Ink & Crown

Chapter 84 – Choosing for Himself

Taren’s last answer settled quietly across the table.

For a brief moment, none of them spoke.

The sounds of the café continued around them as they had all evening. Cups touched saucers. Chairs shifted across the floor. Voices rose and fell beneath the warm noise of the dinner crowd. Yet at their table, the silence held for a few seconds longer.

Lucien leaned back slightly in his chair and glanced toward Dorian.

Dorian understood immediately. He gave a small nod.

Across from him, Lunessa remained thoughtful for another moment before giving one quiet nod of her own. That was enough.

Lucien looked back toward Taren.

“Well,” he said calmly, “I think we’ve heard everything we needed to.”

Taren met his gaze without speaking.

Lucien continued naturally.

“If you’re interested, Crownspire would be happy to have you join us.”

The words were delivered simply, without ceremony. Just clear and direct.

“I think your experience would be valuable here,” Lucien said. “More importantly, I think the way you approach publishing aligns closely with what we’re trying to build.”

Taren remained still.

He had prepared himself for many possibilities before coming here. He had expected questions. He had expected evaluation. He had expected uncertainty.

What he had not expected was how directly Lucien would say it.

Lucien rested one hand lightly against the edge of the table.

Before Taren could respond, Lucien added,

“But there’s no need to answer now,” he added.

His tone remained calm and easy.

“This isn’t the kind of decision anyone should make in a few minutes across a café table.”

That loosened something slightly in Taren’s chest.

“Take your time,” Lucien said. “Think about it properly.”

Taren gave a slow nod. “I appreciate that.”

Lucien stood from his chair.

“For now,” he said, “I think we’ve talked enough business for one evening.”

A faint smile touched his expression.

“And considering we’re sitting in a café, it would feel wrong letting you leave without eating something.”

That caught Taren slightly off guard.

Before he could say anything, Lucien glanced toward the nearby service counter.

Lira was already looking in their direction. The moment their eyes met, she seemed to understand immediately. She moved toward the table without needing to be told anything.

Lucien let out the smallest amused breath.

“Looks like she understood before I even asked.”

Taren followed the exchange and gave the faintest smile.

Dorian stood and gathered the slate from the table while Lunessa rose beside him.

Before stepping away, Dorian looked toward Taren.

“For what it’s worth,” he said, “I think you’d fit here and I would be happy to work with you.”

Lunessa nodded. “Same here.”

Taren gave a small nod in return, unsure what to say to that.

Lucien gave him one final look.

“Take your time,” he repeated.

Then the three of them left the table and headed toward the staircase leading upstairs.

A moment later Lira reached him and began clearing away the empty cups.

“Sorry,” she said with an apologetic smile while lifting the tray. “He already sent word to the kitchen.”

Taren looked up. “Told them what?”

“That you’re not leaving hungry.”

Before he could answer, she set fresh plates onto the table one by one.

Taren looked at the dishes being set down in front of him.

Fresh bread still warm enough for steam to rise from the surface. A pastry glazed lightly with syrup. Roasted vegetables and a fresh hot drink set beside them. The aroma rose with the warmth.

“This is too much.”

Lira smiled. “You can tell him that later.”

Then she was gone again, moving quickly toward another waiting table.

Taren remained seated alone.

Around him, the café continued as normal, full of customers and conversation and movement. But his attention remained fixed on the plates in front of him and the conversation still turning over in his mind.

Upstairs, Lucien closed the study door behind them.

The sounds from below softened immediately, leaving only a distant murmur beneath the quieter space above.

Dorian dropped into the nearest chair while Lunessa remained standing near the shelves for a moment before turning back.

Lucien sat opposite them.

For a short while, none of them spoke.

Then Dorian looked at Lucien. “Well?”

Lucien answered without hesitation. “He’s good.”

Lunessa nodded immediately. “Very.”

Dorian folded his arms.

“He noticed the operational concentration issue almost immediately.”

“And communication bottlenecks,” Lunessa added. “Without us needing to explain anything.”

Lucien nodded once. “He sees things clearly.”

That was what stood out most.

Taren didn’t only understand publishing from experience. He understood how systems worked beneath the surface and where they broke when pressure increased.

That kind of perspective was difficult to teach.

Dorian let out a slow breath.

“Which is exactly what we need right now.”

Lucien didn’t disagree.

The conversation turned practical quickly.

“If he joins,” Dorian said, “author relations and acquisitions feel obvious.”

Lunessa nodded. “Editorial coordination too.”

Lucien rested one arm against the desk.

“He’d probably stabilize several weak points at once.”

“Especially once we begin signing more titles,” Dorian added.

And beyond the job itself, there was something else. Taren had experience. Judgment. Patience.

He had spent enough years inside the industry to understand both how things should work and why they often didn’t.

For a company still building its foundation, someone like that mattered.

That was the real issue. Right now Crownspire could still function with everyone overlapping responsibilities.

But not forever and once the catalogue expanded, more authors entered the system, and schedules began stacking over one another that would be when they’ll be overwhelmed.

Lucien understood that already. Which was why Taren’s presence felt significant.

Not because they urgently needed another employee. But because someone with his experience could help shape the company before the structure became too difficult to untangle later.

Lunessa crossed her arms lightly.

“The only question is whether he’ll actually leave Greyford.”

Dorian gave a quiet nod. “That part I’m less sure about.”

Lucien was silent for a moment. Then he said, “He wants to.”

Both looked toward him.

Lucien continued. “He wouldn’t have come otherwise.”

Dorian considered that and nodded slowly.

Maybe. But wanting to leave and actually leaving were not always the same thing. Especially after years in one place.

Lunessa seemed to think the same. “He’s carrying history there.”

“Yes,” Lucien said.

He thought of the way Taren answered earlier. There’s no bitterness or anger. It’s something heavier than that and built over years.

Loyalty had weight. Habit had weight. Responsibility had even more. The weight of staying somewhere long after it stopped being easy.

“He’s thinking about it seriously,” Lucien said.

And for now, that was enough.

Dorian leaned back in his chair.

“If he joins us, Crownspire changes quickly.”

Lucien nodded. That was true. And not just internally.

Someone like Taren joining Crownspire would say something to the industry itself.

That they were no longer just one successful book. No longer just a revived press and no longer just a small company testing whether it could survive.

They were beginning to become something real. And if Taren chose to step into that with them then Crownspire’s next chapter would begin sooner than any of them expected.

Downstairs, Taren remained seated at the table long after the others had gone upstairs.

The dishes Lira brought were spread across the table untouched for the first few minutes before he finally picked up a piece of bread almost absentmindedly.

Around him, the café remained lively. Customers continued flowing in and out through the entrance. Staff moved between tables carrying trays, clearing dishes, and answering orders. Conversation rose and blended beneath the warm noise of the evening crowd.

Yet Taren barely noticed any of it. His thoughts remained upstairs. Or perhaps still at this table.

Lucien’s words replayed in his mind more than once.

If you’re interested, we’d be happy to have you join Crownspire.

He took another bite without paying much attention to the taste.

For years, decisions in his life had rarely felt like decisions.

Most had simply been responsibilities. Things that needed to be done. Work that needed finishing. Bills that needed paying. People who needed someone dependable beside them.

He had grown used to moving forward because there was always something in front of him that required it.

But this felt different. This was not something he had to do. This was something he could choose. That thought felt strangely unfamiliar.

A soft vibration against his wrist pulled him from his thoughts.

He lowered his gaze. A new message from Eiran.

How did it go?

Before Taren could reply, another arrived.

Are you still there?

Then another almost immediately.

Uncle?

Taren smiled despite himself.

Even without seeing him, he could picture Eiran pacing restlessly at home while waiting for a response.

Before he typed anything back, the wristlink vibrated again.

This time the sender made him pause as it was from his sister. The message was short.

Taren opened the message.

Brother, do what your heart tells you to do. Don’t keep thinking and worrying about us while making your decision. Eiran is grown now. You don’t have to carry everything alone anymore. Think about yourself and what you want too.

Taren stared at the words longer than he expected. The café around him blurred slightly. He blinked once and looked away for a moment.

For years, he had worried about them almost as naturally as breathing.

Even when Eiran was younger.

Even after things became more stable.

Even after his sister stopped needing help with the things she once did.

Some part of him had never really stepped away from carrying that weight.

Maybe he never realized how tightly he still held onto it until now.

And now both of them, in their own way, were telling him the same thing.

His fingers rested quietly against the table.

A quiet breath escaped him. Then a small smile followed.

“This brat…”

The words left him under his breath with warmth rather than annoyance.

There was no need to ask how his sister knew about tonight.

Eiran had clearly told her everything already.

Taren could picture it easily. His nephew talking too fast, unable to hide his excitement. His sister listening quietly while pretending not to worry.

And now this message finding its way to him.

His gaze dropped back to the wristlink.

Eiran had already sent another.

Say something. You’re killing me here.

Taren shook his head, the smile still lingering.

For the first time all evening, the hesitation that had sat inside him began to loosen.

The risk was still there as Greyford was stable, while Crownspire was not. Greyford was familiar, while Crownspire was uncertain. One path was predictable and the other carried no guarantees.

But when he thought back on the earlier conversation, and the people sitting across from him, and the company they were trying to build, he already knew where his thoughts kept returning.

Then he opened the reply window.

To Eiran, he typed:

It went well. Better than I expected.

Then after a pause:

I accepted.

He sent it.

The reply came almost instantly.

YOU DID?

Then another.

UNCLE, FINALLY.

And another.

I knew it. I absolutely knew you would.

Taren laughed under his breath and lowered his wrist for a moment before opening his sister’s message again.

His reply to her was shorter.

Thank you. I made my decision.

Her answer came a minute later.

Then congratulations, brother. I’m happy for you.

Taren read the words quietly. Then locked the screen.

For a long while, he sat there quietly.

The food in front of him had cooled slightly by now.

He picked up the cup beside him and sat back in his chair.

For the first time in a long while, the road ahead felt uncertain.

But for once, uncertainty did not feel entirely like something to fear.

And somewhere beneath all the hesitation, Taren realized he was looking forward to what came next.