Page 5 of The Lord of Whispers

“I originally intended for a few others to dine with us tonight. But since I was running behinddue to unforeseeable events,” he noted wryly, “I asked Jena to leave a couple of plates of food out for us instead. She has us set up in the parlor,” he explained, beginning to walk through a hallway to the right of us.

Realizing I’d been standing in the foyer of the manor, gawking, I quickly gathered myself and scurried after him.

“Jena?” I asked, trailing behind him, trying to appear as though I was not astounded by the sheer size and fine finishings of the manor.

I assumed Jena was one of the house attendants but asked the question anyway to have something to keep the conversation going.

“She’s one of the few staff I have kept here full time to help me out. After today, she is actually one of the few lesser fae left at Court,” he noted.

“What happened today?” I asked curiously.

“Well, you may have noticed that when you showed up to Court things were… in a bit of a disarray. The purpose of the theatrics with the exploding statute was apparently to set the stage for a large-scale lesser fae walk out. Many of the lesser fae members of several prominent Houses left the High Court today.”

“Where are they going?” I asked, intrigued.

The high lord raised his eyebrows in a small showing of exasperation. “Most will probably go to Lord Dumont’s lands to the north. Some may go back to whatever was considered home before they came to Court.”

The high lord paused. I wanted to ask why the lesser fae were leaving the Court en masse, but it was clear from Lord Vitruvian’s demeanor that the subject was one he did not wish to dwell upon at the moment. I remained silent.

“Jena’s quarters are next door,” he indicated with a wave of his arm somewhere behind us, transitioning back to our original topic.

“She’s around any time you need her,” he offered.

Yet another thing I was not used to—people waitingon meinstead of the other way around.

After passing by several doors in the long hallway, we arrived at the parlor. There were plates of food, still hot, on the long, embellished table, a bottle of red wine, and long-stemmed glasses. Lord Vitruvian approached the table, picking up the wine bottle and examining it.

“She picked a good pairing,” he noted, unsurprised.

“Would you like a glass?” he asked, offering up the bottle.

“Please,” I replied, already eyeing the lamb lollipops on the table with interest.

I discreetly laid a hand over my stomach, trying to muffle the growl emanating from it. While I had been with Luke, I’d completely forgotten my hunger, but the exquisite smell of the food reminded me that I had not eaten since I left home much earlier that day. I could tell from the steam coming off a platter of roasted potatoes that the food was still hot, even though it must have been prepared hours before. I noted the slight blue glow coming from the platters the warm food sat on with admiration.

I curiously reached out to the platter closest to me, running a fingertip along the side of it. It felt warm to the touch.

“Azurinium-laced,” the high lord explained in response to my unspoken question.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I admitted, impressed.

“One of the perks of being high lord of the Azure Court,” he explained, handing me a glass filled with a dark cherry-colored wine.

The Azure Court was located in Breakpoint and was home to all of the Azurinium caves in Valencia. Even before the high lord said something, I had figured that Azurinium was responsible for the blue aura coming from the plates.

“People back home are always experimenting with Azurinium and derivatives from mining it and coming up with unique uses. These Azurinium plates are one of the more recent and popular items out of my Court.”

The high lord sounded proud rather than boastful.

I took a sip of wine trying not to show my true thoughts, which were on the cost of the unique platters and how my mother and I never could have afforded something like that. Some days, we had barely been able to afford enough Azurinium to keep our oven working.

I brushed off thoughts of home. “Thank you, Lord Vitruvian,” I said, indicating my glass of wine.

“Call me Jay,” he offered.

I suppressed the urge to quirk my eyebrow in disbelief. I couldn’t believe I was having dinner with High Lord Vitruvian—the Contra to the King himself! When I’d been assigned as liaison to House Vitruvian, I’d never imagined I’d get to spend any time with Lord Vitruvian, much less find myself, alone, across from him at dinner and calling him by his first name.

He was not at all what I’d expected. Jay exuded a kind of innate power that commanded everything and everyone within his sight. But that wasn’t what was surprising. What was surprising was that I’d expected the King’s Contra to be older or fatter or something less lip-biting than the man who stood next to me.

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