Lewis wasn’t too happy that the twins were in Roma’s lap, but he dealt with it. At least Roma was somewhat trustworthy, at least in the moment.

When Roma mentioned Simone’s noble-like speech patterns and etiquette, Lewis smirked. As Simone gave her explanation, Lewis chimed in with a happy, “You’re my Queen, though….” It was a sweet gesture. “Besides, I bet we could make a small claim to the island and take it away from Bennin if we tried hard enough. Push comes to shove, we could just take Bennin…” That was a joke, whether or not Roma understood it or not.

Dinner came with time, and the family plus Roma moved to the dining room. It took a bit of time to gather the four terrors upstairs, and once they were all seated, there was a quick round of what was being served.

Everett looked at the spread, and furrowed his brow. “Where’s the bacon?” He looked to Simone and Lewis. “Can I have bacon?” Simone gave him a look, and then looked to Lewis.

“No Everett…we can’t have bacon every night. That’s not how it works.” They had been over this a million times, and Lewis had only caved once, by mistake. But once was all that was needed, and now Everett took it as a challenge.

“But Daaaad, you let me have it that one time!” he said, pouting.

Alshaya stuck out her tongue, “Everett, why are you being a-a-a brat!” She blew a raspberry at him, and reached for her fork. “Can you pass the taters?”

Lucas sighed, passing the potatoes to Alshaya, and apologized to Roma, “Sorry…they’re at that stage…”

There was a sudden crash in the living room, and Lewis was up in a flash with a dagger drawn. Rex came stumbling into the room, his pants half off and shirt in tatters. “Holy shit, why are you all here?” He looked around. “Nevermind that! Hide me, quick!”

Simone blushed a bit at Lewis as she returned his smile. “Maybe we could~ But I’m content as it is. As long as I’m your queen that’s really all that matters.” She kissed his cheek again.

There were gagging noises from Everett who was looking in, “Food when?”

Simone started to laugh hard, “Food soon. Go get your sisters.” She nudged Lewis slightly with a smirk.

Once they got settled for dinner that was when the bacon questions started. Simone chuckled and tried to remain on her husband’s side. Once Shaya had a shot at him and Everett looked set back Simone decided to help her son.

“Shaya, why are you still mad at your Uncle Xeik?” Simone nudged Everett.

“YEAH! Why you being a-a-a BRAT!” Everett smiled up at Simone.

“Cause Uncle Xeik is a cheater. Uncle Xeik broke my heart,” Alshaya wasn’t acting upset about it as she stuffed the potatoes in her mouth. They were her favorite. “Daddy?” She looked up at Lewis, “Are you going to make Uncle Xeik marry me? He broke my heart.” Simone gave a look like… This is your fight.

Simone pushed herself up at the crash. Rex came in shocked everyone was here. “REX!”

“OOOOHHHHHHH REX IS IN TROUBBBLEEEEEEEEE,” Everett and Alshaya yelled together.

“Please tell me. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS. Tell me you weren’t just… Everett Shaya ears,” Simone said as they both covered their ears giggling.

“Rex gonna get it now,” they whispered to each other.

“Ears,” Simone waved her fingers. “Please fucking tell me you weren’t just out fucking with more nobles’ daughters again. And to answer your question because Lewis’s FATHER is here to meet all of you!”

When Alshaya made her remark about still wanting to marry Xeik, Lewis rolled his eyes. “No ‘shaya. We’ve talked about this.” They were about to go on, but Rex came in, thankfully allowing Lewis to drop the subject for the time being.

With Rex coming in the way he did, Lewis couldn’t help but give the boy a disapproving look. As the younger kids all started to mock Rex, Simone went off. Of course, the kids plugged their ears as requested. Once her tirade was done, Rex was left to defend himself.

“Okay, okay…” he held up his hands in his defense, which let his pants drop all of the way to the floor. “Oops,” he pulled them back up, and looked back at Simone. “One, in my defense…had NO idea it was gonna be pops over here. My bad,” he waved to Roma. “Normally when you have these dinners it’s some boring noble who’s either after you, or his son is after you. Or taxes.” He huffed. “And two, it was NOT a noble’s daughter, thank you. It was a sailor’s daughter. And man, can she ride with the wa-”

“You know,” Lewis said as he stood up. “Finishing that sentence is probably not the best idea.” He sighed, and motioned toward the back of the house. “Sailors. Rex, you do know that sailors are probably worse than nobles.”

“Yeah, but sailor’s wives are so desperate that you can get them both in the same night. Sometimes at the same ti-”

“Back of the house. Now.”

Simone crossed her arms, “You think I like being pursued? It’s tiresome Rex. Unlike some people, I prefer just my husband. Multiple lovers seem like a headache.”

Tapping her foot with agitation, “Don’t bother. Get dressed better, stay here, and think about the ways you are going to owe me for breaking the fucking window I spent ten days picking out with Lewis. Sit your fucking ass down next to Roma. Roma meet Rex. Rex meet Roma.” Simone left as there was pounding on the door.

“Can I help you?”

“Did a redheaded bastard just come in here?”

“Yes, come this way.” She led the man into her house and once he saw Rex he went for him. Simone was fast even in her evening gown as she grabbed his arm forced him down into a kneeling position and held a knife to her throat. “That’s my fucking son you are after.”

“HE WAS FUCKING WITH MY DAUGHTER!”

“Maybe your daughter shouldn’t be a slut then. Have you tried kicking her ass once in a while,” Simone was throwing daggers at this man as their eyes met.

“Don’t yo–”

“No, don’t you. I’m going to hand my boy his ass but if you think your daughter is getting off free you are wrong. Hurt my son and I’ll do the same to your daughter.” The man hesitated. “Surely, you realize who my husband is.”

Eyes went to Lewis and the man froze, “Dusk.”

“That’s right. You don’t think he hasn’t trained me? I’ll end you, your crew, your families. Touch my son and you are dead. Now I will hand Rex his ass but you are not to touch him. Do we have an understanding?”

“…but if my daughter is pre–”

“We put birth control potions in his breakfast every morning. We’re well aware of how he is. We are responsible. Now, do we have an understanding?” Simone looked at Rex. “Don’t fuck with his daughter anymore. Find new avenues to play in.”

She let the sailor up, “Do not come after my son, or I will keep to my word.” The sailor left silently not wanting trouble with the Dusks. "Rex, apologize to Roma… NOW."

Alshaya looked to Everett and then to Roma, "Our mommy is a badass."

Through the whole ordeal, Lewis had to contain himself. There was a mix of pride and arousal coming off of him as Simone took down the sailor over twice her size, threatening him and his entire family. It took everything he had not to throw her on the table, but he knew better than to initiate such acts in front of the kids. And possibly Roma.

Rex stared in shock when Simone said they spiked his breakfast every morning, and he looked to Lewis. “Do you…do you really?’ The assassin nodded, and turned his attention back to his beautiful wife. As the sailor left, she turned her attention back to Rex, and demanded him to make an apology.

Rex grimaced, but turned to Roma, standing up and bowing. “Sorry for causing a scene…”

Roma was in a state of shock and awe. His dainty daughter in law had just bent a sailor to her will. On top of that, the Terrowin family was actually associated with the infamous Dusk Assassin, who apparently was Lewis. That was almost as much of a shock as Simone being strong.

“I have…severely underestimated you both,” Roma said as he looked between the two. “Is it true that you took down an entire fae court? And what about the Blood Echoes? I heard that you single handedly took them down as well.”

Lewis shrugged, “Shouldn’t believe every rumor you hear.” It was less about telling the truth, and more about leaving the mystery up. Besides, they didn’t need the confirmation that an entire fae court was burned to ashes because of them. That would lead a lot of unwanted attention their way, especially at the rate things were going.

“May need to lay low after this,” Lewis said as he sat back down in his chair and started to eat. “Please…eat. And Rex…” He sighed. “Just…try not to mess up the rest of dinner…”

Lucas cleared his throat, and glanced to Alshaya. “So…where did you learn that word you said earlier?”

Alshaya beamed, “Rex. He calls himself that all the time.”

There was a collective stare at the boy, who raised his hands in defense. “What!? I can’t help that she overhears everything I say!”

Simone could feel the want for her radiating off Lewis. He loved his wife dearly and whenever she did something like this… He paid attention to all the little details.

As Lewis tried to say not to believe rumors it was Everett who spoke up trying to defend them, “It’s not their fault! The fey people kidnapped me!”

Simone sighed a bit and smiled as she hugged Everett to her. “Daddy wasn’t saying we didn’t do it. He was just saying that it could have or could not have sweetheart. Because some things don’t need to be said to protect you all.” She kissed the top of Everett’s head.

“I can explain.” She sat down next to Lewis and thought about it. “All of this stems back to the day I was cursed. The fey queen responsible for my eventual curse also took Everett. She didn’t realize he was my son. I knew that once I went and killed her that the others would step up to their mantle. They would pursue us no matter what. So, we had to. We had to kill all of them to protect our kids… We didn’t know it at the time but the love that Lewis and I share… The love for our kids,” she looked at the twins. “Would give birth to them that night. When the fires finally reached their peak our friends came rushing in to find us. They were fearing the worst. What they found amazed them and us. We don’t know how it was possible.”

Simone looked said as she held her womb and sat back in her chair. “It shouldn’t have been… We created life. Our twins. They came from our overwhelming magic as it separated. Lewis and I can become one and we did so we could take down the threat to our family. The magic we generated created the twins. How this happened no one can figure out. I am going to ask you for the sake of our family that no one confirms it was us who did it. Rex and Lucas were the ones who retrieved the twins that night from us. We were in a coma for a while and we were told they bravely went and got them when our fire was burning everyone else.”

Once the intense talks died down Shaya spoke up, “It’s okay. I already crossed Rex off my list of people to marry. Lucas too since he is up Ezili’s skirts.”

“WAIT, you have a list?!” Simone looked at her sweet daughter. “Honey, you are too little.”

“LOVE DOES NOT HAVE BOUNDARIES!” Shaya shouted. “I’m going to marry all of them. I don’t want to cross Uncle Xeik off. I already had to cross Daddy off because he stares at your butt all day.”

The explanation seemed to go over well enough, though at this point Roma may very well have been overwhelmed at everything his son had gone through. Still, he seemed to be hanging in there with the mass amount of revelations that seemed to be happening one right after the other.

“I think we should probably lay off the history, ‘mone,” Lewis said finally as he realized how overwhelming this was. He started to take a sip of wine, when Alshaya brought up her list and Lucas. He immediately did a spit take, almost choking on the wine he had. Even Simone was shocked at the fact that their six year old daughter had a marriage list.

Everett giggled at the fact that his parents were so shocked. “What. I got one too, but Aunty Lei won’t let me add anyone but Nyssa and Piper to the list. She says they’re all I need.” He went over to his sister and the two high fived. They had plans, and no one was going to stop them.

Rex groaned, “Can we just hurry this up? I hurt all over and kind of just want to go home.”

Lewis looked over. “You won’t die…but if you’re going to whine so much, I can grab Xeik or Lei to come over.”

Simone smiled a bit, “I’m so sorry Roma for giving you all this information. I wasn’t planning on it I swear,” she reached over and sweetly took Roma’s hands. “Honestly, if Everett hadn’t spoken up I wasn’t going to. I hate overwhelming people with our troubles.”

Simone snapped her attention to Everett but didn’t say a thing. The look on her face was enough. She wasn’t about to tell her seven year old how much those two were the devil.

Looking over Rex she sighed a bit. “Can you go get Xeik, please? I will fight Leilah over those demon hellions she calls sunflowers.” She kissed Lewis. “I’ll miss you while you’re gone,” she said it out loud to be funny but she actually meant it.

“I’m so sorry about this Roma… I feel terrible.” Simone felt defeated a bit but she wasn’t ready for what came next.

“Everett get off me you stink from your feet! You make our bedroom smell!” Shaya decided now was the time to act up since Lewis was gone.

“SHAYA!” Simone said out loud.

“NUH UH! It’s your feet and that’s why UNCLE XEIK WON’T MARRY YOU!” Everett yelled and Shaya launched herself knocking over the food to get at her brother.

“ALSHAYA! EVERETT!” The two were no longer listening to her now that Lewis was gone. Simone looked overwhelmed for a moment.

“YOUR FEET STINK,” they kept yelling as Alshaya decked her brother in the nose causing blood to go everywhere. Everett was pulling at Alshaya hair. Roma jumped up to help Simone.

Thankfully Lewis walked back in to see all of this as Everett’s nose was bleeding. "LEWIS DO SOMETHING PLEASE!" The both stopped as soon as they realized Lewis was back and gave him sheepish smiles.

Lewis wasn’t gone for long, and luckily Xeik wasn’t too hard to get ahold of. As the two walked back into the Vilpamolan house, they were both surprised at the terror that Alshaya and Everett had unleashed between each other. With one glare from Lewis, though, both of them stopped, and went back to their seats.

“Well…,” Xeik said, unsure of how to handle the situation. “Let’s…do you first then, Everett…” He walked over to Everett’s seat, and looked at his bloodied nose. “Wow. Alshaya has a strong punch to have done this kind of hit.” The healer looked a little concerned. “Everett. How old are you?”

Everett beamed, “Seben.”

Alshaya huffed, “Almost seven.”

“Don’t you two start,” Lewis warned. “Everett, tell the man your actual age. It’s important. He’s making sure you’re not hurt.”

The boy sighed, “Fine… I’m six.” He sounded almost deflated. “But I’ll be seben soon!” If Everett was anything, he was stubborn as all hell.

Xeik sighed, and with a quick flick of his wrist, fixed Everett’s nose. He stood up, ruffling the boy’s hair, and moved on to Alshaya. “And here you are, you spoiled princess. Did Everett hurt you at all? You socked him real good.”

Shaya crossed her arms and looked up at Xeik. “No, but you hurt me.”

“Shaya…” Simone said gently.

Shaya crossed them tighter and made a face. “Uncle Xeik you a cheater an–”

“Shaya… Now is not the time. Are you hurt?”

Finally, the girl calmed down and uncrossed her arms, “My head hurts a little cause Everett pulled my hair.” She showed Xeik where her head hurt. Mia was peeking in the room and huffed softly.

“Mia, you don’t have to stand out there. Come inside,” Simone was warm and friendly.

“Stole my husband,” Shaya spoke up and Mia gave her a frown before she huffed more.

“Roma, you know Xeik but this is his girlfriend Mia,” Simone introduced Mia who waved. “She is a mute so please don’t feel disrespected if she doesn’t talk to you.” Mia smiled and nodded as she stayed by Xeik helping him with the kids.

“Lewis,” Simone got close to him and Roma was close to hear them. “They can’t sleep in the same room anymore. Look what Shaya just did to him. What if they fight over the beds next?” Simone was really worried. “Maybe it is time to separate them…” It sounded like her heart was breaking almost.