"Ah, Aidan. I would like you to meet Alexander Damiquez, the Marques of Summerfield. He is an old friend of your father and I." His mother motioned gracefully to a man who was seated in the corner of the study. He stood at the introduction, and walked over to stand behind Eleanor Airianne.
"How do you do? Aidan Airianne." Aidan stood and reached across the table to shake the stranger's hand. He looked curiously at Damiquez. The man had dark red hair tied back with a black ribbon, as was fashionable. He had a strong face, and extraordinary bright blue eyes, which keen intelligence shone through.
Aidan shuddered slightly. The man unnerved him. He had a grace about him that was like a cat. A predator, Aidan thought in wonderment.
"Very good, thank you. Pleased to make your acquaintance." The man had impeccable manners, Aidan thought.
Alexander smiled to himself. Here's a keen one, he thought to himself. The boy had an air about him, an undescribable air. He shone of power. Extraordinary power, in fact. More power than he had ever seen in all his years. He smiled again. Oh yes, the boy did have potential.
"Mother, is father expected?" Aidan sat back down and looked to his mother.
Eleanor cringed. Aidan didn't really need an answer to that question. Ethan Airianne never really put in an appearance at anytime.
Aidan watched his mother, and then slanted a sideways look to Honour. She shrugged and raised her tea cup to her lips. Only six years old, she still wore her black hair in two scraggly braids on either side of her face.
She tended to stare intently, which made most people more than a little anxious. He was used to it, and seemed to get amusement out of watching people squirm.
"Yes, is Ethan expected to join us?" Alexander turned his eyes to Eleanor. He too, already knew the answer.
Ethan Airianne was notorious for having nothing to do with his family. He whored and drank, and basically cheated everyone in sight. The family was still incredibly wealthy though, due to Eleanor's and Ethan's combined inheritances. Most people, however, did not know that only Eleanor was legally able to touch any of the money, and only give her husband an allowance each month.
Their parents had decided on that detail when the marriage was arranged. They both had agreed that Eleanor was the only one with a head for business, and so, she would make sure the wealth stayed in the family where it belonged.
Amazingly enough, Eleanor was pregnant yet again. Very pregnant in fact. The babe was due any day.
"No, he had business to attend to." Eleanor fidgeted with the skirt of her velvet gown, and willed her hands to stop. She looked up to her children with a bright smile. "What have the both of you been doing today?"
*******************************************************
Honour placed the cup of tea in front of her doll.
"I'm very pleased you could come today, Lady Shari." She said as she sipped at her own tea.
"I am very happy that you have invited me to your tea time, Lady Honour." Aidan sat uncomfortably beside Honour in one of the tiny white chairs that where made specially for one of Honour's beloved tea parties.
"You're very welcome, Your Grace." Honour said naming one of Aidan's formal titles. He had received the title, the Duke of Halys, when Eleanor's father had died. He would have full control of the Halys manors, and the entire Halys empire when he reached the age of twenty one, six more years. At the moment, his mother controlled both.
"And Lady Honour, you are looking very pretty today." He took in her new pink satin dress that she had insisted on wearing.
"Thank you, Lord Aidan. Would you care for some more tea?" She held out the dainty tea pot invitingly.
"Yes, please. I would be much obliged." His hand dwarfed the tiny cup that he held out to her.
Langley, the family's butler, coughed discreetly from the open door, capturing the sibling's attention. Well, the older sibling, at least.
"Your Grace, Lady Eleanor wishes a word with you. She is waiting in the library."
Aidan glanced over at Honour, who seemed not to have heard a word Langley had just said.
"I'm sorry my dear, but I'm afraid I must cut our tea short today. Lady Shari, Duke Bear, my apologies." He addressed all the occupants.
Honour gave an elegant little wave of her hand. Aidan's lips quirked as he recognized it as one of his mother's habits. "Not a problem, Lord Aidan. I'm sure Langley would love to have tea instead."
Aidan grinned widely as he walked out the door. He looked back briefly to see Langley sitting and accepting a cup. The whole staff had had tea with Honour and her friend's at one time or another. They just couldn't resist her sweet little demands.
"Mother? You wished to see me?" He walked into the library.
"Yes, yes, be seated." She motioned to the lone chair on the other side of her desk.
As soon as he was seated, she started in on what she had wanted to say. "I am considering sending Honour to school in the south of France. I would like your input in this."
"Honour? But, she's so young, and what's wrong with her tutor? I thought he was a very good one." Aidan jumped to his feet, and slammed both hands down on the edge of the large desk.
"I feel she would benefit more greatly being around children of the same age, and gender. You're virtually her only playmate here, and you're a fifteen year-old male!" Eleanor sat and folded her hands in her lap. Aidan absentmindedly pulled the ribbon out of his hair, and ran his fingers through it.
"I do see your point. But I do not believe that Honour will be very happy being seperated from her family at such a young age for vast amounts of time. I think she'd be extremely homesick."
"I realize this, so she will be sent there for six months time, and if she hates it terribly, she may come home, and be schooled here. And of course she shall come home for holidays, and the such. Just think of all the friends she shall make!" Eleanor leaned back in her chair and looked very pleased at the thought.
"I suppose you're right, but I still don't like it. Who shall tell her the news?"
"I shall. I am sure she will be extremely excited by the opportunity." Aidan grimaced at this and rubbed his temples.
"YOU'RE SENDING ME AWAY! DON'T YOU LOVE ME?!" Oh dear, Eleanor thought to herself. She's not taking this well at all.
"That's not it at all, dearest, I love you very much. I just believe that you would be happier with girls your own age. You won't be leaving until after the baby has come."
"I DON'T CARE! I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!" With that Honour threw open the door and ran up the stairs to the third floor.
"That went... well." Aidan said wryly from the doorway. He had seen Honour's flight from the room, and had come to check to see Eleanor who was still sitting on the dresser chair in Honour's room.
"Oh, do go away Aidan." Eleanor stood up and glared at him.
*******************************************************
"Honour?" Aidan knocked on her door.
"Leave me!" Was the tearful response he got. He grimaced.
"No. May I come in?" He turned the handle. Useless. She had locked the door from the inside.
"Unlock the door, Honour."
"No. Just leave me alone. I don't care to talk to you right now."
Aidan sighed and leaned his back against the door sliding down until he was sitting on the hardwood floor of the hallway outside her room.
"It's no use protesting. She's going the send you anyways."
"Did I ask for an opinion?" She growled before sobbing once again.
"No, but who am I to listen? It's against my nature."
"GO AWAY AIDAN!"
"No. Let me in." He heard stomping, and jumped up just as she opened the door to him. He took in Honour's puffy red eyes, and wrinkled blue silk dress. Her black hair had been torn from it's pigtails. There was only one thing he could do at the sight of her. She ran into his open arms and hugged his waist as she began sobbing once again.
*******************************************************
Aidan watched his younger sister. She looked so much older than her six years as she stood at the steps of the carriage. He sighed.
"Goodbye, my dear. Although, I still do not see why you are leaving now instead of waiting for the baby." Eleanor walked to the carriage and attempted to give her daughter a hug. Aidan could see the pain evident in his mother's eyes as Honour coldly extracted herself from the hug.
"I shall be home with the carriage within a week or two. We will stop at Halys Manor on the way, so I will send home a full report on it as soon as we arrive." Aidan tipped his hat to his mother, and gestured for a servant to open the carriage door for Honour.
As they stepped inside, Aidan noticed Honour looking wistfully at the house she was to leave behind.
"It's still not too late, Honour. You can still get out and stay for almost another month." Aidan watched Honour carefully as she sat on the seat across from him.
"I have no wish to stay, Aidan." She looked out the carriage window to the fields across from the house.
