Finally, Erik sighed as he stared at Frostfang, a man he didn''t like, but still felt respect for.


    He gave his mother''s most powerful student a choice, "Now, I give you a choice. You see, for the longest time I''ve been nning on taking an arm in retribution for what you did to Elora, but I don''t want to do that anymore. You need that arm to protect the Enve while I''m away."


    Although he still didn''t feel particrly connected to his mother''s Enve, he did at least see it as one of his assets. An asset that coulde to be useful in time. Plus, Viljar would likely remain behind, and Erik wanted his uncle protected.


    "But," he suddenly grinned a little sadistically. "that argument only holds up for so long as you actually continue protecting the Enve, and if you want to keep doing that, I require some things from you. If you refuse, I''ll take your arm, and tell the Enve that you tried to kill me because you don''t want Runa to return and take power away from you."


    The choice Erik gave him was clear. Either loose an arm and be banned from the Enve, or go back to being its interim leader, but with some likely un-kind conditions.


    Frostfang narrowed his eyes, not afraid to show his dislike of Erik. But the man he was ring at didn''t care. Frostfang had to suffer consequence, both for Elora, and Alice.


    "Fine. So what do you want?" Frostfang growled angrily.


    Erik smiled a little. Apart from revenge, this also provided an opportunity to increase their influence over the Enve, because without revenge, he simply didn''t have a reason to force this next part on Frostfang.


    "First of all," be began. "I need you to agree to a covenant. You remember what those are, right? It''s what I made my uncle and the others agree to, back in Frostvik."


    Frostfang grumbled, but nodded slowly, showing his willingness to listen, "A covenant saying what, exactly?"


    "Several things, actually," Erik exined confidently. "For one, I need you to actively start steering the Enve away from its xenophobia, and prepare it for integration into the Council. After I leave, I will ask a shapeshifter councillor I know to help you with this."


    "What?!" Frostfang immediately eximed furiously. "I refused the Council''s aid to prevent integration! My people fought and died for eight years to keep our independence, and now you want me to hand it over?!"


    Erik shrugged nonchntly, not impressed by his outburst, "You''re making this out to be worse than it is. I already have ns to take over the Council. Liv joining them is part of that. As soon as I take over, the Enve will integrate anyway, so you''re just getting ahead of it a little, to make things easier for me."


    Frostfang''s consternation died down somewhat as he grumbled to himself, his expressionplicated. "What about Finnmark?" he finally asked.


    Once again, Erik shrugged, "The rest of Scandinavia is already ruled by the shapeshifter factions within the Council. I don''t see why they wouldn''t allow you to continue ruling Finnmark."


    Frostfang''s eyelids still twitched a little, but he seemed toing around to it, "Fine. Who is this councillor?"


    Erik grinned victoriously, "Her name is Katya. She is actually the strongest or second strongest among the Council shapeshifters, depending on who you ask. My only other current ally within the council is the vampire Lucius Nightshade, although he doesn''t know it yet. And, of course, Liv soon as well."


    Lucius Nightshade was Seraphina''s father, and Erik was confident in being able to influence Seraphina to influence her father. Stay connected with empire


    Frostfang continued to grumble a little, but then sighed and nodded, "Fine. I''ll try to steer them away from xenophobia and try to get them to see that joining the Council is a good idea. Anything else?"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "For the covenant? Not really," Erik responded casually. "Just the standard things like serving as me and mother''s stand-in. I honestly doubt you''re anything less than absolutely loyal to my mother, but it can''t hurt to be safe."


    Then, his eyes narrowed and anger filled his gaze again, "But the covenant is just good sense. To pay for what you did to Elora and Alice, Elora will be inscribing you with a sigil. From now until the day we meet again, you''ll feel the same pain as she felt when your icicles tore her body apart."


    Frostfang''s eyes widened, but before he could respond, Erik continued, "It will only happen once a day, andst just as long as itsted for her, which was no more than a few seconds. You say that everything you did was for the Enve, but so far, the only ones who really had to suffer for that where others."


    Frostfang''s face fell. He wanted to argue that doing all those things wasn''t easy for him either. Leadership was a heavy burden to bear, even Erik would likely agree to that. But in the end, it would sound like a hollow argument right now.


    So, Erik finished, "Now you get the chance to prove that you''d suffer for the Enve. Take this sigil like a man,sting only until the day we meet again, and all grievances between us will be wiped out. You can serve the Enve ones again as its interim leader. What do you say?"


    Silence fell as the two men stared at each other. Erik with righteous anger and determination, Frostfang with frustration and a hint of sadness. Tension rose.


    But in the end, it didn''t take long for Frostfang toe a decision. He closed his eyes and nodded, "Fine. If that is what it takes, than let it be so."


    Tension broke, and Erik grinned, feeling some relief. If Frostfang refused, he would have had to choose between putting Viljar in charge of the Enve, or convincing them to leave Finnmark and join the Council together with Liv. Not that he thought VIljar would be a bad leader, he just wasn''t a third-ranker.


    Either way, there was no way he would have let Frostfang off the hook. If he refused, he would have lost his arm and be banished.


    With that, dark-green energy started swirling around Erik''s arm as he stepped closer to Frostfang, "Good. Let''s start with the covenant then, shall we?"