Chapter 17
It’s just Giles,Shaye, and me for dinner that night. They’re already sitting, food half gone, when I emerge from my room. I indulged in a midday nap after returning from Hol’s to try and clear my mind. But I find it’s just as murky when I wake. My thoughts, and dreams, all revolve around Davien and this strange new world…even if I don’t want them to.
“Where’s Oren?” I ask as I swing my legs over the bench at one of the tables in the meeting hall.
“He had some house business to attend to,” Shaye says.
“Oh, I see.” Don’t ask about Davien. Don’t ask about Davien, I repeat in my mind. Yet, “And Davien?” Damn it, Katria.
“Vena wanted him. Likely something to do with the ritual to get the magic out of you.” Giles rips off a drumstick from an unrecognizable breed of large, roasted bird and begins viciously chomping with his sharp teeth. “Knowing the two of them, they’ll have something figured out by morning. Smart ones, they are.”
“Anyone is smart compared to you, Giles.” Shaye grins.
“Good thing I keep you around to make up where I lack.” Giles chuckles.
Shaye quickly turns her attention on me, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “I heard you went out for an adventure in town today.”
“Hol tell you?” I carve off a hunk of breast meat for myself, grabbing a slice of bread and spoon of vegetables from a serving dish at the same time.
“Among others.”
“Others?”
“People are talking about the new singer and lute player on the scene in the Screaming Goat.” She grins and picks bird-sized pieces of bread, popping them in her mouth. “You got more fire in you than I thought. I didn’t take you for the type to go rogue.”
I shrug. “I like music and wanted to hear it.”
“Good thing she’s got a bit of roguish tendency in her.” Giles chuckles. “This is a whole city of rogues. Vigilantes. Ne’er-do-wells. Treasonous scoundrels who don’t fit in anywhere else and would slit our current king’s neck if we had the chance.”
“Everyone has seemed lovely to me,” I counter, digging into the food.
“Everyone? Even our dear king-to-be when he was throwing a tantrum in the woods?”
“Well…” I always knew the anger wasn’t directed at me. Though it was annoying, to put it mildly.
“How about the ten-year-old who was ready to make you dance for his amusement like a puppet?” Shaye raises her eyebrows.
“He wasn’t going to hurt me.” I come to Raph’s defense yet again. Even if the situation could’ve ended badly, it didn’t. And I truly believe he didn’t mean me harm.
“Could’ve ended up the same.”
“I believed he wouldn’t have.”
“Stop sticking up for people when you shouldn’t. If someone treats you badly, call them out on it.” She shakes her head and glances at me from the corners of her eyes. “Never thought I’d hear a human defending a fae…or saying they’re ‘all right.’ What has the world come to?”
The notion of pointing out when someone treats me badly is strange. I try and find a place to settle it onto my psyche. I like the idea enough to try and implement it. “Maybe I’m not your average human?”
“Not as long as you have the king’s magic within you,” Shaye agrees.
“I hope Davien can get it soon and bring order to this mad world…” Giles murmurs.
I remember what Davien said in the streets today about Hol. “Did you both live in the Bleeding Woods once?”
They exchange a look that’s worth a conversation. Giles is the first one to speak, starting with a shake of his head. “I lived in the Court of Pillars originally.”
“Court of Pillars?”
“The Boltovs came through and demanded our axes and rituals. We weren’t much in the way of combatants and couldn’t put up a resistance. Though we tried. Those ancient crafting tools were all we had…” His eyes and voice become distant. Shaye reaches across the table and rests a hand on his. Their eyes lock and there’s another moment of understanding between them that I’m an outsider to. The connection between these two is deeper than I originally gave credit.
