Crown of Beauty and Vengeance

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jules pointed to the bar stool beside him. "Sit," she told him, taking down two of the tankards for them both and opened the bottle of Torrent.

Jai obliged, letting her pour the alcohol and move one tankard in front of him. He stared down at the liquid but didn't take a sip.

Jules needed it, too, apparently. "That last bottle you brought me...well, Lyv and Gideon finished it off before I could have any. Makes me miss Ayveri."

"And especially after everything that's happened in the last year here, I don't know why you don't come back."

"You think I don't want to? But guess what? I'm not here for me. I'm here for Lyv. I've taken care of that girl for pretty much her whole life."

"But she and Gideon are in Dalcaine now."

"And I'll be here when they get back."

When he first met Jules over a year and a half before, she knew exactly what he was after talking to him for the first time. He'd been wearing a human glamour, but she still knew and yet didn't say anything. The next time he came in to see her after meeting with the king the night Lyv had spotted him in the palace gardens...she pulled him into that back room and demanded he remove the glamour.

And Prince Jai was standing in front of her.

Of course, she knew him. Jules had seen him plenty of times before growing up in Ayveri herself, as she then told him.

She'd been born and raised in Dalcaine, moved to Asturia to work for the Deverell's, and found herself in Escarral after the war. Being half-human, half-Fae, she had an extended lifespan, rather than the immortality of the Fae. She only looked to be in her late thirties, though she was well over two hundred years old. That in itself had been a shock to Jai when he found out, but he could see it in the tavern owner, in the way she carried herself. There was something...more to her than just looking like a human.

No one knew the truth about where she came from, though, not even Lyv or Gideon. He had the honor of being the only one so far, though she knew her secrets couldn't stay hidden for much longer.

But he knew she was hiding another secret...one that she wasn't ready for anyone to know just yet.

"Why are you here?" Jules asked then after taking a long sip. "You got my message a few weeks ago. Lyv and Gideon are in Ayveri now."

Jai nodded. "I know. I haven't been in the city, though. The king sent me off to Eld. Baby dragons causing chaos and all that."

"More philanthropy jobs?"

"What else?"

Jules snorted, but the look on Jai's face stopped her from making a sarcastic comment. He knew she understood what he thought about his father keeping him busy. "You know his reasons for sending you off so much. It's not a punishment. More of a redemption."

"The people of Dalcaine didn't know the details of what we were trying to do, though. But the day before the siege...Father just had to make the announcement of the comings of a peace treaty between Dalcaine and Escarral, which was I was a key part in doing. And then it fell through in the most devastating way possible."

"Still, it's redemption for your mistake."

"A mistake that caused how many people here in the city to lose their lives?"

At that, Jules took another long sip of Torrent.

Jai finally took the first of his. "How's Gideon been?"