"Keep talking." Attila ordered and looked around quickly.
"Your mother is my daughter. We have the same blood, my son. I'm a..."
"I don't care what you are. You can't be her mother. But you can live if you give me what I came for."
"On my own I can't make you sit on the throne, but I can put together a new Council. A Council made up of members who will be in favor of your petition and won't put obstacles in the way of you ruling us."
Attila put his sword to her neck.
"The throne is mine, old woman. I'm not worried about it. When the time is right, I'll be king of all these people and it won't be a cradleless Council that usurps my place, but until then..." He said, looking darkly at her. "Where's the crown?"
She held her breath and her gaze became terrified.
"I don't know. I..."
Attila let the sword sink deep into her neck and blood poured from a small cut. He looked menacingly at her.
"Where?"
She reached out and touched the sword, the blood and her eyes went completely white and she saw the horror and felt the pain of each of the Councillors who had their blood mixed in that weapon. Attila had cut them all with a single blow from that sword, at eye level, severing that part of their heads.
Her eyes became normal again and were resolute as she bravely said:
"You'll never get your hands on Onda's crown, you bloody bastard!"
Atila finished cutting her neck with just one blow and when her body slid to the ground, he bent down and dipped his fingers in the blood that was still pouring from her neck.
"Oh! You were a centenarian." He said and stood up to look at her. "And you were wrong, old woman. I'm going to find the crown. And I will make desolate any people who dare turn against me." He said and returned to the oval office. As they had no time to defend themselves, paralyzed by surprise, no one had yet found their bodies. He left through the same door and the soldiers stared at him without interest.
When Atila was outside the building, walking to his car, he heard the screams, and smiling, he got into the car and drove off.
...
From the window of the office on the second floor of the building Atila had just left, green eyes stared worriedly at the tranquillity and ease with which Atila had entered, killed the entire Council and left. That coolness was worthy of a king.
"He won't stop, Freya." Her uncle's worried voice made her turn around.
"I know, Uncle."
"What should we do?"
"He's one of our people. He's our rightful king. We need to make him believe that we accept this condition."
"Let him rule? Isn't that why we're at war? To end the sovereignty of the family of the Pharaohs?"
"If we let him in, Attila will annihilate us from the inside, Freya." A lady said from behind the bookcase.
"He could turn against the fire people and that's all we need to finish them off. Our spies said that many love him and when they drew up a survey, half the army supports Attila as their leader and said they would follow any order from him."
"We can't trust those words. When the people realize that he has changed sides, that he is no longer committed to his Pharaoh, many of them will abandon that 'loyalty' as soon as Attila declares himself king of the Ice People, because once he does that, he can never go back to being a man of the Fire People."
"He doesn't know yet that we are no longer the 'Ice People'. When he finds out, he'll set fire to all of us alive. We can't detect his presence as an enemy or hostile, because our blood is equal and that leaves us vulnerable. The Council hasn't had time to act in its own defense." Freya's uncle considered worriedly without knowing that Atila did know, much more than they had supposed.
"Attila makes us weak." The woman said, sitting down next to Freya's uncle. "But he could make us the strongest people on the planet. He is one of us. Our ice has melted and become waves. Attila is the only one who still holds the magic of ice."
"Magic that can only be transferred through fatherhood." He concluded and they both looked at Freya.
"I'm not going to seduce him." She said defensively. "But I'm going to help him find the Ice inside him." She said and sat down thoughtfully. "He loves his brother's wife. The only way we can prevent him from finding out how to stop us is by taking what's most important to him into our own hands."
"You can't be talking about kidnapping Farida. That's not possible. There's nothing in that kingdom that's more protected than her."
"Yes. And yet, I'm her Peacekeeper."
...
Yuki went to the hospital as soon as she'd finished shopping. She had bought a doll for Selytha and was looking forward to seeing the happy sparkle in her daughter's eyes, but she felt a chill run down her spine as soon as she entered the room and didn't see her. She walked out into the corridor until she bumped into a nurse.
"Where's Selytha? The girl who was in that room?" Yuki tried not to let her despair show.
"Ra? I don't know."
"How can you not know?" Yuki looked around. People were staring at her in fright. She realized that she was holding the nurse unnecessarily tightly and let go.
"Where's her doctor?"
"Ma'am? There have never been any girls admitted to this hospital. We specialize in treating adults. Children are not admitted here." The nurse explained, looking fearfully at Yuki.
"What are you doing?" She shouted, letting her lack of control take over her actions. "I'll have you all killed if you don't hand over my daughter now!"
"Daughter, Your Majesty?" One of the nurses asked, as she picked up the phone from the reception desk.
"Put it down, you bastard!" Yuki ordered, angrily walking over to her and taking the phone from her hand, slamming it hard against the wall and turning to those people. "You have five minutes to deliver the child, or I'll call the palace and ask them to serve me the heads of all of you on trays!"
The nurses looked at each other and began to act hurriedly.
Yuki stood alone at the reception desk and was breathing furiously when she heard footsteps approaching. She looked back and saw Attila accompanied by several palace soldiers approaching.
She pointed at him.
"You're the one who stole my daughter, aren't you?"
Atila looked at the soldiers who had made a circle and left him and Yuki isolated inside it.
"Where is she, Tykar? I'll kill you if you don't give my daughter back!"
Atila approached and looked coldly at her.
"Pull yourself together! You're not an assistant anymore, Yuki. You're Farida!"
"I'm glad you remember who I am, Tykar! Also remember that no request of mine can be denied by the Pharaoh and right now all I can wish for, apart from getting my daughter back, is to see you dead!"
"You don't have any children, Farida. And if you happen to have married the Great Pharaoh without telling him about your motherhood, your right to Farida will expire immediately. You haven't consummated this marriage yet. You know that getting this farce annulled won't be difficult with the Gumis."
"Why are you doing this?" She asked angrily.
"Because I'm going to protect Selytha even from you, Yuki."
Yuki became pensive.
"Do you think you're protecting her?"
He moved a little closer and spoke in a low tone.
"Do you really think that Pharaoh wouldn't have you followed after suspecting you of betrayal? He had to know you weren't meeting me, Yuki."
Yuki put her hand to her mouth. She hadn't thought about it, but it was obvious.
"Did he find out?"
"No. I got here in time to stop you putting Selytha's life at risk."
Yuki looked around.
"Have I been followed here in this hospital?"
"Your every step has been watched. I work here, Yuki. Sean knows that."
"Oh my God! I didn't think of that!"
"I know you didn't."
"And where is Selytha?"
"She's at this address." He said and handed Yuki a folded piece of paper. "You can go and visit her at this place without arousing suspicion, until you get a home to take better care of her." Atila said and walked away again.
"I'm sorry, Atila. I thought so many things... You lied to me about Sean's intentions to change the laws and..."
"I didn't lie, Yuki."
"He told me that he would never change a law in order to harm someone."
"I'm sure you wouldn't have agreed to lie down and bear his child if he had told you the truth, Yuki. But I don't want to get in the way of your relationship. Now that Selytha is safe, we don't need to speak to each other anymore, and I ask that you keep your distance from me." Attila said and left, followed by the soldiers.