She’d shared Andrew’s predictions with the boys and they had started coming up with places to start. They weren’t really against simply starting at a random point then moving around, but it was a matter of deciding where they would start. The longer they tried to figure it out the more their conflicting ideas were evident; she was glad when a letter came that distracted all of them.
The boys huddled around Lydia as she read it over, waiting for her to tell them what it said.
“It’s from Mathieu,” she explained, “the now-count the five of us met when we were learning about the Keys. He’s throwing a party and sent me an invitation.” It wasn’t uncommon; both families were on the social side of things, after all, and the thing keeping them from interacting more often was her trips and the count’s poor health. “He’s from Tramos so we can start with him and move on from there.”
That seemed to be enough to satisfy all of them, since they then decided to head out the next morning after making sure they had everything. She made sure Mathieu knew that they were coming and they made the couple-days-trip to the town. He was right there waiting for them when they came.
Mathieu greeted them with a smile. “Lydia, it’s good to see you and the kids! Prince Tavin and, ah…” He stared at the twins with confusion before shaking his head. “Apologies, it seems I’ve forgotten which one was which.”
“Tim and Henry.” Lydia pointed to each of them. “You’re usually good with names, aren’t you?”
“Well, yes, though for a moment… honestly, I forgot you had twins.” He shrugged. “It’s not worth dwelling on. Since you’re all here, why don’t you look around town? There’s been some new things since the last time you were here—much-needed improvements, if I do say so myself. My kids are always finding some new thing here, so there’s undoubtedly no shortage of things for the three of you.”
She nodded, pulling out some money from her satchel and handing it to Tim. “You know where the estate is, right? Meet back up with us there in a couple of hours. Stick close to each other; you know when to just back out of something.” Then, guided by Henry, they left to wander around town, allowing the remaining two to have a much-needed catch up. “So you’ve got a family now, too?”
“More accurately, a wife who wants nothing to do with anything but my money and twins who enjoy taking advantage of neither of us being around to stop them,” he responded casually. “We’ve been married seventeen years and still I can’t find a single thing I like about the woman.”
“Something your parents decided, then?”
“I’ll admit there was a nice man I met that I wouldn’t have minded spending the rest of my life with, but you know how that is. My father insisted I had an heir and didn’t feel like waiting for me to choose a woman I’d be more interested in. But the twins aren’t bad, so long as they’re staying out of trouble. I put up with her to stay with them.” He gestured for her to follow him as he showed her around. “You know… now, when I consider the person I would’ve rather been with, you’re the one that comes to mind. My parents are a completely different matter, but I don’t care about the silly trivial things or how constantly you travel. I think it’s better to be with someone with experience and to say I’ve never been envious of the carefree lifestyle of traveling would be a lie. I wouldn’t have even minded looking over your twins—a more fitting father figure than their grandfather and uncle might’ve made the whole thing a bit easier to take in. But by the time I realized it, I was already married and you had offered yourself as the mother to the king’s heir.”
“It’s probably better. Everyone else that I’ve been in a relationship with complained of those exact things.”
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“That sounds like their problem, not yours. If they’re not willing to accept all of it then they shouldn’t have tried to get any. And while we’re on the topic… I understood that things weren’t going to be exactly the same as before, but I hadn’t expected you to step out completely after Prince Tavin was born.”
“I’m sure it was weird to begin with—being with someone other than their father, like everything else told them families were supposed to look like. I made sure they were involved with what was going on with Imre because I knew that it was something they’d have to live with. While everything turned out okay, it kept things from getting any more possibly awkward.”
“It’s thoughtful of you to consider their side of things. Speaking from experience as both a son and a father, there’s not a lot of parents willing to do that. It’s unfortunately common these days to thrust obligations on to the next in line without a care for what they think of it. A change made according to your own upbringing, I’m guessing?”
“I was the one that had it easy out of the five of us. Imre was the prince with all that crap to deal with, Dimas was practically the same way except more because of Qizar’s whole twin thing than being prince, Samone didn’t really seem to care but she had a lot of responsibilities for someone her age, and Kiah… honestly it’s all screwed up when you realize everything she did in Hyasari while she was pretending to be ten years older. I was the one whose father let her run around and do whatever the hell she wanted as long as she was more or less safe.”
“There’s still Diana, from the sounds of it.”
“The only one she’s remotely happy with is Ellie and that’s because she not only had kids after getting married but in general is the only one with kids. When it comes to most likely becoming the head of the Stones, I hardly even think about it—and not just because it feels impossible that he’s going to die before I do.”
In a half-joking manner, Mathieu remarked, “Well, he doesn’t need to die. I’m only here because somehow my father involved himself in a scandal in another kingdom. And I’ll have you know I don’t think he’d ever left Zaci territory before that.”
“How are you not dealing with consequences from something like that?”
He shrugged and waved his metal arm around. “I suppose they all have other reasons to whisper about me; calling me one of those tynmir because I’d like to maintain some semblance of a normal life like them.” He paused and, seeing her vaguely uncomfortable expression, corrected, “A child of Fleyw Bresh. The brutish nature rubs off on me occasionally. I forget that not everyone is as accustomed to it as others.”
“More like some halfway decent respect,” she mumbled. “But I guess there’s a lot of problems we’ve got to figure out on treating Seothians before trying to sort out the stuff with Qizar and Idkor.”
He let out a nervous chuckle. “I screwed up, didn’t I? Let’s start over. How are the other four? I know it’s been even longer since seeing any of them but I consider them acquaintances nonetheless.”
“Normal, I guess? They’re all the same as they usually are. Maybe not good but it’s something we’re all used to by now. Have you done anything interesting?”
“Nothing I haven’t already mentioned. I’ve resigned to my fate of living a rather dull and uneventful life.” He shrugged. “By the way, is there any other reason that you’re here? Usually you’re off somewhere else whenever I invite you. I’ll admit bringing all three of the boys also suggests this isn’t just about the party.”
“We need to be in Tramos as part of a trip. We didn’t really know where to start, then your invitation came in, and we figured this was as good of a place as any.”
“The Stones out on yet another adventure? What could they be looking for this time, I wonder?”
“It hasn’t been a lot so far but it’s—”
Mathieu stopped. “Sorry, but it seems like it’s actually going to need to wait for another time. There’s two kids I have to remind to behave.” He shot her a smile before walking away towards one of the buildings, talking to two kids she assumed to be his twins.