"He's late, again," Makary muttered under his nose while taking a second to check the time on his phone for the umpteenth time. Yet, just like the last twenty or so times, the time has hardly moved.
"Is this the usual?" I asked, raising my eyes to the man from the comfortable seat where I ended up while enjoying the comfortable weight of Fay's soft body pressing down on my lap.
"He's a fucking drug addict," Makary rolled his eyes as he slapped his hand down on the table and heavily exhaled. "I thought with that herb of yours he would get slightly better at it, but..."
'My herb?'
It took me a second to figure out what Makary was talking about. The herb that I used to initially coax him into sponsoring my lavish lifestyle on earth. Or, to buy my way into his favor, given how money didn't appear to be an issue Makary would even bother considering.
"I wonder how it works on the long-time users," I muttered, more to myself than to prolong the conversation.
"Do you really have the time to worry about that, now?" Fay asked with a small smile as she tapped just the tip of her forefinger against the very middle of my chest.
Yet, as flirty as it might be... we were still within the top floor of the magistrate's high-rise, awaiting the arrival of the 'big dog' as Makary called him...
Or, as Makary also put it, while the group of officials we just met would shake nothing but their belts while walking around, Leon, with every step he took, would shake the entire governance of the city as a whole.
And from the looks of it, this very man cared not for just how pressed for time we were.
Bang!
Exhibiting the same disregard for the maintenance of the conference room door as he did for our time, the person in question walked into the room... Only to instantly make both me and the girls frown.
'Is that him?!' I thought, struggling not to let my surprise show on my face.
After Makary admitted the man was a heavy drug user, I dared not to offer even the tiniest thing that he could potentially consider to be an insult.
After all, only God knew how the brains of the drug addicts worked, even with the crutch of that anti-addictive herb.
"Makary, welcome!" the man in question didn't seem to mind our faces as he walked in with the biggest of smiles, already opening his arms out as in for a hug while he addressed Makary. "Still, this has to be the earliest hour that you've paid me a visit. What is it this time, you brought something even better than that accursed tea?"
Leon turned out to be nothing more... but likely an heir to the fortune that gave him the position he enjoyed. For, no matter how hard someone would try to convince me, I struggled to believe that this barely legal kid could've reached his current position with just his own abilities.
"Those are some... big words you throw right in my face," Leon spoke calmly, even going as far as to put a small, mocking smile on my face. "And here I thought you came here to beg like the dog you are for the investigation to be lifted..."
Makary squinted his eyes.
"Try to insult me again, and you will learn the joys of flying through the air at high speed for... about..." Makary ceased his words and took a break to walk all the way to one of the massive windows that were in the place of the building's outer walls. He then took a long look all the way down before taking a step back and rubbing his chin for a few moments.
"I'm not that good with math... But I believe your flight is going to last a fewteen seconds tops."
With those words out in the air, Makary finally turned back and looked into Leon's face.
"You see, the only reason why this city is still yours is because I consider it too much of a hassle to take it from you. But if you are going to keep acting like a spoiled brat, then I will find someone else to negotiate with."
Now, this wasn't a threat. It was an open declaration of what would happen if the man refused to bend to Leon's will.
Leon squinted his eyes and stared right into Makary's face.
"You talk a lot of shit for someone smack-dab in the middle of my seat of power."
This time, despite the harshness of his words, the tone of his voice turned perfectly clear and composed. And for the very first time since he appeared, his position stabilized as, surprisingly, Makary's equal.
Discover stories with empire
Less than equal, as I soon came to realize when Leon broke his persona and allowed his eyes to skirt around the place, lingering for but a second on Madam's and my faces. Yet, the very moment his eyes moved towards Fay...
"I would advise you against even looking her way," Makary spoke as he stepped to the side, putting himself in the line of sight between the arrogant Magister and my dearest. "At worst, I will fuck your empire up. But he's going to outright kill you if you as much as look at his woman in a way he would dislike."
The air in the room grew tenser... yet my lips formed a small smile.
'What a lovely feeling,' I thought, squeezing Fay's waist a bit in my unending desire to bring her closer and closer to me. 'To see Makary finally understands that when it comes to her, I mean every fucking word I said.'
"I see..." The behavior of Leon changed once again, as he hastily averted his eyes, allowing Makary to return to the spot he was in just before. "So, let's stop throwing empty threats around and get to the business. I can tell you are in a hurry. Money, was it?" Leon asked before relaxing back in the chair. "How much do you need? And what was the second part?"
"All the money you have and then more," Makary shrugged his shoulders. "We can keep going with just my funds for two, maybe three more weeks. But after that..." he shook his head. "What we need both in the future but also now, though, is your mandate for us to spend it."