She covered the mark before Marian returned to help her dress. Plastering a wet bandage over it and inadvertently most of her upper back.
Marian raised an eyebrow but didn't say.
She didn't say anything about the empty wine pitcher and the fading flush on Eirian's cheeks either as Eirian hung over the side of the tub and watched the steam rise from her own skin.
"Dinner is in an hour and a half." Eirian heard the closet doors creak as Marian threw them open. "Your father and stepmother are in fine form. They sent a list of last minute demands to the kitchen that have the chef spitting mad."
Eirian snorted. "What a bold comment, Lady Roxley." The flush hadn't left completely.
Marian swept into the main room, a layer of robes over arms and a mostly amused look on her face. "My apologies, Lady Ye. From what I have seen of you so far, I thought you would appreciate my honestly."
Eirian waved a dismissive hand. "Speak true."
Marian busied herself laying out the robes and then digging through Eirian's jewelry cabinate. "The babe seems well, he's crawling, should be walking soon. He doesn't make a sound though."
"They'll have silenced him the moment he did." Eirian murmured and sank back into the water, pushing her magic to make it a few degrees hotter, until it felt like a scald across her skin.
"Will that bandage dry in time?"
"Yes." It came out mostly in bubbles.
"And will your skin return to its normal luster before you greet them? Or will it be as red as the Camelia's namesake?" She had her hands on her hips now. Frowning down at Eirian like she was some unruly child.
"What's going on with Chenzhou and Anna?" Eirian asked instead.
Marian snorted, but allowed her to change the subject. "They are contemplating children."
Eirian lifted her head out of the water. "Why don't they have some already?" It hadn't occured to her to ask about children, especially as she didn't want any of her own.
"Chenzhou was always worried that he'd be gone before he could raise them." Marian fussed with the towels. "He always wanted them, even when he was one himself."
Eirian flinched. "I've never wanted them."
Could she even have them? She'd never had so much as a scare ever since she'd begun having sex, but she'd often heard her peers share their stories.
Eirian had always figured she was just lucky, but the mark crawling across her shoulders could mean something completely different.
Marian unfolded the towel and whipped it through the air with jerky motions. "It would be wise to set those boundaries sooner rather than later. especially if you…" She trailed off but Eirian could hear the rest of it.
If you decide to stay at the Camelia.
There was no point in banning Chenzhou from having children with Anna if Eirian wasn't going to stay.
But if she did, and Anna delivered the Ye heir, Eirian could end up in the same situtation she'd been in with her father all over again.
Or someone in the Camelia would assissinate her for getting in their lord's way of reproducing.
Some people were stupid like that.
Eirian rose from the water, stepping into the towel Marian held out. "Tell me about Lord-"
A frantic knocking at the door interupted her and before Marian could cross the room to open the door Chenzhou burst in and quickly slammed it shut behind him.
Eirian and Marian stared at him and watched the suddenly blush that erupted acorss his face when he realized.
"Uh, that's- pardon my interuption." And then he bowed.
"For fuck's sake," Eirian muttered and went back to drying herself off. "What's happening now?"
Chenzhou blinked, blushed harder when she bent over to dry her legs and pointedly turned around. "Nothing. Nothing new. I just wanted to talk before dinner. So we could make a plan…or something. Was that a bandage on your shoulder?" He turned around, remembered halfway round and snapped back to facing the door.
Eirian couldn't have rolled her eyes harder if she'd tried. "I'm not shy, you prude."
"Well maybe I am!" He snapped, shoulders at his ears and then immediately mumbled an apology for snapping.
Marian flung the first layers of robes over Eirian before she could say anything rude back and then announced louder than necessary, "First layer done!"
Chenzhou's shoulders went back to their normal half tense standard and he turned around. "Your father has been asking me to meet before dinner."
"Did he say why?"
Chenzhou shook his head and started to pace across her important burbury carpet. "Just that he wishes to discuss how things are going. And the way forward. He wants to introduce me to your brother."
"I'm surprised they brought the child." Marian murmured, running a brush through Eirian's hair and then starting to twist it into braids.
"Make it higher," Eirian commanded, lost in thought. He was too young to be named, though she realized he'd be a year old in a few months. Why would he risk her brother catching ill on a journey like the one required to reach the Camelia when he was so close? "He wants something."
Chenzhou nodded in agreement, "But what? I haven't spoken to him since our wedding. I thought your cousin was…"
"He did. Uncle made quite the spectacle of it, father's just angry and lashing out. It's what he always does when someone reminds him how small he is."
Chenzhou chewed on his lip. "He brought his own contingent of guards."
Eirian's eyes narrowed. "Oh?"
"Not enough to cause an issue, but more than necessary. If he hadn't pushed so hard for our marriage, I would almost worry that he was here to take you back." He tugged at his sleeves, a nervous habit Eirian hadn't seen on his before. "I don-, do you, I mean-"
"I have no intention of returning to the capital before I discover who is trying to destroy the Camelia."
"Oh." Chenzhou looked so painfully relieved, Eirian wanted to snap at him. She'd done all the work so far, why would she quit now?
~ tbc