Marian dressed her in blood red and gold. Chenzhou looked wide-eyed and a bit intimidated when he saw the final product.
He glanced down at his own elegant, but less ornate, black and gold robes. "Should I change?"
Eirian and Marian glared at him. "Absolutely not." Marian sniffed. "It's Eirian's parents who have shown up."
"Right…" Chenzhou clearly didn't get it, but he wasn't arguing either. Marian muttered something about men under her breath as Eirian turned a more critical eye on Chenzhou's robes.
"You look good." He did, it was annoying how easy he had it. Clean-cut robes with gold embroidery and his hair pulled back into an elegant bun, he looked like some ancient king from one of the old tales of Song and Snow.
What's more, he would look good next to her. The two of them representing the Camelia. A unified front, as it were.
….
She needed higher heels.
Marian saw her eyeing the shoes she'd chosen and gave Eirian a flat look. "These match."
"It's not like anyone will be able to see them." Eirian sneered as Marian huffed and disappeared back into her closet.
Chenzhou, clearly confused, glanced between them but didn't say anything until Marian came out with a pair of boots with heels high enough to make Eirian nearly as tall as Chenzhou. "Can you walk in those?"
"It's a court dinner. I just won't dance tonight." Eirian sniffed and grabbed Chenzhou's shoulder for balance as Marian knelt to slide them on.
"Then why bother?" Chenzhou was clearly mystified. And maybe a bit horrified that shoes like that even existed.
"Because, Lord Ye, appearances matter. Most specifically, the first look." Eirian lectured, wincing a bit as Marian tied them tight enough to give her ankles extra support.
When she finally straightened, her eyes were nearly level with Chenzhou's, and her robes brushed the floor, but were still long enough to hide the heels.
"Right. What about your father? Do you know what he wants?"
"No." Eirian shook her head and winced when Marian immediately reached out to fuss with the mohawk braid she'd made and tugged a strand back into place. "Uncle Jacques banned them from removing me as heir; they might be here to convince me to change his mind."
Something calculating entered Chenzhou's eyes. "How could they get around that?"
Eirian shrugged. "The easiest way, I could die."
"I don't think anyone would consider killing you an easy task."
Eirian, proud, grinned. "No, they most certainly would not. I suppose they could leave specific items and lands to him by name? But they can't do that with the Soliel title, and if I held it, I could just take everything back." She huffed, frustration growing. "I don't understand why they're being like this. It's not like he'll be starving on the streets. It's not like I want children of my own."
Chenzhou jerked in surprise. "You don't?"
"No," Eirian gagged and shivered. "Not a chance. Besides, I don't think I could have them. Even if I did." She glanced at him, then, "If you want children, feel free to have them, but I have a say in who inherits."
Chenzhou blinked. "It's that easy?"
Eirian smoothed down the front of her robes as Marian pointedly busied herself with Eirian's jewelry. "I am aware that not many share my feelings about children, but I have never had the desire for them. I barely have the patience for adults, I cannot imagine how little I would have for something that helpless. I would be miserable and so would the child."
"You are still my wife. By law, you would inherit before any of my children."
"I am also Eric's. So perhaps you'll both die, and then I'll have it all and no one to worry about." Eirian's grin took on a sharp edge.
Chenzhou snorted. "That would be a truly exhausting amount of work for one person."
Eirian's nose wrinkled. "I'm not opposed to hard work, if it's worthwhile. I just think that most of the time, people make things harder than they need to be."
"Would you…Would you accept a child of mine?" He couldn't look her in the eye as he asked. "I always wanted…Before, when I was ill, I never wanted to risk it. And honestly, with the circumstances of our marriage, I never thought it an option."
"But you want them now." Eirian finished. Even though Marian had already told her this and it definitely wasn't the time for such an important discussion, it was good to hear from Chenzhou himself. With no prompting, he was sharing something deeply private and important to him, something that felt fragile and precious and needed to be handled with care.
Eirian didn't generally share those parts of herself with anyone, and in return, it was rare that someone shared theirs with her. It was an odd feeling, the desire to be careful with someone else, in a way she wasn't even careful with herself.
And she realized, watching the conflicting emotions on Chenzhou's face, that he was trying to do the same for her.
Marian carefully set Eirian's Sun Tiara on her head. The gold and ruby creation was designed to look like a flaming sun and had been a gift from Jacques for Eirian's tenth birthday. She'd left it behind when she left the capital, but now she was ridiculously happy to see it again.
The ruby points were so sharp she'd always imagined it could double as a weapon in a fight, but she hadn't gotten a chance to test it out.
Maybe that'd be tonight, she thought, amused as she checked her appearance in a mirror. She and her father and stepmother hadn't managed a single civil dinner since her father and Briggita had married, and given how they'd behaved since they arrived, tonight wasn't going to be any better.
She took a deep breath. "Let's save this discussion for later."
Chenzhou nodded, looking just as relieved. "I invited the Court."
Eirian stopped, surprised.
"I thought it might help to keep them…on their best behavior."
Eirian's mouth opened and then closed.
"Your father seems like he cares about his reputation." Chenzhou shifted, nervous again. "Was I wrong?"
"No. That's- no. He definitely cares." Her father wouldn't do anything in public that would make him look bad.
Chenzhou offered her a small, pleased smile and extended his arm.
~ tbc