Enoria is preparing for war with Irithara, and the team sans Kaleth are doing the best they can to put a stop to it before it progresses even further.
Their plan? Find Mereria, get her help with killing Relioth, and save Kaleth in the process. They...
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"So, this whole time, you've been only pretending to be on Relioth's side?" Mel asked, still very shocked by this development. Even though hours had gone by since Kaleth had shown the whole world what Relioth had done, Mel had trouble believing it. He was incredibly relieved, of course, but still.
How had Kaleth managed to pretend for so long, especially since Relioth knew how to look into and manipulate the minds of others? Hadn't he found it odd that Kaleth wasn't letting him look in his?
"Yes," Kaleth replied, staring into his coffee. He was wearing his usual ensemble, minus the suit jacket, instead of the armor, and Mel was really grateful for that. Seeing Kaleth in anything bearing Relioth's symbol had been disturbing. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I couldn't."
"Yeah, don't worry about it, man," Rayni said from where she was sitting opposite Kaleth. "We get it. Relioth could have read our minds."
They were in a very nice room in the Citadel, which Mel didn't really understand the purpose of. He'd thought the Citadel was only for political stuff, but it seemed that wasn't true. Everything around them was ornate, including the table the three of them were sitting at. Light orange walls surrounded them, giving the room a calming feel which was exactly what Mel needed after what had happened with Relioth.
It was a little ironic that the fact that they didn't fight Relioth at all only made him more nervous and on edge. Mel kept expecting him to show up at any moment and attack them, so he did what he usually did when he was nervous and had the opportunity to—he ate something very sweet.
In this case, tea with so much sugar in it that it refused to dissolve fully. Mel would have eaten the sugar without the tea, but Kaleth had given him a strange look when he had been about to put a spoonful of sugar into his mouth, so he'd ended up putting it in the beverage instead. He wasn't even sure what kind of tea it was—he couldn't tell through all that sugar.
"You, um, do know I didn't mean what I said back in Carcer, right?" Kaleth asked Rayni, looking guiltier with every word he said, and Mel quickly joined him in that. He'd completely forgotten about that. Only half a day of being Rayni's brother, and he was already bad at it.
Rayni snorted and waved her hand. "I'm not stupid, Kal. You told me that just to get me to attack you. That was a really crazy move. You know that, right? In fact, this whole thing was one crazy move."
Kaleth chuckled quietly. "I just took advantage of the situation. Relioth is very...sure of himself. It never even occurred to him that I could break through his control."
"I think that's called being arrogant," Rayni corrected, munching on one of the cookies that were on the table. Mel had tried one, but it hadn't been sweet enough for him. "I'm still angry we didn't kill him, though."
Kaleth nodded with a grim expression, and Mel stared at his two friends in shock. He'd understand wanting to capture or imprison Relioth, but kill him? And with such a casual tone, too?
