Page 36 of Acedia

Kind of. I valued my life too much to say that, though.

Breakfast had already been laid out for us when we arrived, though Allerick and Ophelia came in late and harried. At least she’d bathed this time, though her hair clearly gave away what they’d been up to—as did Allerick’s jitteriness. He needed to siphon all of the excess power he’d gained from feeding from his wife this morning.

Must be a nice problem to have.

“Good morning, everyone!” Ophelia said cheerfully, taking her usual seat and immediately pouring tea for everyone. “How are we all? What’s on the agenda for today?”

“And you thinkI’munusually cheerful?” I asked Astrid.

Her lips twitched briefly before she busied herself chomping on dried meat in silence, content to let Soren give his boring, detailed report. I admired that about Astrid. She stubbornly didn’t partake in things that held no appeal for her.

“What are you going to do today, Damen?” Ophelia asked politely once everyone had finished speaking. Probably to make me feel included.

“Hang out with Iris. The usual.”

“She must realize now that you do literally nothing else,” Soren pointed out wryly. “I hope she’s not still worrying that she’s taking up valuable time in your busy schedule.”

“I’ve told her that she doesn’t need to worry about that,” I replied, a touch defensively. I hadn’texplicitlysaid that I do nothing else all day, but did I really have to? It wasn’t even strictly true. I visited Theon sometimes. And Orabelle. Occasionally, I followed Allerick around, mostly to antagonize him.

I had hobbies.

“Are you giving Iris a chance to get to know other Shades?” Astrid asked, sitting forward in her seat and narrowing her eyes at me.

“No.”

She blinked at me before sitting back in her chair. “Well, at least you’re honest about it, I guess.”

“You probably should,” my brother suggested unenthusiastically. The absolute betrayal—I’d been so supportive of his mystery bride before Ophelia had even arrived here.

“Why? Iris and I are perfect for each other.”Get to know other Shades.What an offensive suggestion—as if any of these territorial bastards ever did such a thing. “I don’t recall being so reticent to give my support when all ofyouwere pursuing your romantic connections.”

Ophelia laughed nervously, clearing her throat to answer, but Astrid beat her to it.

“Do youhavea romantic connection? Iris probably just thinks you’re being nice to her.”

“I’ve been courting her,” I shot back. Slowly. Very slowly. But the intent had been there.

“Does Iris know that?” Allerick asked.

“Whose side are you on?” Astrid and I always butted horns, but I expected better from my brother.

“No one is taking sides,” Ophelia said hastily. “We’re just talking. We all just want what’s best for you and Iris. And if that’s each other—well, that’s great! Wonderful. Beautiful. And we’ll all support you as much as we can to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

“Why wouldn’t it?” I shrugged. Perhaps it was a little arrogant of me to say, but things usually did go perfectly for me. I knew it was due to luck rather than skill, but my life had mostly been a pleasant and easy run so far. The things that I wanted to happen mostly happened with little fuss. I had very few complaints, except for the Hunters in the human realm, and they seemed to be mostly subdued for now.

There was no good reason why this wouldn’t go well for me, too.

Yes, I felt very positive indeed about this. I would propose, Iris would accept, and we would live happily ever after. I was looking forward to it.

Then I would arrive at breakfast tomorrow with my fiancé on my arm and tell all these pessimists who I loved and respected where to shove it.

“Hello, Iris.”

She paused whatever she was doing, smiling angelically up at me from her chair in the corner as I came into the room, quickly stopping to unwrap a package of meat and dropping it in Tilly’s bowl.

Best to keep the beast on my side.

“Hello, Damen. How are you this morning?”

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