Should I leave Backlund for a while...?
Putting down Antigonus's reply, Lorne leaned back in his chair, picked up the coin again, and flicked it upward with his thumb.
Clink!
The coin tumbled through the air before landing heads-up in his palm.
"Heads... does that mean I'd be better off leaving for a while?" Lorne rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
"The situation in Backlund does seem likely to take a strange turn..."
"And the royal family has already turned its attention to me. If they make any major moves or something unexpected happens, being caught in the middle will put me in a difficult position. Stepping away and keeping myself out of trouble doesn't seem like such a bad idea..."
"Besides..." Lorne flexed his hand.
He wasn't in particularly good condition himself. The two intense battles against Amon's avatar and Zartwin had come too close together. The toll of fighting two fairly high-level battles in quick succession had slowed his recovery considerably, even leaving him mentally exhausted and with some lingering risks. He really did need to recuperate.
"Ugh, why does Antigonus have to be so cryptic? Can't he just tell me exactly what kind of trouble is coming?" Lorne muttered, exasperated by his riddling behavior.
"Come to think of it, what would it be like to marry a princess... heh." He cracked another joke to himself.
If he really agreed to the royal family's terms, they might actually arrange a marriage, marrying an Augustus to him to bind him to them.
Of course, he knew perfectly well that even if they did arrange a marriage, the royal family probably wouldn't give him an actual princess. Most likely, they would simply select a young lady from a collateral branch of the royal clan.
However, judging by what he had