"I want him punished. Attempting to assassinate a member of the royal family is treason."
Chenzhou clearly couldn't decide if her father was being serious or not.
Unfortunately, he was about to realize he was, and Eirian was surprised to realize there was a sliver of shame that he was going to see the kind of man her father was.
And embarrassment.
"It was an accident, Lord Soliel. Not an assassination attempt." Thankfully, of the two of them, Chenzhou at least had the patience to stay calm in the face of her furious father.
"The arrows missed by inches."
"Because you were standing in front of the targets." A muscle in his jaw jumped, the only sign that Chenzhou was anything other than relaxed.
At the very least, he had a great poker face.
"Who practices where there are people walking?" Brigitta demanded.
"Who takes a walk across a training field?" Eirian snorted.
Both Brigitta and her father flushed an ugly red.
"There were no warning signs posted. If you're going to train soldiers where people live, you do them the courtesy of warning them."
"This entire estate is a training field. You were warned at dinner the night you arrived." Chenzhou ground out. "There are no parks or areas of relaxation. Everything serves a purpose of training and preparing the Crimson Army. Even children know better than to play outside the residential areas."
If anything, that just made Lord Soliel dig his heels in more. "Then I would expect safety and security to be a higher priority. No one even tried to stop us when we walked out."
"Would you have listened if they had?" Eirian asked. "It's hardly the soldiers' fault that you decided not to pay attention to where you were going."
"Are you blaming us for being victims?" Bigitta gasped.
"You weren't victims of anything but your own lack of awareness." Eirian rolled her eyes as she spoke, and Chenzhou could see Lord and Lady Soliel's hackles rise.
"I find it concerning that you show so little concern about your own family's well-being." Francis snapped.
"The arches in the Camelia are some of the best on the Rock. If one of them had actually wanted to kill you, you'd be dead." Chenzhou straightened.
"How is any of that an excuse for trying to kill me?"
"Nobody tried to kill you." Eirian howled, sick of repeating herself.
"Watch your tone," Francis snapped.
Chenzhou stepped in front of Eirian. "Alright, everyone needs to take a breath."
"Do not tell me what I need, Lord Ye. I expect to be treated better in my own daughter's home."
Eirian scoffed, and Chenzhou's fists clenched in anger. "The Camelia is not a normal estate. I explained that in detail during the marriage negotiations."
Francis' eyes narrowed dangerously. "I also recall explaining that you weren't marrying some wench off the street and that there would be certain expectations."
"Those expectations don't mean you get to show up and make demands," Eirian argued from over Chenzhou's shoulder. "Or give orders. You know nothing about how a military functions."
Her father was nearly purple with rage. Chenzhou had heard people described that way, but he'd never seen it in the flesh before. And the Soliel coloring made it even more obvious, and Chenzhou had the absurd and ill-timed spark of curiosity to wonder if Eirian would turn that shade when she got that angry.
It was immediately followed by the thought that Chenzhou definitely didn't want to be the reason she got that angry and found out.
"You should remember that while you're the lords of this little backwater, you're nothing in the grand scheme of things." Francis seethed.
Which wasn't strictly true. The Camelia's influence in the capital was less than it should be due to Chenzhou's absence, but that could be rectified quickly now that Eirian was Lady Ye. Until then, her father could definitely make things problematic for them.
"That won't be forever," Eirian warned.
"Don't fool yourself." Her father returned. "I have been part of the game for far longer than you."
And you haven't gotten anywhere, Eirian thought viciously, but Chenzhou's hand landed lightly on her clenched fist, and she kept it to herself.
"You spent all your time running around with a sword in one hand and a drink in the other. You may have learned the ins and outs of the military and the ton, but you didn't bother to learn the way the government really works." Francis sneered. "You make the same mistakes your uncle does. You assume there is only one way to do something, your way, but there are always other ways. You know one. I know many, and I have had the time to make the connections that you have not. Even my brother cannot argue when the majority is against him, and attempting to murder a member of the nobility is always guaranteed to set the Court ablaze."
Translation: he had the power in the shadows to make the situation go exactly the way he wanted it to.
Eirian was practically vibrating in fury behind him, but she wasn't arguing, so she must have known it too.
Chenzhou was not going to condemn a man to death for someone else's mistake. That was not what the Ye family or the Camelia stood for.
"Of course, I could be persuaded to change my mind." Francis offered, spreading his hands like he was offering them mercy on a platter.
Eirian scoffed again, but Chenzhou couldn't help but ask, "In exchange for what?"
"Make my son your heir."
"Of course," Eirian muttered. "And then we'll be dead in a year."
Francis balked, paling suddenly. "You think-"
"Five years." Chenzhou leapt into the breach. "For five years, your son will be our heir. If we don't have a child by then, he will remain our heir."
Francis was silent, but Brigitta quickly stepped in. "We accept."
"Fine." Chenzhou snapped. "You can pack up and set out for the capital tomorrow morning. You'll make it back before the summer storm season starts. Have a good night." It was hard to tell which one of them was dragging which, but Eirian and Chenzhou were both out the door before either Francis or Brigitta could say anything else.
The door slammed shut behind them, and they kept the pace up, practically running down the hallway.
"You better knock up Anna fast." Eirian hissed.
Chenzhou swallowed nervously and nodded.
~ tbc