As he reached for the freshly poured cup of tea in front of him, Aurelius found that his gaze kept lingering towards the set of the three bland and nondescript sealed tubes that sat lopsidedly against a nearby chair. They were well within arm’s reach for the towering elven prince as he sat casually in the large and incredibly plushy loveseat, but Aurelius would continue to ignore their existence for quite a while longer as the Duke and Duchess quietly whispered amongst themselves whilst the servants finished the prep work in laying out the remainder of the tea and snacks upon the table’s glass top.

With one hand covering the ears of his wife, the Duke whispered gentled words to help soothe the hesitant Duchess as a gentle hand rested itself atop of her slender shoulders. .

Aurelius took the first sip of his drink as he waited for what the Duchess had left to say to her stubborn, bear-like husband.

“After this is done, I want him out of our house.” The Duchess quietly whispered into her husband’s ear, cupping her fingers around the ears of her bear-like husband so that her words could not be overheard by their elven guest.

As the Duchess continued to speak her mind about their guest, Aurelius found it difficult to contain himself and hold back a sly, elated smile. He found the growing smile difficult to hide behind his steaming cup of tea as he waited for the Duchess to finish with what she had left to say to her husband.

“Afterwards, you and I are going to have a long talk about what types of guests are allowed on these premises.”

Aurelius was already well aware of the fact that before the two of them had even met one another, Duchess Nivenia, his mother-in-law, had been greatly opposed to the prospect of inviting into their home as an honored guest. He was even under the suspicion that once she finally learned of his relationship towards Iskra, she would remain opposed to him for reasons that one might find reasonable.

Whilst she had done her duty as the estate’s Duchess and hosted a private meeting between the two of them, Aurelius was well aware that his mother-in-law’s first impression of him was abysmal at best.

“Nivvy,” The Duke replied, calling his wife by her nickname as he held up his other hand to help calm the skeptical Vesely matriarch. “You just need to hear him out and then afterwards you can judge him for what he has said, but for now let’s just relax and wait until things have ended.”

Unappreciative of her husband’s willingness to hear out a man whom she felt to be an obvious fraud, Duchess Nivenia showed her frustration by clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth as the ducal couple separated from another and turned towards their elven guest.

“This is a fine batch of tea.” Aurelius lied while smiling towards his in-laws as he slowly placed the cup back onto its saucer. In all honesty, he preferred teas that had a far more bitter and sour taste than that of the sweeter teas that were becoming increasingly common in his life. He wasn’t sure if this was because of his wives or those of his children, but so far he kept his distaste of the sugary drinks to himself. “The taste reminds me of my family back home, actually.”

At first he wondered if it would be a good idea for him to exchange various types of teas with his human in-laws in order to help facilitate the future growth of their relationship with him and their grandchildren, but then again, he was well aware of just how vehemently opposed Iskra was to the different flavors of tea that he was quite fond of and quietly dismissed the idea.

He wouldn’t be all that surprised if Iskra had inherited her tastes from that of her parents.

Aurelius couldn’t help it as a slight chuckle escaped from his smiling lips as his mind conjured up images of the human half of his family reacting in a same manner to that of their daughter when she had first tasted some of the more popular elvish teas.

“Ah, yes. Well. It’s a favorite of our family.” The Duchess awkwardly stated as her eyes roamed towards her husband, adding the elf’s sudden fit of chuckling onto her growing list of reasons to distrust the elven prince. The Duke merely shrugged his shoulders at his wife’s gaze; prompting Duchess Nivenia to shake her head with a disappointed zeal. “All of our children practically grew up on it.”

Aurelius nodded along as he gave his mother-in-law a knowing smile, somewhat aware of who her children were and how much of a hassle they must have been if Iskra’s stories were to be fully believed.

“I can see why that would be the case, especially with how sweet it tastes. I’ve heard that my children won’t drink any other tea if they aren’t practically sugar to begin with.” The elven prince began, taking the opportunity provided to him to help bridge the gap between the two sides of his family whilst also pushing the conversation towards a more favorable direction. He figured that he might as well go straight for the bullseye and lean the conversation more towards the fate of their banished daughter in a somewhat inconspicuous manner. The consequences of his rudeness would have to be dealt with at a later date however. “Though I can’t help but think that this type of tea is more popular with children than it is with adults. I’m sure that once they reach a certain age they might try and wean themselves off of the stuff in order to appear as more mature in the eyes of their peers.”

“Well, there have been a few like that. But they’ve all come back to it in some shape or form, usually because they know how great it is with children.” The Duchess let out with a defiant huff, none too happy to have had her family’s most cherished tea become degraded by a man that might as well be ignorant in the ways of Ranislavian tea culture. “It also happens to be my favorite as well.”

Aurelius couldn’t help it as a barely-contained, joyful fit of laughter escaped from between his smiling lips. The Duchess was wearing a very similar expression of defiance to that of her wayward daughter who now lived far up in the north.

“Speaking of children,” The elven prince picked up from where he had last left off and continued onwards, gesturing with his right hand to summon the first object out of the three sealed tubes sitting at his side. Both the Duke and Duchess followed the magically floating tube as it quickly flew into the elven prince’s hands, the numerical symbol for the elven number one glowed slightly as Aurelius playfully tossed and spun the object in the air. “While I was in the foyer, I’ve noticed from your family’s portraits that the two of you have quite the number of children.”

“That we do.” Duke Radoslav laughed as a hand went down and rubbed itself along his wife’s meaty thighs, sinking greedily into the doughy flesh before slowly removing itself from her body and placing itself along the back of her neck and shoulders.

The Duchess could only look at her husband with an astonished expression upon her face by the man’s very public display of affection towards her. While it was true that she was aware of their reputation in being one of the most affectionate couples within Ranislavian high society, but that still didn’t stop Duchess Nivenia from becoming astounded by her husband’s ability to show just how physical the two of them were at times in front of an unknown entity such as the foreigner in front of them.

A foreigner of an entirely different race for that matter!

“If you don’t mind me asking this,” Aurelius began as his eyes shifted from the supple, meaty thighs of his mother-in-law to the servants who had remained within the room, keeping to themselves as they waited for the needs of their masters and that of their guest. “Would it be alright if the servants were dismissed? There’s no need to keep them around while we’re discussing the point of tonight’s topic.”

Duke Radoslav looked around the room, eyeing each of the servants as he grew curious as to what such a topic might be. Ultimately, he chose to oblige the wishes of his guest as it wasn’t all that uncommon for either himself or the Duchess to attend to various guests with no one else in attendance.

But that was usually the case with regards to family friends and political allies.

Doing so on the behalf of a complete stranger was an entirely new prospect for both the Duke and Duchess.

With a wordless wave of his hand, the Duke nodded as he dismissed the servants. Ordering for them to vacate the room and end their duties for the night.

The servants obeyed the will of their master and bowed towards the Duke and Duchess as they slowly filed out of the room, quietly leaving the room with such a practiced precision that not a single one of the servants had made any unnecessary noise.

When the last of the servants had left, and the door closed behind them, Aurelius gave his thanks to his mother and father-in-law.

“I appreciate that.” The elven prince gratefully said, leaning forward to pour himself another cup of tea while setting down the tube in front of him. Well within the reach of the grasps of Duke Radoslav and Duchess Nivenia. “What I’m about to say is best kept to the three of us, and-“

“Were you wanting me to leave too?” Came the booming voice of Argonok from within the shadows of one of the room’s corners, laughing to himself as the elven prince shot a fierce glare towards the presence of his voice.

Leave, now! An angered Aurelius mouthed towards the Fire Guard, none too pleased to see that his travelling companion was still within the room.

As was his usual, Argonok gave the elven prince an uncaring look before shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant bounce. He turned to leave, but stopped midway to say one last final thing to the blonde haired prince.

“You aren’t helping your case, Pretty Boy.”

With that, Argonok left the room, but not before a fierce snarl flashed over the elven prince’s once calm expression.

“I told you he was crazy.” Duchess Nivenia leaned in and whispered into her husband’s ear as she nudged an elbow into the sides of the bear-like Duke.

“Let’s move on and get right to the point,” Aurelius gave a sly smile towards the Duke and Duchess as he pushed the tube forward, practically nudging at his mother-in-law’s knees as he leaned back into his seat. “Part of my reason for coming here is contained within that tube.”

The Duke raised a curious eye at the elven prince as Duchess Nivenia picked up the tube from the table and popped the sealed end free from its confines.

“I’m not sure if you’ll be able to recognize the person in the painting,” Aurelius joked as a smug expression spread across his face. Leaning into the back of his seat and spreading his arms across the back of the chair, Aurelius watched on as the Duchess unfurled the canvas and slowly turned it around so that she could see what sort of painting the elven prince had brought into her home. A sudden gasp, blissfully satisfying to the blonde haired elf’s ears, could be heard from behind the canvas. “Though I had high doubts that that would have been the case.”

Curious as to what could have made his wife gasp aloud; Duke Radoslav turned and looked down at the painting only to find his jaw sinking low to the floor as unrestrained shocked spread out across his grizzled features.

Dressed up in the finest of clothing and the most spectacular of jewelry that brought attentitive compliments to even the smallest details within the portrait was a stern looking woman who sat with her shoulders proudly rolled back as her eyes gazed intently into the visage’s of those looking upon her portrait. It was none other than the familiar figure of their daughter; Iskra Vesely.

Nowadays otherwise known by the name of Iskra Dreadblade; the Dread Mistress and first wife of Aurelius Dreadblade.

“From when you had last seen her, this portrait would have been commissioned roughly a year after she had been banished from this kingdom.” Aurelius explained as he continued to watch his in-laws struggle to comprehend the meaning behind such a portrait. The edges of the canvas shook immensely as Duchess Nivenia’s hands quivered at the sight before her.

The elven prince watched with curious interest as Duke Radoslav leaned in further, grabbing hold of one of his wife’s tiny hands as the two quietly whispered to one another.

What Aurelius had yet to tell to his in-laws was the fact that the portrait had also been commissioned several months after the birth of their first, and now oldest, set of grandchildren from the fecund couple.

Hidden beneath the stern expression worn by their banished daughter was the hint of a smug expression from the exhausted mother as she slowly learned to deal with the chaos of raising octuplets.

“As you can see,” Aurelius went on to say as he chuckled to himself, remembering the fact that at the time of the portrait’s commissioning, Iskra had gotten pregnant for a second time. It had taken long for the couple to get started on their second batch of kids and produce quintuplets. “She’s perfectly healthy.”

And just like their older siblings, all of the children would have been boys.

“How?”

This was all that the Duchess, or the Duke for that matter, could manage to stumble out of her trembling lips as the ducal couple continued to stare in awe at the portrait of their banished daughter.

Aurelius gave the Duchess’s simple inquiry a shadowy smirk as he went on to explain what had happened shortly after they had last seen their daughter. “It’s a long story, but we had gotten married not too long after she had been banished.”

“Here’s what she looks like now.” Both the Duke and Duchess appeared from behind the portrait, expressions of unadulterated shock crested over their faces as Aurelius snapped his fingers. The second of the three sealed tubes landed atop of the Duke’s lap from out of nowhere after having been forced to magically traverse from one spot to another.

Duchess Nivenia was quietly mouthing the words “Married” over and over to herself with an increasing rate of disbelief on her features as her husband reached down and quickly undid the seals on the second tube.

Tilting the tube downwards, Duke Radoslav reached out and grabbed hold of another rolled up canvas and quickly went to work in unfolding it so that both he and his wife could gaze upon this next portrait of their daughter.

“That second portrait was done only a few weeks ago. So think of it as my way of getting the three of you reacquainted with one another after such a long time apart.”

When compared to her first portrait, not much had changed in terms of their daughter’s expressions. There was still that smug, aristocratic gaze that had been present in their daughter’s first daughter, but now they could see the glint of humbled patience that came with having learnt to deal with the chaos of young children.

Her choice in clothing had changed, however. Where once Iskra’s body had been adorned in the finest, and most elegant of clothing; their daughter’s body was now clad in the simplest of sweaters as it left her shoulders fully exposed while its sleeves were down low and crumpled up against her elbows. The sweater worn by the mother of Aurelius’ half-elven children had also left little to the imagination when it came to her breasts, the edges of the soft and woolen fabric barely held onto her mountainous bosom as they allowed for a deep and cavernous amount of cleavage to be left exposed for all to see.

And, as was the case for the first portrait, Iskra sported a great deal of jewelry that ranged from elaborate, artistically designed earrings and necklaces to simple glittering gems that had been weaved into her raven black hair.

Simply put, Iskra was a woman who would never dream of wanting for money in even their most feverish of nightmares.

“I see that her sense of fashion has certainly changed.” The Duke simply put into layman terms as he looked over towards the blonde haired elf with an expression of uncertainty painted over his harsh, calculating gaze. “And unless I’m going deaf, you mentioned that the two of you were married?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Aurelius chuckled lightly, smiling at his father-in-law as the Duchess continued to gaze upon her daughter’s portrait. “Like I’ve previously mentioned before, the two of us had gotten married not too long after having met one another, but that’s a story for another time.”

“Are there children in this marriage?” The Duchess’s voice burned with the fires of curiosity as she continued to stare intently into her daughter’s visage, mesmerizing as much of it as she could in the case that it was to be taken from her clutches.

“I think that’s a fair question.” Aurelius began as he leaned over and picked the third and final sealed tube. He flipped the last of the three tubes in the palm of his hand for good measure before slowly leaning forward and handing the item over to his mother-in-law.

Duchess Nivenia quickly grabbed it from the palm of the elven prince’s hands, moving swiftly and undoing the seal as she looked upon Aurelius’ smug expression with a stern gaze.

“How does having twenty grandchildren, with more on the way; sound to you?”

“I’m not sure how you would be able to miscount, but I’m seeing twenty-one children in this painting.” The Duke stated matter-of-factly as he peered away from the portrait of his daughter and her nearly two dozen children.

“Ah, that’s right. I remember hearing Priscilla’s grumbling while the portrait was being made.” Aurelius joked with a sly smile upon his lips. “The girl is actually my sister whom Iskra adopted into the family after the events involving my family. I wasn’t sure how to approach her as a topic so I decided to leave the matter as her status as being a grandchild of yours or not alone for now.”

“If Iskra took her in, then I’m more than happy to count her as my granddaughter.” Came the saddened, but relieved voice of Duchess Nivenia as a hand went over her heart. “And I’m saddened to hear about your family.”

Aurelius looked away from his mother-in-law as he thought back to the times when he had spent in dealing with his parents after he had married Iskra. He spent a few moments to himself deep in thought as those moments came and went in the back of his mind.

“At the end of it all,” The solemn elven prince began as he turned back towards the parents of his human wife. “It was actually a blessing in disguise.”

“Oh, I see.” The Duchess’ hushed voice leaked out as she turned her attention back to the family portrait in front of her, taking extra care to mesmerize the faces of all of her grandchildren. No matter their blood relations to her. “Still, though. This family that the two of you have must have taken quite the long time to build together.”

“Nonsense,” Aurelius laughed as he ran his slender fingers gracefully through his golden locks of hair, smiling happily at the Duchess’s rapid acceptance to the situation that had been placed in front of her. “Iskra’s only on her fourth pregnancy at the moment.”

“I know that my wife would hate to see you departing at such a late hour, but I know that there must be some form of reasoning for such a hushed departure.” Duke Radoslav mournfully commented to his elven son-in-law as the cold night’s air turned his voice into a dense, sparkling misty cloud of rapidly-freezing words. “But, still. Must you depart at such an hour? Why don’t you at least stay for the night and gain some rest before heading out onto the road. There’s no need to rush forward and hurriedly finish whatever is ahead of you.”

Aurelius smiled down upon the fur-coated visage of his father-in-law from high above his steed as dark, midnight clouds rolled across the night sky; covering the brilliantly lit moon in their shadowed graces. A false sense of darkness casted itself upon the two men as the elven prince threw his hood over the glittering locks of golden hair.

Unfortunately,” Two glowing orbs of silver stared down at the Duke as Aurelius’ golden strands of hair shimmered and faded into bleak darkness as the elven prince tugged at the hems of his hood. “My wives are an impatient bunch and will not tolerate my absence any longer than is needed. Nor am I one to feel the need to delay my departure when there is much more in the future to come.”

Clouds of frozen breath glittered beneath the brilliant rays of moonlight as the elven prince’s words escaped from behind the captive darkness of his hood. The clouds continued to roll above the two men’s heads as the wind slowly began to pick up, bringing with it a bone biting breeze.

“And besides,” Aurelius chuckled to himself as his thoughts lingered on his family, desperate to see the faces of his wives and children again after having left them for a second time in their lives. “Iskra’s been pushing for me to spend time with the kids. She wants our children to learn more about their father, but I think she just wants to have some alone time away from all of the chaos that they create around her.”

This time both of the men laughed at the elven prince’s words, finding joy in the things that make the world turn from night into day.

With a click of his tongue and a gentle kick of his heels, Aurelius commanded for his steed to walk forward. Towards the estate’s main gate.

And to the road back home.

The two of them moved at a leisurely pace, walking besides one another as one walked the estates grounds while one foot whilst the other strode casually upon his horse. The rhythmic trotting of the horse’s hooves was the only sound made between the two men during this time, but they had greatly preferred it this way.

They would talk more once they arrived at the gates, whilst waiting for the night guards to open the metallic portal to the outside world.

Such a time had come far fast than either of them had suspected, or wanted for that matter.

“Duke,” Gloved hands clenched and tightened around the horse’s reigns as a hesitant Aurelius turned to look down at his father-in-law. The human couldn’t see the expression that the elven prince was now wearing upon his gorgeous features, but the man who had married the Duke’s raven haired daughter found solitary glee in such a thing. “I don’t mind if you were to go and tell your children about what you have learned tonight. Nor do I care if you were to shout it from atop of the world for that matter, but let me make myself clear on one thing.”

A pair of icy-blue eyes stared up at the elven prince with an intense gaze as Duke Radoslav tightened his jaw and crossed his burly arms. Because of the position he held in Ranislava’s aristocratic world and that of his legendary lineage, threats were of an item that was entirely alien to him. Hearing the first threat of his life coming from the honeyed, sing-song voice of his newest son-in-law brought him a great deal of uncertainty.

He could see now why his wife had been incredibly cold to the blonde haired elf.

“You don’t need to go that far, son.” The Duke proclaimed as he stared hotly at the elven prince. His eyes lingered down towards the elf’s waist where one might find a sword strapped at his sword, yet there was none to be found. Not even the barest hint of a hidden dagger on his entire body.

There was an air surrounding the man before him, but he couldn’t quite place what it could possibly mean.

The Ranislavian Duke just knew that the elf looming over him was standing at the edge of the abyss and but a mere step away from descending into animalistic carnage.

Aurelius breathed lightly in delight as he lowered his head in thanks at the Duke’s words, sorrowfully elated that his father-in-law had the courage to accept his unspoken threats.

“Well then, Duke.” Aurelius started as he turned his attention towards the yawning gate as a pair of guards slowly pushed the portal to the realm beyond the estate’s grounds open. “I hope that the next time we meet will be as family.”

Aurelius’ cloaked form slowly disappeared from the moon’s light soon afterwards, a hand raising itself the further he went into the curtained shadows of the night’s bleak darkness.

A last bid of farewell to a man that he knew he would outlive.