Co-written with Acrea
Imperatorial Palace
Aragon, The Duchy of Haford
The Empire of Shalum
The seat from which the Imperial Shalumite family ruled was a spectacular place, spanning a thirty-acre hill that overlooked the capital of the nation. Originally constructed as a summer residence for House Holland and their client houses, the Baroque styled palace -which was made up of nearly 1,500 rooms, including several ballrooms, every type of service that the royal family might have needed, and an expansive private garden- had become one of the most iconic parts of Shalumite tourism. Since the restoration of the 1960s, the palace had been a major hub of tourism. The actual sensitive areas, where proper governmental operations were conducted, were far away from the ever present tours and guests that paid quite a sum to stay on the grounds every night.
Standing on the steps of the palace’s annex, Tyler Holland smiled softly to himself, listening as a small gust of wind rustled through the trees and shrubs. This was something he did often. It was nice to revel in the fact that he was the most powerful man in the Empire, that millions of people looked to him. He said a silent prayer for his ancestors, thanking them for the fact that they had laid the foundations for all of this.
“Your Majesty, the Acreans have arrived.” A voice said softly. He had many secretaries, and the speaker was one of them; a pretty young woman in a blouse and skirt that was pleasantly short. As he looked over at her, she simply motioned towards the gates, where a vehicle could be seen rolling through under the watch of several Iron Guardsmen.
“Thank you, Alicia.” He replied with a small smile, handing her the cup of coffee that he had been holding. “Once you ensure the sitting room has been prepared, you are dismissed for the day.”
“Thank you, your majesty.” She bowed gracefully, a color to her cheeks and a smile on her lips. Stepping back, she left Tyler Holland alone as he waited for his esteemed guests to arrive.
Not long after the secretary had left, did another voice ring out. This one masculine and deep, the tones reverberating with every word. “And here I thought you had forgone all the pretty secretaries,” called Nikolai Maximov. He always looked a hard man, tall with deep voice and angular, chiseled features. Always a contrast to his wife, who was such a fragile-looking pretty blonde thing. She was, unfortunately for Allison, nowhere to be found in the country. He wore a well-tailored dusty charcoal suit, naturally with a steel grey vest and maroon tie underneath. In the years they had known each other, Tyler had more than once complained that he perpetually felt underdressed when in the presence of his eastern counterparts.
The bark of laughter that escaped Tyler’s throat seemed especially pointed in the otherwise serene atmosphere of the palace’s exterior. Looking over towards Nikolai, a man the Imperator liked to think of as a good friend, he couldn’t help but smile as he approached. Dressed in a navy blue, Acrean made suit, he looked particularly dapper; the patrician features of House Holland’s patriarch contrasting sharply with the clean cut look of a warrior that he preferred, even though he hadn’t served the military in some twenty years.
“I may be something of a changed man, Mister Maximov, but some things never fully change. And besides, I can look but not touch, no?” As he drew close, Tyler pulled the Acrean man in for a hug, and a solid pat on the back. “It is good to see you, friend. How was your trip?”
“Pleasant enough for traveling across an ocean and a bloody continent to come and see you,” Nikolai chuckled. He felt a presence behind him, perceptive as he was, and stood to the side. “How could I forget? Tyler, you remember Katia, of course?” he said, placing a hand on his eldest daughter’s shoulder. She was, like her mother, a beautiful little thing. She had inherited her father’s dark hair rather than her mother’s blonde, but it suited her better. She was dressed relatively simply- a light dress with a bodice that hugged her figure and a skirt that flared out, and a pair of simple cork wedges that brought her more on even height with the men.
“Oh please, you know you love visiting. I’m great company,” Tyler chuckled as he stepped away. “Allison and the kids are looking forward to seeing you as well, though some will be away until later tonight.” Despite a slight hint of knowing in his eyes, there was nothing off about the Imperator’s tone.
Shifting his attention to Katia, he smiled wider, and offered her a hand, not wanting to put her off by greeting her in the same way that he had with Nikolai. “How could I forgot this young lady? So much like her mother. I remember the first time I held her as a mere baby,” he chuckled. “You’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you, I have to say.” He smiled kindly. It had been several years, that he suddenly realized, because she no longer came up to his chest like in the old days. She was taller now, and definitely much more mature looking.
“A few years will do that to a girl,” Katia replied with a small chuckle and a smile. It hadn’t been a ‘few’, per say. It was several, really, since she had still been at the end of her teenage years last time they had seen each other.
“That they will.” He chuckled as he dropped his hand to his side. She really did look like her mother, perhaps a bit more than he would have cared to admit. “I am sure Matthew would have a hard time recognizing you,” he added jokingly. They’d been all but raised together through the years, and the Imperator assumed they were close, though he only paid so much attention, admittedly. “Would you two care to come in? I’ve sent orders for a sitting room to be ready for us.”
“We’d love to,” Nikolai replied. As he walked in with Tyler, Katia was left behind them a bit to follow in their footsteps, their security trailing a bit behind her. They weren’t really necessary, but over the years they had evolved to be aides as well as security, and so they tended to keep relatively close to their charges.
The Imperator smiled and made a ‘follow me’ kind of motion, before he stepped towards the palace. A pair of Imperial Lifeguards, who had been lingering in the background, stepped forward to open a pair of intricately carved wooden doors for the group. Once they had been ushered inside, into a hall of plush carpet floors and walls covered in exquisite wood paneling, Tyler began leading them down the hall. As they went, the Shalumite Imperator opened his mouth to speak, but a sharp squeal filled the air.
“Emily Rose Holland, get back here this instant!” The voice was strong and powerful, a deep baritone, but weary at the same time.
The child in question didn’t so much as slow, however, grinning like the youngling that she was as she rounded the corner. It all happened as Katia walked by, and the young noble girl was left with nowhere to go but right into the Acrean woman’s legs. Thankfully, she didn’t weigh much, and thus didn’t do much more than thump against Lady Maximova.
Katia gave a quiet ‘oh!’ as the child bumped into her. Thankfully, rather than annoying, she found children adorable, and so she bent down to as close to face level as she could get with the girl.
“Hello there,” she said.
The young girl was a delicate thing with many of the House’s patrician features. Dressed in a flowy rose colored dress, many would have labeled her as ‘adorable’ or simply cute. Her joyous expression had turned from jubilant to surprise and a trifle nervous, however, as she looked up at Katia, taking a small step back as she did so. “Uh...hi.” She replied with a small squeak, flushed red, both from running and sudden sheepishness.
“Ooof, god.” A breathy voice said from a bit further down the hall, casting a shadow over the two. There stood Crown Prince Matthew, dressed in little more than jeans and a faded FC Aragon jersey, looking about as far away from nobility as possible. Despite his apparent athleticism, he looked positively winded. “I’m, ah, awfully sorry, miss.” He added once he finally caught a breath. “She, ahm, got away from me.”
“It’s quite alright,” Katia began, looking up. Once she did though, she paused. She would always know Matthew, not in the least because he was always in the news and tabloids, being the Crown Prince of Shalum, after all. She stood up, brushing some hair out of her face.
Removed from the situation, Tyler couldn’t help but chuckle quietly, leaning in to whisper to Nikolai. “I know what you’re thinking. And the answer is not, she isn’t his.” Though he at least things quiet, there was no doubt about the fact that Matthew had gotten ‘around’ over the last few years. “Just on babysitting duty for a relative of ours. He was going to join us when she got back from her little outing with Allison,” he explained softly, out of earshot.
“She’s quite the handful sometimes, but I love her to death.” Matthew chuckled, leaning down to scoop up little Emily, despite the young girl’s protests and whines. In his arms, she was about eye level with the young woman standing across from them.
There was several moments of silence that followed, as Matthew looked at Katia closely. There was a flicker of something in his eyes. Recognition, but also a great amount of confusion. “Kat...Kat is that you?” He finally asked, slowly, as he looked her up and down with a soft smile.
Katia blushed and bit her lower lip, but nodded. She tried to stifle the stupid smile that threatened to break out on her face, keeping it at a pleasant upturn of her lips. She shrugged, as though to say ‘Yeah, it’s me!’.
“Holy…” The Crown Prince trailed off, glancing at the young girl in his arms, before he continued a bit more carefully. “-cow, you’ve changed a lot.” He chuckled, giving her a silly smile of his own. Reaching up, he wrapped his free arm around her shoulders for a moment in an amused hug. “It's so good to see you again, Kat.”
“Good to see you two,” Katia murmured, wrapping an arm around Matthew’s torso in turn. It was all Nikolai could do to not smile, but he figured they ought to leave the kids to their reunion as he placed a hand on Tyler’s shoulder.
“Shall we?” the man questioned.
Matthew barely seemed to notice their parents (and entourages) depart in the background, between the squirming child in his strong arms, and the woman standing before him. At one time, he’d considered her to be one of his best friends, and their time out of contact hadn’t been intentional by any means. He’d been so caught up in service and governmental work that he’d lost touch with a lot of his old friends, in all truth. “I, ahm, just wow. It's been a while, hasn’t it?” He asked, sounding a bit speechless as he looked at her.
“Um, yeah, it has,” Katia chuckled, looking down at herself. She certainly had matured from the years when she and Matthew still ran around together, turning from a teenaged girl into a clearly mature young woman.
The Crown Prince swallowed, trying to not focus to hard on the fact that she was stunning. Not even in the super model kind of way, it was more like she was the bloody sun in his eyes. It practically hurt to look at her, she was so beautiful. And here he was...dressed for a day in, with a child to look after. “I, well, didn’t know you were going to be in town. I would have cleaned up if I did.” He chuckled, before shifting Emily so that she at least rested on his hip. “How...how have you been?”
“I’ve been good, yeah…” Katia just sort of trailed off. She had her hands clasped behind her back, and she swayed in place for a moment. Small talk had never really been her specialty, and even though she and Matthew hadn’t seen each other in years she found that she was at a loss for words.
“That’s good, that’s good.” Matthew trailed off, pausing for a moment to look at his shoes. Despite having not seen this girl in years, he was somewhat speechless. This wasn’t like in the movies, where characters just got caught up with one another, as if nothing big had transpired during their time apart. Looking down at the young girl in his arms, however, gave him an idea. A small smile gracing his lips, he hoisted her up a little higher. “Aren’t you going to say ‘hi’ to miss Katia?”
Emily peaked at Katia through her short hair, nibbling on her lower lip for a moment, before she finally offered the Acrean woman a small wave. “Hello,” she chirped, voice a near squeak.
“Hey there,” Katia gave a soft smile. She returned the small wave. The usually velvet tones of her voice rose in pitch when she was speaking to the little girl. Katia’d always loved children, and the tiny thing in front of her was no exception.
The crown prince smiled softly as he looked between them. He’d always wanted children. It was a nice thought, at the very least, the component of a happy marriage - something that he was not guaranteed, unlike Katia. “Well then,” he began softly. “Miss Emily and I just got done running around here, and I was thinking that maybe it was snack and tea time. Want to join us?” He asked with a soft chuckle, settling the girl on his hip.
“I would love to,” Katia exclaimed, her eyes flickering between Matthew and Emily. She tilted her head at the small girl, brunette locks bouncing with the movement. “Of course, if Miss Emily would allow me to join you two. What do you think?”
The young girl’s cerulean eyes widened at the suggestion. As much as she enjoyed being around Matthew, he simply wasn’t any fun, and it wasn’t as if any of her other playmates were around. A moment later, she smiled widely and bobbed her head. “That sounds amazing!” She chirped happily. Wiggling out of the crown prince’s, she padded over to Katia and took her hand. “C’mon! I’ll show you where the sitting room is!”
