Somehow, the insurmountable pile before him had dwindled to a size that wouldn’t make people’s eyes leap out of their heads. Darius pressed a palm to his forehead, rubbing slowly over his brow. This was what he got for lounging around for nearly two days with Serena.
Two days until the Dawnbreak delegate would arrive, two days until the mental gymnastics would begin. He pushed aside another letter that was sent to his office by accident. He pulled out a drawer and dropped a sizable pile into it. They were records he would give Julian to go over to add to the historical ledgers.
He relaxed in the chair and draped his hand over it, he had been in the office since before the sun rose. He worked by candlelight until the sun’s rays were mature enough for him to see the words on paper.
He had comforted Serena the previous day and let her lay on his chest until she drifted off to sleep. It worried him how easily she went to sleep, especially having had an adequate night’s rest the day before. He could only hope that she would be better in the coming days.
Right after she woke up, he had made sure to have a sizable chunk of moose loins for her and a piping hot soup. Of course, he had slipped away so as to not feed the flames of gossip. Before leaving her alone, he wrestled within himself whether to leave or not.
He already concluded the scene with Livia was just unnecessary, she already knew that they were mates, so what would be the issue if she ’caught’ Darius in her bed? Was he not supposed to be there? But for Serena’s sake and for the unspoken promise they seemed to have made, he saw to it that no one would assume he was in her room.
Surely, they would notice his scent, but it would not matter, nearly every room in this castle smelt of him and people just like him. It was the Hawthorne castle after all.
A new parchment occupied his attention, this one a proposal sent from the border towns. He skimmed the lines, thoughtful, fingers stroking his chin in slow rhythm. Someone had gone through great lengths to ensure it reached his desk swiftly. He had barely begun to digest it when a knock came.
He looked up. Auburn hair, loose in soft waves, framed the familiar figure at his door. She didn’t wait for invitation, she never did.
"Livia?" he asked, brows lifting, voice laced with surprise.
Out of all people to stop by today, he would not have guessed to see Livia’s face. He set the paper down and watched her take a seat. Their usual tradition was for him to rise and give her a warm embrace, but the man still harboured residues of anger from the day before.
"Darius," she replied coldly.
The man perked up and moved closer to the edge of his seat, her frosty tone was not lost on him. She was angry too, perhaps even livid. He pushed a pen back and forth before he finally met her gaze.
"To what do I owe the honour of this visit?" he asked. This content belongs to n0velfire.net
Livia sighed and dragged the chair closer to the desk and set her hands on it rather noisily and then began.
"I am here to reason with you on matters of the... of the rogue," she began.
Her words immediately set off alarms in Darius’ head and instantly he frowned and lifted a brow. "What rogue?"
Livia’s eye twitched imperceptibly and then she managed to compose herself not to lash out at her cousin. Livia’s eye twitched, a tiny betrayal of the control she fought to maintain. But she didn’t raise her voice. She knew better, years of closeness had taught her that baring fangs to Darius only made him dig his heels in deeper. If she wanted to get through to him, she would need to employ tact and make sure her head was screwed on right.
"What other rogue do we harbour in our prestigious pack," Livia began.
The prophecy had always bothered her, always felt incomplete. The Moonseeker, aged and wise though she was, had served too many Alphas, and time had surely blurred her visions. Something was missing, something vital. And Livia was certain that Serena was the missing danger no one else dared name.
"Hm, do tell me more," Darius replied.
"The rogue, Serena Evers. The one that everyone seems to be charmed by, even the Moonseeker. We call her an ambassador from a faraway land but can you not see that she is like those who terrorised our packs before. She is a temptress, I know it," Livia said in one breath, her words tumbling out like a flood that had waited too long behind a dam.
Darius interlaced his fingers and placed them under his chin, he said nothing for nearly a minute before he lowered his head.
"You said you know of it, which is to say you have evidence, yes?" Darius said in a low voice.
Livia’s nails dug into her palms, who would need evidence for a case so clear as this one? "How can you say this, Darius?" she snapped. "After everything?"
She tapped on the table to get him to look at her but to no avail, he kept his gaze fixed to the polished wood. "Darius... do you want me to recount the tale of my parents? Is that what you want from me to make you see reason?"
The man gritted his teeth and finally raised his head to see Livia’s pained expression. If he swayed now... what kind of leader would he be? It was a push and pull with his faith in his leadership, but the older he grew the more he had come to trust his judgement of situations.
But now, this was such a complex case that both emotion and logic buried so deep that no answer was right or wrong.
"I know it very well," he said, voice quieter now, but no less firm. "But I run out of words to say that the woman you speak of with such contempt... is kind."