Chapter 270: Business, Bargains, and the King Who Just Wanted a Picnic With His Wife
Chapter 270: Business, Bargains, and the King Who Just Wanted a Picnic With His Wife
The room was quiet for a while.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The shadows continued their slow drift along the walls, and Zorathys continued to exist in the dark with his wine and his earrings and his ruby eyes that caught no light and needed none.
Then Faelyra cleared her throat.
Every head turned to her slightly.
She stood straight, her rocky patches visible at her cuffs.
"Your Majesty," she began carefully, "on behalf of everyone here, I apologize."
Zorathys just looked at her.
No one interrupted her.
Mostly because they all wanted to hear where this was going before deciding whether or not to agree with her.
Faelyra continued smoothly.
"But perhaps Your Majesty could tell us exactly what you want from us moving forward so this... situation can be resolved properly."
The room went quiet again.
Zorathys stayed on her for a moment and then he smiled.
It was a beautiful smile, one that had no business existing on his face given the situation they were in right now.
And it was unfortunate for everyone involved because Zorathys smiling like this did not mean safety.
"That," he said lazily, "is the first reasonable thing I’ve heard since I summoned all of you here."
Faelyra nodded carefully, as did the others who stared at him, their chests heavy.
"I want your pests," Zorathys said calmly, "to stop visiting the palace."
The dukes and duchesses turned to look at each other.
Then back at him.
The atmosphere in the room somehow became even heavier despite the simplicity of what he had said.
Zorathys tilted his head faintly.
"Why," Zorathys asked calmly, "are you all looking at me like I just sent you to your deaths?"
Nobody answered.
"I told you to stop sending your pests to the palace," he said. "That is all. If you cannot do that—" he picked up his glass, "—you can offer me your souls instead."
Everyone swallowed.
Then Guilidern spoke very softly.
"The Queen was the one who told the children they could come," he said.
Zorathys looked at him.
"Did the Queen say," he asked, "that your pests could take her from me?"
Guilidern had nothing to say to that.
Zorathys turned to Ignivar then.
"You remember the promise you made me," he said. It was not a question.
Ignivar swallowed. "I remember, Your Majesty. But it’s not as though I can actually stop my—"
"Finish that sentence," Zorathys said pleasantly, "and you can forget any chance you have of convincing Ysera to go back to you."
Ignivar closed his mouth and Ysera looked at the floor.
"I am not asking for anything extreme," Zorathys continued, looking around the room. "I am simply saying that your pests should stop visiting the Queen. Stop coming to the place where the Queen is." He paused. "The Queen is for me. Not for your pests."
The shadows moved.
"Because of your pests," he said, "the Queen does not have time for me."
He set his glass down.
"I cannot even go on a picnic with her," he said. "Because of your pests."
One thought moved through every noble in the room simultaneously.
The king was jealous of the children.
Genuinely, completely jealous of a group of small demons for getting the attention of the Queen.
And they were going to suffer for it if they didn’t do what he asked.
None of them said this out loud though, and then Aurelixa spoke quietly.
"Given the current situation," she said, "we cannot begin this from today."
Zorathys looked at her.
She continued without flinching.
"Like you said, the Queen is currently having a picnic with the children," she said. "If we go now and take them away, she will suspect something. She will ask questions." She paused before she continued. "And there is the probability the Queen will get answers."
The room considered this.
"We can promise," Aurelixa said, "that from tomorrow, the children will stop visiting the palace."
Zorathys regarded her.
Aurelixa held his gaze with the composure of a demon who had negotiated in gambling dens across territories in the realm and had never lost.
Her ears were still flat.
But she held her stance.
Ignivar bowed his head. "Agreed, Your Majesty."
One by one, the others followed. Caleth, Faelyra. Xaleron. Draeven, who had returned to approximately sixty percent of himself. Even Guilidern.
Seraphielle said nothing.
She stood at attention and her eyes moved across the room, and she noted every single duke and duchess agreeing to this arrangement with the focused attention of someone filing information away for later.
She did not understand why they were so agreeable, but then she knew she would have the opportunity to speak with them later.
"It is always a pleasure," Zorathys said, and he smiled again, "doing business with you all."
He waved a hand.
"The Queen should not be made aware of this conversation," he added. "Any of it."
Every head nodded.
And then they were gone.
One by one and then all at once — teleporting away from the dark room until the shadows were the only things left, moving slow and satisfied along the walls.
Zorathys sat alone, a smug smile on his face.
Mission accomplished.
No more pests between him and his Firefly. No more small demons attaching themselves to her and asking for picnics and being carried down dungeon corridors and generally existing in spaces that were supposed to be his.
Tomorrow the palace would be quiet.
Tomorrow he could go to the office without finding children arguing about tiny brains. Tomorrow he could walk the corridors without a small fire demon beaming at him from his Firefly’s shoulder. Tomorrow he could suggest a picnic and there would be no spawn to suggest one first.
Tomorrow.
He picked up his wine.
His shadows settled around him, slow and content, in full agreement with all of this.
He took a sip.
Today though, he was going to make sure the snake was no longer an issue.