I'd Give Up The World For You

Ira spent the entirety of the next day trying to come up with a plan with Sarabeth to prevent everyone from getting killed. As much as he didn't want to get in trouble with a teacher, he couldn't allow Professor Gallagher to do something unnecessary. She was misreading the situation; he was sure of it. 

He didn't want anyone to get hurt. He wanted to return peacefully to the academy with the whole group that came here even if they weren't all friends. 

They had been brought here under false pretenses. None of them were even fully prepared to fight against an adult with strong powers and swordsmanship. Let alone one who was smart enough to take over an entire kingdom and seemed to be covering all of his bases well. 

When Ciara came back at the end of her surveillance her opinion from the day before hadn't changed. "I do not think he is crazy or power hungry or dangerous. I think he is doing his job as king and trying to take care of his family. That is all."

"I knew it," Ira muttered. "So now what do we do? Professor Gallagher wants us to try and attack tomorrow afternoon since that seems to be the only opening when he goes outside to check on the training for the royal guards."

"We put our plans into action," Sarabeth said seriously. 

They had come up with a wide variety of ideas they filled Ciara in on but would it be enough? Would they really be able to get out of here with their lives intact after what they had come to do? 

Ira wasn't sure and he hated the uncertainty. He wasn't able to get much sleep that night and the next day his stomach churned the whole morning. Ready or not, this was happening. 

"Are you alright, Ira?" Professor Lucien asked in concern, noticing the look on his face. 

"I'm fine," he lied. "Let's get this over with."

They all headed toward the castle and Ciara cloaked them in her darkness so they could sneak in through the servants' entrance. Professor Gallagher was quite familiar with it for some reason. 

Why would a scholar know the layout of the castle? Had one of her parents been a servant here or something when she was younger? Or had she been one before becoming a scholar? She would have had to be very young in order to go to school and then teach later. 

Now that he really thought about it, there were a lot of things that didn't add up about Professor Gallagher. She did seem genuinely concerned about saving the world but she had been wrong about the kind of person Rukelion Blaze was.

Why was that? Did she have a personal vendetta against him? Ira didn't know and he hated not knowing. 

They all crept into the castle with the exception of Nico, who was making his way through the trees lining the outside of the wall. Due to the layout of the palace grounds, they passed the gardens and he saw someone very familiar talking to a middle-aged man who was pruning some shrubs. 

"That's Miss Veronica!" he hissed in Ciara's ear. 

"Which one?" she whispered back. There were multiple gardeners out and about even on a cold day like this. 

"There! The one with the long braid." 

Ciara's eyes widened. "THAT is your mother? But she is the—"

She didn't get to finish what she was saying because someone walked directly past their shadow and they needed to be quiet. That someone happened to have mismatched eyes, brilliantly red hair, and a rather imposing presence. Until he approached Miss Veronica, that is. 

The moment he spotted her he melted like snow in the spring and beamed at her. She smiled back though there was a certain tiredness to it—she didn't look very well—and leaned forward to kiss him.

Ira's whole world stopped in that moment as it all clicked into place. Rukelion Blaze had been Mr. Leo all along!

He hadn't been promoted because he was working with the new king. He WAS the new king. It made sense considering his military prowess. He had become the kingdom's youngest lieutenant colonel by the time he was twenty. He was a war hero too in both of the recent wars. 

The first one involved the deaths of many water mages. Who had most likely been involved in the attack on Katalya based on what Professor Lucien said. 

The second involved gaining his wind mage allies and avoiding the unnecessary destruction of a country that had done nothing wrong. Considering what he had been through that also made sense. It was natural not to want to repeat what had happened with anyone else. 

Ciara said that he was very tender with his wife too. Ira knew better than almost anyone how much Mr. Leo treasured Miss Veronica. It was plain as day from the way she talked about him. 

Her working at the castle instead of the flower shop was a matter of convenience because she lived here now. She wouldn't have wanted to say anything in her letters that would paint her husband in a negative light, which was why she never mentioned any specific details. She had been protecting the one she loved. 

Ira couldn't truly fault her for it. The secrecy hadn't started until after she visited him so she must not have known until then. That had to be around the time the coup happened. Mr. Leo had been keeping secrets from her. 

Poor Miss Veronica had been pregnant, confused, and wanting to keep her family together.  He couldn't blame her for doing whatever she had to do for the person she loved most. 

He would do the same. He didn't think Rukelion Blaze was a danger to anyone, especially his wife, and concern for her was the only reason Ira was here. As the person he loved most in this world he would support her until the end the way she had supported him. 

"You said her name was Daisy. Why did you never mention she was pregnant or what she looked like?" he asked Ciara in a low voice. 

"That was what he called her! Did I not mention that?"

"No, you said she seemed like she wasn't feeling well. Of course she wouldn't if she was that heavy with child!"

"What's going on?" Sarabeth whispered from somewhere to their left. 

"That's my mother!" 

"What?! The queen is your mother?!" 

Ciara dropped the shadow immediately and Professor Gallagher began to panic. "Ciara, what are you doing? We can't let anyone see us!" 

"That is Ira's mother. We cannot proceed with the plan. We only agreed to come here to help him save her and she is perfectly fine. We have been brought here under false pretenses and will not cooperate with you any longer." 

The professor became rather flustered. "Well, I know that but—"

"You knew and you still tried to get me to fight him? Do you have any idea how important her husband is to her?" Ira demanded furiously.

His mind immediately flashed back to how Miss Veronica looked every time she got a letter from Mr. Leo during their time apart. How happy she had been when she found out he made it home from war safely. The soft look on her face when she talked about him. 

"Yes but he's dangerous! You don't understand. He's—"

Professor Gallagher couldn't finish because a fireball singed her hair. While they were busy arguing it seemed that Rukelion Blaze had spotted them. His stance was protective and he had made Miss Veronica go behind him. 

The blue and yellow eyes that had been so soft and gentle a few minutes ago now practically seemed to have burst into furious flame. He had fireballs ready in both hands and looked prepared to kill. Ira was willing to bet his entire body would be on fire right now the way Professor Lucien's emitted light if not for the fact that Miss Veronica was clinging to his back. 

Ira doused the small fire on Professor Gallagher before holding his hands up in surrender. "I know what this looks like but it's all a huge understanding. We aren't here to fight you." 

Miss Veronica recognized his voice and peered around her husband's back with a look of utmost astonishment on her face. "Ira! What are you doing here?!"

Rukelion Blaze didn't take his eyes off of the group or change his stance but a flicker of confusion crossed his face and the fire in his eyes seemed to die a little. "Ira? Like the kid you raised on the farm Ira? He's a WATER MAGE?"

"Yes but his parents were traveling scholars. They weren't involved in…you know."

"Oh. But what is he doing here with a couple of girls and—is that Juliet?" he asked as he squinted at their group more thoroughly. 

Ira was surprised to see that it now looked like Miss Veronica's eyes were on fire. "You!" she exclaimed furiously. "How dare you come back here and drag Ira and these kids into your mess? You selfish piece of—"

She went off on a very long rant punctuated with profanity he had never been exposed to before. He had never heard his very cheerful surrogate mother say anything like this before.. She was more furious than he had thought she was capable of. What history did she have with Professor Gallagher? What in the world was going on here?!