A Dinner With The Royals
POV: Reggie
A note came from King Renier giving us his sympathies for our daughter’s illness and had offered to cancel the dinner. I wrote back and told him that we would like to continue since we would need Prince Calypso here to help conduct the ritual. We got another note back telling us that both men were looking forward to meeting us. We also decided it would be best to invite Lucien, discreetly of course. We didn’t let it get out that Alexandra was ill in any way. Talia went about her preparations of welcoming the King in style. It was customary to decorate one’s house with greenery and provide fruits and vegetables as refreshments before dinner. Vanessa had helped with much of the decorating. The young elf Jheelis left for Seely with the first batch of the potion that Alexandra had made for their realm. Given what we knew of Tyleesh’s mother, we felt it was best to keep him away from the main house. As far as the King knew, the Queen executed the children from her first marriage for treason to the crown. A punishment borne by them for their mother’s perceived treachery. It was a cruel way to get rid of a mistress’s children. Ashton was keeping himself busy with helping to care for my father since Talia was busy with the dinner party and Teddy was dividing his time between my father, working at the castle, and checking on Alexandra. Aphrodite assured us that she was out of danger for now but he kept insisting that Alexandra should be checked at least twice a day to ensure nothing has changed. Everything seemed to remain the same for the two days in between her initial collapse and now.
I knew this because I kept a vigil by her bedside. I knew she wasn’t going to wake up so easily as me asking her to open her eyes but I thought talking to her might help. Every doting father would be concerned for a child who is ailing. I was a doting father to my daughter, she has always been the light in my life and I had always relished the warmth. I knew we had to have this dinner so I could see what these royals were about. They wanted my daughter to join their family and I needed to know if, at the very least, the young man was good enough for her. A royal he may be but any man beside Alexandra must, above all, love her with all their being. Next, they must be a good person, I had my doubts about Lucien now. He put her in this state, after all. I had to have a conversation with him at some point to figure out why he did what he did as well. No man would get my blessing to take my daughter from us without a measure of love, respect, and the commitment to treat her well. I didn’t want to be archaic about this but she was a precious treasure that I wanted to keep safe. I knew her strength would not allow her to suffer…well at least I thought she had that strength. Her heart was not yet strong enough and I didn’t know how she would strengthen it when she came out of this.
A knock sounded at the door and Talia walked in, “Love, our guests are here now. You have to come down to greet them.” I sighed, got up from my seat, and kissed Alexandra on the forehead, “Alright, let’s go.” As I got to the door, I looked back at the beautiful young girl in the bed and vowed I would protect her heart from now on. We walked down the stairs just as Dana was opening the door to Lucien, Blake, Renier, and Calypso. I bowed to them,” Welcome to my humble home Your Majesties, Your Highness.” Renier looked around the finely decorated foyer and smiled, “I see you know our customs. I thank Your Graces for helping my son and me to feel welcomed.” I looked at the young man that was standing next to King Renier. He was tall but not particularly muscular, not like Lucien. He had long hair like most fae men and it was golden blonde like his sister’s hair. The only difference between Ny and Calypso was their eyes. He had the teal eyes that his father had. He had this youthful beauty that I could see Alexandra would have been attracted to had her heart not been set on Lucien. I looked over at Lucien and nodded at him sternly. I was still angry with him and I’m sure he knew it, “You can make yourselves at home. We have gathered our entire family here and your daughter is also here.” Renier smiled at me, “I am glad you have opened your home to my child while she continues her studies here. I understand she very much enjoys her time here. My wife said she couldn’t stop talking about the garden room she occupies. Blackwood is, indeed, a lovely place from what I have seen so far.”
He frowned, “I imagine it is made even more lovely with Alexandra’s vibrant presence. We have prayed to the Gods for her safe return since we found out about her illness. Please let us know if and how we can help.” I smiled at him sadly, “I thank you for your kind prayers and offer. I believe His Highness will be one of the ones who can help her. Were you apprised of what we are doing here tonight?” Calypso nodded, “Yes, Your Grace. We are holding a ritual after dinner to see if we can pull her back. I was visited by a woman you all call Grand Pretre.” I gasped, “She visited you?” He nodded, “Yes, she said that we will go through the ritual but it won’t go the way it is planned. She didn’t give details but she said I would know what to do when it came time.” I nodded and looked down, “She tends to be rather vague to keep herself from being punished by the Gods.” I turned to Talia who had been curiously quiet, “Is dinner ready, my love?” She nodded, “Yes, my husband. It is ready if we want to move into the ballroom.” She had set everything up in the dining room since we were entertaining many more guests than what we usually did. Inside the room was my father in a wheelchair, Ashton, Talon, Vanessa, Whisperia, Mordred, and Nystasia. We sent Lucy off to spend some time with Dorothea since we didn’t think this was the time to introduce her as the somewhat adopted daughter of Alexandra. That would come later if needed. Malinus was invited to come as well since he too was family and has often represented us in dealings with the Elder Council. He arrived with Lucien, of course. We all took our places. Talia and I were at the heads of the table and she had placed to the right of me: Lucien, Blake, my father, Whisperia and Ashton. To the left was Renier, Calypso, Nystasia, Vanessa, Talon, and Mordred. Talia had left a symbolic seat open for Alexandra by her side. I very much doubt that was where she was going to seat her had she been able to attend.
King Renier leaned forward, “Now that we are all seated, I wanted to meet you, Your Grace. I hope you didn’t mind my asking to be invited to your home.” I shook my head, “I am here to serve my King and, by extension, his guests. I am a little confused as to why you would want to meet me. Can you elaborate?” He nodded, “As you are aware, Your Grace, I have sent you an offer to have Alexandra marry into the Seely Royal family. I figure it would be irrational not to meet the family of the woman that the Queen and I have chosen for our son. More importantly, we were hoping to see what sort of place she was raised and by whom. If I can send my compliments, you have done a fine job raising that exquisite young woman.” I heard a snort at the other end of the table and my wife covering the lower half of her face with a napkin. Talia was likely stifling a giggle at the complement of Alexandra being exquisite. I smiled at him, “Well, I do thank you, Your Majesty. I cannot take credit since my wife has been the bastion of her discipline and teaching of her etiquette.” I shot a glare at Talia to let her know I was not pleased. She sighed but said nothing, only nodded at the King. It was awfully peculiar that she wouldn’t speak so much. It was only after the King addressed her that I understood why, “Your Grace, I believe you have done a fine job. She’s the very picture of beauty and grace.” She nodded, “I credit my time spent in the Queen’s Seely court as inspiration for her etiquette upbringing.” He looked pleased with this comment. I caught on that maybe her silence was some sort of Seely etiquette around the King. I understood the Seely Realm to be a matriarchal society so it was strange to me that etiquette was that a woman be submissive to the King.
Conversations were had around the table about various subjects after that as everyone relaxed with the serving of the food. I felt with the roar of the room, it would be best to address the elephant in the room. I turned to Lucien, “Your Majesty, may I have a word in private?” Lucien looked over at me, “Of course, Your Grace.” I rose from my seat and the room quieted, “Don’t mind me, I have something I want to show to His Majesty King Lucien in my study. We will be back.” Everyone nodded at us and returned to eating. He followed me to the study and I closed the door behind Lucien. I turned to him, “I have to ask you what happened but before you say anything I believe drinks are in order. What’ll you have?” He looked over at the beverage cart, “Whatever you’re having.” I nodded and walked over to the cart, “Bourbon it is.” I poured two glasses and handed him one, “So?” He sighed, “Well, as you know I was on a date with Melody. I was mandated to do so by the Elder Council. I’ll have it known to you and anyone else that wants to ask that I didn’t choose this.” He gazed at me looking pitiful and I took a sip, “I understand but what happened? You’ll forgive me but I’m not interested in what you did or didn’t want at this point.” He shrunk a little and sighed, “Well, we had tea where Malinus and Teddy were watching over us. I had set that up so they could watch what we were doing. I knew Alexandra would not be sent out by her own request. Towards the end of the tea, a guard came up to us and told Malinus that something at the castle needed Royal Scribe attention. I tried to keep Teddy with me but shortly after Malinus left the same guard said that he was needed as well. After the tea, I was walking Melody out of the garden when she twisted her ankle so I helped her to a bench. I cannot explain it but it felt like I blacked out because shortly after that I had Melody on my lap smiling down at me.” I stared at him in disbelief for a while before I spoke up eventually, “You say you blacked out?” He nodded, “I don’t remember having her slide up onto my lap and I certainly don’t remember kissing her as I’m told what happened.” I took a sip of my drink and set it down on a nearby table. I turned my back on him, placed my hands on that same table, and leaned to regain composure. I ran a hand over my face and turned back to him, “You really expect me to believe that?”
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