Attia woke up with the curtains still drawn, casting the room in an odd state of light that filtered into the room around the heavy curtains and only lit up small strips of the ceiling and floor. Keiro's arm was still across her body, meaning he'd woken up within the last few hours and moved closer to her otherwise he'd have been on the other side of the bed. When she peered over at him, he was still dead asleep, his mouth wide open, his chest rising and falling in deep even breaths. She drew in a deep breath as she stretched and rolled out of bed, a movement followed by Keiro rolling over to occupy the space she'd just vacated. She quickly crossed the room towards the closet to dress, her mind going back to the previous night whenever she stopped monitoring her thoughts.

It'd been the first time in a while the sex between her and Keiro had been more than just routine. It'd been passionate and reminded her of their first years together. She forced her mind to focus on the day ahead or else risk coming to the conclusion that people like she and Keiro weren't meant to have any kind of long term commitment. They did better with fights to thrive off of and have sex through, not the emotional attachments and whatnot that drove Finn and Claudia's relationship.

After securing her hair up so it would stay out of her way, she slipped out of the closet and paused in the doorway when she noticed Keiro was up. He was laying on his side facing the closet door, one arm tucked underneath his head to prop it up. The sheets were draped around his waist and bunched around his feet. He eyed her from the bed, his eyes moving up and down her body as though he debated something in his mind, but his facial expression hadn't changed at all when his eyes met hers once more.

"You're up early," she finally said and he shrugged as he rolled over to lay on his back. He was dead centered on the bed, his other arm stretched out across Attia's side of the bed.

"Felt you get out," he answered after a moment. Attia started walking across the room towards the bathroom, and could feel Keiro's eyes following her. She left the door open as she leaned over the counter and made any final adjustments to her hair, then washed her face. "Is there something going on today?" he asked curiously as she wiped her face on a clean towel, then turned to look out the bathroom door at him.

"Kyra wants to go over the wedding plans," Attia answered with a shrug."Other than that, no."

"We should get out of Court," Keiro declared.

"There's too much to do with the wedding," Attia replied simply as she stepped out of the bathroom door and peered down at Keiro. "And all of that has to be done here. Kyra and Chris won't want to leave and make everything difficult."

"Just us," Keiro explained as he sat up on the edge of the bed and stretched his shoulders before meeting her gaze again. "I meant, just us."

Attia stilled as she stared at Keiro, and thought about what he was suggesting. It wasn't such a radical idea, really, and yet she couldn't bring herself to say yes. For years, they scrambled to get free of their responsibilities and escape their lives for even just a day, and now that their children were grown, they'd lost the passion that made them want that.

Since Attia remained quiet, Keiro rose an eyebrow at her before he tilted his head and reached up to run his hand through his hair. It was still long, the way he liked to keep it, regardless if a shorter hair cut would've been more fitting. Mixed in with the blonde strands, however, were grey ones that almost looked silver in the light.

"Ok," Attia finally said, realizing she should've answered already. She nodded and watched as Keiro's lips flashed a brief smile that faded as quickly as it had come. "I'll call my father, and let him know to expect us."

"I was thinking High Duke Hall," Keiro replied and it was Attia's turn to raise an eyebrow. "To be alone," he added in Attia's silence.

"Duke Hall isn't livable yet," Attia finally said and Keiro only shrugged.

"It's got a bed in it, doesn't it?"

Attia laughed a real laugh as she nodded and crossed the room towards the bed. Keiro watched her carefully as she advanced, as though he wasn't entirely certain what she was doing. When she reached the bed, she put her hands on each of his shoulders and put her knees on each side of his legs before she bent down to kiss him. He responded to the kiss, his arms encircling her waist. When he laid back on the bed, he pulled her back with him, but after a few moments, she untangled herself from his grasp and stood up before she brushed out her clothes.

"Kyra is expecting me," she told him but Keiro rolled his eyes, his lips retaining a smirk. He watched her walk towards the door and leave the room, the door closing quietly behind her. As she walked down the hallway of the High Duke household, she passed the empty room that used to belong to their son Finn. He'd since decided he wanted a room of his own elsewhere, and King Finn had accommodated him with the room that customarily belonged to the Commander of the Royal Guard. Mason, who'd been given the title at Charles' retirement, didn't use the room since he opted to stay with his wife, Attia's stepsister, Vivian in their own quarters. Since little Finn was slated to be the next Commander, the room change seemed fitting.

Past Finn's old room, Chris and Kyra had their own separate rooms, but it was fairly common knowledge that Chris had all but moved in with Kyra in her larger bedroom. The idea of Kyra and Chris together in a romantic relationship hadn't been as shocking to the royal family as most had expected simply because throughout Chris' childhood, he'd always been very clear that as much as he loved Keiro and Attia as his new parents, they'd never replaced his biological ones. And since he'd been seven when Keiro and Attia found him and informally adopted him, he still held onto old memories he had of his life before his royal one. Chris did, however, keep some possessions in his room across the hall from Kyra's only for Keiro's benefit. It wasn't that Keiro didn't like Chris with Kyra, but rather Keiro didn't like anybody with Kyra and he certainly didn't need Chris flaunting it right down the hall from him. Despite all that, Keiro and Attia were quite accepting of Kyra and Chris' relationship, and since they were happy with it, the rest of the royal family accepted it as well.

Attia continued passed those bedrooms and passed the guest rooms as well until she finally left the High Duke household and started towards her office in the financial department, not that she'd ever really been just a financial desk worker. She just refused to move her office no matter how many times Finn offered her a bigger or better one. Inside her office, Kyra was with Aunts Vivian and Anne, who were standing on each side of her and peering down at all the papers and fabrics spread across a drawing table Attia had pulled into the office after Kyra almost took over her desk with wedding things.

"What do you think?" Kyra asked as soon as she spotted her mother walking into the room. She reached across the table and snatched up to swatches of fabric and held them out to Attia. "This one I think will go better as the trim, but I really like the pattern on the other," she explained the dilemma as she handed off the fabrics to Attia and waited for an opinion.

"Whichever you like, Kyra," Attia laughed as she handed them back. It wasn't Attia's forte to deal with trivial things like fabrics and ribbons even though they were of some importance to her daughter. Kyra, who knew Attia's reluctance to pay attention to such details, hardly paid attention to the lack of answer and turned right back to the table as she started another debate about the fabrics with Anne again.

"The dress is almost finished," Vivian said as she stepped away from Kyra and towards Attia's desk. Attia was seated behind it, her hands moving quickly to reorganize her desk before she started going over more wedding details with her daughter.

"Alright," Attia answered without looking up at Vivian. "I'm sure it'll be perfect."

When Vivian said nothing, Attia slowly raised her gaze and met Vivian's downward casted eyes. Though Attia and Vivian had nothing in common, they'd learned to live each other over the years, given they were often forced together for various family obligations. "You never got fitted for a dress," Vivian finally said and Attia groaned as she looked back to her desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kyra and Anne turn towards her, but she stubbornly kept her attention on straightening the stacks of paper.

"I already have a dress that fits, Vivian," Attia finally said before she looked up again, but at Kyra rather than Vivian. "One Kyra picked out months ago."

"The black one?" Kyra asked with narrowed eyes as she tried to conjure up a mental image of the dress.

"You can't wear black to a wedding," Vivian objected and Attia rolled her eyes as she continued organizing her papers.

"Kyra, do you think I'm mourning if I'm wearing black?" Attia asked, eyes on her desk.

"No, I don't care," Kyra said as she shook her head and called Anne's attention back to the table. "I think string lights all around the gardens and then an arch way in front of the fountain with everyone standing around to watch the ceremony."

"It sounds beautiful, Kyra," Anne answered with a bright smile. "We'll get it all sorted out, for you."

"We're having Court shut down for the day, too," Attia put in as she looked up. Anne and Kyra turned back to her, both with surprised looks across their faces. "Well, I mean we have to. We won't be tending to anything the entire day and we'll have all the gardens secured in the morning, and nobody can come or leave from Court."

"That's a little much, don't you think?" Vivian asked and Attia turned towards her.

"We've almost evacuated for some events before. If this wedding was any bigger, Finn would've already ordered it," Attia answered simply. "It's an outdoor wedding with the entire royal family in one place all at once. There's no such thing as too much protection, no matter how paranoid Finn and I might be when we get to call all the shots."

"Fine," Vivian replied, no better able to recognize the fights she could and could not win with Attia. Of course, her marriage to Mason and Mason's standing with Attia and the King gave her a position with leverage that could make other women quite jealous even if Vivian felt completely disregarded at times.

"What of your bridesmaids?" Attia asked as she turned her head towards Kyra again.

"I think blue," Kyra answered with a nod. "It'll look good on Charlotte and Victoria," she explained as she touched a swatch of blue silk on the table. "They'll have their hair down and I'll wear mine up. In pined curls like you used to do them when we were small," she explained as she turned her attention to Anne. The eldest Princess of the Realm matched Kyra's smile as she nodded and reached out to touch Kyra's cheek. Anne had no daughters of her own, so she'd always been the one to show Kyra things like cosmetics and hairdos, things Attia had no interest in or talent with.

"What of your makeup?" Anne asked. "I know Victoria and Charlotte have a favorite artist who always does their makeup for events."

"I want you to do it," Kyra replied. Anne only stared back at Kyra as she took in what Kyra had told her so suddenly. "I want you to do my hair and makeup."

"Alright," Anne said finally as she nodded and smiled brightly at Kyra. "We'll have a trip to the Courtier Market in a few weeks to pick up some extra brushes and colors."

Attia smiled as she watched Anne and Kyra. When Kyra had first showed an interest in more feminine things like cosmetics and dresses and hairdos, Attia felt jealous of Anne, who could better relate to all those things. Now, however, Attia rather liked that Anne had someone to dote on like she could with Kyra, and Attia liked that Kyra had another to confide in who wasn't her mother should she ever need such a distinction.

"Will you come?" Kyra asked as she turned her gaze to Attia, who only nodded.

"Of course," Attia replied before she turned her gaze back to her desk. "I only have a few things to do today, and then we can get lunch and talk about all the flowers and music and whatever else you want."

"Ok," Kyra said as she nodded. Attia met her gaze for a moment before she collected a few documents into her folder and stood from her desk. Kyra went back to the other table and pulled Anne's attention with her while Attia continued out of the office and headed toward Finn's office. She didn't knock when she reached the door, expecting Finn to be in the middle of his usual activities, but instead she found Finn and Claudia on one side of the desk, Mason on the other. The three looked up at her when she walked in, all frozen as though they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't have been doing.

She eyed them carefully with narrowed eyes before she slowly approached the table, her eyes noticing Mason when he pulled a page from the top of the desk and shoved it into his pocket. As she reached the desk, she opened up her folder and pulled out the documents before handing them over to Finn. "Need your signature to finalize the funding on High Duke Hall," she said simply. Finn only nodded as he signed the pages and handed them back over to Attia. She took her time in placing the documents back into her folder, her eyes lingering on Mason, then on Claudia, both of whom weren't as good at straightening out their facial expressions like Finn.

"What's going on here?" Attia asked in the silence as she turned her gaze up to Finn, who only stared back at her.

"Nothing," Finn answered and Attia rose an eyebrow at him.

She nodded slowly as she looked over at Mason again. She studied his face before she looked over to Claudia. "Well, Keiro wants to go to High Duke Hall in a couple days, so we'll be gone for a little while," she said as she looked up at Finn again.

"I think that's great," Finn replied, a little too enthusiastically, causing Attia's eyes to narrow at him again. "You know, to spend some quality time together and check how the renovations are going," he added quickly.

"Yeah, it's so hard to have some time alone at Court," Claudia put in, but Attia kept her gaze on Finn and was unable to stop her eyes from rolling.

"Whatever you're doing, you should stop it," Attia said strongly as she gazed at each of them once more.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Finn said simply and Attia rolled her eyes again.

"Makes sure you get fitted for your coats for the wedding," she answered, obviously annoyed but not curious enough to press the matter. She tucked her folder under her arm and turned to leave the room. After shutting the door behind her, she lingered in the hallway curious if Finn was still intuitive enough to know to wait a few more minutes.

"You're going to have to tell her about-" Mason started but stopped immediately when Finn and Claudia silenced him with nonsense noises. "She deserves to know," he added after a moment of quiet, though he had lowered his voice. Either Finn or Claudia had responded to him, but kept their voices low enough so that Attia couldn't understand the mumblings. "I mean, no matter how badly she reacts now, it's not going to get better if you wait," Mason pointed out.

Attia was tempted to stay and listen longer, but knew she had to attend to her daughter's wedding plans. Forcing herself to walk down the hallway, she made a mental note to recruit Keiro or little Finn to do some eavesdropping for her.