"[…] And such it was, that Gorribert Rosier the third single-handedly ended the uprising by impaling the leaders and their progeny of elves—erm, goblins," said Alastair, who himself had lost track of which story he was telling.
A servant audibly cleared his throat. The pause threatened to turn awkward, but then Ginevra Blackwood chimed in with some well-chosen words about lineages and such, and he gave her the first thin smile of the day. Even though it was only because she had diverted attention from the fact that he did not know what he had been talking about and thus had spared him from looking simple, which he despised to be called or thought of as.
"Certainly. Although for the carrying on part, that cannot rest upon my shoulders alone," he answered.
You are meant to bear the fruit of the tree, he thought, staring at her.
If only time could contract and he could skip ahead to the part of bedding her, forgetting about all the rest, he might not find it so dreadful. But until this moment, much was to do and to arrange. Many more outings like this. If it came to pass at all.
What a wretched business.

Alastair, Miss Ginevra Blackwood, and the entourage now stood under a giant dark green tapestry. Hundreds of pureblooded wizards scowled down at them. Alastair looked up and almost startled when he he found himself stared at by Bartholomew Rosier's gaunt countenance. His father's likeness on the tapestry was expertly done. The piercing blue eyes, the bony nose that sprung from his face like it had been chiseled from stone. The picture moved, looked at them, smiled knowingly.
"Well…" he said uncomfortably, "Here is my father Bartholomew Rosier, whom you will be introduced to, I suppose. And here…"
He pointed to the black-haired man pictured below. He did not finish the sentence. It was clear that it was Alastair himself, who had his father's eyes but a fuller, less jarring face.

"My former wife," Alastair said, pointing at Dorcas, whose likeness looked pale and doll-like, with wispy hair that was so blonde it appeared white.
"She died," he announced unceremoniously.
Beneath, there were two girls, his daughters. He did not comment on them.