Page 37 of Set in Darkness
“It wasn’t my intention to?—”
“It never is, yet you continue this uncouth and crass spectacle with Prince Jarryn every time you see him.”
“Have you noticed that he starts it every time?” Leander interjected, his jaw clenched like a vice at the injustice of receiving a dressing down when it wasnot his fault. “I turned up, I attempted small talk. I even tried to ignore him to avoid what happened. Nothing works with that godsforsaken disgrace!”
“Mind your tongue, Leander,” Flavian boomed, his eyes veiled and unreadable but his tone quiet and dangerous in his fury. “The prince might not be here to hear your uncultivated, loutish insults about him, but he is still a prince and has the right to your respect.”
“No one has the right to anything,” Leander muttered, turning his head away.
“What was that?”
“I said… forget it.”
“No, Leander, tell me. After yesterday, you have proven yourself to exist on a pedestal where your words must be heard and revered by all who can listen. I want to know.” Venom dripped from the very words Flavian spoke, and the room surged with an Aesthesic flare even Flavian couldn’t contain. It was enough for Leander to fully appreciate, finally, the depths of Flavian’s contempt for his bastard son.
“Respect is earned,” Leander bit out, his tine coloured by anger and frustration. “Prince Jarryn has not even come close to it. Few people have.” He met his father’s gaze, hatred flashing across his eyes as he did so.
Flavian merely smiled, a tight-lipped expression that was utterly devoid of any mirth.
Because there was nothing funny about this conversation.
“Likewise you wish to command the love and respect of mortals across Cariun… with what? Your disgusting attitude towards your own worth and wellbeing.”
Leander bristled, the words hitting home in their truth. But he refused to allow his father to see him display any form of weakness. To give in would be to lose what little remained of his pride.
Flavian continued his diatribe. “How could anyone respect a degenerate such as you when you have nothing but contempt for yourself.”
It wasn’t a question, and Leander didn’t answer. Instead, he turned an accusing glare onto his mother. “Are you just young to sit there and allow him to talk to me in such a manner?”
Leía’s eyes didn’t even flicker.
Leander felt a sharp pain pierce his chest, an acute, visceral reaction to the realisation that his mother held similar views about him. Maybe she had wanted to ignore it, maybe she had tried. Maybe he had gone too far down a path where there was no reprieve nor redemption.
It took a lot of effort for Leander to tear his gaze away from Leía.
Shejustsat there, unblinking, unmoving.
Leander couldn’t even get a read on her emotions, divine and immune as she was to mortal arcane gifts.
“You have been given a chance, Leander,” Flavian continued as if Leo had not spoken, “many chances. Ones you have squandered at every opportunity.”
“Have I not done everything you have asked of me?” Leander returned.
“With disdain and spite.”
“You want my magnanimity? Unlikely, Father. You send me to one more school in this thrice-damned city and I might actually implode.”
“You don’t get it, do you?”
Leander blinked, not understanding what the man meant.
“You—we—are responsible for safekeeping the wellbeing of thousands of people in this city. And tens of thousands beyond. As a god, you have that same responsibility over millions. And you don’t care.”
That gave Leander reason to pause, to bite back his rebuttal.
Flavian moved from the shadows, coming to standbehind the goddess who had once been his lover. “Profound duty. That is what rests on your shoulders.”
“I know this, Father.”
