Chapter 231: Catch Is A Simple Game (I Was So Naïve)
Chapter 231: Catch Is A Simple Game (I Was So Naïve)
Elyn’s POV
Morthen adjusted his glasses and stared at me.
I stared back.
He blinked.
I blinked.
He blinked again.
I blinked again.
We could have gone on like that for a while, honestly. Neither of us seemed particularly inclined to break first.
"Your Highness," Vaelory said, rather hesitantly.
I turned to her.
"Perhaps," she continued carefully, choosing each word like she was stepping across wet stones, "you should tell him more about what you said? Maybe a reason too for why you need the maps?"
I paused. It was obvious she was fishing for information.
"I should explain?" I asked her, then shook my head. "I’m not going to do so if that’s what you are asking."
Vaelory opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Then tried again. "He didn’t ask why you want them, Your Highness. He’s asking you to repeat what you said."
"Ah," I said.
A pause.
"I see no reason to repeat myself," I told her, "especially since you just clearly stated what I said. I want a map of the palace and the demon realm. That’s final."
I turned back to Morthen.
He had adjusted his glasses again. His antennae were doing that thing where they moved just slightly, which I had come to understand meant there was something going on behind those compound eyes that he was choosing, through considerable effort, not to say out loud.
He wanted to ask, just like Vaelory had done without subtlety. He too wanted to know why I would need the maps, but I wasn’t obliged to tell him why.
He stared for a while and then nodded.
I smiled at him. "Get going then."
He turned and left without another word.
I turned to Rin.
"Go to the kitchens," I told her. "Tell them to bring the snacks to the garden."
Rin’s face fell into a pout immediately.
"But I want to play catch too," she said.
I looked at her.
"Rin," I said, "in case you’ve forgotten—you are not a child."
She straightened. "I am my father’s child," she said, with complete seriousness.
I stared at her.
The disgust that moved across my face was entirely involuntary.
"I also have a father," I told her flatly. "You don’t see me claiming I’m still a child."
She had absolutely no response to that, which was a first.
Then she rallied.
"Just one game," she said. "I’ll play just one game."
I rolled my eyes. "You can play after you do what I’ve asked you to do."
Her pout deepened. But she nodded.
And then she turned, rather dramatically, in the direction of the kitchens, and walked away with the energy of someone who had been deeply wronged but was choosing, for now, to comply.
I watched her go.
Then I sighed.
And made my way to the gardens.
The morning air was warm when I stepped outside, carrying that faint floral scent that always seemed to exist somewhere in the palace grounds, like the garden had its own particular atmosphere it maintained regardless of the weather. The grass was soft underfoot, and the space was wide and open, which was exactly what a game of catch required.
The children were already there.
Aziren was standing in the middle of the grass with his arms slightly out at his sides, like he was preparing for something. The little flames in his hair were calm. Velira was stretching like she was preparing for a war.
Zayrion was using a small cloth to clean the lens of his glasses, to see better, I think. Azerion was already eyeing the open space with the strategic look of a child who had identified exactly which direction he intended to run.
One would think they were preparing for something else but a simple game of catch.
"Your Majesty," Aziren said brightly when he saw me.
"Hello again," I said.
I stopped in the middle of the grass and looked between them.
"Alright," I said. "Catch."
Four pairs of eyes on me.
"The rules are simple," I continued. "One person has the ball. You throw it to someone else. That person catches it. If you drop it, you sit out for a round." I paused. "Simple. Yes?"
They nodded.
Eagerly. All four of them.
I should have paid more attention to how eager they were.
I should have noticed that eager from four demon children meant something entirely different from what it meant when applied to human children who had not grown up in a realm where abilities were simply part of life.
I should have, as they say, connected the dots.
But I didn’t.
Because I was thinking about catch. Simple, manageable catch. The game I had chosen from the ballot, the game I had put in place because I wanted something simple. Because it was the least chaotic option available.
I had a ball brought out—one of the smooth, weighted ones from the palace storage that was slightly larger than a fist—and I tossed it lightly toward Aziren to start.
He caught it easily.
"Good boy," I praised.
He smiled and then threw to Zayrion.
Zayrion moved the ball from one hand to the other as if testing its weight before throwing it to Velira.
Velira scrunched her nose as she examined the ball as if trying to see if there was anything out of place, perhaps a fashion statement she could question, or maybe she wanted to seduce the ball too... I had no idea.
But when she was done—and she was only done after quite a while—she passed it to Azerion.
But it was okay. Even if they were all examining the ball differently, it was okay because we were still in control. Nothing over the top.
Yeah... famous last words.
Azerion held the ball, his blue orbs flicking to me and then to Aziren and then back to me.
"Do we have to pass it accordingly?" he asked me.
I blinked. "Well... not really, you can play however you want, but everyone gets a turn."
He gave me a huge smile, and it was at that point I knew I fucked up.
I was playing catch with demons. It was never going to be that simple. Oh, how naive I was to think it would be.