[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/0Hh7rGs.png[/img][/center]
[color=00F8FE]Time: 9:30 am
Location: Anastasia’s Room
Interaction: Anastasia [@princess][/color]

[color=9FA1A4][color=00F8FE]“Ana, you insult me. Don’t tell me you thought I couldn’t handle a little over-indulgence?”[/color] Callum forced a smile, he could pretend he was fine, it was an act he’d practiced most of his life. Everything from last night was slowly catching up with him; he’d gotten an adrenaline boost from his panicked start to the day, and had the entire charade of the entrance hall to distract him for a bit but it was all wearing off now. His stomach remained a tangled knot of guilt and nausea, every part of him beyond exhausted from his short and restless sleep, his head felt ready to crack open even without trying to force memories back up, and his legs felt like he’d run a marathon. And that didn’t even scratch the surface of what bothered him. 

The way his mother had simply declared a man to die to today as if she were ordering a drink. He couldn’t ever remember not being on edge around Edin, but it was the first time he’d felt afraid of his mother. That feeling permanently etched itself into his mind. [color=00F8FE][i]How much of a person had to die off before they could snatch a whole life away on a whim?[/i][/color] It’d be easier to just accept that was how the world worked. Plenty of people did, they accepted it, they lived their lives far happier than he, and for not the first time, Callum wished he could let it go, let that part of him die off, and let himself be happy. Instead, numbing it all down to whisper was the best he could manage. 

He stayed in the doorway, leaving the doors wide open and leaning with his hand against one of the doors. Nothing he said was being hidden from the guards, no reason for them to make reports of any secret conversations that would earn him more suspicion from either his parents or Wulfric. Almost subconsciously his eyes scanned the room for something to drink before landing back on Ana. 

Even now all he really wanted was to drink himself into another blackout and then sleep for about a week. [color=00F8FE][i]A selfish, useless, prince.[/i][/color] A familiar thought slipped in, and none of that was easily said, so he shrugged off concerns about himself, they didn’t matter, he didn’t matter. He was here to lessen Ana’s concerns, not to add to them. 

[color=00F8FE]“Anyway, I just came to let you know Darryn’s safe now. I spoke with Wulfric, and he agreed that the man had suffered enough. He even helped convince mother to see reason, they’ve let him go, on probation. So, no execution, but for his sake, it’d be best if we both keep our distance from him, just to be sure nothing happens to jeopardize his safety.”[/color] He didn’t say anything about his deal with Wulfric, he didn’t see any reason to and he really did just want to believe that his brother had done him a favor. His parents were both a lost cause, but his siblings, he needed to be able to still have faith in them, he had to see the good where he could find it. 

[color=00F8FE]“You know, what you did, standing up to our parents, in front of an audience like that, it took guts. They might not appreciate it, but it was honest, brave, and for what’s worth, I think you did the right thing.”[/color] Cal added with an easier smile now, because this he entirely meant. He’d never had the courage to call them out so publicly, not the way she had, he’d never be that brave. [color=00F8FE]“Thought you deserved to know that.”[/color][/color]