Mathusela had let them rant and rave all they wanted to last night.

However, this morning was a different story. The Emperor of the Regina Empire was wide awake and filled with a quiet rage. One that had taken him years to hone.

He sat at his desk, his eyes casually glossing over the contents of the printed paper. Front page of The Echo Record, one of the papers that wasn’t on imperial family payroll. In bold lettering: KHANNA AND CONWYN FAMILIES NO LONGER UNITING?!

Meanwhile, four chairs sat before his desk. Three of them filled and one empty. In the center, sat Solomon giving that he was the main one in trouble. He tried remaining nonchalant but the little fidgets here and there betrayed him.

Selene sat on his right, confused as to why she was even here. Much like her older brother, she was fidgeting but it was mainly because she had nothing in her hand to occupy her.

Patience was sat on his left, with her natural posture of grace and tranquility. The exact persona people expected of an Empress, even behind closed doors. Though there was a slight slouch to her as she was seemingly disassociating.

After what seemed like a grueling amount of time, the greying Emperor, tossed the paper onto his desk before taking a deep inhale and exhaling with a threatening smile that was mostly covered by his full beard as his eyes scanned between his son and his wife.

His son almost being a younger male version of his wife just with the classic Conwyn golden eyes.

“Very well then…who has the first excuse?” He said plainly.

His wife’s posture straightened and he nodded. ‘Of course.’ He thought. ‘When does she not have an excuse for him?’

“With all due respect, my love, people were speculating about this for years now. I already have a set of suitors in mind who—”

“Quiet.” He calmly ordered, silence washing over the room.

“Daddy?”

He looked over to his youngest with her confused, doe-eyed expression.

“Am I in trouble?”

“No, dearie.” He spoke softly with her. “You’re here to learn from your brother on what NOT to do.”

Solomon angrily slammed his palm against the arm of the chair. “IT’S ALL HER FAULT!” The composure he’d been prepping coming easily undone. “She’s a goddamn nuisance!”

“You know when you sit around calling her names like that, I think I can make a pretty good deduction on what happened.”

“You’re always taking her side!”

“There is nothing more I can do for you. I am not the girl’s father. As an engaged party, the duty of the both of you is to remain cordial and time and time again you have proven that you are too immature for that.” His golden eyes shoot over to Patience, whose eyes remained closed in an attempt to appear calm. “You would teach the boy to be reckless? Is that how House Boote conducts itself now?”

“My family has nothing to do with this.”

“It has everything to do with this. I let you take charge of rearing the boy out of respect for what your family does for mine but your family clearly only knows how to raise empresses and not Emperors.”

Patience made no facial response but Solomon’s contorted into even more anger. That comment was meant to irk them and Patience knew that but she was left wondering where she went wrong with her son for him to not realize that.

She felt a sigh unexpectedly leave through her nostrils. ‘He was young…and a man.’ She thought. Patience knew that they just operated differently than women did and, as a result, they needed more time, love, and well…patience.

But there were just times that she wished he’d take the initiative when it came to her teachings. She loved her son but she wished he was a bit quicker on the draw of things.

“My dear…” Patience let out in a soft tone. “Please, let us just forget about this Khanna business. As I was saying…there are plenty of better suitors who ARE more manageable.

“One of your cousins, I presume?”

“Well, it’s not far off. My family HAS been producing Empresses for years now. Why should that stop now?"

“And do any of these cousins offer a secure line to the Aristocratic families…as the Khannas do? Can any of these families provide a working bridge between us and the Eastlands?”

“I—”

“Allow me to answer that for you: no, they can’t. What you and our son seem to forget is how powerful the Aristocratic families are becoming everyday. We can no longer afford to be insular and if we want to ensure those families will not usurp us, we need an alliance. Do you know why Solomon must marry Elvira specifically?”

“Because of your—” Patience was about to snap but was quickly cut off.

“Because…there aren’t many eligible bachelorettes among the Aristocratic council families who we could trust to be civil.”

His son scoffed. “You call what that was last night civil?”

“More civil than what would happen should I had arranged for you to marry Blanche Lewden.”

Solomon shrugged. “I don’t see what’s wrong with her. She’s a bit older and floaty but that’s exactly why the Royal Nobles would be fine with her as Empress.”

“Boy, you truly know nothing.” Mathusela chuckled. “Blanche and her mother would have you on borrowed time. Each of those families are blood thirsty, looking for their moment. The only family to ensure a mutual beneficial relationship was the Khannas and to that end, you marrying Elvira was the perfect plan.”

Selene lightly raised her hand. “What about Cotton? Can’t she just marry Solomon?”

Her question was met with silence, making her feel like shrinking herself as she saw scowls from both her mother and brother along with a warm but condescending smile from her father.

“In no circumstance would the Royal Nobles allow for that. It’s already a miracle that Cotton was allowed to stay the heir to the Khanna family business but Solaan has different…beliefs that simply won’t work here.” Mathusela explained.

Patience spoke up again, with a pompous smirk. “Another reason this engagement spells nothing but trouble. Imagine how many of their strange customs they’d introduce.”

“Elvira can be controlled so long as you remain amiable with her. Which means parading around lower born hussies needs to stop.”

Suddenly, the dynamic changed. With Patience side-eyeing her son at the mention of “lower born hussies”. She can excuse a lot but that was something she couldn’t.

“Solomon,” His mother softly calling out his name rather than a term of endearment shook him. “What have I told you about your rendezvouses?”

Solomon sighed. “You told me to keep them quiet.”

“It can be overlooked, my sweet, but when you do it in the open it reflects on us. It makes us look negligent. Not only on us but the families as well. Negligence breeds dissent and…I agree with your father that this is not a time to allow dissent to breed.”

“Mother I—”

Patience leaned in, gently pressing her hand against his cheek. “I understand why you’re doing all of this, but you need to stop acting out in ways that reflect negatively on us.”

“But mother—”

“But nothing. You will be met halfway, you just have to listen. Do you understand me?”

Solomon was silent for a moment before he nodded. Patience gave him a soft smile, moving back to her previous position.

“Do you see how love and care works better than insults?” She asked her husband in a moment of superiority. “You’ve always been terrible at catching bees.”

Mathusela scoffed before flashing his son a condescending smirk. “Well, at least the boy takes after me in something.”

Patience glanced at her son, her pride. The sad and angry look on his face hurt her. Then there was her daughter, looking as oblivious as ever. Patience couldn’t lie and say there wasn’t a part of her that didn’t feel disjointed in how the both them made her feel. She loved Selene. Of course she did. But from her appearance and her…ill nature reminded her too much of her mother. Meanwhile, Solomon looked like her. Of course, it could be argued that he looked like Mathusela since they were both blondes but Patience knew in her heart that it was her son.

“Solomon, hopefully your mother’s words have done something. This can be fixed. You will go to the Khanna Estate and make amends. Whatever you need to do in order to rekindle the engagement, do it. I will mitigate any rumors on my end. Like your mother said, meet me halfway, son and you’ll find your problems minimal. By the end of the day, I should be getting a call from Edith Khanna about the engagement being reinstated.” There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. “You may all leave.”