eagerly did so, and after a couple of minutes, the servant outside the doors announced another arrival.
"The High Priestess Naya and the vampire clergy has arrived!"
Elys and Aleksander grabbed the armrest of their thrones and stared at the heavy doors slowly opening. One by one, priests, priestess, acolytes and other members of the vampire clergy poured into the room.
The religious sector of the Western Kingdom took about half of the left side, and as they passed by, several vampires bowed down their head as they murmured a short chant to call upon the blessings of the moon.
"Blessed be those you worship the beauty of the moon," High Priestess Naya spoke to those who sought her.
She took the first chair that was nearest King Aleksander, and then sat down with poise and grace. Her face remained calm, but Aleksander and Elys knew better than to let the High Priestess trick them into thinking that she was harmless.
She absolutely was not.
The High Priestess Naya was not an easy enemy to bring down just by exerting dominance over her religious power. Elys and Aleksander knew that it would take more than just brute force and stubbornness to challenge her.
On the other hand, Aleksander didn’t expect that the High Priestess would come herself, but he thought it was a good thing that she did. He wanted to speak with the High Priestess regarding the fire and try to see if she would give him a suspicious reply.
Aleksander raised his hands and waved a signal to the Marquis Lanz. His secretary in turn signaled the servants, and after a while fresh blood poured in to the court room.
Elys noted the stench of blood fill the court room, a sort of metallic taste to the air and a slightly pungent smell to her nose. She was already used to such things, but she didn’t have to pretend to herself that she liked it at all.
The vampires happily took the complimentary glass of blood, and then without even noticing anything, gulped it down as if it was water. A few others were classier, taking a few sips before finally finishing their glass and handing it back to any servants that passed by.
"Everyone, I have called for another meeting to follow-up on the issues that have occurred since this morning, as well as discuss our next line of action accordingly," Aleksander addressed the High Courts. "My secretary will read out loud the findings of the investigation done by our trusted knights who tirelessly scoured the capital to gain reliable information."
Marquis Lanz took his stepped in front and held out a piece of scroll with which he unrolled accordingly. The vampire began to read the initial report, and then afterwards added the findings of damage and costs of repair.
Next, the Marquis called out for a servant to bring another set of scrolls. He opened them and read the reports written, the testimonies by several capital residents, as well as other things the knight commanders have noticed over the borders and in the capital.
"That is all for the reports on the fire, your majesty," Marquis Lanz said as he finished the last scroll.
Aleksander kept himself wary of the reactions of those inside the court room the whole time the reports were read. There were several reactions from different individuals, but he had concentrated the most on the clergy side.
Elys too was keen to the slight changes of facial expressions everyone in the room had. Her eyes fell into the High Priestess Naya who was seated nearest Aleksander.
Her eyes lowered to the glass of blood that the High Priestess did not touch nor take a single sip. She began to suspect the High Priestess might have found out about Aleksander’s plan to weaken the whole kingdom’s magical affinity so that the humans may be liberated from slavery and forced servitude.
Lady Beatrice was among the crowds as well. She was seated near the Farvars and Elnuas, and her eyes were fixated at their direction. All of a sudden, Elys thought of something.
"Your majesty, I have something I want to address," Elys suddenly spoke up beside Aleksander.
The young king turned to his wife and then said, "The floor is yours, my queen."
Elysianne turned her attention to the crowd, inhaled and exhaled to gather her nerves, and then proclaimed, "As I have observed at the fire this morning, the incident caused a lot of damage to property and buildings within the capital. It goes to say that a few lives were lost as well."
The crowd listened in on the queen, eager to hear where she was going with her speech.
"The rampant discrimination against humans as mere servants and slaves to the vampires should be long thrown out of the window," Elys continued, "as a human myself, I cannot bare to see how these acts are being blatantly slapped in front of me."
Murmurs started to rise up within the room. Heads of noble houses were shaking their heads as they anticipated what Elys was going to say. They knew it was bound to happen, but they still wouldn’t want to accept that Elys would be doing it so early.
"Where is she going with this?" whispers echoed.
"She isn’t thinking of abolishing the slavery system, right?" another said.
Elysianne’s mouth lifted into a sarcastic grin. Before she stood up from her throne, she peered over Aleksander’s side and saw him nod at her in acknowledgement. She turned to crowd and once more spoke which in turn dropped jaws here and there.