Page 60 of Avaritia
I found myself loathe to ruin his peace. Perhaps it was the same older brotherly instinct that Allerick had acted on. It was an oddly pleasing thought.
Damen let us out of the room, through the corridors that led to the curia, and I allowed myself to contemplate for the first time whether the scar of my bite would linger on Verity’s skin if the Council demanded that I be returned to the shadows of the ancestors. I had no doubt that the bond would be broken and she could start over with the caliber of mate she deserved, but would a scar remain? Would she welcome the reminder of my role in her life or would she resent it?
The latter, undoubtedly.
I’d caused Verity nothing but grief in the time we’d spent together. She would probably welcome the opportunity to start over.
“You’ll… you’ll keep an eye on Verity, won’t you?” I asked Damen hesitantly, surprised at how easy it was to make such a request without my idiotic jealousy interfering. “You’ll keep her safe. If anything happens.”
“Of course,” he replied flippantly, not grasping the magnitude of my request.
“I mean it, Damen. See that she is kept in comfort. She drinks tea to break her fast in the morning, and doesn’t like meat before midday. Her beast, Fester, must be kept indoors for his own safety, and will steal food from anyone and anything, but she cannot be without him. Verity likes a great deal of soft furnishings in her chambers—in shades of pink—and requires many beauty and comfort items from the human realm delivered regularly to her.”
Damen was watching me strangely, but I forged on, needing him to know all of this. To remember it all.
“In truth, if Verity doesn’t receive such items, she won’t complain, as she has very low expectations of kindness and generosity, and it is imperative that you vastly exceed them, as she deserves only the best—”
Damen came to a sudden stop, holding out an arm to prevent me from going any farther, and glancing around before leaning in to speak quietly in my ear. “Maybe we should just leave?”
I choked slightly on my surprise. “Leave?”
“No one would suspect me,” he added hurriedly. “It’s not like you and I were ever close. It would be a risk, but I think I could get you out.”
“You would do that for me?” I asked in disbelief.
“I can’t listen to you speak about Verity like that, then watch you walk into that courtroom. I’m not going to pretend I always approve of your ideas, Theon, but I do think you haven’t always been treated as fairly as you should have been—by Father, and the realm as a whole. You were basically banished, you never stood a chance.”
“A chance of what?”
“You know.” Damen gestured at me somewhat desperately. “Normalcy.”
I snorted at that, some of my melancholy lifting. “Then, perhaps the realm did me a favor. I can’t imagine anything more dull than being normal.”
“Let’s go. Let’s leave,” Damen urged, foolhardy and optimistic. We hadn’t been close before, and he’d since been arguing my case to the King’s Council by his own admission. He’d be the first and only suspect.
“It’s a generous offer, Damen, but you are too valuable to risk. Someone has to look out for Verity, and I would only entrust such a task to you.”
“I’m honored,” he said quietly. “And I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t.”
Damen had a notoriously lazy reputation among the realm, but I was confident—perhaps naively—that he’d come through when it mattered.
I didn’t need Damen to tell me that we were going to the largest of the rooms—the one with tiered seating for spectators. I wasn’t the king or the crown prince, but I was still a blood prince of the realm. There would be an audience.
“I don’t suppose I can convince you not to watch this?” I asked mildly. Damen wouldn’t keep that youthful naivety for long, and I hated the thought of being the reason he lost it.
“Either we leave together or we walk in there together,” he replied stubbornly, tilting his chin up in defiance.
“Then we walk in there together,” I said softly, touched by the loyalty I didn’t deserve.
“Last chance,” Damen warned quietly as we came to a stop in front of the heavy double doors.
I grinned at him. “Until we meet again, brother.”
Before he could respond, I pushed the doors open and walked into the center of the circular room, rows upon rows of Shades staring down at me from the tiered benches above.
I’d made many mistakes in my time, and now the time had come for me to answer for my crimes.