Page 76 of Invidia

“We set aside the room next to Meera’s for you,” Ophelia said slowly, her eyes dropping to my neck.

“I’ll be moving in with Evrin.” I shot him a quick, reassuring smile, and he rested a warm, comforting hand on my thigh.

“To Carneath,” Evrin grunted for the benefit of the curious Shades in the room. Selene nodded in approval before leaning over to give Austin a whispered explanation.

“So, they’ll be staying here?” I asked, as we all began piling up our plates. “Those Hunters?”

Allerick grimaced. “No decision has been made yet. When given the option to immediately return—most of the portals are active again—they all wished to stay rather than risk the wrath of…”

“Our grandfather,” Austin supplied, giving me a knowing look. “It sounds like he’s gone rogue. It could be an interesting time for the Hunters Council if he pulls his funding. You might find them a lot more willing to cooperate,” he added, raising his cup to the king, who looked thoughtful.

“What of Aither?” Evrin asked darkly.

“Still in the Pit,” Captain Soren replied.

“Legally, his situation is somewhat murky,” the king muttered. “At least in the eyes of the Council of Shades. Since you’re both alive and well—”

“No thanks to him,” Austin snarked.

“—he’s arguing that he shouldn’t be punished, and should in fact be rewarded as there are now ten more Hunters in the shadow realm. Obviously, that won’t be happening, but the Council of Shades will likely go back and forth on semantics for months. That he stole the caspite orb is undeniable, and he will certainly spend a lot of time in the Pit for that alone.” Allerick looked across at Evrin. “Roan was offered the junior position, but he denied it.”

“He did?” Evrin’s hand tightened a little around my thigh.

“He requested a redo of his challenge with Caius.”

“And lost,” Evrin surmised, though he sounded relieved. We’d discussed our families a little over the past couple of days, and I knew that there were years of unresolved tension between his brothers. It sounded like progress was finally being made.

For a while, we ate, and the conversation was light as everyone attempted to give Evrin and me time to adjust to all the information that had just been dropped on us. There was clearly more to come, though. I could feel it in the air.

I had my own news to share at some point. While Meera, Austin, and Selene all already knew, it seemed as though they hadn’t told anyone else.

Allerick cleared his throat. “There is something else you should be aware of. A delegation from the Hunters Council came through yesterday to personally apologize for Lochan’s actions, and to insist that their intentions when sending a negotiating party through had been good. Sebastian and Cora have reiterated the same, though of course we’re aware that they could all be lying.”

“Lochan also said that,” I put in. “For what it’s worth.”

Allerick nodded once. “Nonetheless, if talks are to resume, then we need to have a lot more control over the process. For now, Sebastian remains as the Hunters Council’s representative, but we would like him to collaborate with one of our own ex-Hunters, in order to form a more balanced party, able to have more nuanced discussions—both with the Hunters Council and the Council of Shades.”

“That sounds smart.” And then Sebastian’s words back to the Hunters Council could be more directly supervised, which seemed wise.

“We’d like that ex-Hunter to be you, Tallulah,” Ophelia said gently, giving me a hopeful smile before wincing. “I swear this won’t be like the last time I asked you for a favor.”

I laughed out loud at that. “No more dates. I’m taken.”

“No more dates,” Ophelia promised. “And I’m sorry for how all of that panned out—especially with Aither. I swear we vetted them. I didn’t see that coming.”

“He would have been fine with it if Tallulah hadn’t chosen me. That hurt his pride,” Evrin cut in smoothly, his thumb stroking gentle circles over my leg. “How can we be assured of Tallulah’s safety if she accepts this role?”

I melted a little at the concern in his voice.

“Everything will take place here in the shadow realm—there will be no negotiations taking place in the human realm,” Allerick assured us. “But aside from that, we’d like you to participate in the discussions too, Evrin.”

Evrin’s fingers twitched slightly, but he seemed too stunned to speak.

“You have the most knowledge about how movement between both realms could best be facilitated,” Captain Soren added. “The in-between is both a problem we haven’t been able to solve, and potential we haven’t yet explored. There’s no one better equipped than you to work on this.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I murmured, smiling up at him. Evrin nodded stiffly, though I could tell he was overwhelmed by the offer more than anything. He wanted to be more involved in things, he’d just never been given the opportunity before. “Evrin is perfect for this. In contrast, I am vastly underqualified. I don’t have any relevant experience to draw on.”

“Who else could do this better than you?” Meera asked with a gentle, encouraging smile. “You’re compassionate, you can talk to anyone, you stand up for what you believe in, and you’re not afraid to dream big. Really, Tallulah, you’re perfect for this.”

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