A Court of Flame & Shadow - Eris x OC

The Forest House III

By the time Eris woke up the sun was high in the sky. He wasn't the type to oversleep but the past few restless nights must have finally caught up to him. He dressed and checked the mounting pile of work on his desk. With Vel here, his escort duty had taken priority, but today he'd catch up on his responsibilities as General of the Autumn Court. It would be good to take a break from her. She could entertain herself with his brothers. A muscle feathered in his jaw and Eris pulled at a scroll from underneath the pile, slightly too forcefully. The paper tore in half.

Many hours later, the mountain of paperwork had barely shrunk. Leaning back in his chair, Eris sighed in resignation. He'd half expected she would have knocked on his door by now. He stretched out his arm and stared at it in the faded sunlight. The tattoo moved and warped as he tensed his forearm muscles, clenching and unclenching his fist. It had been strangely quiet – no itch, no whisper of power, nothing special about it at all.

Eris felt childish, he was avoiding her because his pride had been wounded. Was it pride though? His actions were merely an attempt to secure an alliance. He played with the ring on his finger as his thoughts swirled – a complex tapestry of emotions and intentions that left him questioning the authenticity of his motives. When she walked away the previous night, his stomach had sunk. It was as if a thread connecting them had frayed, and the weight of unspoken words hung in the air, creating a palpable distance between them. Even now, so many hours later his heart seemed to hang heavily.

It didn't matter; what was done was done. He was starving, and it was almost time for dinner. Perhaps he would go fetch her and they could walk together. Perhaps it would help him get his mind in order.

He was standing in front of her door. His feet must have carried him there subconsciously. He knocked once, twice. There was no sound from behind the door – no whispered conversation with Nyoka, no giggling, no rustling from that horrendously cumbersome robe. He waited a few breaths before opening the heavy doors. The room was perfectly clean. The trunks of clothes were gone. The windows had been open to air the room. The fireplace was cold and barren. He could tell there had been no fire the previous night, no echo of a flame. The only trace of Vel was a wolf pelt – his pelt that he'd given to her, neatly folded and placed on the desk.

Footsteps approached and Eris's hand automatically went to the hilt of the dagger at his side. His posture relaxed as he recognized the distinctive tapping of Nyoka's hooved feet. The faerie followed his gaze to the bundle of furs. "I found it here this morning. Apologies my lord, you ordered not to be disturbed so I didn't think it was urgent enough to inform you immediately."

"When did she leave?" The question came out with a touch more intensity than he'd intended.

"At some point during the night ... or early in the morning, I am not sure. She was not in her room after dinner or when I came to bring her breakfast this morning."

"Did she say anything to you about leaving?" Did she say goodbye, he'd wanted to ask. But would Vel have gotten close enough to Nyoka or to any of them to feel compelled to say goodbye?

Eris was already halfway out the door but Nyoka's nose wrinkled and he knew her well enough to recognize that she was lying. He hated that tell because it made her a terrible spy. He'd had to teach her to always weave truth and lie together to not give herself away. "No, my lord."

Eris apparently had his own tells, because when his eyes narrowed at her, Nyoka quickly continued. "I'm sorry. She said she would tell you herself and I promised I would keep her secret. I wanted her to trust me." The forest nymph looked down at the floor and Eris left without another word.

Her chair at the dinner table was empty. Beron was in an even better mood than yesterday and Eris realized he much preferred the brooding version of his father – the one that was always one idiotic remark away from flaying all of them alive, than whatever this was.