every king had a story, of ancient glory,sweetly told

It was distinctly rare, in any sense, for Dorian to so willfully disobey his Father. It was, perhaps, a near curious trait of the Fae Monarch that he was so given to do near just as he pleased when it came to his country and its subjects. His decisions so often acted upon without question and yet- King or otherwise- Matteo was still is father. Dorian, much as Sebastian, having grown up within a time and place within the world when a Father's word was near akin to law. Without Alexander himself present, Matteo was, perhaps regrettably, the head of their family. That notion alone so surely enough to prompt Dorian to pause in his efforts to appease his sibling and send that picture Aiden requested of him in the midst of that heated argument. To act out agianst Matteo was a distinctly difficult thing for Dorian in every sense and yet....how his poor flowers had suffered! Let alone Aiden's dearly treasured car. Sebastain, in the least, had managed to quieten the dogs and yet his brother and Father still remained decidedly content to shout at one another. How very bizarre this all was! Dorian, in all his life, was decidedly assured he had almost never seen Matteo raise his voice. Aiden, for his part, was equally inclined to make his feelings on the matter heard as loudly and emotionally as possible. How very unfortunate that this was the family Mira so found herself introduced to! How terribly...poorly this might reflect upon them all. Dorian, in that moment, so given to consider the very reputation of them all.

Mira's shock at their use of Aiden's name was all but drowned out by his father and siblings argument. Dorian was given truly little time to further consider the idea that Aiden, for some obscure reason, seemed to have told Mira he disliked his name before the Fae Kings finger pressed the send button upon his phone. This was the very first true disobedience he had ever offered the Frenchman and yet....for the sake of his sibling, that car and his beloved garden bed, Dorian so found himself distinctly willing to see Matteo suffer at least some consequence! The Monarch's head afforded his sibling the barest of nods to assure him that request had been fulfilled. Alexander, it seemed, was hardly the sort of man to waste time. Barely moments had passed before the ringing of Matteo's phone seemed to bring a sudden silence to that room. Only for Matteo to declare he had raised two narks instead of one.

"Nark?"

That singular word was offered with distinct curiosity toward Sebastian. The Monarch glanced toward his husband then in clear anticipation that the vampire might recognise that word. Dorian almost certain he had never been called such a thing as that before! What in heaven's name was a nark? Aiden, as Dorian had come to anticipate, remained near unflappable in the face of their Father. The Were instead having the very gall to demand of the Frenchman. Matteo, pressured by his younger son and his own Father, so at last strode from the room with the clear intention of repairing that damage he had caused. The Frenchman's parting words coaxed a look of bafflement to Dorians features in turn as the sheer notion that Aiden was corrupting him. Hmmm. Perhaps his sibling had....encouraged him to send that text message and picture. Aiden's utterly unbelievable courage in the wake of Matteo having added further strength to Dorian's own decision. The smallest hint of a simper so found its way to Dorian's lips in that moment. The Monarch not un-inclined to admit he felt near proud of his efforts to assist Aiden this evening before his attention returned at large to Mira. The poor woman so having been forced to suffer through that argument let alone a tirade of questions in which Aiden had done little to aid her.

How baffling a man his brother was. Dorian, for now, was content to dismiss such things. The Monarch instead made every effort to ascertain at least some level of comfort for Mira amongst that fray as he sought to offer tea, or even coffee, his efforts nearly instantly dashed by Matteo once more. The Frenchman having re-appeared within that room to insist that alcohol was surely better before insisting that perhaps Sebastian should fetch it.

"Matteo!"

Dorian's own silver gaze narrowed. That look of disgruntlement was quick to return to his features and yet, as always, the Frenchman seemed content to ignore it as he found himself a place upon the sofa. Aiden was equally content to sit beside him with a small space left between them for Mira. His Father and Brother seemed to have found some measure of contentment within each other once more- how he would never understand them. Mira's voice interrupted that quietude once more, the young woman insisting that she surely preferred alcohol in turn before Dorian's question of her courting Aiden seemed to take her by surprise. Did she not know they were courting? What a perfectly curious couple! How little they seemed to know.....about one another. Sebastian was quick to interject then. His husband sought to clarify that very term by its more modern equivalent. Dorian was so often given to forget those nuances of modern society. A small simple so found the Monarch's features in silent thanks to his lover then before Mira contemplated her own relationship and its apparent lack of a label. That unlabelled courting of sorts seeming to have continued for some two years. How readily that look of surprise found his features! Why on earth had Aiden never mentioned Mira in all that time? Surely....he had contemplated her. Perhaps walked out with her- even bedded her in that time as so seemed the modern custom. Yet- his brother had hardly breathed a word of it to him, even when he had asked. How private he knew Aiden to be and yet surely.....someone so very important as Mira deserved to be spoken off? Did brothers not speak of those things?

A near faint that feeling of...hurt blossomed within the Monarch's chest. Dorian, for now, determined to brush such a thing aside. After all, he so hardly desired to embarrass Mira in any sense by proclaiming Aiden did not speak of her to his own family. For those few moments in which he had known the young woman she seemed decidedly agreeable. If not as confused as the rest of them. Had Aiden truly kept her from them and them from her all this time? Did Aiden never speak of himself or Matteo or Sebastian or Alexander? That discontent continued to stir within the Monarch's chest even despite Dorian's cler effort to prevent such emotion from touching his features. A warm, polite simper so finding his lips instead even if Aiden was afforded a distinctly pointed look. How many questions he so had for Sebastian on this unofficial dating business! His accented words offered to Mira then.

"I am...surprised we haven't met you until now."

Mira moved to settle herself on the couch then, the woman distinctly bold to take that seat between Matteo and Aiden. Dorian shifted to walk toward the opposite couch then before settling himself upon it, a space left beside him for Sebastian. Any further questions however were interrupted by Matteo's sudden irritation with the fireplace. The Frenchman cursed lightly at it before, suddenly, a decidedly blue flame erupted from within only to settle into a warm, orange glow.

"I did not know you could command fire, Matteo?"

How long had the Frenchman been able to do such a thing as that? Was it real fire? It certainly felt as if it was and yet there was a distinct.....power of sorts that seemed to hum, albeit faintly, within that warm glow. Tonight it seemed was an evening for a great deal of questions. The ancient Fae spoke up once more, Matteo explaining Alexander only for Mira to near astutely observe that the Macedonian was likely the order to the chaos of the family. Dorian, this time, unable to prevent the chuckle that rose to his lips at the look upon his Father's face.

"Grandfather is very good at keeping order, yes. He was....in the military. Do you have a large family, Mira?"

Her very words, after all, indicated as much. Dorian was momentarily inclined to wonder if Aiden had met her family yet and whether or not it had been so chaotic as this. Matteo queried Mira further on just how she had come to meet Aiden, even if, Dorian suspected, Matteo already knew that answer. His question perhaps for the benefit of the rest of that family. Mira, in the least, seemed wholly willing to oblige as she told that tale. The woman's mention of her 'wolf' form so readily prompted a clear curiosity to the Monarch's features.

"Oh! You are a wolf? How splendid! I should very much like to see it some time, if I might. I find Were creatures rather fascinating. I know so few of them outside Aiden."

How terribly curious that a wolf and a panther might find companionship in one another. Mira's insistence that she had met Aiden by chance after her car had broken down coaxed but another memory to the forefront of the Monarch's mind. After all, he had met Brennan after his own car had suffered an unfortunate flat tyre. Dorian, to this day, rather convinced the man had been a pirate even if he had argued otherwise. That notion of a silver trap however was another manner entirely.

"Do people....seek to trap Weres?"

This, Dorian was certain, was the first he had ever heard of something so ludicrous. People, surely, did not hunt Were-Creatures. They were people too after all. A distinct sense of injustice settled firmly within the Monarch at even the idea. Yet the matter of Aiden and Mira's relationship still lingered at the forefront of his mind. Sebastian, after all, had seen that red thread that linked them. Mira was no mere 'girlfriend'. Not truly and yet....how readily Dorian suspected neither of that couple had but any idea.

"Is there a title either of you might prefer to....girlfriend?"

That title, after all, despite Matteo's ready use of it seemed to be a distinctly....difficult topic for the both of them. The Monarch offering that warm simper as he spoke.

dorian ellington-aragona