Eron Bluerose, the Royal Steward of the Sapphire Kingdom, beheld the greatest miracle in the history of the world: his own daughter. Since the sunrise of her life, Eron knew that Alexia was perfect divinity. He loved her with all the love Leverith would allow men to hold in their feeble spirits. He would do anything for her. She was worth more to him than the entire world.

"I am afraid, father," Alexia said.

The princess of his heart lay in her bed in the Steward's Tower. Eron sat on the edge, massaging her head as she tried to close her eyes. He remembered doing this for her many nights when she was a crying babe. There was no place he would rather be.

"You are safe in this tower," Eron promised.

The door creaked and Alexia shot awake. She reached for her staff and Eron felt the air grow noticeably cooler as she channeled Seraxa. There was nothing at the door.

"You are safe," Eron calmly promised again. "Let me show you." He opened the door and there was nothing visible except their common room just as they had left it.

He closed her door and tucked her back into her bed.

"They will come for me," Alexia said. "I will never be safe until Daichin and the Shadow are dead."

Eron's heart ached. He hated that Alexia had this fear. He hated even more that the fear was brutally real. "They are determined to make you their empress. They will come for you," he said, allowing his sadness to show, "and I will not let them touch you while you are here. For this night, you are safe. I promise."

Alexia started to cry. Perhaps she had been hoping he would help her logically dismantle and dismiss her fears like he had so many times in the past. Alas, if she was to have her best hopes of evading the Celegans, she needed to keep this fear close to her at all times. It would do her no good to lie to her about this.

"I am just one person, father. I am not as perfect as you expect me to be. I will miss a step and they will grab me."

Eron recoiled. Alexia was not just one person. She was not just anything. She was special and as close to divine as a human could be. Alas, even the Divine Thirteen made mistakes. He was counting on it.

"I imagine that there might be a purpose, or a Divine plan, at work here," he said. "Let us pretend that the worst does happen, my love. How might the world change if you become the Empress of the Celegan Empire?"

"I will never let it happen, father. Even if he captures me, I will never be his empress."

Eron controlled his breathing. He could help her open her eyes to the possibility of saving the world. He would not persuade her today, he knew, but even Covademara germinated from a single seed. Her heart would be meladonite plate warding away his idea, but her logical mind would contemplate this new angle, and the seed would take root and slowly erode away at the meladonite resolve of her heart.

"I understand that," he said. "They are antithetical to us and their culture is vile. They are set on uniting the world through the most brutal conquest. You hate them, Alexia, and you have every right to."

She looked at him, her tears stalling as she felt understood. That created the opening he needed to plant his seed. It wouldn't sprout today, but with careful gardening, it could grow into the flower that saved humanity, and the most important thing in the world: her.

"But you are the most loving soul, my precious daughter. You can succeed where even Tuya of the Hollows failed. Imagine how you could change them. You would unite the world through peace and love. You could save millions of lives and give us a unified world where all wars are ended."

Alexia was silent but Eron knew when his daughter was reflecting. Eron loved how she took in new information and then processed it. Alexia ran through the logic of the facts she was presented and then filtered it through her most beautiful values. Between her well-organized logic and her heartfelt emotions, Alexia found wisdom. Watching her at work was a magnificent privilege. She was the Great Dreamer and nobody else could save their world. His life's purpose was to put her in the positions that would allow her to work her magic. No matter the price.

"Perhaps that is possible," she said. "Yet I will never willingly go into it. You didn't see what they did at the shores of Caleel. Swaying the Celegans that far from where they are now is probably impossible."

"Nothing is impossible for you, sweetling."

"I have learned to accept my limitations," she said, so downhearted Eron felt it in his own gut. "I will fail again and again, but I will do my best. I will help end the war and prepare the world to stand united against the Chimaera, even if that is just as impossible as changing them from within."

Eron was counting on that too. No matter the path the world followed, he would see his daughter leading the way to humanity's salvation. "I hope that is the path the world lets you walk, sweetling. I know you can bind us back together and make us stronger than we have ever been before."

Alexia looked up at him with his own marigold eyes. "Thank you, father, for always believing in me."

"Thank you for making it impossible not to. I am proud of you, Alexia. You've done well. Better than anybody else could've."

He kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too, daddy."

Eron walked to the door and engaged the lock mechanism. Before closing it, he tried to offer her one more comfort. "You are safe here, Alexia. I will not let anything happen to you in our home."

He looked back to see her smile shining at him. He would kill millions to see that smile live on. A reality that might come to pass.

Once he closed the door and was seemingly alone in the common room he whispered into the shadows. "Upstairs."

First, Eron went to his bed and embraced his woman, whom Alexia got so much of her strength, wisdom, and beauty from. He had chosen well and after all these years had no regrets. She pulled him into her arms, as affectionate as she had been the day they were bonded. He kissed her lips and felt love that was true, even if he had not been true to their oaths to share in each other's burdens. Eron Bluerose would not task his wife with what he must do. Let her stay in the light, untarnished and blind to what he must do in the dark. This burden was his alone, and now he must tend to it.

Eron kissed his wife goodnight and loudly declared that he would be working in his office for a few angles still, dealing with the political, economic, and military aftermath of the Mahagan expedition.

Eron took a seat in his mahogany chair and glanced at the doorway. "You can come out now, Kharsuud."

Kharsuud, the man the Mahagans and his daughter called the Shadow, appeared from nothingness. He closed the door behind him. Kharsuud hmphed. "I am impressed you detect me, Serpent. Daichin is less impressed with your plan."

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Kharsuud made sure that his meladonite scythe was quite visible.

Eron tried not to betray the tinge of fear in his blood. "The plan was flawless. She landed in your hands and the golden choker I gave you suppressed her powers. You and your master underestimated my daughter. Again. That is your fault. Not mine."

Kharsuud bit back his anger, and it bled out as venom. "You did not tell us about the khorota nor did you need to send her with the greatest of your knights. We did not underestimate the Great Dreamer. You gave her the tools she needed to fight us."

Truthfully, Eron didn't know that Azurianna Sapphire possessed the wilding abilities of the Celegan females. Being the daughter of two Leverians, her bloodline removed two generations from their nearest Gidiite ancestry, with no certainty of having been descended of Celegan rape, who could've seen that coming? He had assumed her prowess with plants was the coping mechanism of an emotionally abused child with endless time and resources. Not a power that changed the entire game. This was one massive weight added to the Leverian side of the scales. It was nowhere near enough, but he wasn't ready to discount his daughter's chances of making the impossible happen.

Azurianna Sapphire was one of three people the Celegans ought to fear, Alexia being another. The third would play her role too.

When Eron suggested Sir Garrond as a new sworn shield for Alexia to Halius, he hadn't known whether the man's frozen heart and hatred of Eron himself would be a detriment to the mission or if Alexia could forge another weapon to her cause. Alexia had proven, more than ever, that she was exactly who Eron believed she was when she made a man who was dead inside one of her most faithful believers. Therein lied his answer.

"The Great Dreamer has the power to bring people together and inspire loyalty. If she can cause Sir Garrond the Dust, a man who had hated her and was dead inside, to shout vows of devotion, if she can convince this petulant prince to help somebody other than himself, if she can unify an armada made up of rival factions from every corner of the world, if she can orchestrate the most amazing evacuation this world will ever see, if she can convince an emir to face the Tamers beside her rather than trade her for the lives of his people, you have seen why she is the Great Dreamer. You needed to see the full potential of her as Daichin's chosen empress and the challenges you will face when you bring full-scale war against a Leveria led by her."

Eron sat still, hands planted firmly on his thighs to show just how little he feared this most fearsome of creatures. "It is not my fault you failed your ezen, Kharsuud. She was delivered to you with a bow, just as I told you she would be."

Kharsuud leaned on Eron's desk. His rotten mouth and hideous snarl spoke of barely contained hatred and disgust. Eron glared back at him, declaring that this view of each other was mutual. He would deal with this shadow, knowing that it led him to Daichin, and Daichin ezen Celegan was one of two people with the power to decide the fate of their world. "The Great Ezen knows you scheme, Serpent. Remember that you need us more than we need you."

Serpent. Eron would show them what he was. His eyes turned into yellow slits and scales covered his head. His neck stretched out and a large, slender tongue hissed from his lips. The Shadow stepped back and wielded his scythe. He was not the only one in the room with powers. Eron touched the gold ring he wore as a marriage bond. Alas, the Kavovan Metamorph didn't need to turn into a dragon today. "Serpent," he hissed, reasserting his power in the room. He grew taller, until his scaled, oily head touched the ceiling.

Kharsuud's eyes narrowed in disgust. He gripped the scythe tightly, but made a show of setting it aside. "We need a new plan to capture her. Daichin wants me to take her from her bed as she sleeps."

Eron hmphed and reverted back to his natural form. "You would fail again. Sir Garrond would kill you and I would help him."

"You would betray us?" The Shadow sounded glad, eager for a reason to attack.

Eron was not so careless in his scheming. Contingencies upon contingencies, and this next one would once again determine the course of the world. "I would not betray the Chimaera or his plans to restore the Wholeness. I only would suggest a better course. Not capturing my daughter on Caleel presents an opportunity to break Leveria further."

Eron had planned for his daughter's success on Caleel. Alexia had done the impossible and he would give her a chance to do it again. He had been spinning events ever closer to the central climax of this world's history. One way or the other, he would see his daughter as the savior, and he would see humanity and his lineage continue in the best future possible.

Kharsuud brandished his reaper. "Speak plainly, Serpent. I do not have patience for your schemes and neither does the Great Ezen."

Eron flashed his smile, allowing just his eyes, teeth, and tongue to turn serpentine. "My daughter will be headed to Mirrevar with King Gideon's host. I have ensured that this will cause the bloodiest battle of the century. Leveria will be weakened and broken by the devastation and my daughter's hopes of forging us together will fall. Desperately, she will seek out or be delivered to the Ruby king. You and your agents there can extract her from the Blood Cells as you kill the king, the queen, and Princess Serapheena Ruby."

"Another fancy plan," the Shadow said, grinning deviously, "it would be easier to kill you here and take her now."

Eron grinned, shifting his appearance until Kharsuud stared at a mirror image of himself. "Good luck defeating me," then he became The Dust, his old friend, "and Garrond," he rapidly shifted his appearance, "and the entire Sapphireguard, all the Azureknights, and the king, and Theos Stormkin, and every cognitive-affectomancer in this city. Oh," Eron hissed, "and good luck taking her captive and fending off all those foes without any gold, Kharsuud. I am sure they would all lie down and die and she would greet you with open arms for it."

The Shadow grunted. The murder on his face paired with the knowledge that he could do nothing about it was delicious. Eron turned into the serpent, his preferred metamorph form. He hissed and smirked with sharp teeth. "I have orchestrated your victory for you and all you have to do is seize it. I did not send my daughter to Ferrickton, a Bearbreaker mine, by accident. I sent her with a man who would refuse a peaceful resolution in Ferrickton, a man who would trigger the Sapphire commander in Mirrevar to push an assault and cause further enmity. The Bearbreakers have sent the coldest and most ambitious general in the Ruby Kingdom. He will push the assault and my daughter has ensured that thousands loyal to her will fight vigorously to defend the Sapphire Kingdom. The Sapphire is as motivated to protect her as the Ruby is to kill her. Her inability to bring peace in this battle will ruin all hope for Leveria to become one again."

The Shadow laughed and the murder was replaced by an almost erotic joy. "You are a monster."

Eron swallowed the comment. There was truth in it but he didn't like hearing it. Especially from another monster. For his own salvation, he hoped his daughter did the impossible again and conjured the Love Queen's Pacisamorus. Further, her achievement here would serve to eliminate any possible remaining doubts that Daichin had about Alexia being the Great Dreamer. Yet, he had arranged the situation to make that outcome unlikely. A decisive win for the Celegans would allow for more lives to be saved in the long run. A victory for Leverian peace would prolong Leveria's inevitable defeat and suffering; it would prolong Alexia's struggle and her fear. Her becoming the Ezeness was what was best for the world and he had done everything in his power to persuade Daichin ezen Celegan that their bond was foretold by the Goddess Celegana and would restore the Wholeness.

"One more thing," Eron said. "When she goes to Rubinia, you must be sure to kill Princess Serapheena. Her death is far more important to the Great Ezen than either Adameon or Camellia's."

"She is but a child," Kharsuud said. "We would shatter their kingdom by chopping off its head and putting the weak little boy on the throne of the pretender."

Eron shook his head and conveyed the utmost condescension. If he thought that was the case, Kharsuud was an even bigger idiot than Eron realized. The father was the only thing holding back the daughter and the daughter was more dangerous to the Celegans than Alexia or Azurianna. "Serapheena Ruby is as deadly with a blade than the Dust, as cunning as me, as passionate as Alexia, and as determined as Daichin. She is the single greatest threat that the Chimaera faces. With her parents out of the way, she will seize power. If you do not kill her, you will struggle to take Leveria, even after the battle in Mirrevar cripples her."

Kharsuud had the tact to be silent rather than defensive. He was not an idiot, just a sadistic monster who always wanted to take the quickest path to the most painful end. "I will inform the Great Ezen of your plan," Kharsuud said, dismissively. He vanished.

Eron kept his senses about him but he was confident that the Celegans were not finished with him yet. He had ensured that too. After several degrees of pretending to focus on missives on his desk, he allowed himself to relax.

The next few moons would determine the future of the world. Eron had done his part to set history on its course. Now it was up to his daughter. Would she conjure Pacisamorus in Mirrevar or would Leveria's dream of peace die? Would she convince Adameon Ruby to approach an armistice or would she be tossed into Adameon's dungeon and taken by Daichin?

Eron did not know how the story would go, but he knew one thing. He had done his best to ensure that his daughter would be alive and triumphant at its end. And that was worth more to him than the world itself.

END OF BOOK TWO OF THE DREAMERS OF PEACE

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