I'm quite shocked that the chapter title does not exceed the character limit. Also, this is more of a slight filler chapter, but I hope you all enjoy it, as I plan to post the first of the chapters set in Natus tomorrow.
-Jessie
Noah
"Isn't this nice?" Nana says, eyes glimmering as she looks across the table. "All of us having dinner together again. No one is too swamped with work to visit me. No one having a rift with their mate and not wanting to cross paths. No secrecy. Just all of us, our loved ones, and a nice meal."
We all guiltily shift in our seats at her subtle hints. None of us knew that she was aware of Malick and Roman's previous conflicts. None of us meaning to purposely to skip out on these dinners with her.
"No matter, let's dig in. Youngest and eldest get first pick," she says, gesturing to the covered platters.
Ramos moves to open one of the closest ones and yelps, allowing the cover to clatter onto the mahogany dining table.
"Why is there a raw jackal on a plate?" he questions.
I roll my eyes, moving the platter onto a side table, drawing Kyren, who knew better than to go for anything on the main table's attention.
The dragon sniffed his meal before beginning to rip into the flesh of the small beast, and I left him to his own devices.
Ramos shook his head, uncovering the prepared ham, cutting himself a piece, then taking what he wanted from the other platters before sitting down. Nana finished gathering food on her own plate then slowly sat down. Then it was a free for all, all of us scrambling to grab our favorites before they were gone.
Once we all settled, Nana spoke up.
"Malick, Roman, how are you both?"
"Doing better. Not as many fights." Malick says, smiling.
They both genuinely did seem to be doing better. I hadn't witnessed anymore screaming matches, so whatever smaller spats they've had must have been able to be peacefully worked out.
"Things have certainly become hectic since the assassination attempt." Roman divulges. "It seems that whenever we finally think things have settled, there is another person attempting to breach our borders."
"Not to mention that the increase in training means more warriors coming to the medical wing," Malick adds.
"Our last 'date' was when I was in the medical wing for twenty minutes getting a gash inspected on my bicep."
"Here we were expecting you to have murdered each other by now. It seems that your work might kill you first." Sarah jokes.
"Yes. At first, we all doubted how this pairing could match, and now it makes sense. With your hours, anyone else would have gone mad." Samara says.
"You both are traveling to Natus with Noah and William, correct?" Nana questions.
"Yes. Should be a nice break." Malick says.
We all fall into a small period of silence, breaking into smaller conversations as we wrap up our main courses until we here Samara give out a gasp that had even Kyren turn to see what caught the witch's attention.
"What is that on your neck, Mr. Wren?" she demands, pointing to the younger of the brothers.
We turn to Ramos to see a small purple spot peeking from his collar and watch as he yanks up his shirt, a slight blush brushing his cheeks.
"Who is the lucky lad or lady?" Nana questions.
"Just some simple fun. No one of importance," he says dismissively, clearly wanting the attention off of him desperately.
Sarah, Roman, Malick, William, and I share nervous looks with each other.
The former queen would take that as a challenge. With the way these walls talked, she would no doubt know by the time she fell asleep tonight and then gloat about her findings to one of us in passing the next day. The last time such a mistake was made, she had found out about my short fling with Erin. She went as far as to request she help me in the stables the next day.
Samara looks to us questioningly, then her eyes widen as Sarah fills her in.
"You've gone and done it now." she says to Ramos.
"You all are too dramatic. He needn't worry that I find out, I already know." the woman says, taking a sip of her wine, clearly unbothered by the way Ramos squirmed under her gaze.
"You do?"
"Of course. Erian has quite the stories from his night watch," she replies, not missing a beat.
This was a dangerous dance. None of us were sure if she was telling the truth, or bluffing. It mattered not. We all knew that it would end in Ramos standing down or accidentally revealing himself.
"I could have sworn he wasn't on duty last night."
"You say that as if this isn't multiple occurrences."
Our eyebrows shoot up at this declaration. She caught him into her trap. He already revealed that he was aware of the guards on duty when this happened. He would have no reason too, especially not know their nights off, unless this had been going on for some time.
"I promise, just a simple fling. Nothing important. Now desert anyone?" Ramos asks, standing to cut the cake.
"I understand you backing down. Your brother would get angry to know who it was." Nana reveals. "Cut me a bigger piece."
Ramos tensed, even if it was for just a second, but if it caught my attention, surely it caught his elder brother's.
"What? Ramos, what is she talking about?"
"She's clearly just bluffing. Roman, you've spent much time with me since Noah's announcement. If it was anyone serious you would have picked up on it by now."
"Whoever said anything about this being a recent thing? It has been going on for some time now, even before Noah ever knew he was William's mate." Nana says.
This caught my attention.
"Impossible. He would have told me. Plus, if it has been going on this long, that would imply a courtship."
"He would tell you if it was legal at the time." she replies.
We all turn to look at the guards younger brother, perplexed.
That is until Malick snaps his fingers.
"It was you!" he exclaims.
"What?" Ramos questions.
"Sarah. You must remember the gossip of last year's spring." Malick says, disregarding the confused advisor.
She furrows her brows before her eyes lit up.
"We always knew it was someone in the kitchen, but-"
"No way!" I interject, realizing what they both spoke of. "That was what made Rebecca Abigail resign. She spoke of seeing someone dart out of the room, and was gone the next day, never getting the chance to disclose who it was. That would explain the utter shock on her face."
Last spring, the entire staff was immersed in the biggest gossip story of the year. Abigail, a former high-ranking maid, came into the common room briefly saying that she caught Lord Brendan's lover exiting his room. At the time there was a suspicion that he had been seeing someone consistently, but that was just speculation. Nothing solid. Her seeing them exit nailed it in the coffin. She said that she hadn't gotten a good look, and the next day, right before she was called out of the room by Sarah's assisting maid, Rebecca, she revealed that they were on the kitchen staff. We all knew it was taboo, possibly against the law since she had gotten dismissed, but none of us would have ever suspected it to be a male at the time. Those were different days from today. It would make sense. If Rebecca were to get dismissed, that would mean that her removal was approved by a Royal, and Nana handled that case, never telling any of us what had happened as it is prohibited.
Roman had a burning hatred for the lord. He found him a cocky pretentious bastard, and always said he would feel sorry for his mate. This was fueled by Lord Brendan's constant insistence on certain combat moves as he had the Oracle gift. He is able to see slightly into the future, so he tries being helpful with it, only it infuriates Roman as the guard hates outside input.
Ramos would have been freshly twenty at the time of the affair, but as I am only a month his senior, it would make perfect sense. I wasn't paying attention at the time of his birthday, mostly resting off in my room. It would also mean that Lord Brendan saw him as his mate in advance and was able to convince Ramos of this.
The mere mention of Abigail suddenly clicked our realization into Roman's mind, his eyes blazing.
"Madam, if you would please reveal who the affair is with." he requests.
"It is exactly who you all think it is." she replies simply.
Anyone with eyes could tell that Roman wanted to go off on his younger brother, but instead, he stood up and left. Malick follows after him, probably to cool him down, and I watch as Ramos follows after his brother as well.
William looks to his mother distastefully.
"Must you have done that?" he asks her.
"For the record, it is better I did this. The lord revealed to me early today that he was going to ask Roman for his blessing," she replies.
I shake my head. The woman seems to give less cares for consequences of the truth as she ages. Maybe it is her wisdom that secrets only lead to ruin, but I suspected she sometimes did it for amusement.
"Stop judging the woman. You will be the same way no doubt." Chandler points out.
"I would not."
"You don't have to lie to someone who shares your thoughts, Noah." he tells me.
I roll my eyes, turning my attention to the dragon in the corner, who seems quite uninterested in this all.
As Will and I retire for the night I ask him to tell me of his previous encounters in Natus, watching his eyes twinkle as he fondly described our ally country.