Chapter 67: My in-laws

     It’s highly unscientific how refreshed Ariellia feels waking up the next morning. She should be stressed out of her mind. Yesterday’s events were so mind-boggling she almost feels like it was the product of a psychedelic dream on steroids. First came the nightmare of the monster invasion, then Anya’s random team flip assisting in her kidnapping, Rei’s awakening, her father being mortally injured, Jasper and Mori-fae revealing their true nature, the list goes on. The more accurate question is what didn’t happen in the past 48 hours? Yet despite all this, she woke up under the warm shelter of Jasper’s wings feeling calm and relieved.

    Rubbing her eyes, she tries to remember how she even managed to fall asleep last night. She recalls her eyelids feeling heavy while watching Jasper breathe mana into the egg, the natural heat emitting from his dragon form turned the atmosphere cozy in no time. Turning over, she got a rare chance to see Rei’s unguarded sleeping face. Her heart skips several beats just watching his broad chest rise and fall. She lightly caresses the new silver horns and swaying tail, oddly enough they match him well. Perhaps it’s the natural sense of security that comes with being close to kin, for some reason she can’t help but think this is the first time Rei’s ever looked so peaceful.

‘You can sleep more if you want dear, he won’t be waking up anytime soon. My cute little nephew has never had a chance to sleep in a nest like this, so it will take some time for him to adjust.’

“Uncle Jasper?”

She looks back to the massive dragon with his head resting on his hands, inches away from the bed. His eyes aren’t open, but there’s no doubt he can picture everything happening around him perfectly.

“Will you remain this way until my father’s egg is hatched?”

‘Yes, but don’t worry, I will give you another doll to give to Miranda. She’s worked for house Garrod for so long, we can trust her to handle things as my mediator while you are away. If there’s any news on our end, I can transmit it through the dolls.’

“I’ve only been to the capital once, I never got to see the King during my stay. What’s Rei’s father like?” She softly asks while playing with Rei’s thick raven hair, trying to picture what his father might look like by imagining an older version of him.

  ‘Daymon grew up with me on the north continent of Nolara, the last haven for dragons. We grew up in Kyalien Valley, a beautiful land full of lush fields, deep gullies, tall mountains and open clear skies. I watched him grow from a babbling toddler into the talented man he is today. I traveled with him, Henley, David, Folami, and Vaiya to defeat the demon lord and reclaim his birthright.’

“Birthright, you mean the throne?”

The red dragon seems to sigh at the memory. ‘I tried to explain some of it to Rei while you were away, but dragons only have one mate in their entire lifetime. This is not limited to race or gender, so naturally there are times when we outlive our spouses’ shorter lifespan.’

Ariellia frowns, familiar with the dilemma, being a dark elf of the elder race herself. Before the events of the last few days, she’d always been secretly scared of what would happen once she outlived Rei. Would she be a lonely widow, grieving and solemn for the rest of her days or would she learn to cope like her father did raising their future child as a single parent?

‘There was once a time when humans, not knowing fear and being far too greedy, tried to enslave dragons using our companions as leverage. One of our ancestors got so mad that he committed the ultimate taboo of our tribe, burning his mate and the entire human kingdom to the ground to prevent such future threats. He lost his mind soon after, of course, becoming a lost wild dragon unable to handle the grief but his point had been made. Humans called it ‘Amiin’s massacre’, an event so horrific other nations made laws banning anyone from ever harming a dragon’s spouse.’

Ariellia nods, “I remember that being in one of my history lessons. My tutor said many lives were lost, entire generations wiped out for a crime they didn’t commit.”

‘It’s a sad tale. A dragon’s life is exceptionally long, so long they may witness the rebirth of their lovers through several incarnations. If the two acknowledged each other in their past life, a mark will appear on both of their bodies and all incarnations to follow. This way the tiny chance of a dragon finding their partner again in their new life is higher. That was the case for my father and Daymon’s mother.’

“Daymon’s mother? You say it like she is not your mother as well?”

‘If someone is reborn without any of their prior memories with you, wearing a different appearance and personality shaped by their current life, do you still consider them to be the same person?’

!

Ariellia stops playing with the tips of Rei’s now pointy ears, shocked silly by the implications. “Then what of my father? Will you treat him differently once he is reborn?”

Jasper shakes his head. “David’s case is different. He didn’t fully die, you were able to transfer his dying soul into a new vessel. His memories may be sealed at first or spotty but in the end, he will still remember us.”

Arie presses her hand to her chest in relief, happy that her father wouldn’t become a stranger to her. “Then when you say you and King Daymon are half-brothers-”

‘I mean exactly that. I was born from the union between my dragon father and dragon mother. Daymon was born from a deal between my dragon father and the late Queen Meti Kahina Bastian, the human incarnation of my mother.’

“But how is that even possible? Was the scandal from back then true, did Queen Meti really have an affair outside of her marriage to the king?” This is such a sensitive topic that there’s no right way to ask.

The scandal surrounding the late Queen Meti has always been a sore spot for the royal family. Historians barely cover it in text, censored by royal decree never to disclose the full happenings of that time. As a little girl she never cared about gossip related to the royal family, feeling it was too far removed from her daily life in the duchy, yet now to protect her husband she must learn about her new in-laws.

Jasper seems to understand, shifting his gaze towards Rei. ‘The answer is no. Queen Meti was loyal to the late king till her dying day. Things may not have turned out so tragically if she’d reconsidered and given up her love for the king.’

“Then what really happened back then?”

Ariellia is startled to see Rei’s eyes open, helplessly drawn to those stoic gold serpentine eyes. He’d woken up at some point and had been listening to their conversation as well. She blushes, feeling shy for asking about his family without his knowledge.

‘Go back to sleep, I’ll share it in a dream with you both.’