Page 9 of Acedia

“A fine idea—I’ll introduce you to my sister-in-law. Come sit in my drawing room with me after dinner and I’ll call for some wine.”

“Here was me thinking I might be able to leave without a sore head this time.”

“And I can always send for tea if you’re so worried about your head?”

He laughed. “No, no, I want the good wine you keep here at the palace.”

“Then that’s what you shall have,” I assured him. For a noble, Ruvyn was a little rough around the edges and didn’t take himself too seriously. It was a refreshing change from the courtiers. We’d both been sent to finish our education at The Itrodaris as many nobles were, but while I’d gotten out of there as soon as I was allowed, Ruvyn had stayed on and pursued a life as a scholar.

I watched him closely, noting that he didn’t look quite as at ease as he usually did. “Are you well?”

“Fine, fine,” he said dismissively, always loathe to talk about himself. “I’ll see you after dinner. We can talk properly then.”

“Abandon me to the high table with my brother, will you? Though, you can always join us—you’d be my esteemed guest.”

“Oh, how you suffer,” Ruvyn replied wryly, already walking away. I’d already known that he’d want no part of that offer. Sitting at the high table would be far too much attention for Ruvyn’s liking.

I did actually suffer a little, I grumbled internally, traipsing up to the high table—late, as Allerick and Ophelia had already madetheir grand entrance and taken their seats. It was a miserable experience having to sit next to such a sickeningly happy couple every evening while I was all on my lonesome. I’d prefer to go and sit at one of the long tables and chat to a friend, but Allerick said it wasn’t a good look.

The chances of me ever sitting on the throne were negligible now that Allerick was mated, married, and intending to procreate, but they weren’t zero yet. I still had to maintain the illusion of the kind of bland, inoffensive dignity that royals were expected to have.

“Look who’s finally joining us,” my brother grumbled.

Ophelia smiled at me, always open and friendly and seemingly immune to her cantankerous husband’s moods. “Hi, Damen. How was your day?”

“The same it usually is,” I replied, pouring myself a glass of wine. I was nothing if not consistent with my daily habits. “How was yours?”

Ophelia exhaled slightly, her smile tight. “Fine.”

I met Allerick’s gaze over the top of her head, understanding that meant her day was not, in fact, fine. Verity was still stuck in the human realm, despite Soren and Astrid’s best efforts to get her back. The court had to run as normal, but the strain of Verity’s absence was definitely being felt, even though she’d already moved away.

Allerick would never admit to it, but sometimes I wondered if he was in a little over his head between helping the ex-Hunters get settled here as well as maintaining the delicate pause in hostilities between the Shades and Hunters in the human realm. There were also Shades here who disapproved of the way he was running things, and would happily see him overthrown. The power stores were slowly but steadily draining from the realm’s exclusive reliance on them rather than feeding from fear in the human realm as we’d done for centuries.

It was all a “shit show,” as Verity would describe it, if she were here.

And she’d be back. I knew she’d be back. If any ex-Hunter would find a way back from the human realm to give her mate hell for his idiotic choices, it would be Verity.

Allerick was a good ruler, but he was in unchartered territory. And he was proud—it took a lot for him to admit that perhaps he didn’t know as much as he thought he did. I’d offer to help out more but nobody wanted my opinions anyway. I didn’t know anything.

As always, Ophelia kept up a steady stream of conversation throughout dinner—mostly gossip, which I appreciated. No court could run without gossip to fuel it, it was the way of the world. She was distracting herself too, from her worry for Verity, and I was more than happy to be of assistance in that regard.

“May I introduce you to my friend, Ruvyn?” I asked Ophelia as we finished our meals. “He’s visiting from The Itrodaris—I believe he’s studying the historical relations between Shades and Hunters.”

“Ooh, yes, please. I would love to meet him.” Ophelia beamed—though not quite as brightly as usual—while Allerick scowled, inconvenienced by any sort of social interaction. I imagined it was a real liability to enjoy conversing with others so little as ruler of the realm.

I waved Ruvyn over once we’d descended the few steps of the dais, and he immediately inclined his head at my sister-in-law.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.”

“We don’t have to bother with all that. You can just call me Ophelia.”

“Though I’d recommend you didn’t,” Allerick muttered under his breath. He was so dramatic. When I eventually found a wife to put up with me, I wouldn’t be half as overbearing as he was.

Ophelia rolled her eyes affectionately at her jealous beast of a husband before returning her attention to Ruvyn. “Damen mentioned your studies—it sounds very interesting. Do you have a lot of evidence to go on? I thought there wasn’t much available.”

“More than we thought. We weren’t looking in the right places before, but we’ve narrowed down the area and found some new and promising records. Unfortunately, much of what we’ve collected is in languages that haven’t been in use for centuries, so translation is proving difficult. Not impossible, though,” he added hastily, as though worried he was going to get fired from his post. “I’m confident we’ll figure it out soon.”

“How exciting!” Ophelia replied, looking so genuinely interested that it was impossible for Ruvyn not to look gratified. She was exceptionally good at being encouraging.

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