Although the girls had been roused, neither showed signs of actually leaving the bed. If he wasn’t wrong, Lessa had already fallen back asleep. Alistar braced himself for the frustration that he knew would follow and then willed the water from his wash basin to form two portions of undulating liquid which he cooled slightly before allowing them to drop onto the girls’ heads without ceremony.
“Alie! Why would you do that?”
Anice tackled him almost immediately, though the moment he landed on his back he gathered the water from the fabric of his bedding and from within their clothes and then returned it to the wash basin with a shaky splash. It had been quite difficult to manage this, for he’d also had to catch one of Anice’s wrists just in time to prevent her fist from smacking into his chin.
“Can’t you ever hold back?” he complained. “It’s not ladylike to punch people in the face. Especially with all your strength.”
She tried to hit him with her other hand, though he caught it in the same manner. Her glare intensified as she sat atop him, and he could tell that she was thinking about how else to hurt him. Eyes flashing in a mischievous manner, she rose up a bit and then slammed her backside downwards with her full strength.
“Is it gentlemanly to drop a bunch of water on a girl’s head? I’d just fallen back asleep!”
“I’ll have to agree with Anne,” came Lessa’s lethargic voice. “I hardly slept at all last night. Your relatives don’t even know I’m here, so did you have to wake me as well?”
“They of all people will be able to sense that you’re here. The house servants barely give off an aura, but it’s different for us.”
Anice struggled to free her arms. “Still. You didn’t have to drop water on us.”
Alistar subdued a discreet gulp, vividly aware of the contact between him and his cousin. As she continued to squirm around, he felt a sudden sense of anxiety and was assailed by the thought that he needed to get Anice off of him as quickly as possible.
“It worked, didn’t it? Why are you guys so tired, anyway?”
“That…it’s too cold down here.”
“Then stay in your own room next time. Could you get off of me, already?”
Lessa didn’t say anything for a moment, though she quickly left the bed and pulled Anice onto her feet. “You’re right. I can sense the servants rushing around in the dining hall, so it must almost be time for breakfast. Let’s go get changed, Anne.”
Alistar pushed himself up off the ground as the girls left the room, though he was hit in the face with the water from before as soon as he sat up. Turning his head, he saw Lessa stick out her tongue as she dragged Anice toward the staircase.
Should I have woken them up some other way?
Resolving to apologize to the girls when they met up for breakfast, he dried himself in short order and changed into a more presentable outfit before making his way over to the dining hall. Just as he was about to arrive, he ran into a sweat-stricken Johan in one of the adjacent hallways.
“A—Alistar. Good morrow to you.”
“Good morrow, Cousin. Were you just exercising?”
The older boy took a moment to catch his breath. “I stayed the night at the Silvus’s residence. I ended up oversleeping and hurried home as fast as I could.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“You stayed the night there?” In a teasing voice, he added, “A bit too tired after seeing Priscilla home, I see.” He imagined that his cousin had experienced a similar sort of night to his own, considering that he and Lessa’s sister seemed to be in love.
“Hah, I’d say so. Say, I heard that you didn’t lack company last night, either. I must say, it’s altered my impression of you a bit.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“Edmun and Calum, of course.” His tone became a bit more serious. “I passed by them on the way here, and both couldn’t wait to tell me about how they sensed the girls’ auras in your room all night, and how they had noticed you washing your pajama bottoms in secret. Don’t underestimate their anger, Alistar. Before the year’s out, Edmun will be the lord of a territory much larger than Distan, and Calum’s also set to be given a title from his father in the coming years.”
Alistar felt his soul slip out of his body. He’d been spotted this morning? And of all people, it had to have been those two.
They couldn’t have actually seen what I was doing, he thought, raking his brain to remember everything about that part of his morning. At the most, they might have seen me holding my pajama bottoms on the way to the stables, and then noticed that I’d changed back into them before I made my way back. Either way, this was unwelcome news.
“Thank you for the reminder,” he said, mood sinking. “I wish things hadn’t had to turn out the way they did, but those two didn’t leave me with much of a choice.”
“There were certainly other ways to handle it, but your actions were completely within reason. Just remember what I said about those fools.” Johan made to leave but paused after his first step. “Ah, and in case you haven’t heard, we won’t be attending breakfast. Father plans to set off within the hour.”
Although relieved to hear this, Alistar was a bit downhearted to think that his eldest cousin was leaving. They had gotten along quite well together, and it was likely that they wouldn’t see one another for many years to come.
“I see. Thanks for letting me know.”
“We’re to meet out front of the main entrance in half an hour. I’ll see you then!”
With that, the older boy hurried off down the hall and left Alistar alone with his thoughts. Training on an empty stomach had left him quite hungry, so he entered into the dining hall and began picking at some of the food that had already been laid out on the table, his mind aimless. Anice and Lessa arrived a short while later, both beating him to the punch by apologizing for the way they had reacted to the manner in which he had woken them earlier in the morning. Nobody else showed up to eat, with most people in the manor house gravitating toward its eastern entrance.
After enjoying a short breakfast, he noted that all of his uncles and cousins had gathered at the designated area and so bade the girls to follow him so that they could meet up with the others as they were expected to. Unlike when the dukes and their boys had initially been received by Caedmon, there were no house servants in attendance to see them off.
The three of them arrived at the eastern vestibule in short order, where the far doors stood open to reveal a glimpse of a beautiful summer’s morning from beyond their boundaries. All of the palfreys had been retrieved from the stables and brought over to their owners, each saddled with enough provisions to last their riders over a week on the road.
Edmun and Calum openly glared at him throughout the farewells, refusing to address him or the girls when it came their turn to speak their parting words. This didn’t go unnoticed by their father, who in Alistar’s eyes had been acting rather strange. His eyes wandered in a way that spoke of an urgent desire to leave, his gaze forcefully dismissive whenever it happened to drift towards Alistar.
Antoine noticed this as well, surprising both of them by approaching Alistar and kneeling down to look him in the eye with a perceptive glance. “You seem to get along quite well with Johan.” Maintaining a stare amidst everyone’s attention, the duke let out a rare chuckle that didn’t seem disingenuous. “I shouldn’t be surprised, considering you might be brothers.”
One of Daniel’s eyebrows twitched as he turned his head away in disapproval. At the same time, Caedmon corrected a momentary frown that had fought its way onto his face.
Alistar wore a polite smile. “He’s a good person, Your Excellency.”
“I feel that I should have paid a bit more attention to you during this visit, so I’d like to give you a parting gift to make up for it.” Antoine fished a small leather bag out from an inner pocket of his cloak, handing it over. In a lower voice, he said, “It must be inconvenient to practice swordsmanship with so many limiters on your fingers. At least, that’s how it was for me at fourteen. Open the bag once you’re alone.”
“I—thank you, Your Excellency. I will cherish this gift with pride.”