A Trickle of Soulfyre

Chapter 27: Alarm

"That's a beautiful vase of beautiful flowers you have there." Prince Ivas of the pixie territories smiled at the midnight-blue glass cylinder standing on Nash's desk. His eyes were a similar deep colour as he appreciated the cornflowers standing tall within it, irises with no white to be seen.

Nash followed his gaze. "Thank you. They remind me of Lady Lyrani."

She had given him that vase because the stars etched on it reminded her of him and their first kiss. It had seemed only right that Nash fill the vase with the flowers that he had slipped behind her ear that day.

Nash liked to have the cornflowers on his desk, especially when his girlfriend wasn't, but he hadn't had them replaced with a fresh bunch in days. He had been so overwhelmed by his assassination attempt and the meetings with the other clans that he hadn't thought to ask Isarea, but he made a mental note to do so.

"How lovely." Prince Ivas's slender, diminutive form leaned back in his chair, his feet dangling a long way above the floor. "How is she?"

Nash was unable to resist a smile at the thought of her. "She's as great as always."

"I'm happy to hear that. I must say, I'm surprised that she isn't here. I had expected that she would attend our meeting too." Prince Ivas gave Nash a teasing smile, though there was a hint of curiosity in the gentle lifting of his eyebrows.

Nash couldn't blame him. Prince Ivas had met Lyrani only once, and she had never strayed from Nash's side, just as his hand had never left hers. Perhaps that had led the pixie Prince Consort to believe that he and his girlfriend were inseparable, but things weren't that simple.

"Lyr is very busy with work at the moment, unfortunately, or I'm sure she'd have loved to attend our negotiation," said Nash.

"And I'd have loved to see her again." Prince Ivas beamed.

It didn't surprise Nash that Lyrani had made an impression on the pixie royal couple when they attended their wedding a few months previously. She had smiled at the right times and made such effortless conversation that she was unforgettable to many other guests too.

Sometimes Nash felt that she was better suited to being royal than he was. She was a natural. He had been forced into this, and it showed whenever he had to dredge up a smile in company even though all he wanted was for the party to end so that he could rest his tired body and mind away from all the needling eyes.

His inner state wasn't as bad as it had been when Rayn was possessing him, but he had always preferred his space and his quiet darkness to the stifling brightness of balls and dinners. The only thing he liked more than solitude was having Lyrani with him.

That was why he had never envied her natural skill at being royal even as he had spent many years perfecting his kingly demeanour. He had only watched her fall asleep beside him and imagined her ruling at his side.

He could see it all, the chambers that were attached to his apartment decorated with swathes of sunlight that Lyrani had once said would be a tribute to him, the fearless, bold queen she would be, the mornings they'd spend finding a new place to picnic in Vlitavia Forest at midday, the children they'd have.

But before he could get swept up in his daydream, King Vannix huffed.

"I can name someone else who's busy with work and therefore doesn't appreciate being made to wait." The pixie ruler glared at Nash, the look menacing even on his little face. "We travelled from Pindy at dawn to be here by the time we agreed on. We made the effort. It is exceptionally rude of your advisor to be late."

Prince Ivas put a slim hand on his husband's broader one as it tensed on the elf king's desk, giving Nash an apologetic look. He was the softer half of the royal couple, having been raised to be a baker, not a king with all the pressures of ruling a territory and maintaining relations with the other clans.