Page 73 of A Court So Dark
On our way here, Kryn had given us a detailed account of Earl Qierlan’s and Mylendra’s attendants. We would need to be acquainted with them, if we planned to make a successful trip to Nerethien in their company.
After lying the earl on his bed, we exited the chamber and headed to dinner. Ten minutes later, we found ourselves in a rustic room the size of a tennis court. The ceilings were high, and the walls covered in tapestries. The floor was made of stone and the furniture of heavy oak. The space was poorly lit, with only a few floor candelabra set around the long table.
A couple of males were already there, and the earl’s wife. The males stood when we entered, “the earl” ahead of us, while Kryn and I walked a few steps behind him. The earl’s wife remained seated. A grunt was all Kalyll gave them as a greeting as he took a seat at the head of the table. Kryn went to sit to his right but got a dirty look. He was taken aback until he seemed to remember that Kalyll was only doing his best to impersonate their father, and currently the prodigal son was out of favor.
Instead, Kalyll glanced in my direction and gestured toward the chair. Kryn did a good job of acting as if he both cared and didn’t care where he took a seat. The earl’s wife, seated to the left of her husband, gave Kryn a small smile as if it were a consolation prize for the ill-treatment.
“Is everything ready for our journey?” Kalyll demanded.
“Yes, my lord,” one of the males responded, a lanky individual with a long beard.
Kalyll’s eyes flicked to Kryn for an instant. Kryn quickly mouthed a name.
Dakian.
“Good, Dakian,” Kalyll answered. “I don’t want any delays. And you, Orist,” he addressed the second male, “what of the gifts for the Unseelie King?”
“TheZylnalasword has been carefully packaged, my lord, along with the jeweled gauntlet to match.”
Kalyll grunted and stabbed a piece of meat, looking as pleasant as an angry walrus.
“Is this really how your father is?” I leaned to my right and whispered to Kryn.
“On his good days,” he whispered back.
Witchlights, how miserable.
Dinnertime with my family had always been chaotic at the start, with mom nagging at us to hurry and set the table before the food got cold, but once we settled, we talked about our day, joking and offering encouraging comments or advice when someone was having a particularly bad time. Some of my fondest memories involved a meal with my family, enjoying mom’s delicious Italian dishes.
Kryn’s mother took little bites of her food and flinched every time Kalyll made a sudden movement, which he seemed to be doing a lot. His mannerism was completely different from his usually composed, methodical way. In fact, he was behaving more like Wölfe, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and audibly guzzling wine.
When he was done eating, he slammed his tankard down and pushed his plate aside. He picked up his steak knife, twirled it in his hand a couple of times, then stabbed it on the table, where it stood, its tip embedding in wood.
What the hell?He seemed to be taking this impersonation affair a little too far. Though on second thought, as I noticed the many indents in the wood, I realized that table-stabbing might be a common occurrence.
After a disdainful glance around those gathered, “the earl” stood, huffed, and walked away, leaving everyone without a word. The entire room seemed to exhale in relief, even me, who knew there was nothing to fear from him.
What a tyrant!
More at ease, I ate a few bites of food to assuage my hunger. It had been a long day, and I’d barely had time to eat anything. My chest felt tight after taking some of the earl’s life force, however, so I couldn’t stomach much. A few times, I glanced toward Kryn’s mother, but she pointedly avoided looking at me. She appeared embarrassed, probably at her inability to save her daughter from a marriage far worse than the one she’d endured.
Head down, Kryn pushed his food around. I watched him for a long moment thinking that, at last, I understood him: his cold and mean behavior toward me, his distrust. I saw the way he must have been mistreated as a child, the way his father taught him to be afraid of physical and emotional closeness. And yet, despite his cold exterior, he had let Kalyll and the others in, if only because they’d grown up together and they understood what he’d been through.
It didn’t necessarily excuse the way he’d behaved toward me, but I got it now.
After several minutes, Kryn and I got up from the table and followed Kalyll. We were all to meet in the earl’s chamber. In fact, the others must already be there, ensuring the awful male remained incapacitated. It wouldn’t do for him to wake up, shift into a scary creature, and chase us around the castle to tear us to pieces.
“Your father is a gem, isn’t he?” I said as we made our way back.
“A gem?”
“I mean… he’s not very nice. Forgive me for saying that, if it offends you.”
He barked a laugh. “Offend me? He’s an asshole, and everyone knows it, especially those closest to him.”
“It must’ve been terrible growing up with him,” I said tentatively, afraid he would shut me down.
To my surprise, he seemed open to conversation tonight. “Terribleis an understatement. He was civil with my sister, but he never showed such consideration for me. Since I learned what he is, I’ve begun to suspect he’s disappointed that I don’t share his shadowdrifter gift. He likely suspects he fathered a child with another woman before I was born. Maybe, he even suspects Kalyll is his son, despite Queen Eithne’s lies. And yet, he insists on blaming my mother, going as far as to insinuate he didn’t sire me when he knows perfectly well he has been no paragon of virtue.”
