The Name of Evil Chapter 15

A King's Vanity

Justar chewed on a wad of dried gamgee leaves outside the grand chambers of the Conclave of Chara. The calming effect of the juices slogged their way through his body while he gathered his thoughts. All of his meticulous planning and clandestine meetings with the profane Guryo came to nothing. The power of the Nalith disk remained on the island, an open invitation to Grymr to invade. Leave it to one of the doomed ones to foul up his perfect planning.

He spat into a shiny brass spittoon sitting next to his oversized chair and scratched his head before sliding both hands across his tight, curly black hair. Interlocking his fingers behind his head out of habit, the man focused his attention across the massive table made of dark highland wood. He stared at the closed doors leading to the king’s chambers.

As the confidante and advisor to King Gaur, Justar knew his master remained in bed that morning. No doubt, the man was having intercourse with one of many Amryno maidens who worked for the queen. Gaur considered it his duty to impregnate as many lower-class women as possible. The king regarded his actions as a method to give such women the benefit of his superior breeding. The king also enjoyed the added benefit that it annoyed his queen when she lost a dutiful servant.

Justar was grateful his master avoided Chara women. Unlike his father, King Gaur avoided potential rivals. Since the law never allowed bastard children of lower classes to lay a claim to the Conclave or the throne, Gaur’s conquests did little harm to the Chara.

Queen Chital had given the island only one son as heir. The sickly child remained nearly cloistered with the priests. Justar believed the situation to achieve more sons came from a lack of effort by Guar. Even the advisor admitted the queen’s looks did not meet the king’s desires; however, she held a lineage back from the time of Mawd the Confessor. Guar dismissed the idea that he would mate again with a woman who had a face reminiscent of a horse.

The queen carried no love for her husband. Chitel’s blue eyes rightly regarded the king as an imbecile, and her strategic thinking worried Justar. While he tried to avoid the forced marriage, the untimely death of Gaur’s father required the inconvenient partnership.

With a sigh, the advisor stiffened when he noticed the dandruff speck on his red velvet jacket, and he quickly brushed it away. The man wore a linen shirt with a large wired, whisk collar around his thin neck underneath his coat. It was uncomfortable, but the style of their class.

One must look their best for the king, who was a stickler about fashion.

The man’s gray eyes focused on a nearby mirror to ensure his attire while his mind returned to working out the details of his adjusting plan.

It’s almost like the Fates want those wretched Guryos goading Grymr and his Gravers to reach Charax.