Wes wasnât sure how long his head had been resting in his hand, only that the pressure of his elbow against the couchâs finely-upholstered arm was beginning to send pins-and-needles up his own. Still, the feeling was preferable to anything and everything else that was weighing on himâthe doubt, the unease, the frustration, the hurtâŠthe guilt. And yet, the sensation did little to prevent every message Aur had sent to him from echoing through his mind, as if the scathing words had come straight from her lips.Â
Wes had triedâgod knows heâd triedâto play his part in the incident of the missing royal with as little an impact on AurĂ©lie as possible. Heâd tried not to worry her, to give her no reason to leave the palace grounds while they searched, all in the interest of keeping her calm and safe. Heâd even tried to get out ahead of the news when it brokeâto let Aur hear the truth from him first. But Bri had beat him to it. Sheâd had to. Aurâs rising panic hadnât given her a choice, and somewhere buried beneath his more pressing emotions, Wes was grateful for Briâs intervention. But from Aurâs very first subsequent message, Wes had felt the crushing weight of failure come to bear on his shouldersâthe weight ot Aurâs trust in him fracturing, and the weight of the need to mend the cracks. That weight only pressed down further as he heard the door click open.
He merely watched from his seat as she swept into the room, ebbing and flowing with the tide of whatever was pulsing through her veins as her words bit into him like knives. On a better day, he mightâve had some semblance of armour against them. Today, however, he had noneâneither the desire to build it nor the energy left to do so. And so the words slipped between his bones as Aur perched herself on what had likely been the first elevated surface to catch her inebriated eye. Again Wes watched in patient silence as she vanquished her smuggled treat, distantly grateful that she was, in fact, eating something. As the clock ticked down towards her mouth being free to cut at him again, Wes leaned forward to rest his elbows on his kneesâhands clasped, knuckles white. Then she turned her piercing eyes on him, and he braced for impact.
The words landed. Wes dropped his gaze, shaking his head.Â
âIâm not perfect, Aur. I canât be. But god knows I try, every damn day.â He paused a moment and sighed, then raised his eyes. They couldnât help but soften towards her, and neither could his voice. âSometimes Iâm going to make choices you disagree with, Iâm going to do things you donât like, but itâs all to keep you safe. That doesnât mean you canât trust me. It doesnât mean youâre losing me.â he said. âYou can be as furious as you want. Iâm not going anywhere.â
Anger is a messy emotion, her motherâs voice echoed through her mind. Even now thousands of miles away from the woman whoâd sharpened AurĂ©lie into the finest tool and aimed her at their allies - those lesson still lingered deep in her marrow. Somewhere in that inebriated mind, she was already sorting out how best to handle this - the rational self preservation digging a deeper hole to bury the pain and justifying the actions sheâd take to find a sliver of control over her own life again. But under all this armor was just more anger - cold and cruel and icy sharp, aimed to strike out at the first person who shattered the porcelain facade.Â
âStop being so fucking nice to me.â She tried to snap but it came out pleading, which only increased her anger. AurĂȘlie let out a groan of frustration. âI am not crazy! I am allowed to be angry, stop being nice to me and let me be fucking angry! Fight back, you fucking asshole.â She threw the napkin at him, well more in his direction, and then when it crumpled to the floor pathetically the dauphine screamed in a rage. He was too forgiving, too rational - she knew sheâd end up giving in because sheâd always gone for the easiest path.
So she did what any self respecting monarch would do and stood on the table.Â
âNo - donât you dare give me that shit. This wasnât making choices I disagree with because in order to disagree with something - I have to know what the fuck it is!â She shouted the last bit. âFuck you - lying doesnât keep anyone safe; deliberately withholding important information doesnât make you a good guard, it just makes you like them. Thinking Iâm too stupid and fragile and reckless to do or know anything important.âÂ
And then she broke - something bone deep shattered and she collapsed into sobs on the table. Because thatâs what it really was about - another person she loved tucking her away as a liability, someone who couldnât be trusted with actual, useful information. Wasnât that a major part of the reason why sheâd spent her day following Zeke down his depraved rabbit hole? Sex and drugs and demanding attention, that was what theyâd relegated her too - all that she was deemed âgood atâ. And there he was, Wes - her last little glimmer of hope, doing the exact same thing.Â
âItâs fine,â her voice shook and she didnât move from where her face was pressed against her knees. âI will be fine. I always am. Just leave me be and in the morning it will be like nothing happened. I didnât even break anything this time.âÂ