Verita - The Guardian of Darkness

26

As soon as they'd arrived at his private study, Aetrian  sighed deeply and circled his shoulders. Showing his fatigue in a room  full of greedy nobles, who jumped on any chance to get their will, was a  terrible idea but he had no reason to mind himself in front of Ves.

Without  any grace at all, Aetrian let himself fall onto the chair behind his  large desk. The sun hadn't even risen to its highest point but after a  sleepless night, he felt like a speeding carriage had hit him. In  theory, nothing would've kept Aetrian from sleeping for a few hours, but  his guilty conscience had had another opinion. Therefore, he'd spent  his night together with the royal medic in the Silver Ivy rooms. They'd  kept a close watch on Elanthin, who remained in a comatose state without  any signs of recovery.

Even though Aetrian had escaped the  Gratian nobles in the stifling court room, he still felt like screaming  his frustration from the palace roofs. If Elanthin died in his territory  after all he had promised to do for her, he couldn't proudly live with  himself. What sort of king was he, if he couldn't protect the person  standing right by his side? Was someone like him even fit to unite the  continent or had his ambitions been foolish from the start?

Forging a new title under which I can unite the kingdoms is the realistic price to save Verita, he  reminded himself before the sinking feeling in his stomach took over  once more. Had he really helped house Verita if their only descendant  died on his watch?

"This must be your first break since the  speech", assumed Ves correctly as he interrupted Aetrian's inner  monologue of growing self-doubt. In contrast to his cousin, the aid's  olive skin held a healthy glow, giving away that he'd slept soundly  during the past night. "How about we have some tea and a bite to eat  while we're discussing the attack?"

"Have at me, Ves. What are  the damages?", requested Aetrian without going into his cousin's  suggestion. He wasn't in the mood for a tea party and even less for  pretending to be.

Ves clicked his tongue but sat down on the  visitor chair facing the wooden desk. With the treaty and the plaza  attack, the paper towers on his desk had risen into unprecedented  heights. Parchment scrolls were bundled together and sorted into rough  categories in a desperate attempt to organize the chaos.

"Well,  the monster has lethally wounded a guard and three citizens before Her  Majesty got to it. Additionally, an elderly women was trampled to death  in the midst of the chaos. As to how many are hurt ... it's unclear but  the capital's medics have been busy since then."

"Damn it",  exclaimed Aetrian, putting all his frustration into these two syllables.  It hadn't been enough if he'd continued to swear until the end of times  but it was a start. All this annoyance of his had to go somewhere,  otherwise he'd have to explode. How could this have happened under his  watch?

You've become lazy, he scolded himself, well-knowing that self-blame wouldn't help him now.

"I thought your brother said we shouldn't swear in these holy chamb–"

Aetrian's eyes glinted dangerously as he fixated his aid. "Shut your trap, Ves. I won't tell you to a second time."

Ves lowered his head with pursed lips, causing his caramel-colored braid to slip over his shoulder. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

A  long sigh escaped Aetrian's lips, before he put his hands onto his  face. He wasn't acting like himself and he didn't want to continue  showing people this impatient and gloomy side of his, even if it meant  to cover up his complicated feelings with lies and polite smiles.

"Forgive  my temper, Ves. It's just ... it's been a long morning and I feel like I  should've seen this coming. No, I should have prevented it."

His  aid nodded in understanding. "You know how unreliable your family's  gift is. When you do have an intuition it's scarily on point – but  regardless, it's impossible to prevent everything bad from happening.  Just look at how aunt Leowhyn couldn't ..."

"That's enough."  Aetrian lifted his hands from his face, just to frown at his cousin. His  new-found composure was crumbling already. "Don't mention my mother in  this context. I remember clearly what happened back then."

"I'm just saying ..."

"And I know you're right. I just wonder what's so great about being gifted with a talent for foresight when it's not reliable at all."

"But  you managed to find the right timing to form an alliance with house  Verita. Isn't that quite the feat? Her Majesty herself acknowledged that  she wouldn't have considered the offer if it wasn't for the Veritans'  current ... plight."

"I did convince her to come here, didn't  I." Aetrian stared out of the window but he wasn't looking at the people  prancing around in the palace garden. The scene from that dim alleyway  played out once more in his head. The crashing monster, the queen's  swift escape – and the arrow, which no one had seen coming. "I promised  her safety and now she's on the brink of death because of my selfish  wish to unite the kingdoms."

"What's so selfish about trying  to lift the exile of thousands of innocents?", asked Ves in a tone that  didn't resemble a question at all. Aetrian knew that his cousin was  often annoyed with his episodes of self-loathing but today, he didn't  feel like sparing him.

"Perhaps the Veritans would've found a  solution to the Deep's behavior without us if I hadn't interfered", he  continued on moodily. And Elanthin wouldn't be on death's door step  right now but where she's supposed to be, alive and strong.

Ves openly stared at Aetrian, until the latter frowned in return and snapped at him: "What?"

"Nothing. You talk about the Veritans but you seem more concerned about Elanthin herself."

"You shouldn't call her that."

"I've heard you call her that."

The  room went silent for a moment, before Ves broke into a sly grin. "So,  it's only you who's allowed to call her that. I thought so."

"It's a status thing", said Aetrian. He wasn't even trying to hide the ridiculousness of his excuse. "You wouldn't know about it, not being a ruler yourself."

"Uh-huh.  Sure." Ves' grin faded after he'd thrown his caramel braid back over  his shoulder in a smooth movement. "I understand that you've come to  enjoy her company, but you shouldn't forget that she's the head of house  Verita. It's the queen's job to be a target and she's chosen this life  herself from what I've heard."

"I know, I know. She's much  stronger than either of us – but it's my palace and my capital she was  attacked in. Not once, but twice, so I need to fix this situation  somehow."

Ves looked at his cousin and grimaced. Aetrian didn't have to ask to know what he thought: Maybe there is no cure for her state.

"Your thoughts are too loud, Ves. For now, tell me what you've found out about the arrow which hit her."

"As  you and the doctor suggested, there was potent poison on it." Ves  hesitated before continuing. "As for the cure ... the mages have made no  progress worth mentioning. All we know is the origin of the poison but  before we know all its parts and how it works exactly, we can't  neutralize it."

"You're telling me you and the whole mage tower have found nothing useful on the poison's composition?"

"I'm  afraid it's similar to nothing they've seen or recorded before.  However, Aydeze", Aetrian straightened up, visibly hopeful upon the  mention of the head of the mage tower, "has found out two things: It's  potent enough to kill on touch and it can't stem from the surface."

"Not  from the ...", Aetrian's voice trailed off, as he put the pieces  together. "Was the poison sourced from the Deep? Is that possible?"

"Aydeze believes so but it's only a hypothesis at this point."

Leaning back on his chair, Aetrian looked up unto the snow-white ceiling covered in stucco, before closing his eyes.

"For what accurst reason must the Deep follow her all this way?"

Ves  gently placed the report papers he'd held on the desk in front of  Aetrian. Before he left the room, he looked back at his cousin, who'd  opened his amber eyes, one more time.

"If you ask me, Your  Majesty", he said with a serious expression, "the bigger question we  should ask ourselves is: Why is the queen still fighting, when the  poison should have killed her at first touch?"

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