[Continental Council member Rowen Kitt has removed you from a Magical Contract.

Requirement for the Marriage Agreement between the Kingdom of Drendil and the Marquess Dorset: the eligible Princess Henrietta, is no longer valid. Contract

Special Title: Bond Breaker is no longer Binding. Title lost.]

My Strength stat returned to its rightful level just as I kissed Keith. The contract had been made invalid when a member of the Valarian Council approved my marriage whilst I was still promised to another, and my long-time desire to rip open Keith’s shirt had finally been fulfilled.

I wasn’t expecting either, but I didn’t complain. Instead, I kissed Keith passionately and with renewed fervor. We stood there in what felt like atimeless moment, clasped in the other’s embrace. I was pretty sure my left foot lifted off the floor.

“Ahem-hm-hmm,” Grand Duchess Calisto coughed when things went on longer than expected. “Congratulations, Princess Henrietta, Dark Lord Keith.”

A few council members were glaring at Their Royal Highness for going forward with the motion before an official vote… but the ruler didn’t seem to mind and accepted their ire with grace. I could only imagine the repercussions, but I smiled and nodded at the ruler my thanks.

They winked back, seemingly unperturbed.

“Now that that’s settled,” The Duchess waved a hand at Chloe, sitting a few seats down the table. “I move that we finalize the matter with Drendil and then give the responsibility of cleaning up this mess to the new ruler. Any questions before the motion?”

No one said anything.

“All in favor of accepting Knight Commander Havork Everrond as Regent? Select [Yes/No].”

The council were all in agreement save a few who chose not to vote. Chloe was among those who’d abstained, due to a conflict of interest.

“As the hostess of this meeting, I will moderate the will of the council. This concludes the agenda.” Grand Duchess Calisto thanked the members as they all stood and left. Duke Wyldon bowed, a small apology for the trouble I’d faced at the hands of his countryman.

Their Royal Highness Rowen winked at us as they walked by. “Remember, Keith, a personal invite!”

Regent Havork just stood there, looking shell-shocked. I held Keith’s hand in mine but used my free hand to reach out and pat the old man on his shoulder. He slowly turned to stare at me, still processing what had just happened.

“Could you do me a favor?” I asked him, handing over the entire Drendil heirloom royal set. There were entire parts of the castle that could not be opened without the set, including sections of the royal suite. It wasn’t exactly good of Ria to take parts of the ceremonial set when her parent’s sent her off to die… but she didn’t regret her first moment of rebellion.

Havork took the pieces and nodded creakily. "What would you have me do?”

“Could you approve my cousin Francis’ divorce?”

“Your cousin wants a divorce?”

“No, but his wife petitioned the courts last year. No idea how he captured her, but it would be lovely if you could free her and maybe grant her justice?” I sighed. “It was going to be the first thing I did if I ever became queen.”

“Then it shall be done.”

The grand duchess and Necromancer Chloe joined us, coming around to the front of the half-moon table. Calisto waved toward a door on the opposite side of the atrium from where the council had exited. “If you two are done, shall we visit Simon and Thalia?”

Chloe saddled up beside Keith as we all followed the duchess. “Rufus is going to have a field day with your proposal. ‘When you didn’t kill me’ indeed.”

She shook her head, her long golden hair catching the light. “At least Julia brought me somewhere romantic. Points for high drama and maximum formality, I guess. Godmother would be proud. It was very you.”

“Chloe,” Keith replied. “Do you think Rufus will say yes when I ask him to be my best man?”

Keith laughed as a look of anger and utter betrayal warred across the young woman’s face.

“You wouldn’t! I’m obviously your right hand,” she proclaimed with proud hauteur.

“You could be one of my bridesmaids?” I offered.

Chloe put a hand on her chest, further offended. “Not even the maid of honor? See if I get you anything fancy.” She flounced ahead of us, then turned around and stuck out her tongue.

Havork trailed behind as we all followed Calisto into the side room containing my parents. They’d each been set on top of a prepared pair of small beds.

“What happened to Chadwick?’ I asked, curious.

“He was charged long before you arrived. Duke Wyldon of Servalt is cooperating, and they’ve seized all of his assets. Chadwick is being imprisoned in the Baldorin mines. I owe you a set of Veralyn’s enchanted restraint manacles, as we portaled him away with yours still on him.”

“That’s not necessary.” Keith’s reply was quick and final. He could give up a pair knowing they were being put to good use. And he could always make more.

Everyone in the room turned to Regent Havork, to see what he would decide. He squared his shoulders and announced, “Raise them.”

The duchess waved at her future daughter-in-law. “Necromancer Chloe, if you would do the honors?”

“My pleasure.” Chloe rubbed her hands menacingly before throwing her arms out, twiddling her fingers. “This will only give them a chance, though. As long as we are all aware? Depending on their willpower and desire, my [Raise] skill will assign them with an appropriately leveled Undead status.”

“So they might come back as a wraith? Or a lich?” I asked.

Keith raised an eyebrow. His voice dripped with contempt as he said, “I strongly doubt that. I have my doubts that they’ll have enough willpower to come back at all.”

“What are you going to do with them?” the duchess asked. “As your undead, you’ll control them. I doubt anyone on the council failed to notice that little trick in your request.”

“I don’t know . . .” I murmured. “But . . . I don’t want to see them. Not for a long while, at least.”

“Nilheim law will require us to release them as soon as possible,” Keith answered. “Though they will still count as prisoners of the kingdom. I believe Henrietta wanted her parents to experience what it meant to be a monster. I was thinking they could spend some time in the army doing grunt work. Or they could always spend the next decade in the dungeons leveling up. They made a child do it, so I’m sure they have no qualms completing the same tasks themselves.”

“You could always send them back to Drendil,” the grand duchess opined. “Let them taste what they built.”

Keith and I shared the look. I’d been told married couples could speak with their eyes, and I was pleased to see that it worked for fiancés too.

“That sounds like a wonderful plan, thank you,” I agreed.

“Alright, I’m ready.” Chloe closed her eyes as she concentrated. “Soil of the Earth that Connects the Flesh. Way of the Wind that Breathes Life in the Storm. Fire in the Soul, Hosted after Death. Blood that Binds, Return and Take New Form. [Raise].”

Glowing green mana pulsed from her fingertips and settled over my father. Chloe immediately repeated the spell, and the glow covered my mother as well. It was an anticlimactic way to lose everything; Drendil law was quite unforgiving to the undead. Mother would hate that.

We waited.

Simon Doryn of Drendil awoke first, moaning, his body shifting slightly. Soon after, Thalia sat up and stretched as if she were waking from a simple nap. Or rather, her soul sat up, leaving her body behind. When mother opened her eyes, they were black pits set in a spectral face, her “skin” now looking more like transparent white cloth than anything else. Her mouth hung open unnaturally wide, and her body wore the dress she’d died in, though now it was pure white and filled with ragged holes. My father grunted and sat up next, disoriented as he looked around. His eyes were yellow instead of white, and his skin had lost all its vibrancy. His gaze fell on me, and he immediately snarled.

The sound was as inhuman as he was. I’d gotten so used to the high-level undead in the castle that I was momentarily shaken. My father coughed and managed a broken, “Hen-ri! T-Traitor!”

“I should have known better than to expect anything else.” Keith looked on in disgust. Not at how they looked, I presumed, as he was used to such things. He confirmed my thoughts by saying, “Though it doesn’t surprise me that Thalia had more backbone than Simon. A basic zombie and ghost. Not good for much more than cemetery guard duty. Typical.”

“What have you done?” My mother’s screeched, and I flinched from the pitch. She looked down at her patchy body in horror. “What am I wearing?!”

“Simon and Thalia Doryn of Drendil.” Duchess Calisto drew their attention. “It is by order of the Valarian Council your fate was given to your people, and by the grace of those you have wronged, you have been permitted to live the rest of your natural life. For consorting with criminals, trafficking, and so much more,you will be returned to Drendil with Regent Havork and supervised until such a time as he feels you are ready to make a fresh start..”

“What?!” My father glared at Havork. He was the first to get used to his new state, standing beside the bed to face the regent. “You! You betrayed us!”

“You betrayed your kingdom and your people,” Havork replied with no remorse. “And you betrayed your own daughter.”

“She cavorts with monsters!” Thalia declared, casting hate-filled eyes my way. “Ooooh!How will I ever match anything with this skin tone!”

My rebuke lodged in my throat.

Keith frowned, finally speaking to the pair. “I wouldn’t throw stones. You are now what you have always discriminated against.”

“What?!” Father demanded, looking down at himself. He still wore his fine button-up suit, though it showed all the signs of what had transpired.

“A monster.” Keith grimaced. “Weak ones, at that. Though I hesitated to say it, as I believe you’ve both proven more monstrous than any of my own minions.”

I gripped Keith’s arm. He covered my hand with his own. I took a deep breath.

“Mother, Father.”

Mother looked at me then pointedly away; she hadn’t accepted things yet. Father already had that look in his eyes when he was searching for something to criticize.

“This is the last we will ever speak, so know this: I am disappointed to call you my parents,” I told them. “You are forbidden from entering the Dark Enchanted Forest. I hope you live long lives, knowing that your line ends with me, for I am disowning you. Goodbye.”

I pulled Keith’s arm, and we both walked out.

The intangible weight of a lifetime of expectations and worry and grief slowly fell from my shoulders. No more running away. No more assassins in my sock drawer—though I’d still ask Keith to check every night before bed.

I was finally, truly, free.

I dragged my fiancé off to celebrate