Page 59 of Noble Charms

NOBLE

Virginia sat primly at the recently-cleared dining table and didn't acknowledge the hot tea as it was placed before her. Her dark hair was pulled back high and tight against her head, and her mask-like face had become unfamiliar to Noble in the last two months of their separation.

“Thank you,” said Noble to the maitre. “You can pack up to leave for the night. I cannot thank you enough.”

The young woman bowed her thanks and left Noble and Virginia alone in the room. Just down the hall, Aria and Kip sat waiting in the parlor, and Noble wished for nothing more than to get Virginia back out of his house.

Out of his life.

“I heard you were doing quite well for yourself out here in the city. You’ve gone as far as to employ staff,” said Virginia.

“I don't employ staff unless I've an event to put on.” He exhaled. “That's not changed.”

“Well, and you’ve an adame now. A male one, at that.”

Noble’s spine straightened. “Yes. He performs magic rituals for me at home. Since you were the one to point out how infrequently I participate in the rituals of my people.”

“Yes,” Virginia said, with emphasis. “Your people. The human nobility. Not elven peasants.”

Noble bit his tongue. Squeezed it between his teeth. For Aria’s sake. It would be unfair to ruin their ploy, to expose the lie of them being friends and not patron-adame, without his agreeing. “Adame are not peasants. They’re powerful magic users.”

“They’re also often prostitutes.”

“Aria is not my prostitute.”

“Well, he could be. That’s your right. As his employer. You do realize you pay him, yes? You cannot treat staff like they’re equal to you when they’re not. People will get the wrong idea.” She gestured down the hall. “You hired him for your reputation, correct?”

“Why are you here, Virginia?” Noble sighed. “Surely you didn’t come to discuss the ruin you’ve left me in.”

“Do you remember the Duke Ellor Abante?”

Noble had not yet perfected Aria's ability to hide his reactions, and he knew the way his nose wrinkled in distaste gave away the answer and his knowledge of his relationship to Aria.

“I'm bringing this matter to your attention not because I like to spread gossip or anything of that sort.”

Noble coughed a half-laugh of disbelief. “Shall I remind you of the papers I signed at Cafe DuLonde? The things you said, purposefully, to fan the flames of gossip?”

Virginia's mouth pinched tonight before she said, “I did what I had to do, Noble. I knew it wouldn't hurt you in the long term. You're a royal, for goodness' sake. You've many opportunities in life.” Noble opened his mouth to argue, but Virginia carried on, voice loud and sharp, “I mean it. I don't want you to be hurt. That's why I bring it up at all—the Ellor thing.”

Noble had a terrible sense of foreboding arrest him by the throat. He couldn't reply, or move, or do anything other than watch Virginia sip from her tea as she collected the words.

“This elf⁠—”

“Aria,” Noble said.

Virginia breathed in tightly through her nose, eyes closing from impatience. “I fear that he may do to you what he did to Duke Abante.” Noble would have continued to argue, but the idea of Aria hurting Ellor was absurd, and he couldn't find anywhere to start. “He kept Ellor from finding true love. The way their relationship went, it wasn't good. For either of them. But they carried on at Aria's behest. His presence in Ellor's life kept Ellor from a great many things. For years.”

Virginia was a lady, or else Noble would have said, like fucking five separate people in a week, rather than four?

She carried on, her dark curls falling around her face as she spoke, softening her before Noble's eyes. “I don't want that to happen to you. I feel you don't look out for yourself well enough sometimes. Heed the warning I give to you.”

“What warning?”

“We've been separated for nearly two months. I expected, by now, that you would be courting a new lady, well on your way to your second chance at nobility.”

“I've gone out,” Noble said, oddly hurt by his inability to meet her expectations. Which was absurd. Virginia left him. Her opinion was no longer a consideration. “I've had many outings with girls.”

“But you're not courting one at the moment. And why not?” Noble shrank into his chair. “This is what happened with Ellor, Noble. You're not going to reach your full potential—you're not going to find your wife—as long as you keep him around.”