“Earl Braydon. Now here is a man I did not expect to see today. To what do I owe the pleasure.” Marquess Downs welcomed as they entered the room.

“Quite the contrary. You are the first person that I have come to see after visiting the palace this morning. How could I not congratulate you on your new title.” Braydon smiled and returned the pleasantry.

“And this must be Lady Burgess. It is my pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I have heard many a thing about you, my lady.” After having greeted Braydon, Downs did the same for Nela. Whilst she technically did not have a title herself, she was the sole heir to Duke Burgess. Now that Cinar was once again a very important noble nobody could ignore her presence.

“And what might those things be, my lord. I have not been in the capital much in the past year and have not had a chance to catch up with the latest gossip.” Nela doubted that all of the rumours about her were good. Not with the fiancé that she previously had. And whilst those in power had sided with her when she presented her case for annulling the engagement, that did not mean that there were no rumours about her. Especially since she had been staying with Braydon prior to that event.

“It is not from the ladies at court that I have heard, Lady Burgess. If I were to guess, I have spent less time with them than you. The things that I have heard have been from other lords in the east. You have garnered quite the fierce reputation amongst them.” That could be taken many ways but both Braydon and Nela had some idea of what kind of reputation she had managed to make for herself. She could be quite prickly when she wanted to be.

“Only good things, I hope?” Nela asked. She wanted to see what the Marquess was willing to say in front of her.

“Depends on what you call good things. At the very least you are well respected.” When he heard Downs’ comment, Braydon had to hold back a slight snigger. That sounded like Nela alright.

“Then all is well.” Nela said with a glance at Braydon. She didn’t show it but she found it a bit amusing too. From just a few conversations it sounded like she had somewhat cowed many of the lords in the region. If not for fear of force of arms then for fear of a conversation with her.

“Do not let me keep you standing, please come and take a seat.” Downs’ welcomed them to sit as he returned to his seat, tea having already been laid out on the table between them.

“Thank you.” Braydon and Nela thanked in unison as they took a seat next to each other.

“Whilst I may not have heard much in the past day, one thing that I have heard mentioned a few times already is the pair of you. May I be expected to congratulate?” Downs asked in genuine curiosity, and they could tell, but that did not mean that they did not feel deflated by it. ‘This is going to be a running theme.’ They both looked at each other and could tell what the other was thinking almost immediately.

“We have already been asked this by the King today. All I can say is that such rumours have not come from our mouths. To be honest I am more surprised that it is not the King’s future bride that is the talk of the town.” Braydon decided that he would be the one to answer this time, seeing that he had let Nela do it when King Aled asked. He was not going to give a definite answer, that would only lead to Nela poking at him regardless of which way he answered. And whilst it could cause more rumours, they could always be denied at a later time. If they needed to.

“Haha, I can imagine that you will be asked many more times yet. Though we all know who the King is going to marry, it is just a matter of an official announcement. If I were a court lady I would find your ‘will they won’t they’ relationship far more interesting than something like that.” For saying that he had not been caught up with the ladies gossip, Marquess Downs was surprisingly up to date with the ladies gossip.

“Then they can keep guessing yet.” Nela put a stop to the ladies gossip session that was starting between the grown men.

*cough*

“Yes, as well as coming to congratulate you on your raised title, I came to enquire about the future of the east of Fiveria. Specifically what you are thinking of doing in the coming years.” As much as he wanted to, he was not going to come out and say something like ‘look, demarcation along the river, capisce?’. That would not get him anywhere.

“Oh? You have something in mind?” Since Braydon had come to him, the Marquess was not going to give up the upper hand that easily.

“Oh nothing so stringent. Just that I hope that we can cooperate in future and do not want any bad feelings brewing before that can happen.” Braydon could almost feel Nela settling into her comfort zone next to him. He had the smile and some of the charm if not her pretty face. He thought of himself probably coming in a distant second to that.

“So what do you have in mind?” Downs knew exactly what Braydon was getting at but he wanted to see what the latter had to offer before he said anything about his opinions.

“Whilst I am happy that both you and I have risen in status, I doubt that the same could be said for all of our neighbours. I would be more than willing to help out in cases where it is reasonably within my power.” If reasonably with his power meant that Braydon could keep his neighbours in his sphere of influence. As Braydon had said, reasonable.