“How am I to be your second, yourheir, if you won’t tell me everything that is happening? How can I possibly do my job to its fullest extent?” I pried, and Alois sighed loudly. “I am still your second-in-command, aren’t I?”
“Yes, Rohak. That position will always belong to you. I don’t plan on conceiving an heir. I don’t think it’s even possible. Even if it was, I’ve left the option of intimacy up to Ellowyn. So far, she hasn’t approached me about it. Nor do I expect her to,” he admitted, and I covered my shock as best as possible.
“You’re not sleeping with her?” I asked, confused.
“Once,” he admitted darkly. “I needed a way to taste her blood—to discern any truths hiding within. I found nothing.”
I fought a grimace—I was well acquainted with the darker aspects of Alois’ ability to discern truth from lies, but never figured he’d use it on his wife.
“You . . . bled her?” I asked tentatively.
He scoffed. “Never been with a virgin before, Rohak?”
My ears heated at his insinuation, and I squirmed in my seat.
“But you are no longer sleeping with her?”
Alois barked a laugh. “Do I look like a man who’s getting laid on the regular, Rohak?”
I smirked as a recognizable piece of my oldest friend surfaced.
“No, I guess not. You do look like shit,” I teased, hoping to keep this version of him for a while longer.
Alois shook his head with a small smile.
“It’s not easy moving pieces to be five steps ahead of your opponent,” he admitted as he finished the whiskey in his hand before setting it on the table next to him.
“Are you ever going to tell me what those are?”
Alois shook his head, a tint of frustration and shame tinging his movements.
“I can’t, Rohak. If I do, it could destroy the path that we’re currently on. It’s best if you just keep making moves as you see fit.”
Silence hung in the air between us, thick and heavy with things unsaid and questions unanswered.
I missed my friend.
“I have another meeting I have to attend to,” he admitted softly but with authority.
I sighed, rubbing a hand down my face.
“More important than discussing the conditions in Hestin? Or the recent collapse of the mines? Or the whispering of movements of the gods?” I asked wryly. Alois’ lips thinned into a line as his eyes whizzed about, more erratic than I’d seen the entire time tonight.
“When the gods call, I must answer.” He sounded annoyed and resigned. The reappearance of Kaos had to have taken a toll on him, and I wondered if he had extended contact with the god. But it was simply another unknown.
So much was said in this room over the past few hours, yet not nearly enough.
“We’ll reconvene here, first thing in the morning, Rohak. I need to hear everything; where we stand, what your next moves are, so I can . . . plan accordingly.”
I gave him a curt nod, recognizing the dismissal for what it was. Standing from my chair, I set my empty glass down in the bar cart before crossing the room to the exit.
“Rohak,” Alois called as my hand was on the door. I paused out of respect for my friend, not necessarily because I wanted to hear what he had to say. “Do you trust me like you did when we were younger?”
I sighed, rolling my shoulders as I contemplated my answer.
“No.” I paused. “I don’t. I would love to, Alois. More than anything. But there are too many years between then and now, too many secrets. I trust you like a general trusts his lord. Like a friend trusts another. But not with the blind trust and love I once had, no.”
Alois hummed thoughtfully.
