｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,"Forgive me, you must have mistaken my admiration for the stunning beauty on your arm as affection for you."*:･ﾟ☆

Riven

"Mon Guierre? Are you lecturing again?" A sleepy voice whispers and I turn around to see Irene bundled up in a warm jumper with her hair braided in twin french braids entering from the kitchen.

She looks tired and exhausted, the scar on her face stark and bright against her pale skin but she is distinctly human for once.

"Oh," She pauses, suddenly taking in the full room as a hand drifts protectively to her stomach. "We have guests."

"Family pizza night, my love." Silva answers as he stands to greet his mate, wrapping her in a gentle hug as we all turn away to give them a moment of privacy.

Well, almost all of us. I catch both Andreas and Dowling staring at the murmuring couple.

Andreas is worried about the baby, Fenriz answers for me. He's regretting his actions during the battle, for putting the both of them at risk.

And Dowling, Helios I really want to know what's going on with that bitch.

The shadow hums, Dowling wants to be a part of that, there's some kind of second connection to Silva, a second Eusebia bond - probably a mate one - Dowling's magic seems to be connected to it.

But not Dowling? I question in confusion, feeling quite defensive of my new family.

Yes and no. That type of bond can adapt and change with time and it seems Dowling and Silva have spent the last two decades getting closer. It was inevitable that Dowling and even Harvey would have left a magical trace on him. They've been by each other's sides for so long.

But Dowling's magic has connected to Silva? I watch from the corner of my eye as Silva leads Irene to his previous seat nestling her between Sky and Andreas as he takes the seat next to me.

It goes both ways, the two would have had to get closer together for this to happen. Fenriz warns.

Fucking Silva, what the hell is he doing?

Speaking of, Sky and Silva are doting on Irene, piling food on her plate and asking if she's okay.

I roll my eyes and share an amused glance with Andreas before quickly turning away to look down at my mate who appears to be slowly drifting off to sleep. Not that I blame her, it's been a long day.

Grabbing a whole plate of pizza I turn back to the situation at hand, grinning as Andreas bats away Silva's hands from his own plate.

"Here." I declare, effectively silencing the warring males who all turn to look at me as I hand Irene the pizza.

"You, Riven, are perfect my boy." She grins and gives me a soft genuine smile and I ignore the pleased feeling in my chest.

The males before me grumble in irritation, Andreas muttering that in reality he was defending her honour from Sky and Silva, both send him offended glares.

Irene hums in delight as she munches on the pizza and Silva quickly stands to retrieve the jug of water. Poor Irene, stuck on soft drinks while the others have alcohol.

I would actually die if I was forced to cut off all my shit.

"How are you feeling?" Bea whispers to her, eyes shining with worry and Silva and Sky eye her curiously.

"I'm alright Mikrí Kataigída." Irene smiles at her but the exhaustion lining her face is obvious. "Just need to rest for the rest of the day."

"You're taking the week off." Silva insists, voice more pleading than demanding. "You both need rest."

"I'll get lonely trapped up here." She whines jokingly but Sky seems to take it seriously.

"We can come visit you and it's not like you can't just have picnics down by the specialist grounds."

"You killed a shit load of-"

"Language" "Riv", Silva and Sky immediately interrupt and I raise a hand in mock surrender as Tavia giggles by my side.

"What he meant to say," Silva adds quietly. "Is that you went on a hot as fuck killing spree and slaughtered those bastards and avenged our specialists."

We all blink at his savage tone.

"But you need to rest now, the fight is over." His voice goes back to being silky sweet.

I shudder at the quick shift in tones. Super creepy.

Irene huffs and goes to reply.

"We could continue our lessons, go through those books like you wanted to." Beatrix murmurs, smiling at Irene but I can see she means it genuinely even if she is using her 'bullshit Dowling' tone.

"I see what you're doing," Irene's eyes narrow on Trixie and her playful smile begins to wilt. "But I shall concede and agree to your terms."

Beatrix instantly brightens up and I see Andreas shoot Irene a grateful look.

"You won't be teaching then?" Dowling calls down the table and silence slowly descends.

"No," Irene answers somewhat hesitantly, clearly not feeling at her full game. "I'm going to take some time to rest."

"For how long?" The Headmistress frowns with beautifully crafted worry that has the Harvey family, Musa and I suspect even Stella believing her.

Not me though. I'm a distrustful bitch through and through.

"Just for the week." Silva tenses, frowning at Dowling.

"Just the week?" Dowling's brows furrow, "Are you sure that's wise."

"You are pregnant, my friend," Harvey butts in looking at my mother in concern. "Perhaps a longer rest would be beneficial."

Oh that's not going to go down well.

But Irene falters for a second. A second of doubt.

Because she knows the risk that she is taking, she's seen the price of war and every specialist knows how much Silvas craved a family. I'm not sure why they didn't have more children when they had Sky.

"I will be taking maternity leave of course," Irene choses to say instead, "And I have no intention of going on any missions-"

"But what about the mission you just went on?" Terra bumbles and we all look at her in surprise as she blushes but doesn't back down. "It was an emergency situation, what are you going to do-"

"That is something my mate and I will be discussing in private." Silva intercedes with a stern voice, his face carefully blank but anyone can see how his knuckles have gone white as he clenches his cutlery.

"I agree," Dowling smiles at Silva before looking to Terra, "This is something for us-"

"Forgive me." Andreas states, looking every bit of a ferocious wolf and not the least bit apologetic.

"But have I missed something?" He gestures out with his hands, "Why are you involved with this conversation."

"As headmistress-"

"Yes," He muses, "As headmistress."

He holds her gaze, "When did headmistresses start taking an interest in their employees' private lives."

"When they started affecting their ability to work."

The two are locked in a battle of wills, neither submitting for a long minute of tense silence.

"Perhaps," Harvey begins, "This is a conversation best suited for a meeting room rather than family dinner."

I see Irene frown slightly, looking away in confusion as Silva's gaze rests on her with worry. She looks at him, eyes sad and confused.

"I didn't know." He whispers, voice desperate and low but she merely nods and looks back to her food.

Silva goes silent, his fork clattering back to his plate as he drops the bite of pizza and turns to face Dowling at the other end of the table. If glares could kill she would be six feet under.

What didn't he know? I whisper.

How the others felt about Irene getting pregnant. Fenriz answers, It's not ideal, not with the war and the increased need for competent teachers.

Not to mention they're judgmental bitches. I smile at his words.

I can't help but pause at Silva's glare, I've never seen him look at Dowling like this before. He's always looked at her with respect and this past year with something more, but now...

Something has changed and I don't think there's an option to go back.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Octavia

The meal continued on in relative silence, brief discussions of movies, hobbies and interests flickering in and out. There's an unspoken rule to not bring up work. Not after Dowling and Andreas' little tryst.

Are you perking up a little? Darkling whispers.

I ignore him.

I'm still pissed at them for hurting Stella.

Irene smiles at Silva slightly before standing with her plate, moving to take Silva's until he stops her with a gentle hand. Choosing instead to take the empty plate from her hand along with his own into the kitchen

"Did you hear about Julia?" Musa asks, her question open. "She, Francessa and Kat have built an Omada."

"Oh yes, didn't Xavier and- and." Terra snaps her fingers in frustration as she thinks. "What's his name... he's a specialist, right?"

"Yeah," Sky answers as he stands, carrying his plate and picking up Riven and I's. "Isn't his name Trevor."

I smile at the resounding sighs of frustration and understanding as Sky carries the empty plates into the kitchen.

"Of course he is." Terra grumbles, huffing with a laugh.

I feel Riven tighten his arm around my shoulder as small chuckles escape me and I look up to see him give me a soft smile, forcing a blush to rise on my cheeks.

Sky, Silva and Harvey walk back into the room holding various plates of dessert food and they are instantly greeted with sounds of joy and appreciation. Damn I can't wait for the pudding.

A plate of brownies is placed between Riv and I by Sky who gives me a quick kiss before piling some of the brownies, cupcakes and truffles onto a small plate for Irene.

For a moment we are all just content to sit and moan in delight at the sugary goodness.v The brownies are so fucking good and I turn to look up at Riven, moaning in pleasure at the taste and appreciating the way his eyes darken at the noise.

I can practically feel Sky's gaze burning into the side of my head as well and I slowly turn to give him an innocent smile, doing my best to hide my grin when his eyes narrow.

"These cupcakes are delicious." Irene comments, breaking the silence.

"Oh," Terra perks up and I fight the urge to wince. Beatrix is not moving on from her comment to Irene as quickly as the others if her glare is anything to go by. "I made those, lemon and lavender."

"I quite agree," Dowling hums, giving the earth fairy a soft genuine smile. "They are a success."

"I think I'm leaning towards the brownies more, myself." Bea comments absently. "I prefer the richer taste."

"Why thank you Trixie." My mate jests, "I made them specially for you."

She rolls her eyes, scrunching her nose up in irritation at the name.

"No need to pet name me, dearest." Her voice is sickly sweet and I grin in delight. "I don't think we're there yet."

"But honey," I can hear Riven's pout, "You've been eyeing me all night."

She hums and electricity sparks in her eyes, "Forgive me, you must have mistaken my admiration for the stunning beauty on your arm as affection for you."

Chuckles break out amongst our little corner of the table, Sky and I share a quick glance of amusement as Riven imitates being stabbed in the heart.

"I didn't know you baked, Riven." Sam interrupts our moment and I see Musa pinch his arm.

To his credit he barely winces at the mind fairies reprimand, even as guilt flickers through his eyes at quieting the gentle laughter.

I wish it wasn't so hard to connect the dots right now, I'm going to have to clear Riven's drug record in the social spheres now that we're public. I don't want him forced in the middle of a royal scandal.

"On occasion." My mates both tense up and I feel myself doing the same.

I can see both Beatrix and Silva becoming more alert as the mood begins to shift, it's only Andreas and Irene who stare unperturbed down the table. Waiting for the inevitable.

Why must they always judge him for how he deals with his grief?

"Is this something we should be worried about?" Professor Harvey comments as he eats a truffle.

Riven remains silent, not knowing what to say.

Harvey sighs, "Please tell me you didn't-"

"I recall you being quite the fan of the brownies Andreas made back in the day." Irene interrupts, staring the teacher down with an annoyed look.

"I thought we were striving for a better education for our students." Dowling gets involved now but her gaze is fixed on Irene.

"It's weed Farah." Irene states with an incredulous tone, "You make it sound like heroine, murder or dropping out."

She mocks the last part and I see Beatrix's eyes light up at her words.

Sweet Helios I almost forgot that Irene has taken her on as a protege. Beatrix is probably taking notes on her ability to silence a room and bring men to their knees with just a word rather than actual studies.

"But it is still against Alfea's rules." Dowling states and everyone begins to tense.

My magic rumbles to life, Bea and I sharing a quick glance of 'this bitch is toeing the line'.

"Is it not in Alfea's rule to respond to all distress calls within an hour?" The shifter snarls, voice low and quiet as she angles in her chair to look at the headmistress directly. "Is it not in the rules to respect mate bonds, to support the royal family and respond and monitor all threats in our region of care."

Silence. Utter silence.

So we're having this argument then.

It seems the no work talk rule has been broken. Darkling drawls and despite my tense of fear I huff a smile.

indeed it has.

"You are out of line."

"So were you." Irene doesn't hesitate to snap back, suddenly lighting up as the full implications of her family being threatened rears in her mind.

I can practically see it happening. She wouldn't fight early when Dowling attacked her personally, but when she went for Riven, especially when she left Silva for dead... this is going to be brutal.

"My mate sent out the call for help two hours prior to Octavia's arrival, 3 hours prior to your involvement and if it hadn't been for Andreas they would all be dead."

"We didn't have accurate information, had we gone head first into battle without knowing what we were facing I would have gotten all of my soldiers killed." Guilt has my throat closing up when Dowling's glaze catches mine. "Speaking of, why were you leading my students as though they were soldiers."

"Why weren't you leading them yourself?" Sky's voice is low and dark as he stares at the headmistress. "You needed information, yes, but it does not take three hours to gather."

He's never been more attractive than in this moment.

"How would you know, what experience do you have to judge our actions?" Harvey snaps, glaring with slight shock at the boy who had been raised beside his own children.

That little fucker-

"I know it took us thirty minutes to find all the confirmed reports in Silva's office from the emergency box, I know we combined it with General Lykos' reports and I know it took us a further thirty to have all the specialists briefed and in the cars with their gear."

Sky refuses to back down from either teacher's glare and pride swells in my chest and I can see Andreas smirk in delight and Silva's stern look but he has to turn away to hide his grin

"I know we did everything you taught us, I know we planned the best we could with the information on hand - information that turned out to be so horrifically wrong that someone's head should be on a platter -"

"That is not your call." Dowling snaps, eyes alight with barely concealed fury.

He's right though. Something was wrong with the information, really fucking wrong. Three Burned Ones in our area instead of the large pack we faced, not to mention the cave goblins that we thought to be extinct.

No one can screw up that bad, not on an individual level.

"But it is yours." Andreas states, taking over for his overly emotional son who is vibrating with rage, even though it appears that Drea is just as mad. "More things have changed than I realised it seems."

"Everything has changed." Farrah's voice is low and dark, "But how could you possibly know that when you weren't here for any of it."

"That is something I intend to discuss with my family first and if I feel like it maybe I'll tell you a few crumbs too." He snarls, voice low at her accusations.

"I might have been away but I have not forgotten how one should be leading and caring for those under their charge." His face is calm but his eyes are alight with fury. "I looked through your reports, your finances, your book logs- Helios, I've had to put off being able to talk to my son because your incompetence has put my children in danger."

"Leave, now." Harvey commands, looking to Musa and his children and they quickly follow his command, hurrying out of the room.

"Sky, Rive-"

"Do not presume to command my family in their home." Silva glares at his friend, "They will stay if they wish to."

There's a moment of silence.

"We can discuss this further once you have settled in and talked with your... family." Dowling stares at Andreas with a tone of dismissal that clearly conveys they won't be talking about it.

"How can I settle Farrah and talk through why I wasn't here when here might not be safe? When these very walls could fall apart, when the barrier could break and your information could - has - killed lives."

"For starters, the information is fucking abysmal and you clearly haven't doubled checked it. Octavia's reports are the most accurate but hers have to be taken with a pinch of salt based on who they come from."

Fair enough.

"Not to mention the changeling you have taken in, a changeling who has been taking out ancient texts from the libraries and not returning half of them. One who I found running around the forest with Burned Ones as though they were no more than unruly pets to her-"

"Do not speak of my students." Farrah's eyes flare with magic, "You have no right to judge anyone here."

"Don't I!" He snaps, "Why do you have any right to lead us? Rosalind certainly didn't leave the school in your care."

He pauses, taking heaving breaths and I look at him in shock. Why would he bring Rosalind up? Farrah doesn't need a reason to suspect we've had any communication with her.

"Enough." Irene whispers, her voice soft and broken but it has all movement ceasing.

"Why are you even here?" She whispers into the silence and we all tense at the utter heartbreak in Andreas' eyes.

He clears his throat. "I came back for my family."

His voice is thick and vulnerable, completely open and nothing like the rage coated snarls from seconds prior. My heart breaks at how my mentor bares himself open without hesitation for us, for those he considers family.

"I came as soon as I could get away, I tried to find you sooner-"

"Not you." Irene whispers gently, placing a hand over his on the table.

"Why are you at our family night Farrah?" There's not a single bit of hostility in Irene's eyes as she stares at the headmistress.

"I was invited as always." Dowling has gone tense, casting an uncertain gaze to Silva.

"Don't look at him, look at me." Irene commands gently, her delicate tone completely at war with the sheer power she has. "You have done nothing but cause problems for my family and instead of coming her to apologise and talk things through you have found a problem with my son, questioned Andreas and challenged Octavia."

There's a pause as I look at Irene in shock and surprise.

How can she be so calm?

"Now unlike you I can admit my faults and when I am wrong, and I shouldn't have brought up the battle during family time - a time we had vowed to never include work talks or arguments in - yet I did. For that I apologise." She eyes Dowling like a predator would prey, that scar of hers twisting her innocent looking face into one of a warrior. "Yet you have not once apologised for your actions."

"Nor do you have any intention of doing so." Irene adds quietly.

"I'm sorry we lost lives." Dowling whispers, voice trembling slightly. "But I cannot apologise for the decisions made."

"I know." Irene hums, "So I'll ask again, why are you here?"

"I was invited."

"By who?" Irene snarls, the beast within begins to surface but I see her wince in discomfort and a hand drifts to her stomach.

"I invited her."

A/N: Are there any arguments or topics you would like to see discussed?