Garden of Embers: Beneath Devouring Eyes #2

Chapter 1, Part C

Valens's mother was going to kill him.

"Tomorrow?" Arbita, his betrothed, asked, frowning at him. "Are you serious?"

The two of them were standing in Valens's salutatio hall, where the first official meeting of Domi's new staff had just concluded. His once quiet domus now echoed with Lightholder voices in the hallway and a pan clattering in the kitchen as his royal charge's foster mother started claiming her new territory.

He could not believe that this had somehow become his life overnight. With the possible end of the world looming over him for the past eight years and his hands full with the task of trying to prevent the apocalypse, Valens had decided to avoid unnecessary burdens like managing household staff, training an alumna, or finding a wife and starting a family.

"Yes," he said, trying not to sound as resigned as he felt. "Let's get married tomorrow. We need to get it over with."

"You sure know how to woo a woman," his future wife said, her voice dry as tinder. "But I agree."

He blinked. "You do?"

Arbita nodded and began walking toward the hallway. Frowning, Valens trailed after her. "We both need to live here now," she said. "We're Domi's household staff."

She shook her head as she said the ridiculous words, probably still as astonished by her sudden conscription into the boy's service the eve before as Valens was. As a lifeholder, Arbita technically was not Princeps Daedalus's to command, but as Valens's betrothed they, unfortunately, came as a pair.

Not that they could tell anyone what they had been conscripted to do. The royal orders they had received were secret and very dangerous. If anyone discovered the household staff of a royal twin who was not supposed to exist, it would only be a matter of time before they also figured out that the younger twin's magic was responsible for three recent Trellis malfunctions. If anyone found out, both twins' lives would be in danger. Domi's life would be in danger.

It would look exceedingly odd for Arbita to be living at Valens's home, given their curia's widespread knowledge that the woman could tolerate his presence about as well as he could stand her's. It was not the precise truth--Valens had no complaints about the woman herself, just with getting married to anyone when he had more important things to do--but the common perception was that they loathed one another. They needed an excuse people would accept for residing in the same domus.

Hence, marriage. No one would look askance if Valens's wife came to live with him, even if the unwanted union was oddly rushed.

No one would complain except Valens's mother, that was. The woman who had brought him into the world and been nagging him for years to give her a daughter-in-law and grandchildren was going to take him right back out of the world for denying her the opportunity to plan and attend his wedding. But there was no time to notify her and get her to Urbs Hostiae in time for the nuptials.

He and Arbita reached the bedchamber door where Domi was supposed to be changing into more formal clothing suitable for salutatio. Valens hoped the brat had not climbed out the bloody window again. He was beginning to think that the kid was going to drive him to drink.

"Domi?" Arbita murmured with a quiet knock on the door. They had agreed that, outside of Bellus's hearing, they would drop the boy's royal title. Familiarity, Arbita said. Children needed familiarity and stability after a big shock. It was part of the reason they had brought Domi's Pullatus foster mother into Valens's home and Domi's staff, even if only as a servant. Princeps Daedalus had been surprisingly insistent that his twin not be separated from the woman who had raised him, despite Merula's lowborn status.