The Dragon King's Servant: Rise of the Daemon King

Chapter Forty-Seven: Power of Damnation

Shauna sat across from her brother. A childish grin on her face as she picked at her food. News of Maaltaire's dalliance had floated through the ears of everyone within the palace. No one, outside of the VKC, had known about his sexual life. Not even his parents or his sister.

"Why didn't you invite her sooner?" Shauna asked, stabbing a few noodles onto a fork.

"Because that isn't our relationship." Maaltaire replied, voice calm and even. "Ange is a little shy and nor too fond of people."

"It is completely understandable." Lucian replied. "Bismuth mer are rare people. I haven't seen one in over three hundred years."

"You've met them?" Maaltaire asked.

"Yes. Your father and I fought off a band of bismuth hunters who were rounding the mer up." Lucian explained.

Maaltaire and Shauna looked at their father who shrugged nonchalantly.

"They were peaceful people. We helped them to some remote island way out at sea. That is the last I have ever seen of them." Maalceus added.

"And this Bismuth Kuri mer has given her trust to you?" Shauna asked. "Quite the step up in the world."

"Don't tease your brother." Kelly stepped in, waving a sauce covered fork at her daughter before looking at her son. "Is Evangeline not wanting to get serious?"

Maaltaire blushed, unsure of how to respond. He wasn't terribly keen on explaining his entire sexual adventures to his parents even though they were rather open about their own. Before he had a chance to shamble together a response, Shauna jumped in with a gasp.

"You met her at the VKC, didn't you?"

Maaltaire's face turned a darker shade of embarrassed as he turned on his sister.

"Where I met her and when is none of your concern." He snapped.

"Maaltaire it isn't anything to be ashamed about." Maalceus said. "What you enjoy and with whom is completely fine. Hiding it from your family is not though."

"I understand." Melanie added. "I wasn't planning on Lucian meeting my family. Of course that changed really quickly."

"Didn't your mother encourage us to have safe sex?" Lucian asked.

Melanie blushed when she thought back to that and then nodded.

"I am most certainly not going to share everything I do right here at the table." Maaltaire sighed. "What Evangeline and I have is...delicate and uncomplicated."

"Oh." Kelly cut him off. "So, fuck buddies." She nodded in understanding. "There isn't anything wrong with a no strings attached relationship."

Again Maaltaire blushed and for the third time that night he looked down into his bowl of pasta and wished he could sink inside of it and drown in the sauce.

"I for one am happy for you." Lucian said. "As long as the two of you are happy and healthy, that is what matters."

"Thanks." Maaltaire said, not looking up from his bowl.

"However-" Lucian continued. ""-If you so chose to pursue a more steady relationship with this person we would fully support it."

All heads bobbed in agreement.

"Thanks for the support. Though I think she is happy with our current arrangement."

As Maalceus stabbed a cluster of noodles and brought them up, he paused. Brows furrowed and eyes focused. Kelly noticed his expression and turned to him.

"Honey?" She asked, a look of concern on her face. "Babe? What is it?"

Maalceus turned to his brother who met his gaze and held it for a long second.
"Do you recall the ummm...appearance of the bismuth-Mer?" Maalceus asked.

Lucian arched a brow and as he recalled the memory, his eyebrows rose with a smirk. Kelly and Melanie shared a confused expression. Maalceus met his wife's gaze and smiled. His thoughts sliding into her mind.

'Bismuth-Mer are not like regular mer.'
'Meaning what?' She asked.
'They are hermaphrodites or intersex i believe you called them.' He replied.
Kelly eyes went wide with surprise as she looked back at her son with a profound expression and smiled. Lucian explained the same thing to Melanie who was similarly surprised. Both by the knowledge and by the fact that Maaltaire would have dove so deep into the VKC as to explore the that particular side of things.

'Give or recieve?' Melanie asked Lucian.
'Maybe both?' He shrugged.
Shauna caught onto the fact that they were silently conversing with each other. Feeling left out and curious she slapped a hand onto the table.

"I thought family dinners were supposed to be open?" Shauna asked.

Maaltaire glanced from his mother to his father and then when he saw the truth, he blushed harder than ever. Kelly smiled, pride on her face.

"Good for you son. Im proud of you." She said with a motherly smile.

*****

Three hundred pure-blood elven warriors were all they had left after the war. Though, while every warrior was worth their weight in experience and skill. It still wasn't enough to bridge the gap to take on the Vervanian army. Lord and Lady Elkwood stood along side their warriors, proud and tall as always. Though Lady Elkwood looked far less confident than she did normally.

Every elven warrior had long blonde or green hair. Dressed in wooden and leather armor that was reinforced with enchantments to make it strong as steel, they looked uniformed. Bedilia paced their ranks. Inspecting the three hundred warriors with a critical eye. She stood taller than even the tallest elf by at least six inches. Her dark looming presence was like a scorching pillar of volcanic energy ready to ignite everything. After having paced them all twice over, she turned to Lord Elkwood and glared.

"This is not enough." She snapped. "What you have is barely a fraction of what is necessary."

"I apologize but many bridges were burned in maintaining this war." He replied.

"You have not been maintaining anything!" She hissed. "Your people are one more fight away from totally annihilation."

"We have few allies." Lady Elkwood added defensively.

"You don't need allies." Bedelia snarled. "You need power. Raw power to overcome the difference."

"This is what we have." Lord Elkwood replied, his voice edging with anger.

"No. It is not." Bedelia replied. "Not for long."