The Viler House had a reputation that had been tremendously upheld by its generations. The Viler House was known for its cruelty and shamelessness when it came to meting out judgment to both deserving and undeserving parties that even threatened to exhale obnoxious and negative opinions into the raging noses of the imperial family. That was the essence of the Viler house reputation, the nicknamed, Imperial Dogs. One of the rumors of the Viler house was the underground dungeons they kept solely for the purpose of torture and no one had ever come out of it alive to truly speak of the horrors that lay beneath centuries of their blood stained castle in the unapproachable Northern Gates. The rumors were used to scare noble children to behaving well, lest the Viler hand of doom slaughter them all. Lady Anna Pardel was one of those children that misbehaved and had to be reminded of the ever watching Imperial Dogs.

And at that very moment when the blood covered Swain Viler walked in, Lady Pardel experienced what can be referred to as an epiphany, her life flashed before her eyes. She could swear she could taste all the vile and horrible things that she had done in her over 20 years of fruitfully living. She stared at her friend, Colette, walk up to the man with eyes of worry and concern, without a hint of fear. She also wondered, what good had she done in her life, before it came to an end?

“Darling” Colette said running towards the blood soaked man who proceeded to take in her eager hands and stared at her, with what could be considered, affection.

“You were distressed” the man said.

Lady Pardel swallowed quite loudly and the couples eyes were suddenly on her.

“A guest?” he asked.

Through this usage of her feared husband, Denise thought to herself that even through the blood and the terrible reputation of being a member of a family of heretics the man was gorgeous, he could still worm his blood stained shirts through the hearts of a number of women with twisted tastes and needs. It just so happened that his wife was one of them.

“She’s leaving” Colette said staining her white dress with whoever’s blood was on the General.

“Excuse me” Lady Pardel said in a very small voice that was unbecoming of her. But what could the woman do? The creature of nightmares existed and the tales she was told as a child were true. There was a Viler, hugging his new bride, covered in blood and carrying a large sword at his side. And his bride? She saw none of that.

Colette must’ve lost her mind but Anna Pardel had just regained her sanity. She had faced death in the eye and she was going back, back to her homeland, cheating husband be damned.

Lady Pardel left the Viler Estate in minutes, her carriage headed in the opposite direction of the capital.

“Didn’t you say she had come from the capital?” Swain asked her as they watched the carriage disappear past the horizon as they cleaned up in a warm bath together.

“I thought so as well” she said and he kissed her.

Denise woke up very happy that evening, as usual, her husband was gone when she woke up from their love making. The maids dressed her in a new white dress and she was escorted to dinner where a guest waited for her.

Commander Zilla was the first one to stand, “My lady” she greeted her.

Denise was shocked, she never thought that she’d see them again so soon. What was the reason? She thought.

“Commander” she greeted back politely

Denise sat down and the Commander followed.

The room was silent.

“Might I ask what brings you here Commander?” Denise asked her. They were seated across one another in a long chair.

“The General invited me to dinner”

“Ah” Denise said

“He” the Commander continued “Wished for us to discuss some matters”

“Oh and what might that be?”

The door was opened and Swain entered with Hank in tow.

“My lady” Hank greeted and gave her a letter.

Interesting, Denise thought. The letter had one thing written on the envelope: D.M. Denise knew who exactly had sent the letter, she was also excited to see

Swain sat down and reached out for her hand. She complied and their fingers intertwined, the silence was ridiculous.

Denise felt ridiculous but she liked it, just a little bit.

Commander Zilla cleared her throat between bites and spoke up, “The reason I am here my lady is because I have been informed that my lady wishes to start a treaty with one of the tribes across the Northern Gates.”

“Yes” Denise said “Is there a problem?”

“Unfortunately my lady there is”

“Oh and what is that Commander Zilla?”

“The only way my lady can understand is if she sees the gates for herself.”