Attia promised Kyra that she would do everything in her power to fix her wedding. Despite the fact that it was in five days, Attia assured Kyra that she would have her dream wedding. Getting it all to happen, however, was more difficult that Attia had thought. For one, it required that she and Keiro stop arguing long enough to actually get things done for their daughter. That happened to work in Keiro's favor because it kept Attia too busy to make the realization Keiro and Finn had made about Lucas and the High Duke title. Attia also had to find time between all of Finn's negotiations with King Logan to get all the plans finalized. Getting, Finn, Claudia, Anne, and Casper to agree to her new plan was easy. Getting Charlotte, Chase, John, Victoria, and little Finn in the loop without Kyra and Chris finding out proved to be more difficult. Attia, ever determined to get what she wanted, eventually found a way to get all the important people in her plan.
At her desk, she was pretending to work, though she was just avoiding another Council meeting. She'd already finished all that needed to be done for Kyra's wedding, so when she heard a knock at her door, she assumed it meant somebody had some problem they expected her to fix. When Ronan walked into her office, however, her face softened as she stood up. He shut the door behind him and started towards her. He was old by then, his hair fully drained of color, his movements slower than they'd been in his middle aged years.
"You got here fast," Attia told him as she let him embrace her and press a kiss to her forehead.
"Mason sent some fast riders for us," Ronan answered as Attia pulled over a chair for him.
"I'll have your room made up for you," she told him, but before she could walk away, he reached out to grab her arm.
"Don't. I already saw Keiro and he had someone do it already," Ronan told her. Attia nodded as she moved the other chair to face him and sat down.
"You talked to Keiro?" she asked, her eyebrow raising slightly as she watched her father.
"I assume that means the two of you aren't doing as well as I'd hoped."
"What does that mean?"
"Court rumors travel farther than Court," he remarked and Attia sighed as she nodded at his comment. "So it's true then? The latest tale?"
"About Morgan?" Attia sneered as she met her father's gaze. "Unfortunately, yes, she has shown up at Court with her bastard child and naming Keiro as the father."
"Why does that upset you so much?" Ronan asked as he leaned forward to put his hand over Attia's. "If it wasn't Morgan, you wouldn't even care. You probably wouldn't even question the claim that he's the father. From what I remember during your time apart, he was quite a popular person."
"I don't know," Attia answered truthfully as she sighed. "I just hate Morgan so much. And I'm just trying to get Kyra's wedding in order, so I haven't really been all that concerned with Morgan lately."
"Kyra's wedding will be perfect," Ronan said with a smile. "Claire and I got her and Chris a wonderful gift, too. It's a beautiful set of glass plates and bowls that her father's wife gave to her when she first married. I think Kyra will really like them."
"Should've left them at Primstone," Attia laughed. "That's the only place she'd ever use them."
"Yes, well, I got them a little something else too," he said as he smiled at Attia.
"It's that stupid jewelry box you tried to give to me and Keiro a few years ago, is it?"
"No," Ronan laughed as he shook his head. "Claire gave that to Zoe and her husband. I brought something for you and Keiro, also, but it seems that if you're at odds with each other, you might end up killing one another with them."
"What is it?" Attia questioned as she narrowed her eyes. Ronan said nothing as he smiled at his daughter and pushed himself up to his feet.
"You'll just have to wait, I'm afraid," he told her as he turned and started towards the door. Before he turned entirely, he looked back to Attia once more. "And did I read your letter correctly about Kyra's wedding?"
"Yes," Attia answered with a laugh and a nod.
"Alright," he nodded back to her as he turned his gaze back to the door. "I was just making sure."
"I'll have Keiro come and get you when it's time," she promised. Ronan nodded before he left the room, leaving Attia to continue pretending to work. When she was sure the Council meeting for that day had ended, she left her office for her bedroom. On the edge of the bed sat a wooden box with a gold latch. Attia stared at it before she brushed it off her mind and went to the bathroom. She ran a shower and took her time, opting to make the most of her less-stressful-than-usual day. When she left the bathroom, she found Keiro had come into the room and dressed in his more comfortable nightwear. As he laid back across his side of the bed, he held the wooden box as he examined it closely.
"What is it?" he asked without looking up at her.
"You didn't open it?" she replied as she walked around the bed and to the closet. She left the door open as she dried off completely and started to secure the towel around her head to hold her wet hair up as she dressed. She gasped in surprise when she felt Keiro's hands on her sides when she stood up straight. She hadn't even heard him cross the room.
"Should I have?" he asked softly, his lips moving against her neck as he spoke the words.
"It's from my father," she told him as she tried to push his hands away. Keiro resisted and wrapped an arm entirely around her to pull her back against him completely. "Stop it, Keiro."
"Why?" he questioned as he turned his head to kiss her neck. His kisses moved up her neck and settled on her jaw line before he trailed them back down to the top of her shoulder. Attia wanted to fight with him, to stay away from him so long as Morgan plagued her, but as his kisses continued, she could feel her resolve starting to break.
He loosened his grip around her waist, but Attia made no move to leave his embrace. She could feel his other arm coming up between their bodies as he pulled on the strings of his shirt. When he pulled his arm away from her body entirely, she turned back to him and helped pull his shirt over his head before she dropped her towel to the floor. With her arms wrapped around his neck, she kissed him properly, her naked form pressed completely against him as his fingers fumbled with the fastening of his pants. They managed to make it back to the bed before Keiro lost all his patience, but Attia had always been good at slowing the moment whenever he got too excited for his own good.
After they finished and dressed again in their night clothes, Attia sat on the edge of the bed, Keiro laying right behind her. He kept an arm around her as his other arm propped his upper body up so that he could press slow kisses to her shoulders and neck. She made no attempts to stop his show of affection even if both were well aware they'd begin fighting again as soon as Kyra's wedding was over the next day. In her lap, she was holding the wooden box left by her father than neither had yet opened. When she finally did flip the lid open, she stared down into the box in surprise.
"What is it?" Keiro mumbled, his words obscured by her skin, since he refused to cease his kisses.
"Knives," she told him. Her answer spiked his interest since he pulled away from her skin to sit up properly. She turned to face him as she reached into the box to pull one of the two knives out by the handle. Keiro took out the other, and they inspected the fancy knives together. They were identical to each other, the bronze handles set with rubies and emeralds, the silver blades identical in length and sharp on one edge.
"They're engraved," Keiro finally commented as he twisted his knife to catch the light. Attia did the same, her body twisting so she could face the light source. She let out a dry laugh at her and Keiro's initials set in the blade of the knife.
"Our initials," Attia told him as she looked up at him then reached to take his knife. "Both of them."
Keiro only nodded at her as she set them back into the box then stood up from the bed to place the box on top of the nearest dresser. When she returned to the bed, Keiro had slide over enough to make room for her on her side of the bed. As she slipped under the covers, she moved closer to the center of the bed than she usually did, prompting Keiro to move back to her and to wrap his arm around her waist. He couldn't resist putting another kiss on her cheek, an action that put a smile across Attia's lips.
"It's not my fault, you know," Keiro told her finally. In all of their arguing brought on by Morgan's presence at Court, he'd never actually told her how he really felt about it all. He felt Attia's body stiffen in his arms, but she said nothing back, so he took that as a sign that she didn't want to argue on the eve of their daughter's wedding. That was also probably why she didn't fight him so much when he'd wanted to enjoy their bed.
"What isn't?" Attia finally asked after she swallowed. She turned her head upward but eventually rolled to her back so she could face him better. He remained on his side facing her, their bodies touching. His hand was on her stomach, his fingers moving back and forth slowly until she put her fingers between his and pressed their palms together. He didn't know why that gesture seemed to mean more to him than any amount of kisses or sexual favors she did him.
"Morgan," Keiro told her, feeling a surge of boldness go through him after she'd connected their hands. "I didn't know, and I never would've just... let her leave if I'd know that I had… that she was…"
"I know," Attia told him. She forced a smile, but it was weak and probably not as reassuring as she wanted it to be. She lifted her head up slightly, and Keiro met her lips with his.
"It's not like I wanted this to happen," he told her when she dropped back down to her pillow. She said nothing, but kept her eyes on him, so he continued. "And I miss you."
"It's hard, Keiro," she told him. "With her here, and with-"
"I know," he said before she could continue. He kissed her again to be sure, but the second kiss was deeper and longer than the first. She'd even reached up to thread her fingers through his hair as she kissed him back, realizing she did miss him too. When he pulled back from the kiss, she held his gaze and pecked him on the lips once more before she rolled back to her side.
"You should get a couple hours of sleep before we have to get up again," she told him simply. He seemed to agree since he said nothing else and was quickly asleep beside her. Waking him up a few hours later proved rather difficult. Since it was the middle of the night, she somewhat understood, but was still annoyed at the prospect anyway. She groaned as she pushed on his shoulder, but he simply rolled over, his sleep apparently undisturbed. With an eye roll, Attia pulled him back to his back and straddled his hips before she lowered herself down to press their lips together. She kept kissing him slowly until she felt his lips starting to respond to her. Her lips pulled up into a brief smile that was wiped away when he deepened the kiss and moved his arms to wrap around her body.
"You have to get up," she told him when she managed to pull away.
He groaned in dissatisfaction as he tried to continue kissing her. "Few more minutes," he mumbled as he rolled them over to lay above her his lips never leaving hers. She laughed into his mouth as she complied and returned his kisses.
"We have to get up for Kyra's wedding, Keiro," she finally told him as she pushed on his shoulders to lift him off of her frame.
"A wedding at three in the morning was your best idea?" he questioned and she laughed as she pushed him to the side and slipped out of bed.
"How many ideas did you have, then?" she replied as she went into their closet. She'd already left their formal wear easily accessible, so she quickly tossed Keiro's suit to the bed before she started dressing in her dress. When she emerged from the closet, Keiro had pulled on his pants and undershirt while she had the unzipped dress on her shoulders, her heels in one hand. She turned her back to Keiro and he paused to zip up her dress before he started buttoning his shirt while she slipped her heels on. He tossed his coat over his arm before he let her push around his hair until she was satisfied with the way it fell. Before she could step away from him, he pulled her back to him and forced a kiss on her lips, which she returned in full.
"Attia, are you ready?" Anne called as she knocked on the bedroom door and let herself in, pausing and turning her head when she saw Keiro and Attia.
Attia laughed as she stepped out of Keiro's embrace and started towards the door. "Yes, let's go. Are all the kids ready?"
"They're setting up the lights now," Anne answered as she met Attia's gaze, a faint blush across her embarrassed cheeks. "I didn't know you two were on such good terms now."
"Yeah, well, don't trust it," Attia told her simply. Keiro huffed at the response, but said nothing as he followed the two women down the hall. Anne remained in the hallway as Attia and Keiro went into Kyra's bedroom, where they weren't surprised at all to find Chris lying beside her, his arms around her form as she slept with her head on his chest. "Kyra," Attia called as she went around to Kyra's side of the bed while Keiro went to Chris'.
"Chris," Keiro called in a more forceful tone as he reached out to shake the young man's shoulder. Chris came to before Kyra and sat up in horror as he stared at Keiro, eyes wide.
"I-" he started, realizing what it mean for Keiro to see him blatantly in bed with his daughter. "It's not fair to kill me the night before my wedding, you know."
"That's pretty coherent for someone who was just asleep," Keiro replied sharply as he rolled his eyes and stepped away from the bed as he motioned for Chris to get out. Kyra was just waking up at the same time, since Chris' movements had disturbed her.
"Kyra, come on," Attia said. "You have to get married."
"What?" Kyra questioned as she opened her eyes and looked between her parents. "It's dark out. You're insane!"
"Put on your wedding gown, right now," Attia told her as she pushed back the covers of the bed and took Kyra's are. "We have a surprise for you. Chris, go with Keiro and get dressed."
Kyra and Chris stared at each other, both appearing far more inclined to go back to sleep rather than get out of bed and get dressed.
"You wanted a simple wedding in the courtyard without any of our guests there, right?" Attia questioned. "That's what you told me, and that's what I promised you."
"What?" Kyra replied, her question less of confusion and more of surprise.
"Well, guess what? Everybody is asleep at three in the morning except all of us, who got out of bed so we could give you your perfect wedding."
"Really?" Kyra questioned, suddenly more awake than before. When Anne appeared in the doorway, her makeup bag hanging from her wrist, Kyra's lips pulled into a beaming smile. She was at loss for words as she shifted her eyes up to Keiro, who just smiled down at her.
"Anne is going to do your hair and makeup," Attia told her, though Kyra already knew that. She tossed back the rest of her covers and quickly leapt out of bed to toss her arms around her mother. When she hugged Anne next, she saw Keiro and Chris were leaving the room, Chris smiling as happily as Kyra was.