Life After Death

Juliet: a breakthrough

                 

{Juliet}

I went over to the Torninc more now that most of the boys were moved out. Mikaela seemed a bit morose even though Dinadan and Galahad were still home. At the same time, both of them were strange company. Dinadan wanted to be in Martel, but had to contend with the humans he knew there being grown and married, neither of which he could do in Otherworld. Galahad was odd to speak to in general. A bit too polite, and a lover of chess, though no one wanted to play him.

I would play occasionally, and had even won once, thought I was sure that he gave me the win. Even without planning my moves, he still could predict my movements. It was annoying.

But I had heard that Arthur had moved into Donlin, after crashing Mikaela's birthday party. I had no idea how Mikaela felt about these sudden occurrences, but I couldn't help but think it wasn't a good thing. Without Arthur, Lancelot had been an entirely new person. I liked him; he was calm and quizzical and loved to prank his older brothers, even the ones who lived outside of Donlin. His youngest son had turned out to be a creation mage; one time the two of them had snuck into my castle office and gave my desk a face that was smiling at me all day. Frankly terrifying.

He lived just outside of Donlin, contently doing odd jobs within the city and for me. Quinn and Mikaela were planning on leaving the Torninc to him when they retired, but the way Mikaela had been acting; I doubted that was ever going to happen.

She asked me every now and then why I hadn't found a boyfriend or any other type of significant other. But I didn't need to. The Guerres generated more gossip than the rest of the upper class combined and I was almost as much a part of the family as Galahad or Hazel. I had been training Parsifal since he was little, and if any of the boys had questions they couldn't ask their mother, they always came to me, as if my advice was sounder.

Not to mention I would lose my right to mock Mikaela for the scrapes her sons gone into.

"You could at least be excited that Arthur's back," I told her. "You look like he's inviting you to your own damn funeral."

Mikaela didn't seem amused. "Seven years is a long time, especially in this family. He married a succubus. He has a ton of children and..." she sighed. "It's going to take some getting used to. That's all. I'm not unexcited; I'm just surprised." She fiddled with her cup and drank the dregs of her coffee. "Quinn wants to retire."

"And you don't?" I inquired.

"Of course I do. But Galahad is still here and none of our sons are quite ready for our roles in government. I don't want to overextend Adele's goodwill with our family."

"That is probably fair of you," I admitted. "Though she's been much calmer since Dagonet and Nimue officially married."

"You know, forty years ago, when we moved here, I couldn't have imagined all the things that have happened. I'm married, I have grown children." She wrinkled her nose. "I have grandchildren. I don't feel old enough to have grandchildren."

"You did get pregnant at nineteen," I pointed out. "If it's any consolation, your boys turned out fine, in spite of their upbringing."

"That's not very nice," she sniffed. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"I thought that was the only reason I came over," I grinned. "I mean, it would be a shame not to stay for Ryon's cooking."

I could hear banging outside the sitting room as if someone was looking for us.

"Mom?"

"That sounds like Dagonet," Mikaela mused. "Are Nimue and he broken up again? She usually takes the house."