”Puppies!”
Mira rushed forward towards her father and his hounds to give these massive and ferocious beasts a good petting.
The fact that they had strands of flesh and blood spilling from their jaws didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest.
The hounds seemed uncomfortable but with one look at their master they understand they weren’t allowed to refuse the pets of the small girl.
Feeling a disturbance behind him, Exedra turned around to see all three of his wives eyeing him with expressions that could kill.
“Is…something the matter?”
Lailah : “You could’ve died!”
Lisa :”He was going to kill you!”
Bekka : “You scared us!”
Realizing they were supposed to be upset, Mira hurriedly stopped petting the dogs and scrambled to stand by her mothers in solidarity. “Y-yea Mira was scared too!”
Oddly enough the hounds looked slightly disappointed Mira wasn’t playing with them anymore before their bodies shimmered and sank into the shadows.
Sighing internally, Exedra looked at the state of his family.
Lisa was still shaking.
Lailah was on the verge of tears.
Bekka looked like she’d already been crying.
Mira…still had cookie crumbs on her cheeks.
Only now did he realize there was no way he was going to win that fight with Jirai.
He was so focused on ending Jeddah’s life that he forgot to prioritize his own.
Had his grandfather not showed up, he would’ve died on his own birthday.
An apologetic expression crossed his face before he pulled his wives in for a hug.
“I’m sorry. I’ve made you all worry.”
Lailah : “That’s right!”
Lisa : “Bastard!”
Bekka : “Do it again and I’ll crush your nuts!”
Exedra took all of their insults on the chin before he felt something wet on his chest.
Lisa had tears streaming from her eyes as she looked into her husbands face. “W-why did you have to go so far?”
His heart was twisted with guilt when he saw her in tears like this.
He stared at her for a moment before speaking, “Mira can you go ask your grandmother to introduce you to your great grandfather?”
Mira looked back and forth between her mothers and her father.
Seeing them nod at her she walked over to go meet her other new family members, leaving her father an opportunity to come clean.
“Lisa… when I met you I didn’t have pure intentions.”
“W-what do you mean?” Lisa’s voice sounded slightly horrified.
With a sigh Exedra told his three wives the story of Lillian.
Even Bekka and Lailah were hearing this story for the first time, as absolutely no one in the castle liked to talk about the death of the girl everyone loved so much.
Lailah : “W-we had no idea.”
Bekka : “….”
Lisa remained silent as she stared at him with an unreadable expression.
Seeing this new look on his wife’s face, Exedra’s cold heart began to beat rapidly.
Although their time together had been brief, he had truly come to care about her.
The past week leading up to the party, he’d been observing her from a distance and fallen more and more for her as the days went on.
She was kind, beautiful, intelligent and of course great with Mira.
He had nothing but pure intentions for her now.
But he wasn’t sure if his confession would jeopardize the relationship he wanted with her.
Lisa could hear Exedra’s rapidly increasing heartbeat and she smiled when she realized he was afraid of what her reaction would be.
After a long silence she finally said, “It’s okay. It might’ve taken me a long time but I realized you meant everything you ever told me.”
“And as for how you saw me before.. I’m not upset. We were strangers after all.”
With that, Exedra felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.
Lailah and Bekka smiled at this scene.
He brought his head down and kissed each of his wives and put bright smiles on all of their faces.
“You got one of those for me too?”
With a frown, Exedra turned to see Audrina standing behind him with an expectant gaze and a seductive appearance.
“No.” His reply was swift and without any hesitation.
The vampire queen faltered slightly when she heard this but persistently continued. “Oh? Don’t be so cold little dragon it’s just one little ki-“
Lailah : ” He said no.”
Bekka : “Bitch.”
Lisa looked back and forth between her friends and her husband.
What exactly did he do to those girls to make them so crazy they don’t even care about offending a sixth stage who is also a queen!?
‘I.. want to find out.’ She thought with a blush before she looked at Exedra with a look of anticipation.
Exedra knew he had to step in before another incident broke out at this party so he begrudgingly played peacemaker.
“Alright girls be nice. I’m sure she was just joking.” He patted the girl’s heads to calm them down while also using his powers as an incubus to imbue a small pleasant sensation at the point of contact.
“Right auntie?” He asked hoping to end this mess once and for all.
He was actually slightly uncomfortable.
The purple aura radiating off her body was so dark it was almost black.
He was honestly surprised she hadn’t tried to rape him already.
He just hoped he’d be lucky enough to get her to take the hint and not aggravate his wives further.
“Hm? No I’m not joking I actually have my eye on you you know.”
He always did have shit luck.
She began to walk towards him and delicately placed her hand on his chest.
“That’s why for your birthday I decided to give you… me.”
She flashed him a charming smile that could make even a devout man of faith abandon his principles and spend the rest of his life as her toy.
SLASH!
With a quick motion Bekka cleanly sliced off the vampire’s hand with her claws.
Audrina paid this no mind as it grew back in under a second.
If she felt any pain from her sudden dismemberment she surely didn’t show it.
Just to aggravate them even further she returned her hand to it’s original position and dragged it lower and lower.
“Oh come on now girls don’t be like that. Such an exquisite man shouldn’t be yours to keep alone.” She teased.𝑶𝐯xt.𝗇t
Lailah / Bekka : “The hell he shouldn’t!”
“Enough.” Exedra’s cold voice had returned, surprising and arousing all women present.
He removed the hand of the vampire queen from his body before he looked her in her eyes.
“There is something that I need from you, but it’s not your body.”
“Oh? And what might this handsome man need from me?” She was inwardly ecstatic.
Surely him needing something from her must be an excuse to get her alone right?
She knew these childish women couldn’t possibly be satisfying a man of his caliber so he’d have to come to her for a satisfying release.
Exedra looked around briefly.
This really wasn’t the place to discuss such sensitive matters.
“Tomorrow morning. We’ll meet in the gardens.”
With that Exedra walked away with his wives leaving Audrina behind.
A crazed smile broke out across her face and her mind because filled with impure thoughts.
With a dreamy look in her eye and a hazy voice she muttered, “In the middle of a garden… he’s so bold and romantic!”
–
As Exedra walked towards the drink table to ease his headache his wives began to follow him before Bekka and Lailah gave eachother knowing looks and executed their plan.
“Eep!”
With a yelp, the unsuspecting Lisa was tugged by both of her arms to a corner in the ballroom.
“W-what’s the matter girls..” Lisa’s voice was slightly fearful as she looked at the two women she’d become close to in such a short time giving her intense glares.
Bekka : “Why didn’t you say anything!?”
Lailah : “He’s your husband too, why are you letting that bloodsucking bitch flirt with him?!”
“W-well… even if our relationship has improved slightly it’s still not a normal one so do I have the right to say anything?..” The dragoness looked down at the floor as if she could not bear to look the two women in the eye.
Of course she didn’t want women around her husband but she believed of all people shouldn’t be allowed to have a say.
As Lisa explained the reason for her inaction Bekka and Lailah gave eachother knowing looks before mischievous smiles crossed their faces.
Lailah : “Is that all?”
Bekka : “Let’s fix that.”
–
Oblivious to what his wives were planning, Exedra walked towards the balcony to clear his mind.
While nothing was wrong per say, he wasn’t that big of a people person so being around all of these guests for so long was becoming suffocating.
As he inhaled cool night air into his lungs, he suddenly heard movement behind him.
Helios was standing behind him holding a sleeping Mira in his arms and accompanied by his three lords.
For a while nobody said anything.
The two men simply stared at eachother without uttering a single word.
Inwardly, Helios was impressed.
As king and a sixth stage being he was used to people either being nervous or greedy in his presence.
Those were the two responses most common to him and over the centuries, they became the ones he was the most used to.
Either they were foolish enough to believe they could somehow coerce treasures from him or they were inwardly so terrified they were almost out of their minds.
But here in front of him now his grandson stands not afraid, not greedy and not flinching.
He liked that a lot.
Previously he never paid much attention to his grandson, even though he was the son of his beloved daughter, he could instinctively feel a weakness inside of him that he found unsavory for a dragon and for a man.
But now he could feel a strength emanating from him that was unyielding and uncompromising.
‘And then those spells…’
With a bright toothy smile, the dragon king was the first to break the silence.
“Happy birthday grandson. Let’s talk shall we?”