Dedicated to @OctoberAsters.

"I mean, it's just a name, Aaron! You'd think I asked her to split open her belly and spill her guts with how she reacted!"

"Mm-hm."

"It's not like it is even hard to pronounce, really. It's just two syllables; Kie-ran. Tell me, is that hard, Aaron?"

"Nay."

"Exactly! Do you know how much effort and time it takes to say General? It's three syllables. One syllable longer than Kieran. By the time she finishes saying Ge-ne-ral, she would have already said, Kie-ran."

"You probably shouldn't try to get her to say Ham-me-da-tha, then."

Kieran paused his incessant pacing around the sitting room floor and looked at his brother, who was sitting cross-legged in the sofa, styling his hair while a maid held a mirror for him.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Yours. Always," Aaron replied. His fingers were in his hair, trying to fix a half-bun.

He turned his head to the left, then to the right, checking if the bun was even on either side. But there wasn't enough light, and it didn't help that his hair was black as the night outside. "I just don't understand why you're bleating now. It didn't bother you before."

"Because I just realised it," Kieran said, then ran a hand down his face. "And now that I have, I won't stop thinking about it."

Aaron frowned at his reflection and let his hair fall. He looked up at the maid and smiled, and instantly, she saw his ivory skin glow.

"Could you help me with my hair, Eliza?"

The young woman was flustered for a moment. Crimson painted her cheeks, and it wasn't because of the light from the candle chandelier.

"Of course, sir," she said softly and placed the mirror on the table, before gliding behind his sofa.

She smiled to herself when she felt his soft and smooth tresses between her fingers. She felt honoured.

"I think you should not pressure her too much," Aaron said, laying an arm over the armrest of the chair, and watching his brother.

"Well, she's not making it any easier," said Kieran. "Kieran is the simplest name I've ever heard. Who can't say it? Kieran."

"Kieran." Aaron nodded, tasting the name.

Just then, the rest of his siblings walked into the room in a file.

"Tsup, Kieran!" Ray greeted, bumping forearms with him as he passed.

"Good evening, Kieran." Joshua also bumped forearms with him as he passed.

"Hey, Kieran!" Aira opted to tap the tip of his nose with her finger before she went to try and squeeze herself between Ray and Joshua on the settee.

This resulted in an exchange of high paced hand and arm slaps between her and Ray. Joshua grabbed her by the waist, pulling her over his laps and settling her at the end of the setee, so he was in between.

"See?" Kieran said to Aaron, proving his point. "It's easy!"

Aaron glanced at the settee, where Ray and Aira were constantly making faces at each other while Joshua sat with his arms crossed, his legs spread to keep them away from each other.

"Because we've known you all our lives," said Aaron. "We've got a stronger bond than you and Elena currently have."

Kieran sighed.
"So it's true," he said, somewhat dejectedly. "She just doesn't feel like...we're close."

He ran his fingers through his hair, and Aaron got to thinking.

*****      *****      *****      *****

The next afternoon, Elena was with Patrick at his shop. They were crafting this time; jewellery out of all kinds of shells and shark teeth he had brought back from the coast of Teriden sea.

He had been careful to wear long sleeves to hide the bruise on his arm; otherwise Elena would've fussed a great deal and prodded him until she found out what had happened.

After the previous day, he needed a break from anything Hammedatha related; from the scary General to his meddling yet fierce siblings.

He didn't know when the General would show up again, so he'd opted for Elena and himself to work from his shop instead of Rivera Manor.

As for his siblings, well, he hoped there were no more coming for him. Elena did mention Kieran had four, and he had met three, so...

The clam slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the floor, just as an ominous feeling crawled into his stomach.

There was still another one he hadn't met.

Patrick gulped, and Elena's chiding for him to be careful as she picked up the clam was muffled in his ears, her voice seemingly far away.

He was thinking of the...the fourth one.

What would he be like? By stars, if he too showed up at his door with yet another proposal-

The bead curtain rattled, indicating a visitor.

He jumped, his hand brushing the clam Elena had just picked up, causing it to fall to the floor along with some other shells.

She huffed a breath, frowning.

"Pat!" she whined, crouching to pick up the shells.

And then, he approached. It wasn't someone unfamiliar, or someone who resembled them, but the General himself.
And his brother, Joshua, followed right behind him.

His brother Joshua, who'd made it explicitly clear he wanted him to disappear. To get lost.

"Stop doing whatever project you're doing with my brother's betrothed, and go it alone," he had said. "You're making him upset, and I don't like it."

It was clear to Patrick that Kieran's brother worried about his wellbeing and state of mind, eventhough his solutions to the current problems were...a bit dark.

He had let Ray pull out his dagger once Patrick had declined his 'request', and only put it away when Patrick explained that that he was under the Prince's instructions.

Neither the General nor his brother were smiling at him.

And that is when Elena decided to rise up from under the table. The top of her head met Patrick's frozen hand as she rose, and stopped halfway when she saw who the customers were.

The artist could feel the fiery aura Kieran emitted as his eyes pierced the hand unintentionally brushing Elena's hair.

Patrick jerked his hand away immediately, and Elena finally rose upright to her full height, settling the shells on the table.

"Good afternoon, Captain. General," she greeted with a bow, then looked between the brothers curiously. "What are you both doing here?"

Kieran was still glaring at Patrick, his face set in a scowl; so Joshua had to speak up.

"We were placing an order to our Guard's blacksmith when Kieran saw Caparo's sign and thought to say hello."

"Oh," Elena said, and looked at Kieran. To her, it didn't seem like he was pleased to see Patrick, and she wondered why.

"I see you're still on the project, lady Elena," Joshua addressed her, but his eyes were on Patrick, and they were threatening. Just like Kieran's.

The feeling of them both scrutinising him at once was the same as an ant's watching a large boot inches away from squashing it.

"Well, yes. We still have five days, after all," Elena responded with a smile.

"What's left?" Kieran spoke for the first time.

"Hm?"

"What else is left for you to do?" Kieran clarified. "You never know when you might finish early." He shot his gaze back to Patrick at the emphasis of 'early', causing the latter to shudder.

Joshua crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes. Or when something comes up that causes one of you to leave the project."

He directed his glare at Patrick, who gulped. The tension among the three of them nearly suffocated him.

Elena laughed lightly. "I do not think that is going to happen, but..." she said, and wore a thoughtful expression. "I still want to learn more about charcoal drawings and toning them, and Pat has to make a landscape sketch for a bigger painting. The artworks in the books I have seen so far have not been much help."

"Oh, really?" Kieran asked, ambling closer to the table and looking at the different shells. "Patrick not teaching you well enough?" He picked up a small shell.

"I think my hands have taught her quite suitably, General. You just weren't around to see it."

Kieran flicked his wrist upwards, and Patrick saw the shell shoot towards him and lodge so deep in his nostril, it was well on it's way to meeting his brain. The force of the impact made him toss his head back, and he winced in pain.

When he lowered his chin, he saw that Kieran was still holding up the shell, cooly rolling it between his fingers.

What?

Patrick's heart pounded fast against his chest when he realised it hadn't actually happened, but it was Kieran's intentions that had been made alarmingly clear.

His grey eyes met those calm yet intense cyan ones, and he knew the man was more dangerous than he appeared.

Kieran slowly placed the shell back on the table, the slightest sound emanating from the contact. His eyes were on the table as he said, "Come to Hammedatha Manor."

"What?" Elena was surprised.

"What?" And so was Joshua.

Patrick was surprised, but he clamped his mouth shut, refusing whatever demon that had possessed him to speak rubbish earlier to come back out.

"We have an impressive library. I'm sure you'll be able to find a book that will help you out," Kieran told Elena, then said to Patrick, "and you can feel honoured to have our gardens as your object for the landscape painting."

Joshua thought it a terrible idea. Having the three of them in the same place rose tensions, and Kieran was bound to do something crazy if Patrick continued to follow through with Lukas' plan.

Patrick understood Kieran's intentions. He understood that the General wanted to keep an eye on him and Elena, and make sure he did keep his hands to himself; and not say unnecessary things like earlier.

Except Patrick had agreed to do the exact opposite. Going to Hammedatha Manor would mean the ultimate success of Prince Lukas' plan - and his consequent demise.

"That's a wonderful idea!" Elena cheered and turned to Patrick. "I've been to the Manor, and the gardens are absolutely beautiful. You will love to paint them!"

"What do you think?" Kieran asked the artist, although his tone suggested he wasn't in the mood for opinions. "Have lunch with me and my siblings tomorrow, then do your project."

Patrick felt nauseous. Him and his siblings; who were clearly on opposite sides with each other.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joshua glowering at him, as if daring him to say yes. And Kieran...he was glaring at him as well; daring him to say no.

Patrick shut his eyes, feeling a little light headed from the pressure.

On one side, there was the Prince and Aira, to whom he'd agreed to assist in the plan because of his allegiance to the Crown. On the other side, there was Joshua and Ray who would probably try to throw him out of the manor the next day, if he showed up.

Bloody abyss, he hadn't even met the last sibling! Whose side was...whose side was the fourth one on?

And in the middle of it all was Elena - sweet unsuspecting Elena - and her betrothed, General Kieran.

And without a doubt, General Kieran was the most frightening of the entire lot.

"I accept your invitation, General," he spoke at last.

"Well, at least the Crown Prince won't be around tomorrow," he thought.

***** ***** *****

Crown Prince Lukas Forsyth arrived at Hammedatha Manor at just the right time the next day.

He was completely over the moon after receiving Aira's very informative letter that morning, and didn't waste any time in preparing to join her and her siblings for lunch.

He strode through the back cloister from the Central wing to the Eastern, his dimples' depth emphasized by the permanent grin etched on his face.

Beside him shuffled Enoch, panting as he tried to keep up with the overly energetic Prince.

From a distance, Luke saw two figures standing by one of the pillars that made up the cloister, and the smaller one raised her arm and waved it frantically at him. He sped up, and within seconds, he had reached where they stood.

"I take it the two of them arrived already?" Luke inquired.

Aira beamed. "Indeed. Kieran's taken them to the library."

Luke's grin only widened, and Enoch finally reached the three of them. He bent, supporting his weight by placing his hands on his knees, and gasped for air.

"How is it possible for someone so vertically challenged to have such quick strides?" he whispered to himself.

Luke rubbed his palms together in glee, his teeth biting at his bottom lip. Mischief flickered in his pale blue eyes as he asked, "So shall we prepare to witness a show today?"

The same mischief gleamed in Aira's eyes as she snapped her fingers once towards him and winked. "Let's."

Aaron crossed his arms and leaned against the pillar, watching the two with amusement as they chuckled wickedly. They were quite the scheming duo indeed.

"That's my thing, though," Luke said to Aira, who frowned.

"What thing?" she asked.

"This." He snapped his fingers once towards her. "So don't steal it, little girl."

She rolled her eyes. "Wasn't planning on it, pint-size."

"Yet you just used it, didn't you!"

"Yea, cause I felt like it!"

"You're a gremlin," he taunted.

"Your entire self is the size of a bean!"

"Your entire self is equivalent to a chopping board!" Luke shot back. "Flat and shapeless!"

Aira gasped, and she pursed her lips, her chubby cheeks flushing tomato red with anger.

Luke smirked. "What's wrong?" he mocked. "Is the little girl upset about being little girl?"

Aira clenched her fists. "I. Am. Fifteen!" she gritted out.

Luke scoffed. "Not exactly an achievement."

"I don't see you achieving great heights either," Aira retorted, now smirking. "In fact, you haven't achieved any heights since you were like, what? Twelve?"

Luke glared hotly at her while Enoch stifled a laugh.

Aaron face-palmed. Their abusive banter went on, and he thought they might make a great team...if they didn't fight so much.

Author's chatter:

G'day to y'all!

Twas fun writing this one, though it was shorter than my usual 🤭 hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Don't forget to vote!

And hydrate.

*snaps fingers towards y'all* See you in the next update.

I'm thinking about giving my chapters actual titles. What do you think?