In Which Laveria Does Not Elaborate

October 6, 1176

"Well, way to keep your old mother waiting!" Laveria scolded as she greeted her son with a hug. "I've been expecting you for hours now."

"My apologies. I wasn't aware that we'd established a time."

Severin smiled, but a nuance in his voice betrayed a certain impatience. He didn't appreciate her nagging. He'd meant to be here earlier. "Out with it. Where were you?"

Sighing, he unhooked a button on his sleeve and took to massaging his wrist in irritation. So much for thinking he'd outgrown that nervous habit years ago. "I was stuck at the castle all morning--because Lord knows it wouldn't be my birthday without a shouting match with Roderick. And then of course Laralita's still in a dark place, so I ended up staying with her for a while..."

"Pleasant." Laveria rolled her eyes. She'd only met the queen a handful of time, most of which had been before she was queen, but after all these years she'd heard more than her fill of stories. Still... "Poor thing, though. I can't even imagine."

"Likewise." Ah, but he didn't want to talk about that. Not when his niece lay beneath a tombstone and her sickly little son struggled to take from the breast of any willing nurse. Not when his own daughter visited the crypt more days than she didn't and had somehow convinced herself she should have prevented it. Not when his sworn nemesis was too distraught to even be his nemesis. "Far too young, that girl. She should have had decades ahead of her."

Decades. Laveria had decades to spare. She'd had all the decades in the world once, but she'd given most of them up. A pity that girls like Elhina couldn't have snatched the ones she'd discarded. "Shouldn't they all."

Nodding, Severin's eyes followed a moth to the other side of the room and Laveria let hers do the same. The creature flitted back and forth between shelves, hovered over a stack of books, then rested on the wall. It didn't look like it intended to move for a while. As if by innate agreement, they both let it be and shared a glance. Severin coughed. "Anyway. After that, I had to stop by the chapel at Armion. Lorn wanted me to meet the new clergyman."

"The monk?" She couldn't stop her nose from wrinkling in distaste. She knew it was unfair to judge an entire class of men based on the actions of one person, but... well. Those hadn't been the most harmless of actions.

"Yes--the monk."

There was something about the way he said it that was a little unsettling. Granted, Laveria wasn't the only one with a certain distrust of clergymen. But no. No, this seemed to be something a little more than moderate skepticism. That was too general. It wasn't monks he was objecting to; it was this monk. "What's he like?"

"Well... certainly more pious than Quartus ever was." He sniffed. 'Pious' was not necessarily a compliment--more likely not than necessarily in this case. "But to be honest, I didn't get a great feeling from the man. He's a bit..."

"Sinister?"

Severin frowned. Close... but not quite. "Yes, but there's a little more to it. Surreal, and not the good sort of surreal. Erie. Kind of makes you feel like there are spiders under your skin. You know--I never thought I'd say this--but I'm almost tempted to go to the next mass at Armion. It would be interesting to see how the people react to this Brother Remiel."

...what had he said the man's name was?

"Remiel?" The better part of a lifetime now and the name still felt like a dagger in her mouth. "Remiel d'Aquino?"

She caught herself a moment too late. Severin squinted, his brow creeping upward. Why had she blurted that out? "An acquaintance of yours, Mother?"

All she could do was sniff. She couldn't cool his curiosity now that it had been sparked, and of course swallowing back the words was out of the question. Her only options were half-truths. "I may have heard the name once or twice."

"Really?" The brow peaked a little higher. God, he looked like Lonriad when he was fighting back a scowl. "Care to elaborate?"

No. No, she did not.

"You should go home. Your children probably haven't had a chance to wish you a happy birthday."

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