Chapter 16 Rorin
Rorin
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Bennett and I’s swords collide, sparks flying off as each hit lands. Since arriving back in Obsidian, this has been our schedule:
Wake up, spar, eat, spar again, fail at getting Eveera to speak with me – or anyone for that matter – and then sleep.
I’d asked for the same room as before, Bennett and Will taking up the room down the hall.
A few of her council members had tried persuading me into using the king’s chambers, but something about living in her parents’ wing – let alone her father’s private spare rooms – didn’t seem like a great way to earn her favor.
SCRAPPEEE! I drag the tips of our swords down to the ground in a wide arc before shoving against him, the motion knocking him off his balance.
“You’re dead,” I say while flipping my sword around in my palm to angle it over his throat.
Bennett flashes me a shit-eating grin before I feel the hilt of his sword nail my ankle bone. “OOF!” I land awkwardly on the ground next to him, his laughter loud.
“Maybe, but you’d be out a few tendons if I’d used my blade instead of my hilt.” He pops up off the ground and extends a hand. “I was being generous.”
“Ha. Riighhtt.”
He looks at me with feigned innocence as we walk over to Will and the weapons rack. It feels eerily quiet out here with just us and not the once familiar clamor of Eveera and her men. Bennett jabs me with his elbow, wiping his blade, “so how are the kingly duties going?”
“Felix is handling them right now,” I answer curtly.
“Oh? Is Felix handling your husbandly duties too?” I cast him a sidelong glare, that conceited grin proudly back on his face.
I shove him over with my palm, muttering for him to shut up. “I’d actually have to have a moment alone with her for any spousal interaction to happen. We’re supposed to have a council meeting today, where both of us are required to be in attendance.”
Will lifts his brow, adjusting his stance against the wall, “did they say what for?”
I shrug, snatching the cloth from Bennett to wipe down my blade. “I’m hoping it’s to finally get rid of the Suramians. The two of them have certainly overstayed.”
My men’s heads bob in unison, stopping only when someone calls out, “who’s long overstayed?” The three of us turn over our shoulders and find Caz standing on the edge of the training rings.
He has a sharp expression stuck on his face, scowling at us behind his metal and glass frames.
“You and your partner.” Will snaps, pushing off the wall to stand in line with Bennett and me. I finish wiping down my blade and sheath it at my hip.
“Devlen is demanding that he see her,” his tone dripping with disdain, “before we go home. Now, no offense, but I would like to be gone by tomorrow.”
I huff, scraping my hair back. “What do you expect me to do about it?”
His brows pull tight together, “well, you’re her husband. Which makes you king – aren’t kings supposed to make things happen?” Bennett coughs out a laugh at Caz’s poor assumption, and I crack my neck to the side, my lips thinning.
Yes. I think, but at the moment, that’s more of an honorary title. Not that he needs to know that.
I stalk over to him until our shoulders brush, and lean in.
“You’re right. But as you can see, we’re fairly busy here with a war on our hands.
So if you’d like to go home, then go. I’m certainly not stopping you.
” My hand reaches over to pat his chest patronizingly and slide past him, leaving him and his demand behind.
Everyone was already in attendance and waiting for me when I walked into the council room, their heads all turning to me save for Eveera’s. She keeps her eyes down and trained on her tattoos; the magicked ink moving sluggishly along her skin.
I stride over to my seat, waiting for her to notice me.
She finally does when I’m about halfway to her.
Her spine straightens, and she turns her chin up at me.
I brush a hand down Eveera’s head and press a soft kiss to the top of it.
The act stuns her, and from the corner of my eye I can see the muscle in her jaw, feather.
“There’s my girl,” I whisper into her mind.
Once the manacles were broken, both her magic and the seal between us were restored.
When she finally awoke and learned of our nuptials, she closed herself off again.
But, she can’t keep that guard up all the time…
and so I wait, wait for her to let me in. Even if it’s unintentional.
Eveera throws me a disapproving side glance, and I return it with a wink. “Give me all your anger. I can take it.” I coo, her nails thudding on the tabletop.
“Well, now that he’s finally decided to join us–”
“Oh, how sweetly you speak of me.” I chirp, and she audibly groans in frustration, slamming the seal shut tightly against me.
“As I was saying– now that Rorin’s finally decided to join us, we can get on with the meeting.”
SNAP! SNAP! She crooks her fingers over at Felix, summoning him to begin the meeting.
“In your absence, some concerning things have come to light.” She sucks on her teeth, tapping her fingers against each other as Felix goes on.
“Hadar and Vellar have officially combined their efforts, and while they’ve made no official moves on us yet–”
“We can assume they will.” I finish for him, the hair on my arms raising.
Eveera snorts, her curls bouncing as she shakes her head. “He’d be stupid to do that.”
“Well, you and I have seen firsthand how intelligent those two men are, both separate and together,” I grumble.
“Even still–” Felix interrupts, “Baelor has his eyes set on every kingdom in Allora, and last I checked, we are a part of this realm.”
She sighs, sinking back into her chair. “Felix, dear, please don’t keep me in suspense. What exactly have you worked up for me to do?”
His eyes shift around the room, and Lady Alina clears her throat, “Your Highness, if I may…”
“You may not.” Eveera snarks, down the seal, and I smother my laugh behind my hand.
“We know that you’ve gone through a… difficult time these past few months.”
Oh no… I think, while Eveera’s brows hit her hairline as she processes Alina’s words. “Oh, you do? You know I’ve gone through a ‘difficult time’?” She throws air quotes around the end, “well, as long as you know.”
“Eveera,” Felix warns her, and I reach over, squeezing the top of her thigh.
She tenses beneath the touch and cracks her neck side to side.
Lady Alina sucks in a sharp breath and adjusts her poised position to face us more fully.
“The war is building. Our numbers… are not. We’ve reached out to the Serpentes, Orik, and Shifter clans.
They're willing to send more of their soldiers to contribute when the need arises.”
“I presume they want to continue our initial agreement.” She replies, and the two of them nod.
I raise my hand, “what is our initial agreement with them?” I ask. It was a question I’d had originally, but didn’t feel it was my place to ask. Apparently, Eveera still feels that way because she throws me a glare edged with black.
The meeting continued as boring as all council meetings do.
Civil disputes, trade agreements, who will represent at the next Realm-wide trade meeting, if we have one that is. A few complaints were made amongst the council members, mostly by Alina, and Eveera looks about ready to doze off as ramble on.
She’s staring blankly at the table, her cheek resting on her hand. Surprisingly, my own hand is still resting on her thigh, my finger drawing aimless circles against the fabric of her dress.
I didn’t know what to expect when she came home, but selfishly, I’d hoped we wouldn’t go back exactly the way it was before. I thought after a few of our admissions in Vellar that we’d be beyond the hot and cold stage. I was clearly wrong.
The two of us don’t regain interest in the conversation until I hear, “outerland creatures” fall from Alina’s lips, and Eveera goes still.
My hand raises to stop their conversation, each member of the council’s voices awkwardly dying off, “I think we should continue this conversation later. This meeting has lasted long enough.”
Alina looks at me, shocked, the disapproval written across her face. “I– well, how else are we supposed to get things done if we just push them off? We need those things–”
Eveera stands up abruptly from her seat, the chair skidding out from underneath her. “Vada and I will take care of them. Like we always do.”
The finality in her voice has the room erupting with the sound of chair legs scraping against the stone floor.
They all file out one by one, and Eveera throws a tendril out to slam the door shut behind the very last of them.
She slides down in the seat, rubbing her temples back and forth, a peeved sigh leaving her lips.
“Arghhh, you weren’t meant to leave as well.”
My mouth parts to argue, and she slaps her hand across it. “It was not a request. Leave. Now.”
I wrench away from her hand and storm through the doors, nearly colliding with Bennett and the Suramians on my way out.
“They insisted.” He tries, his face apologetic.
My eyes roll at the weak excuse, and I turn my attention over to Devlen. “I already told Caz, here, that it would be better if you just left.”
He crosses his arms, staring up at me with his ice-blue eyes, not an ounce of fear in them. I heave an annoyed sigh, grumbling, "it has been one too many weeks of you two existing here."
I grab hold of the iron handles and push, forcing the doors open again. Eveera’s head snaps up at our intrusion, and I wave my arm out dramatically for them to enter.
She cranes her neck to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of who I’m gesturing at. “There, now you’ve seen her. She’s fine. Go back to Suram, please."
Her brows furrow, “Devlen?” He snorts in my direction, and the two of them waltz past me, into the room. Caz doesn’t look any more pleased than I am about it. “What the fuck?” She asks.