When the news of the Chancellor's death finally did reach Hadar's ears, after he and the others returned to the castle from the events in the Grand Cathedral, Hadar immediately wanted to know why Grigori had not told him sooner what was going on. Under normal circumstances Hadar may have sent Grigori back home already at this point, having caught all the conspirators in the castle and in the capital, but with his current injuries Grigori was in no fit state to travel just yet. This didn't stop Hadar from speaking harshly with him.

“All that time when we were trying to work out a solution together you kept something that important a secret from me? Why didn't you tell me the Chancellor was murdered?”

“I thought you knew,” Grigori said. “I ordered the messengers to tell you.”

“You didn't think to make sure? Maybe tell me yourself?”

“We had much bigger problems to deal with, your Majesty,” Grigori said. “Compared to saving the city the Chancellor's death was of little consequence.”

“Little consequence? A political assassination like this has far-reaching implications!”

“Exactly, something I was going to bring up today, actually,” Grigori used his crutch to push himself to his feet. “If the Nihilus spies had assassinated the Grand Duke, or even you, it would ensure chaos immediately as people fought over the position, but they didn't, they chose to assassinate a man who can be quickly replaced via an election, you know what this means?”

“I have a feeling you're going to tell me.”

“They have a candidate in their pocket,” Grigori said. “One of the candidates running for the position of Chancellor works for Nihilus, perhaps because he was born there, perhaps because they simply bought him, or perhaps he converted to their twisted cult. This has other implications in turn. First of all, the conspiracy may be much further reaching than even Ocran knew, so I'm afraid I must stay longer than welcome in order to question the prisoners at length. Second of all, the warlocks are trying to take over the kingdom by using your own politics against you. If they have your Chancellor in their pocket they can cripple your economy.”

“It's clear they've been plotting all of this a very long time,” Hadar said, shaking his head.

“Likely since before their current king took the throne,” Grigori added. “Setting up something like this isn't something you do overnight, many years go into planning something like this.”

“How can I be sure you're not making up this newest conspiracy as a way of keeping your fingers in Arxian politics yourself?” Hadar asked.

“When have you ever known me to be horribly dishonest with you? I seem to remember not long ago I told your wife to her face that the Inquisition considered Arx a kingdom of blasphemers.”

“Point taken.”

“Speaking of your wife, sire, I feel it is my duty to tell you of something else I have discovered,” Grigori limped over to the door on his crutch, checked outside for eavesdroppers, and shut it. In a hushed voice he said to Hadar, “I'm sorry, but I believe her Highness is having an affair.”

Hadar felt a chill go down his spine when he realized that Milo and Sarahi had been caught. “What leads you to this conclusion?” Hadar asked.

“A number of things, really. First of all, during my investigations I searched various rooms of the castle for blackstar talismans, one of the rooms I searched was the library. It made sense to me that with how much time her Highness was spending in there that a warlock might place a blackstar talisman in one of the books in order to have a demon attack her. The book she'd been reading recently, 'The Madness of Dr. Nyx,' I thought I'd check the pages and see if I noticed anything hidden in there. I found something...a note. The note had a love poem written on it, one written eloquently, but with terribly sloppy hand-writing. I wondered if it was really meant for her Highness or not, so I had a servant watch the library and report to me her reaction. Judging by her reaction the poem was, in fact, written by Milo, her bodyguard.”

“You're wrong,” Hadar said. “I wrote the poem, I just had Milo plant it there for her.”

“What did the poem say?”

Hadar stammered for a bit, caught off by this question. “I...well...I've written many poems for her, I can't remember what they all say.”

“The hand-writing was not yours. I've seen your hand-writing on a number of occasions and yours is hardly so crude. Furthermore the writing voice was far too eloquent to be yours. Sorry, sire, but it's true,” Grigori sighed. “You don't need to defend her to me, I'm not going to bring this matter before a judge, or anyone else for that matter, I'm bringing it before you because I thought you'd like to know your wife is being unfaithful.”

“Just because Milo wrote her a love poem doesn't mean she's being unfaithful. Have you considered that it might be unrequited love?”

“I have, sire, but that's not the only thing that makes me suspicious. The way he follows her....EVERYWHERE...”

“He's her bodyguard.”

“Which makes it all too easy for them to hide their affair. He can follow her into her bedroom at night and none will be the wiser. Any time she wants privacy? He's there.”

“He's the only guard in the castle we know for certain we can trust,” Hadar said, getting increasingly angry with Grigori and at the same time increasingly nervous.

“Which doesn't discredit the claim that the two of them are having an affair.”

“Listen...” Hadar thought for a moment. How could he fix this? he thought hard before finally coming up with a convincing lie to tell Grigori, but the most convincing lies always contained some elements of truth. The truths he'd have to divulge would be dangerous to tell the inquisitor, but in the end it would be the word of someone no one trusted against the word of the King himself. As it was a lot of people already believed Grigori was there to spy on behalf of the Inquisition, so it may be prudent to entrust him with some truths, especially considering what he already knew. “I'm incapable of conceiving children.”

“What?” Grigori asked, shocked by this seeming change of subject.

“Yes, I know about the affair, and have even been encouraging it, because Arx needs an heir to the throne, and since I can't produce one I planned to have them produce one together and claim the child as my own,” Hadar said.

Grigori sighed and shook his head. “This is the problem with hereditary monarchies. Why, then, are they so...romantic with each other? If it's merely to fulfill the purpose of giving this country an heir to the throne then it should be a matter of duty.”

“I disagree, inquisitor, sex should never be merely a matter of duty. I hope it's a wonderful experience for them both when it happens.”

“Sex is a duty, though,” Grigori said. “It is something that should only be done for the purpose of producing children, and only between a man and his wife. If it's done for any other reason it's sinful! Nature itself tells us what sex is for. That's all God had in mind when he created it.”

“If that's all then why is it so enjoyable? Why isn't it something we could...take or leave? Furthermore, why is it that the one person we all desire to have sexual relations with is the one we love?”

“Demon corruption. Demons took what was meant to be part of humanity's mere duty, a means of continuing the survival of our species, and tempted us to misuse it in sin.”

“But as far as we know humanity has always enjoyed the act itself, Grigori. How can you say they corrupted us so early?”

“Do you not know our history? There was a time, before civilization began, when all of humanity worshiped demons, everyone was as the warlocks of Nihilus. This went on for centuries before God gave us the Obelisk of the Law and the Sacred Scriptures were written.”

Hadar rolled his eyes at this. Certainly it deviated from the version of ancient history he’d learned. “In any case, it would be easier for them if it was romantic rather than simply a matter of duty. Truth be told, Sarahi and I were forced to marry, she and Milo were in love since long before Sarahi and I were wed. You respect duty? Marrying Sarahi was my duty as the King, and my duty as their friend was to help bring the two of them together.”

“I see.” Grigori thought about all the implications of this new information. Again, he didn't want to see Arx fall while the kingdom of Nihilus still stood, Arx was the only thing keeping the Inquisition safe from the demon-worshipers, so Grigori understood the importance of keeping this information a secret. At the same time, though, he knew that if Nihilus were to be destroyed in the coming conflict then he had a weapon with which he could destroy Arx as well, allowing the Inquisition to step in and force these heretics into the True Way, but did Grigori truly want to use such a weapon? With what he'd seen in the Grand Cathedral it seemed more and more that Hadar, Milo, and Sarahi really did have divine favor smiling upon them. Furthermore there was a sort of strange softness, tenderness, that Grigori felt for Hadar. At first he had dismissed it as demons trying to tempt him with desire for this young king, but he soon found that it was something far different. He cared about Hadar, sincerely, and he couldn't bear the thought of Hadar suffering in any way, emotionally or otherwise. He felt terrible for him that for some reason he couldn't conceive children, thinking how awful it must be for a man who wanted a family to never have the chance to have his own children. To the Arxians there was a special bond created between blood relatives, something the people in the Inquisition didn't fully comprehend, but nonetheless they knew it was there.

“Will you keep this matter quiet?” Hadar asked.

“Order me to,” Grigori replied.

“Very well, I order you to keep it quiet.”

“Good,” Grigori said. “Then I shall keep your secret...my...” Grigori hesitated a moment, and then almost whispered the word, a title by which he'd never called anyone before, “...friend.”