Blood Ties

Chapter 28: Declan

Declan lit his cigar and called for a whiskey. He knew exactly where Gustav had brought his hat, and he also knew he would likely never get it back. Declan has been wearing the same hat since he was 12 years old, or at least replicas of it. It was a simple bowler hat with a single green feather in the band. At first glance, it appeared to be a completely normal hat. However, considering it had drastically changed the course of his entire life 13 years ago, he knew it was far from what it appeared to be, as many things were. It was the hat that had gotten him banished from his father's presence, and he had a dozen more like it.

When his whiskey arrived, he thanked the bartender and surveyed the room for Anthony Winchester. Men like the Duke of Haverford were not bad, per se, nor were they particularly harsh or uncaring to their wives. Those were not reasons that Anthony Winchester was in the palace's smoking rooms, where noblemen flocked every time Court was in session.

No, men like Anthony were simply soft. They might even try to be good and loving men, but the truth was, they lacked courage. They had some hidden vice that chewed at them from the inside, leaving them a hollow, drained husk over time. How did he know? Well, he had seen plenty such men in the Army, who started out as wide-eyed boys only to end up as decrepit men, old before their time, saddled with bastards or gambling debts or something far worse.

Spying the Duke, he picked up his whiskey and waited, putting out his cigar in a seashell-shaped ashtray. The smoke stung his eyes, but he refused to let them water. He saw Gustav weave throughout the room, toward his table, with a tray. The footman's perpetual glower did not endear him to Declan, but, then again, few things could make him like his father's spy. A short man, likely a eunuch captured from Vytia, with a queue of dark hair that reached his shoulders, Gustav was constantly assigned to monitor Declan's whereabouts whenever he was in town. That was why he had given Gustav the hat: to send a message and reminder to his father.

"The Duke of Haverford, His Grace, requests to join you at your table, Your Highness," said Gustav, shrinking into a bow that must have irritated his constantly stiff neck.

"He may join me," Declan said.

Gustav's annoyance at having to be an errand boy showed on his face as he scurried across the room. Declan polished off his whiskey. Normally, he wouldn't go to the smoking room in the early morning - it was barely noon, for the Stars' sake - but this morning, he had woken up with a burning appetite from his conversation with Nadia. One he needed to satiate, lest it come out in even more reckless ways.

He stood as Anthony reached his table. "Please sit down. Make yourself comfortable. Would you care for a hand or two of cards?"

Anthony waved his hand and ordered a rich port wine. Having procured a beverage, the server was then tasked with fetching cards and dice. "Thank you for allowing me to join you, your highness."

"Declan is fine," he said. "And it is not a problem. Did you see the women out there? They must have been from some backwater, to try and enter the smoking room!"

Anthony laughed as though he had said something uproarious. It was always easier to begin a conversation by establishing some common enemy. The server returned with a deck of cards and a handful of dice. He left just as silently as he'd come, leaving Anthony to deal the cards and Declan to choose the game.

As they played, he learned tidbits of the man's life. For example, though it had been difficult for his family to accept his wife at first since she was of such low birth, they had welcomed her eventually. When Declan questioned how this had been resolved now, Anthony grew quiet and dodged the question. It was quite fascinating, really, how much people showed on their faces.