Percy sighed as they watched Cillian leave.
He knew why Cillian was upset. Eithne was to marry Cassimir and he'd made his disapproval abundantly clear. Percy was not exactly on board with the idea either -- no woman should have to marry Cassimir and least of all someone as kindhearted as Eithne. But while Percy did not like it and did not condone it -- he understood it.
"Cillian would kill me to hear me say this, but ... I think it is a very brave thing you are doing. A very selfless thing. And ... its the very reason, I think, that your father knew you would be the successor that Malconaire needs." He exhaled, "It's rotten, what Roderick has done to this place." The fact that there was no way that EIthne could manage the place on her own, legally, was one of Roderick's greatest crimes, in Percy's opinion.
"But you are doing the best you can with the circumstances and I ... I know why you are doing it. And I cannot fault you for it."
Percy knew exactly how Cillian had reacted to the news and he was sure that Brigit and Rosie and maybe even Aoife, too, had done everything in their power to convince her not to do it. He wondered, too, how long it would take before Ronan and Kale stormed the walls to prevent this from happening. And while Percy would never fault her for going back on it, he did not think that Eithne had any plans to do so.
So he felt it best to give her the one thing he wasn't sure had had been able to find elsewhere: support in her decision.
"Malconaire is very lucky to have you in its corner, My Lady." Percy did not always address Eithne so formally, especially when they were together in such a setting, but he felt it was important to acknowledge this in this moment. She was, and would always be, Lady Malconaire.
Reluctantly, Percy turned his thoughts towards the riots. It had been the worst day, thus far, since Roderick had incited the Pyre Walk. "Tense," he answered, "It has rattled the emperor, I think. While there was never any real risk that anyone inside the palace was to be harmed by it, I think he has come to realize that Astaira is not finished fighting."
It was something that Roderick Varmont would have to come to terms with, eventually, but Percy would have rathered there been a more organized assault -- something that could have truly thrown him off balance. Now he knew there was great unrest ... now he knew to be ready.
"Security is much tighter at the palace, but we are still allowed to come and go. As long as they know where we've gone to and we are back before nightfall." He knew they only had that much freedom because the emperor still underestimated servants and he knew, too, that they often had to leave the palace to replenish supplies that he would not want to live without.
"The Queen is fine," Percy replied -- refusing to refer to her as anything but when he was this far from the castle walls, "As is Princess Aria. At least physically ... I know that this has taken a toll on them, as you can well imagine."
Percy watched Eithne start to assemble a basket for him to take back, "I think so. Especially if I can bribe a guard with one of your lemon tarts," He was only half-joking. "Here, let me help you. What do you need?"
Normally, he would have told Eithne that she was trying to do too much, but he knew that the food would be appreciated and it seemed that Eithne needed a task to set her mind to, to distract her from everything else that she was worrying about, just now.
"Here," Percy took two gold coins from his pocket -- the leftovers from what Ronan had given him to try to help with paying the physicians who might look into Henry's condition. "For the cost of it all." He knew that Malconaire was not as profitable as it once was, "Just don't ask where I got it." He winked, as though it was a joke, but he had no intention of telling her that it was likely stolen money.
