Carrigan had no doubt spoken to the others.

"Lord Felek, I must insist you reconsider my suggestion," Frey's charming smile strained his cheeks as he looked across the table at the other lord. "It's a small piece of your land but it would make a vast difference if we could grow more crops and extend that part of our trade to North Kerilia as well. The idea that—"

"With all due respect, Lord Clausson, it's not so easy to just chop off a chunk of land and use it." Lord Felek didn't have the same charisma as Frey did, nor did he attempt to. His eyes wandered anywhere but near Frey's eyes and his voice dripped with indifference. "I don't expect someone like you to be aware of the kind of work it requires, but it's time consuming and expensive, and I believe we would benefit more from looking at other options regarding North Kerilia."

Frey gritted his teeth, neck hurting as he drew a silent breath and fought through his anger with another smile.

"I'm not sure where you've gotten the idea that I don't know my profession all of a sudden, Lord Felek, but I assure you it's a dreadfully mistaken one."

"Well you've been away for a year, to begin with," Lord Felek retorted. "And before that, your father was the one—"

"I don't see what my father has to do with it." Frey's eyes flashed with annoyance before he could stop them. There it was. What Carrigan had warned him about. "I'm well aware of the kind of crops North Kerilia is in need of. I know what kind of soil is needed, and that the part of your land I'm interested in is exactly the right kind, and I know that you'll need more work horses and equipment, and I can assist you with that."

He'd tried to keep his smile going, but it was clear from the looks of the other lords around the table that something had slipped, and Frey had to recover quickly.

"So please, don't let your misplaced doubt in me hinder your progress, Lord Felek." He found his grin again, beaming as ever and finally causing Felek's bored demeanour to waver. He hadn't spilled important information to an undressed Frey for no reason after all.

"I must agree with Lord Felek's scepticism though, Lord Clausson," Lord Carrigan said from his end of the table, and Frey wished to hurl a vase at the man simply from hearing his condescending tone. "Not just the concern with your absence, but you never were as hands on about your work as the late Lord Clausson was, and the fact is glaring in cases like these."

Frey had additional, valid glares he wanted to show Carrigan at the moment, but he chewed the inside of his cheeks instead.

"I'm certain Lord Clausson will catch up soon enough," Lord Berengar, who loved his wife a little too much to meet up with Frey during nightly hours, said. "But for the sake of getting somewhere with this meeting, perhaps we should move on to more favourable options."

Frey didn't have the energy to battle the guaranteed triumphant look on Carrigan's face, instead focusing on Lord Berengar to pretend he was still interested in what was being said despite the fuming rage in his chest. The one other glance he spared was in Damien's direction, subtle enough for no one else to notice, but devastating enough for Damien to know exactly how displeased he was.

Damien made what had to be the poorest attempt at a discreet, sympathetic look, but he still remained silent throughout the meeting, letting the other lords go on with their backhanded insults as they pleased, to Frey's further annoyance.

Frey didn't even stop to talk as the meeting ended. His social shield was about to drop and he had to get away before anyone noticed, so he made his way towards the piano room.

"Frey."

Frey jumped at the sound of Marius' voice, and he looked up to see the source walking towards him from the other side of the corridor. Without missing a beat, Frey looked around to make sure no one was around, which Marius seemed to notice.

"I mean... Lord Clausson," he corrected himself with an awkward attempt at scanning the area as well.

"What are you doing in the mansion?" Frey half-whispered as Marius followed him to the piano room's entrance. "You're not here to see me, are you?"

"Hurtful," Marius pointed out, but held up a small, burlap sack. "I was gonna get scraps from the kitchen to give the horses, but no one there had time to get any for me."

"Couldn't you just go down to the cellar and gather some yourself?" Frey raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't take that long."

Marius pinched his lips together before shrugging.

"Nah, I'll just come back another time."

Frey tilted his head to the side.

"You don't think someone's gonna think you're stealing, do you?"

"No, I just don't think it's my place to be down there, so." Marius left the sentence like that, only to start on an entirely new one with a lower voice. "And why are you so against me being here where there's no one else, anyway? I've barely seen you lately."

"I got a lot of work." Frey rubbed his arm, allowing his gaze to drop in Marius' presence. "Even when I know what I'm doing it's not enough, so I need to excel if I want to get back to where I was."

"Where you thought you were," Marius corrected him, not without receiving a hurt look. "Don't forget how those people really felt about you."

"I..." Frey began, unsure where he was going with it but didn't need to figure it out anyway as footsteps approached them.

With a quick movement Frey shoved Marius into the piano room, motioning for him to hide before turning around to wait for the owner of the footsteps to show.

"I suspected I'd find you here," Damien said as he joined Frey by the doorway. "I thought you wanted to talk after what happened in there."

"I think you misread my signal of frustration with you as wanting to talk." Frey curled his lip, hoping his subtle glance to check if Marius had managed to hide would go unnoticed. "I had hoped you would have my back when all of that was going on."

"In the end they are our business partners." Damien rubbed his neck with a frown. "I don't always agree with them and few of them are great people, but opposing all of them at once is unwise."

Frey narrowed his eyes.

"Even when they're bullying me?"

"Yes, that's what I thought we should talk about." Damien looked over his shoulder, waiting for a kitchen maid to hurry past them towards the kitchen before continuing. "Something has happened, hasn't it? Even after the West Kerilia event they never used to treat you like that."

"I've been made aware that they never respected me either, so I'm assuming that's what's showing now." Frey shrugged as if it didn't bother him tremendously. "With my father gone and me setting boundaries they're displeased with they have no reason to be nice anymore."

"Boundaries?" Damien raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, boundaries." Frey denied any further inquiries on the matter. "And with them actively working against me seemingly out of spite or sadistic pleasure, my efforts can only get me so far and it would be nice to have at least someone on my side."

"Frey..."

"Not that I will let it stop me if I don't," Frey added to mask the hint of vulnerability. "Give me time and I can dig up information that'll break them one by one."

"That's the last thing you should do if they're ganging up on you." Damien lowered his voice. "You can't ruin someone's reputation even with truth if it's all of them against you, who's currently in an unfortunate position."

"Oh yeah?" Frey raised his eyebrows. "Watch me."

"That's not what I—" Damien began but Frey held up a shushing finger as he stepped over the piano room's threshold.

"No one's supposed to disturb me in the piano room."

Damien drew a breath worthy of any frustrated parental figure before turning on his heels in defeat. Frey was not going to feel bad about his petty behaviour though. Damien deserved it after not taking his side.

"What was that about?" Marius whispered from where he'd hidden behind the piano with an unnecessarily concerned frown. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing new," Frey muttered as he sat down on the piano chair, pretending to look for sheet music. "The others are being the same kind of scum as always."

"So... Nothing's changed after all?" Marius raised an eyebrow, and Frey had to admit it with a silent nod. "You're working yourself exhausted for nothing?"

"It's still my job," Frey protested. "Even if it's harder to do without the help of others I still have to do it, and I need to catch up to where I used to be in order to do that."

Marius still frowned, letting his gaze fall to Frey's hands before slowly taking them.

"You know, if you want to talk about it, I'm here."

Frey didn't want to, and he couldn't imagine Marius would want to either. Why would he want to hear about the old men trying to coerce Frey into sleeping with them?

"I don't," he said bluntly, still allowing Marius' gentle grip.

Marius didn't look very relieved. His frown deepened despite Frey having made it clear that he shouldn't worry.

"Well, if you say so..." he replied, and Frey nodded.

"I do."

"It's also just... That all this is keeping you from me."

"It can't be helped." Frey shook his head. "We've talked about that."

"Yes, I know we did. But I... I miss you, you know?" Marius sighed. "I only see you at the stables and only for a short while before you take Tea For Two out."

"Just until I can keep up with the pace here," Frey explained again, a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows as he kept having to repeat himself. "And find a way to deal with pests."

Marius exhaled through his nose before letting go of Frey's hands.

"Yeah... I guess I get that."

Frey narrowed his eyes at Marius' averted gaze. Was he upset about something? Was it Frey's refusal to dismiss his work? He'd been so sure Marius had accepted that, but he still kept asking all those questions.

"We'll still see each other for a day when we go to pick up the horses," he said. "That's something."

Marius laughed softly.

"About as close to a romantic evening as we can get right now, huh?"

Frey hadn't even thought about it, but he recalled the failed evening before Dyris' day where they'd been interrupted by Carrigan. Frey had been awful to Marius, and their night had been ruined.

Marius deserved better. He'd tried so hard for them to be together, perhaps it was Frey's turn to make an effort.

"Don't worry, alright?" he therefore said. "We'll find time."

Marius smiled weakly, but Frey couldn't discern if it was genuine.

"Promise?"

That, however, Frey was going to make sure of.

"I promise."