The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 33: Putting on an act (pt. 1)

Lucius gazed at the gathering crowd by the town square with folded arms and a scowl to match. He'd placed himself a little too close to a street corner for a town chief, but he'd rather keep a distance since he had no intention of staying much longer anyway. He was all for entertainment, but it was painfully obvious that he didn't share the same kind of humour as most of the town seemed to.

"I thought your mood would be better by now," Samueli said as Lucius gave another high-society fop a strained, yet charming, smile. "What with Lord Hargreaves' newfound enthusiasm regarding your relationship."

Lucius begrudgingly found that sighing was the appropriate response.

"Well it's kind of the opposite now," he mumbled. "Now he's all but smothering me, and instead pretending Damien doesn't exist. Which I guess is better than before but something's still wrong, isn't it?"

"And he still won't talk about what the older Lord Hargreaves told him back then?"

"He told me not to worry, which means it was something he doesn't want me to know about... I'm afraid it's about Damien forcing him away."

"Is that why he's so... Affectionate, then?"

Lucius considered the last couple of days since his fight with Damien. For some reason, Anthony had ended his own meeting with the man with the expression of someone who hadn't slept for days.

Which Lucius knew very well that he had.

Afterwards, Anthony had been more social than ever before. He'd come by the town hall whenever Lucius was working to say hi, and had even tagged along when Lucius went to visit Samueli and Eliza. What had surprised Lucius most however, was that he'd never slept alone the past nights. Not that he complained about having someone stroke his hair and shoulders.

"Yeah, I... I'm a bit worried it's because he's given up and wants to spend time with me before leaving..." Lucius wrung his hands while looking down at the ground. "... But I don't want to believe it."

"To think he would struggle so much with communication, that one," Samueli said, frowning at a man passing by who greeted Lucius with a nod but only raised a confused eyebrow at him.

"How Anthony made it as a town chief is a mystery." Lucius replied before smiling back at the man, dropping the act as soon as he'd disappeared from sight. "I may have attitude problems but Anthony doesn't like talking to begin with."

"In fairness, sometimes silence might be better," Samueli added to that, receiving a hurt look from Lucius.

"I've made progress."

"Admittedly, but I wouldn't get cocky just yet."

Lucius sighed.

"I know..."

He figured Samueli was right. While he just needed to have their slightest approval, his position was still at risk as long as Damien had a say. Decent acting and Frey's little persuasion game could only get him so far.

A deep frown appeared on his face as he gazed over the town square again.

"Think it's time to leave." He glanced back at Samueli. "Execution's starting."

"I'm heading over to Milica later," Samueli said as they got ready to part ways. "Mostly to see how she's doing, but maybe I can interrogate her husband while I'm at it. See if he can't think of other details that could help us find Mabel."

"Ah," Lucius said, though caught off guard. His mind had been too occupied to think about that ever since the failed exorcism and the Damien drama, which suddenly made him feel awful. "Do you want me to come later?"