Chapter Text
Chapter 3
Alec prided himself on knowing when something was going on in his circle. Particularly when it had something to do with the children. He’d always been first to know when someone was pregnant, who the parents were, he’d won more than one betting pool for due dates, if any of the children were hurt or when they were valiantly trying to hide something.
Their circle’s oldest children were all trying to hide something at this point. He knew that. They were old enough to have their own secrets. Kesmar knew they were all starting “secret” relationships. As if they could hide anything from Alec.
There were bets going among some of his bonded to see if they could find out who their oldest was courting.
Child’s play.
Not that Mari didn’t deserve some kind of privacy from some of the nosier family members. It was also bold of them to think that Alec didn’t know about her post study session rendezvous with Javier Whitestorm. His branch of the family Whitestorm family was questionable, but the kid himself was honorable, no misdemeanors and had a steady job. Mari’s secret was safe with Alec. He’d let his land walking bonded suffer.
That still left Alec with a problem.
It was often that little Felix had a secret.
Their youngest was the result of Alec, Harry and Beck. They were still trying to figure out where his unique amber eyes came from, but there was enough mixed blood between Beck and Harry for quite a few eye color combinations.
Their youngest child was currently practicing with a training sword out on the beach. Annoyingly enough, his current favorite parent, outside of Harry, was Wikhn. And, because Wikhn used a sword, Felix was learning swords as well. It didn’t help that Wikhn’s child, Gale, was also a swordsman in training in the pits, and he had been Felix’s favorite sibling.
Alec was swimming in the shallows, keeping watch. Someone had to make sure the kid didn’t hurt himself. Felix’s form was off and he was scowling enough to have Alec more than aware he’d sired that boy.
So, Alec did the only responsible thing and made his way onto the sand. As much as he’d rather drag Felix out into the water, the kid did not like being pulled away from his sword practice. “Is something on your mind,” Alec asked as Felix nearly slipped.
His son let out an annoyed huff before carefully putting his wooden training sword down and then plopping down a bit away from it on the sand. “I dunno. Everyone’s being weird,” he grumbled.
That didn’t tell Alec much of anything, but he just sat himself next to Felix, who curled up next to him. “Land walkers tend to do strange things, I keep telling you that,” he replied. Felix already needed a lot of time in the water. Alec was hoping for at least one or two children that would end up following their merrow parents below the waves.
Felix let out a quiet giggle. “Why is everyone suddenly secret kissing? Is that a land walker thing or do merrow do it too?” He asked innocently.
Alec thought this kind of talk was years in the future, but then again, everyone around the house was talking about it. Not to mention his siblings were out on pretend dates that were driving the family gheyo into a tizzy. “No one should be kissing in secret,” Alec eventually said.
Felix let out an exasperated noise that he had to have learned from his mera. “Then why does Jace do it all the time? Why is Mari seeing Jace’s friends? Why does Ingrid have a crush on Dimi?”
Too many questions and so few age appropriate answers. Jace was going to get a stern talking to. If he was going to bring his paramours around, he needed to not get caught by a child…then again, no one else had seen him.
Maybe Felix was just gifted and Alec needed to start training him in the ways of being a spymaster now. Or, Alec realized with dawning horror, he was just as good at finding trouble as his mera. “Papa, are you okay?" He asked as he patted Alec’s face was a small hand.
Alec hauled the child up and swung him over his left shoulder, much to Felix’s delight. “Oh, little lionfish, I’m fine. Let’s get you inside,” he replied over Felix’s laughter.
Dinner that night was a loud affair with four guests visiting, all of different gheyo ranks around the Mari’s age. Alec recognized all of them as friends of Jace and Lara.
The landwalkers were scrutinizing all of them, trying to figure out which one could possibly be Mari’s paramour.
Idiots.
The twins in particular were being glaringly obvious with their questions. They had learned nothing of subtly over the last twenty years.
The shadows around the room were listening in on every conversation and no doubt reporting back to Hadrian.
Alas, none of that would help here.
Harry was just grinning behind every forkful of food he put into his mouth. He knew this was all a farce, but wasn’t ruining the fun for the kids. Their submissive thrived in this kind of chaos, surrounded by his children and bonded. It made Alec’s ice cold heart melt, just a bit.
The table was loud. Jace and Lara were laughing and whispering to each other and Mari were having an engaging conversation with one of the gheyos. Felix was slowly losing steam and starting to blink between bites of food. Ethan shared a look with Alec over the kid’s head, a clear signal that he’d be taken out of the room and prepped for bed shortly.
Their other three hellions were off at various friends’ houses for the evening.
After their guests left for the evening and the children went up to bed, the bonded that had placed bets on this were all whispering in the family room. “So…did we learn anything?”
“I learned that you’re all still idiots,” Alec said with a shrug.
“Did anyone learn anything useful?” Fred said a bit louder.
Alec scoffed before leaving the room. He had far better things to do this evening.
~*~
Alec waited outside Felix’s room for their circle’s chaos magnet of a submissive. The other members of their circle were no doubt still whispering to each other, or were out on patrol. All by Alec’s design to have a few moments alone with Harry, who was tiptoeing out of their youngest’s room.
Once the door was quietly shut and the monitoring charms were applied Alec spoke. “Has Felix been your accidental informant for our children’s romantic trysts?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
Harry rolled his eyes. “Not for all of his siblings. Jace just happens to have a room on the same side of the house,” he wrapped an arm around Alec’s waist. “I’m assuming you know exactly who our children are seeing, dear spymaster?”
Alec grinned and leaned down, a breath away from his darling submissive’s mouth. “Naturally. I have their full family lineage and at least sixteen different ways to get rid of them, should they hurt our children,” he replied.
“You say the sweetest things,” Harry murmured against his lips.
And his stubborn submissive didn’t want a political circle all those years ago…
The two broke apart and Alec steered them towards the submerged resting room for the evening. Alec would get Harry all to himself and get to gossip without the landwalkers hearing anything. What a lovely evening,
Of course, that had to be ruined by the single landwalker that enjoyed the submerged rooms. “Desten! You’re back!” Harry cried when he saw his beloved princess floating on his back in water. Harry dove in, his form changing as he went under the water. His long serpent tail curled around Desten easily.
Alec rolled his eyes and slowly entered the water after them.
He just hoped this didn’t ruin the gossip to come.
Leave it to Desten to spoil his fun.