It was with a distinctly purposeful frown that the Monarch continued to eye those sheets of paper before him. Dorian tapping his pencil upon that page several times in consideration and yet no matter how much he might desire it otherwise those words did not change, nor, sadly, did those numbers within the columns beside them. Such...sad little numbers they were too. That unemployment rate within Italy was improving markedly and yet it was still not as he desired it to be. They could still do better, surely? A national program perhaps? Some sort of added incentive to employ young people? How was it so that other countries were doing so well upon this very matter and his own continued to lag! He could not possibly allow it to continue. How many beings existed even within his own parliament who desired to see him fail! Dorian assured he would not afford them the satisfaction of that. He was aged perhaps. Used to a certain lifestyle that had forfeited him of any true responsibility for so many years and yet Dorian was nothing if not determined to be that King his country deserved, the very King his country needed and the very man he was assured his husband believed him to be in turn. Sebastian, by far, his staunchest of supporters in every bill and law and political standpoint. How on earth he had lived so long without that man he called his own he hardly knew. The mere thought off his lover, even now, prompting that faint simper to his lips before his gaze turned to that clock within his office. That evening briefing due to be held in the next few moments. Dorian having decided, this evening, that it might as well be held in Sebastian's office if only for no other reason then Dorian was assured his office had hosted it several nights in a row.

The Monarch pushed easily away from his desk then. That very motion so prompting that brown brindled Cursinu dog to rise from his place upon the floor. That gangly young dog still having failed to grow fully into his body and yet Prescott was rarely concerned with such trivial things as his own ungainliness. The Fae King's hand reached out near automatically to rest upon the animals head as Prescott loped beside him and towards Sebastian's own office. This one of the rare evenings in which both men found themselves all but swimming in the paperwork of their respective business. How Dorian loathed such evenings when he might truly be forced to....work without Sebastian there beside him and yet how terribly....distracting they so tended to be to one another if they so allowed themselves to remain in the same room to long. Perhaps later tonight he might yet coax the vampire away from his work if only for a little while. Dorian readily reached Sebastian's own office in near the same moment as Emma appeared from down the hall herself. His PA, as always, appearing thoroughly distressed by that list of countless tasks that seemed forever to fill her mind in such a fashion Dorian found himself surprised she managed to complete those more basic daily tasks. Prescott was the first to hurry into that room in search of his brother. That larger, older Rottweiler dog rising from his place beside Sebastian to perform that delightful play bow of sorts that readily seemed to encourage his canine brother. The pair colliding in playful exuberance that was far to energetic for that room. Dorian very near forced to dodge those creatures as Prescott took up that excited barking.

"Prescott, please use your inside voice."

That dog's head turned readily toward him then, the sound of his name, Dorian suspected, the cause for such a look before both dogs all but charged out of that room. That excited barking echoing throughout the mansion. The Fae King quite unable to prevent that warm simper that found his lips at the very delight those dogs seemed to find in one another before he so crossed that room toward his lovers own desk and that chair Sebastian sat within. How easy it was to brush his lips against his husbands own in that touch of a warm affection. Dorian moving to seat himself upon the edge of Sebastian's desk then before insisting he was, now, ready to hear Emma's evening report. The young woman strigntening herself up readily then. "Italy is doing very well on the stock market today, you will be happy to hear. There has been a two percent growth in agriculture and the minister for education reports promising attitudes towards your Majesty reforms. His Highness Sebastian has a meeting with two shareholders in relation to mining at ten past midnight and a conference call just after one. His Majesty has several documents regarding a new hospital to review, an online meeting with the minister for defense at midnight, oh, and you have tea in the next hour with a....Mr Brennan and Guest."

"Heavens, that's tonight?"
"Yes your Majesty."
"I was not anticipating he would bring a guest. He is that pirate I told you about Sebastian. Do you recall that night I phoned you from that terrifying bar filled with Irishman? Brennan was the Pirate Warlock who fixed the car tyre. I offered him a book in exchange for his services and asked him to tea. I quite forgot it was tonight though. Emma, who is he bringing?"
"A young witch, a Miss Seraphina."

How quickly the Monarch's features seemed to pale at the idea of a witch within his own home. Sebastian sure to feel that near fluttering of his heart as Dorian so strove not to allow that touch of anxiety to find his features. It was utterly foolish, surely, to feel any sense of concern. A witch he had never met was unlikely to desire to bring him any harm and yet how tightly those old fears still clung to his chest. Dorian so insisting Emma have Charles set another place at that tea table before the woman hurried off. The Fae King distinctly assured he could feel his husbands gaze upon him then as he toyed with that very wedding ring upon his fingers. His silvered gaze so at las shifting to the ardent blue off his lovers own with a simper both sheepish and somewhat contrite all at once.

"Bastian. Would you...care to come to tea? I know you are quite busy tonight but I find that that I...."

How very thick those words felt upon his tongue! Dorian assured he had come so terribly, terribly far in those past few years and yet- how well the memory off his life and what it had been behind these palace walls still existed within him. How much he feared losing but any of those things he had gained- foolish though such a notion might have been. Those italian words finding him then.

"Ho ancora paura delle streghe." (I am still afraid of witches.)

How strange that he might still feel near ashamed of that admittance and yet, was his very husband not the man he could admit those very things too? Dorian, in that moment, doing as he so rarely ever did and seeking his lovers distinct....protection. Sebastian's mere presence having become something of a feeling of safety for the Monarch even if he rarely admitted it. His features softened readily in those moments, another kiss pressed to Sebastian cheek before he so insisted he intended to head upstairs to find his tie and change into those dress pants and collared shirt. Sebastian free to join that small gathering when he saw fit. That very love he had for the vampire blossoming all the more as he moved to attend to those very tasks off dressing. It was forty or so minutes later that Dorian so moved to designed the right side of that double staircase within that near glorious marble entrance hall, that chandelier above so casting that patterned light down upon it as Charles opened that front door to admit Brennan and Serafina with the insistence His Majesty would be down in a moment and that Brennan would so be required to remove his shoes. Dorian reaching the bottom of that staircase just as the pair so stepped within.

"It's quite alright Charles I hardly need a moment, I'm here."

That easy simper so found his lips once more despite that near nervous fluttering off his heart at the mere sight of that woman. The Monarch already aware f that distinct...aura of magical affinity that seemed to so exist around her, that very same feeling so lingering about Brennan and yet he remained near vastly more attuned to Serafina's own if only for that fear that gripped at his chest. A fear that remained near perfectly concealed. Dorian nothing if not a product off his time in which those manners were the very epitome of socialization. His hand extended readily towards Brennan then, offering it that simple firm shake and ready grin.

"It is good to see you again Brennan. I told Sebastian all about the Pirate I had met and I am quite sure he did not believe me. Please come in."

His attention turned readily to Serafina then as Charles so offered to take the woman's shawl. Dorian's silvered gaze widening readily at the sight of that very dress that lay beneath and the distinct vision of the shapely curves and swells off her figure that very fabric so displayed. That near rush of colour all but flooding the Monarch's features in that moment. Heavens! But she was practically undressed! Dorian very near inclined to insist her shawl be returned to her. The Monarch hurriedly attempting to avert his gaze in near any other direction lest he be thought off as terribly improper. The fae so struggling to conceal how decidedly flustered that outfit alone had rendered him. Dorian assured he had never seen such a thing upon a woman. His head nodded in greeting all the same as he moved to take the woman's hand in that distinctly age old fashion, his lips so gracing the back off it before smoothly releasing it.

"I fear we have not met before, but it is a pleasure to meet you too. I am Dorian. My husband, Sebastian will be down in a moment."

That simper so found his lips once more even despite his efforts not to allow his gaze to stray over that dress. Dorian wholly quick to gesture toward that living room then before moving to lead the way into the second, equally lavish room where that tea table had been set up. That very spread nothing short of utterly opulent in turn from that fine bone china tea set so rimmed with gold to those equally golden trays adorned with cakes and slices and biscuits. Each place neatly set with linen napkins so bearing that Crest of the joint Aragona-Ellington house and royal seal. That manservant, Charles, moved with equal efficacy, holding out that chair for first Serafina and then Brennan as Dorian moved to find his own seat at the head of that small table. Elizabeth appearing a moment later to inquire as to how Serafina and Brennan took their tea. Dorian gesturing to those cakes and sweet treats in turn.

"Please, feel free to help yourselves- ah, Brennan, we have provided you a cake fork for such matters.....the third fork on your right."

The warlocks attempts to reach with his hands for that nearest cupcake readily prompted that polite if not firm correction on the Monarch's part. That faint touch of amusement finding his features all the same. Dorian still making every effort not to look toward Serafina lest that warmth return to his features. His mind positively aglow with questions on that very outfit and its utter daring. Was such a thing common now? Brennan, in turn, appearing decidedly more dapper then the man he had met at the bar. Dorians gaze shifting between the pair in that moment.

"Forgive me, but are you two courting?'