Page 50 of Acedia

I winced. “I’m sorry—”

“Please don’t apologize. Let’s go back to how things were, okay? How have you been?”

I contemplated the question. “Before we go back to how things were, I need to tell you off first.”

Damen laughed quietly. “Go ahead.”

“I had tea with Orabelle, and she told me about the Hunters visiting the realm and how everyone had decided to keep them away from me. I understand the logic, Damen. But it stung a little to be left out like that.”

He tucked my hand more securely into the crook of his arm. “I’m sorry, Iris. You’re right—that wasn’t the right decision. We’ll do better next time.I’lldo better next time. You shouldn’t be the last to know about decisions that impact you directly.”

“Thank you,” I murmured, the wind immediately disappearing from my sails. I hadn’t expected him to be so… agreeable. To actually listen to me and apologize and want to do better.

It was comforting in a way that I didn’t know I needed.

“What else did Orabelle say?” Damen asked suspiciously.

I laughed. “When I had tea with her? Or when she came to visit me at the nursery earlier?”

“At thenursery?” Damen spluttered. “Those poor children. Sounds like we’ve got a lot to catch up on—start at the beginning.”

Chapter 16

“Where are you going?” I asked Soren, running into him and Astrid in the foyer. “Can I come?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Maybe I can help.”

He shot me an alarmed look while Astrid snorted. “No, thank you.”

“I want a job,” I sighed, slumping my shoulders. “Why is that so hard? Why can’t someone just give me one?”

“Do you know how to do anything?” Astrid asked.

“Of course I do! I’m very approachable. And I was a great scholar—ask anyone. I was far more accomplished in my studies than Allerick or Soren.”

“That’s true,” Soren agreed. “Though, too undisciplined to go any further with it.”

I briefly entertained the idea of getting back into it now before dismissing it almost immediately. I didn’t want to spend my time buried in dusty old tomes, working away alone and in silence, even if the contents of those books were interesting.

Though Ruvyn seemed to enjoy his life at The Itrodaris just fine. Maybe I should ask him about a career in academia.

“Can I join the Guard?”

“No. You don’t have the discipline for that either,” Soren replied easily.

“Where is all this coming from?” Astrid asked. “Are you bored or something?”

“I’m on my healing journey.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’ve been spending too much time with Verity.”

“Verity has compassion for my struggles.”

Astrid side-eyed me like she was about to say something truly mean before seeming to think better and pursing her lips shut. Probably something about me not having struggles, which wasn’t an entirely unreasonable assumption.

Aside from my irreparably broken heart, my life was mostly quite comfortable.

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