Prompt #18: Letters
A response to this and this!
It was long after he had left Priarch that Silvaineaux remembered the letter he had been given. Disarmed and freshly bathed he retrieved the thing from his pouch and took it into the study. There he set it on his desk where it waited like a coiled serpent while he poured himself a large glass of whiskey.
He regarded the letter for a moment as he sipped, then finally carefully set the glass aside and reached for it. As warily as he had avoided it until that moment his hands were decisive in opening it. It was short. It took him only a moment to read the entirety of it. He read it a second time, and then a third to be sure.
Then he set it on the desk in front of it and frowned at it as he slowly emptied his glass, reading the words yet once more and turning them over for some hidden message or motive. He would have to reply, he supposed. And for the sake of peace and Edarien’s friendship if nothing else he would have to agree.
He was a long time considering that, fingers tapping at the desk and turning his empty glass in neat circles on the smooth wood, before at last he reached for a sheet of paper. Viscount Griseaux,
If it is truly your wish that we speak I suggest we may do so at Priarch. It is a location familiar to us both and furnished of all the basic amenities including the drinks you mention. I suggest you consult your itinerary and send me a time within the next fortnight that would be convenient to you. I will wait upon your convenience.
-Silvaineaux de Rosaire
He frowned down a little at the letter as he folded it and applied his own seal in gleaming blue wax. Perhaps he was being unkind to retreat behind formality when it had been so deliberately omitted from Rainimont’s letter. But whatever familiarity the new Viscount might feel toward him he could not share it. He did not truly know the man.
He had met a man who wore Rainimont’s face more times than he might have wished but who the Viscount was now he couldn’t begin to know. He was an unknown and not one Silvaineaux had any reason to suspect of kindly intent. Still, it was done.
He settled his eyes on another letter next, reading Viper’s words over yet again. As always his eyes settled on that last line for a long time before he stood up and poured himself another glass of whiskey. He paced back and forth in front of the fire with it as he considered it all yet again. “Which thing in the bloody letter was the lie?” @rain-grey-falcon @thedarknesssings
