Chapter 10
Laughing Gods
Evelyn assumed the knock on her bedroom door was Hannah telling her to come down for dinner. Instead, she opened the door to find the mismatched blue eyes she had been imagining all day.
Leo smiled at her. “Hi.”
“You’re not Hannah,” Evelyn said breathlessly.
“Um, no…” Leo glanced around the hallway like he needed to double-check his answer. “Sorry?”
“No, it’s… What are you doing here?”
“Are you hungry?”
Evelyn crossed her arms. “Did my father send a guard because I’m late for dinner?”
“What? No. I don’t know where the king is. I saw you weren’t downstairs.” Leo was flustered now. “This wasn’t supposed to be complicated. I—”
She chuckled. “You’re rambling.”
Leo smiled again. “Damien and I are going into Pointe-Rosemère for dinner. Will you please come with us so I have someone to talk to when he inevitably abandons me for a bartender?”
Evelyn hesitated. “Do you not remember what happened last time we went to the city? And how I’m banned from leaving the palace?”
Leo cocked his head. “Let’s say… no. I have no memory of that.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes. “This is a terrible idea.”
“Come with me. Please?”
He looks so hopeful, like a dog begging to play outside.
“Okay.”
Leo grabbed Evelyn’s hand and led her to the staff staircase. They passed two maids, who giggled conspiratorially once they were out of sight.
I feel like a teenager sneaking out of the estate with a boy. And it’s just as fun now as it was then.
Leo brought her to the stables. Damien was waiting inside with two horses ready to go.
Damien took one look at Evelyn, her hand in Leo’s, and said, “No.”
The conviction in his voice nearly made Evelyn turn back to the palace.
“What?” Leo asked innocently.
“Absolutely not,” Damien repeated. “You did not tell me that the thing you ‘needed to get from the palace real quick’ was her.”
“Damien—”
“Leo,” Damien warned. “This is not happening.”
“Why not?”
“Are you kidding? It’s been one day since the last disaster!”
“It will be fine,” Leo promised, his expression pleading.
Damien’s resolve faded. “I am not covering for you again if something goes wrong.”
“It wasn’t that bad last time.”
“You didn’t see the rage in her father’s eyes. King Tristan will skin me alive if he thinks I took her away from the palace again. He is your problem if anything happens.”
“He would probably burn you alive, not skin you,” Leo said. “But nothing is going to happen.”
“Stop saying that,” Damien groaned. “I swear the gods listen to you just so they can laugh later.”
“Are you ready to go?”
Damien glared at him. “I’ve been ready! You are the one busy sneaking a princess out of the palace.”
“She needs a horse.”
Damien let out a stream of curses but turned around for another saddle.
I don’t think Damien has anything against me personally. He was really nice to me yesterday. But even I know this is a bad idea. What did the queen call us? A trio of chaos?
Leo stepped out briefly because another guard had a question. Evelyn watched Damien while he got a horse ready for her. He was muscular from so many decades in the army. His movements were both precise and effortless. She was certain he didn’t need to use magic to charm a woman into bed.
I wouldn’t complain if the officers in Carrowmore’s army looked more like him.
Damien caught Evelyn staring and winked at her. She turned bright red and pretended to be distracted by a horse until Leo returned.
They went to a tavern on the opposite end of the city from where they had found the dead soldiers. A fireplace warmed the seating area full of high-backed wooden booths. It was more rustic than Evelyn expected to find in Gryon.
“You two sit down. I’ll be right there,” Leo told them before walking off.
He stopped at a table by the window. A woman was sitting there with an older lady, possibly her mother, and a small child. She stood up to speak with Leo.
“Who is that?” Evelyn asked.
“Let’s go sit down.” Damien guided her to an empty booth with a warm hand on her back.
Evelyn sat across from Damien and looked at him expectantly. “Well?”
“That woman is the widow of the Auditory soldier,” he said.
The one missing his ears.
“Do you know her?”
“Kind of.” Damien grimaced. “I’m the one who told her that her husband had been found.”
“You told her? Did you tell all the families?”
“Yes.” Damien shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“Why you?” Evelyn’s heart broke at the thought of delivering that news, especially four separate times.
“I’m a captain and I was there,” he said simply. “It was the right thing to do.”
“Did you tell them everything?”
Like that their hands had been cut off.
“Only if they wanted to know. She”—Damien pointed toward the woman—“was the only one who didn’t want details, actually.”
“Why is Leo talking to her?”
“Because he’s a better person than the rest of us.”
I think Damien really means that. I want to know more about Leo. He’s been sweet to me so far, but why does Damien hold him in such high regard?
“Why do you take orders from Leo?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, like the question was a trick somehow.
“You argue with him, but you end up doing what he says,” Evelyn explained. “Like yesterday, he told you to take me back to the palace and talk to the kings yourself. And you did.”
“Right,” he said slowly.
“But don’t you outrank him? You’re a soldier and he’s a guard. Shouldn’t Leo listen to you?”
Damien laughed. “I wouldn’t know what to do if Leo started listening to me.”
Evelyn drummed her fingers on the table until his laughter died down.
“Okay, okay,” Damien continued. “Honestly… I trust Leo. We’ve been friends since we were kids. If something is important to him, like disobeying a king’s direct orders so he can spend time with a certain princess, I’m willing to go along with it. But I will give him shit for it.”
Leo slid into the seat next to Evelyn. “What did I miss?”
“I was just telling the princess what a bastard you are,” Damien lied.
“I’m surprised it took you this long.” Leo noticed Evelyn staring at him. “What is it?”
“Is she okay?” Evelyn whispered.
Leo’s face fell. “No. She’s not.”
A waitress came by and took their order, lightening the mood at the table.
Once she left, Damien asked, “What is your sister like?”
“Perfect,” Evelyn snapped. “Beautiful and smart and kind and funny. Just what a prince needs.”
But maybe not what the prince wants.
“Does Hannah like the prince?” Damien questioned.
Evelyn recalled her conversations with the queen and with Hannah. “She likes the idea of him.”
“What do you mean?” Leo asked.
“Hannah was excited to become a princess. Now she has the chance to marry a prince. It’s like a fairy tale. And it would make Father proud.”
“What about Prince Alexander?” Damien went on. “Leo, you know him best. Is he enjoying a fairy tale?”
“No,” Leo replied sharply. “He’s not.”
Has Leo been speaking with Alexander like I’ve been talking with Hannah? How much does he know? And if the prince isn’t enjoying the courtship, what does that mean for my sister?
“The prince is supposed to propose the night of the ball,” Evelyn said.
Leo froze.
What’s wrong? Was I not supposed to say that? Am I wrong, and the prince already decided not to?
Damien’s jaw tightened. “Where did you hear that?”
“I overheard King Gerard talking with the prince. Well, I heard the king yelling. I couldn’t actually hear the prince’s voice.”
“Huh. That would be an interesting development. Wouldn’t it, Leo?”
Leo was breathing normally again. “We’ll see what happens, I guess.”
Why does Leo seem uncomfortable? Is this related to his reaction yesterday when he didn’t want Hannah to join us in the city? I should ask him about it later, but I have other things I want to know.
“Why is King Gerard so insistent about Prince Alexander getting married?”
“Princes are expected to wed before they inherit the throne,” Leo said, sounding as if he were reciting a rule memorized decades ago.
“But why now?” Evelyn asked. “The king acts like he’s on his deathbed and the prince is running out of time for a wedding.”
“King Gerard might feel exactly like that after what happened in your kingdom,” Damien pointed out, referring to the recent murder of Carrowmore’s previous royal family.
“But why does a king need to be married, anyway? Our kingdoms are already allies and the borders are set. So, even if Alexander becomes king tomorrow, what’s the rush?”
“It’s about magic,” Leo said, keeping his gaze lowered.
“Magic?”
Leo went quiet again, so Damien took over. “You already know that kings inherit all the major magical abilities of their kingdom when they accept the throne. Right?”
“Yes.” Evelyn nodded. “My father only had Fire magic as a lord, then he gained Air, Water, and Earth when he became a king.”
“Exactly. King Gerard only had Vision magic when he was a prince, but added Auditory, Aromatic, and Taste magic as a king. It’s not perfect, like your father will probably always be strongest with Fire, but kings have access to all four types of power.”
This wasn’t new information to Evelyn. “So Prince Alexander will have all of the Perceptual magic when he becomes king.”
“Do you also know that people can share magic when they get married?”
“Yes. If I married a Water fae, I would gain some Water ability and he would gain some Fire ability.”
“Right. That’s where things get complicated for kings.”
“How so?”
“With a king, power is all or nothing. If they have magic, they have all of it.”
“Tell me where you’re going with this.” Evelyn’s patience was running out. “What does this have to do with Prince Alexander and my sister?”
Damien eyed his friend, but Leo was lost in his own head.
What is he thinking about?
Damien refocused his attention on Evelyn. “If Alexander marries Hannah, he won’t just get her Fire magic. Once he becomes the king, he will gain all of the Elemental abilities.”
Evelyn needed a moment to think about that. “He would have all of the Perceptual powers and all of the Elemental powers? How can one person even hold that much magic?”
Damien shrugged. “It’s been done. For a long time, monarchs were encouraged to marry someone from the opposite kingdom for exactly this reason.
But it hasn’t happened in recent memory, at least the last ten thousand years.
Gerard and Camille are both from Gryon and they married for love.
Your parents grew up in Carrowmore, right? ”
“Yes. And the Kennedys…” Evelyn trailed off, trying to remember the story. “Queen Sophia was the Kennedy heir. Her brother was supposed to inherit the throne, but he refused when their father died. She quickly married Nolan, then he became the king and took her name.”
“That sounds like quite the scandal.”
“It was,” Evelyn agreed. “So, wait… can it be anyone from the other kingdom? Like, Alexander doesn’t have to marry Hannah just because she’s a princess. He could marry anyone from Carrowmore?”
Damien frowned. “Based on magic, yes. But would King Gerard allow the prince to marry just anyone?”
“No,” Evelyn conceded. “Especially when Hannah is already here.”
“One way or another, Prince Alexander is set to become the most powerful king the continent has seen in millennia.”
Leo reached under the table and took Evelyn’s hand in his. She laced their fingers together.
I need a moment alone with Leo. I want to know why this conversation is so upsetting for him. But, selfishly, I like that he can find comfort in me, if only in little ways like this.
An arrogant male voice interrupted Evelyn’s thoughts.
“Well, they shouldn’t have been stupid enough to get murdered!” the drunk man said too loudly.
Evelyn, Leo, and Damien glared at the booth across from theirs. Two men sat there with several empty beer tankards.
“Oh yeah?” the second man challenged. “What would you have done?”
“I would’ve punched the bastard attacking me!” The loud man threw a fake punch that went wildly off course.
“You don’t think the four soldiers tried that before they died?”
“Not good enough or they wouldn’t be dead right now.”
The widow of the Auditory soldier ran out of the tavern in tears. Her mother left some gold on the table and followed after her with the child.
“What an asshole!” Evelyn whispered. “Does he really think the soldiers let themselves be killed?”
Damien calmly unrolled a cloth napkin and let the silverware spill onto the table. He picked up the sharp meat knife and stood.
“No!” Leo warned.
Damien ignored him and walked over to the drunk men.
Without hesitation, Damien snatched the offending man’s arm, held it against the tabletop, and plunged his knife through the man’s palm.
The knife embedded into the wood, pinning the man’s hand in place.
It took that long for the man to realize anything was happening, and another few seconds before he screamed.
His friend sat utterly still, hoping to avoid Damien’s notice.
Damien leaned over and yanked on the injured man’s hair, cutting off his wailing.
“If you say another word about the fallen soldiers,” Damien quietly threatened, “every knife in this tavern will find its way into your body, and you won’t be able to reach all of them.
You think you would’ve survived what they went through, Lamar?
Should I remind everyone that you were kicked out of training during your first week as a guard? You are nothing.”
Damien released the man, who vomited all over the table and his hand. He yowled and squirmed as the bile burned his open wound. Damien simply returned to his seat across from Leo and Evelyn.
“Fuck, Damien,” Leo chided. “You can’t do that.”
“He deserved worse,” Evelyn said.
Damien smirked at her. “I might like you, Princess.”
The owner of the tavern appeared and yelled at the drunk men. He used magic to remove the knife from the man’s hand, which sounded extremely painful, and then chased the men out of the tavern. Another staff member showed up to magically clean the mess they had left.
The waitress reappeared with concern etched on her face.
Damien smiled up at her. “I seem to have misplaced my knife. Would you mind getting me another one?”
“Of course, Captain,” she agreed, eager to avoid confrontation, and hurried off.
Leo rolled his eyes. “You were worried about me getting us into trouble.”
“Oh, I still am!” Damien teased.