49. Forty-Nine - An Estranged Dinner
Forty-Nine - An Estranged Dinner
Viggo
The inn is quaint. I wish my introduction to it was under better circumstances.
Leaf greets me and sends me toward a back corner, with a quiet, “Have fun.”
As soon as Penny’s father sees me, I know it won’t be any fun at all, but if Penny had to spend the daylight hours stuck in the forest with him, the least I can do is act as a buffer for one meal.
“You decided to join us.” Edric Illian says flatly and Penny presses his lips together, irritated.
“Of course.” Geniality, I have found, irritates the man more than anything else. The smile I receive in return for it tells me he still doesn’t like it.
I’m fairly certain Kirra is the only reason he tolerates me. When your son’s lover is the brother of one who has the Queen’s ear... you tread lightly.
Or, in Edric Illian’s case, you grin and bear it.
He cuts into his food as he asks Penny about a swath of bluebonnets that he thinks need pruning and an infestation of monk’s foot.
The latter is normal moss that he’s mistaken for the pervasive lichen that can bore holes in stone if left untended.
I track Leaf with my eyes as she moves around the room, cajoling some patrons, avoiding others…
It does not escape my notice that Blicks is here. He sits in a distant corner, quietly drinking something that looks like ale, but I know is not, his attention on us at all times, despite his seeming focus on the cervitaur on stage doing a dance meant to entice patrons without actually riling them up.
I wonder if he trailed them through the forest like he tracked soldiers during the war.
Pretending to take a sip of wine, I hope Edric Illian doesn’t see my smile. He might take it the wrong way, but the thought of Blicks scurrying from bush to bush, popping up like a sprite to keep an eye on them... it’s too funny.
The comments Edric Illian continues to voice make me think he was given words he was supposed to say and I wonder if Aeler might be hiding in the room upstairs, writing out his next script.
“And how did you find the Queen’s forest, overall, during your inspection?” I ask.
Edric Illian looks at me like he’d like to slap me and his jaw tenses. “It was satisfactory.”
“I see.” I let my gaze wander over the other patrons. “I hope that this was for your personal curiosity. If you had planned to take your report to the Queen, I’m afraid you’ll have wasted your time.”
“Is that so?”
“Kirra was here less than a fortnight ago. I don’t think the Queen needs a second accounting, so soon, do you?”
I smile at him and his lip twitches in a scowl. After all, if he planned to oust his son in favor of his friend... the Queen is more likely to take the word of a close friend and lover, rather than a curmudgeonly elf.
“I see.” He drops his napkin on his plate and glares at me. “Well, I suppose the Queen will be the judge of that.”
“I suppose she will.”
Never one to care about niceties around his son... not even in a public setting like this, Edric Illian shoves to his feet and leaves us.
I watch him climb the stairs toward the Inn’s rooms and take a deep breath, glad to be rid of him.
“Do you think he’ll leave tomorrow?”
“He spent half the day complaining that the paths through the forest are dirt. I can only hope he’ll find his way home and leave us be for another decade.”
Glancing toward where Blicks had stationed himself, I am glad to see he’s disappeared. Hopefully he’s off doing something he can enjoy instead of babysitting Edric Illian.
We thank Leaf on our way out and she looks toward the ceiling. “I’m glad you and your sister showed up before he did. It would have been the nail in this one’s proverbial coffin.”
I smile instead of telling her how much I dislike the way she talks about Penny. He’s asked me not to, but it feels like sand against my skin.
The night has a faint chill, but the moon is still so bright.
“You,” I say, hooking my arm in his. “Owe me a treat.”
“I certainly do.” He steers me away from the inn and I go gladly. “What would you like?”
A small question has been whispering in the back of my mind... “Let’s have tea,” I say, instead of, “let’s see how the village acts when Ana isn’t with us.”
Misses Whipple greets us with a charming smile, but she does glance past us, expecting Ana.
When she doesn’t appear, the faun woman looks faintly confused, but she joins us a moment after we sit.
“No Ana tonight?”
Penny gives her a pleasant smile that I haven’t seen since Edric Illian arrived. “She had other plans.”
Nodding, she says. “She’s one of my taste testers for a blend I am working on and I think I might finally have the ratios right. Now! Black currant and rose for you?” She asks me.
“Yes, thank you.”
She looks at Penny, brows high. “A cup of the house blend, please.”
“Of course.” She glances at me and I can see her questioning. “I would like the full pot.”
She nods and hurries away.
It’s quiet tonight and I enjoy the soft sounds of a harp coming from the corner we can’t see for a moment before I say, “I’ll tell Kirra he might be coming. She’ll know whether or not to bother the Queen with the possibility.”
“Thank you.”
I look at the houses and shops that line the square. “Should we start looking for another place to live if the Queen revokes your guardianship?”
Because we are not leaving.
“No. If she asks me to vacate this post, we’ll figure it out. I’ll go plead my case if I must. But the Goddess put us here. I don’t believe she would be so cruel as to take what we’ve found away.”
I hope he’s right. “I cannot believe the Goddess would favor Edric Illian above us.”