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So, if Edarial wasn't sure that his wife hated him before, he's really, really sure of it now. It's pretty usual that if they're in the same room, he feels nothing but silent, seething hostility from her. Usually, his reaction to this is a poker face followed by running. He doesn't like having someone hostile just - there at the dinner table, glaring at him with her hissing familiar.
Zevros doesn't hate him, Edarial's certain of it, but he's not helping. He's literally never seen his twin this angry before. This is coming from someone who has seen his twin be angry loads of times. At meals, he just - sits there. Stabbing his food and glaring at Edarial while he does it. He gets why, he knows that Zevros is furious with him for the whole 'cold political marriage' thing. It still hurts, though, to have his immediate family just be so openly hostile.
He gets more withdrawn. Meals get delivered to his room rather than him eating with Iobel and Zevros right there, being near-openly hostile. He stops sparring with Zevros nearly entirely, spends an unhealthy amount of time in either his office or his room, and Berathyme spends all her time coiled around his shoulders, offering what little comfort she can.
She's pretty terrible at advice, but at least he has someone that doesn't actively hate him nearby.
He throws himself into being a king, gets lots of things done, and is generally considered by the public to be good at it. A good king. It's sort of tainted by bitterness, now. But the country does not fall apart, it does not break down into civil war - he handles it. The education system gets a shove in the right direction, the canals get cleaned up, various unemployed people get jobs. He wonders what on earth he's done wrong when he's doing good in the world, but he supposes it doesn't matter.
He knew what he was getting himself into, when he made this choice. He knew that Zevros would be upset with him. Maybe to the point where their camaraderie will just never recover. He doesn't know. From the beginning, he knew that he'd be shackled to someone he doesn't love. Edarial hadn't been expecting the random hatred from his new wife, but he certainly wasn't expecting to be happy.
Just, well. He wasn't expecting to be so miserable, either.
It shows, the misery. Dark circles under his eyes, the withdrawn, blank expression, unkempt hair. He loses some weight due to skipping meals just to avoid his close family. Or, other times, he just forgets, burying himself in work so he doesn't have to think 'What did I do?' over and over again.
But he's a good king. So that's something.
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royal_obligation
royal_obligation
Edarial takes it, reads it, and then his face contorts in disgust and rage.
"I," he hisses, "did not write this, what kind of -"
He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and carefully hands the letter back to her. "That - is a forgery. A good one, but a damned forgery."
"I," he hisses, "did not write this, what kind of -"
He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and carefully hands the letter back to her. "That - is a forgery. A good one, but a damned forgery."
come_midnight
"And I suppose the fact that while I was packing to flee the country my Cricket got too sick for any healing spell I know to even alleviate his symptoms has nothing to do with you and the guards at the fountain who wouldn't let me through but would happily take him and not give him back till I married you is the result of some conspiracy operating under your nose without you having an inkling and you thought that one guard Cricket got his claws into had a fight with a gardening implement."
royal_obligation
More staring. He seems to be at an utter loss for words.
After a few seconds of silence, he says something to his familiar in her language. She nods, he gets up, opens the door for her, and she slithers out.
Then, very quietly, he murmurs, mostly to himself, "I am quite possibly, the biggest dupe in the country."
After a few seconds of silence, he says something to his familiar in her language. She nods, he gets up, opens the door for her, and she slithers out.
Then, very quietly, he murmurs, mostly to himself, "I am quite possibly, the biggest dupe in the country."
come_midnight
"Cricket says he never saw you till after the wedding, so I am just barely able to believe that it's that and not that you're trying to pretend your innocence so you won't have to fight your way into bed with me."
royal_obligation
"No," growls Edarial. "Fuck no, actually, the very idea of - that is - no!"
His hands are shaking.
"Who the hell would even want to-"
Pause.
"... Oh that son of a bitch."
His hands are shaking.
"Who the hell would even want to-"
Pause.
"... Oh that son of a bitch."
come_midnight
"Oh, I'm quite convinced you're not attracted to me, fear not, but it crossed my mind that when you got impatient about the heiring business - what son of a bitch, exactly?"
royal_obligation
"Did you, at any point in time before the - farce that I'm sickened to call a wedding - happen to talk to a spellbinder that goes by the name of Nataliem? Raven familiar, probably had the familiar investigate you, then him show up later?"
royal_obligation
"Okay," mutters Edarial. "So it might not be him, but it's probably still him, because he's a wretched bastard and a fucking sociopath!"
royal_pain
"Who's fucking sociopaths?" asks Zevros, poking his head into the room with no sense of personal space and Edarial's familiar on his arm.
royal_obligation
"Solid eight. Iobel was coerced into marriage with the threat of being unmade and someone pinned it on me."
royal_pain
"Oh my god," deadpans Zevros. "It's almost like marrying someone you don't fucking know is a bad idea! Who the fuck would have thought, right?!"
royal_pain
Zevros rolls his eyes. "Yeah? 'Cause I'm seeing it is, you're the reason she's involved at all! Fruity drinks on an island! We could have had them!"
royal_obligation
Edarial doesn't have a reply to that. His face contorts to a mixture of guilt and rage and he flops into a chair.
Berathyme decides to defend him. "Go fuck yourself sideways with a rusty spoon," she hisses at Zevros.
Berathyme decides to defend him. "Go fuck yourself sideways with a rusty spoon," she hisses at Zevros.
royal_pain
"Oi!" says Zevros to the snake. "You can't use that on me, I'm the one who taught you it!"
royal_obligation
Edarial glances at Iobel, then says to Zevros, "Skip it. Lecture me later, hell, you can punch me if you want, fuck do I deserve it right now. Zev, remember the - how did you describe it... Miniature bear?"
royal_pain
"You mean the guy that looked like he got attacked by an angry pocket sized bear?"