A Shield of Faith (BOOK 4)

Chapter 47

MARIA

"Yuven never mentioned that you were Naveeran nobility," she tried to keep the accusation out of her voice, but the blunt behavior change from the Avaerilian townsfolk touched a nerve. Even more so when they avoided her gaze more pointedly, with more intent, but at the very least, looked at Neven's shoes as if that was the only thing they were worthy of beholding. Beneath Neven, but above her. Maria clenched her fists as Neven used the behavior shift to get to work.

The slanted roofs of the Lotayrin estate buried snow into the gardens below. Icicles hung on the porch which wound around the entire property, creating another thick window from its abandoned state. Neven kicked against the stone steps to crack the slippery ice before ascending to the double doors wyvern knockers. Neven ran his finger down the lock, and drew his hand back when it responded after a long second of metallic clicks of runic circuitry. Maria checked behind them, where the Naveeran crowd remained on the streets with misunderstood hope. Until Neven refused to answer her question, and cared too much to the point he forgot everything else.

Inside the state wasn't much warmer than the outside, though the structural integrity was far more consistent than the Outpost's new lodgings. Neven whisked a bundle of flames into the chandelier in the front foyer which split off into two distinct wings. Maria closed the door behind her after checking on the crowd once more, where a few shapes on the edge scrambled back into the shadows of the alleys. "Neven," she started once she closed the door. "We can't stay forever to help these people."

Neven sent another whisk of sapphire studded flames into the braziers on the staircase. "I understand, but what I can do is make them self-sufficient. Comfortable with the change, or set them on the path to learning on how to accept change as it comes. As for my status..." He faced her, his feathers slumped. "It never came up. Yuven simply ignored the fact of it, and if I am honest, my claim to anything barely mattered as a Storm Warden. It doesn't come up often for us as Wardens. The world comes before politics, that is part of the Oath we swore, the tenets we abide by. I no longer define myself as a son of an Iceduke, and I remember nothing of this holding. As far as I'm concerned, I was born and raised in Irimount. Father never pushed me to learn the ways of politics, of aristocracy... I wanted to be a knight. In Irimount, he was a History Magistera, he taught young Avaerilians what little history we know of. I never thought of him as Iceduke Lotayrin or Lord Lotayrin." Neven shook his head once more with a soft sigh, brushing his hand down one of the banners. Two ribboned glaives criss-crossed each other. "My noble blood means nothing outside of this place."

"Then what do you plan to do?" she asked, unable to ascertain Neven's intentions without Aurus' abilities.

"First, I need to get into the ledgers, see when the last time supplies were sent out. It had to have been a while, which means I would need to find my family seal, write a letter to the monarchy for them to keep in mind that this county is without someone to delegate, and until the townsfolk find someone they trust, it falls to me." Neven sent one last puff of air into the coals, and the flames rose higher, but lacked the warmth she craved from Yuven's touch. "As for you, Maria, I suggest you take the time to study the agriculture around here. Get back to me with the state of things. How is your Navei?"

"Good enough," Maria said. "I have an easier time reading it."

"If you have difficulties, come to me," he said. "I am hoping you don't run into any—"

Maria held her hand up. "Difficulties? You mean with my Navei?"

He sucked in his lips with a slow shake of his head. "No." Neven let go of the banners and moved back to her. "We are sticklers of tradition. Sticklers to our ways. Stubborn in our beliefs. Maria, I shall be plain with you, and I will understand any animosity you will feel from what I tell you," he said with another heavy breath. "I fear you will have difficulty for one simple fact, not because you are a Storm Warden, not because you are an Outsider from a land far away... but because you are a woman... and I think that is why your mother spoke little of this place."