It was a peaceful day for Fin. Tam was sitting at the kitchen table reading, Annika was checking on Elizabeth Nonata’s report in Austice, and he was in the middle of baking fresh herb bread for the King’s pork roast dinner. Even though Fin wasn’t the official Royal Cook anymore, whenever he had the time he would give the new Royal Cook a day off.

The Viscount had just finished magically floating the bowl of mixed herbs he had prepared beforehand, when the castle door was thrown open, and in stumbled the Princess and his daughter holding each other up as they roared with laughter.

“I-I owe him a favor now, but I couldn’t resist!” Alina clutched her abdomen as the tall redhead supporting her wiped tears of humor from her cheeks.

“Oh Gods- I thought everyone had heard about it! You should’ve seen my Da when he found out! He had to be locked away in his chamber for hours!”

“When I found out what now?” Fin asked while turning curiously to his daughter and her new friend.

“Lord Fuks’ grandson’s name,” Katarina explained with a devilish grin that had Fin smiling back at her.

“Ah, yes. How is little Aster doing?”

“I’ve heard he’s cute, but a little shit disturber,” Tam cited casually, earning a look of glowing pride from his father.

Alina was unable to take it, and was once again doubled over laughing.

Fin was chuckling to himself as Katarina helped heft the Princess onto one of the three tall chairs while patting her back. Tam glanced at the young royal with a half smile before returning to his book.

“Easy there, Princess. If you have another one of those attacks my father might not be as calm.” Katarina plunked herself down in the centre seat and reached over to grab an apple from the fruit bowl in front of her brother.

“Viscount, you… you know about the incident… yesterday?” Alina asked, dropping her eyes to her lap as she tried not to show him the disappointed and anxious expression she knew she was growing in place of laughter.

“Kat told us, yes. She made me promise not to tell your father, but Alina if your condition is getting worse-”

“Wait, you already knew about my condition?!” the Princess demanded, her eyes flying to Fin’s calm blue ones.

“I do, yes. When you had your first incident, your father reached out to me to see if I knew of any cure that my mother may have made a note of in one of her notebooks. Sadly, there wasn’t one that she knew of. The vapors and ointment the Royal Physician has been administering for you was based on one of my mother’s creations, however. She did make a note that some people grow out of the condition, though for children born early it was more likely to last for the duration of their life.”

The Princess felt her teeth clench as her eyes dropped to the table in front of herself, her cheeks burning as she couldn’t help but feel the pitying gazes of both the Ashowan children.

It was in that moment that an impressively large amount of fluff suddenly leapt into her lap.

“Oh, what-”

Alina blinked, stunned, down into two green eyes in the face of a handsome cat, whose puffy chest with its dash of white at the throat made him look rather distinguished.

“Ah, that there is Kraken.”

“The Kraken?! The animal responsible for taking down a dragon?!” the Princess’ eyes were wide with wonder.

The feline in her lap chirped before circling her lap several times and beginning to knead his paws against her thighs.

“He says he is pleased to make your acquaintance,” Fin remarked while a small flicker of another emotion crossed his face. He was the only one who could understand the feline with their strong bond as familiar and witch. However, he was more than happy to relay messages from the fluffy cat.

“Is that really all he said, Da?” Katarina asked while she glanced impishly at her father.

“That is all he said that is worth being relayed,” the Viscount retorted while leaning his hands on the cooking table and fixing his daughter with a familiar warning expression.

Katarina grinned back before continuing to munch on her apple. “So how was your second date?”

Alina smiled prettily down at Kraken as she reached up and scratched his cheeks. “It was wonderful. Prince Henry is a very kind young man- I had a lovely afternoon with him.”

There was a beat of silence that finally made the young monarch raise her gaze to the Ashowan family, which in turn made her blush scarlet.

Fin took one look at her face and immediately shook his head. “Gods… your father is going to be heart broken.”

“N-No! It doesn’t have to be like that! Henry says he prefers Daxaria and wants to live here,” Alina began desperately, unable to stop her burning cheeks.

“Calling him Henry already?” Katarina observed while her jovial expression began to fade from her face.

“Princess, you do know that it isn’t for Prince Henry to decide if he can live here with you. It’d be up to his brother, King Brendan. While I agree given the Troivackian nobility’s propensity for backstabbing this might seem like a tempting option for him, there are many variables to this,” Fin began, his tone apologetic as the young woman before him visibly shrank.

“W-Well, I can try to… talk to him. The Troivackian King that is.”

“Alina, he is here for your hand in marriage as well, that might not be something that he would be pleased about,” Fin remarked, unaware that he was already addressing the young noble as he would his own daughter.

“Da, are you really someone who can say something like this is impossible? You were a Godsdamn cook when you met, Mum!” Katarina burst out vehemently.

“Language,” Fin warned before straightening and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Sorry, but you know I’m right!” Katarina was on her feet in an instant.

“She hasn’t even had all of her courting dates, maybe you all are overreacting to an event that isn’t a certainty,” Tam cut in, his quiet voice nearly toneless as he proceeded to turn the page of his book.

Alina glanced at the heir to the Viscount house, but discovered that he remained fully immersed in the text before him, as though nothing of consequence was happening.

“Actually, Tam... That is something I wanted to talk about, but I’m also going to mention it with Her Highness here…” Fin turned his shimmering gaze to his son who was finally looking up at his father.

The House Witch then faced Alina, only he suddenly became ever so slightly bashful.

“Your father is interested in a pairing between the two of you. I know he doesn’t want either of you to know his intentions, but this is not something I think should be kept from either you.”

Tam’s expression was one of great alarm and distress as he shook his head and held up both of his arms in an X while at the same time the Princess burst out,

“Oh, Gods, no.”

Momentarily taken aback by both of their strong reactions to the news, Fin took a dazed moment to process the information before chuckling. “I suppose that should be a relief to me.”

Katarina turned to Alina with her arms crossed over her chest frowning. “What’s wrong with my brother?”

“Kat, you really don’t need to-” Tam began to interject before his sister adjusted her position so that the full of her back was facing him.

“Oh… I’m sorry… I mean no offence to… to either of you- sorry Tam!”

“None taken,” the young noble responded hastily while poking his sister’s shoulder.

“It’s just that I already… I already see you more as a little brother than… a romantic partner…” Alina was beginning to inch away from the blazing golden stare of Katarina, when Kraken’s paw suddenly shot out and rested on the redheaded woman’s lap.

Snapping out of her frown, Katarina turned her gaze down to the familiar and stared in his sleepy green eyes that then slowly blinked up at her.

Letting out a long sigh, the young noble’s shoulders slumped forward. “Damnit. I really wanted to have a sister-in-law that I like.”

“Kat, language!” Fin chided again, though he was chuckling a bit as he did so.

“Why? You and Mum swear all the time at home! Besides no one here cares-”

It was then the garden door opened ever so slightly, drawing everyone’s attention up in time to see a small boy with a mop of soft brown hair, and dark blue eyes stared up at them uncertainly.

“Why, hello, Aster!” Katarina greeted with a warm smile that had the child scuffling quickly into the room and closing the door behind himself. Kraken leapt down from the Princess’ lap and sauntered over to the nearest patch of sunlight.

“Katty, it’s Ass, remember?” the small boy half whined, half pouted as he ran over to the cooking table.

“Oh, are you Aster?” Alina asked while smiling prettily down at the small boy.

“Yeah, but my friends call me Ass. Who’re you?” he asked while accepting a pear that Fin was handing him.

The Princess didn’t get the chance to answer when the garden door burst open with great force, and standing in its frame was none other than Brendan Devark. The Troivackian King.

“There he is my Lady. I believe that is your son?”

Everyone was too stunned to move until a slight woman in her early forties stepped around the giant of a man. “Y-Yes, thank you, Your Majesty.”

Aster didn’t run away when his mother rushed over to him and picked him up- though it was most likely due to the fact the lad appeared petrified to the bone of the foreigner in front of him.

“Good day, Viscount.” Lady Fuks dipped into a shaky curtsy to Fin.

“Cheryl. Take care, Aster!” Fin waved with a friendly smile that had the boy waving back, and then shouting as his mother carried him through the castle doorway. “I told you! Call me Ass!”

“I cannot have heard that child right.”

Alina nearly leapt out of her skin when she turned in her seat to find the giant Troivackian man had moved silently up behind her again, and was staring at the closed door the child and his mother had just exited through.

“Ah, it is a family tradition of the Fuks,” Fin explained while turning his bright smile to the newcomer.

He then executed a perfect bow, and straightened once more. While his smile remained friendly and warm, there was a shimmer in his eyes that only his children recognized.

“I am Viscount Ashowan, Your Highness. Welcome to the castle kitchen.”

The King stared at him stonily for a moment. “So you’re the infamous House Witch.”

Katarina was in the process of rolling her eyes, which the Troivackian immediately noticed when his gaze cut to her sharply.

The Lady didn’t bother looking cowed. “Pardon my lack of curtsy, Sire. You are crowding the exact spot where I would be paying my respects.”

“Kat!” Fin snapped, his eyes flashing angrily.

At the reminder of proper greetings, the three youths stood. While Kat’s curtsy was lackluster, Alina and Tam’s greeting remained flawless.

“A Troivackian.” Brendan’s voice was raised in curiosity when he locked eyes with Tam, who immediately swallowed.

“Your Majesty, this is my son, Tamlin Ashowan,” Fin explained, his voice calm, but his expression no longer smiling.

“I see…” Brendan tilted his head ever so slightly as he studied the young man before him scrupulously.

“The Viscountess Lady Ashowan was born in Troivack, Your Majesty,” Alina interrupted, drawing the King’s gaze back over and down to the shortest person in the room.

“Annika Piereva, then Annika Jenoure, and now Annika Ashowan, of Viscount House Jenoure, correct?” the monarch asked, his intense dark eyes locked onto Alina’s, immediately disarming her.

“Th-That’s-”

“That is my wife, yes,” Fin interjected coolly.

The King turned his gaze back to the Viscount. “I look forward to formally meeting the Viscountess.”

“She is a wonderful member of our court!” Alina burst out again, breaking the tension and once more claiming the King’s attention. “She was my late mother’s best friend, in fact.”

Brendan’s facial expression didn’t shift at all as he continued staring down at the Princess.

“I am sorry for your loss.”

Alina could feel her hands begin to tremble and so she clutched them together to make it less obvious.

“She, she passed a while ago. I’m sorry you lost your father as well.”

“He died honorably. There is nothing to be sad for.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

“Aside from locating Ass Fuks, was there a reason you came to the kitchen?” Katarina asked through a smile of gritted teeth.

Fin stiffened behind the table at his daughter’s use of the noble’s name in front of the King.

Brendan’s expression darkened fractionally when he addressed her. “I happened upon Lady Fuks while I was perusing the castle grounds and offered my assistance in locating her son. Though I did want to come and see the Viscount later this evening.”

Fin frowned at the man’s militaristic speech and he himself straightened. “What is it you would like to speak to me about, Sire?”

“Your daughter. Lady Katarina Ashowan.”

At this the room fell completely silent, though the Lady in question was balling her fists against her skirts and her golden eyes flashed dangerously.

“Kat, Tam, please step outside. Princess, please pardon us,” Fin dismissed the young adults without moving his gaze from the bear of a man, and yet there was an edge in his tone that left no room for any objections.

Once the trio had left through the garden door, and closed it, Alina half collapsed against the nearest garden post, her legs felt like they had turned to jelly.

“Gods, what does that pain in the-”

“-Kat?” Tam cut his sister off sharply. “Kat, what did you do?”

“Nothing! I swear, this time I…” the redhead’s defiant expression faltered, and a small hint of guilt crossed her features as she tucked an errant strand of long red hair behind her ears.

“Kat! Did you really do something to the King of a foreign country?!” Tam burst out seriously, his dark eyes wide with fury and fear.

“I was just… a little… terse with him the other day, but he was being a complete arse!”

“Oh, Gods,” Tam pinched the bridge of his nose, and in that moment, looked identical to his father. “Did you tell him he was being an arse?”

“Of course I did! You know I can’t help it!” she announced desperately as her brother closed his eyes and began rubbing his face.

“Kat, this is bad! If mum finds out-”

“If mum finds out what?”

All three nobles froze and turned to stare at none other than the Viscountess Annika Ashowan herself, with her maid Clara by her side. Both of their expressions were unreadable for a moment before Annika stepped forward, her dark eyes smoldering.

“Katarina Ashowan, what in the Goddess’ name did you do now?”