I didn't leave a not on the first chapter, but this is obviously the fourth installment of this series and will also be the last. I hope you all enjoy it!


When Attia returned to her office, it was clear of people though Kyra's messy drawing table was still pushed up against the wall. Attia took the time to put her documents in order and to look through any work she had she'd not yet completed. As she filed things away, she heard a knock on her office door, and she called out for whoever it was to come in. Looking up, she found a young woman dressed in a nice women's pant suit step into the office and shut the door behind her. Her hair was blonde and naturally wavy, though it was in deliberate curls that day. Her eyes were blue and intensified with her lightly applied makeup.

"Victoria," Attia commented without much attention paid to the woman who continued to cross the room. Lady Victoria was the daughter of a man who'd served on Finn's Council some years ago, and she'd been a close friend of all the royal children by virtue of sheer proximity to them. Eventually, she'd caught the eye of Prince John, the future King, and for their entire adult lives, they'd only been with each other.

"I know something interesting," Victoria said as she reached the desk and stood there as Attia continued to organize her papers.

"You're in a position to know lots of interesting things, I'm sure," Attia replied, though a smile of amusement crossed her lips. Victoria was and had always been rumored to be the next Queen, though Victoria had always admired Attia before Claudia. Victoria and Claudia did of course spend time together, but since Victoria had a place on the King's Council, she just spent more time with Attia.

"The King is keeping secrets from you," Victoria said and Attia stopped what she was doing to look up at the woman leaning over her desk.

"I caught him conspiring with Claudia and Mason this morning," Attia admitted and Victoria nodded, her face not appearing entertained but rather somewhat grim. "What is it about?"

"I'm not entirely sure. He was talking with Mason, and he seemed to already know who he was talking about but I've never met a Lady Morgan before," Victoria answered, then watched as Attia's face contorted in response to hearing that name. "Who is she?"

"Nobody," Attia answered simply as she cleared her throat and shook her head. "You shouldn't be eavesdropping on the King, you know."

"Oh, come on," Victoria replied as she dragged over a chair and sat down. "You can't just not tell me who she is. And you're in no position to tell me to not eavesdrop when you're the one who gets all the information from me."

"You don't eavesdrop that often," Attia replied with a roll of her eyes as she diverted her attention to her work once more. "And if you want my office when I retire, you'd better get out of here," she added as she casted a brief glance up at the woman. Victoria narrowed her eyes at Attia as she weighed the threat.

"Fine," Victoria agreed with a heavy sigh. "But there's a Council meeting tonight," she added as she rose to her feet. "Maybe he'll say what's going on with this Lady Morgan then."

"Not if he wants to survive the night, he won't," Attia assured her, peaking Victoria's interest in the mysterious courtier. Rather than ask for any more information, Victoria turned and left the room, unaware of what the rumor had done to Attia. She'd given up on finishing up organizing her desk and was instead staring blankly down at the desktop. Lady Morgan shouldn't have sent her mind reeling, and yet it had. The idea of Lady Morgan had even driven Attia's mind to the night before when she'd finally felt the passion with Keiro again, which in turn led to the nagging idea in her head that she and him weren't really good at all this long term commitment business.

Giving up on keeping her doubts at bay, Attia stood and started towards the door of her office. Just as she started down the hallway, however, a messenger approached her and handed off a folded up page. She unfolded it and read that the King had summoned her to his office, inspiring a nagging feeling of dread in her chest as she continued towards Finn's office. When she stepped into the room, she froze as she stared across the room at the back of a woman she could identify without even seeing her face.

Lady Morgan's hair was as dark as it had been years ago, and still fell in the loose curls that fell around her shoulders and face. Her waist was still thin and emphasized by her corset, her skirt long and brushing the ground as she swayed and turned to the doorway to meet Attia's gaze. Keiro was standing on the other side of the room from Morgan, but Attia had only looked in his direction once. Finn stood behind his desk in the center of the room, but when Attia turned to him, she noticed two others standing in the room in the far corner.

The younger of the two was perhaps just a little older than the royal children, his hair short and blonde, his eyes bright blue. His gaze shifted uncertainly from Attia to the older man beside him, who was about the same age as Finn, Keiro, Attia, and Morgan. Attia drew in a deep breath as she turned her gaze back to Finn and stared at him, well aware Lady Morgan had been what Finn, Claudia, and Mason had been debating about earlier that morning.

"What is she doing here?" Attia asked finally.

"I have every right to come to Court when I please," Morgan replied and Attia resisted the urge to look in her direction. "I am of noble blood, if you've forgotten."

"I think you're confusing me with Keiro," Attia answered simply, doing her best not to look at either Morgan or Keiro. Suddenly, with Morgan in the room, all the passionless nights between her and Keiro were intensified like Morgan had come to Court specifically to throw them in Attia's face.

"We have a bit of an… indiscretion," Finn said, choosing his words carefully.

"My son has come to meet his father," Morgan explained in full as she stepped towards Finn's desk, forcing Attia's gaze to her. The two women only stared at each other, neither daring to say anything or look away. Attia could hear Keiro's steps crossing the room towards her, but when she felt his hand on her waist, she swatted his hand away then turned her eyes to him, the realization of Morgan's trip finally falling on her entirely.

She took in Keiro's blue eyes, and conjured up a memory of the color his hair had been in his youth before she turned and peered across the room at the young man standing in the corner. His blonde hair that matched Keiro's. His blue eyes that matched Keiro's. Even his shoulders were built like Keiro's. He was the spitting image of Keiro, so very unlike Finn and Kyra who had Attia's dark hair.

"Attia," Keiro called as he tried to put his hand on her shoulder but she shrugged his hand away from her and stepped away from him. She said nothing as she turned and left the office, pulling the door shut behind her. She walked down the hallway briskly, never stopping for anything, not paying attention to which corners she turned and which ones she passed by. She just kept walking until she realized she'd ended up outside on the side of Court where the Knights trained. Without a second thought, Attia continued towards the practice arenas, and hoped over the fences to reach the center of the training facility quicker. The sparring Knights and Guards stopped their attacks on each other to let her pass so as not to harm her, then picked up again when she'd passed them.

As she reached the center of the facility, she could make out Mason's figure standing beside Finn's, the pair of them going over battle plans and practice tactics. When Mason looked up and saw Attia, however, he turned to Finn and said something that convinced Finn to walk away before he noticed his mother approaching the pair. By the time Attia got to him, Finn was in one of the arenas and speaking to some of the other men.

"Attia, I-" Mason started, but stopped when Attia shoved him in the chest as hard as she could. She was a small woman, and Mason was actually quite larger—larger than Keiro—but sheer unpreparedness on his part was enough to for her to make him stumble back over his feet.

"I don't want to hear it from you!" she yelled at him, feeling every bit as betrayed by him as by Keiro and Finn and Claudia and anyone else who might've known. When Mason got his footing again, he casted a glance around at their surroundings to see she'd caught the attention of more than a few of the men nearby, Finn included. Mason boldly put his hand on the small of her back to lead her into the nearest tent, though he knew the flaps of the tent would do nothing to conceal her words.

"I said to tell you and I was out voted," he said quickly as he watched her. He motioned to one of the chairs in the tent for her to sit, but she opted to pace back and forth along the length of the tent. "And what was I going to say to you if I told you myself? 'Oh, by the way Morgan showed up this morning unannounced and declared Keiro was-'" Mason stopped when Attia's eyes shifted him. They were hard, cold, and narrowed, but he had a feeling most of her anger wasn't really for him. "Did you talk to him?"

"Did I talk to him?" she repeated, the words coming out in a breath as she looked away from Mason. "Don't be stupid, Mason. You've been around Keiro and I for years and you can see it as well as I can."

Mason averted his eyes from her, feeling unprepared for the conversation Attia seemed bent on having. Of course he'd noticed that Keiro and Attia had changed in the way they regarded each other. They might've been talented at hiding that from Finn, Claudia, and Anne, but Mason was around them too often for that. He spent every vacation with them since Attia went to see her father, Vivian her mother, which was always landed them all together in Primstone. Even Ronan had noticed the fading affection between Attia and Keiro, but Mason was certainly bright enough not to mention that to Attia just at that moment.

"Well, I mean, I don't think it's entirely fair to blame him," Mason said honestly and Attia's glare came right back around to land on him squarely. "He didn't know, Attia. She kept it all a secret."

"He slept with her," Attia shot back. "Several times. You do remember what it was like to have that whore running around Court picking out her fucking wedding dress."

"She wasn't-" Mason started but stopped when Attia took one step in his direction, her intentions clear in what she wanted to hear and not hear.

"She liked the idea of being High Duchess regardless of what you say. And now she dragged her bastard child to Court with her?"

"She brought her husband," Mason put in and Attia assumed Mason meant the older man who'd stood next to the younger version of Keiro. She hadn't even gotten the kid's name before running from the room.

"I bet he thinks this is the best vacation ever," Attia snapped sarcastically as she finally plopped down on the chair in the center of the tent. She forced in a breath so deep she felt her lungs expand, then let it out in a matter of seconds.

"I honestly don't think this has to put any kind of pressure on you and Keiro," Mason said gently and Attia slowly raised her gaze to him. She stared at him, the thoughts that'd been plaguing her returning in full force. Seeing Morgan right there in front of her only brought her straight back to when Morgan had been in their lives so long ago. When Keiro had declared he'd liked Morgan because she needed him. Attia certainly didn't need Keiro, that hadn't changed very much over the years. And Keiro hadn't been entirely wrong whenever he made some snide comment about Attia and Mason. Now it all combined and haunted her mind, the idea that Keiro would've been better suited to Morgan and that she'd have been happier with Mason.

"Hasn't it already?" she questioned.

"Well, you didn't talk to him about it, so how would you know?"

"I don't want to talk to him. I don't even want to look at him. And if I so much as hear her giggling I might have to kill her, Mason."

Mason sighed as he stepped towards Attia and knelt down in front of her. He could tell plainly from her tone of voice that at least part of her believed in her words. He put a hand on her shoulder and her eyes shifted to meet his. "Just take a breath, Attia. Casper has kids from other women."

"Do I look like Anne to you?" Attia snapped as she shoved his hand off of her shoulder and stood up abruptly. "Anne fucking loves those bastard kids and all their mothers hate her for it. She loves everyone! She's practically best friends with Vivian and now the pair of them gets to catch up with the most annoying woman in the whole world! Congratulations, by the way, Mason. You're no longer married to the worst woman at Court."

"Are you mad at Vivian now, for some reason?" he questioned as he rose an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't entirely fight the smile on her lips. He laughed as he continued watching her, well aware he'd gotten through to her even if she refused to admit it. "Why don't you go have lunch with Anne or something, and then after you've had a drink or two, go see Keiro."

"I don't want to see Keiro," she answered, but Mason only shrugged his shoulders as he stepped towards her and started leading her towards the exit of the tent.

"You can't avoid it forever, you know."

"I can kick him out of my room."

"Those rooms belong to him," Mason pointed out.

"How much would you be willing to bet on that?" she challenged and Mason only rolled his eyes and motioned back to Court with his arm.

"Go, and behave yourself."

"No promises."