“That’s why they all hate me,” Ethyr mumbled.
“Well, of course.”Verusias swallowed his last bite of fig and sucked juice from his thumb.“It’s a slap in the face for some peasant from the backlands, who probably barely knows the gods’ names, to be chosen over those who had devoted their whole lives to them.”
Ethyr might have been offended, but at that point he was resigned to the way everyone from the capital saw him.Even to Lyrian, that’s who he was: an uneducated, undeserving peasant.At least Verusias didn’t try to hide his opinion with false respect or flattery.
“I knew their names,” he defended half-heartedly.“We were told all the legends.”
“Master!”An attendant was calling from the edge of the fruit grove.
“Bath must be ready.”Verusias playfully smacked between Ethyr’s shoulders, making him almost choke on the bite of pear in his mouth.“Let’s hurry before it gets cold.”
Ethyr followed him back to the estate, winding through the corridors to a small, tiled room.Much like the palace washroom, it was filled with flowery-scented steam and a pool of milky water in the center.
“There’s no heat mechanism to keep it warm, like the palace has,” Verusias told him.“So it gets cold if you let it sit.It’s honestly been a nuisance.”An attendant pulled Verusias’s tunic off and untied his pants.Ethyr jerked away from the attendant who tugged at his own.
“I can undress myself,” he told them.They blinked at him, surprised, but stepped aside.
Ethyr hadn’t realized Verusias would be in the bath with him.He couldn’t believe he was put off by it—he’d bathed with others his whole life.Though the attendants standing by the wall, watching and waiting, was a little disconcerting now that Ethyr was used to dismissing them.
He undressed and slipped into the water, sighing as it set to work on muscles he hadn’t realized were sore from travel.Even with cushioned seats and manicured roads, it was stressful on the body.Verusias leaned back, spreading his arms over the edge.
“Now then.Tell me everything.”
“E-everything?”Ethyr asked uncertainly.
“Yes!Did you really kill Yorith, then elect Lyrian as advisor so you could fuck him?”Ethyr balked.“Ha!Certainly made me stop questioning why the gods chose you, if you were as crazy as that.You seem kind of normal, though, which is boring.Tell me you aren’t.”
“I am,” Ethyr said, and didn’t know why he sounded apologetic.“I wanted to ask you about that, actually.Did you know, when you were king, all the stuff about Lyrian and his father?”
“Of course!All priests know about that; we do have to learn relevant political history, you know.They don’t expect us to retain much of it, but something like that sticks with you.Especially since it had all happened to Yorith and he was still advisor.”
“You weren’t… sad?To hear about what happened to him?”
“Ehhh, that old geezer.”Verusias shrugged.“It was sad, sure, but he was old whenIwas consecrated.I thought he’d die during my reign, honestly.Did you really kill him?I heard you drew the sword right out of your guard’s belt and stabbed him through.Somehow, seeing you, that doesn’t seem plausible.”
Ethyr rubbed the back of his neck, squeezing his eyes closed.“N-no, it was nothing like that.I can’t… I can’t talk about it.”
“Oh come on,” Verusias whined, kicking Ethyr’s leg from across the bath.“The first interesting thing to happen at the palace in sixty years and you’ll withhold it from me?”
Ethyr bit his lip, weighing his options.He really didn’t want to talk about it.But he didn’t want to keep being badgered about it either.Did it matter if Verusias knew the truth?Or was it better for him to think Ethyr a murderer than a completely incompetent buffoon?
“I…” He took a deep breath.“I didn’t kill Yorith.S…someone else did.”
“Who?”
“I can’t… say.Just know it was all…” He sighed, rubbing his palms over his eyes.“It was all a huge mistake.Everything.Yorith’s death, taking the blame for it, choosing Lyrian as advisor, letting him dismiss Gionan—”
Verusias sat up.“What?He dismissed Gionan?”
Ethyr blinked at him.He forgot Verusias must have known him, too.
“On what grounds?!That little sneeze is annoyingly perfect, there couldn’t be a better Head Attendant out there.”
“He didn’t need any grounds,” Ethyr reminded him.“He’s advisor.”
“But he needed to justify it to you, didn’t he?”
“Did Yorith justify his staff changes to you?”
