“I’m more than capable of looking after myself. We’re never going to trust each other if we constantly have guards all around.” He should have known someone would spot them. Sir Henschel, his mother’s spymaster, still hadn’t been sent back out on assignment, meaning Syrus and Eiri likelywerehis assignment and their every step was being shadowed.
“Trust?” she scoffed. “Who said anything about trust? He’sCanjiri. None of them can be trusted.”
Syrus looked around, but no one in the family reacted to her vitriol. Tonight’s supper gathering was fairly small, by his family’s standards. A few courtiers at the far tables, select family members at the nearer. He spotted Xan sitting near the middle of the room with his parents and sister. The head table tonight consisted only of the immediate royal family. The various spouses and his small herd of nieces and nephews were scattered around the massive room, for reasons known only to his mother.
“We’re making progress,” he replied. For some reason, he was reluctant to share details of his afternoon with Eiri.
“I need more than that, Syrus,” she ordered, glaring down the table at him. “The celebration is the day after tomorrow, and I will not have you escorting someone who looks like a harbor rat. Get him to fall in line or I’m going to assume you’re incapable and take care of it myself. Is that clear?”
The insult, one he’d heard countless times, had him seeing red. His grip on his fork tightened and he clenched his jaw until it ached, fighting to hold back words that would likely see him stripped of at least one privilege if he used them with his mother.
A light touch on his wrist pulled him out of his fury and he saw Ellis out of the corner of his eye. His youngest brother’s face was impressively even, but there was a hint of iron in his grip, a silent warning.
Syrus forced himself to take a slow, deep breath and settle himself before responding. “Yes, ma’am. I understand,” he ground out. She narrowed her eyes, seeing far more than he would have liked, but in the end, she just nodded.
“Good. Now, tell me where we are with the preparations.” She turned her attention to his sister, dismissing him completely.
“Thank you,” he murmured to Ellis once everyone’s attention was off him.
“Is everything alright? That was unexpected.”
“It’s a long story. I appreciate your support, though.”
Ellis looked unconvinced, but he was smart enough to let it go for now. The head table at suppertime was hardly the right time or place to have a discussion like this.
He could feel eyes on him, but only one set that mattered. He casually looked over the dining hall, his gaze catching Xan’s and lingering for a moment. His cousin knew him well, because he just nodded, barely perceptible across the distance between them. Right now, what Syrus needed was advice, and Xan was one of the few people he trusted enough to give it while also being discrete.
Dinner dragged on for hours, and Syrus was ready to crawl out of his skin by the time it finally ended. The queen had a strict, unspoken rule that no one was to leave the table before her unless given special permission, and tonight, she was in the mood to chat. Syrus couldn’t help but wonder if she was doing this on purpose, as a sneaky punishment for his attitude earlier. It was hardly a secret that he didn’t care for lingering at the dining table. The habit of eating quickly and getting back towork had been ingrained over his years as a soldier, and while he’d been a prince longer than he’d been a soldier, the formalities of being royalty had always chafed around the edges.
Finally, though, his mother stood. Etiquette dictated they all stand and bow as she left, but where the rest of his family sat back down after her departure, ready to gossip more, Syrus remained on his feet.
“I’m going to bed,” he announced to no one in particular, knowing they weren’t paying attention to him.
“I think I will, too,” Ellis chimed in before Syrus could make his escape. “I’ll walk with you.”
“Sure. Let’s go.” Anything to get out of the dining hall. He saw Xan rise as well, and Ellis immediately glanced over, a faint blush staining his cheeks when Xan winked at him. He almost commented, but he had his hands full with his own drama at the moment. Once he sorted everything out with Eiri, he’d intervene with Xan and Ellis if necessary. He very much hoped Ellis would get over his crush before it came to that, though. The last thing he needed was to get caught between his cousin and his baby brother.
“So what happened back there?” Ellis asked once they were a safe distance from the dining hall. “Did Eiri do something while you were in town? You seemed angry.”
Then again, he’d almost rather deal with Ellis and Xan than discuss today with his brother. Of all his siblings, though, Ellis had been the least judgmental of Eiri so far.
“I lost my temper, and I shouldn’t have,” he admitted. “I’m attempting to make peace with my husband, though and mother would prefer I just bring him to heel. It’s simply a difference of opinion.”
“Difference of opinion?” Ellis snorted, rolling his eyes when Syrus looked at him. “Just between the two of us, I think she’s being a little unreasonable.”
“You do?”
“Well, think about it. We’ve been enemies with the Canjiri for almost forever. They say we’re allies now, but no one actually believes that. Then you and Eiri got pulled into this peace marriage. It’s hard enough on you, but can you imagine what it must be like for him, to be taken away from his home and his people and dumped in a strange place, surrounded by enemies? That would scare even the bravest person, I’d wager.”
“I… I suppose I hadn’t thought of it on those terms,” he said slowly. Of course he knew that was Eiri’s situation, but it’d always been a vague concept, not something he’d put a lot of thought into. He hadn’t exactly had time to think about much of anything lately, true, but that was a weak defense.
“It isn’t a great situation for either of you, but at least you have your family and your fellow soldiers and friends like Xan.” Ellis stumbled over Xan’s name, a barely noticeable little slip that he quickly tried to cover. “Eiri’s only got that ambassador, and he doesn’t seem to be the friendliest person out there.”
‘Deliberately obtuse’, Xan had called him last night when he’d tried to make this same point to Syrus. He was going to have a lot of groveling to do when they spoke. If he hadn’t gone out with Eiri today and Xan hadn’t wanted the gossip so badly, he doubted his cousin would have agreed to meet with him tonight at all.
“When did you get to be so smart?” he asked instead of responding, reaching over and lightly mussing his brother’s short hair. Unlike the rest of the family, Ellis kept his dark locks shorn close to his head, barely more than a soft bristle. Syrus never had the heart to tell him it didn’t quite suit him.
Ellis batted his hand away. “I’ve always been smart. You all just assume I don’t know what I’m talking about because you still think of me as the baby of the family.”
