Page 49 of Acedia

“Oh. Well, we don’t know where he is. Do we?” I asked as Eadlin climbed off my lap and I stretched out my numb legs.

“At this time of day? He’s napping,” Allerick replied with absolute certainty.

“I don’t want to disturb his sleep—”

Allerick snorted. “I have no such qualms. Let’s go.”

Tilly trotted along cheerfully next to me, my hand on her collar, as we made our way toward wherever Damen stayed, and I imagined she was delighted to get out of the noisy room. Usually, she was quite fond of our visits to see the children, but they were more excitable than usual with so many additional guests.

It was a quiet walk. Ophelia had accompanied her mother-in-law back to her rooms, which meant I was attempting to keep up with the king—who didn’t have his brother’s knack for letting me set the pace.

“We’re here,” Allerick said gruffly, before banging loudly on a door. “Wake up, Damen!”

There was a loud, tired groan from beyond. “What do you want?”

“I have a visitor for you.”

There was some shuffling from inside the room, and my face was almost uncomfortably hot as I stood there, waiting for him to open the door. This had been a terrible idea. Why had Iwanted to take the initiative? I wasn’t a take-initiative sort of girl.

I was a sit-in-the-attic sort of girl.

There was a whoosh of air as the door swung open, and I dug my heels into the ground a little to stop myself from stepping back automatically.It’s fine. This is fine. It’s just Damen.

“Iris. Hi.”

“Hi.” I was acutely aware of Allerick standing next to me, adding an extra layer of awkwardness to this conversation. “How are you?”

“I’m good.” He cleared his throat. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

There was a long silence. This had been the worst idea I’d ever had.

“Iris,” Allerick began. “Have you visited the courtyard garden in the center of the palace?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Damen, why don’t you take Iris there?” Allerick suggested pleasantly. “It’s a nice walk, and might give her a better feel for the spiral layout of the palace.”

“Yes, of course.”

There was a long pause, and I wondered if they were communicating silently with their eyes. Eventually, the door closed, and I felt Damen’s hand gently touch my elbow. Embarrassingly, I shivered a little at the contact. For some reason, his touch had always felt different to anyone else’s. Better. More… more like home.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Allerick announced, already striding away. I truly couldn’t make heads nor tails of the king. His tone was very gruff and a little intimidating, but the words he said tended not to be.

“Did he drag you here?” Damen asked ruefully as we started walking.

“Not at all. I asked if I could visit.”

“You did?” He sounded surprised.

“Yes.” My face heated. “I hope that’s okay. I’ve really missed your company, Damen. And maybe you haven’t missed mine, and that’s fine—”

“I have. I have missed your company, Iris.”

“—but I just wanted to reach out first so that you knew that when I said I still wanted us to be friends, that I meant it.”

He noisily blew out a breath. “I know. I know that you meant it. And I meant it too, when I agreed. My ego was just a little bruised, that’s all. Theon says it’s good for me.”

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