Fay Tale - Chapter Twenty-Five

When Maidd slipped Seris’s child into the gilded seat beside him just before the welcoming banquet began, it took all of the vampire’s willpower not to slash the ogre to pieces. The prince had no doubt the king had noticed the nearly late arrival. He had no doubt a great many of the court had as well. If he had to put up with little comments such as “it’s a shame the princess was nearly late to Zara’s welcoming banquet” and “I suppose it cannot be helped from a child of such savage breeding” or “yes, we cannot blame the princes in their raising of her. It’s simply impossible to control her” for the next fortnight then the least he could do was vent his feelings on ogre hide.

Control your expression, Seris, Angelis thought at him.

I am.

I’m sure their delay was reasonable. Wait at least to hear his answer before you flay him.

But I can flay him no matter the response, brother?

Angelis sighed mentally even as he smiled at all the courtiers eyeing the three royals.

That will depend upon how irritated I become by all the insipid comments I must hear for the next few days.

Seris smiled with feral pleasure and a good many of those staring eyes turned away.

The banquet in Zara’s honor lasted far too long. Lily was drooping by the second course and asleep by the third. Maidd stepped forward to take her, but Seris cut him off by slipping her out of the chair and into his lap.

Mine.

The ogre made no reply to the obvious aggression but stepped back once more and pretended to blend in with the stone wall behind him.

In fact, he said nothing that whole night. Not during the meal. Not during the walk back to wing the vampire princes shared with the princess. Not when Seris gently undressed his child and tucked her into bed. Only when the three stepped into the hall once more did he say anything.

“Your room or Angel’s, Prince Seris?”

Seris glared while one of Angelis’s golden brows climbed upwards in surprise.

“Mine I think,” Angel said after a moment.

Maidd strode across the corridor and was inside before the two could begin to question him. Angelis’s other eyebrow rose, but he followed after the ogre without complaint. Seris was not so blasé. The moment he slammed the door shut he began shouting.

“What in the ninth layer of hell were you thinking?!” he raged.

“That depends,” the ogre replied, “on whether Lady Aisha knowing Lily is Fay-touched is a serious matter.”

Both vampires stared.

“You have killed her,” Seris whispered, pupils expanding to dangerous orbs. His face though was pale with horror. “You have caused her death.”

“Oh shut up,” Maidd sighed.

He sighed again as Seris launched himself in the ogre’s direction. Maidd pivoted, sending the vampire rushing past. Or he would have if Maidd hadn’t grabbed him in a bear—ogre—hug and pinned the snarling vampire tightly against his massive chest.

“She’s fine. You’re fine. Aisha doesn’t care,” he said bluntly, hoping to stave of anything Angelis might try. “In fact, she’s known since the beginning.”

All three men stared at each other. At least, Angelis and Maidd stared at each other. Seris was stuck squirming in futility against the ogre’s chest. Finally Angelis moved to sit on the bed with a sigh.

“Please continue, Maidd.”

“Should I let him go?” the ogre asked, glancing down at his captive.

“You’d best not. He’s always overprotective where Liliana is concerned. Let him hear the whole story before I decide to release him.”

The squirming increased. When that didn’t acquire his freedom, prince Seris growled then suddenly yelped in pain. Angelis looked at his brother in concern.

“He tried to bite me,” Maidd explained. “Ogre skin is tough.”

Angelis sighed and rubbed his head.

“Please continue, Maidd.”

“Sure. So me and Lily were playing cover and run but then we heard Lady Korela and Lily pulled me behind a tapestry to hide but they didn’t see either of us so I realized Lily was using magic.”

“Because you were hiding?”

“An ogre. Behind a wall tapestry,” Maidd repeated.

“A fair point,” Angelis admitted, “go on.”

Muffled, angry curses from the vampire in his arms seemed to disagree.

“If you don’t stop wiggling, I’ll eat your liver and milk your kidney for Lily to drink,” Maidd warned.

Seris finally held still so Maidd tossed him onto Angelis. The older prince rocked back a little but caught his brother with ease. Before he could pop up with more shrieking and threats, Angelis kissed his nose.

“Angel! That ogre-”

“Hush brother of my rookery and heart. What’s done is done. And despite your many protests, Maidd has done an exceptional job with Lily up to this point. Let us show a little trust rather than fang.”

Seris continued to glare regardless.

“If you kill me, you won’t know exactly what me and Lily did or what Lady Aisha knows,” Maidd pointed out.

“I kill him after the story then.”

“You kill him when I say you can,” Angel insisted.

Maidd noticed the other vampire didn’t say when that would be. Angelis was usually so sweet-tempered in comparison to Seris, that the ogre forgot the elder prince held just as many sharp teeth. Maybe that was the point.

“Anyway, after Lady Aisha bounced me off a wall-”

“SHE BOUNCED MY BABY OFF A WALL?!” Seris shrieked.

“Me Seris! Did you lose your hearing along with your wits?” Maidd sighed.

Seris lunged at the ogre again, but Angelis held him firmly.

“Please explain,” Angel sighed.

“Well when I heard her say Lily was a you-know-what, I panicked and ran. She made a mage shield. I bounced off it. As you saw during the banquet, Lily is clearly fine.”

“Why did you run?” Angel wanted to know.

“Well,” Maidd said slowly, “when one hears the Royal Judge and most powerful mage you’ve ever encountered say your princess is a you-know-what then one also tends to think that judge and very powerful mage is about to do something permanently lethal about it.”

“But you risked your own life running,” Angel pointed out. “Any found harboring a…you-know-what is put to death along with the individual in question.”

Maidd stared him down with a word. Eventually Angelis looked away first.

“Thank you,” the vampire said softly.

“Clearly Lady Aisha doesn’t abide by the same rules as the rest of us,” Maidd continued, “because she brought us both to her wing and proceeded to make Lily practice her, ah, hiding.”

“She wasn’t concerned about the Fay detecting her magic?” Seris said, speaking calmly for the first time.

“She said, and I quote, ‘it is not a concern.’ So I didn’t worry about it.”

Seris nodded reluctantly. When a master mage told you something, you believed it.

“So we played hide-and-cover,” Maidd continued, “and Aisha found out quite a few interesting things about Lily’s magical limits.”

The princess could disappear other people and objects providing she was touching them, but there was a limit to size. Aisha weren’t sure exactly that limit with only one Guardian to utilize. But since that Guardian was the size of a small ogre then that had to count for something.

Lily also couldn’t work her magic when someone was watching her. Said Guardian who saw her simply continued to stare as the princess screwed up her face in intense concentration. But, if Maidd saw her and Lily walked around a corner out of eyeshot, then she would be invisible when he rounded the corner after her.

“Aisha isn’t sure if that’s because she can’t concentrate with them staring or because it’s essential to hidden magic to not be seen,” Maidd ended with a shrug. “She could also do it for a fair length of time as long as she concentrated.”

“This knowledge is both surprising and useful,” Angelis admitted, “but perhaps not worth the risk should someone realize she practiced magic.”

Maidd shrugged. It was water into the moat at this point.

“Aisha said that not only can Lily practice all she wants under her guidance, but also that Lily’s magic itself can’t be detected by another magic user.”

“Explain,” Seris demanded even as he settled himself more comfortably in his brother’s lap.

 “I don’t know.”

Angelis slapped a hand over his brother’s mouth before the words could come.

“She didn’t share the technicalities. I didn’t ask assuming that I, a mere ogre, wouldn’t understand. Feel free to ask her yourself at Lily’s next lesson.”

“We will certainly ask for a more detailed explanation later,” Angelis said, more to Seris than Maidd. “And you are absolutely certain she is not, ah, bothered by Liliana’s…condition?”

“Like I said, Aisha knew about it the first time she met Lily.”

“She could be lying.”

“Why? A mage of her power could literally turn us into dust if she wanted. Or pretty statues. Or…well, I might end up as slag or rubble with my magic resistance, but the point is death would be inevitable. There’s no point in lying to us when it gains her nothing,” the ogre insisted.

Angelis could think of one or two reasons, but neither were particularly likely or sensible. Lady Aisha was, at her core, a bluntly pragmatic being.

“Also she told me one more very interesting thing.”

Angelis put a restraining hand on his brother. Just in case.

“The king has known about Lily from the very beginning as well.”

Maidd smiled smugly as both vampire jaws dropped. He was starting to enjoy this job.