The Paths of Sin and Redemption

Chapter 10

Once all of the family met together for that evening's meal, Silver took his respected spot beside his mate and eyed him as they were being served.

Mephiles hadn't forgotten what Silver had said, but he didn't believe one word. His entire staff has been loyal to him as long as they have worked for him. He didn't find it likely they were plotting to kill him.

The dinner went by calmly, Shadow and Sonic retelling their day out in the city.

Silver, however, warily watched as a servant began serving the drinks to accompany their meals, the same mortal servant from before that had the poison was now serving their drinks--making sure Mephiles' goblet of wine was filled up even more than everyone else's since no one else was drinking any. Mephiles didn't seem to pay attention to him, only acknowledging his drink, not the servant.

The young lord held his drink in hand, listening intently to his brother before he started to bring it to his lips. "Mephiles, I..." Silver quickly said, causing Meph and everyone else to pause in what they were doing to curiously look at him.

"I, um..." He then said, blushing a bit in embarrassment since he didn't know what to say. He just had to keep Mephiles from drinking that drink!! He then thought of something and said, "The pups are starting to crawl now. Rei was the first one try, actually...."

"That's very nice Silver, but perhaps you should apologize to Shadow. You've interrupted him," Meph said calmly, though he was pissed that Silver was being so rude.

"Oh, my apologies, Shadow," the uke said, truly meaning it, "I didn't mean to cut you off in the middle of your conversation..."

Shadow nodded with a kind smile, "I understand your child crawling for the first time. It must be a very exciting thing."

"Now as I was saying..." He remembered his conversation and started to ramble on, and instead of going for a drink, Mephiles went for a few more bites of food as he listened.

It wasn't long until he picked his glass up again, doing so after Shadow had finished talking and the two mates started to talk to each other.

Having to think of something quick, Silver blurted out, "Meph, I'm almost done with the book i was reading."

"I've got three chapters left to go, and right now I'm learning about all the different types of hanyous there are out there," he continued once he had Meph's annoyed gaze once more, the goblet of poison unsipped yet again.

Silver silently sighed in relief. Mephiles was safe for the moment...

But as he said that, though, Mephiles gave him a suspicious look. "What kind of hanyous have you been learning about?" he asked, seeming even less interested in his wine.

"Just that there are mortal/demon hanyous, mortal/angel hanyous, and angel/demon hanyous, but there wasn't much to read about it; it was basically a summary of all the different breeds and didn't seem to have any pictures, why?" He asked, truly curious now and even more thankful that the demon wasn't interested in his drink again.

"I was just interested in what you were reading. Perhaps I might have a look when you're done with it," he lied smoothly; he only needed to know how much he's read. He didn't want him knowing too much and thinking he could control Mephiles any more than he already could. Again he brought the chalice to his lips. It was an agonizing pattern for Silver. They'd talk, he'd try to drink. It was too much, he was starting to run out of things to say and he'd hardly began.

And when Mephiles brought the drink to his lips once more, Silver quickly placed a hand on his wrist as he said, "Mephi, can we go to the city tomorrow? I haven't been outside since the pups were born, and I would really like to go..."