"Do you still miss him?" Chenzhou asked later, when they were waiting with Eric for Francis and Brigitta to say goodbye to the last of their guests.
"Who? Philip?"
When he nodded, Eirian paused and thought on it and realized that she hadn't actually thought about him much in the last few weeks. When she'd first arrived at the Camelia, every other thought had been about him, still enraged by the betrayal, but she'd…kind of forgotten him with everything that had happened.
A year ago, she'd never have thought that was possible.
"I guess not." She admitted, surprised. "I was so angry at first…it seemed like the worst pain I'd ever experienced."
Chenzhou looked surprised.
"Not physically," she rushed to explain. "In my heart." She felt foolish admitting that, but Chenzhou wasn't the type to make fun of someone, so she felt safe admitting it. "I think it was the first time I'd ever been hurt that way."
None of her relationships before Philip had ever been as serious, and while she'd enjoyed them, she hadn't felt much when they'd ended.
Loosing philip had been curshing in a way she hadn't been expecting, hadn't liked, and had, if she was brutually honest with herself, been terribly embarassing above all else.
And then she looked at Chenzhou, who was peering around her childhood home curiously, and who'd done his best to go against everything she'd seen of his character and be an asshole when she told him to, and she felt a little foolish, caring so much about loosing someone like Philip.
"That's understandable." Chenzhou agreed. "And it's easy to see why he chose Lady Partha."
Eirian and Eric turned to him in surprise. "Oh?"
Chenzhou glanced between them. "You really didn't notice?"
"Notice what?" Eirian demanded. Just because she was mature enough to realize Philip was a waste of energy, didn't mean she didn't want to know.
A small smile crept across Chenzhou's face. "She looks like you."
"What? She does not?" Eirian denied.
"She has blond hair, green eyes, and fair skin." Chenzhou pointed out and Eric suddenly looked thoughtful. "She's a duller version of you. In appearance, anyway."
"Huh." Eric crossed his arms and looked at Eirian. "I can't believe I didn't notice that before."
"She looks nothing like me," Eirian growled and then ignored the look Eric and Chenzhou shared. "Why would he choose someone that looks just like me if he didn't want me in the first place?"
"Because he's a fool." Eric said.
At the same time, Chenzhou said. "Because he's a coward." They both looked at him. "He couldn't handle you, so he found a lesser version."
Eirian gaped at him and her father and Brigitta chose that moment to return, interupting any chance she had to demand a more lengthy explanation.
Her father was dressed in his best and Eirian had to squint as she looked at him. "For rock's sake, could you have worn something less blinding?"
"One dresses as appropriate for their station." Francis sniffed, but he and Brigitta remained by the door. Refusing to come closer.
"All the guests have left. If you wished to spend the night, you should have let us know sooner, so we could have the rooms ready for you. Your grace." Brigitta waved a servant off to ready the rooms before waiting for their response.
"We're not staying." Eirian snapped and the servant slowed, clearly trying to move slowly enough to hear what was coming.
"Then I fail to understand why you haven't left yet." Francis snapped in return.
"Careful, Uncle." Eric warned. Francis still hadn't paid his respects to his new king and the reminder clearly urked him.
"My apologies, your grace." Francis ground out. "I went through the trouble of throwing his party to celebrate you and you were late."
"We could hardly show up on time when we never received an invitation." Chenzhou pointed out, still following Eirian's instructions to be an asshole.
Francis balked. "Well, that's clearly an issue for the messengers. They were sent in a timely manner."
Eirian, Eric, and Chenzhou stared at him, but he didn't back down and Eirian mourned that kind of gall in a man who'd never pick up a sword.
"I'm sure." Eric rolled his eyes. "That is not what I wish to discuss."
Francis straightened, like a animal scenting danger but unsure of where it was coming from.
"I wish to discuss the child."
Brigitta and Francis shared a shadowed look. "Eirian agreed-"
"I'm aware." Eric interupted as Eirian sqwaked in outrage and Chenzhou looked at the floor. "Have you named it yet?"
"No, your grace." Brigitta made herself smile. "He's not yet old enough by tradition."
"And yet you've had him placed in line for the throne." Eric pointed out.
Brigitta fidgeted nervously, not quite as capable at bluffing as her husband.
"His name will be Brendan. After the first Soliel king." Eric decided and Eirian and Chenzhou glanced at him in surprise. It was the first they were hearing of it too.
Francis' lips pursed but after a moment his face relaxed. "That is a fortuitous choice. I see no issue with it."
Eric raised an eyebrow. "How wonderful." Francis frowned at the mocking tone. "I will have my own children eventually." Francis's frown deepened. "But Eirian stil has no interest in children of her own. If Brendan is going to be the heir the Camelia and the Crimson Army, he should be raised there. Don't you think, Uncle?"
Eirian had a brief flash of vicious satisifaction at the stunned look on her father's face. All his planning and he'd never considered this.
To be fair, until Chenzhou had suggested it, Eirian hadn't either.
Brigitta looked just as surprised. "But I don't want to live at the Camelia. There's nothing to do there! And all of the ton is here!"
"You're not coming." Eirian explained and tried not to sound so terribly smug about it. "If Brenden is to be my heir, I will raise him."
~ tbc