“But… BUT DADDY!” Alshaya balled her fists up and rocked her feet back and forth. “Daddy, it’s just Llolan!”

“Shaya, I’m not stupid. You are twelve… and I know what I was doing just a few years older… Llolan is two years older than you. You are pretty and very willing…” His face twitched just saying it. “And if I find that that perverted king’s blood runs too thick in Llolan before I think you are ready I’m going to skin him alive…”

Shaya puffed up her face at him. “Dadddyyyy…”

“No, the twins are going with you. That’s final.”

“OH MY GODS, IT SUCKS THAT YOU TWO TALK TO EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME EVEN WHEN YOU ARE IN DIFFERENT ROOMS,” Shaya rubbed her hair and let out a tantrum scream before she huffed and calmed herself down so she could cross her arms looking up at him. “Not everyone thinks about Mama’s butt like you do all day!” She pointed at Lewis.

“That’s right I know how boys think also your mother is in Benin… Not another room.”

“THAT’S EVEN WORSE!” Alshaya threw her hands up. “I’m going to go get changed…” After a moment she stopped and stubbornly looked at her father. “Daddy can you do my hair like Mama does?”

–

After about thirty minutes of prep Alshaya gracefully walked through a portal to Sulwal with the twins following behind.

“I don’t understand why you are pretending~” Lila smirked a bit as she looked at Janus. “He knows you’re a brat.”

“You are a bigger brat!” Alshaya pointed and tried to regain herself. “Llolan knows but he has friends over and if I want to be with Llolan I have to be proper… Mama drilled me on it for three hours last night.” Shaya found Llolan in the courtyard with a few young nobles, all of the prince variety. They all studied together now whenever Llolan didn’t do private studies with Simone and Alshaya after all Simone was very knowledgeable since she was supposed to become a ruler herself. “Llolan!” Shaya picked up her long skirts and ran towards him. “Janus and Lila are going to be joining us.” Her eyes were bright pink whenever she looked at Llolan but shifted to purple whenever she got distracted from him. She curtsied the princes and looked at Janus and Lila.

“Don’t look at us we’re just here to make sure you behave,” they pointed at Llolan. “and we quote: if the perverted king’s blood runs thick in you… You getting skinned.” Llolan knew Lewis well enough to know he had nothing to fear as long as he played by Lewis’s rules though and Simone wouldn’t really let him hurt him… Would she?

The dull chatter of the nobles and their children flooded the air, but Llonan barely cared for it. When he was younger, it was his dream to be a part of the high and mighty ruling crowd, but now that he was actually a part of it, he was dreading every second of it. It was a rather small gathering of nobles who were meant to be study partners…

They called themselves ‘friends’, but in reality, Llonan’s guests were nothing more than pompous nobles who knew nothing other than to throw around pretentious words and act high and mighty around each other, taking every moment to one-up each other in the most ludicrous ways possible. What was meant to be a study group was nothing more than a bragging contest.

“..well, my father fired our servant because she was found talking to the butler. We can’t have them fraternizing on the job, now can we? That might hurt productivity.” The side remark had come from a red haired boy, Yoshua. His father was at the top of the pecking order when it came to wealth and influence in his lands.

Llonan rolled his eyes and flipped the page of his book. He would rather be anywhere right now, doing anything but studying with these poor excuses of what a ruling class should be. The blonde haired boy closed his cool blue eyes. It was only a matter of time before she showed up, and then the study session would be over.

Almost as if to grant his wishes, a pretty face appeared at the doorway, and bound into the courtyard. Llonan was up immediately, dusting off the white tunic he was wearing. At once, he approached Alshaya, and noted that the twins had come with her today.

“Ah, yes… Lila, Janus. It’s a pleasure to have you as well.” Llonan smiled and waved. He knew Lewis’ opinion on him, that didn’t deter him much from spending time with Alshaya. After all, it was mostly innocent.

Well, until Alshaya tried to push them into trouble. The guards had caught them once trying to jump from the terrace. Alshaya was convinced that she could land with no issue, but Llonan wasn’t entirely too sure of it…

“Alshaya, you look…” He blushed a little. “Very pretty today.”

A second noble with darker hair bounded past Llonan, practically shoving him to the side. “Ah, you are real! Llonan said he had a girl friend, but none of us believed him.” The dark haired noble boy seemed a bit on the eccentric side. “He may be a prince…but my Daddy owns a real big business. I could buy you an airship…”

Yoshua approached, scoffing. “Oh please. She’s nothing more than a common peasant. I wouldn’t even offer her a servant’s role…”

The third and final ‘study’ partner showed up, another blond boy like Llonan, but much bigger and more round. “Oh but she’s pretty. I wouldn’t mind having a girl like her clean up after me. Hey common girl, you want a job?”

Llonan was a little shocked at the way that they had immediately dismissed him. And the way that they were talking to Alshaya… He glanced nervously at the twins, who both seemed to be minding their own business. But each of them were watching the situation, and assessing it. He knew better than to think otherwise…

Alshaya blushed a bit, “You think so?” She looked down at herself and did a little twirl. “Mama had it made for me last week.” They were in their own little world for a few moments before the other boys spoke up.

Shaya looked up at them before making a face, “My mother has more blue blood in her than you ever could. Llolan’s father was once slated to marry her and become consort to her. Things change and they still remain very good friends. Also, my parents have so much silver that I could buy you an airship manufacturer.” She thought about it. “Now that I think about it I think that’s one of the businesses that MY family has invested in. My mother is also a famous author in her spare time when she isn’t fighting with the nobles who set taxes. See my daddy bought my Mama a whole island and a huge castle for her to do whatever she wanted with.” Alshaya gloated easily enough.

She walked past them and took Llolan’s hand, “Also,” her pink eyes went to theirs as they shifted to purple. “My father made a lot of money putting people like your father’s in the ground. He doesn’t do it anymore but he always keeps his skills sharp.” Her tongue was sharp as she pulled Llolan with her. “If you don’t believe me why don’t you ask King Llywellyn?”

Once the heavy stuff was done she looked up at them with a smile. “So what are we doing today? Oh! I heard my daddy is getting sword lessons from Uncle Llywellyn is that true? That means my mama will be here watching!…” She looked at the boys. “Then you can meet my commoner parents.”

She put her finger to her lips, “The first rule of nobility is not to assume what is in front of you lest you insult the wrong party. Seen as such during the ten year war of the Montes and the Veldez families. The Montes was my mother’s maternal family. It was how Llolan’s family met ours.” She educated them easily enough.

“That’s right,” Llywellyn stepped out and looked over the small group. “You got a sharp tongue on you Alshaya.”

Alshaya blushed a bit and looked up at him. “Should I say I’m sorry?”

“No, your mother would have driven them into a corner at your age and made sure they knew who they were speaking to. No one crossed Simone Auclair and didn’t piss themselves when she was upset. It happened only once… Like right now. This very situation. A group of boys who had come for Simone’s hand in marriage insulted her father… Do you know what she did?” The group of boys shook their heads. “She took her small body and she cornered them into a corner educating them on how much and in what areas their fathers owed her family. She made it pointedly clear how easy it would be to ask for all the money back… and if they couldn’t pay… Well back then if a noble couldn’t pay what he owed he was executed. Simone is of the same mindset as her father… If you order it you are the one to do it. Even at her age, she understood that. Something you boys should learn since you are all princes to your own countries.”

“Your mother sounds terrifying…” One of the boys spoke up.

“Oh… When Simone was pregnant she threw vases at my head whenever I made the wrong call as king. See my mother made her promise to make me a good ruler back when we were engaged… and Simone doesn’t forget her promises no matter how long it's been. Anyways, I was just making sure my favorite nieces and nephew were good.”

“We’re fine. We’re going to skin your son for Daddy if he steps over the line,” Lila and Janus looked up.

“…Llolan is a good boy.”

“You were supposed to be a good boy too,” the twins said before smirked. “But Daddy says you weren’t.”

“He is never going to let me live that down,” Llywellyn facepalmed. “Anyways, Lewis and Simone will be here in a few hours if you wish to see sword lessons.” He rubbed the twins’ heads before leaving. Clearly, he had only shown up to defend Alshaya… and that alone was something fierce.

“So they know… That my family is weird now?” Alshaya looked up at Llolan waiting for his nod. “The next time you want to make smart-ass comments you best believe I’m going to punch each and every one of you in the face. No one insults a Terrowin and gets away with it!” She pointed at them. “Ask my brother how many times I’ve broken his nose~” She gave a smirk as she showed her devious side.

“Mama said no face hitting but she never said anything about no crotch shots,” Lila spoke up.

Llonan was thankful that the other boys were more or less taken care of by Alshaya, the twins, and a surprise visit from King Llywellyn. As the small group grew bored and wandered off, Llolan was left alone with Alshaya and her siblings.

“Thank you…for not actually hitting anyone,” Llonan said with a forced grin. That would have been hard to justify to his mother and the other nobles. Though, the way that the Terrowin twins were smiling behind Alshaya meant that there was a real possibility that things were not quite finished.

“So, what’s on the agenda toda-”

“Play,” Janus said with a wicked grin. “Outside. We saw a pond.” They had gated into the castle directly, and as far as Llonan knew, they had never really had an opportunity to explore outside. The fact that Janus knew there was a pound out on the grounds was concerning.

Lila smirked, “Or the river. I wonder if that’s one of the ones Momma pushed your daddy into for being bad.” She and her brother interlocked hands. “Of course, we could go play without you. We won’t tell Momma or Papa, if you don’t…”

Llonan was a little worried at what was transpiring. They were starting to negotiate, and that was a horrifying prospect. There was no telling what they could get into.

“Oh don’t worry,” Janus said as if reading Llonan’s mind. “We were just going to prank your…friends. We don’t like the way they talked to Alshaya. We’ll be good.” He mimicked Lewis’ insane grin perfectly. “I promise…”