With Friends Like These

The peaceful afternoon had to come with painful distractions, she thought. "You do not appear exceptionally fond of me," Rachel intoned, as her eyes narrowed at the man sitting across from her. She is used to indifference or disdain, but someone being cautious of her - especially a supposed ally - held too many red flags for her to shrug off. To her, it was best that such troubles were confronted early and head-on, before given the chance to fester.
"Is that so? My apologies, Lady Belfour," Julian coolly responded, as if brushing aside Rachel's concerns with little fanfare. To him, everyone was worth scrutinizing, even if he did not have the same scrying power as Zoey, or the combat prowess of Rachel or Jason. He continued to pour his tea into his mug, while Rachel kept her gaze leveled at him. "Did I accidentally spill some on my shirt?"
Out of all the retainer relationships within House Mitfield at the present moment, there was a clear tension that existed between Julian Cross and Rachel Belfour. To say that it was sour would be an understatement - the tension was so palpable that even Jacob himself wondered if something happened between the two that should be cause for concern. To that point, he "left" both of them behind while performing a visit to one of the kingdom's northern reaches - taking only his wife, Jason, and Zoey with him.
He figured that if they were going to kill each other, it would be best to keep others away. Or they would mend their bridges and become productive retainers of his, instead of letting this petty rivalry sour their working relationship.
"What I do not understand - and I do hope you would enlighten me on this - is why I have earned much of your pointed ire," Rachel continued. With their liege gone for the week, and with most of the castle staff keeping to their own, there was little to do aside from training.
"Oh? So you are not as blinded when my cousin is away. What an interesting development this is," Julian noted with a faint sneer. A faint smirk was forming on his face, before it evaporated as one of Rachel's fans was pointed at the bridge of his nose.
"I don't have to take that from you." Her voice was low, carrying vitriol and murderous intent - strong enough that even Julian himself had to crane his head back. "First, you needle me with your endless criticism, and now you openly display your disdain for me and even call my devotion to my lord into question. What do you want from me?"
"A reason." Julian stood up, straightening his tie, before looking directly into Rachel's eyes, as if judging her soul. "The true motivation for your devotion to my cousin. And I do not advise lying to me about it, either," he warned.
"Are you insinuating that my devotion to him is derived from less than pure means?" Rachel demanded, finding the urge to murder Julian growing by the minute.
"It is not like he'd even notice you to begin with," Julian helpfully supplied, even as he took mental note of the quickest way out of the room should Rachel decide to be done with him permanently. "He only has eyes for Iris. Hell, you could probably strip naked in front of him, and he'd ignore you."
"... you're right," she relented, folding her fans and tucking them back under her sleeves. "Everyone else always is. He'd never stop to think about me that way - not in the way that I want," she admitted, hurt creeping into her voice.
Julian nodded, though he internally winced for stepping onto that particular landmine. "So... who set you up to pursue him?" he asked, expecting to hear that her father was up to no good again, and that his old man might be needed to kick a lord a few pegs down.
"..." Rachel's mind finally clicked the pieces together. Julian's antagonism of her wasn't out of spite - but out of duty! "... you... you!" She began to giggle, then cackle, then fall to the ground, wheezing and clutching her sides as she heartily laughed for the next few minutes. Throughout all of this, Julian was left confused and pondering if Rachel finally underwent a stress-induced breakdown. He backed a few paces away, fearing the worst if she decided to snap and take him along for the ride.
After laughing with enough force that appeared to have hurt her, she slowly braced herself on a chair, and held onto it for a couple of moments, steadying herself. Once the pain of practically laughing herself to near-hysteria subsided, she looked into Julian, without the tinges of pain or suspicion that she regarded him earlier. "If you are wondering if my father put me up to this, I can safely say no. My love for Jacob, and for Iris for that matter as well, was not borne out of an old man's overreaching ambition."
"Both of them, you say?" Julian long suspected (and now had confirmed) Rachel's affections for his younger cousin, but to hear she also had eyes for Iris as well? "And does anyone else know about your... longing?"
Rachel did not let her gaze abate Julian's, even as she debated what was safe for him to know for a couple of ticks. She figured it would be safe to tell him the truth. "Zoey knows. Jason knows. Iris knows."
"Of course the tiefling would know, as wou- wait what?" Julian's mind came to a halt when Rachel dropped Iris' name in conversation. "She knows about your affection for her husband? And for her?"
Rachel smirked, and leaned in to whisper into Julian's ear. The result could not have satisfied her more - Julian's cheeks burned brightly, his ears singed, and he sputtered, his grip on reality temporarily broken as his mind struggled to accept the truth of what was revealed to him. She let loose a chortle as Julian came to terms with what the truth was, before looking at Rachel in a new light.
"I... can't say I want to see, but I see it regardless." He straightened his tie, even as he finished his tea. "My apologies for my long-term antagonism of you, and for me doubting your sincerity of your service."
"Consider your apology accepted," she replied, before leaning in and planting a kiss on Julian's cheek, causing him to sputter some more. "After all, I do want to consider myself on good terms with my beloved's family - that includes you as well. Princess Clarisse doesn't seem to mind either~"
"Wait, mother knows about all of this?!" At that point in time, Julian wondered just what Jacob was up to, and just what the rest of his family was up to, for that matter. But, deep in his heart, he was relieved, for there was no longer a threat to the integrity of his cousin's service. Everyone serving him now was truthful and sincere - himself included.