A Trickle of Soulfyre

Chapter 14 - Teeth

Nash tried to shrug Benje off, but the halfling didn't budge, only pressed his lips in a hard line.

"The security of your apartment is compromised, Nash. It would be folly for us to let you remain here. Once the palace is cleared and your room is secured, you can return."

Benje's eyes flickered back to the alcohol cabinet, quick as flashes of lightning but not too fast for Nash to catch. He huffed out a breath.

He was sure "securing" the room meant removing his liquor as well as any entrances for murderers or hidden intruders. His jaw tightened.

He was the king. It wasn't Benje's place to decide what was best for him or to order him around. He opened his mouth to say as much, but his right-hand man beat him to speaking.

"Don't think I don't see you eyeing your hell juice, Nash. Stop it right now."

Caught in the act, his sheepish gaze retreated, landing on Benje instead. Despite the hardness in his voice, the halfling's eyes were soft, and so, so sad.

Nash looked away. He had never thought he'd see himself like this again, and Benje probably never expected that he would either.

He was an elf king in love with the most wonderful woman the realm had to offer. He had a father and friends who were always there to catch him if he fell, but, inside, he was the same wreck he had been when he had stood alone.

Nash couldn't do anything right. If he couldn't even fix himself, what hope did he have of fixing his kingdom, let alone the realm?

"Hey, you shouldn't be so harsh on Nash." Where she sat beside the king, Isarea gave Benje a warning look that might've had any other palace employee quivering in their shoes, but the halfling didn't falter, not in his gaze, not in his stance.

Nash sighed. "Benje is right. I need his tough love now and then." He gave his right-hand man a faint smile.

He didn't want Benje to be right, but he couldn't argue with the truth. Benje had been right about his dark desire this time and all the others before it. It was the only way he could've stopped Nash in time and kept him alive during all the binges that would otherwise have killed him. The king had never made it easy for him, but he had never flinched, not at the slurred insults and proclamations of hopelessness, not at Nash's self-destructive plans.

The truth was, Nash wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Benje talking sense into him when he was all but senseless.

"You've been doing so well this year, Nash. Don't let this set you back." The darkness that settled into Benje's eyes when they fell on the liquor cupboard again reminded Nash of what they had endured together.

Seeing Nash hurting also hurt Benje, and Nash would refuse to do that any longer. The halfling had known enough pain at the hands of Nash's family, under the might of the laws they had drafted.

The very first Astors had outlawed romantic relations with humans. Nash's ancestors were the reason Benje would never know his father, would never know the love Nash took for granted.

When Nash and Benje were children, Rayn executed the halfling's mother for a reason that was unknown to him and Nash. Perhaps she had found out about Nymha's illegal dalliance with a human. Perhaps it was because of some other reason they would never know. Lyrani's investigations hadn't yielded any answers for them.

After Nash had met her and they had defeated Rayn together, he had vowed that the cycle of pain, hatred, and toxicity would end with him, and so it would.

He wanted to be the strong, brave king Elvenland deserved, one who put his people before himself. He wanted to be the friend his friends had earned, one who would have their backs should they need him instead of one who always took without giving back. He wanted to be a man worthy of Lyrani Esch, of the love she had given him even when he had hurt her under the influence of Rayn's dreadful possession.