NOVEL NEXT Chapter 75: Winter
Winter had descended on Foldzar. Eris, now a girl of 14, was in one of her fortresses with a furrowed brow. A winter coat covered her body, even as the fireplace crackled. She had several maps on a table in front of her. They were the most accurate maps Eris could get her hands on. This meant they would be horribly inaccurate if her world had more technology.
"Where could he have run off to?" Eris pondered.
She turned to face one of the walls. It had multiple shelves on it, which were lined with skulls. The girl walked over to them, observing her collection with care.
"I have the heads of every member of the Revolutionary Council except Robespierre. With him, the rebel cause will be dead. But he eluded my grasp. And I haven't heard of him since," she thought.
Eris sighed and shook her head.
"Robespierre might be dead. Or he could have fled to some foreign land. In any case, my men will find him, and they will kill him. It's only a matter of time. But until then, I will need to be cautious," the Hapsburg contemplated.
She then walked over to a window. Eris watched snow fall outside. Some of her mercenaries were doing training drills in the yard, while servants were doing various Winter work.
"Well, Armand should be happy that none of these people are threatened by the rebels now. That's one obstacle out of the way and many more to go," Eris thought.
Then, a contemplative expression crossed her face.
"Armand...this Spring, we will be married. I'll be Eris Concord, not Eris Hapsburg, then. That will distance me from the members of my family who keep fucking their cousins. One of the many upsides of this marriage."
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She took a moment to glance around the fortress. Eris scratched her chin. A hint of nervousness flickered through her.
"When we're married, Armand and I will live together. We've spent long periods of time together before, but nothing like a married couple. I miss him a lot when we're apart. But will cohabitation bring its own issues? I mean, most of our talks were through letters."
Eris grimaced.
"Why am I getting nervous? I worked towards this marriage, schemed for it. I should be elated. Well, I suppose I am happy. But that isn't the only thing I'm feeling. This is a big change, even if it's one I want."
She walked over to the table again and sat down. Eris gazed at the maps before pushing them aside. The girl then grabbed a pen and dipped it in an inkwell. Then, Eris wrote on a piece of paper.
"I might as well start thinking about our wedding. Our parents are planning it, but I will have some role in this. Armand should too. First, I'll send a letter to my parents. Then, to his."
The Hapsburg shook her head.
"No, I'll send a letter to Armand first. We can coordinate our plans. Our wedding must be perfect as the greatest start of our marriage."
After starting to write a letter, Eris paused a moment. An expression of concern crossed her face.
"Someone might try to interrupt our wedding. I'm marrying into the Concord family, so it'll be on Concord lands. There are a few choke points I can use to defend it. I don't know Armand's parents that well, but they might want their men at the wedding. I'll have to rely on my own to do outside defense. Thankfully, I have more than enough hussars for that."
She remembered the pass between her family's and Armand's family's lands. Eris recalled fighting her fiancé many times there before he turned back time. A flicker of nostalgia passed through her.
"In the past, that pass protected Armand. Now, I might have to rely on it for protection. That and other entranced to Concord lands. Well, in any case, a few pikemen and arquebusiers can hold it for a while. At least long enough for my hussars to warn the rest of us. Then, with the forces of one or both of our houses mobilized, we might be able to crush whoever comes against us."
After mulling over her plans, Eris wrote several orders to the mercenaries under her. She then wrote a letter to Armand before sending it off through a messenger.