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June 6, 1201
"See, Asalaye?" Adonis cooed as his newborn daughter's fussing ceased. "Uncle Sevvie may not be as handsome as Papa, but he's not that scary."
"Not the worst introduction I could have expected from you, really." Sevvie smiled as he stared into his niece's eyes, already so much like her father's. From the sounds of it, Alina had had such a quick and easy labor that only her mother and sister had been needed to attend to her--a lucky thing, as they wouldn't have had time to send for anyone else. As it figured, Sevvie's father and stepmother had been out visiting when Adonis's steward had arrived with the news, so he'd sent Alina and Viridis off to Cherry and Nythran's place to fetch them while he himself had made for Ravenhold.
In other circumstances, he might have gone for his parents himself and let his sisters see the baby straight away... but, he was only a few months shy of being a father himself. Seeing his niece wouldn't be the worst preparation for that.
Assuming, of course, everything went well. Yvanette's anxiety was such that he hadn't dared expect her to come with him--even though if Arydath had detected anything amiss yet, she surely would have said something.
"Well, when he introduced himself, he said he was 'the pretty one' of her parents," Alina snorted from the bed--not looking half-bad herself for a woman who'd just given birth.
"Yes, but that makes you the clever one--and, between you and me, the sexy one."
"Not feeling too sexy at the moment, so don't push your luck--but, then again, we are Kemorins."
As if Sevvie--never mind the baby--had just disappeared from the room for a couple of seconds, the two exchanged winks. There might have been some truth to the widespread notion that if a Kemorin found a fork in a long desert road with one arrow pointing toward the salvation of an oasis and the other marked for a conveniently-shaped rock, he'd go for the rock.
"Just don't make her any siblings too soon. She deserves to be the spoiled only child for a little while."
"Oh, Sevvie, you know me! She'll be spoiled regardless, even if we have twenty other kids to spoil."
Back on the bed, Alina gagged. "We are not having twenty-one children."
"All right, then: ten children, and eleven dogs."
"Adonis, I'm too tired to barter right now." Alina sighed. "Besides, she'll have a little cousin soon enough anyway."
Sevvie swallowed. He wanted to say he was certain that that would be the case--but, luck had never been much of a friend to Yvanette. "Lord willing."
"Don't worry, bro." Adonis lifted little Asalaye to his shoulder and rubbed her back through her blanket, kissing her tiny cheek before looking back to Sevvie. Adonis's eyes, Asalaye's eyes. Sevvie's eyes too. "Not sure how, but I know everything will be fine--and you know I'm always right."
NEXT CHAPTER:
November 18, 1199
"So. My brother got married."
Alina's lips twitched as Adonis joined her on the bench in his father's foyer. She hadn't smiled much in the past few months--not since she'd found out about... well, everything. It had taken her a while to tell him, even. And he was her boyfriend! Granted, some times, boyfriends were at the top of the list of people whose reactions could destroy everything. What Alina needed was understanding, and Adonis would have been one hell of a lousy boyfriend if he hadn't been able to give her that.
But, in spite of the circumstances... he hoped he could make her forget about all that every now and then too, if just for a few minutes.
"I know. It was ten minutes ago. I was there."
"Oh, so that was you; I couldn't quite tell from that angle." Adonis winked. "Could have been any beautiful woman from where I was seating. But, then again, I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the room, so I should have known."
"You should have--though, maybe don't mention that in the bride's hearing. Or the groom's."
"Lucky thing they've still got a line of well-wishers waiting to greet them, then. But next time, it'll be our turn."
Alina's pursed her lips slightly as her head shook toward the wall. "Mmmm... I'm fairly sure that Prior and Neva are getting married in two weeks."
"All right: Prior and Neva's turn next, then ours."
"Actually, I think that would be Wolf and Gennie on Christmas."
"Bah!" Too many weddings! But... at least she had mentioned Prior without any distinct hesitation? Prior, her secret twin brother who she hadn't known was her twin brother until very recently? "Well, it'll be us eventually."
"Providing you don't find a prettier woman in some other room," she teased as he slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her within snuggling distance. "Perhaps I ought to lock you down before that happens. When do you graduate, again?"
"The end of March, unless Aunt Raia plans to overhaul the entire university calendar in a very short space of time."
"Then I suppose I should marry you in April. I can't imagine have any other plans for your birthday?" She nudged his jawline with her nose and giggled--then pulled away somewhat, a puzzled grimace on her face as she met his eye. "All right, I just need to clarify: are we teasing here, or are we being serious?"
Adonis shrugged. "Do you want us to be being serious?"
"Do you want me to want us to be being serious?"
"Do you want me to want you to want me to--ah, I've lost track already. You do have the brains between the two of us, remember; I just got the gorgeous hair." And, if he hadn't caved to his little sisters' insistence on playing with it, he would have flipped that gorgeous hair for emphasis. But, for once in his life, his hair wasn't really what he wanted to think about. "I think I seriously just want to marry you on my birthday."
NEXT CHAPTER:
July 24, 1199
"I mean... I guess it doesn't change anything, really," Rennie's sister--or, technically, half-sister, though it would be difficult to keep on thinking that and she thought she'd prefer not to anyway--muttered as she twiddled her thumbs in absent-minded gloom. "It just sort of... came out of nowhere. I don't think Mother ever intended to tell me."
In the corner of her eye, Rennie stole a glimpse of her two-year-old son playing on the floor, old enough to follow bits of the conversation but young enough not to bother. The lie tied a sharp knot in her gut, but she supposed she understood why her mother would have wanted to keep this to herself. Alina, maybe, would too, if and when she became a mother. "Maybe she thought it would be for the best if you didn't know."
"Maybe." Alina fidgeted, as if she too thought it would have been. As if she wished, somehow, that the truth could be untold. "But you know how Mother is. After Prior talked to her, she probably felt compelled to tell me."
Rennie frowned. That was possibly true, but not for the reasons Alina might have thought. "That had to have been a tough conversation for her. Maybe she needed to tell you, just... for closure's sake. I don't know if there's such thing as mid-catharsis."
"There must be, since she left me stranded there. Turns out, I barely even knew my real father. And now that I know who he is, he's dead."
"He was always kind to you, though," Rennie offered in half-assed reassurance. Now that she thought about it, she did recall Sparron paying Alina a more paternal sort of attention than he had her and Arkon and Severin.
"I suppose. But what about Father? I mean, he always had his issues, but he never treated me any differently. Will things change if he knows that I know?"
"I don't know." A sad state of affairs it was, knowing how often that was her response to any question about her own father. What could be said about a man who had so much love in his heart, yet so little ability to make good on it? What did say about her if she almost envied Alina her newfound paternity? Sparron had loved Prior like the earth loved the sun. "Did Mother say she was going to tell him?"
"She said she wouldn't, but that I could if I wanted to. Same for you and Arkon and Severin." Alina sighed. "But I don't know if I want to talk about this with any of them. Can we keep this between us for now? Just us sisters?"
Rennie nodded. It wasn't her secret to tell, wasn't it? Arkon and Severin didn't need to know. And until Alina had a sense of how he'd react, their father definitely didn't need to know.
Hell--Rennie herself hadn't needed to know. But she did now, and maybe that put a few extra burdens on her shoulders. And maybe she was fine with that.
Her sister didn't need to go through this alone.
"Let me know if you ever want me to talk to Mother on your behalf, though. I know some things might be easier said through a third party."
NEXT CHAPTER:
July 7, 1196
"All right, out with it: how do you manage to keep your hair so goddamn perfect after make-out session like that?"
"Why are you asking me?" Adonis pressed his forehead to Alina's with a playful smirk. "You're the brains of the two of us. I'm just the pretty face with the great hair."
"Well, if we end up having children, they'd better not all get your hair! I can't be feeling inadequate all by myself."
"Some might get my brains. They can feel inadequate about that."
"You don't have the brains to feel inadequate!"
She nipped him on the ear as he laughed, more than well enough aware that she was joking, because he did have the brains for that. And the lack of inadequate feeling, they both knew, wasn't anything to do with a lack of brains; it was merely enviable self-esteem.
"You know, it's a lucky thing none of your parents demand a chaperon."
Alina turned her head to see one of her roommates standing at the open door. Oops.
"What can I say? We're Kemorins," Adonis quipped as Yvanette made for the other bench. "All's well as long as no one's being forced into anything--and there's not much out there to which a Kemorin says no."
Yvanette's eyes narrowed. Really, the larger part of Alina was pleased to see that her housemate had grown more and more willing to leave her bedroom, but if only her timing could have been better. "Should I tell Sevvie you said that?"
"Bah, Sevvie's a prude. He must get that from whatever Indruion factor drove my aunt to become a nun."
"Adonis! There's nothing wrong with not having the Kemorin sex drive--or any sex drive at all, in your aunt's case." Alina smacked his hand in mock-scolding. "Besides, it's hardly a secret that Sevvie's not keeping it in his pants because he wants to spend his life chanting in Latin. Sevvie's in love, remember?"
"Woah, now--I think a little subtlety's in order." Adonis jerked his head Yvanette's way, aware without looking that she had leaned forward in her seat, eyes wide and lips pursed. "She's right there."
Or, perhaps only nominally aware that she was in the room at all. "Sorry?"
NEXT CHAPTER:
October 31, 1191
"Adonis!" Alina nearly tackled her cousin right back down the stairs. "Thank God! I never get to see anybody outside of school!"
"That's not true. You see your mother and siblings."
"People I don't live with, I mean! Unless you count babysitting Cherry and Nythran's kids on occasion. Nobody ever visits me out here."
"Your brother does! And Prior said he and Neva came on your birthday."
"That doesn't count! My brother is my brother, and Prior and I always celebrate our birthday together." God. Even if it wasn't technically never... didn't he get that she just didn't have the same kind of social life that she'd had before she'd gone to live on campus?
"Do I even count, then?" Adonis laughed, tossing back that luxurious hair she privately envied. He was wearing his less-than-preferred silk tunic, as his father still didn't let him out of the house wearing dresses. Pity. People always looked better when you could tell they liked their clothes--not that Adonis ever looked bad. "I am your cousin."
"Cousins are different. They're more like friends. Hell, Rennie made out with Cousin Sev."
"Not surprising. We Kemorins are an attractive bunch." He smirked. "Figures that we'd all be attracted to each other."
"Well, Sev is a Wythleit, but I see your point." Better than ever since yesterday, when Sev had dropped by and she'd overheard him and Rennie discussing the possibility of courting once she started at the university. She hadn't told her mother, but Aunt Raia probably knew. Aunt Raia probably liked the idea of Rennie as a daughter-in-law. "But enough about my attractive sister and our attractive cousin. What shall we do today?"
"I don't know. I've never been to the inn here. Is it rowdy on a Thursday?"
To the point where it was a lucky thing her mother was so lenient with her and Rennie! "Let's just say that it's a good thing you're not wearing a skirt if you want to go there, because many a college man will chase anything in one."
Adonis shrugged. "Well, I don't care if they look so long as they refrain from touching. But if you'd be uncomfortable, we could do something else."
"No, the inn will be fine." She placed her hand to his shoulder and laughed. "We'll just stay close. They won't bother either of us if they think we're together."
NEXT CHAPTER:
July 22, 1187
It was, from what Alina could gather, a sad day all around.
Of course, neither Prior nor Alina's father had at all happy since Prior's father died, and Alina thought she understood that, even if she was lucky enough not to know exactly how they felt. Prior had lost his father, and her father had lost one of his best friends. Of course they'd be miserable, probably for a long time.
But today, they'd both been further down in the dumps than they'd been since the news had been fresh. Her father had been up all night, according to her mother. He'd spent the morning walking around like he was half-dead himself, not noticing anyone around him without direct prompting. Alina guessed he hadn't improved since she and her siblings had left for school.
As for Prior, he hadn't shown up for school. His mother had, also somewhat more morose than she'd been in recent weeks. Alina had asked if Prior was sick, and Lady Camaline had told her that she wasn't--and then invited her to come see him after school, figuring having a friend around might raise his spirits.
So Alina had told Severin to tell their mother she'd gone to Prior's. Her father had her mother at home, after all, at least after she was done at the university for the day. Plus Lonel, plus her siblings after school. And if the conversation she'd overheard between Rennie and CeeCee had been any indication, her grandfather planned to stop in on her father. Prior needed her more.
She just hoped she wasn't bothering him. Sometimes, people just wanted to be alone. "Hello, Prior."
"Hello." A dull murmur. He hadn't turned his head.
Maybe he wanted her to leave and was too polite to say it. Or maybe he just wanted her to sit with him. Some people wouldn't have had to ask, but Alina wasn't quite so confident. "What's wrong?"
"It's my father's birthday."
"Oh."
That explained it. A birthday would be a glum occasion if the birthday boy wasn't here to celebrate.
And there was nothing she could do to help. "I'm sorry."
He nodded. He still wouldn't look at her, but Alina got it. She had brothers. She didn't fully understand why, but she knew boys didn't like others to see them crying.
NEXT CHAPTER:
July 12, 1183
"Happy birthday!"
Prior dropped Camaline's hand and ran toward Alina, intent on a hug. It was returned quite willingly. "You too!"
Back by the door, Lettie turned her eyes Camaline's way, though Camaline did her best not to meet them. After Jeda's most recent birth, she'd felt obliged to once again apologize to Lettie for the whole ordeal with the twins, a little more profusely and a little more earnestly, and things had been uncomfortable since. She'd woken to serious second thoughts about the plans for the day.
But Prior and Alina always spent the afternoon of their birthday together, for all they believed it to be mere coincidence, and for all the visits had to be cut short before dinner because Lord knew that Sparron and Searle dining at the same table couldn't possibly end well. They'd also had fewer and fewer play-dates the past while, so that had added further reluctance to cancel; apparently Lettie had been concerned about the twins perhaps getting a little too friendly, at least until Sparron told her about Prior's betrothal to his cousin Neva.
Camaline couldn't see why it was an issue, personally. Lord knew she'd never developed romantic feelings for any childhood playmates. Not early enough that anything could happen, at least.
The embrace ended and Alina tugged at Prior's sleeve. "Come on, let's go find my sister and brother."
"I'm here!" piped up little Severin from the rug.
"Not you! Arkon."
A less resilient child might have pitched a fit as his sister and her friend hurried off without him, but Severin just shrugged and resumed playing on his own. His mother was the more fussed of the two. "Did she even say hello to you?"
"Oh, let them run along and play. She can tell me hello when she comes back--and he can tell you," Camaline added. Most mothers let other women's children get away with more than their own ever could; Lettie, trying to compensate, sometimes took that to a whole new level with Prior. "But enough about the kids and their manners. Have you started planning your curriculum?"
"One sub-discipline done, and making good progress on a second." Good. If the professors were already doing their jobs, then there would be a point to Camaline's. "Have a seat."
"All right."
A wave Severin's way as she passed, Camaline obliged, taking the nearest end of the couch; Lettie sat next to her. "How have your preparations been coming along?"
"Also fairly well. Construction on the school has been finished, and enrollment is in progress." And thank God for that! She thought she was coping well enough, but being busy helped. It always had. "Prime land, right in the center of the kingdom. Nobody should have too difficult a commute."
"A lucky thing for you, then." The university lands were in the far southeast of the kingdom... but since that was still Veldorashire, why should that have mattered to Lettie? "Poor Farilon will probably have to move to Master's Village if he wants to get to work in a reasonable amount of time."
"Master's Village?"
"Yes, Raia wanted some options for staff housing, so both the nunnery and the monastery will have dormitories there, and there will be houses for any secular staff in need of them. It'll just be Cherry and Farilon at this point, but who knows? We'll expand eventually. Besides, a village will attract more businesses to the campus. Artan and Maddie will be running an inn down there; Seoth thinks it will be good practice for whenever he kicks the bucket."
"Hmm. Maybe Morgan can move down there if she doesn't like living with Vera and Lucien."
"It's a possibility." Lettie's lip curled inward, eyes squinted, as if reading a book nailed open on the opposite wall. "Or maybe..."
"Maybe what?"
"Oh, nothing." It sure didn't sound like 'nothing'. "So, how are things with your family?"
NEXT CHAPTER:
February 26, 1182
"Feast tonight!" Alina declared on behalf of the little wooden queen, the poor woman's head scraping up against the castle wall in the excitement. "Tell everybody!"
Prior made the king nod, then picked up a toy horse--everybody, in this case--and had him pass along the news. "Feast tonight!"
"Yay! How many can come?"
"A thousand!"
Alina strained herself upright and peered into the castle before dropping back down to the floor. "We need more chairs. Mama?"
"Oh, no. I'm not riding all the way home just to pick up a few of your toys." And Lettie would not have indulged any of her children like that, unless maybe the toy in question was some beloved security blanket whose absence merited an otherwise unstoppable bout of tears and snot. In particular, she would not miss a second of one of Alina's play-dates with Prior, even if her heart still ached over not getting to see one every day. Especially if that. "You'll just have to pretend."
"You have to pretend for food anyway," Camaline added. "Let me know if you want snacks, but you know the rule about food around your toys."
Prior nodded and resumed maneuvering the king about with a tender sort of care uncharacteristic of most three-and-a-half-year-olds. Sparron was Lettie's usual companion during these play-dates, but today was one of his better days, and it seemed Isidro had beaten her to him with the promise of a good training session--though no doubt he'd be grieved to know he missed Alina. Lettie had nothing against Camaline, but they hadn't spent much time together since... well, since Prior and Alina had been born.
But she supposed she wouldn't be disagreeable to that if it did happen, even if her heart cringed every time Prior called Camaline 'Mama'. She did get to see firsthand that the woman raising her middle son was--if a little strict--loving and affectionate in her own way. "I know it's probably a losing battle, but I'd rather keep the toys clean."
"You wouldn't be the one cleaning them, though."
"No, but the servants have enough to do as it is. Besides, Prior's old enough now to start taking care of his things." At the sound of his name, Prior looked back at them, but Camaline smiled and waved, gesturing him back to Alina. Part of Lettie wish she hadn't; she wanted to look at Prior's face a little longer. "Besides, if Sparron's brothers managed to keep that thing intact, it should be no issue for Prior--oh, good afternoon, Octavius."
"Ladies." The baron glanced down at the toddlers on the floor as he stepped into the study. Lettie paid him a brief nod of acknowledgement, then turned to search Camaline for any trace of shared discomfort. She found none. She supposed she was alone in still feeling awkward around Sparron's father--even if the man was her stepfather now, as strange and perhaps temporary a thought as it was.
"Do you need the study?" Camaline asked. "We can move to the sitting room if you like."
"That won't be necessary. I just came in here to find something; pretend I'm not even here."
Relieved, Lettie tried not to sigh. Not that the baron had ever been anything less than kind to her--she'd given him a grandson, after all--but if anything, that made it more difficult to be around him, this accommodating man whose life she had once helped to turn upside-down. She knew from Sparron that his father (rightfully) placed most of the blame with Searle, but it didn't matter. It still had to have been a struggle for him to look at her.
But as he'd said, he wasn't there to look; he went straight for the bookcase in the corner and took to thumbing the spines in turn as he sought his bound quarry.
Lettie fumbled for some change of subject with Camaline, but the other woman beat her to it. "I got a letter from my sister Lily today. Apparently Searle is having a house built for Laralita."
"Yes, my mother mentioned that too. That's surprising." Or was it? Searle of Bandera did seem the type who was willing to be the better man if it served him in the long run. If he still technically owned the house, there were many uses he or his son could find for it whenever Laralita and her children left. And perhaps there had been some lingering hint of something for the woman who'd birthed him--not much, but enough. Still, it was an odd thought. "Did she try elsewhere first, or did she go straight to Bandera?"
"Straight to Bandera, it seems; it struck me as odd as well, her parents and most of her siblings are still being around and all." Camaline sniffed. As of not quite two months ago, she herself no longer had a parent. She might have envied a stepmother, practically twice her age, who still had both. Had either of them been someone else, Lettie might have asked, but neither were any good at that sort of conversation. They both preferred straight-up facts. "She was countess there, though, so maybe Searle figures he was obligated there. Has your mother seen Laralita since she got to Dovia?"
"Oh, no. Not unless Aunt Laralita went to visit her." And with everything that was going on, surely Laralita had about a hundred things to take care of before she went calling on either of her surviving sisters? "It'll still be a good few weeks before Mother can get down to Bandera. It's only a shire away, but I doubt Mother can even get down the castle stairs these days--not in her condition."
Thud! The dropped book hit the floor and Lettie's stunned flesh became stone. Pretend I'm not even here. She'd done far too good a job of that. "...Shit."
"Um..." The baron turned around, gaping. He was the sort of man who always seemed to have been expecting the unexpected, and she didn't recall ever seeing him even remotely surprised. Before today, that was. "Her what now?"
NEXT CHAPTER:
