Frost and Flame, Foes in the Dark (book 2)

Chapter 18, Descendant

Burying his face into Akana's neck, Sidastir grunted when Akana pinched his arm. "Are you listening?"

Sidastir looked up into two dark eyes on a serious face. He could see Akana's thoughts rushing around behind his eyelids like a storm, not ready to settle down yet. "I heard, I'm not sure I understand the problem."

"I'm descendant of demons."

"And I apparently am descendent of a shapeshifter or did you forget that the elves are descendants of the vans," Sidastir frowned," which make me wonder what the vans real shape looks like. Is it hideous?"

Akana rolled his eyes and with a smirk, Sidastir leaned in and nibbled his earlobe. "Maybe I just don't care."

"How can you not care? People in Noterra fear demons," Akana sighed.

"Maybe I always knew," Akana's eyes turned to Sidastir's smirking face. "I knew from the moment you invaded my room, the moment you walked down the aisle on our wedding, that you must be a demon. Only a demon would go through with marrying me, any other creature would run away. Even the trolls have more sense than that."

That earned him a hit on the arm, which made Sidastir roll onto his back, laughing. He put his hands underneath his head while Akana turned to him, laying his head on his naked chest while pulling up their blanket. The candles sighed in the wind as the shadows flickered on the walls in their bedroom. Only a small stream of light came from the window as the half-moon lit up the night.

"Remember that time when I wore a white shirt to practice?" Sidastir asked.

"Yeah, you came back covered in blood. I tried to get the blood out but it was impossible. I ordered you to carry dark colors after that so that the blood won't ruin another shirt," Akana muttered.

Sidastir kissed Akana's forehead, muttering against it. "And I know that you kept that shirt, you used every trick you could think of for at least three weeks trying to save that shirt."

Akana stiffened, and Sidastir held back a laugh. Akana hadn't known that he was fully aware of his warfare against that shirt.

"I.. might have been a bit overeager."

"I would say, using acid wasn't your brightest idea."

"How did you even-"

"I found the shirt after you tried to throw it away to remove the evidence."

Akana groaned, burying his face into Sidastir's chest. "What was even the point of that story?"

"That what you did to that poor shirt was truly demonic."

Another hit landed on Sidastir arm, now shaking with laughter.

"This is serious!"

Looking down at Akana's grim face, Sidastir sighed in surrender. "I know, and I'm not sure we should spread this around. At least not until we have secured a safe passage through Donfell. With that, we can create an alliance between Auone and Eitir. We can support them if a conflict will arise."

"Yes, but to master the Gashir mountains I will need to have the aid of the dwarves, but I fear if they find out about my ancestors-"

"They won't care. The dwarven clans aren't afraid of magical creatures. They hardly see a difference between elves, dragons, and demons."

"That can't be true."

"It pretty much is, in fact, you people most likely will get far more respect from the dwarves for forsaking your magic and focusing on science instead which according to the dwarves is far more natural than magic."