the requiting team were all incompetent. military men , unable to see priorities beyond strength & skill with the sword. auriel couldn’t help feeling frustrated with them as he walked down the call of the palace , down towards the knight’s quarter. who had to clean up when rotten eggs had passed through the bunch? him. a scholar & a wizard , he was expected to be able to handle anything that felt strange but couldn’t quite be explained. after all , a vampire had been the high queen’s right hand for a century & no one had batted an eye , until auriel had exposed her. he still became bitter thinking about it.
he wasn’t nervous , but he couldn’t say he was excited either. he was not expecting to be attacked , but he also wasn’t sure if ‘ bond with him , gain his trust ‘ was a mission that suited an introvert like himself. people had a tendency to avoid him , & he had a tendency to avoid them. he had once been very popular & well - liked , but that was more thanks to his mother’s efforts than his own. now she was gone , & people had forgotten that he had a personality underneath his many robes & frown induced by stress. he had become authority , a boss , & people rarely took a liking to those whose words were expected to be treated as law.
opening the door , he attempted a smile. after all , he was not here to scold anyone. “ i’m looking for cassius. is he here? “