"Haaah… I did not know the Viscountess could be so terrifying…” Alina breathed as she and Tam strode around the side of the castle near the rose maze.

“She normally is controlled but… Kat always manages to bring that side out of her…” the Ashowan heir explained, his stare once again directed at the ground, but when the Princess turned to peer at him, noticed that the corners of his eyes were tight.

“So they don’t get along...?” she ventured on hesitantly.

“It’s better than it was a few years ago, but their temperaments are just too different. Kat is more like Da in that she has trouble hiding what she’s thinking or feeling, but it’s more extreme… meaning she always winds up in trouble- even if she had the best intentions. She also doesn’t have his uncanny luck to get out of trouble...”

“So you’re more like your Mum?”

Tam frowned, and Alina immediately grew fearful she had crossed some kind of line. “I… I guess.”

“Ah! Your Highness, Lord Ashowan!”

Both the nobles looked at the same time to see Mr. Howard striding towards them holding scrolls under his arm as his long burnt red satin vest with its gold design swished behind him. The man was smiling as he approached them, but there was something nervous in his gaze as he looked between Tam and Alina.

“Out for a leisurely stroll… alone?” the assistant asked, while attempting to keep his tone light.

The Princess opened her mouth to reply, but Tam surprisingly beat her to it. “Yes. We are talking about how wonderful family is, aren’t we, Alina?”

The young heir turned his dark stare to her, making her mind turn blank at the sudden hint of warmth in his tone. Finlay Ashowan's words echoed in her mind.

‘The King is thinking of my marrying into the Ashowan family, but Mr. Howard and the Viscount’s family are known for butting heads…’

A beautiful, smile lit up the Princess’ face, her eyes twinkling with mischief as she faced her father’s assistant.

“Yes, Mr. Howard. You know, Tam and I really do have such similar views on the importance of family and duty. Not to mention we both agree how wonderful cats can be for a family dynamic.”

Mr. Howard visibly paled, and swallowed with what appeared to be great difficulty.

“I… I see… you know… Lord… Lord Ashowan, you really shouldn’t be strolling with the Princess when she doesn’t have a chaperone. Given… given the guests here who seek to… to…” the poor man almost looked as though he were having a stroke.

“Ah, quite right. Especially given my heartfelt intentions regarding the Princess that I sincerely expressed earlier. I hope this oversight doesn't color your opinion of me, Your Highness.” Tam turned fully to Alina and bowed, and it took her entire might not to laugh.

His sincere statement earlier had been that he had no interest in her…

He was clever! He was simply serious and dry in his humor.

A small choked garble erupted from the assistant who was beginning to brighten in color once more, only he was crossing the threshold of a healthy flush into that of a fevered panic.

“Please… uh, please don’t apologize, Tam. Excuse us, Mr. Howard, we will head inside now.” Alina knew she needed to leave the situation- she wasn’t as smooth in her lying as Tam was.

The assistant managed to stumble away, muttering something about, “The nightmare that never ends.”

Once out of earshot, Alina turned and playfully smacked Tam’s upper arm, though she was already chuckling. Even the normally serious man had a handsome smile brightening his features despite his eyes once again being cast to the ground.

“Here I was naively thinking it was just your sister who goes around causing trouble! You’re just as bad, aren’t you?”

Tam continued smiling as they veered towards the castle. “Not quite as bad. My fun tends to just be more… subtle and less physically demanding.” Then after a beat of silence, his smile faded ever so slightly as he pressed his hands into his pockets, a move that made him look like his father. “You don’t seem like you’ve had a lot of fun in your life, though. Which is strange, because I thought young Princess’ and Princes would have the most fun… but you seem very… serious. At least until my sister’s around.”

Alina felt the weight in her chest return as her mind turned to how her normal life truly was… her time with the Ashowans seemed more like a dream than reality.

“You’d be surprised how much responsibility there is from a young age… but I’m not completely boring! I don’t think so anyway… I… I like music.”

“I didn’t mean any offence, sorry.” Tam immediately backed off, his features returning to their usual emotionless mask.

“I didn’t take any offence…” Alina immediately began to panic that she had lost the small fun side of Tam already. She hadn’t meant to be so depressing. “Besides, I think what surprised me the most was how easy flirting was to you. You sounded like a real lover back there!”

A small humorous glimmer returned to Lord Ashowan’s eyes as the pair mounted the castle steps and returned to its cool shadows. “If you’d dragged it on you would quickly find out I have very little romantic skill. So don’t be fooled.”

“Still, it doesn’t help that you tied some of your hair back today. I mean your looks are-”

Tam turned to stare at her incredulously.

“-Dangerous. When uh… when you actually look… look and smile at people.” Alina was turning the color of Mr. Howard’s vest. “I’m not interested in you, I swear.”

Clearing his throat and turning away from her shy hazel eyes Tam shook his head. “At least I know another girl other than my mother finds me attractive. Pity I’m as attracted to you as I would be towards a-”

“Please, for my own pride, don’t finish that sentence,” Alina laughed easily, and then walked straight into something very solid.

Strong hands clasped her upper arms holding her steady on her feet, and then after a moment, gently backed her up.

Alina looked up into the troubled gaze of the Troivackian King.

“They should put a bell on you,” she blurted out in a daze.

Tam let out an astonished laugh before hastily bowing. “So sorry, Your Majesty, she just caught me off guard.”

The Troivackian King’s gaze at Tam was sharp, and deadly. Fortunately, he missed it entirely as he was bowed to the monarch.

Alina was gingerly touching her knuckle to her aching nose. “S-Sorry, Your Majesty, you just… keep surprising me. I meant no offence.”

“It’s fine. You wouldn’t be the first person to comment on my walk- though you are the first to insult it,” Brendan replied flatly.

Alina winced. “Ah… well… sorry again. I just… was surprised.”

“Yes, you said that,” Brendan observed, tilting his head to stare at her with a small frown.

It were as though there was something annoying about her that he couldn’t quite place, but before Alina could grow to be uncomfortable he turned his blackened stare to Tam who immediately grew taken aback.

“You should go tend to your sister. She was upset.”

Tam straightened, his face growing somber. “What happened?”

“That is up to your parents to inform you. Good day, Lord Ashowan.”

The future Viscount’s shoulders straightened, his dark eyes meeting the King’s, and Alina couldn’t help but be taken aback by how brazen he was being. In fact, there was a coldness to his gaze that startled her deeply. She didn’t know he was capable of looking… fearsome.

“Princess, please show me to the castle falcons so that I might send a missive to Troivack.” Brendan turned back to Alina his broad shoulders partially blocking the younger Lord from her view.

“Are you asking or telling?” Tam’s icy voice made the King turn back to him.

“I beg your pardon, Lord Ashowan?”

“Your tone towards our Princess was disrespectful.”

Brendan squared off with the younger noble, and Alina’s heart leapt to her throat.

“I’d be happy to take you, Your Majesty! It’s in the opposite end of the castle, near the barracks. Shall we?” she called his attention back to her desperately.

The King returned his attention to her slowly, as though he was struggling with the urge to pummel Tam repeatedly.

However, he eventually did turn his back on the future Viscount and begin walking ahead with Alina at his side. Though she did glance over her shoulder to the Viscount’s heir and mouth,

‘What were you thinking?!’

Tam lifted an eyebrow and gave a mystifying half smile and shrug before letting out a visible breath and continuing on his way back towards the kitchen.

The Troivackian King and Princess continued down the castle corridor in silence then, though servants that passed them hurried their steps and hunched their shoulders protectively.

‘I wish I could run away too,’ Alina thought to herself pityingly.

“You seem quite close with the Ashowan family, despite only having met them the other day,” the King observed stiffly as he walked.

“How did you know I met them just the other day?” the Princess asked blankly without bothering to glance at him.

“You have lived in Rollom for the majority of your life, and haven’t travelled much. The Ashowan’s have stayed in Austice, and the Viscount rarely was in audience with your King after the war.”

For some reason, the depth of the man’s knowledge made Alina unconsciously shift away from him.

“It is hard to ignore the Ashowan family. A commoner witch ennobled, and Knighted. A war hero who turned down the position of Duke multiple times. A Troivackian wife… there are a great many things that are strange about them,” the King expounded while trying to sound casual.

“That’s what makes them wonderful,” Alina responded tensely.

Brendan turned to stare at the young Princess. “Why do you believe so?”

“It isn’t hard to figure out. I’m sure you know what people say-”

“I want to know what you think.”

Alina balked. Then, cast her eyes to the ground. Somehow… even thinking about the Viscount’s family was enough to bolster her mood and courage.

“The Viscount came from nothing, and only wanted enough power to marry his wife. He refused anymore… the rumors say if it were up to him, he would’ve happily remained a cook here his entire life, but… because of her, he worked to be better.”

“There was a great deal of suspicious politics about the whole ordeal,” the King recounted tonelessly.

“I… agree… that there were some mysterious parts of the story that I don’t think I know everything about…”

“Especially pertaining to the Viscountess’ involvement in the war and persuading the King.”

Alina’s gaze snapped to the King’s face as she halted in her tracks. “Your Majesty, it feels as though you are trying to get information from me about the Ashowan family.”

The King faced her calmly. “They are an interesting topic. Why not try to learn more about them? I learn about you in the process. It’s efficient.”

“Why do you want to know more about them and me?” she snapped, unable to stop herself, though she was once again trembling under his calm reaction, and she hated it.

“Them, because I don’t like powerful families who are most likely hiding things. You, because I’m here to learn more about you.”

“They aren’t hiding anything! They are always trying to help people, and you already made it clear you don’t believe I’d survive in Troivack so why-”

“I said you wouldn’t survive as you are now. Not that you couldn’t ever,” Brendan explained as though surprised she had missed such a small detail.

Alina felt her cheeks burning. She wanted to leave. She wanted to kick him in his ruddy shins and hide in her bedroom for the rest of the day. What the hell was wrong with him?!

“Sire, you have offended me, and insulted a family I care deeply about. Excuse me, I would like to be alone now.” Alina turned to begin to stalk off, only to find that the King was still keeping pace beside her.

When she rounded on him again he held up his hands and even dared to show her an innocent expression.

“I have no idea where the falconry is. I assumed I just had to keep going in this direction. Is that the fastest you can walk, Princess?”

There was the faintest note of humor in his voice, and Alina found that she was closer than she had ever been in her life to screaming her lungs out at a noble.

A King, no less.

Without deigning to respond, Alina stormed past him going the opposite direction, sending a very clear message that she didn’t want him to follow.

Letting out a long sigh, Brendan decided the falconry could wait. Perhaps he needed to rethink things…

*

“You… You told her she was unfit for Troivack?” Henry stared blankly at his brother.

“As she is now, yes.”

The Prince took a hearty gulp of moonshine from his goblet before setting it down on the round table between them and laughing.

“Stop that,” Brendan snapped while staring into the evening fire.

“You’ve always had a way of understating things, but with women, especially Daxarian women, you need to speak plainly, brother.” Henry managed to say while sinking into his seat and folding his hands atop his belly.

“Since when are you an expert on women?” Brendan remarked darkly while taking a drink from his own goblet.

“I’m not, but they like me, which qualifies me as a master compared to you.”

Brendan shot Henry a warning glance. “She will be a good Queen. She just needs to be more assured, then she needs to learn not to show her every emotion.”

“So you plan on being the most aggravating man alive so that nothing else will bother her?” Henry wondered dryly.

“Is that a good plan?” the King asked seriously.

“I wish I could speak the old tongue like you do so that I’d have another way to say no. Absolutely not.”

“Hardly anyone in Troivack still speaks it, don’t worry.”

“That was not… the point…” Henry dropped his chin to his chest exasperatedly. “Look, don’t laugh at her when she gets angry. It will make it worse. Also, don’t interrogate her. Try to have a real conversation.”

“You told me to ask about her life and to find mutual interests. The Ashowans are an interesting part of her life that I have many curiosities about. A mutual interest, and that went horribly.”

“Let’s go back to my point about not making it an interrogation…”

Brendan grumbled deeply while finishing the contents of his cup.

“Did she actually make you laugh?” Henry asked wearily.

A softer look entered the King’s eyes. “Almost. Watching her try to move quickly was like watching a mouse run across a frozen lake.”

“Right. Never. And I mean never say that to her.”

Standing slowly, Brendan turned to stare at his younger brother seriously. “Honestly, I’m beginning to think choosing her to be my wife is more trouble than it’s worth. She’s too young.”

The King then set about grabbing his coat off of the back of his chair and heading towards the door joining their two rooms to retire for the evening without a second glance back.

As he watched his giant of a brother retreat, Henry’s jovial expression faded. Turning back to his goblet and refilling it to the brim, he couldn’t help but murmur aloud his true thoughts,“Actually… she might be what saves you.”