Dinner was quieter than normal, which was strange for my father’s court, generally the men were less than couth in regards to their dining manners. It was quite normal for people to be talking and yelling over each other, loudly gulping ale, and then there were the unmentionable bodily functions that they seems to find endlessly hilarious. When it was just myself at the table they never held back, with Toria with me they definitely took pains to be noticeably better, but still boorish. It was embarrassing to have them still act so animalistic around her, but there was no sense in trying to talk to them and explain why they should act any better, it was simply a difference between human and demonic expectations and they certainly valued demonic norms over any human. However, the room had become deathly still when Toria’s new trainer had arrived for dinner, her aura had filled the room and felt heavy and cloying, it was crystal clear that it would be best for everyone to be on their very best behavior. It was strange in itself for someone to walk around so unshielded, she must have been so full of turmoil that she was simply incapable of containing it all or so upset that she didn’t care to try. Toria had briefly filled me in on what had transpired, though it had not fully prepared me for how dark and ominous her aura had been.

“Did that pitiful girl ever wake up?” my father asked.

His sudden speaking was so stark against the cautious silence that several of us at the table jumped slightly, it was lucky that most of us had finished eating or there probably would have been several spills. Toria’s gaze darted between Ana and my father, then settled on me, eyes slightly wide and head slightly tilted in an expression that I knew was meant to ask if my father thought he was insane. After collecting myself, I half-smirked and moved my shoulders barely perceptibly in a shrug, she should have known by now what my father was like. He never took well to the idea that he should be limited at all according to anyone else’s comfort and while Ana was a tremendous foe, if my father ever decided to utilized his magic to its fullest extent, she would have been well matched, likely much surpassed. While there were other, arguably more powerful demonic family lines, my own was still widely regarded amongst the strongest. It had been whispered that the fact my father was able to produce a hybrid such as myself was proof of the power behind our family’s demonic blood, able to manipulate my birth into being despite it having been decidedly impossible before.

“She is still in and out of consciousness,” Toria answered, her voice respectfully softer than her normal imperious tone. “The servants you sent to linger outside and shield the room a bit from the ambient magic is helping, she is able to awaken and eat a bit, but any stiff breeze of power into the room and she collapses again.”

My father let out a rumbling laugh, though to his credit a bit softer than he typically would. “So pathetic, even for a human. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered or even heard of someone or something so magically inept to be effectively allergic to the mere presence of magic. Are you sure she is from a royal line?”

“Yes, I am certain,” Toria confirmed.

“She would be better off returning to the human realm them and as soon as possible, perhaps with a warning to whomever gets care of her to keep her blood out of any further royal lines. I know a lot of human royals do not even acknowledge the power that flows through their veins, but it seems like a shame to let her loose to dilute the line anyway.”

My father was not known for his tact.

“Is there a way we can travel back to the human realm? I thought the conduit was destroyed,” Toria asked.

“Of course there are more, I wouldn’t ever sit idly by with only one door in, there is an emergency portal, though the location is kept very secret for obvious reasons. Now that the main gate is gone, the alternative is more important than ever, which means there is no way I’m letting anyone near it, but there are other kingdoms and even natural conduits scattered across the realm. We can set something up to get her chucked through one of them.”

“It seems rather kind of you to arrange that for a human with no real value to you,” I commented.

“Kind?” my father said with a chuckle. “She’s a pain in the ass to have around, simple as that. I have to devote two of my servants night and day to try to keep her somewhat lucid and it’s just a hassle.”

“You could just leave her incapacitated,” I suggested, “it wouldn’t hurt you to do that.”

“It wouldn’t, but it still seems unfair to do to such a young child. I suppose it isn’t her fault that she’s so weak and helpless, obviously some sort of bad breeding or strange circumstances are to blame for it, I doubt she had any fault in the matter.” My father eyed me, wondering why I was making a point that he was doing something nice for a change, he didn’t like showing any sort of soft spot. “She’s a small girl and utterly defenseless here, she would be an extreme liability if something where to happen and we had to devote defenses specifically to her because she couldn’t do it herself. Banishment is a better choice for us all.”

I cracked a smile at how his story went from helping the girl leave since she physically could not handle being in the realm to that she was a security risk for us all and it was a banishment. He simply could not allow himself to appear even a bit concerned with anyone except himself, whether it was due to his own sense of what looking strong looked like or his own ego, I was unclear.

“I agree that something should be done, but I insist on being able to keep control of the girl’s placement and care.” Toria raised her chin slightly, as she tended to do when she felt she needed to show a regal visage. “I have extended plans for the girl that require I ensure I have control of her destiny.”

“Extended plans with such an insignificant speck?” My father raised an eyebrow and bore his gaze into her to ascertain if she was joking or not. “How could someone like her be at all valuable to you?”

“As you’ve already said, human royalty takes little notice of magical ability and she is still a princess, a princess from a kingdom with valuable resources, if nothing else she would make a good political bargaining piece. It could be argued that anyone that ended up marrying her would have a rightful claim to her kingdom’s resources or at least a leg up in negotiations for access. It’s a smart political move to keep her under my thumb.”

My father leaned back in his chair and rubbed his stomach in thought. “I don’t see the point in it, but I also don’t see the harm in letting you keep control as long as the girl is no longer my trouble. Perhaps I simply don’t understand how humans do business, she seems like the last person I would want to taint my bloodline with, even if she did have that small upside.”

He probably hoped and thought I wouldn’t notice, but exactly when he said “taint my bloodline” his eyes shifted over to me and were off me again in an instant. I knew those were the exact words said to him when he discovered my impending birth and he regretted echoing them himself. It was of no import to me any longer, I had long done away with any shame I felt in being what the demons considered a lesser being. Most of them could not see that while I did lack some of the raw power of demonhood, I had gained a multitude of different perspectives and ways of thinking that they could not fathom. In essence, they could not comprehend how much more clever humans could be, especially when unnaturally enhanced with outside power.

“Then it will be my mistake to make,” Toria said with a nod.

“So be it then.”

“Just in time for negotiations I see.”

Ana’s aura curdled and the air became so thick that it felt suffocating. It seemed that the fiend had absolutely no tact and was showing his face again when a sane person would have kept away as far as they could have possible gotten. Her face was screwed up into a look of rage, her hands balled into fists at the table, I had never quite seen her so unable to contain herself. She was typically a fairly level headed person and quite clever, especially for a demon, it was unlike her to snap into rage quite so easily. My family had used her services over the decades for various training related matters, her family was quite good at some more niche explorations of infernal magic and she was also well respected amongst royal circles without being directly royal herself. She was an excellent ally to have on your side and a terrifying one to have standing opposed to you. I had heard whispers of advice to never invite the services of both Feros and Ana too close together, but had never worked out before why there was such pains to keep them separated.

“Far be it from me to miss a show, but even a blind, deaf, and dumb dog could work out that you want to be anywhere but here,” my father offered. “Besides, I just had these napkins purchased and their still mostly pristine, I don’t want to ruin them with your blood splatter.”

“I think we’ve worked out our differences,” Feros said, acting oblivious to the boiling rage in the air, “besides, after one of my body is destroyed I need food to keep strong in the new one. I don’t want to go begging in the kitchen like some kind of common servant. We’re adult enough to share a table.”

Without a moment of warning a pink fuchsia tendril of magic snaked up Feros’ leg and curled around, climbing up to his neck in less than a blink of an eye. It swiftly wound around his neck several times before sharply cinching tight, causing his head to separate from his body with a gross popping sound. Mari let out a groan like she was going to be sick as the body fell to it’s knees and then forward while the head landed next to the doorway and rocked back and forth for a moment before coming to a stop, the eyes wide and bulging. Immediately the air lessened and became even lighter than it had been before, apparently the murder had made Ana feel marginally better.

“I did try to warn the bastard,” my father muttered, standing up to see the body. “At least he didn’t splash everywhere. No blood? That’s a new one.”

“Something like him doesn’t have blood,” Ana said quietly. “No blood, no soul, no sanity, you’ll find there’s quite a lot that he has lacking.