When he returned home after his meeting with the Director, Leon went straight to a quiet meditation chamber where he could ruminate on the upcoming problems he had to deal with on his own. He didn’t regret his decision to face off alone against the Sky Devils, but the consequences of that decision were undoubtedly going to give him a headache.

It wasn’t long before a knock came at the door, soft but insistent. With his magic, Leon pulled the door open, revealing Elise standing there with an amused smile.

“Surprising that my husband came here as soon as he came home,” she observed. “Did your meeting go that poorly?”

Leon smiled at her appearance and held out his arm, inviting her to join him on the floor cushions. Elise happily accepted, bounding into the room, kicking the door shut behind her, and cuddling up against him with his arm around her.

As soon as the door closed, Leon launched into his explanation of just what had been discussed with the Director in the Hexagon, and the increased attention he was getting from the Imperials.

“He’s right to be upset, I think,” Elise stated once Leon was finished. “I don’t think you were wrong to intervene, but the Director isn’t for being upset, either.”

“I’m glad to hear that you don’t think I was wrong,” Leon playfully said. “I only went to Argos after receiving your message.”

“Yeah…” Elise replied. “I think Maia might’ve overstated the need for you to go…”

“Are you sure it was her who overstated it?” Leon asked, his playful smile turning a little accusatory.

“I… might’ve been scared at the time, too,” Elise admitted. “Something like a Sky Devil invasion is terrifying, even with your connection to them…”

“You don’t need to fear them,” Leon whispered as he pulled her just a little tighter against him. “As long as I’m here, they can’t touch you.”

Elise snuggled in and said, “Then do what you can to stick around.”

“Really? You don’t want a man who’ll head out at the first opportunity to act a hero?”

“I would rather have a living husband no better than any other than a dead husband whose praises everyone sings. The days when I could be excited by a strong, ruggedly handsome barbarian walking into my Tower are over, and it’s all your fault!” Though she stared at him intensely, her tone was soft and teasing, and she punctuated her ‘outburst’ with the weakest of slaps to his chest.

“Oh no,” Leon replied with mischievous sarcasm, “did I turn you off guys like me? Did I ruin you for all other stupid, selfish, idiots who act without thinking?”

Elise giggled and turned to face him instead of leaning against his body. With a tone dripping with sultry need, she said, “You’ve ruined me for all other men, Leon. The thought of having other women around that we can play with excites me… but the thought of another man does not. How could it, when I already have the best one?”

Leon smiled, happy, awkward, and uncomfortable all at the same time. But he acted decisively, pressing his lips against hers. Her lips parted, and his tongue commenced its invasion. She put up valiant resistance, her tongue greeting his with strength, but when they parted, her eyes gleamed with desire and she moaned in pleasure, his hands having roamed all over her body.

But instead of diving back in for round two, Elise took a deep breath and asked, “Are we going to have to plan to host an Emperor?”

“I wouldn’t put it past Anastasios,” Leon whispered as he pressed his forehead against hers. “He’s going to exploit this to the hilt.”

“Then we’re going to have to prepare for a large retinue, as well… Have food and drinks, hire extra attendants and servants, make sure the estate is in top presentational state…” As she spoke, Elise wrestled with Leon’s shirt, desperately trying to pull it off of him without disentangling herself from his embrace.

“I hope we won’t need this preparation…” Leon murmured. “But if we do… we’re going to have other guests too…”

“Right…” Elise whispered as she finally lost patience and simply tore the offending garment off Leon, revealing his well-built chest and tight abs. With an almost maniacal grin, Elise repaid Leon for his roaming hands with some of her own. “And after?”

“I’ll be staying in Occulara…” Leon whispered, his breath stolen as Elise lowered her head and began kissing her way down his neck and chest. “Let Gaius and Marcus and them head out if need be for a while…”

“And Anastasios?” Elise asked, only pulling her lips from his skin for long enough to voice her question.

“Might have to… work with him… too…” Leon gasped as she teased at his waistline.

But then, he sighed in disappointment as she pulled away. “Do you think we should’ve done this to begin with?” she asked.

“Yes, we should’ve done this before talking business,” Leon said as he wrapped his arm around her waist and twisted, flipping her onto her back as he took his place on top, his lips turned up in frisky grin. “But, also yes. Throwing them a bone probably would’ve sooner gotten the Empires off our backs.”

“They’ll come back… for more…” Elise gasped as Leon lightly grasped her calves and began pushing upward, raising her dress at the same time.

“Then they’ll get what they want. After all due delay, and with some concessions of their own…” Leon replied as he pushed farther, propping her legs up on his shoulders. “No reason we can’t work together. No reason we have to be enemies. And the more they get from me, the more I can get from them…”

As Leon dove between Elise’s legs, all talk of business ceased. For the next few hours, only the sounds of pleasure echoed throughout the meditation chamber.

—

Leon’s villa was a hive of activity. Elise had made good on the need to prepare themselves for Anastasios’ arrival, her and Leon’s hunch that the Lord Protector and former Emperor would, at least initially, refuse to stay at any local properties owned by the Ilian crown in favor of Leon’s residence. Word of his ‘request’ came almost a full day before Anastasios’ own arrival, but by then, Leon and Elise had already had more than a day to prepare. Extra servants were hired, the entire villa was cleaned as thoroughly as it could be under such short notice, and the estate was prepared to host an Imperial delegation.

By the time Leon departed his home to head down to the docks, the white marble gleamed even in the relatively overcast sky, appropriate quarters had been arranged, and his family and retinue were all in their proper places for who was about to visit. Only Red and Tikos weren’t ready to greet Anastasios at the door, and that was because Red hadn’t yet adapted to human culture enough to be even remotely polite, and Tikos was down in the apple orchard tending to the Hesperidic Apples.

So, as he made his way through Occulara with his retinue at his side, Leon felt that his home was about as ready as it could be for an Imperial visitor.

Soon enough, he found himself down at Occulara’s largest dock, where an enormous Heaven’s Eye welcoming party was awaiting the Lord Protector’s arrival. Standing there at the front was the Director himself, Penelope at his side. Just behind him were three of the other five branch Chiefs, including Emilie and Narses, the remaining two not yet arrived.

“We sure about this, boss?” Alix asked as they started making their way over.

“Having doubts?” Leon responded.

“Just wondering at the wisdom of welcoming those who’d enslave us into this city is all…” Alix explained.

“Anyone else have doubts?” Leon asked the remained of his retinue.

“I’ll admit that I’m a bit curious,” Marcus said, and when Leon glanced at Gaius, the other man nodded in agreement.

“I’m less than enthused that we’re going to be making any offers at all to Ilion,” Anna stated. “If we had to work with any Empire, why not seek support from Evergold?”

Answering Anna first, Leon explained, “We’re in the Ilian Empire, so having them on our side is more crucial than the Sacred Golden Empire. That being said, Anastasios is only a few miles out, and the Grand Druid is probably back in Evergold. Still, it’s not like we’re not going to be working with them, they’re just not priority number one.”

“So we’re not going to be exclusive?” asked a voice from above.

Recognizing the voice, Leon’s heart plummeted. He could see the Lord Protector’s ship on the Scamander River slowly winding its way through the dense urban sprawl that lined the river, and had assumed that the man was still on board. Besides, if the Lord Protector was going to be anywhere, Leon assumed he would’ve been interacting with those who’d gone down to the docks to greet him.

But, looking up, Leon found that Anastasios was sitting on the roof of the customs building they were standing beside, a wide grin on his face and one of Leon’s flight belts around his waist.

Leon’s group fell silent, and Leon found himself at a complete loss for words for a moment.

Taking advantage of the silence, the Lord Protector pushed himself off the four-story building and floated downward, borne by his power.

“It pleases me that you’re coming to welcome me to this marvelous city,” the Lord Protector said as he gently landed in front of Leon, “but the circumstances that demand my presence are… less pleasing.”

Recovering himself, Leon quickly replied, “Well, let’s see what we can do about that, shall we? But we’ll do this the proper way.”

With that, Leon gestured to his people and began walking toward the welcome delegation, showing the Lord Protector his back in the process.

For the briefest of moments, Leon expected something to hit him from behind, some blast of magic that would rend his defenses and turn him into red mist. But nothing of the sort happened. With his magic senses, he couldn’t even sense a single hint of killing intent from the Lord Protector.

After a moment, Anastasios quietly followed, looking for all the world like nothing more than an old tourist, looking around at the welcoming delegation and the luxurious dock that had been prepared for his arrival. Heaven’s Eye had even rolled out an actual red carpet down to the dock’s moorings.

What struck Leon as particularly odd, though, was that as he parted the delegation in front of him on his way to the Director, he didn’t see anyone react to the Lord Protector. Anastasios simply followed him, everyone else treating him as little more than air. Leon could feel some kind of magic at play, but all he could really tell about it was that it was light-based, and his experience with light magic didn’t extend much further beyond healing magic, and he most certainly wasn’t going to ask the Lord Protector about it right now, when it was all he could do to maintain his composure.

Soon enough, he approached the Director and the rest of the high-ranking representatives of Heaven’s Eye from behind.

“You’re all facing the wrong way,” Leon quipped as he arrived, drawing the attention of the most powerful men and women of Heaven’s Eye. The Director himself glanced over, taking in Leon, but sliding over him and coming to rest on Anastasios, who seemed utterly unbothered by the looks he was only now receiving.

“Your Imperial Majesty…” the Director said, his words echoed throughout the delegation with far more volume and respect than he’d shown. As the words were repeated, it seemed to Leon that only then did people start to really take notice of the Lord Protector.

“Let’s save the welcoming for later,” Anastasios said impatiently. “We can leave most of these people here to welcome the rest of my people, but I’d rather we get down to business as soon as possible.”

“Of course,” the Director replied, appearing to be not all concerned with the Lord Protector’s demand.

—

“So,” the Lord Protector said as everyone sat down around the conference table in the local Imperial administrative building, “I’m in no mood for small talk. How’s about we cut right to the chase?”

Leon was mildly surprised that they had gone to the rather small and unimportant admin building, but he supposed it sent a clear message that going to the Hexagon wouldn’t have: the Lord Protector wasn’t happy, and he wasn’t going to speak with them on Heaven’s Eye’s ground.

There weren’t many people in the meeting—mostly reserved for the Lord Protector, Leon, the Director, Penelope, and Emilie. The last seemed to Leon to be a concession on the Director’s part for his sake, letting Leon retain a friendly face in the room of sufficient rank that her presence wouldn’t be questioned—after all, they didn’t even have any assistants or secretaries with them to record their meeting.

“You made contact with the Sky Devils,” the Lord Protector coolly stated to Leon, all traces of his earlier joviality long gone.

“I did,” Leon replied, not seeing any point in trying to hide or minimize what had happened. Too many people had been paying attention to his little ‘duel’ with the Jaguar for that sort of thing to fly.

“Tell me everything that happened,” the Lord Protector demanded. “I want to hear it all from you.”

Without hesitation, Leon launched himself right in. “I was on my way back after picking up one of my retainers from the Pegasi States when I received word of the assault on Argos. I raced there as soon as I could, arriving just in time to see the sea gate fall and for the Sky Devils to seize the harbor. I watched as they spread throughout the city, rounding up civilians and burning and destroying much of the property they passed. The Sky Devils broke through the inner gate, killed the garrison commander, and then started making its way in the direction of the Heaven’s Eye district, so, thinking that I at least had some kind of chance of ending things with them on a more peaceful—or at least, a less blood-soaked—note, I went out to meet them.

“Fortunately, I was right. They left after a few exchanges, despite outclassing me in power. And Argos was saved, left only lightly sacked. I doubt it would take more than a few years to completely repair all of the damage, though the loss of life was, I’m sure, quite significant.”

“It was…” Anastasios whispered. “I’m going to want a more detailed explanation later, but for now, that’ll do. I want you to know, Leon, the way I’ve behaved towards you has been predicated on one assumption: that you’re not a threat to my Empire. If anything, you represent a significant opportunity to provide much greater prosperity for my people than just about any other single person within the lands of Ilion. If that assumption were to change, however, then so to will my behavior. And you making any kind of contact at all with the enemies of all the Empires is definitely something that can change that assumption…”

“Well, I don’t consider myself to be any kind of threat to your Empire at all,” Leon countered. “And I’m prepared to prove it.”

Anastasios smiled, though his eyes narrowed with both amusement and suspicion. “You can’t be suggesting that you’ll take me up on my offer, are you?”

“No,” Leon replied. “Though, I’ll admit, that having you here in person does make responding to you much easier, rather than having to write you a letter. No, what I’m suggesting is something a little more and a little less.”

The Director’s smile didn’t change, but he briefly glanced at the Director. “And what about you? Do you have anything to add?”

“If I did, then I would add it,” the Director responded. “Everyone present knows what the score is right now, so let’s end the games.”

“If that’s what you want, then so be it,” Anastasios replied. “I’ll warn you both, though, that while I’m upset, and there are many people back in Ilion demanding a harsh response to young Leon here, if only due to outrage, anger, and humiliation over Argos and the loss of the Sword, the far more concerning response will be from the east. The Keeper, in particular, I’m sure will be furious.”

Leon blinked, recognizing the name of the last tenth-tier mage in the Empires that he had yet to meet: the Keeper of Memory, the de facto Emperor of the Sentinels in the east.

“I can hold him off,” Anastasios continued, “but doing so will not come without cost…”

Leon quickly replied, “Then it will be a cost shared by us both. You wanted to work with me, Lord Protector. I’m not going to join you, but I am willing to reach some kind of compromise. I want to retain my current position in Occulara and with Heaven’s Eye, but I honestly can’t think of too many reasons not to work with you a little bit, in light of this situation. Make sure that we’re all happy and certain of whose side I’m standing on.”

Anastasios smiled more genuinely. “And you’re willing to work with the Sentinels, as well?”

“Yes,” Leon replied.

“What about the Sacred Golden Empire? And the Sunlit Empire?”

“I’ll work them all,” Leon stated. “Within reason, of course. Subject to whatever compromise we can work out. I want there to be peace between us all, even if there can’t be peace between you all and the Sky Devils. I’m willing to work for that peace, to ensure that even if you can’t set aside your grudge with the Sky Devils, then you can at least defend yourself against them if need be. So, with that in mind, would you say that we’re enemies, Lord Protector?”

Anastasios continued smiling at Leon, his pink nebulous eyes gleaming with what could’ve been mistaken for captured stars.

“That… assurance will be enough. For now,” he eventually said. “I would speak with you at a later date, Leon. We’re going to need to spend quite a bit of time working out exactly what we want from you, what you can provide, and ensure that everything we discuss won’t be overheard. Would you be averse to hosting me?”

The Lord Protector asked as if he were springing something on Leon, his grin widening like a shark eyeing prey. However, Leon’s near-instantaneous response dulled the expression somewhat.

“I’d be more than happy to have you over for as long as it takes to work this out.”

And so it was that Leon found himself playing host to the Lord Protector for the foreseeable future, thankful only that he’d had at least a couple days to prepare.