“Seriously, how could you create so much work for the Iyrmen?” Adam teased, peeking towards the rge form of the Prinbsp;

  “I did not realise I was s,” Morkarai replied, his face twitg from beh his fiery red beard, currently accosted by a pair of goblins. He peeked a red eye open towards the half elf, pretending not to smirk as the goblins doled out their affe to the Prinbsp;

  ‘On my birthday of all days!’ Adam thought, sipping his warm milk. ‘You two, how you do this to me? I’ll five you just this once, since you’re so cute! Lord Morkarai, I’ll five you too, since you gave such good gifts.’

  Pam gnced between Ray Vonda and Prince Morkarai. Her entire body remaiense, her heart light and giddy within the presence of such esteemed people. Royalty of the fire giant variety, and a Ray of Life’s Rose? ‘I still ’t believe all the stories are true.’

  “Jirot, Jarot,” Adam said, his annoyance having grown too high. “You should spoil your mother today si’s her birthday.”

  The twins gowards their father, and while one of them smirked, the owards his mother. “Mommy?”

  “That’s right, since she’s your mother, and it’s her birthday.”

  Little Jarot blinked before he climbed down off the Prince, shuffling up shyly towards his mother, his twin sister following after him for once. “Mommy?”

  “My Jarot?” Vonda asked, pig the little boy up, before assisting his sister up, holding the pair upon her p.

  Jarot sucked his thumb, resting his head against his mother’s bosom, while Jirot did the same, cuddling up beside the Ray.

  ‘Don’t worry, Vonda. Konarot will accept you soon.’ Adam let out a sigh. “I’m sorry to cause you so much trouble when you’ve just bey…” Adam paused. His heart began to pound within his chest.

  Morkarai sipped the warm milk, noting how quiet Adam had bee, the half elf gng away awkwardly.

  “Jurot,” Adam whispered, speaking in the Iyr’s tongue. “Vonda’s my wife now.” Adam hid his smile behind a fist.

  “Yes?”

  “Do you uand? My wife!”

  Jurot crossed his arms, falling deep in thought. Adam was certainly thinking of something very Adam. “Pam is also my wife.” Jurot’s heart throbbed, and he uood. ‘This is Adam’s genius.’

  “Should we go kill a dragon?” Adam asked.

  “Yes,” Jurot replied.

  Morkarai wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but it must have been something ridiculous sidering the stupid look on Adam’s fabsp;

  “What are you talking about? We ’t kill a dragon! My wife’s a Ray, ya know? We should beat up a dragon instead.”

  “We could request their favours for the Iyr.”

  “Yeah, yeah, let’s beat up a dragon and request for some favours,” Adam said, gently nodding his head, narrowing his eyes as he fell deep into thought.

  “What are you speaking of so secretly?” Vonda asked, rubbing her elbow against Adam’s gently, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

  “We were just talking about beating up some dragons.”

  “Why?” Vonda asked, her thumbs gently brushing along Jirot and Jarot’s thighs tenderly, the pair melted against the woman.

  “We’re, you know… we’re…” Adam wasn’t sure how to expin it without feeling a little embarrassed.

  “We are husbands now, so we should bring back glory,” Jurot stated, his eyes firmly focused on Vonda. He could feel Pam’s gaze upon him, but also Jaygak’s, the Iyrman ready to poun his exposed vulnerability.

  ‘Why are they ag so queer?’ Morkarai thought, having expected such behaviour from Adam, but not from his Iyrman brother. ‘Ah. They married for love.’ “I will o return bay nd this year, but I io meet my betrothed.”

  “Oh?” Adam asked. “Princess…”

  History Check (Intelligence)(Untrained)D20 + 3 = 4 (1)

  “Dalia?”

  “Princess Miza’tu’rea’wyz’wyl,” Morkarai corrected.

  “Duchess Dalia Eastport,” Vonda added.

  Adam shrugged his shoulders. “The fact I still remember it’s called Life’s Rose and not White Rose is impressive, holy.”

  “You slew Vandra, but you ot remember names?” Morkarai asked.

  “Who?” Adam joked, smirking slightly. He wasn’t smirking at his joke, but rather the fact he mentiohat particur dragon iion to his betrothed. “Princess Miza, eh? You know, I’ve got a little business with the mermen myself.”

  “You have business with the mermen?”

  “Are you sure you want to know?”

  “No,” Morkarai replied firmly. “I have enough of your secrets to keep without learning any more.” ‘It’s enough for me to know about the gem within the Iyr’s possession.’

  “Alright, well… how about the inal members of Fate’s Golden apany you? A Prince like you, you probably need an escort to keep up appearances or something, right? Who better than a group of Iyrman, and me?”

  “It sounds fio me.”

  “Wait, Vonda, do you want to e with?” Adam asked. “We’re newly weds, so we should spend the time together. It be our honeymoon.”

  “Honeymoon?”

  “Yeah, when two people get married, they go on holiday and have fun together.”

  Vonda flushed. “What kind of fun?”

  “Seeing the sights, eating delicious foods. I don’t know, in this world, nd, hunting dragons might be a part of it.”

  “If we travel by ship, we may e across a dragon,” Morkarai informed, recalling how many times he had met dragons, and outside of his royal duties, they had often been whilst on a ship.

  “I would prefer it if we didn’t hunt dragons, but I would enjoy going with you.”

  “Going?” Jirot asked.

  “We’ll be going ter,” Adam reassured, brushing his daughter’s hair. “Let’s py a lot before we go.”

  “I am going too?”

  “Well, it’s a little dangerous.”

  “Daddy! I daynjuhrus too.” The girl sat up from her mother’s bosom and flexed her muscles. “I am Demon Load.”

  “Right, right, but you o stay here and look after your brothers, right?”

  “Jaroh e too.”

  “What about Laroh.”

  “Laroh e too.”

  “Laroh is too young.”

  “Laroh is not young, Laroh is my papa,” the girl refuted.

  “He is your papa aoo young.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No!”

  “Jirot,” Sonarot called. “Larot is too young to leave.”

  “Daddy, Laroh is too young to leave,” Jirot said, wagging her fi her father.

  “Of course, you’re right.”

  “Yes,” Jirot replied, a smug smile painting her mischievous fabsp;

  “Since Jirot ’t go, I’ll go,” Lucy said from the er. Like Jaygak, she was red skihough her red skin was more like sanguine, fresh blood, rather than the fiery skin of the Iyrman. The demon’s forehead was bare too, betraying how she was no Iyrman, like Adam.

  “Won’t you feel reassured that a Demon Lord is esc you?” Adam joked.

  “What?” Pam finally spoke up.

  “What?” Adam asked.

  “A Demon Lord?”

  “…” Adam threw a look towards his brother. “Jurot. You told her, didn’t you?”

  “…” Jurot’s ears turned red. “We were… busy.”

  “It may bee plicated if I travel with a Demon Lord,” Morkarai said. “Even we were affected during the Demonic Devastation.”

  “Yeah, but she’s not one of them, she’s a different Demon Lord,” Adam said.

  “She’s really a Demon Lord?” Pam asked, her eyes darting towards Jurot.

  “She is.”

  Pam reached up to her forehead, leaning up against her husband. “You said you had secrets to tell me, but I didn’t expect that.”

  “It is one of mas,” Jurot said. “Lucy is being trained by grandmother. She is not a dao you.”

  Pam side eyed the Demon Lord, unsure of how to feel. She had grown up hearing stories of the Iyrmen, and though some of them were nightmare worthy, they weren’t anything pared to the stories of the Demonic Devastation which had killed tens of thousands of Aldishmen.

  “Don’t worry, we’re not stupid enough to act up,” Adam assured.

  ‘Why are you including yourself in that?’ Pam thought, letting out a sigh. ‘Five thousand gold…’ The sweet taste of gold calmed her heart.

  “If Adam isn’t stupid enough to pick a fight with the Iyr, then I’m definitely not stupid enough for that,” Lucy said.

  “You are not stupid,” Mara firmed, sitting up even taller, smiling politely towards Jurot, who had threatened her liege.

  “See? Mara, stop it.”

  Mara rexed slightly, though she still sent out pressure towards Jurot, who sent back his own pressure.

  “If you two keep ag like this, I’ll have Jirot tell you off,” Adam warned.

  The pair pulled away their pressure from one another, noting Jirot’s gaze upohe girl with her brows raised expetly. “So smelly.” Jirot gnced up towards her mother to see if she was in trouble, before cag once more.

  “The Iyr is a wonderful pce, but I miss my mikir. It is delicious, especially upon pani.”

  “Is pani bread?” Adam asked.

  “A bread like food.”

  “What’s it like?”

  “It is a thick, fluffy ft bread. You eat it by itself, or you use it to dip into other food, or use it as a vessel for meat.”

  “Just meat?”

  “You would pani with vegetables,” Morkarai replied, as though the thought of it was so ridiculous.

  “Why not?”

  “You would not use pani with vegetables, that is for paniya.”

  “I don’t know what that is, but I’m sure it’s delicious.”

  “It is. I will prepare some for when you visit.”

  “Who knows? Maybe we swing by in a few years, though I’m not sure if my kids will be old enough.”

  “You should be careful bringing your children,” Morkarai said, his eyes falling to the triplets, who zed nearby, their silver tails swaying.

  “Oh yeah?” Adam asked.

  Morkarai fell silent for a long moment, befng towards the rest of those around him. He was surrounded by Iyrmen, and a few of Adam’s closest panions. It am who caused him to pause most, since she did not seem privy to many of Adam’s secrets. “The st of the Talia family is well known. It will g to you for some time even after you leave the Iyr, but t them with you…”

  Adam sighed. ‘I guess he does have a point.’

  “Even when you grow more powerful, it will hound you, and the Talia family may not allow for the children to be used against them.”

  “Whether they allow it or not, it doesn’t matter,” Adam stated, his voice growing dark. Jurot also sat up taller, his arms crossed.

  Morkarai bowed his head, saying no more. He had no doubt Adam would do his utmost to protect his children, and within the Iyr, the children were as safe as any other child of the Iyr. “You will o sider growing your reputation if you wish to protect them.”

  “My reputation?”

  “You slew Vandra, but it was with the assistanany.”

  “So what you’re telling me is that I really should have beat up the First Hope?”

  “Adam!” Vonda gasped, causing Jirot to cover her mouth in surprise too, unsure of what was happening.

  Pam’s eyes darted from the half elf to her husband, her eyes firmly glued into the side of his skull. ‘What?’

  “I let him go, didn’t I?”

  The older Jarot smirked, doing his best to remain at bay, though his ughter soon broke through the air, causing the twins to ugh, before the other children around joined in.

  “Jurot, how much haven’t you told me?” Pam asked.

  “There is much to speak of.”

  Pam had heard the tale a few times already, though Jurot had gzed over a few, importaails it seemed. ‘Demon Lords. Beating the First Hope…’ Pam slowly uood why Adam included himself in the same breath as a Demon Lord.

  “When do you pn to leave?” Adam asked, trying to ge the topibsp;

  “I pn to leave at the end of this month.”

  “ we, by any ce, dey it until the sed of month or so?”

  “You wish to…” Morkarai’s brain lit up as the fe began to work within his mind, gathering the reason why Adam wao wait until after the first day of the seonth. “I wait.”

  “This is why we’re friends, Lord Morkarai, even if you are a Prince,” Adam said.

  “I am gd that the Iyr has decided to let you live,” Morkarai replied.

  “Damn,” Adam whispered, reag up to his heart. “It hurts because it’s too real.”

  Adam had no idea in a few moments he would feel a greater pain within his heart.

  Pam is only just beginning to uand...