"Karis was my best friend as a child," Lex told Maya. "her father had business with mine, and so we played together on the estate. Hide and seek, tag, or childhood games," he paused to sip his mead again. Licking his lips he continued, "one day, when it was my turn to hide, she found me behind a large topiary. I broke into a run, if she didn't catch me, she'd be it again. She was always the faster runner, so of course she caught up. She tackled me to the ground, and as we rolled about giggling, she kissed me on the mouth," Lex smiled, remembering the moment fondly. He pulled out his locket and popped it open to see the pictures inside. How the painters made such tiny images look so accurate he did not know.
"We didn't think there was anything different about us, we were children," Lex snapped the locket shut and let it fall to dangle against his chest. "We held hands, chased each other around, and there was an occasional peck on the cheek or mouth. I was six when it started. As we got a bit older, Karis would only hold my hand in private. She would look around to make nobody was watching before she'd let me kiss her," his mood was much less pleasant as he thought of how things began to change. "When I pressed her for a reason she tried to explain that she was a noble and I was not. My father was a noble, so I didn't understand what the problem was. I didn't know about illegitimacy then, I was ten," Lex took a long pull from his mead, to give himself a moment.
"It wasn't long after that, that we were discovered by a nursemaid. Karis kissed me as the maid came around a corner. She threw a fit and dragged Karis away," his eyes were tearing up at that point. "She never came back after that, and I got one of my worst beatings that night. The beatings increased, and two years later mother and I were thrown out. Free of my father, I took it upon myself to find Karis. It wasn't until after mother died that I learned where the Astrakaia's lived. The first time I snuck into the estate to see her, I scared her half to death. Dressed like a ruffian, she didn't recognize me. When she finally did, she tackled me, heedless of her beautiful dress, and the dirt I was covered in. She kissed me, and not a child's kiss. We were thirteen. That's when the real romance began."
