[THIRD-PARTY POV]
By mid-morning, the leaders assembled in the conference room.
"Good morning," King Cassius greeted.
"Why did you wake us up this early," Zelina complained.
"You guys look like shit," King Cassius said and they all groaned.
"No shit, Sherlock," Zelina whined, as she leaned her head on the conference table.
"Delbert, Grant, give them copies of this accord," King Cassius said to his trusted warriors who were up for the task. They were efficient and that was also why they were here in this room, with the leaders of the midlands.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"You guys read through the accords. The contents are as we discussed yesterday. Anyone with objections can raise them so we fix the accords here and now," King Cassius said and the Midlands rulers looked at the scrolls in front of them.
King Cassius sat back, waiting to see what they would say, even though he wanted to laugh at them.
However, King Cassius understood them.
The midlands couldn't afford to lose more soldiers. The lycan beast didn't care about anything other than the children. So maybe if they got the children out of the equation, they wouldn't have to deal with the beast again.
"It looks good to me," Zelina said.
"Me too. It covers all we talked about," King Edison added.
"Yup, not a complaint from me, now can I please go back to sleep?" Ulrike whined, and Gideon just laughed at him. Ulrike was tired, he needed all the sleep he could get, after fighting with the beast of the midlands last night.
"You look like you spent your whole lifetime without sleep, but you look worse than yesterday," Gideon said with a light laugh, almost like he and Ulrike had been doing something else last night or even during the day.
In response, Ulrike just pouted and went back to sleep, on the table in the conference room.
"So all we have to do is sign with our blood, yeah?"
"Yeah," king Cassius said as Delbert and Grant once again gave the rulers the small knives they would use for the treaty signing.
The blood treaties were binding forever, and even in the years after their extinction, they would still be in place. It was important that they all take part in this and all they could do was hope that their people listened.
"Do I also have to? I don't want to, besides, Mother dearest is here already on behalf of Greroth," Gideon argued and since no one wanted to argue with, or challenge him, they just nodded.
And so they spent the next hour discussing the treaty and how it would take effect.
The afternoon sun was high up in the sky, when the faction leaders had left Acrod.
Gideon and Criselda had been the last to leave Acrod, given that Gideon had said he still needed to catch up on more sleep.
However, before they reached the gates of Acrod, Gideon stopped walking, making Criselda pause too.
"Why did you stop Gideon?"
"I— I have to say goodbye to someone, Mother," Gideon said to Criselda, making her look at him, like there was something wrong with him. Or maybe her son had finally found his link to humanity, the one link that could save his life and help him reform. But had he?
"You what?" Criselda asked incredulously, clearly unsure if it was a good idea for Gideon to be running back into Acrod in the name of goodbyes. He had proven not to be trusted among lycans, so what was he going to try with werewolves?
"Hold on child, did you cause trouble again?" Criselda asked, unsure of what to respond to Gideon's request or rather a statement. He had said it with so much conviction that even Criselda was becoming suspicious of him.
It wasn't long before Criselda connected the dots.
Of course, Gideon had a link to Acrod.
He had someone he wanted to say goodbye to, but was it really a good idea? Was it really right for Gideon to go back only to have his heart broken? Was that a risk the young witch was going to test out?
Criselda sighed defeatedly, knowing so well that this wasn't a good idea. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration as her son just stood there, waiting for her to give him a response.
Gideon could already tell that Criselda was against it.
But he also knew Criselda had a soft heart, so he was going to wait for her to crack and bend the rules, besides, the sun was burning through them and for a woman who hated getting sunburnt, she sure would give in pretty soon.
He was counting down the seconds, 'five, four, three, two—'
"He has a mate destined for him, Gideon," Criselda said, just as Gideon thought to himself, 'one,' finishing the countdown.
"I know, which is why I have to do this myself. Please Mother," Gideon said and Criselda knew he would pout till she gave in, so the earlier the better. That way, they would be able to go to Greroth as soon as possible.
"Fine, you have an hour," she said, getting her hourglass off her bag and showing it to Gideon. Her son just smirked at her, letting out a beautiful laugh as he pulled her into a big hug.
Criselda however pushed him away, because he was ruining her hair, which she had spent so much time fixing. However, that wasn't just about the hair.
It was about telling Gideon that he needed to keep time.
He needed to fix his shit before the sun went down on him and the warrior, because if that happened, they would both get hurt. And while Criselda was a high priestess for several years, she had never found the remedy for a broken heart.
"Thank you, Mother, that's more than enough," the protege said to Criselda, before hugging her again and running off before Criselda could even complain again.
As he ran back into Acrod, Gideon thought of how he would begin the conversation. He hadn't ever had to say goodbye to anyone alive, so this was pretty weird for him. The fact that he even considered it was insane, maybe he had really gone bonkers.
But then he also knew that he had pushed Grant away last night, so there were very slim chances of the warrior coming to him. He knew where to find him, because he knew his scent, or rather was addicted to his scent.
Werewolves had mates, and no one had ever heard of a bond like the one Gideon had with Grant, so maybe that was why he had come back to say goodbye.
'Goddess, you look so perfect,' Gideon thought to himself as he stopped in his tracks. The warrior was with his friends, but it seemed like he caught a whiff of a familiar scent, judging by the way his head turned towards where Gideon was standing.
The witch of Greroth was hiding behind a wall, but even then, he could be seen, well, at least by the one he was looking for.
'This will suck,' Gideon reprimanded himself, before walking away from the warrior.
'Goodbye,' he said as he hurried down the long highways, trying to find the easiest way out, as if he even knew Acrod that well.
"If you are leaving, you're going in the wrong direction. The exit is this way," Grant said, his tone soft, like he was a fragile warrior who needed Gideon to survive.
"I know where I was headed."