The restaurant Father had picked was unfamiliar, chosen presumably because it was close to the solicitor's office. Archie arrived first, waiting by himself as he felt the now-familiar sensation of Damaris in his mind slither out. It felt strangely empty in there now, all by himself.
Damaris?Archie tried tentatively. Nothing. He lowered his magical defenses and could feel the tiniest wisp of the demon’s aura, as if a thread tied them together, currently leading out of the restaurant and into the city. Satisfied, he sat back and waited. Almost fifteen minutes passed before Ollie and Father arrived together. He watched, from the table near the back of the room, as they approached, and put Damaris out of mind.
Ollie had always got on easily with Father, both of them level-headed and pragmatic. They even looked alike, Ollie a miniature stamp of their father's features where Archie had their mother's heart-shaped face and porcelain skin. They approached the table with an air of wearied satisfaction hard won. When Ollie saw him, he raised a hand in greeting andgrinned, and Archie grinned back. Not for the first time, he wished that Ollie was the heir.
Part of it was selfish. He’d never have to worry that Ollie would turf him out with nary a penny. But the idea of mentioning it was uncharitable — Ollie himself had never expressed it out loud, and gods knew he probably knew it the best out of them all. So, Archie would never dare bring it up before he did so himself.
"How was business?" asked Archie after the greetings.
Ollie made a face. "Please, let's not discuss it for at least one evening. My mind is stuffed from talking to the lawyers all day already."
The dinner was unexpectedly pleasant. It was a surprise for Archie to realize that it had been almost two years since he'd last seen Ollie and there was plenty to catch up on, stories of his children fast growing up. He didn't much associate family dinners with pleasant conversation, and felt guilty that he was so much more relaxed when neither his mother nor Charlie were around, though for different reasons. Even his Father seemed more talkative, inquiring about Ollie's wife or various people from the township where they'd grown up.
At one point, so faint at first that Archie barely noticed it, he became aware of a strain. Almost like a muscle cramp but behind his eyes. It grew stronger, pulling taut. He was lucky that Father was talking at that point, because it was all he could do to school his face as if he were still listening when all he wanted to do was wince and shake the feeling out of his head.
And then, it faded. Archie waited for several moments with bated breath, to see if it would come back, but nothing. That was it then, Damaris had discovered the distance the bond between them could stretch. As Archie breathed easy, he wondered just how far it was.
"I'll head off first," said Father once they were done, clapping the two of them on the shoulder. "I have a few items to prepare before we go at it again tomorrow morning. I'll see if Carruthers is still in the office."
Archie flicked a glance at the wall clock dubiously. It was almost ten in the evening, and presumably lawyers had lives outside of the office too. But Father had already collected his coat and left.
"He's worried about you," said Ollie as they watched Father leave. "Though he didn't say it in so many words."
Archie shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"
"Do you have time still? We could go for a drink."
Archie shrugged. He didn't have any plans, but more importantly it was annoying of Ollie to drop that and then not expand on it. The topic hung in the air unexplained between them as they ventured out into the brisk air, the rain suspended in favor of a chilling fog that surrounded them immediately. There weren't many ale-houses in this district at this hour, so they managed to find somewhere relatively quiet where Ollie ordered two pints of beer. He looked comfortable doing it, as if it was something he did all the time. It was a working man's drink, so Archie had never ordered it before; it was bitter and mealy on his tongue, and Archie grimaced. Ollie laughed.
"A proper little lordling, you are," he said fondly.
"What do you mean? You're as noble as I am," said Archie crossly, trying another sip. Perhaps it would grow on him.
"It doesn't feel so stark in the countryside," said Ollie wistfully. "I turn up in the taphouse to talk to the tenants and farmers more often than not. It took a while for them to get used to, but I think it's worked well and they trust me more now."
It was late, and Archie wasn't equipped to have whatever this conversation was. "What did you mean about Father worrying?"
Ollie gulped at his beer, licking the foam off thoughtfully. He was delaying, Archie realized belatedly. Eventually, he seemed to come to a decision. "The estate is doing badly. I don't know if you've kept up with any of this, but the surge in demonic magic last year affected the weather patterns and the harvest was... underwhelming. It’s not just us, a lot of provinces across the kingdom were affected. We've had to make some promises to various neighbors to help make up the shortfall."
"We're in debt?" Archie confirmed.
Wincing, Ollie said, "It wasn't that bad at first, just the knowledge that it would be a lean couple of years. Except Charlie was not best pleased, and made a few decisions of his own that... didn't take into account all the context... and that has perhaps changed a few of our contracts. Father had given him access to the lawyers years ago, just in case, I don't think he expected Charlie to ever actually meddle."
"I didn't think Charlie kept up with the estate goings-on," said Archie.
"He doesn't," said Ollie tiredly. "He only cared because Father asked if he could decrease his monthly spending by a little in order to make it all stretch more. It wasn't even by much, but you know him. Anyway, I'm here to help the lawyers draft out the new contracts, ones that Charlie will hopefully have no view over. You don't need to worry about it though, I think we'll be in a good place with it soon."
"So why is Father concerned about me?" asked Archie.
"Because Charlie inquired about Father's will. And made inquiries about how to go about managing ‘his estate’ with the solicitors. They reported everything to Father and told him what Charlie asked for at first possible opportunity, of course.”
“Let me understand you properly,” said Archie incredulously. “Charlie asked our own father’s lawyers about how to spend Father’s money before Father even passed?”
Archie had heard Charlie bang on about it before, usually when he was deep in his cups, but mostly it had been noises about how he wouldn’t want to maintain his sibs once their father was gone and he became Duke, even though Father was in perfectly good health and not even that old. Charlie had been most pleased about Estelle’s engagement, presumably because it took away any need for him to sustain her.
“He’s a dolt,” agreed Ollie with a snort. That was rare. Charlie must have really made life difficult for Ollie for him to straight out insult Charlie like this. “His intention is to sell off the farm parts of the estate to fund his lifestyle in here.”
Even Archie understood the problem with this: “But the estate—”
