Jackal Among Snakes

“I’m sure that she’ll turn up sooner or later, my prince. That child, Mina, she’s…” Count Elgar of Veden shook his head.

Induen tapped his fingers against the dining table, staring Elgar down with his cold blue eyes. The Count had golden hair and eyes just as Mina did yet shared little with her beyond that. Induen did not like him. “Your daughter is missing, yet you don’t seem to care.”

Elgar placed his elbows on the table and clenched his hands together. “She’s been doing that since she was very young, my prince. She’ll disappear for days, sometimes weeks on end. Typically I need only send a message to Duke Enrico—she always heads there, the foolish girl. I apologize for her discourtesy.”

Induen narrowed his eyes. Though anger was there, something else marred his features more—confusion, perhaps, or curiosity. “You’ve not sent her away?”

Elgar raised a brow. “Why would I do that, my prince?”

“Stupidity, maybe,” Induen mused, leaning back in the chair and scratching his temple. Count Elgar clenched his jaw tightly at the insinuation yet did not rise to combat it. “Do you hate your daughter, I wonder?”

Elgar furrowed his brows. “Who would hate their child?”

“Well, my father, for one. He never liked me much. I killed his wife, you know. The whole childbirth incident,” Induen pointed out. Both looked serious, but then Induen started to laugh. “Joking, joking. Of course. Of course,” Induen smiled widely.

“Mina is missing, Prince Induen. I don’t know what else to tell you,” Elgar stated once again, leaving no room for argument.

Induen leaned back in and slammed his hand against the table. “Yet you send not a single knight to look for her?”

Elgar stared back. “I have explained my reasonings. That girl had wasted enough resources in frivolous searches throughout her whole life. The waxpox still abounds, and I’ll not have my guards contract it in a fruitless quest to collect her.”

Induen’s gaze was cold and dead. Elgar swallowed as they stared at each other, alone in the dining hall. Just then, the great double doors burst open. Induen turned his head, surprised. The confidence in his posture veritably withered away as his eyes widened.

“Brother!” Orion shouted out cheerily, moving towards Induen with long strides. The prince wore thin casual clothes, rich and black, yet even still he made the formidable Induen look small.

Induen rose to his feet and stepped back, placing the chair between himself and his brother. “Orion. Why are you… here?”

Orion pushed the chair aside with his foot and embraced Induen. The elder prince’s face visibly contorted in displeasure and anxiety, and his hands hovered a fair distance away as though he feared to touch his brother.

Prince Orion pushed away, holding Induen by the shoulders. “I’ve heard of what you’ve been doing here. Working with the sick, stopping the plague from spreading… I cannot describe the joy that welled within once I heard of it. It brought tears to my eyes. And seeing outside… you have done so well.”

never felt older when

Count Elgar inquired. “I did not hear the guards open

and turned, expression and tone cold. “I climbed the walls. I trust this is no problem, Count Elgar. The royal family is not barred from anywhere in the lands of Vasquer, and I wished to visit with my brother. On that note… give us some time,” he directed the Count

as Induen felt. He gave a stiff bow and made to leave. Orion’s stern gaze followed his every step, making the Count hurry. He shut the doors behind him. As though

so—there is so much to speak of, so much to do. It has been too long since we last

are you here?” Induen

Ah, but—even if you did not, I wished to talk to you. Let us begin…” Orion pulled a chair back and sat, facing away from the

everything Orion said and stepped forth cautiously. “So close to

face, tears of molten silver pouring between the cracks of his

they fell. His brother’s strange tendencies and constant oddities were a large part of Induen’s discomfort

killers,” Orion continued, voice now filled with an icy anger. “Foul things persisted in the wetlands. I have finally ventured deep within them, and I have discovered the truth of the fall of the Archduchy.” Orion rose up. “Foul beings with vengeance in their hearts wreaked havoc across the wetlands… and then, the entire

at Orion’s hands as

it,” Orion growled. “Thousands of lives burnt, scarred or simply withered away entirely by their revolting rage. But I—no, that is not fair to

Induen’s vision swirled. “What?” he

ventured. “Argrave found out the root cause. He heralded a traitor, used her to put

are you talking about?” Induen demanded, voice

would-be slaughterer called the Plague Jester harnessed the power of the wetland gods to conjure and spread this plague all across the land. Argrave tore this information from the hands of an enemy, and then led a crusade forth by my

realized it, he was stepping away from Orion, heading to where he and Mina had

thing. It had struck him as odd the first day he’d seen

the balcony, gazing out at all of the work he’d put in the past few weeks. Innumerable tents, messages, edicts, all to curb the plague… and all of it overshadowed by Argrave’s grand achievement. All of his efforts entirely wasted. He would receive

She’s Argrave’s friend. And now she’s gone. She

he and Mina had drafted out plans for days on end. He stepped to the table, fists clenched, wishing to take his

a lie, he thought, his breathing heavy. But then he paused. He looked at a half-finished piece of writing, and

something is off, his mind noted. She worked as hard as I did. She was desperately attempting to stop the plague in Veden and beyond. Those were not the actions of someone who knew it was to end. Induen lifted his head, his breathing growing steady. And her departure… it was soon before Orion arrived. None saw her

informed of this victory. Elenore has eyes everywhere—if she wished to inform me urgently, she could. She wanted me to return to the capital not weeks ago, now

as Orion entered the room once more. Induen took slow, steady steps towards

did you storm off

said, his voice surprisingly calm. “What gave you

brows, then thought back. “You sent a messenger to