"You think I don't know what they say about me- or perhaps you think I lack the intelligence to understand."
Malkiel methodically stacked the rocks in the middle of the stream, watching the water eddy around them.
"A new pet for the princes to play with...a project for the queen to distract herself with... a charity case to make the king appear likeable in his people's eyes..."
The stack tipped over with a loud splash, and he simply reached into the water to try again in a different order.
"I have heard it all. Does it bother me? Perhaps in the beginning. But getting angry will not change their minds."
Viridian only hummed and moved to a tree to eat at some flowers.
"They say that now, and when they grow bored of you - you'll grow to resent them. I did, no amount of love from my cluster helped me then. He said to live for him, he didn't say what I could do with my life."
She sank into the water, and called on some vines to hold the rocks in place.
"It is not Anasi or Tyr you need to fear...Charis concerns me. He is too kind, too focused on you - love is the enemy Malkiel. Don't let yourself trust it."
