Elvis responded with a knowing smile, keeping his cards close to his chest—everything would wait until evening. An empire-spanning enterprise like this was far beyond what the Christian family could swallow alone.
"Uncle Christian," Elvis said with an easy chuckle, "let's settle this at tonight's banquet. Aeloria's too vast a realm for any single house to manage."
"Ha! Perhaps this old warrior's mind ran too far ahead," Steven mused, stroking his beard. "But hear me—I'll invest the heaviest purse for the largest share!" A royal partnership was unmissable. As long as Aeloria endured, his descendants would never know empty bellies or light purses.
"All in good time," Elvis waved him off. "We'll settle the details tonight." Turning back to the bubbling fermentation vats, he gave Steven's b
