Jewel Monster (House Beasts #2)

Grand Evening

The guests were still seeping in. It was the evening, the sky was taking on a purple tint and the wind was getting a little fresher, yet the servants had yet to close the windows that opened on the balcony. After all, most of the people present carried so many layers of cloth that they only felt the chill on their hands and faces. Not that they all appreciated equally.

Ulmer huffed and adjusted his cuffs, then his collar, in a little ritual that he always indulged in when he was getting nervous. And he was always a little nervous around many fairies. Even if he had chosen to come and live in Erbothia for the sake of his wife - that he, to this day, called Agula, which meant jewel in draconic - he knew that most of the Folk were tricksters. The times where they had lawfully dispossessed him of any part of his horde remained seared in his mind.

Or so Dimor knew as he observed his father from the corner of his eye. He needed to remain straight and dignified, ready to greet any and all guest, both of them needed to. But it had been a very long hour for the two of them. He wondered how Ulmer truly fared. After all, Finwere, that had already abandoned them to hide somewhere, had taken many traits from him over his mother: the desire to be left alone to do their own thing was among them.

Ulmer was pulling on his cuffs again. Dimor took pity on him and leaned in his direction.

"You are fidgeting, father," he whispered, knowing that his senses would be sharp enough to pick the words out from the tumult.

"I am enduring," he replied just as quietly. "Son, you are so lucky your mother's beauty did not fade with age--"

"I do not want to hear about what she promised you if you remained the whole evening, father. Especially not in front of the guests."

Ulmer huffed. Dragons, even when shapeshifted in a body that was more appropriate for polite society, remained very... reward-driven. Or so Dimor knew from his father. To say it crudely, the power of horny (and love) was what kept him around. Fairies and dragons did not mix well, and most of them had remained in hiding in the human world. Dimor had been told that there remained many unexplored and deep caverns, suitable for those that didn't mind the darkness. As for the others... well, dragons could shapeshift. It was one of their less-known powers but it had certainly come in handy for their survival. Dimor had had his owner meet very rich people during his time on Earth; more than once has a jewel trader or a woman covered in a thick layer of jewellery had cast suspicious glances his way.

Not that he would have requested their help. Dragons were solitary creatures by nature and he remained a fairy, first and foremost. Or, at least in their eyes, it would have been so. Not that Dimor wanted to apply blanket generalities to an entire species... but he knew that they would first, he was only giving them back what he would have gotten from them.

At least he had his father, Ulmer.

They got along well enough. Ulmer had some trouble understanding him, sometimes, but they respected each other's opinions and got along well enough. He was a busy dragon, managing his estate and his business, working his magic, and counting his treasure. He lacked some paternal instincts, especially now that all his kids were grown, but that did not mean he did not care for his hybrid offsprings dearly - it only manifested sporadically, when he was around and inclined to show softer emotion at all.

Dimor wondered if Eric, as a human, would be capable of understanding the relationship that Dimor shared with his father. Maybe he would. After all, while humans did not have the natural tendencies to apathy as dragons, they did favour such dispositions... especially in men. Which was detrimental to them, ultimately. Dimor had seen it many times in his owners. But for dragons... well, they were cold-blooded, quite literally. They did not feel their inner world with the same intensity as the rest. Dimor had come to understand and respect that. He knew that his father wasn't around him much. But he also knew that this had nothing personal, that the little he showed was already a lot.