Eirian was still steaming the morning after the confrontation. She didn't even care about the slap. Her father wasn't a warrior, and she took harder hits in friendly spars.
What she couldn't get over were their assumptions.
That she was just going to get over everything that had happened.
Or that she'd make their child her heir.
Her father's plan was painfully obvious. Eirian was married to the only military force in Sorrow independent from the Imperial Army, not to mention the wealth of the Camelia Estate was nearly unmatched. Eirian was definitely not controllable by her father's standards, but that was mostly because she'd grown up without him. Well, he'd been there physically, but she hadn't had his attention. His focus.
Maybe if she had, they'd be closer. They'd be more than strangers who shared blood, and Eirian would have trusted him more than her uncle. She'd fantasized about it as a child, when she'd still thought there was something worth salvaging in their relationship. Before she'd grown too old for the veneer of an attentive father to disguise his lesser traits.
Clearly, he intended to do things differently this time around, as she barely saw him drink anymore. He'd never made a journey like the one to the Camelia when Eirian had been young, let alone brought her with him on the few occasions he did leave the capital.
He was clearly planning to raise his son himself, an agent he could manipulate to his will.
Hell, if Eirian and Eric died early enough, Francis could be regent, and once he was, he'd never give up the throne.
He was just so obvious, and Eirian knew she wasn't subtle. She wasn't quiet or demure or discreet, but there was a part of her that was infuriated at his lack of secrecy. Like he didn't care who knew or believed he was truly untouchable.
There were plenty of Kings who'd fallen despite being untouchable and having all the imaginable resources at their fingertips. There were even some who'd been beloved by the people, or the nobility, and it still hadn't saved them.
Her father wasn't loved by either and was a touch too vindictive to be a good king. Or a leader of any kind.
But he did have one impressive skill that even Eirian could admit he was better at than everyone else.
He never heard anything that was a criticism of himself. People could scream it in his face, and somehow, he didn't catch a word.
It was infuriating.
And now Eirian was hiding out on her own estate to avoid him.
The gardens of the Camelia had once been famous throughout Sorrow. An expansive collection of plants from all over the Rock brought back by the Crimson Army. It had all died under the miasma, leaving barren patches of dirt. Eirian had only visited them to check on them once, but now that the miasma was gone, green stalks were beginning to poke through. They were still small, and nothing was blooming. Even the trees were a bit pathetic, just a few green leaves clinging to life.
She had seen one bird, so that was something.
Eirian knew her father well enough to know he was going to show up at breakfast to continue the argument from the night before. He never considered discussions over until they ended the way he wanted them to, and Eirian just wasn't in the mood to deal with it.
She'd ducked out to the gardens with a stack of the Camelia's histories and plans to work her way through at least a few hundred years while she ate breakfast in the sun.
She was only a few years in when Chenzhou appeared. A bit more frazzled than he usually was, he looked relieved when he found her.
"Have you seen them this morning?"
Eirian snorted. "No. I'm avoiding the ambush."
Chenzhou blushed as he took a seat next to her and admitted. "I was planning to skip breakfast."
Eirian shoved a plate of pastries at him. "No, you need to eat. Your body is still recovering from the poison."
"I'll have some brought to my office." He tilted his face up to the sun. "I have paperwork I need to go through."
Eirian studied him from the corner of her eye, "You should sit out in the sun for a while first. It helps with the healing."
Chenzhou didn't need much convincing. Relaxing back on the new grass as he chewed on a sweet pastry.
Eirian dropped one of the Histories on his lap, ignoring his grunt of surprise. "Read this. Let me know if you find anything about the miasma, the vault, or magic…or marks."
Drowsy from the sun and the sugar, Chenzhou nodded absently and opened the huge book.
Eirian let a bit of her magic escape, drenching the garden and everything in it. It would nudge along the healing the garden was already doing, and hopefully help Chenzhou's as well.
A second bird showed up, joining its companion in the tree and starting up a weak birdsong.
It wasn't a bad way to start the day: warm sunlight, good food, and an interesting book.
Eirian was skipping through the centuries before the Age of Warfare, when the Camelia still belonged to the Arnheims. It was fascinating, and if she hadn't been searching for something specific, she'd have taken her time and read every line.
Thus far, the Arnheims had few ties to magic. There was no indication that there'd been any family members with magic, just skilled warriors who'd thrived leading a military estate.
There were more than a few descriptions of relationships that seemed obsessive, reminding her of the relationships surrounding Zhao Li Ling. Yuze's research had made the Ye's sound like the obsessive ones, but from what she was reading, it was a trait they shared with the Arnheim's.
It made sense then that the two families had fought so hard over the Camelia; neither of them could imagine letting it go.
Had that obsession resulted in the miasma?
~ tbc