"Come sit"

Alaric commands wearily as you creep into his privy chamber, a sympathetic frown on your pretty face. He pats his lap from the chaise, a glass of strong ale clutched in his steady hands, he brings it to your lips as he seats you in his lap, bringing his lips to your shoulders

Alaric sank into a deep depression when he lost his wife ten years earlier, it was a marriage of political convenience, not one of renowned romance but he had found a friend in his wife, a kindred spirit. After two sons and fifteen years of marriage, it almost killed him to lose his best friend, the closest to romance he thought he would get. Then you came along. A courtier with a gentle demeanor and an eager ear, at first he merely regaled you with tales he found in his library but your visits quickly became to his bed too.

Alaric adores you, he does.He has never experienced a love so untainted by the rest of the court, he likes to believe Eleanor would want him to be happy with you. You're his perfect little secret. His time for ruling is over, he does not wish to make a stir and you do not want that either, so he will not marry you. It is time for his sons to marry, soon he will hand over the throne to Phillip and Reagan will begin his time as a squire. When this time comes Alaric intends to bring you with him to his castle in the west. He will have a smaller court there and wed you in a home belonging to you both. It's more than he ever could have hoped for

That is if his sons stop being such colossal headaches. Alaric has spent the week trying to engage Phillip to a foreign princess however Phillip fights him every step of the way, making the princess feel vulnerable and insulted. Alaric swears he's going to kill him. And Reagan isn't much better, he was found with one of the serving girls, Alaric is up to his eyeballs with pressure and he needs your gentle touch to soothe his rage or he feels he might murder his beloved sons