Page 6 of Avaritia

“Not that brother,” Rigel clarified, seeing our confusion. “Theon. The Duke of Lindow, as he insists on calling himself,” he added derisively. “Though using the lower ranking titles went out of fashion centuries ago.”

A duke? My curiosity was piqued.

Was he single? Fester liked the finer things in life. He deserved a duke dad.

Motivated by greed, I ducked and weaved my way to the front of the crowd, dragging Tallulah and Meera along with me so I could get a better view.

Oh. Never mind then.

I’d been picturing some composite version of King Allerick and Prince Damen in my head—both of whom were strong, commanding Shades—but Duke Theon didn’t look like them. Was he older? He looked old. And frail. A bit of black cloth was tied around his waist to preserve his modesty, and faint wisps of shadows floated off his skin occasionally, almost like he was leaking them. A dashing, debonair duke he was not.

He did have pretty glowing pink eyes, though. They almost matched my dress.

“You look terrible, brother,” Damen said, swaggering through the crowd with a wine goblet dangling loosely from his claws. Tallulah sucked in a surprised breath next to me. Damen was usually the more personable one out of the three main dudes who ran the place—the condescending sneer in his voice was super unlike him. “Perhaps all of your arrogance and stupidity is finally catching up with you.”

Holy shit, Damen did not like this guy. The king and Captain Soren were standing behind Damen with two guards posted at Ophelia’s side, keeping her well back from the action. What was going on? Who was this guy?

“You’re running this realm into the ground, brother,” Theon spat, ignoring Damen completely in favor of glaring at the king. I guessed they were sons of the previous king, which made them all at least half brothers. “We will starve because of your incompetence.”

“Are you too good to feed from the stores like everyone else?” Damen drawled. He waited for an answer for a long moment, but Theon wasn’t giving him anything. “Ah, you are. You’re going to let yourself starve out of pride,” Damen snorted.

“Don’t antagonize him, Damen,” Allerick warned, nudging his heir out of the way to square off with the frail-looking duke. “Theon, don’t be an idiot. If you don’t feed, you’ll die.”

“I’m not an infant,” Theon snarled. “I am not infirm. I should be feeding in the human realm like the full-grown Shade I am! You are making a mockery of everything we hold dear.”

There were just enough murmurs from the crowd that I got the slightest bit worried. If this guy started a revolution right now, I didn’t feel super great about my odds. We ex-Hunters were pretty outnumbered.

“Don’t be foolish, Theon,” Allerick sighed. “We have a vision for the future our world. We are creating a realm that is better and safer for all of us in the long run. Don’t let your short-term greed detract from this. Everyone is making sacrifices here.”

“You’re not. You have your own power source at your disposal, ready and willing whenever you feel the slightest bit inclined to feed.”

Allerick seemed to double in size, shadows flicking out in anger. “That is my wife and your queen. I have been indulgent of your impertinence already, Theon. Do not test me further.”

Allerick did have an on-call source of fuel, and only two other Shades in the realm could boast of that privilege. And for what had clearly been a once-proud Shade, it must sting to have to go and feed from the stores again like a child…

Oh no. I was going to feel sorry for the bad guy. I could feel it in my poor-decision-making bones.

“I want a power source of my own,” Theon demanded, surveying the crowd imperiously. He had a lot of presence for a guy who looked like he was going to keel over at any moment.

I liked that.

If there was one takeaway from my disastrous relationship with Sebastian, it was that I wanted a man—and/or monster—who knew his own mind.

“They aren’t objects for you to claim,” the king snarled, angrier than I’d ever seen him. “The ex-Hunters who reside in this realm are under the protection of the Crown, and their decisions are their own—”

“I’ll do it.” I stepped forward, the seam of my dress straining under Tallulah’s grip as she attempted to yank me back. “I’ll be on power source duty.”

Ophelia was gesturing frantically behind Allerick’s back, and I chose to interpret the manic slicing hand signs as approval for this very good plan of mine.

The duke seemed like a safe bet. Sure, he’d probably buff up a little after he’d fed, but overall, Theon seemed pretty harmless as far as Shades went. Plus, he was a duke, which meant he probably had a nice house. I wasn’t super particular, but Elverston House wasn’t the most comfortable spot.

All in all, I could probably manage him. Provided Theon didn’t turn out to be a sociopathic axe murderer, this had all the makings of a sweet little setup for me, and it got me off the never-ending stage that was life at the palace.

This was probably what Meera had meant when she suggested I look for a sense of purpose outside the palace walls. Fucking this guy back into the land of the living was going to be my purpose, and I took that responsibility seriously. My dude was going to come so hard, he’ll see shadows for a week.

“Hi. I’m Verity. Verity de Jager.”

Theon stared at me blankly instead of falling at my feet in gratitude like he should. I wasn’t some great beauty or anything, but it wasn’t like he was swimming in options.

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