Page 30 of Invidia

Shit. Elverston House was basically the least accessible building I’d ever encountered. There were stairs everywhere, and no handrails. The layout was entirely illogical. The stone floors were cracked and uneven. The bathroom facilities were all in the basement. None of the bedrooms were on the first floor.

Frankly, it was hazardous for anyone to live there. It was an ADA nightmare.

“Maybe we could convert one of the sitting rooms downstairs into a bedroom?” Meera suggested, chewing nervously on her lower lip, her thoughts clearly running along the same lines as my own.

“Tallulah, Meera, this is Iris Nash,” Astrid said, gesturing at the newcomer. “And Tilly,” she added, nodding at the dog.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said faintly.

Wait, Nash?

As a member of the Thibaut family, I was well acquainted with the higher-ups in the Hunter world, and the Nash family was definitely part of that. Though, I couldn’t recall ever hearing about an Iris, and we looked to be similar enough in age.

“It’s so nice to meet you too,” Iris replied, her voice as calm as a lake.

Astrid looked at Meera and I before glancing expectantly at Elverston House as though waiting for us to take the lead. Astrid was great at looking at the bigger picture, but individual nuances were sometimes lost on her.

I widened my eyes meaningfully, giving my head a small shake. It would be entirely unfair to Iris to set her up in Elverston House on top of all the other adjustments that moving to the shadow realm required.

“What is this?” a voice asked, making everyone jump—even the usually observant captain. Damen appeared on the path behind us, all glowing purple eyes and charming smiles as always. He immediately crouched down, admiring the labrador. “What a magnificent creature.”

“He means Tilly,” I said hastily, not wanting Iris to get creeped out thinking she was being ogled by Shades. Which she undoubtedly would be, but they usually waited until dinner at least.

“Thank you,” she said, her head turning toward my voice.

“They don’t have dogs in the shadow realm,” I added. “Prince Damen, this is Iris Nash and her dog, Tilly.”

“My service dog,” Iris added, her voice sweet and angelic. “I’m blind. Tilly is my eyes.”

Damen startled, but made a gracious recovery. “Well, you and Tilly are both most welcome here. I hope you will find the shadow realm a happy home for both of you.” He hesitated, shooting a wary look at Elverston House. Finally. At least someone was paying attention. “Tallulah and Meera stay in the accommodation that has been set aside for ex-Hunters, but perhaps you would be more comfortable in the palace, Iris? I believe it would better suit you and Tilly.”

Who was this gentleman? Damen was usually the most relaxed, mischievous Shade at court. I’d never heard him be so formal before.

Iris’s soft, closed-mouth smile was incredibly comforting somehow. I’d only met her five minutes ago, and yet I was more confident than I’d ever been in anything in my life that this woman was kind all the way down to her bones. “Well, I’ve never been inside a palace before, just heard about them in fairytales. It certainly sounds like the kind of place where anyone could be comfortable.”

Oh, she was sugary sweet. I half expected little hearts to start floating around Damen’s head as he stared at her.

“We’ll accompany you over there,” Meera said, visibly relieved that Damen had come up with a solution. The palace had resources that Elverston House had not, simply by virtue of being filled with staff. It also wasn’t crumbling to the ground, which was a massive bonus. And Ophelia and Astrid both lived in the palace, so Iris wouldn’t be totally without non-Shade company.

Damen strode off, muttering a quiet stream of orders to Andrus before sending him to run ahead. It was a level of authoritative I’d never seen from him.

“Um, we’ll just start walking straight ahead,” I said for Iris’s benefit, unsure how to proceed, and not wanting to offend her. “It’s about two hundred feet away. The path curves a little on the way, but it’s flat.”

Iris’s smile could have stopped traffic. “Thank you.”

Meera and I moved to walk either side of her, leaving Damen to walk ahead, and Astrid and Soren to take up the rear.

“What made you decide to come to the shadow realm?” Meera asked softly.

Iris frowned thoughtfully. “Well, my parents kept me hidden away because they were ashamed of me,” she began with startling bluntness. “And my nana who raised me, recently passed away, so the options of what they were going to do with me were looking quite bleak. Bleak enough that one of the Hunters decided that this would be a better option for me.”

“One of the Hunters decided that?” I asked in disbelief. Maybe the tides were turning? I liked to think that the cold war we were engaged in would eventually thaw out, and we could have some kind of dialogue with the Hunters again, but it had felt like a pipe dream recently.

“I suspect what my parents had planned for me was very grim indeed for him to make that decision,” Iris said serenely, making all of us do a double take. “But it was very kind of him to help me. I owe him a great debt.”

The palace descended into chaos as soon as we arrived, with everyone rushing around to accommodate the shadow realm’s latest resident, seemingly with no real sense of direction.

I looked expectantly at Damen while the staff debated room choices with one another.

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