Heaven watched Zarin, who after he woke up buried himself in her books. He was very determined to help her. Ilyas sat quietly and also read one of her books, turning page after page. Sometimes he would raise his eyebrows. Heaven guessed it must be the times he either read something surprising or interesting.

Leaving them to read, she turned back to her map and tried to make a few sketches of what she thought would be a good plan. Gina said she knew little about war strategies, but she was good at finding loopholes and then they would correct them together. Zamiel was mostly quiet. Heaven knew that he wanted to give her the space to discover her own strength, but he was there in case she needed him.

After a while, Zarin came to take a look at the map. The archers seemed to still be a problem. The battlefield was a vast, empty area surrounded by hills. General Kian had planned for the archers to hide behind the hills and wait for the enemy’s army to arrive and then shoot their arrows. It wasn’t a bad idea, but the sight was bad and the distance too long. The enemy also had great armor and helmets and a larger army. So Heaven wanted all her men to become of good use.

Zarin studies the map and her sketches for a while. Heaven became curious about what he was thinking.

“I say we put the archers somewhere no one would expect. This is a common strategy for archers to hide here. If the enemy is smart, they will be prepared for this. We need to hide them somewhere unexpected, or maybe not hide them at all,” he suggested.

The way he spoke reminded her of younger Zarin. The one that loved to study and was calmer and smarter than her. It seemed like the young Zarin was still in there somewhere.

“I agree,” Heaven said.

“How many soldiers do you have?” He asked.

“Two thousand and the enemy has twice as large an army.”

“The book says if weaker than the enemy, avoid them,” Gina said.

“Yes, but the size of an army doesn’t always equal their strength. My father alone can kill a thousand men. It is also about how you utilize your resources.”

“Well then, maybe you should let Zamiel participate. He could strike them with lightning, open up the ground to swallow them or cause a hurricane that sends them back home. No one would know. It would look like a natural disaster,” Zarin joked.

“A natural disaster that only kills the enemy is suspicious,” Gina said.

“Who will be the suspect? The weather?” Zarin asked.

“We have to pretend we are humans only and they can’t cause a natural disaster.” Heaven looked over at Zamiel but he just smiled at her.

She noticed that his silver eyes seemed to gleam more than usual but she didn’t think much of it and went back to work.

The rest of the day went by fast. Heaven went to see if her father found out anything else and then proceeded with her plan. She also went to see general Kian to ask details about their army.

Surprisingly, Zarin was very engaged and suggested different ideas. They sketched, discussed, changed and recreated but Heaven was still not satisfied. She wanted it to be really good but it was already late and everyone had to go home.

Zamiel was the only one left in her room. Heaven was exhausted but for some reason the good ideas only came to mind now. She would just sketch some more and then sleep, but her body refused to stay awake and she didn’t know when she dozed off.

Someone’s touch woke her up and she felt that she was being carried to bed. Knowing that it was Zamiel she didn’t bother to wake up. He placed her in bed carefully and then covered her with a blanket. His cold fingers removed the hair from her face and then he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

“Good night.” He whispered before vanishing.

Heaven was suddenly fully awake. A kiss on the cheek had a completely different feel. She wanted this. A kiss on the cheek to wish her goodnight every night. Feeling warm inside she fell asleep.

The next morning when she woke up, she quickly went back to work. She took her map and went to ask the opinion of Callum and Lincoln. Callum studied the map in silence, and Heaven waited nervously for his feedback.

“I like the idea of dividing the army and attacking from behind. But how do you plan to do that?” He asked.

Heaven showed him her plan with the help of the map. “Having only half the army standing in front of them will lure them to think that it is going to be an easy fight. We will attack from the front first, while the other half of the army will ride around the hills and go behind the enemy. We will surround them. We might be fewer but we are much stronger.”

From what her father told her, the King created a large army but most soldiers were untrained or lacked many years of training, unlike their own army.

Callum nodded.

“We should also prepare the castle’s defences. The King doesn’t seem to want a fair fight. He could have planned to attack the castle and is only using war as a distraction.”

She handed him another map, where she sketched how the castle should put up their defences.

He looked at that one as well and made a few sketches of his own, where he thought she could improve or change.

“I think it looks good otherwise,” he told her.

She was happy to hear that. “Thank you.”

She then went to see Lincoln. He was much more critical. “It is true that we can defeat them easily, but this plan is to prove what you are capable of. You shouldn’t plan the war with the thought of our army being stronger. The plan should aim toward minimizing deaths, waste of resources and wartime and not only to win if you want to impress,” he told her. “If a general made this plan, not many would question it but you are the one making it. Everyone will study every detail and try to critique it.”

Heaven nodded, knowing that the soldiers wouldn’t easily accept her plan. “Thank you, Lincoln. I will work on it.” She said standing up to leave.

“One more thing.” He stopped her. “When presenting your plan, do it as a soldier. Not a princess. Forget that title for a while.”

“Yes, Sir.”

He smiled at her.