Chapter Forty-One
Bellamy
“ W hat about purple?” Noe asked, her pencil twirling just above the paper. When I lifted a brow at her, she added, “Like Asher’s necklace.”
“While I am eternally grateful that Sipho showed her love when very few had, I do not think I am strong enough to have my wedding themed after his necklace,” I drawled. Noe snickered, writing the word purple and then crossing it out four times before writing Bellamy is too insecure, must not use beside it. “You are a—” I cut myself off, eyes darting to the three mortal children who sat at the table with us. “…menace.”
“Ooo burn,” Noe teased. Rolling my eyes, I turned to the children.
“Make sure you eat the carrots too,” I ordered. Nyla’s two, Gemma and Safre, both grumbled in response. Octavia, Mordicai’s youngest daughter, was not so quiet in her distaste.
“They taste like utter garbage,” Octavia groaned, scrunching her small nose and shaking her blonde hair. She looked so much like her father. Talked like him too. Safre nodded in agreement, frowning. Coating the dark skin above his lip was a small line of white where milk had splashed, making him look too sweet to be so sour.
“Do not tell Ray that, she worked hard on this menu.” I laughed, looking around the large dining area and scanning the faces to see if my assistant was around. She sat in the far corner, Lara beside her. Looking back at the kids, I noticed Gemma was eyeing me curiously. She was the most daring of the three, so I turned to her fully and raised my brows.
“Are you too scared to eat the carrots, Gemma?” I challenged. Within minutes, the three had fallen into a sort of competition, scarfing down their carrots as if their lives depended on it. With a smirk of triumph, I faced Noe again. She was smiling softly, making my cheeks heat. “What?”
“Oh nothing, just thinking about how good of a father you will be one day.” Her words, while meant to soothe and compliment, hurt.
Asher was not able to have younglings. Not yet. And it did not feel like a priority for either of us to attempt to fight the magic. But, even if we could, would I really be a good father? Could someone like me be good at such a thing? Adbeel had raised me, and he was the greatest father anyone could ask for. But Xavier had conceived me, and it was his blood that ran through my veins. Mia’s blood. The blood of horrible parents.
“Anyways,” I said, shaking my head. “I think red would be a good color for the carpet.”
Noe scoffed. “You have had enough red for an entire lifetime. Pick something else.”
“But—”
“No buts, you are not going with red.”
“Black?”
“Bellamy, I will kill—”
“Ahem,” I cut in, nodding towards the children. All three sets of eyes were locked on Noe and I, waiting for what would be said next.
“I will brutally murder you,” Noe amended, sending a wink to the children.
They burst into laughter just as my eye caught sight of flowing brown hair and deep gray eyes. Asher approached us with a wide smile on her face and a chunk of bread in her hand. She wore a red blouse and black trousers, looking exactly like I wished our wedding would. My gaze flicked to her left hand and my heart nearly exploded out of my chest when I saw the ring there.
Sterling was at my princess’s side, smiling warmly at her as she spoke. I knew there was no reason to be jealous, but envy burned within me like a green flame regardless. Asher and I had been in our room for hours, where she rode me and I ravished her and we nearly lost all hope of ever doing anything else. When we had decided it was time to go back out, she had warned me that she was going to immediately go find Sterling, but seeing them now was still grating.
“Stop staring at them, you look like a possessive dog,” Noe hissed, getting another laugh from the children. I had been taking care of them for nearly a week now, and I regretfully noted how comfortable they had grown around me. How easily the little vermin insulted me.
When Noe and I first showed up in Yrassa, King Lazarev and Queen Nyla had not looked very surprised. In fact, they seemed as though they had been waiting for me. Their two children were handed over to us, as were hundreds of soldiers who had volunteered to come with us to Pike. I had spent that first day adding onto our base after quickly finding ourselves out of space. Mordicai brought his youngest child along, and the three of the small beasts had followed me around all day.
But as Asher walked up to our table, their eyes left me and went wide. They watched her with unashamed awe. Ash’s magic had been a force today, pouring over us all like a waterfall. Even the children felt it as they gawked. I could sense it, the way they quickly fell into her orbit. Smiling at the thought of it, I stood.
“Ash, I want you to meet Princess Gemma and Prince Safre of Yrassa, as well as Princess Octavia of Heratt,” I said, gesturing towards the three with a slow wave of my hand. Asher smiled at them with all the light of a thousand suns.
“Hello, my name is Asher and this is Prince Sterling of Maliha. It is lovely to meet you three.” None of them responded, instead continuing to stare at her in awe. She laughed softly before turning back to me. “Bell, we should consider having some sort of war counsel while Genevieve and Sterling are still here. I think—”
“Pick a color,” I said, cutting her off. She quirked a brow, watching with disinterest as I lifted a few samples of cloth towards her. “Tell me which would look best running down the aisle at our wedding.”
“Bellamy, we do not need anything extravagant. Can we not just say our vows surrounded by our family?” she practically begged.
“Absolutely not!” Noe shouted. She pushed herself to stand, pointing at Asher with fire in her eyes. “You will not have anything less than an ostentatious and overzealous affair. Now choose what you want to be in charge of or so help me—”
“Okay, okay!” Asher cut in, raising her hands in surrender. A devious smile spread across my face at her submission. Then, my smile fell as I caught sight of the terrifyingly mischievous glint in her eyes. “I will pick the flowers.”
I wanted to ask her what she was up to, but just then a loud boom shook the ground beneath our feet. Screams erupted from outside, and I watched Asher’s face go from taunting to terrified in a matter of seconds. Just as I knew she would, Asher bolted towards the cries.
“Fuck!” I shouted. Noe did not look back as she chased after Asher, leaving me alone with our wards.
My eyes quickly scanned over the children, wishing I had Ray there to care for them like she often did. But Ray had already left with Lara, everyone readying for an attack. The dining area had been lost to chaos and panic, which left me no other option but…
“Sterling, I need you to take care of them until I get back.” My order was not said softly, but Sterling did not look at all offended at the prospect of being sidelined. He puffed his chest slightly and marched to the children. Nodding, I let myself be sucked into the masses.
While the screams had stopped, there was still a sense of doom as I cut through the crowd, and I was eager to be at Asher’s side. As soon as I was sure they were heading towards the courtyard, I confirmed no one was touching me and willed myself outside.
Somehow I had forgotten Nicola’s warning from earlier. But, as I stood before Torrel’s enormous head, I was quickly reminded. The dragon roared, spittle flying across my face again.
“You nasty beast, why must you get your foul breath all over me?” I hissed. I mean, my gods, why?
“Don’t talk to her like that or I’ll let her eat you raw,” Stassi snarked as she descended the dragon’s pink-scaled front leg. She still wore the full-body pink leathers she had donned a week ago, her hair now windblown and chaotic. Above all else, even the clear annoyance radiating from her, Stassi looked tired.
“Were you not able to find her?” I asked. Her pink eyes settled on me, a glare forming slowly. Torrel growled before shooting into the sky, likely off to eat unsuspecting innocents. “Oh, touched a nerve I see.”
“Shut your stupid mouth unless you want me to remind you how easily I can kill pretty things.” A short and almost disbelieving laugh came from behind me at Stassi’s words. It was a sound I knew well. Really, any sound she made was one I knew well.
Asher stood a couple feet away, staring at Stassi like she might kill her with just a look and a whim. I wondered briefly if she could, but then remembered she would need to be a high demon capable of stealing magical seeds to do that. Stassi would live to see another day apparently.
“You!” Asher boomed, her voice catching everyone’s attention. She was furious as she marched forward, her calculating eyes silver in the fading sunlight. Her hands twitched and then formed fists, readying for a fight. It was at that moment that I realized I had completely forgotten to warn Asher about Stassi. “You stupid bitch! You made Bellamy and I fight that day in Behman! You made us unprepared when we were shot at! I should kill you!”
And then, surprising no one, Asher lunged at Stassi. If there was one thing I knew Asher was capable of, it was being gloriously angry. She brought Stassi down to the ground and slammed her fist into the high demon’s face before Stassi could so much as react. Sadly, the fight took a turn from there.
Stassi flipped Asher, landing two punches before Asher brought her knee up and slammed it between Stassi’s legs. While I was fairly certain Stassi did not possess a cock, she still screeched in pain. Asher used that to her advantage, reaching up and clawing at Stassi’s tawny cheek. In retaliation, Stassi bit Asher’s hand.
Sighing, I walked forward and picked up Asher beneath her arms, kicking Stassi in the gut as I began dragging my princess away. Asher offered unintelligible insults and grunts, swinging her legs as if she might land a blow despite the distance between her and the high demon.
By the time they were both standing, they each panted heavily and assessed the other.
Stassi was first to let her shoulders relax, her lips pursing as she took in Asher.
“You’re not so bad I guess. You have a shitty punch but you’re quick. I can work with that,” she offered, flicking her long pink hair back. Asher looked down at the high demon in distaste, letting her eyes roam over the small and infuriating creature.
“Who and what are you?” Asher demanded, crossing her arms. “Are you a goddess? Is that how you have that dragon? And why are you here?”
“Awe, did your pet prince not tell you that I’ve been sleeping in his bed?” Stassi asked, smirking at Asher before sending me a wink.
Asher let out the most blood curdling scream before jumping at Stassi again. This time, she portaled, appearing before Stassi and smacking her so hard that she crumpled to the ground. I walked slowly to them, more reluctant to stop Asher when it felt so damn good to watch her attempt murder in my honor.
Jealousy looked delicious on her.
But I did eventually get Asher off, which resulted in her rounding on me.
“You have five seconds to explain!” she screamed into my face. I smiled, feeling uncontrollably horny.
“She is the goddess of Sin and Virtue. Well, not a goddess. She and that male who has been stalking your dreams are actually called high demons. I can explain more if we go somewhere private. As for my bed, the bitch stole it and I was forced to sleep amongst Henry’s filth.” And then, because I genuinely could not help myself, I grabbed her face and brought her lips to mine.
“Okay, sickos, let’s focus. We need to train and—” Stassi abruptly cut herself off. I released Asher, the two of us turning to find Stassi staring at…Sterling. She was gawking at him really. He looked back at her with a slight bit of confusion, but I also noted the way his eyes swiftly took in her pink-clad body, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. Ew. “My creature.”
“Your what?” Sterling asked, furrowing his brows. The three children were slightly behind him, peeking around his body in interest. Stassi’s mouth fell open, her jaw slack. It was as if what Sterling said was so absurd she could not compute it.
“There is absolutely no way you’ve forgotten me already.” Her tone was biting—condemning. As if something clicked in her head, Asher stilled at my side and let out a loud gasp.
“Sterling, you told me in the cells you had met the goddess of Sin and Virtue. You know her.” All of our heads whipped back towards a visibly uncomfortable Sterling as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.
“I—I do not—”
“He had his memories taken. We are not sure how, but I am working on a way to get them back.” Asher’s voice was surprisingly soothing as she spoke, her need to protect Sterling overshadowing her clear dislike for Stassi.
Noe appeared at my side then, smiling widely. “I love gossip.”
“Too much is going on all the time, this is exhausting,” Asher responded, nudging Noe.
Stassi seemed to consider the man before her, her nose twitching. She appeared ready to pounce on him. Then, abruptly, her eyes went wide. She turned towards me as she said, “That forest of yours, does it have creatures who can do something like this?”
“Navalom,” Noe and I said in unison.