In Which Honora Is a Judgmental Bitch

February 15, 1201

"So... do they ever spend any time together without their tongues in each other's throats?"

If either Nearina or Oswald heard Arkon's question, they didn't care enough to protest. On her own part, Honora--much as she loved her sister and while she had nothing in particular against her future brother-in-law--made a point not to lie to her own betrothed. "Not so far as I've seen, no."

Nearina and Oswald had, of course, spent time together outside of Honora's presence--but she didn't want to think about what they must have been doing then.

"Hmm. Well, if it makes them happy." Arkon, being a Kemorin, never had much more of a reaction to lewd-but-harmless behavior than a shrug and a smile. Some part of Honora envied him that. "They might have more self-control than they let on, though. I know we were all shocked when my sister walked the aisle in white, but I suppose you can be sexual without technically having sex."

"It amuses me that your family was shocked by your sister's white dress, but no one thought much of her husband wearing something similar."

"Hey, you were there; you know it wasn't similar at all." Arkon threw back his head and chuckled the way only a Kemorin could. "Adonis's dress was much prettier. I'm sure it won't be as pretty as whatever you have in mind for your wedding dress, though--if only because you'll be the one wearing it."

"That's sweet of you to say," Honora acknowledged, still watching her sister with mingled concern and envy. If twins had to fight in the womb over every available trait, then Nearina must have claimed nearly all of the libido there was to go around. That wasn't to say that Honora had no libido, exactly... but it took a while. And it wasn't nearly powerful enough to override any of the worries surrounding any extensive premarital activity--because if Nearina had taken most of the libido, then Honora had taken most of the worry.

Secretly, Arkon must have found her dull and prudish.

While Oswald--who was not a Kemorin, who probably hadn't grown up expecting adult life to mimic the stuff of dirty novels--probably thought himself the luckiest man in Naroni.

"Oh! Here I was, thinking I'd be the first one here."

Except, perhaps, for his cousin Marsden.

That wasn't to say that Arkon's cousin Celina had the same reputation as some of her Kemorin brethren, but there had always been something somewhat... off about her. A little mischievous, a little sinister, more than a little sensual. Perhaps a little predatory.

Or perhaps she was just strange, and Honora was a judgmental bitch who couldn't by a loaf of bread without making a hundred snide assumptions about the baker in the process. "...Hello, Celina."

"Honora. Cousin Arkon." Celina paid them a polite wave, but quickly transferred her attentions elsewhere--to the precise reason Honora was wary of her. "Nearina!"

Surely it wasn't too bitchy or too judgmental to have thought she'd seen those grey eyes flicker to her sister's ass? And then to her breasts as she turned around?

"Celina! It's been a while." Nearina, of course, hadn't noticed a thing. Not now, not when she'd been twelve with brand new breast and Celina had been a shyly ogling ten-year-old. "Think your cousin will be surprised that not only his old housemates will be here for his birthday party?"

"Probably. He never catches on to these things until it's too late."

Nearina snickered, unaware of her own pot-and-kettle situation there. Or maybe Honora was seeing things that weren't there, again. Celina seemed to like Marsden well enough, after all.

Then again...

"Are you all right?"

Honora snapped back to reality as Arkon snuggled up to her. Or snapped back from reality. In any case, it was for the best.

Probably.

"Just... wondering if your brother will be as surprised as we all hope."

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