Beast Tamer's Damned Regression

Chapter 3: The Ring in the Mud

The invitation came on a silver tray the next morning.

Marta carried it up the stairs with a face like she was holding a dead rat by the tail. She knocked and Varek opened the door with the Gnarl still curled on his pillow. The creature had not moved all night. It looked small and harmless in the daylight.

"A servant from the Valerius estate brought this," Marta said. "It's for you."

Varek took the card. Thick white paper with gold lettering… he read it aloud.

"Lord Draven Valerius requests the pleasure of your company this evening. A celebration in honor of new beginnings."

Marta crossed her arms and scuffed. "New beginnings. His new beginning with Lady Vespera, no doubt. They want you there so they can laugh at you in person."

"I know."

"Will you go?"

Varek looked at the invitation and thought about the vision again.

"Yes," he said. "I will go."

Marta stared at him. "Why? Why walk into that house and let them shame you boy?"

"Because if I hide, they will say I am a coward. If I stand in that garden and look them in the eye, they will have nothing to say about me that they have not already said."

She wanted to argue more. He could see it in her face.. how worried she is about him but she pressed her lips together and nodded.

"Then wear your father's coat. The good one with the silver buttons. If they are going to mock you, make them mock a man who looks like a Soren."

He almost smiled. "I will."

♡♡♡♡♡

The Valerius estate was drowning in torchlight.

The long driveway was lined with burning iron baskets. Carriages rolled through the gates one after another, dropping off nobles in silk and velvet. Music floated out from the gardens, a string quartet played something soft and elegant while servants moved through the crowd with trays of wine.

Varek walked up the driveway on foot. He had no carriage and no servants with him. Just him in his father's coat with the silver buttons and the patched elbows.

The guards at the gate recognized him immediately.

"The almighty Pest Tamer," one of them said mockingly. "Lord Draven said you might come. He will be so happy to see you."

"I am sure he will."

He walked past them into the garden. The party was already in full swing. Long tables sagged under the weight of roasted meats and fresh fruit and silver decanters of wine. Couples danced on the marble floor under strings of hanging lanterns. Nobles stood in clusters, laughing and whispering, and when they saw Varek the whispers changed.

"Is that him? The Soren boy?"

"He actually came, the nerve of him."

"Look at his coat full of patches on the elbows."

Varek kept walking until he reached the center of the garden. Draven Valerius stood there with a crystal glass in his hand and a smirk on his golden face. His Thunder Roc chick was perched on a stone pillar behind him, crackling faintly with lightning and beside him, draped in a gown of midnight blue, stood Vespera Ashford.

She was so beautiful, she had always been beautiful. Her dark hair was twisted up with sapphire pins, and her smile was bright and easy and completely wrong.

"Varek Soren!" Draven spread his arms wide. "You came! I was so sure you would stay home and cry into your pillow but here you are. Everyone, look! The Gnarl Tamer has arrived."

The crowd turned, all eyes on him. The music did not stop but it felt quieter somehow. Every face was now watching him like a hawk.

Draven handed his glass to a servant and walked toward Varek. "You must be thirsty. Have some wine… here, eat some food. It is the finest in the city. Probably better than anything you have ever tasted in that crumbling house of yours."

"I did not come for wine or food ," Varek said.

"No… Of course not. You came for the announcement." Draven turned and held out his hand. "Vespera? Would you like to do the honors?"

Vespera stepped forward. She moved through the crowd like a goddess of water, graceful and slow, and when she stopped in front of Varek she looked up at him with those soft eyes he had trusted for two years.

"Varek," she said gently. "I am sorry you had to hear it this way but I think you already knew it was coming."

"Say what you need to say."

She reached into the small pouch at her waist and pulled out his father's ring. The iron band with the Soren crest. She held it between her two fingers like it was a piece of trash she had found on the street.

"I am dissolving our engagement. I will not tie my future to a man with no beast and no magic. Lord Draven Valerius has offered me his hand, and I have accepted gracefully." With that she dropped the ring.

It hit the marble with a small cold sound and rolled into a puddle of muddy water near the edge of the dance floor. The mud closed over it halfway. The Soren crest was barely visible through the grime.

The crowd burst into laughter again.

"Smart girl!" someone shouted.

"Who would marry a Pest Tamer?"

"Good riddance to the Soren bloodline!"

Draven walked over and put his arm around Vespera's waist. He pulled her close and grinned at Varek. "No hard feelings, Soren. She wanted a real man, a real Tamer and you cannot possibly blame her for that."

Varek said nothing, he looked at Vespera. She was smiling, but it was not the bright easy smile she had worn a moment ago. It was tighter now… almost sad…

"Varek," she said quietly. "I do hope you find someone. Someone who can love you despite everything, someone that can accept you for who you are and be okay with it "

The words hung in the air, despite everything that was said… he bent down slowly and he picked up the ring from the mud. He wiped it clean on his sleeve and slipped it into his pocket.

Then he looked at her.

"I hope so too," he said. "But I think it will be very hard to find someone who can lie as well as you do."

Vespera's smile froze.

The crowd went quiet, someone sucked in a breath. Draven's grin flickered and his grip on Vespera tightened.

"What did you say?" Draven asked.

"I said thank you for the invitation, for the wine I did not drink and most importantly for the wonderful show." Varek looked around at the silent nobles. "It was very convincing. You should all be proud."

He turned his back and walked toward the gate.

"Get out!" Draven shouted behind him. "Go back to your crumbling house and your worthless pest! You are nothing, Soren! Nothing!"

Varek did not turn around, he kept walking. The guards at the gate stepped aside without a word. He walked down the long driveway alone with the torches burning on either side and the music fading behind him.

When he reached the dark road outside the estate, he stopped and looked up at the sky. The moon was thin and cold. The stars were hidden behind clouds.

He pulled the ring from his pocket and held it in his palm. The mud was still stuck in the grooves of the crest.

She had held his hands that morning and told him she believed in him and even promised to stand by him. She had whispered it against his cheek like a promise and then she dropped his father's ring in the mud and smiled while everyone laughed.

He closed his fist around the ring.

Two weeks… in two weeks she would come to him with warm food and gentle words, and he would pretend to eat, and she would lead him to the cold table but this time he would be the one waiting.

He walked home through the dark streets. The Gnarl was waiting on his pillow when he climbed the stairs. It lifted its blind head and made a soft sound.

"She did it," he said. "Just like I saw."

[And you survived it.]

"Yes." He sat on the bed and looked at the ring in his hand. "Now I need to know what comes next, I need to borrow more."

[You can do that tomorrow, rest tonight. The future will still be there when you wake.]

Varek lay back on the bed, he couldn't sleep. He was staring at the ceiling and thinking about the cold table and the silver instruments… just like a dark nightmare.

Let them laugh and jubilate

He was going to tear them all down.