You woke early next morning, rising with the sun out of the habit of getting up for early morning court sessions. One would be held this morning, and both you and Eret would have to attend. Getting Eret out of bed proved to be a challenge - a struggle that involved a lot of groaning and complaining and dragging you back into bed against your will.

You managed to get him up eventually with the promise of a hot breakfast after the meeting.

With all the time you had wasted trying to pull Eret out of bed, there wasn't too much left to spend making yourselves presentable. You did the best you could, smoothing sleep rumpled hair and wiping away the crust at the corner of your eyes.

Before long, you were hurrying down the hallways with Eret by your side, passing by palace staff as they went about their morning duties. You could feel the eyes on you as you passed - and you knew that you both looked a little bit a mess and were smiling too much - but you didn't care too much. People would talk either way, no matter what you did.

You arrived at the throne room just before the meeting was about to start, hovering outside the doors and smoothing one hand over your court robes in a last ditch attempt to look something presentable. You were about to adjust the collar of your robes when Eret grabbed your hand, pulling you close enough where he could press a kiss to your cheek.

"Stop worrying." He said.

"I'm not." You returned. "It's just court, you're supposed to look nice when you attend."

"You always look nice." Eret said.

You didn't get to respond before he was pushing open the throne room door and holding it open so that you could step inside, heading over to your usual seat in the room. Eret followed in after you, heading to the dias, where another seat had been set out for him next to King Etienne. The twins framed both of them now, one member of the set stationed at each end of the raised dias. Eret looked ten times the king than Etienne did, even though they were technically equals. There was just something about the way he commanded the presence of the room...

Well, you were biased anyway.

"King Eret." Etienne simpered. "How kind of you to join us - we were just about to get started." Etienne waved a hand, signaling the scribe sat in the back of the room to begin taking notes. "I think we'll hear first from General Tamas this morning."

The general began to speak, and you let your mind wander, not too invested in the goings on of the meeting. It was just another one of those mandatory war meetings that was really just Etienne telling all of his generals to do better - nothing that really involved you normally. You had better thing to think about anyways... namely moonlit hallways and unhurried kisses in the dark.

Your eyes drifted to Eret, just watching as he nodded along with something one of the generals was saying. You couldn't fight the smile that was building in the corner of your mouth just thinking about last night, and the offer he had made. He wanted you to come back with him when this was all over.

You had hesitated last night - thinking about your parents legacy and the life you had built here - but now, looking at the court around you... you were starting to feel the other way. What did you have here, really? Your life was cushy, sure, but Eret was offering the same thing, just better. It would be foolish to stay when you would have everything you wanted with him.

When he asked you again (because he would) you would say yes.

Your train of thought was broken when his eyes found yours across the room, and the corner of his mouth quirked up into a smile when he realized that you had already been staring at him. You waved your fingers subtly and he returned the gesture, the little quirk in the corner of his mouth growing into a full smile.

"Perhaps we should offer more incentive to join the military then." The king was saying, musing aloud to his audience. "Would higher pay be enough of a reward, you think?"

One of the generals, a burly man with a gruff voice, nodded in agreement. "People - especially the sons of poor farmers - will do anything for money."

King Etienne nodded. "Very wise, General." He said, waving a hand to the scribe again. "Make a note of that, will you? I'll have the chancellor look at it later-

He was interrupted by a loud shriek from one of the women across the room as a large crow darted in through the open window behind her, circling above everyone until it came to a perch in the rafters of the throne room. Beady eyes zeroed in on the king, and the bird let out a loud caw that echoed around the chamber, taking flight again. It made one more loop around the room before dropping a single black feather at the king's feet and darting out the window again, flying off into the horizon.

Eret's eyes tracked the bird for as far as he could see it, narrowing slightly. You found yourself more concerned with the feather it had left behind though - it appeared to just be a simple bird's feather, black as the night and light as air. You'd never heard of someone using crows as messenger birds though, and a single feather wasn't much of a message...

The room was dead silent as the king leaned forward shakily, picking up the feather from the floor. He twirled it between his fingers, looking it over. "Well," He said, clicking his tongue. "It seems we may have help from another old friend of mine after all."