Aquilan highly doubted he did. But maybe that was best. He wanted Vesslan nowhere near Declan while Declan and Finley were mostly joined at the hip. It was much like him and Rhalyf. Just thinking of Rhalyf had him feeling a mixture of love and worry. Something was off about his best friend. He needed to get to the bottom of it, but there was so much going on!
He felt another wave of power from his bedroom. He glanced quickly at his brother but Vesslan seemed completely oblivious to it. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and took a large sip of the sparkling wine.
Let him remain oblivious. Let him go on about cabbages and land acquisitions. Let him talk of getting one over on Rohannan and missing the fact that the Night Prince is under our roof!
“I admit that I am surprised that there was anything to Darcassan’s conjectures. Ah, well, he was very clever about this, I suppose. But the boy gets obsessions. Sometimes he gets lucky,” Vesslan said with a shrug.
“He’s your son,” Aquilan found himself blurting out.
“Yes. And?” Another sandwich devoured.
“You should be proud of him. He’s not just lucky. He is smart. He saw what none of us did,” Aquilan pointed out.
“Yes, yes, but I still wouldn’t form any war plans around my son’s thoughts,” Vesslan said with a wave of his hand. “I assure you that he was lucky this time, but it won’t hold. He takes too much after his mother.”
Aquilan shifted slightly in his seat. The Sun flowed down through the trellis above them. The roses that clung thickly to the cross-hatch pattern of it filtered some of it out. A sweet scent filled the air as the blooms warmed. Speaking of Vesslan’s dead wife was a sore spot at best. He would just leave that there for now. But he couldn’t have Vesslan discounting Darcassan or Elasha.
“And yet, Vesslan, I think it would be unwise not to ask Darcassan his thoughts about the Leviathan threat,” Aquilan finally said. “I’m not altogether clear how he figured out about this one. He clearly has some insights into our enemy that no one else seems to have.”
Vesslan’s eyebrows lifted. “If you think that my son’s counsel is so important–”
“I know it is easy to see Darcassan and Elasha as children–”
“They are children, Aquilan,” his brother sighed and looked meaningfully at the bottle of sparkling wine chilling in the ice bucket.
Cellica quickly moved from the corner where she watched them to top up his glass. She went to put a touch more in Aquilan’s, but he made a subtle negative movement. She replaced the bottle and retreated to the corner of the gazebo.
“They are quite mature for their age,” Aquilan asserted. “And they were wonderfully brave in the Pedway and in Xradatha according to Snaglak and Helgrom.”
“Snaglak? The–the orc? The one that brought that blasted pooping naki into the palace?” Vesslan sniffed loudly. He had stepped into one of Glom’s deposits on the stairs.
“He tried to get Glom down to the garden in time, but…” Aquilan shrugged. “Glom ate quite a few fangs. His stomach was upset and sometimes one just has to go. I cleaned it up.”
Vesslan stared at him in what could only be described as fascinated horror. While Cellica was blinking rapidly at him, too.
“Cellica, are you all right?” Aquilan asked.
“My king, why–why did you not let me do that? Or another of the servants?” she asked aghast. “We would have–”
Aquilan shook his head, cutting her off. “Snaglak is quite protective of his fangs so it was better that I assisted him. He would not think the Sun King was trying to steal his treasure.”
Now both Vesslan and Cellica were staring at him with horror. Aquilan took another long swallow of wine. He felt a trickle of power coming from his bedroom. Not Declan’s… Vex?
Vex, are you here?
No answer. The feeling was gone. It likely had not been Vex. It was daylight and unless the Night King could create a rift into his bed chamber, Vex would not be making an appearance here.
Not yet.
He had said he would grant the Night King a boon if he opened a rift for them to Earth. And Vex had honored his end of the promise. Aquilan would not put it past him to show up on the Eryas Palace’s doorstep with a grin and little else on. He wondered what Vesslan’s response would be to the lightly dressed Kindreth royal. He almost smiled about it. But then reminded himself that it would likely lead to some kind of inter-dimensional incident.
Best to keep Vesslan and Vex well apart from one another.
Besides, the trickle had been so brief and it was gone now that he wasn’t sure he had felt it at all. Yet he knew that he wanted to get back upstairs and see Declan. His Shadow had endured so much in Illithor.
His chosen family is with him. What would I add to the mix?
He nearly shook himself. Here he was being ridiculous about Declan again. He must think of the young man and not his own feelings. He would be supportive. Lend a willing ear and a strong shoulder. Not that Declan seemed the type to cry…
