Brantley raised an eyebrow. For a moment he stared at Tymir and then went to where Bianca was standing. He held her hand and said, "I would like to hear it, Tymir."

Tymir was about to open his mouth when Brantley interrupted. "After I have attended a few more guests with my queen."

​​

Tymir stiffened and gave him a tight smile. "Yes, Your Highness, I will wait for you here."

Brantley narrowed his eyes at him. "What do you mean, you will wait for me? If you want you can walk along with us."

He blinked his eyes with complete shock. When his mind recovered, he said, "Yes, Your Highness." But by the time he said that Brantley was already out of the tent followed by Arnik and two royal guards. He walked behind them gritting his teeth while giving hateful glances to Bianca. The king was such a besotted fool that even though the situation in the palace was grim, even though there were no sacks of grain left to tend to the guests or the people of Aztec, he was only interested in entertaining his guests. This was only because of this stupid girl, who was now his queen. She was as loathsome as her half-werewolf mother. "Genes!" he mumbled and just dragged along.

Brantley stopped at Lazarus's tent first. Along with Bianca, he disappeared behind the tent flap and Tymir became anxious. He wanted to know what they were talking about, so he stepped forward to enter when the royal guards immediately put their spears in a cross in front of him and stopped him. In a very cold voice Arnik said, "You have to wait outside."

Tymir clenched his jaw with irritation, but stopped and stepped aside.

Lazarus and Emma were in a tent, which was built under an overhead canopy that was so dense that no sunlight dared to filter through its leaves. The fabric of the tent was the color of night sky and as if that wasn't enough, their room was inside yet another tent, which was cocooned within the larger one.

Hoping that Lazarus was well fed this time, Brantley stepped inside the tent. To his relief the man was playing chess with his wife. It seemed that he was only interested in spending time with Emma. It was rare that he visited other kingdoms in the Lore and so when he accepted Brantley's invitation, he knew it was because she was Dawn's daughter. And Dawn was a woman he truly admired.

"Ah! Come in Brantley," said Emma. "You must help me win this game. I hate it when I lose!"

Brantley smiled and tugged Bianca along with him. "I don't mind trying."

While playing chess, Bianca heard a low growl emanating from the back, just like she had heard two nights back. She ignored it because now she knew they were the neotides.

For two hours, Tymir stood outside the tent of the vampire king and he grew restless as hell. He was cursing Bianca for being such a reckless queen. She had such a pressing matter at hand and all she was doing was wasting the time.

When they came out laughing and giggling, Tymir was shocked. How could they even feel happy in this situation? Once again approached them. "Your Highness, this is an urgent matter. You must listen to my solution before things get out of hand."

Brantley took a deep breath. He turned to Bianca and said, "Why don't you go on to the next guests? I will be right there with you."

How could Tymir let this golden opportunity to give in the face of the queen let go? "Your Highness, if I may say, the queen should also know the solution I am about to state. This will only help her in future," he said very humbly but with an undertone of a smirk.

"I think he is right, Brantley," said Bianca. She turned to Tymir and said, "Please, do let us know your solution. We are actually very eager to know. After all you have had thousands of years of experience and I am so new."

Tymir raised his eyebrow. So she was already accepting defeat? But he would butcher her pride and then trample upon it. She needed to show submission to him. He smiled like a snake and scoffed, "Thank you for showing confidence in me, Your Highness." He turned to the king and said politely, "Before I had gone for the holiday, the consignment that the vampire king sent was stacked in the stores, but after I went for my holiday, some of the consignment arrived a day later. Since the servants didn't know that I was on a holiday, they brought the sacks to my place. At that time I asked them to place the stacks in the stores of my home. Knowing how limited we were on the grains, I used the opportunity as a foresight to store it for emergency purposes." He looked from the corner of his eye towards Bianca. He had made her look like a novice, like a fool. His heart soared with pride. He could see the flush on her face.

He continued, "Unfortunately I had to go out and visit my sister in the neighboring town. I arrived just yesterday and came to know how the stores were destroyed. And I can't thank the stars enough that I had saved the last stacks of grain by keeping them at my place." The way he said, it was as if he had done the ultimate thing, as if life depended on him. He had an air of importance around him. "Your Highness, I would like you to collect all those from my stores and use it for Samobian." He smiled at the brilliant solution he gave. He had saved the royals from an impending embarrassment and he was sure that Brantley would be hoping that it was his queen who could show this foresight. He scoffed. Well, she would not see another day.

Brantley twisted his lips. He nodded. "Thanks Tymir." Looking at Arnik, he instructed, "Go and take the sacks from his place."

Arnik bowed. "Yes, Your Highness."

Tymir stood there a moment longer waiting for the king to praise him more, but Brantley didn't say anything. It grew awkward.

"It is wonderful Tymir!" chirped Bianca.

Not wanting her appreciation, he pursed his lips but bowed. "I think my planning was outstanding because it will save the palace from royal embarrassment." There, he gave it to her on the face and left. However, as soon as he walked only a few meters away, the aroma of freshly baked bread wafted through the air. "Is the contest still going on?" he asked with a mocking tone.

"Yes," Arnik said in a clipped tone.

He chortled. "This is so ridiculous!" Was she thinking that the contest would fill the stomachs?

It took them almost half-an-hour to reach his home and Arnik had taken about fifty men along with him on horses who were to take the sacks back to the palace. Tymir led them all to the stores of his house, which were built in the backside of his property. With a proud look on his face, he opened the locks. As soon as the doors creaked wide open, he waved and said, "You may take them all, and don't mind if you take mine also."

Arnik's mouth fell to the floor. "But take what?"

Tymir whipped his head to see inside and his mind froze.