Page 64 of Of Kings and Kaos
I was barely cognizant of the door shutting behind me with a softsnickas Lord d’Refan laughed.
“I see you’ve ditched the boots already, hmm?” he teased loudly as he sipped from his extremely full glass of whiskey. I had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t his first of the day.
Despite the unnerving near-constant zooming of his eyes, focusing on Lord d’Refan was much easier than the alternative option.
“Yes,” I answered simply with a shrug.
“Those were made by some of the finest craftsmen in the city,” he rebuked, and I felt myself cringe involuntarily.
I’m sure they were expensive, but I couldn’t stand the hardness of them. They were nothing like a pair that a certain grumpy General had gifted to me. A pair that I kept hidden beneath my bed for reasons I didn’t want to think about—tossing such an expensive pair of boots seemed wasteful.
Wasteful. Right.
“You should have had Yanni make her a pair. Or she could have worn the pair I gave her. They would have worked fine for today.” That smoother-than-whiskey voice washed over me, and I felt my dark cheeks pink slightly at his attention.
I still refused to look at him.
“Bah. It doesn’t matter now,” Lord d’Refan said with a wave of his arm around the space. I shifted nervously on my feet, especially as I took a quick glance at Rohak. He wasn’t looking at me, thank the gods, but his gaze was dark. Moody. He wasalways a bit grumpy and closed off, but this was different. It was almost hatred? Though that seemed too strong a word.
Animosity? Disproval?
I couldn’t pin the emotion completely, and it was gone from his face before I could try to discern further.
“Indeed,” Rohak said blandly as he took a small sip of whiskey.
I fidgeted with my hands as my gaze tracked around the room, unsure why I was called here.
“Rune Master, please sit,” Lord d’Refan said as he gestured to the open chair to my right. I gave him a quick smile in thanks before I sank into the chair, balancing just on the cushion’s edge.
“You can call me Fay, Lord d’Refan,” I reminded him for the thousandth time.
“And you can call me Alois. Until that happens, I’ll continue to use your formal title,” he said with a shrug, and my lips pulled into a line that I hoped resembled a smile.
Fat chance of that happening. In no way did I want any sort of familiarity with this man.
“What did you call us here for, Alois? I have business I need to attend to,” Rohak clipped out, his eyes focused on me, and I squirmed under his intense scrutiny.
What is he doing?
“Yes, yes. Still the same business-first, pleasure-never friend, eh?” he teased, though Rohak didn’t smile. Lord d’Refan let out an exaggerated sigh before draining his whiskey completely. “Old friend, you and I have some . . . catching up to do on our own, later. For now, I wanted to pull you both here to discuss two things—Life Bonds and my wife.”
Rohak and I wore similar expressions of confusion, our brows furrowed over our eyes.
Why would he want to discuss both of those things in tandem?
“Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of Life Bonding your wife?” Rohak scoffed with so much derision that I winced. Whether he was angry about the Life Bonds, Alois’ choice of wife, or a combination thereof, I wasn’t sure. But it definitely set him on edge.
Alois simply hummed before tossing back the remainder of his whiskey.
“It’s obvious to everyone at this point that Ellowyn is not . . . doing well,” He grimaced and passed the empty whiskey glass from hand to hand. The sunlight drifting through the expansive windows caught on the glass tumbler, shooting rainbows across the room. Not wanting to look at Lord d’Refan and unable to look at the enigmatic man across from me, I chose instead to follow the colors as they bounced around the study.
Rohak scoffed quietly as he leaned back in his armchair. The move was smooth and, though his pose mimicked complete ease, the tensing of his muscles told a different story.
Pre-Hestin Rohak would never have spoken to his longtime friend in this fashion, at least in front of other people. The nearly imperceptible frown and tightening of his shoulders showed that Lord d’Refan wasn’t the only person confused by Rohak’s demeanor.
The General had changed over the last six months, and not just physically.
“Of course she’s not doing well, Alois,” Rohak said, his voice tired and tinged with a hint of annoyance. “You forced her tokilleither her brother or childhood friend, imprisoned her parents, whisked her away to Vespera, and locked her in the manor. You restricted her access to her magic, which literally feels like a piece of your soul is missing. Did I forget anything?” Rohak paused and pretended to think while Lord d’Refan and I stared, agape. It wasn’t often that I felt anything other than wariness toward Lord d’Refan, but now, hearing his friend’s tirade, Icouldn’t help but feel a tinge of embarrassment and shock on his behalf.
