Draconia Offline vol. 2

89.2. Double Royalty - Part 2

"Sorry, hon, we had to," Erik apologises profoundly when I open my eyes and find out that it was them who interrupted my sleep.

"I was meeting my father, we had a super important conversation," I snort.

"We figured as much, it's ten already and you weren't waking up," Gotrid caresses my feathers to comfort me.

"So why did you...?" I frown, but Erik pokes me between my eyebrows.

"Because your brain isn't resting when you're having your dream encounters," he says. "We don't want you to collapse. We woke you up so that you can have a long afternoon nap. Hopefully, your father isn't taking naps into account."

I slowly sit up and rub my eyes. Erik is right, of course, I don't feel well-rested. My body relaxed a bit, but my brain was working relentlessly. Maybe even harder than it normally would, these dream meetings sure are taxing.

"Did you learn something interesting today?" Gotrid asks and starts petting my wings because he can tell that I'm upset about being forced to wake up.

"Well...," I bite my lip. The idea of hiding the truth from them again doesn't cross my mind, but where do I even start?

"Yep, it's evidently super important," Erik guesses and gently kisses my right wing.

"I'd better call Liana and the Celestial Council should also know," I consider. "Damn, they will freak out for sure."

"Tell us first, we want to have a private audience," Gotrid tickles me under my feathers. "In a nutshell is enough for now."

"In a nutshell, my father is the Divementis Emperor which makes me a Divementis prince," I say slowly, nervously waiting for their reaction. They just stare at me for a few long seconds. They expected something big, but not this.

"You're kidding!" Erik opens his mouth wide.

"Oh, our Emperor is double royalty," Gotrid celebrates because, in his shock, he fails to see the gravity of that revelation.

"Wait, but... wouldn't that mean that the Divementis could try to claim you?" Erik starts to panic properly.

"That's why my subjects will freak out when they find out," I sigh. "Seriously, now that I think about it, maybe we should keep it a secret after all."

"Nope, just nope," Gotrid shakes his head as it finally comes to him. "That's out of the question, love. The Imperial Guard needs to know so that they can take precautions."

"I must agree with Gotrid on this," Erik nods. "Until now, you've been meeting your father only in your dreams, but what if he tries to take you away from us?"

"I have both magic and telepathy, I'm confident that I should be able to protect myself," I assure them.

"You can't protect yourself in your sleep," Erik argues. "We're telling the Celestial Council and that's final."

"Oh, love," Gotrid hugs me, "what if they try to get you by force?"

"Then we will show them what Celestials are capable of," I say confidently. "Still, I don't think it will come to that. My father might be many things, but he's not stupid. The Divementis desperately need Draconians to become their allies."

"We can't rule out that they could try abducting you," Erik snuggles to me as well. "Besides, I warned you not to trust your father easily."