With the crowd of nobles gathered for the hunting festival, Zalyric had no choice but to send Soren back inside the tent with a physician. The celebration was loud and filled with laughter, but Zalyric could sense the tension underneath. Every noble smiled too politely, watched too closely, and waited for someone to make a mistake.
Evan, his right hand, was also nowhere to be found. He had been buried in paperwork for days, looking more exhausted each time Zalyric saw him and it wasn't even surprising that he wasn't here as Evan could barely stand without looking faint.
Because of that, Zalyric had to assign Dravaris to look after Rowan, whether Rowan liked it or not.
He knew the boy wouldn't take it well. Rowan hated being treated like someone fragile and important but Zalyric couldn't risk leaving him unguarded, not in front of these nobles. Especially not with the Arwen family watching every move he made, waiting for a single flaw to exploit.
