Broken But Unburnt

Chapter 14 - Maverick

Chapter 14: Maverick

Palace of the Equinox Throne: Kingdom of Delos

"I think you should wear the green," Valencia said, looking over all of the options the servants had brought in for them to choose from. "You always do look so wonderful in green."

Valencia plucked the emerald doublet from the bed, running her fingers along the fabric as she held it up to her son, smiling.

"Who is Kael?" Maverick asked suddenly. Valencia's smile fell to a frown and she turned away from him, strolling to the dressing area of his room to hang his doublet there. "The duke, mother. Who is he?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," she said with a shrug.

"I could tell you knew him," Maverick told her. He wasn't going to let this go. "I could tell by your expression. You looked... worried for him. Helios hates him. Why?"

"He's just an old friend, dear. He and Helios had a falling out. It isn't anything to worry yourself about," she answered easily, regaining her smile as she turned to face him, caressing his cheek with a hand. "Now, get yourself ready. We can't have you late to your own brother's wedding."

Maverick frowned. She was avoiding the question. He wasn't going to get an answer. Not from her anyway.

Without another word, Valencia gracefully let herself out of her son's rooms and Maverick was alone. He did as he was told, dressing himself and going through the motions of finding his way toward the grand hall. The ceremony would be in the throne room but he didn't particularly feel like attending. Besides, his presence would only be noted at the reception anyway. So he sat himself in the back of the hall and watched as the nobility filed in one after another, chattering excitedly in the way they always did around a wedding.

Maverick was just trying to determine who would be best to approach with questions about the Duke when the man himself sat down next to him.

"Skipped the ceremony?" the Duke asked, his voice low and his eyes casting about the room in a way that ensured no one would know they were speaking.

"Couldn't stomach it," Maverick confessed and the corner of the strange man's lips curled up into a smile.

"Not a fan of your new half-sister?"

"Not a fan of war."

"Ah. And you believe this will cause one?"

"You do not?"

"I have learned better than to try to predict the future, young prince. I am almost always proven wrong when I do. Instead, I like to focus on the things I know now. Karil has no king. Idoria is a mess of religious zealots without a clear religion. Delos is strongest. Delos is the most stable. That is why I am here and not there."

"Is that why?"

The Duke cast a glance in Maverick's direction and smiled broader.

"You are a shrewd observer," the Duke said. "As I've been told."

"You have a history here," Maverick replied. "I am clearly too young to remember it but everyone else seems to. King Helios does."

"King Helios is not likely to ever forget."

Something in his tone was sad now, almost as if the admission of the king's hatred depressed him more than Maverick could possibly understand.

"Who told you?" Maverick spat then, processing what the Duke had said for the first time. "That I was a shrewd observer?"

The Duke rose then, buttoning his overcoat and smiling.

"Your mother loves you very much, young prince. She does not hide me from you for any other reason," he said and started to walk away. He was only a few feet away when he stopped suddenly and turned back to face Maverick. "I can tell that you are the type to pick a side and stick to it. I admire that. Just make sure it's the right one."