In Which Leara's Moment Is Preemptively Ruined

December 25, 1166

"Stop jumping on that couch!" shrieked Camaline for about the fourth time. "Have you no respect for the queen's furniture?"

Between bounces, Jadin dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "She can't do anything to me. She's my aunt!"

"And she's my stepmother!"

"And your point is?"

Leara shot a brief glance at her brother, who sat between their sister and his betrothed; she didn't particularly mind Jadin and Sparron's juvenile antics, but it seemed preferable that they stopped before Camaline's protests grew even more unbearable. Ietrin seemed to be of the same opinion. "If you have to jump, do you mind doing so elsewhere? The rest of us need Cam to shut up."

Her lip curling inward, Camaline jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow; Leara rolled her eyes as he winced. "It's Camaline!"

Leara rolled her eyes, only to stumble forward as Raia grabbed her by the arm and pulled her nearer.

"This is getting ridiculous," her best friend muttered, casting a side-long glance at Camaline. "Let's go bother my cousin into sneaking us some wine."

There was an obvious flaw with this plan. Indignant, Leara rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. "What if Lorn comes? I don't want him to see me drunk."

Raia groaned. "Look, Lorn's a busy man; if he and his family haven't arrived yet, then chances are, they're not coming at all. Besides, it isn't as if one glass of wine will get you drunk enough to do anything too stupid."

From the couch, Ietrin laughed. "Don't be so sure about that, angelface; my sister's not exactly known for her ability to hold her liquor."

He must have been referring to Sparron and Jeda's tenth birthday. As to what she had done that night, she had no idea herself and hadn't been able to find two consistent accounts, but if her brother was still bringing it up six months later, then it must have been embarrassing indeed. "Shut up, Ietrin!"

Her brother laughed. "I never thought it was possible to make such an ass of oneself before--thanks for proving me wrong, sister."

Pleadingly, Leara looked to Raia for help; if one was willing to stay up late and hold back her friend's hair while she vomited, then chances were that one wouldn't think twice about defending said friend. Indeed, Raia did not fail to rise to the occasion. "A little rich coming from a boy who had half a glass at my parents' anniversary and then spent a quarter hour attempting to woo my grandmother."

Shocked, Leara relented and allowed herself the indignity of gaping at her brother. She, Camaline, and their younger half-siblings had all been ill that night, and of their parents, Ietrin, and Elhina, none had wished to discuss the party in depth. She now knew why. "Laveria? She's got to be at least fifty!"

Ietrin swallowed. "In my defense, she doesn't look fifty."

Raia frowned. "She doesn't look thirteen either."

"But she does look like you, honey," he added with a wink.

"I see. Does the resemblance extend the the impact of the left hook?"

He shuddered. "For a woman who claimed she hadn't had to hit a twelve-year-old boy in twenty-two years, she didn't seem all that rusty."

"Reminiscing about your failed romance with his lordship's mother, Ietrin?"

Leara smiled as Lorn shut the door behind him. "Sorry I'm late. There's been a horse theft problem in one of my villages, and we finally found the culprit. Anyway, I'm here now."

"Told you he'd come," muttered Leara as Raia's eyes narrowed.

Still prancing about on the couch, Jadin cackled. "Sounds like somebody likes you, Lornie-boy. Not a bad catch, I must say."

"Does it count if his father caught her for him?" asked Sparron.

"I think it was her father who caught him for her. Damn, I hope no girl's father ever catches me--Lorn got lucky, but have you ever seen what caught my uncle after my mother left him up for grabs?"

Raia tossed back her dark locks and sighed. "Shut up, you idiots."

"Yes, you're ruining their moment," agreed Jeda.

Camaline snorted. "As if they had one in the first place."

The baron's daughter squirmed in her seat. "It's preemptive!"

"Preemptive? You can't prepare for a moment--and even if you could, you're not exactly doing so yourself!"

Shaking his head, Lorn approached Leara and lifted her hand to his lips for a kiss; the warmth of his mouth somehow reached her face. "What children. Anyway, the adults are about to dance, much to your parents' chagrin; would you perhaps care to join me?"

If she hadn't been blushing before, she most certainly was now. Leara wasn't in the habit of asking her melodramatic stepmother for guidance, but she felt the sudden need to know just how older women managed to restrain that treacherous pink tint; she'd have to steal a word with Laralita the next chance she got. "I'd... like that."

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