Sovereign's Path

Chapter 33: Aurenfall lll

Across the room, Lena’s attention had drifted toward Julian.

He stood close to Aria, the way he always did when she was around. Julian and Lily’s mother rarely attended these things, her health kept her close to the estate more often than not, so on the rare occasion she did show up Julian practically rearranged his entire personality around her presence. Leaning in. Listening. Soft in a way he never was with anyone else.

Aria gave him her attention easily, smiling, brushing a hand over his shoulder.

Lena watched for a moment.

It wasn’t jealousy exactly. She didn’t think of Aria as someone who owed her anything. But there was something about watching a mother dote on her children that always sat a little oddly with Lena, a small quiet space that she’d long since stopped trying to name.

She looked away.

Leaned sideways instead, resting her head against her father’s shoulder.

"What if Leon doesn’t come," she said quietly.

Arlott didn’t look at her. He kept his eyes on the room, on the slow churn of nobles and conversation.

"He’ll come," he said.

"You said that already."

"It’s still true."

She didn’t respond right away. The music drifted on in the background, the chandeliers turned their slow patterns of light across the ceiling, and for a moment the two of them just sat there.

Then a pair of figures stepped into view.

The first was a boy, no older than eight, white hair, sapphire eyes.

The second was a woman, early twenties by appearance, silver hair, fox ears perched on top of her head, two white tails swaying behind her in their usual unhurried rhythm.

Leon and Yuki.

They seemed to be in the middle of something, Yuki walking slightly ahead with a firm grip on Leon’s sleeve, steering him through the crowd with the easy confidence of someone who had done this exact thing more times than she could count. Leon, for his part, looked like a person being escorted somewhere against his will and had long since stopped putting up meaningful resistance about it.

Lena’s face lit up the moment she spotted them.

She was on her feet before Arlott could say anything, already weaving through the crowd toward her brother.

...

The moment they stepped into the ballroom, Yuki’s ears perked up.

Leon felt the change in grip before he understood why. One second they were walking in normally, the next his sleeve was firmly in her grasp and they were moving.

"Yuki."

"There’s a dessert table," she said.

"We just got here."

"There’s a dessert table, Lord Leon."

"Yuki."

"It’s right there."

He looked. It was, in fact, right there. A long table near the side wall, stacked with enough pastries and sweets to feed half the room twice over.

"We’re guests," he said. "We can’t just—"

"Watch me," Yuki said, and started moving again.

Leon let himself be dragged.

It wasn’t the first time. He’d long since stopped fighting it, mostly because fighting it never worked and partly because, if he was honest, watching an entity centuries of age navigate a dessert table like an over excited child was one of the more entertaining parts of these events.

The place really was massive though. He took it in as they went, the ceiling so high it practically disappeared into shadow above the chandeliers, the floor stretching out in every direction packed with people. Easily enough room for thousands. He spotted the cameras too, mounted at intervals along the walls and ceiling, small floating devices that hovered with quiet purpose, recording everything for broadcast across the continent.

Right. The whole continent was watching this.

He’d almost managed to forget that for a few blissful seconds.

They were maybe halfway to the dessert table when a voice cut through the noise.

"Leon!"

He knew that voice anywhere.

He turned, and there she was, weaving through the crowd toward him with her dark green dress catching the light, raven hair bouncing with each step.

Something in his chest loosened.

He hadn’t realized how tense he’d been until it wasn’t there anymore.

Lena reached him and threw her arms around him without hesitation, and he caught her easily, ruffling her hair with his free hand the way he always did.

"You came," she said into his shoulder, voice slightly muffled.

"Said I would."

She pulled back, looking up at him with an expression that was somewhere between relief and mild accusation.

"Where have you been? I thought you weren’t coming. We’ve been here for an hour."

"Traffic," Leon said.

"For an hour?"

"You’ve seen the streets out there."

Lena gave him a look, the kind that said she wasn’t entirely satisfied with that answer but was willing to let it go because he was here now.

Behind him, Yuki had paused her advance toward the dessert table, watching the reunion with her ears tilted forward and an expression that was unmistakably fond.

"Even I was surprised he decided to come," Yuki added, falling into step beside them, tails swaying.

"I’ll have you know," another voice said. "I also thought he wasn’t coming." frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Leon’s head turned.

Arlott stood there, arms loosely crossed, that particular look on his face that always meant he was enjoying himself more than his expression let on.

A vein popped on Leon’s forehead.

"You’re the one who sent the letter," he said.

"I did."

"Telling me I had to come."

"Mandatory," Arlott agreed.

"And now you’re standing there acting surprised that I’m here."

"Of course I’ll be surprised," Arlott said.

"That’s—" Leon stopped himself. Took a breath. "You’re unbelievable."

"I try."

Lena was grinning. Yuki had given up entirely on hiding her amusement, her tails moving with barely contained energy.

"Come on," Arlott said, already turning toward the seating area. "We have a table."

Leon followed, still muttering something under his breath that nobody bothered asking him to repeat.

...

As they made their way through the crowd toward the table, Leon noticed it.

The murmurs.

Not loud. Not even particularly obvious unless you were paying attention, which Leon always was. Little clusters of conversation rippling outward as people noticed them passing, voices dropping to that specific register people used when they were talking about someone without wanting that someone to hear.

He caught fragments here and there.

"...is that..."

"...the Silford..."

"...thought he wasn’t going to show..."

He didn’t need to hear the rest. He’d heard it enough times over the years to fill in the blanks without effort. The E rank. The failure. Blah blah blah.

Same old story.

He’d long since stopped letting it bother him, mostly. It was just background noise at this point, the kind of thing that existed whether he reacted to it or not.

Still.

He listened anyway.

Old habit. You never knew what you might pick up.

Leon let a thread of mana settle behind his ears, just enough to sharpen things. Yuki had taught him this a few months back, a small trick, nothing flashy, just turning up the volume on the world around him.

The murmurs sharpened into actual words.

"...is that him? The white hair..."

"It’s him. Has to be."

"I didn’t think he’d actually show up." frёeωebɳovel.com

"Why would he. It’s not like he has anything to prove."

A pause. Then, lower.

"E rank. Can you imagine. From the Silford main branch."

"My cousin said he’s never won a single spar in his life."

"Poor kid. Imagine being born into that family and turning out like that."

Leon kept walking. Kept his face neutral. None of this was new.

Then the conversation shifted, and his ears caught something else.

"...and the woman beside him? With the ears?"

"That’s the one. I heard she’s not even from around here."

"You heard right. Apparently he bought her."

"Bought her?"

"Beastfolk. From some trader. That’s the rumor anyway."

"So he did participate in slavery, the rumors were true after all."

"Guess even a failure needs something to feel powerful over."

Leon’s steps didn’t slow.

But internally, something came to a full and complete stop.

’Wait. What?’