Gideon nodded to the guards as he moved lightly up the stairs. After the 5th pair had bowed, right hand over their hearts as he passed their landing, he rolled his eyes and glanced to his left. Only to remember that he was alone, Laric was not his usual near-silent presence shadowing his footsteps.

He would get used to it he knew, just as he had gotten used to Herne's absence at times when he had started his own mateships. It felt different somehow, but he chalked it up to the fact that Herne had started his mateships almost 400 years ago. And Laric had never seemed interested in starting his own, except that one time...

Shaking his head, he focused his thoughts once more onto the reasons his Uncle had called for him. As he reached the final landing, and the long hallway leading towards his Uncle's rooms, his steps slowed. Something felt off, he couldn't quite figure out what had drawn his attention, but his eyes flicked quickly along the hallway looking for anything out of place.

All he could see, was Nikolas at the end of the hall as usual. But he wasn't lounging against the door, no, he was standing upright almost at full attention. His eyes fixed halfway between the door he guarded, and the hallway. As Gideon came closer, those dark blue eyes softened slightly before flicking back to the door.

"Gideon. Lord Damien is in high demand today. You are the fourth to come seeking him this morning. Nirdue is currently with him."

Well, that explained the rigidness of the Captain of the Shadow Guard. Nirdue was very much a believer in rules and formality. He was sure Nikolas had already had at least one tongue lashing just from the wary way he was still looking at the door.

"Ah. Well, my Uncle called for me. I'm not sure whether I should hope he didn't know his son would be here this morning, or that he did." He eyed the door a moment, then shrugged lightly and reached out to open it. Moving past Nikolas and into the room beyond.

Gideon looked around the room to see if anything had changed since he was there last. Mostly to give himself time before interrupting what was usually a tense conversation between his Uncle and cousin.

The rug under his Uncle's favorite chair had changed since he was here last. It was still black, and had a light silvery starburst pattern radiating from the end nearest the chair, and streaking to the far side. Other than that, he didn't see anything different. Perhaps the screen in the farthest corner, he couldn't remember if it had always had that faded, almost transparent patch in the bottom right corner...

Lord Damien was sitting, legs crossed and tucked close to the chair legs. One elbow resting on the armrest, and leaning his head on his palm, looking up at his son who was standing in front of him. The Lord of the Shadow looked both bored, and a touch irritated with whatever his son was saying.

Nirdue spared Gideon a short glance, before dropping his voice to continue his conversation. Lord Damien's son was average height, around 5'5". His medium blond hair and brown eyes were unremarkable, as was the purple of his wings. It was a slightly darker than average purple, but compared to his father's very pale purple, it wasn't memorable. He was thin, with a scholar's build and gaunt face that showed little emotion and even less warmth. As he finished speaking, Lord Damien waved his unoccupied hand in a casual dismissive gesture, then spoke just loud enough for Gideon to hear.

"I'm sure the rest can wait, I have other appointments this morning and some of them are very busy people. Thank you for updating me."

The Lord of the Shadow's son clenched one hand briefly, quickly relaxing it again. Glancing once between his father and Gideon, he finally drew himself up and stalked off on his way to the door. Sniffing once loudly as he passed Gideon, and then all but slamming the door behind him. Gideon winced slightly and sighed.

"I know he's a bit of a stuffed shirt Uncle, but he is still your son."

"I can't take his blathering on, especially when I have important things to be doing! It's always the same old whinging, like a broken record. I refuse to go over it again, even with you." Lord Damien crossed his arms and stretched his legs out, re-crossing them at the ankle.

"Have you learned anything of use about the poisonings?"

"There is still no connection we can find. The bodies that we have been able to examine have no relationship to each other. The only thing tying them together was that they were all poisoned. And according to our Soul Magic expert, all of them are missing their souls. There are no leads." He clasped his hands together. It grated that they had been able to come up with nothing so far. No magic signature, no ties between the dead, no idea why any of it was happening.

"Have you tried Indigo Fae?"

"You know as well as I do that they can only See based around specific questions. Even then, it's not as easy as asking 'who is the poisoner?' If we ask 'where will the next poisoning happen?' it could be some random death. Or even if it's the right one, they may sheer off due to seeing us there. So then it would still give us little to no help."

His Uncle rubbed his eyes and slumped in the chair. "I know, I know. You are as frustrated as I am." Glancing around, the Lord of the Shadow frowned slightly.

"Where is your Third? I do not think I have ever seen just you coming to report unless I have specifically requested it."

"Laric is Courting, and was not able to be here this morning. He is currently at the trial the Lord of the Flame called on behalf of one of his potential mateship."

"Trial... Oh! I had heard about that." Shaking his head sadly a moment, he looked back at his nephew. "Sad business that. I had not realized Laric had snapped up that adorable boy. You should bring him by to see me again. When you have more time to chat. Especially if the Courtship is not yet completed."

"Uncle! You are not allowed to meddle with their COURTSHIP!" Gideon half opened his wings in his shock. He knew his Uncle loved to meddle in things that were not his business, but it usually involved him not his friends. He met grey eyes very much like his own, and held them. His Uncle finally sighed, dropping his eyes first and sticking his lower lip out slightly like a petulant toddler.

"Fine! Take away all my fun. I don't see why you didn't snap him up first, I would have liked to have him in the family. And then you would qualify for your Heirship, the way you always whine at me that you don't already. I wouldn't even object if your Third had to join as well. As long as you actually started looking."

"You know very well that I have no time for such things Uncle. Especially now with the poisonings going on. And all the extra duties you push off onto me, pretending it is 'training' for the Heirship. No one in their right mind would be interested in Courting, much less entering a mateship with me, given how little time to myself I have. And there are none I have seen so far that I would be interested in."

He shoved the niggling thought in the back of his mind down, the way he always did if it cropped up at all. He had no time for mates, and no one would be interested in him beyond his Heirship. No one ever had been interested before after all, the moment they realized just how many duties he had, and how often he would be away from them, all interest dried up. He didn't blame them really. Honestly he never should have taken on a Vorthr, as entertaining as Fred could be. With the poisonings, he had less time than usual. But teaching duties at least helped get his mind off things he couldn't change.

Lord Damien stuck his nose in the air. "Those so-called 'extra' duties are part of the Heirship, nephew. Just because they're mostly the boring ones, doesn't mean they should be mine and not yours. If you were actually Courting someone, I might be willing to take some back. At least until you were mated." He paused, and glanced at Gideon out of the corner of his eye.

"I have just had the most wonderful idea!" Clapping his hands together, he nodded to himself. "We need to have a gala! Something to take our minds off all of this gloomy nonsense. With dancing! I'll have to see if Dumisa is willing to ask that band of hers to play at it. You will of course be in charge of setting up security, as I'm sure you would insist. There should be a strict guest list, but you may invite whomever it was your Third is Courting. And with restrictions as to place and guests, if the poisoner should show up, it will be easier to narrow things down."

As Gideon opened his mouth, Lord Damien flapped his hands at him. "Off with you! There is much to be done, and I am over doom and gloom for the day. Shoo!"