Yelling echoed through the large, lavishly decorated, palace halls. For being a crumbling kingdom, the palace was filled with jewels and decorative vases that must cost a fortune. At times, Xioren found himself considering selling the myriad of beautiful pieces. No one would question the king, and especially if he came up with some lie on wanting to redecorate.

Some servant girls stopped outside the large double doors leading into the meeting room, but quickly scurried off as they heard their kings voice even louder than before. It was unusual for the king, who was known to be level headed, so have such a loud argument. It wasn’t usual for him to be loud at all.

He couldn’t help it now. Your arrogance may have just cost him a large trade, and to him, it seemed you didn’t even care. He’d be the one to reap the consequences, anyway. How anyone could possibly deny your tyranny was a shock to him.

“You- your arrogance will get you killed one day!” He yelled across the wooden round table. “Your crown will weigh you to your doom.” He spat cruelly, but he meant every word.

His mind blurred as he attempted to come up with some reasonable, logical solution to this. His kingdom couldn’t afford another loss. The security of his subjects had always been a facade. He may speak of peace and fortune, but it was all crumbling under his own two feet, and he felt completely helpless to stop it.

“I need you to walk me through it again.” He demanded. His knuckles twisted into a tight fist and slammed against the sturdy table beneath him. “What exactly did you say? How do you reckon that you managed to upset the man so much he pulled out of the deal?” He asked. “I left you with the simplest job for a reason.” He chided as he attempted to calm himself.