Free Web NovelChapter 402: Chapter 402
"Something on your mind, Mother?" Azul drawled. For a long while he had said nothing, merely sitting in silence and watching the restless agitation that had taken hold of his mother. The look on her face had been troubled from the moment she unfolded the letter, but it had only worsened the longer she read it. Now the parchment lay crumpled on the floor, crushed into a tight ball as though she wished she could erase whatever words had been written upon it.
Azul’s gaze dropped to the discarded parchment, and his lips curled slowly into a cruel, amused smile. "Is it another note requesting my arrest?"
Over the past few days, some of Falein’s bolder supporters had taken to writing letters to the palace, demanding justice for Arik Tomar’s death. Their anger had not been limited to ink and parchment either. Groups of them had gathered in the streets, stirring up small riots that choked the city roads.
Most of the letters never made it past the palace gates. They were seized and discarded the moment they arrived. But a few still slipped through the cracks and found their way into the queen’s hands, only because she had grown curious about what exactly these people dared to say.
Azul had laughed the first time he read one of the letters. He had been thoroughly amused by the audacity of the writer, some lowborn fool who believed their outrage carried enough authority to demand the imprisonment of a prince. The thought alone had sounded ludicrous to him.
Even now, the memory of those letters still entertained him. Watching their futile attempts to have him arrested was almost delightful. The idea that sending complaints to the palace and blocking streets with petty riots would somehow force the king’s hand was laughable. It was a waste of time.
He did not regret killing Arik. If anything, he regretted that the man’s death had not been more of a deterrent for the others.
Had he made a better example of Arik Tomar, then perhaps Falein’s so-called supporters would not have found the courage to behave as boldly as they did now.
But beneath that satisfaction lingered another irritation. His pride was still bruised. His mind often drifted back to the day of the duel at the Whistling Birch, imagining the whispers that must have spread through the gathered crowd when he failed to appear. He could almost hear the accusations forming on their lips.
Coward.
The mere thought of the word made his jaw tighten. And it was all his mother’s fault.
She should never have confined him to his bedchambers. She had locked him away like a misbehaving child, and even now he had not entirely forgiven her for it. Yet when she summoned him, he still came.
"No," Nheera replied coolly. "It is something else entirely."
Azul leaned back slightly in his chair, his posture relaxed though his eyes remained sharp. "Then may I know why I was called here?" he asked lightly. "Is it so you can apologize for holding me in my quarters against my will? If so then go on. I’m waiting."
There was not the slightest hint of impatience or anger in his voice.
If Hairan had been the one sitting before Nheera, the room would already be filled with raised voices and barely restrained fury. But Azul was nothing like his brother. He rarely allowed his rage to show itself so plainly. Instead, he kept his emotions hidden away, neatly folded behind calm veneers and controlled words.
Azul was like ice while Hairan burned like wildfire.
"If it is an apology you are after," Nheera said dryly, "then you will be waiting a very long time."
"You made me seem like a coward in front of all of them," Azul replied, tone still deceptively mild. "You are the reason they now have the gall to disrespect me as they do."
Nheera remained unmoved. She was as frigid and unyielding as polished stone.
"You are a prince, I see no reason why you should burden yourself with the opinions of people that are beneath you. Whether a man is brave or cowardly becomes irrelevant once he is dead. Take my champion, for instance. He fought bravely against Lord Tomar, yet bravery did nothing to save him. He is still dead." Her voice grew firmer, carrying authority that left little room for argument.
"I dislike situations I cannot control. The outcome of a duel is something no one can control, and I have never been the sort of person to leave matters to chance. I refuse to begin doing so when my son’s safety was involved."
Azul watched her silently, though the faint tension in his jaw remained.
"And as for your earlier question," Nheera continued after a moment, "yes. There are many things on my mind. Nothing has been going according to plan lately. And as if that were not troublesome enough, that fool Halric has only made matters worse with his recklessness. I do not care if he wanted to kill Rycoff’s son, but he should have been far more discreet in his attempts. Now everything is a mess."
What she did not say aloud was far more troubling than what she had spoken.
She did not mention the contents of the letter. Nor did she reveal that Aeron’s threats were already pressing down upon her like a tightening noose, threatening to expose everything unless she obeyed his increasingly absurd demands.
Azul scoffed softly. "It’s not like you to be bothered by quarrels between nobles."
"Well," Nheera replied, "those two quarrelling nobles happen to be members of the royal court. And both of them are allies of the crown."
Azul’s smirk widened.
"Are they truly allies of the crown," he asked slowly, "or are they your allies?"
The tone of his voice made it clear he already knew the answer.
Nheera had always carried herself with an unsettling calm, a kind of cold composure that made it almost impossible to tell what thoughts moved behind her eyes. Much like her son, she had mastered the art of concealing her emotions whenever it suited her.
"I wasn’t aware those two things were different," she said simply.
"But we both know that they are." He said.
Before Nheera could respond, a sharp knock sounded against the chamber door.
Azul glanced briefly toward the sound, his brow lifting in mild curiosity, before turning his gaze back to his mother. "I didn’t think we would be having company."
Seraphine did not wait to be told before walking to the door and opening it. Elka stood on the other side with her hands clasped demurely in front of her.
"Come here, Elka dear," Nheera said the moment she spotted her, beckoning her closer with a slow curl of her fingers.
"What do you think of the newest member of our family?" Azul asked just as Elka stepped into the room, though his gaze remained fixed on Nheera rather than on the woman he was speaking about.
"She isn’t at all what I expected when I picked her for Hairan," Nheera answered thoughtfully. "Whether that is a good or a bad thing is yet to be seen." freewebnovёl.ƈom
Elka curled her fingers into the fabric of her dress, bunching the material tightly in her fist. She hated the way they were speaking about her as though she were not standing in the room with them, as though she were nothing more than an object to be examined and judged. It reminded her uncomfortably of the way farmers discussed livestock at a market.
Most of all, she hated Azul’s gaze. Even now she could feel it trailing over her, lingering in ways that made her skin crawl. His eyes followed her whenever they happened to be in the same room, and this moment was no different. She could feel the weight of his attention pressing against her like the touch of a scalding hot fire poker.
Elka bit the inside of her cheek, tasting the faint metallic tang of blood as she forced herself to remain silent. She knew she could not comment on their behavior, no matter how upsetting she found it.
"Now that you are here, I see no reason why we shouldn’t go straight to the core of the matter at hand," Nheera said, pinning Elka beneath the full weight of her attention. "I’m sure you have already heard of your father’s transgressions and that Lord Rycoff is preparing to retaliate." freewёbnoνel.com
Elka nodded slowly. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"And you are aware that it does not matter that you are now part of this family," Nheera continued, her tone sharpening slightly, "because when Rycoff strikes, you stand a very good chance of being caught in the middle of it. You are still a Nereth, your father’s daughter, and that is most likely all Rycoff will see. You will be just as affected by this conflict as the rest of your family."
