It took a moment for Leander to process this order from Caisa.
Jarryn did not have this problem and was replying almost instantly with a painful expression on his face. “Your Majesty, I fail to see how a state visit will resolve our differences.”
Caisa’s expression was stern, and once again Leander was made to feel like a wayward child. “It is imperative that you and Leander find common ground.”
“Your Majesty,” Leander spoke up, his eyes flashingwith defiance though he managed to temper his tone, “I harbour no ill will towards Prince Jarryn. It is he who cannot see beyond his prejudices.”
“They are not prejudices when they are justified and anyone can see my concerns plain as day,” Jarryn cut in viciously.
Caisa raised a hand and the pair fell silent. “Peace. You are both young and have much to learn. I do not fault you for your tomfool ideals about the gods, Jarryn. I appreciate your loss of faith. But equally you must respect our culture and beliefs. Leander is an honoured guest.”
Leander couldn’t help the smirk that fell onto his face as he cast a sideways glance in Jarryn’s direction.
“And you”—Leander snapped back to attention as Caisa addressed him directly—“I have made it clear that you are yet to gain my trust, regardless of who your mother is.”
Caisa stood up and began pacing. Both Leander and Jarryn had to move out of the way to avoid him colliding into them. When he next spoke, he addressed them both. “We are on the brink of war, in no small part due to Prince Jarryn’s presence in this city. And I find it far too much of a coincidence that a disgraced demigod shows up on my doorstep mere days after the disgraced prince.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Leander recognised that Jarryn was looking at him. He kept his silent gaze on the king.
“I suppose I will receive some flowery, but utterly meaningless, response if I ask you what you did to deserve being cast so violently out of Estalian. Is that right, Leander?”
Wetting his lips, Leander did little more than nod his response.
But, in that moment, he wondered what would happen if he did admit the truth. Would the gods punish him further? Would the mortals?
What if Jarryn decided to return to Desanne armed with this new knowledge, perhaps with Leander at his side to try to undo his lie. Powerless as he was, even if his lie hadn’t taken root so easily, there was no simple way to just admit it. The world would not be righted so effortlessly, so straightforwardly.
The king sighed. “A pity.”
“You cannot trust the demigod but you’ll send me away on a diplomatic mission? Alone with him?”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Jarryn. I don’t trust either of you to a diplomatic mission alone. I doubt very much that either of you live with Vyrica’s best interests at heart. No, you will have company. My son, Lucien, and Leander’s brother, Verin, will be accompanying the pair of you.”
Leander hid his grin. Finally something was going his way. He, the effortlessly social butterfly, had a better relationship with both men when compared to the mostly reclusive Prince Jarryn.
The prince was scowling at this pronouncement. “And what, exactly, is this diplomatic excursion the four of us are embarking on?”
“This land cries out for solace, and within its heart beats the rhythm of compassion and understanding.”
Leander glanced at Jarryn, who looked just as confused as he did. Caisa wasn’t traditionally known for waxinglyrical of an evening, and that was certainly not the response he had expected.
The king smiled. “Go and ask Lucien. He was tasked with this mandate a few hours ago and is deep in his preparations. You will both be of use to him or face my… displeasure.” Caisa turned back to his throne and approached it once more. “Now get out. Your hostility towards each other is giving me a headache.”
The journey would take a day,they were told, and they had been riding for the best part of one. As someone who had never spent more than an hour on horseback at a time, Leander was sure he was going to be blistered beyond all recognition by the time they arrived at the village.
“You’ve told us where we’re going but not why we’re going there,” Leander broke the silence that had stretched for the past hour or so as everyone seemed to get more and more tense.
They were a large group, relative to the understanding Leander had had that it was going to just be him, Jarryn, Lucien, and Verin travelling to this village. With them were a good number of soldiers, well-armed and glaring around at their surroundings, as if every tree harboured an enemy behind it.
The soldiers, numbering approximately thirty, were on edge. It was causing Leander’s discomfort to grow, and that had nothing to do with the painful saddle he was currently sitting on.
“There was a wyvern attack in a village called Green Tryst. It’s remote, near the mountains. Wyverns occasionallyleave the mountains but they rarely interact with human settlements and we don’t know why this one did. We only know it razed half of the village to the ground and decimated a quarter of the small population.” Lucien explained softly to Leander and Jarryn as Verin rode alongside, his steely gaze also surveying their surroundings.
That wasn’t what Leander had been expecting. Wyverns were dangerous but not aggressive creatures, not when they didn’t feel threatened. Something must have set it off.
“Oh.”
“Oh, indeed.”
