Keith stared hard at his plate of bimbleberry scones. Very hard.

Was it the nut megera? No, maybe the cinnaminamon? Perhaps there wasn't enough sugar? Or too much floof powder?

Whatever it was, Panlith's scones just didn't taste right.

"If you sigh one more time," Chloe stated firmly, "I will take it away and eat your bimbleberry scone myself."

"You know it's more than the scone, Chloe," Rufus put in while Keith glared at the Necromancer. They'd joined him out of the blue for his afternoon tea in the garden; they’d even brought their own chairs.

"Alright you two," Keith pushed his scone aside and opted to drink his lukewarm elderberry and nettle tea with honey instead. "Why are you interrupting my break, because if you are just here to tease me I'm sure I can find something exciting for you to do."

Rufus cradled his own delicate teacup and started. "The most important thing–"

"We thought you might be lonely." Chloe cut off the beastkin, flipping her long golden locks of curls over her shoulder. "What with the Princess away."

Rufus sighed, "Chloe, that's not why we are here at all. Ignore her Your Viciousness."

"I usually do." Keith rolled his eyes and then nodded at Rufus, "Go on."

"With not two weeks until the invasion, why haven't you summoned our generals yet?" Rufus frowned, "I've seen your orders, but they aren't the way you usually handle these affairs. Why aren't you just creating a wall of impenetrable defense at the Drendil border and wiping out the enemy before they cross into our territory? Not to mention a three line defense between the border and the castle? Any one of the three of us could destroy the Drendil army with our eyes closed - without risking our people. Without a Hero on their side of the board, Drendil is almost laughably weak!"

"Your princess could defeat them." Chloe put in. “It would be delightfully ironic.”

Rufus took another sip of his tea and continued, "There is no reason for this war to begin with - you could just marry the princess tomorrow and be done with it."

"That is assuming she would have me." Keith said dryly. He knew all of this, but still intended to go forward with the current line up.

"Please," Chloe laughed, "you two are so into each other a bridge troll could use you as the answer to 'Who's the most pining couple in the land?'"

"I do resemble that remark." Keith nodded. "But I don't want to crush and kill the entire Drendil army… though I am of a mind to throw the royal family off a cliff."

"Explain." Chloe demanded, not caring that she was being rude to her king. Keith didn't particularly care either - he liked being alive more than he liked being pandered too. His generals knew their Lord valued competence and straightforwardness above all else.

"If I destroy the Drendil army with my almighty power before they even step foot into The Dark Forest, I will no longer be acting in self defense and that would cause controversy among the continental council."

"So?" Chloe picked at her nail, uninterested.

"One of whom is Grand Duchess Calisto. The Grand Duchess that is hosting a Spring Ball. A spring ball that would be Ria's debut to society. A spring ball for which she is immensely looking forward to - as am I. Since I will be going with Ria." Keith pointed out. "I've already ordered our outfits."

Chloe waved her hand dismissively. "Mother-in-law would never deny your entry just because you killed a few thousand people. You're The Dark Overlord."

"Since when did you start calling her Mother-in-law?" Rufus turned on Chloe. "You and Julia aren't even engaged yet!"

"Duchess Callisto has let me know that I must call her that or she'll be incredibly disappointed in me." Chloe said, looking very pleased with herself. "It's now a race to see who proposes first! It's almost a guarantee I'll be wedded and bedded by this time next year." She raised an eyebrow at Keith. "So if you want to go first you'd better be quick about it."

"I'll keep that in mind." Keith was happy for Chloe, and he pushed down the sudden feeling of nausea that churned his stomach. He tried to keep his tone casual. "Will you be moving to North Sumbria then?"

"Julia isn't thinking of inheriting the Duchy, so we'll probably live here most of the year." Chloe said.

"We’re getting distracted," Rufus said, leading the conversation back on track. "Explain to me in a way that makes strategic sense - why we aren’t just destroying the Drendil army?"

"Because," Keith replied slowly, "Henrietta has worked with the Drendil army for her entire life - just as you have trained with ours. What do you want to bet that she's friends with half the armed battalion sent our way?"

"And?" Chloe argued, "We're just going to kill them a little. Death happens, and then you get over it."

"Not everyone has a Level 47 Necromancer in their army Chloe." Keith pointed out. "Unless you are volunteering to resurrect everyone on both sides?"

"So how do you intend to win the war without killing all of Ria's friends?" Chloe deflected.

Keith said. "Ria came up with the idea actually. I just needed to reset the automatons to capture and separate the army into segments, dragging the victims through the Dark Wood and depositing them at random along the border. That will demoralize the army and should force them to retreat."

"If the plan involves your automata, why are the lizardkin and naga battalion stationed on this side of Gerda's bridge?" Rufus enquired, pointing at the map. "And why the line of beastkin set up at the crossroad to the castle?"

Keith smiled, recalling how passionate Ria had been telling him the plan. “Honestly? Theft.”