"Papa!" I couldn't help but be excited to see him; his long hair was pulled back behind his shoulders as he seemed to shine in the sunlight.

"Soraya." He bent down to pick me up, one hand checking my forehead as I settled into his arms. "I can see that you are feeling better but why did you come out so far?"

"I-i wanted to s-see you..." my words trailed off a little as I met his concerned eyes; I couldn't help but clench onto my dress- did this bother him?

"Oh?" Papa chuckled a little as he started to walk. "I see."

"Papa?" I saw that his face was strangely shiny. "A-are you f-feeling oka-ay?"

"Ah, I must be sweaty." Papa flicks his wrist and familiar sparkles lightly covered him before disappearing. "That must of been uncomfortable."

"N-no!" I shook my head hard. "I-i was j-just worried...."

I looked down, embarrassed until I felt light pats on my head and slowly met his eyes.

"I was just doing a little bit of sparring." Papa smiles down at me as we entered a large open area with sounds of sticks hitting wooden figures on poles, a circle in the middle of the space with two people fighting.

I looked towards them, seeing that they were hitting each other with their fists and flinching each time I heard the impact from the blows.

"...."

I could hear someone call out to me as my eyes stayed glued on the two figures, one spitting out blood after getting hit in the face. Memories from the beatings at the castle and by Daddy flashed though my mind as my body instinctively flinched as Papa's hand touched my face.

"Soraya?" Papa's voice finally reached me, chasing away the images. "Are you sure that you are alright?"

"S-sorry Papa." I tried to reassure him, noticing that the two figures had stopped moving and were looking towards us- not a mark on them. "A-are they f-fighting?"

Papa follows my gaze and seems to quickly understand. "No, they were sparring."

"S-sparring?"

"Its training where you practice fighting skills against a opponent with certain rules: like no weapons or actions that could severally injure them." Papa explains patiently as he sits down and arranged me on his lap. "Sparring is for practicing your skills and technique."

"Oh." I leaned back, kind of trying to hide from the gazes that I could feel on me.

Papa's chest was much warmer then it usually was but it still felt good against my back.

"Aidan. Nadia." Papa's voice ticked me a little as the two figures quickly approached and kneeled before us.

"Yes, your majesty!" Their voice were in unison as their heads bent forward; giving me a clear view of the animal ears on top of their heads which matched their hair color- a shiny grey.

"The two of you will be protecting Soraya from now on."

Papa looks down at me then does a small head nod. I stared up at him for a moment, not understanding until it dawned on me.

"I-i'm Soraya." I was really glad that I had been practicing. "N-nice to m-meet you."

"My name is Aidan." The person on the left says, raising his head and showing a scar on the side of his lips with two different colored eyes: one blue and the other brown. "It is an honor to serve you."

"I am Nadia." She raises her head revealing an almost identical face to Aidan's with a scar across her right eyebrow and eye that were also two different colors the same as Aidan.

"You are under my protection Soraya." Papa smiles as I met his eyes. "But sometimes it is better to have a physical display to prevent any mishaps."

~~~~~~~

"How about going on a short walk today?" Mimi says as magic cleared the table from the remains of lunch. "Some exercise would be good for you."

"Hm!" I nod. Papa and I started having breakfast and dinner together everyday though it was only recently that Mimi has allowed me to sit at the table. I waited for her to come set me down from the chair, a something that Mimi insisted on doing after I had slipped trying to get down the tall chair.

Once my feet hit the ground I quickly walked over to the door, now used to how it automatically opened.

"Princess." Aidan and Nadia lightly bowed.

"H-hello." My stammering was slowly getting better over the past month that I've been here but it still showed up at least once every time I spoke.

I've tried talking with the two knights, but they would answer simply to my questions. The only time I got a reaction was when I asked about Papa.

They both really admire him.

Aidan was usually the one who spoke, while I could feel Nadia constantly watching me then look away if I looked in her direction.

My room was close to a very large garden that I've barely explored, full of plants that I've never seen before. Mimi would happily tell me the names of the plants whenever she noticed I looked at a particular one, but she would go a step farther and explain the uses of the plants- which ended up being a very long explanation until it was time for me to head back into my room for dinner.

I headed for an area that I hadn't seen, Aidan and Nadia following along behind me.

A purple flower with the ends of the petals fading into a light blue seemed to glow even in the sunlight caught my eye and I paused to look at it; the purple part reminded me of Papa's eyes.

"You seem to really like flowers." Aidan suddenly spoke as he kneeled down next to me.

"Yes." I couldn't help but stare at his ears which were much closer to me now. "I've n-never seen most of these before..."

His ear twitches as I continued to stare.

"Do you want to try touching them?" Aidan chuckled, sitting down completely.

"I-is it ok-ay?" I was surprised at his sudden offer, I didn't know why he was suddenly doing this.

"I wouldn't offer if wasn't okay."

Aidan leaned over a little, dangling his ear in my face.

I carefully reached up, lightly touching the fluffy ear. It's even softer then a kitten that I had once petted during school.

I watched his reaction for a few seconds as I started to rub it, taking his silence and weight that appeared on my hand as to continue.

My fingers started to run into his hair, which made me realize that he didn't have ears like me- only the animal ears on the top of his head.

"W-why are your ears on top of your head?"

"Because I'm Beastkind." Aidan glances over at me, before sighing a little. "Do you not know what a Beastkin is?"

"N-no." I shook my head and pulled back my hand- was this something that I'm supposed to know?

This is bad. I shouldn't of asked.

"I-i'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry about?" He chocked his head to the side, his brown and blue eyes looking at me puzzled. "I was surprised that you didn't know. You don't have to be sorry for not knowing something."

Aidan seems to hesitate for a moment before patting me on the head, his calluses felt rough against my hair.

"Humans and demons used to have a good relationship a long time ago." He pulled his hand away with a cough. "There were times when it wasn't usual for hybrids like me and Nadia to be born; though now being half-human can be troublesome."

"T-troublesome?"

"Having more animal-like features makes you a 'purebred'." A dark look passed across his face for a second before disappearing, so quick I wasn't sure if I had really seen it. "Of course that doesn't matter to his Majesty! He gave us the opportunity to join his army and rewarded us for our hard work."

"S-so you really like Papa too..."

"Of course!"

This was the first time that I've seen Aidan smile.

"It is such an honor for us to be a long beside him- though I didn't know that I would be guarding a human child-" He froze midsentence, his wide eyes meeting mine. "O-of c-course I don't mean that in a bad way!!"

"I-it's okay." I tried smiling at him, but it looks like I have to practice more from what I could tell from his face.

"What he meant was we were curious about the human child that our king picked up." Nadia suddenly spoke, her voice mellow and almost song-like. "Which is why we accepted the assignment for guarding you."

"S-so you don't dislike me?"

My question seemed surprise them. They looked at each other before staring at me.

"Of course we like you!" The both of them said together.

"We had been warned that human children were naturally weak and that it was very important to keep in mind that you were weaker than weak." Aidan's expression resembled a kicked puppy that I had seen Daddy done to a dog long ago. "We were holding back because you were still recovering."

"We apologize if that made you think that we dislike you." Nadia bowed her head.

"I-it's okay!" I tried to reassure them, a warm feeling spread across my body. "I'm sorry for not noticing."

The two siblings shared another look before smiling at me.

"I guess that our little Princess needs to be punished for making such a mistake." Aidan's smile was strange.

"It would seem so." Nadia nods in agreement, sitting on the other side of me. "I know of a fitting punishment."

"P-punishment?" I started to shake a little, that word had a lot of bad things that happened after being said.

I closed my eyes and flinched as I felt something land in my lap.

Hey everyone! Wow, when was the last time I posted a chapter huh?

*Quickly hides behind a makeshift shield, wearing a pot on top of head*

Okay, Okay- you guys can stop glaring at me now (I know its been over a month... Hey you- ya you- just put that book down okay? Never hit a person with glasses okay?😎)

Luckily, I've gotten the all testing done for my classes.... provided that I live past next week then I have two more weeks until I can start writing regularly again (three weeks total)!

I meant to post this chapter two weeks ago but that didn't happen obv. But 8.04k reads!!!!!!!!! This is freaking awesome! 🤯🤯🤯🥳🥳

Were you all rereading the past ten chapters? I'm so happy to have you guys commenting! 🥰

I even stayed up super late (it even changed days- just looked at my clock) to finish this for all of ya! Even made it nice and long so none of you try killing me later.

Love all of you and thanks for reading!!🥰🥰😘😘