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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He gets more withdrawn.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 Dark circles under his eyes, the withdrawn, blank expression, unkempt hair.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_pain
"If you can manage it, go for it. You don't even need to bother with the wall walking spell."
royal_pain
"If they're identifiable as a spellbinder, a lot. Otherwise, don't. We'll handle guards, you and Edarial are for dealing with spellbinders."
royal_pain
"Uh - something that wouldn't tip off you were there but would let me or Ari know. Of course that narrows it down quite a bit on what we can do..."
royal_obligation
"She could probably just whistle," says Edarial, quietly. "Hard to place where that's coming from and I doubt anyone will guess who did it while things are being all - dramatic."
royal_pain
Zevros shrugs. "Just a measure of paranoia. I hate fighting spellbinders. They never play fair."
come_midnight
"You could have been a spellbinder if you wanted. Technically you still could, although I imagine at this point you'd have a hard time talking to your familiar. How's that not fair?"
royal_pain
"Also, honestly I don't think I have the head for it. Like, I've seen Ari's spell-charts and ugh, they gave me a headache just trying to read them, let alone fit everything in my head all at once."
royal_pain
"Eh," says Zevros, shrugging. "I like how I am now. With no stupid turtle that I hate for reasons I don't even remember."
royal_pain
"Yup! Hit me!"
Zevros gets the perception spell. He takes a bit to adjust to it and says, "Estimated time for your invisibility spell, Iobel? Another three minutes, I think?"
Zevros gets the perception spell. He takes a bit to adjust to it and says, "Estimated time for your invisibility spell, Iobel? Another three minutes, I think?"