Chapter Five: Julian…

Walking into the chancery was like walking onto a battlefield right before the two sides clash. Elda stood opposite her father with her fists clenched, glaring at him like she wanted to punch him. The King stood behind his vast desk, his hands flat against the wood, sporting an equally furious scowl.

Sypher arched an eyebrow at Julian and inclined his head, beckoning the Vampire forwards without interrupting the standoff. Brady flashed him a smile while Clover and Gira looked on in pensive silence.

“Of course we need a banquet to welcome you home,” Meridia put in, shattering the quiet. “You will wear a dress and you will not embarrass the crown. There are more eyes on you now than ever.”

“Horthan is still angry at your rejection, Elda,” the King agreed. “He needs to see that you and your new husband are a team and a pair in love. Perhaps then he’ll stop making our trading routes so difficult to traverse.”

Elda’s glare became a concerned frown and Julian saw Sypher’s head tilt. “He’s not letting us trade?” she asked.

“Not easily,” the King explained. “There are new checkpoints along the routes that pass through Falkrynian territory, less goods are being shipped here from his kingdom, and our traders are being arrested for contraband I’m certain they aren’t carrying.”

“He’s arresting our people?” she echoed. Hrothgar nodded. “Fine,” she sighed, her shoulders drooping. “I will stay long enough for the banquet to be held. We need time to rest and train up anyway.”

Nobody mentioned the Soul Forge and his new mortality. Nobody addressed the arrival of two strange dragons. The Queen nodded in satisfaction and stood, smoothing her skirts.

“It’s settled then. Elda, come with me to the seamstress. We must have you fitted for new dresses at once,” Meridia sniffed, eyeing Elda’s trousers with distaste.

“No,” the Princess answered. “I will wear a dress and follow the rules at the banquet, but you won’t get me back in skirts any other time. I’m here for a reason, mother, not to be a trinket the crown can parade around.”

“I’ll make sure Horthan is aware his transgressions haven’t gone unnoticed,” Sypher promised, and Julian heard a hint of Vel in the vow. “And it shouldn’t be hard to show the marriage is genuine.” Elda turned and smiled at him.

“How do you plan to make Horthan aware?” Meridia asked suspiciously.

“I plan to threaten him,” the Soul Forge shrugged, and this time the answer was all Vel. “If he ignores my warning, I start sinking his boats.”

“You can’t just sink his boats,” the Queen snapped.

“And he can’t just arrest innocent people, but he is. Falkryn depends on their shipping fleet and their naval vessels. He won’t risk them.” Vel shrugged and folded his arms across his chest. “How are the valleys doing?”

“I haven’t had any reports of attacks coming in from the scouts,” Hrothgar supplied. “Our soldiers have been switching out with units from Cenet and Valdren to keep the villages safe while we train up some new recruits. Since Bratus fell, we’ve had a lot of young men and women sign up for the infantry.” The King cocked his head. “I was hoping you might be able to help them, actually.”

“Do you mean you want me to show my face as the Prince of Eden, or train them as the soldier I really am?”

“Both. They need to see you’re a powerful soldier as well as their future King. Rumours are still flying around that your murder of Lillian was personal.”

“I mean, it was,” Vel shrugged. Elda turned and looked at him with raised brows. “What? Obviously she was a soon-to-be murderer and the newest member of the Corrupted, but I also hated her.”

“Yes, well,” Hrothgar scowled, “we want people to focus on the former, not the latter.”

“I don’t care what people focus on. I’ll train the soldiers to the best of my ability and the civillians can think what they want.” Vel let his arms drop by his sides, sliding his hands into his pockets.

“Subtle as ever,” Julian snorted, pushing away from the wall to stand beside his friend. “I agree with him though, Your Majesty. Lillian was no saint. She made some terrible choices and he has every reason to feel no guilt for what he did. The public should know that his hatred was justified even before her plot to kill your family.” Julian cocked his head, pondering his words for a second before giving them a voice. “I think the soldiers would benefit from his ruthless side anyway. Imagine an army, a legion of finely trained soldiers, led by a demon to defend Eden. The public opinion of Vel could be used as an asset.”

“Hmm. Perhaps,” Hrothgar mused, stroking his full beard and casting a shrewd glance at the Soul Forge.

“Forgive me for speaking out of turn erm… your kinglyness?” Brady piped up. Julian and Clover choked on a laugh despite the tense atmosphere. Vel openly grinned at Meridia’s scowl and Elda dropped her face into her palm. “How about we stop telling Vel how he should behave and just let him have at it?”

Everyone stared at Brady for a second, but her almond shaped eyes didn’t waver from the King even when the Queen wrinkled her nose in distaste. She simply squared her shoulders and waited. Julian felt one of his brows quirk upwards, an impressed smile tugging at his lips.

“Let him have at it?” Hrothgar repeated.

“Uh huh. At the end of the day, he outranks everyone else on Valerus anyway. He answers directly to the Spirits. If he was meant to be different, he would be. We don’t have the right to dictate how he conducts himself and we’re all fucked without him.” She flashed a bright smile, shaking wild black curls out of her eyes. “Dress him up nice and then sit back and see what he does.”

“That’s… a chaotic approach,” the King replied slowly. “But you’re right. Brady, was it?” The bear Shifter nodded. “You are most definitely correct in saying the Soul Forge answers to the Spirits alone, Brady.” He sighed and sat down in his chair, folding his arms across his chest, his blue eyes fixing on Vel. “Fine. Do what you will with the soldiers and at the banquet. Just treat my daughter with respect.”

“She’s one of the only people on Valerus that I value more than my dignity,” the demon muttered. “I’ll wear the monkey suit, but you’re not policing my behaviour. I will kill Horthan if he touches my wife.”

“You’ll have to get in line,” Elda replied, drawing a smile from him before returning her attention to her parents. “Was there anything else you needed immediately?”

“A full report regarding your journey to the Dragon Isles and the status of Bratus and its residents,” Hrothgar replied. “Meridia, you may leave us. I only need the report from one of you so the rest of you can settle yourselves in the palace and get some rest after your journey.”

“I’ll stay to give the report,” Elda volunteered. Vel remained by her side when the rest of the group filed out of the room. The Queen gave them a polite nod and hurried away before any of them could try to engage her in conversation.

“Ever get the feeling you’re a commoner?” Brady quipped, and Gira chuckled.

“Queen Meridia is particular about the company she keeps. She’s grown up steeped in etiquette and poise and we… well…” The Keeper trailed off.

“Are the opposite of etiquette and poise,” Julian filled in.

“As long as I get something to eat soon, she can call me whatever she wants,” Clover grumbled, patting his stomach. “I’m starved of both blood and food.”

“Do you think we can entice one of the palace staff into giving us a meal?” Julian pondered. “Persephone was fairly helpful last time.”

“She can’t feed both of us,” Clover frowned. His brother grinned, revealing his pointed incisors.

“Perhaps not, but she might have a friend.”

“Who’s Persphone?” Brady asked.

“Elda’s handmaid,” Gira supplied. “A lovely human girl who helped to feed these two the last time they were here.”

The bear Shifter frowned. “I thought Vampires only fed on their bloodkin these days?”

“Unless there’s a mutual agreement,” Clover explained, a broad smile splitting his cheeks. “And the benefit she got from me last time was certainly worth the price.”

“Alright, keep it in your pants,” Brady balked. “Come on Gira. Let’s go find something freshly baked, smothered in sugar and decidedly absent of a raging boner.”

“Gladly,” Gira chuckled. “I’ve been craving apple pie. This way. Leave the Vampires to their hunt.” Julian watched the pair walk away, leaving him alone with his brother.

“How are you holding up?” Clover asked as soon as they were on their own.

“Surviving,” Julian replied. “Please can we not do this? I can’t.”

Clover’s expression softened. “Sure. Let’s go see if we can find Seph.” The pair started walking through the halls in search of the human girl, neither of them speaking for a while. “What do we do if Vel stays powerless?” Clover asked eventually.

“We keep going. He isn’t letting it stop him and we can’t show any doubt. We have to have faith in him.”

“You sound like Yani.”

“I know. He was right when everyone else doubted Vel. He isn’t here to support him anymore, so I’m going to do it for him.” Julian squared his shoulders and filled his lungs, letting the breath out in a gust. “It rips me up inside that he’s not here, but he wouldn’t want Vel to be alone through this. We have to have his back, for Yani’s sake if nothing else.”

“You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Jules. He’d be proud of you right now.” Looking at his older brother, Julian was hit with a painful stab of loss. His throat closed up, steps faltering for a moment as the memory of Yani’s death robbed him of air. “I know it hurts.”

“It feels like someone ripped my heart out,” Julian murmured, blinking away the tears burning in his eyes. A tremor ran through him, causing his fingers to shake and his knees to weaken. “I can’t believe he’s gone, Clover. What do I do?”

“You take another step.” They’d stopped in the middle of the corridor, Julian braced against the wall to stop himself sinking to the floor. “Just like you said. You keep going.”

“I can’t.” It hurt. It hurt so much to exist without the centre of his universe. Without Yani, he was a planet with no sun to orbit, adrift in space until the abyss either froze him over or swallowed him whole.

“You can.” He felt Clover approach, then a hand touched his back. “We lost our brothers, our home, our whole lives once. You almost died trying to kill Vel for taking everything from us, until you realised he was a victim too. He needed you then, and he needs you now.” Clover pulled him into a tight hug. “You tell me to keep going, but you have to do it too Jules. I know it’s hard, but I’m here. All of us are here with you.”

“Alright.” He straightened up and pushed away from his twin gently, scrubbing the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand and forcing another breath into his lungs. “Alright. What were we doing?” He straightened his spine and pushed his hair away from his eyes, faking confidence.

“Looking for Persephone,” his brother reminded him. “Do we just wander aimlessly until we bump into her?”

“Pretty much,” Julian shrugged. “She’s most likely to be in the living quarters turning down the beds at this time of day. Let’s start there.”

Julian took that next step, and another, and another after that. His body rebelled, his knees still threatening to fold beneath him, leaving him a sobbing wreck in the hallway, but they stayed supporting his weight.

In the back of his mind, he saw Yani smile.