34. Friendship Pacts & Buttermoth
Aleiraah
By midday I portal into the Nephilim kingdom, Ispahan's golden-spired castle gleaming in the distance.
Celebratory banners with butterfly and moth motifs fly from the spires and decorate shop windows as I walk toward the castle following the main pedestrian thoroughfare. Zahara probably has given birth and the ménage BLT have become proud parents.
Giant nephilim males patrolling the castle gates halt mid-stride when I amble up to them.
"Hello boys!" I greet them cheerfully. "Please tell your King, Aleiraah is here to see him."
"No visitors allowed, lady. The King is occupied with his family. Come back at another time." A brunet mammoth-like guard replies in a gruff voice.
"As if our King will see just any random female who walks up to our gates!" A blond, shorter mammoth scoffs.
"I'll ask nicely again. Inform Ispahan that Aleiraah is here to see him."
"Or what? What will you do short-stuff?" The blond snickers as the brunet watches silently.
This idiot is ruining my sugar-high.
"Last chance before I take things into my own hands." I warn in a bored tone.
"As if I'd fit into your tiny hands! But you can give it a try sweetheart if you get down on your knees." The blond scum laughs leeringly, while the brunet throws him an irritated look.
Out of patience, my tail snaps out and I wind it around the blond's throat, yanking him forward. His face hits the iron bars and turns an interesting shade of red as I use my tail like a garrote, choking him. The brunet stands silently with a frown on his face, deciding whether to intervene.
I grab the blond fucker by the balls and squeeze hard while digging my claws in a bit. That makes him collapse on his knees, as he claws at his throat to loosen my hold.
"Look at you, flushing so prettily while on your knees!
Now if you don't want your balls ripped off, I'd suggest your friends call Ispahan without further ado.
Tell him Aleiraah Silvraeth of House Silvraeth is here.
" I squeeze my tail tighter making his eyes bulge, as I redirect the words to the brunet.
His eyes widen slightly hearing my full name and motions for the additional guards to open the gates.
I stride forward dragging the blond idiot's face through the gravel as he struggles.
Would you look at that! My tail's strong enough to lug dumb pieces of rock.
A few moments later Ispahan comes flying out the huge palace doors and picks me up in a bone crushing hug.
"Aleiraah! What a wonderful surprise!" He booms while squeezing the air out of me. My feet dangle about two feet above the ground and the blond makes a hacking noise, half-dangling from my tail.
"Can't...breathe" I manage to wheeze and Ispahan releases me immediately, gently putting me down on my feet.
"Whoops! What brings you here? You've a tail? Since when? Why the hell is Freidrick lying on the ground? Wait, are you into choking kink now? Because––" Ispahan fires one question after another without pausing for breath.
"Hold your horses, Ispahan!" I interrupt.
"This idiot here was being disrespectful so I was teaching him a lesson.
You might want to reevaluate the attitude of your guards.
They're unnecessarily rude. We'll talk about the rest in private.
" I give him a meaningful glance while also recounting the things that idiot Friedrick had said.
Ispahan's face grows stormier with each word spoken and he directs a furious look at the fucker still lying on the ground, even though I've released him.
"I apologize, Aleiraah. Let's get you inside the castle first." Ispahan readily agrees, then turns toward the brunet with a stern expression.
"I want a detailed report on this, Valerick.
Aleiraah is an esteemed guest and should've been treated with minimum decorum even if none of my men knew of her.
See that it doesn't happen again. And Rephaims"—he looks at the blond piece of shit who's passed out on the ground—"are no longer to patrol castle grounds. Start a formal evaluation, now!"
The brunet, Valerick, bows his head wordlessly along with the others, as Ispahan motions for me to walk alongside him.
We step into a palace of soaring ceilings and gold-veined marble, sunlight scattering through stained glass in rainbow colors. A pale-pink marble throne sits atop wing-shaped steps, but Ispahan leads me past it to his vast library—walls of books rising to the ceiling.
We settle on the couch and another behemoth brings in refreshments, places it on the tea table and retreats.
"I must apologize again, Aleiraah! I didn't know you'd be visiting, or I'd have made arrangements." Ispahan rumbles with a touch of regret.
"It's not your fault, Ispahan." I wave off his apology but something he said outside caught my attention. "What did you mean by Rephaim? I thought your kingdom only housed Nephilims, and by extension their spouses from other species. I didn't know Rephaims lived among your people."
He looks haggard for a moment then seems to mentally gather himself. "It's a fairly new development. You remember the bordering land's issues we spoke about?"
I nod, recollecting our conversation. The neighboring territory had been disrupting his kingdom's borders.
They wanted the women from the Nephilim kingdom, given that many female supernaturals from different species tend to flock here in search of a Nephilim mate.
Some weird fascination about becoming 'daughter-in-law' of gods by mating with 'sons of gods'. It's a whole cult thing.
"The matchmaking fairs you suggested, are a work in progress, the first one still months away.
In the meanwhile, I thought that employing the Rephaims—the said neighbors—would help in forming a truce.
They've a larger population than us and have been applying for jobs here for many years.
But intermingling seems to have backfired.
Case in point, Friedrick the guard, who behaved abominably. " He rubs his hands down his face.
"Do the Rephaims have a leader? Besides, it's just one guy acting obnoxiously. Let's not be hasty in drawing conclusions."
"That's just it. This is not the first time I've come across this kind of situation, ever since we've started employing them.
The Rephaims consider themselves to be descendants of the Nephilim and carry a chip on their shoulder.
They have our strength and physique but lack any inherent magic.
And the Rephaim lord is an asshole who doesn't know how to bloody rule his own subjects! " Ispahan yells frustratedly.
Sensing his agitation, I divert the conversation. "It's ok...things will get better soon. Tell me about your buttermoth. I saw the banners on my way here and can't wait to see the pretty baby!"
"Oh! She's a tiny little darling! You'll love her, Aleiraah! She's so precious! Butterball looks just like Zahara, and hasn't allowed us even a wink of sleep ever since she opened her pretty green eyes!" He beams like a proud father.
"I just assumed, but are you ok with me seeing her so soon?" Some species are very protective of their offspring right after birth.
"Nonsense! Of course you can see her. She was born a little early, in fact right after we returned to our kingdom from seeing you the last time.
So she's already pretty active. Zenith and I are worried that she'd start fluttering about any day now.
Zahara just laughs at our anxieties." He huffs affectionately.
"But tell me, what brings you here? I completely got sidetracked."
I take a tiny sip of the warm cocoa with a hint of cinnamon and jump right into it. "I need a favor, Ispahan."
He regards me seriously and nods for me to elaborate.
"Things of unsettling nature have recently happened which has led me to believe that there's a conspiracy afoot." I begin cautiously.
"What do you mean?" He asks with a frown marring his handsome face.
I recap the events from the night of the Veilmoon, glossing over the details, followed by my stay in Duat, and then visit to Malakai.
Ispahan listens to me intently and his scowl grows upon hearing my theory about the goblins.
"So you want me to help you find the Goblin King and transport you to their hidden dimension and leave you there?" He sounds incredulous with a vein popping on his forehead.
I offer a prim nod.
"Absolutely not!" He yells, jumping up from the couch and starts pacing.
"It's too dangerous, Aleiraah! I hate that your idiot mates put you in this position, and while I don't have any sympathy for them, I can empathize because I was being an idiot not so long ago.
And you helped me see things clearly. You helped me mend the bond with my mates.
So I'll always be grateful to you. But I refuse to lead you to the goblins for slaughter, given that they killed your parents.
" He finishes slicing a hand through the air.
I put down the almost empty cup of delicious cocoa and stand up slowly.
"Then you leave me no choice. I'd have to go to my 'other sources' because I'm done sitting ducks while those putrid shit-stains disrupt my life.
I need your help to find them since no one knows the location of their pocket dimension within Mytherra.
You've the magic required to scry for their location and the means to travel to that dimension.
I'm not asking you to fight my battles, Ispahan.
I'm perfectly capable of doing that on my own. " I state matter-of-factly.
He grabs my shoulders and gently pushes me to take a seat while grumbling about stubborn succubus under his breath.