Page 37 of Married to the Vampire Prince

As the next week passed, we sat in the woods while our scouts reported movements between Rosworth and Athalis. On the seventh day, Rosworth advanced into Estone’s territory. We didn’t want to fight in the woods, so we came out onto the plain and fought against them there once more.

Again, though, neither side managed to gain advantage for longer than an hour, and after another long battle, Rosworth’s forces retreated. Again, Luke, Thomas, and the House Heads ended up standing beside me in our tent, all of us staring down at the map on the table, still unable to come to a conclusion on how to win the war.

With Rosworth advancing on us, I couldn’t leave the forces without their General, but it was time for me to feed on Grace’s ruby blood again. I didn’t think it was a good idea to bring her to the battlefield for my feeding, but Luke assured me having her here only for a day would be safe. I finally agreed and entrusted him with escorting my wife to our encampment, even though worry weighed heavily on my soul.

Two days later, Luke came back from the palace, carrying Grace in his arms.

“Hello, husband,” she greeted me with a blush on her cheeks.

Thomas and I along with the other House heads were in the middle of another pointless discussion on battle strategy again when Luke and Grace entered the tent.

I nodded at Grace in greeting then gestured for her to sit down in one of the chairs around the table. The House Heads glanced at each other, clearly uncertain about continuing to speak with our new guest here, but I told them to continue with the discussion.

I didn’t mind my wife’s presence at the strategy table. I didn’t think I needed to keep our talks secret from her.

“We’ve been fighting Rosworth’s forces for two weeks now. It’s been almost a month since they declared war against us,” Thomas said. “But they’ve only attacked us twice so far. On both occasions, the battles ended in a stalemate.”

As I realized he was summarizing the current state of the war for Grace, gratitude filled my heart. Thomas wanted to include my wife in the talks.

“From what our scouts have reported, Rosworth seems busier fighting Athalis than they are on our front. In a sense, they are ignoring us until they defeat our neighbors,” I noted.

“That theory could be true,” Thomas said, and some of the House heads murmured in agreement. “But if we continue to stand by here, not advancing more on our enemies, then all we’re doing is giving them time to defeat Athalis. And once they squash them, they will incorporate Athalis’ forces into their army. Then Rosworth will finally overpower us. We won’t be able to defeat them.”

“We aren’t able to defeat them right now either,” one of the other Heads protested. “We need some sort of miracle to break Rosworth’s front.”

“Excuse me,” Grace said in a small voice. “May I suggest something?”

Everyone turned to stare at her. The House Heads gave her surprised looks, but before they could say that her opinions had no place at the war table, I waved my hand. I wanted to hear what Grace had to say.

“Tell us what’s on your mind,” I replied in an encouraging voice.

Grace blushed and shifted in her seat, but she held her head high and spoke in a confident tone. “Have you considered allying with Athalis? If our countries join forces we will have an advantage in numbers against Rosworth… isn’t that right?”

“Ally with… Athalis?” The House heads gave her incredulous looks.

My wife bit her lip but didn’t lower her head. “Athalis and Estone have had a neutral relationship so far. Estone may not agree with how Athalis’ vampires run their society or treat humans, but since we’re now faced with a common enemy maybe we could temporarily put our differences aside?”

The nobles’ eyes widened.

I smiled, and I saw a grin appear on Luke’s face too.

“That’s smart thinking,” Luke said. “I guess we haven’t wanted to bring up that option yet because we don’t really like Athalis. Their vampires are often stuck in the past, and we have our differences with them, but you’re right – in the last century there has been no open animosity between us. If we propose a war alliance, they may agree.”

“And even if they don’t,” Thomas started in a thoughtful tone, “We can at least say we made the effort and explored all our options.”

“That’s ridiculous,” one of the House Heads objected. “Ally with Athalis? That’s-”

“Novel but not unexpected, given our situation,” I concluded the sentence for him.

Some of the House Heads protested while others nodded in agreement.

“I’m in favor of Grace’s idea,” I said.

The others tried to convince me that an alliance with Athalis wasn’t a sound choice, but I stood my ground. We had no other option considering our current situation.

If we wanted to win the war, we would have to play all the cards at our disposal.

I was proud of Grace for coming up with a plan for us. She had used the knowledge of politics she had gained from her tutors and helped us see a fresh, logical solution that we had ignored because of our traditional and limited way of thinking.

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