Page 81 of Acedia

That was a very thoughtful offer. But I didn’t want Damen to be the only one who was being thoughtful all the time.

“Would you feel better if I sat with you?” I asked.

“Of course, but—”

“Then I’ll sit with you.” I paused for a moment, taking a steadying breath. “Just don’t let me embarrass myself, okay?”

“Never,” Damen replied fervently. “You never have to worry about that with me. We were technically supposed to wait until everyone was already seated before making our grand entrance, but that felt like a little too much pressure for your first time on the dais. We’ll just head up now while everyone is busy finding seats and let Allerick and Ophelia do the formal stroll.”

“Will they mind?”

“Probably not. I don’t much care either way. Come on, Tilly,” Damen said, securing my arm in his grip and leading us up the length of the room. There were conversations all around us, as well as bouts of raucous laughter, and the clinking together of goblets. Damen knew everyone, and he made a point of introducing me to every Shade he spoke to. It was the first time I considered how much of his social life he’d been giving up in order to spend time with me.

“Okay, four steps up,” Damen said quietly, holding my arm tightly. “Want a cane?”

“Yes, please.”

One made of shadows materialized in my hand immediately, and I impressed myself with how gracefully I navigated the steps.

“You’re going to be seated between me and Ophelia. Ruvyn will be on my other side, Allerick on Ophelia’s other side. Usually he sits in the middle, but Ophelia wanted to sit next to you and apparently the queen gets to do whatever she wants so now he’s sitting on the end.”

I giggled quietly, not wanting to draw any more attention to myself than I had to.

“Is everyone staring at me?”

“No,” Damen lied.

“That was very unconvincing.”

“They’re simply admiring your beauty.” I went to nudge his ankle with my foot, but bumped into Tilly’s side instead. She adjusted her position with a long-suffering sigh, half draped over my feet as if to keep them in place.

“Tilly is very relaxed,” Damen remarked. “There’s no equivalent beast in the shadow realm—everything we have is far more… wild. Theon and Verity have a cat. Her pet from the human realm. He is perfectly adequate, I suppose, but far inferior to Tilly.”

“Tilly is in a league of her own, but I always wanted a cat.”

Damen sighed. “I’ll add it to the list.”

“That wasn’t a request!”

“You don’t make requests. I have to use my initiative—and it’sveryout of shape.”

I shook my head. “It seems to be guiding you just fine.”

The noise died down to a respectful murmur as the king and queen made their entrance, and Damen informed me that Ruvyn was following along behind them looking terrified. I knew how he felt. At some point, I’d grabbed Damen’s hand under the table and was clinging on for dear life, though I couldn’t even remember when I’d done it.

“Hi, Iris!” Ophelia said cheerfully, pulling her seat back and lightly touching my shoulder as the noise levels rose back up again. “I’m so glad you’re here. How are you?”

“Nervous,” Allerick replied for me.

Ophelia tutted. “It’s bad manners to comment on someone’s scent like that, Allerick. You know better.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “I probably wouldn’t have answered honestly anyway.”’

“I’m going to introduce Ruvyn now,” Damen told me, carefully extricating his fingers from my iron grip. “I’ll be right back.”

I nodded, feeling slightly bereft without him even though he was only standing up next to me. When had I gotten so needy? Worse still, I didn’t even want to change. Not really.

“Settle down!” Damen called out, a smattering of laughter following his words before the room went quiet. “We’ve got a special guest today—an old friend of mine and full-time scholar at The Itrodaris. Ruvyn has come to share the new developments from his ongoing research into the history between Shades and Hunters. Or, rather, the Hunted as they were known then. Thank you, Ruvyn.”

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