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Vivi liked Cardan.
“Liked” as in the past tense. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him now, watching her sister stare at the television with dead eyes.
But Madoc had contacted her, and obviously if she had to pick between her murderous father and her asshole brother-in-law, she was going to side with the asshole.
“Jude, I’m going to go to the store.” A truth; she wasn’t headed to the store now, but presumably at some time in the future she would.
“Mm-hm,” Jude hummed in response, her eyes never straying from the TV. Jude didn’t know that Madoc had reached out to Vivi, and Vivi was going to keep it that way.
“I have my cellphone on me if you need anything.” Another non-committal hum. Vivi sighed and walked out the door.
Vivi strode into the throne room, a few courtiers standing around in small groups. Cardan lounged upon his throne, looking bored out of his skull and staring blankly at the ceiling. He only noticed Vivi when she stopped just a few meters from the throne.
“Ah, Vivienne!” His expression immediately brightened and he straightened in his seat. “What brings you to my throne room?” His eyes, and his tone, held a hint of mischief, as if her presence was just a welcome interruption to the tedium of his life. Vivi rolled her eyes internally.
“Madoc contacted me. I was hoping to speak to you in private.” Cardan’s expression immediately dropped to simmering anger at the mention of her father. He turned to the scattered courtiers.
“Get out,” he commanded, his voice just loud enough to carry over the room. The various fae paused, looked at each other, and then quickly ushered out. When the last of them had left and the massive doors of the throne room closed behind them, Cardan turned back to Vivi.
“Madoc contacted you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Oh, the usual. Wanted me to bring Oak to him, pledge my support to his cause, blah blah blah. He left a way to contact him though, so I figured that might be of interest to you.” Vivi held out the folded letter she received and Cardan grabbed it and folded it open to read. Vivi noticed when his eyes caught on a particular section of the letter. She had a good guess as to which.
“Oh yeah,” Vivi restarted, “He also wanted me to bring Jude. Obviously that’d be in violation of her banishment, so I don’t know if that’s helpful to you. Like ‘intent to break a royal decree’ or some shit.” Cardan raised his eyes back up to meet Vivi’s, his eyebrows furrowed. Then his expression deliberately cleared into disinterest.
“And how is dear Jude?” His tone was bored, almost as if it was just a polite formality to inquire about her sister. Too bad Vivi knew him well enough to see past that. And too bad he’d given Vivi the perfect opportunity to rip into him for what he’d done to Jude. She’d keep her tone conversational and light, pretending she didn’t know how much what she was about to say would throw him.
“Oh, Jude? Well honestly she’s doing terribly.” Cardan’s mouth twitched into a frown.
“Oak’s the only one who can get her to get off the couch, but she can’t even reasonably feign interest in things for his sake. She spends almost all her time blankly watching TV. She also hardly eats, which is really bad because she still hasn’t recovered physically from her time in the Undersea. I also don’t think she’s recovered from that psychologically, so add Taryn and Madoc’s betrayal and her banishment from the only place she’s ever really known, and yeah. She seems pretty much dead inside.”
Cardan stared at Vivi intently, the words soaking in. She was somehow able to keep herself from smirking, watching as the harsh truths sank in. Serves him right, she thought.
“That does not sound at all like Jude,” he said finally, breaking his stare to look to the ground. Vivi shrugged.
“The Jude you knew was shaped by being a mortal in Faerie. And well, I don’t think even she knows who she is without it.” Cardan’s face folded, his expression irritated. Vivi would also bet there was a twinge of remorse to it. She let him stew in the silence for a bit.
“Don’t worry.” He looked up. “I haven’t told Jude that Madoc summoned her.”
Cardan paused before replying.
“Do you think she’d go?” And there, in that question, Vivi heard the crack in Cardan’s shell.
He was, above all, worried.
“I don’t know,” Vivi said, her tone finally softening to reveal her own concern. “Part of me thinks she’d jump at the chance to get back at you, but... I’m not even sure she could summon the energy to care at this point. She’s been through so much; I’m not sure she can bring herself to get back up just so she could get knocked down again.”
The pair of them considered that in silence for a few moments.
“I should go,” Vivi said. “Before Jude wonders where I went.”
“Yes,” Cardan replied, still not looking up. Vivi nodded and turned to leave. Just before she reached the throne room doors, she turned back. Cardan was watching her, his eyes almost sad.
“I’ll let you know if Madoc contacts me again.” Cardan nodded.
And with that, Vivi left Cardan to sit alone in his empty throne room.