Chapter 118 – Getting to Dinner

It was a grueling afternoon. After two hours of trying to teach me the letters, Aurora gave up. Well, she didn't put it that way. ' We can continue tomorrow' is her wording, but I don't remember a thing from the lesson.

There were so many letters and stupid sounds. The most I could recite was ten, and that was halfway through the lesson. It just got worse after that, ending with me blanking on the first stupid squiggly lines. Worthless things.

After giving up there, we went for some easy wins, seeing how well I could walk in heels. Aurora brought out these pitiful half-inch heels for me to walk in. I honestly tried to fail it, but the damn collar shocked me, so I had to do it again correctly. After the half-inch, she just grabbed my monster twelve-inch heels and had me walk in those.

I did at least get her to say perfect for that display.

Then Aurora said we should do some history. I thought the letters were hard, but history. I don't care for it, and I never will. The collar didn't even try to make me learn it, letting me zone out constantly. She did fill in for the punishment, giving me a flick on the head whenever she could tell I wasn't paying attention.

And with that came the moment I was hoping for—not really, but I hope it will be an escape.

"Now we need to head down for dinner," Aurora says, closing the dusty book of boring facts about some Queen. Or maybe a monster. Hard to tell with these women.

"Why?" I ask.

"You are hungry, right, my Lady?" Aurora says.

"Yes, but I want to eat up here. I get four nights of dinner in my room," I remind her. I'm not facing this fake family of mine more than I have to, except for that bath. I want to see how hot that girl can get it.

"My Lady, you should go and see your wives. Now is the best time to get to know them," Aurora continues.

"No, I will eat up here. I don't care to get to know them. I've made it quite clear I don't love or care about them. If they care about making me like them, they'll have to do it on my schedule. Isda promised me this."

"I will go let the kitchen know then," she says, giving up yet again today.

She only steps out for a moment before coming back in with her daughter. Together, they start messing around with the table in my room, working silently. For some reason, they put a white cloth down and some flowers. They both pull out a chair slightly, then leave.

This time, it takes a bit before they come back in, and the flaming woman joins them with a maid of her own. Once again, I see some spark in her eyes as she looks at me with a warm smile. Still, in her loose orange dress, which only lets me know her bust size, I'll find out her build in the pool, I suppose, but she did produce a flame earlier, so she should have the toned body of a noble mage.

"Hi Alzi, I hope you don't mind me joining you for dinner," Shimmer says, standing by the door. She just stares at me, and the mother-daughter duo continues to set the table in the background.

"I guess," I finally say, her warm smile never dimming.

"Thank you. Don't want my new wife eating alone. I know you don't love us, but it is common for nobles to be pushed into marriages. You'll find good companions amongst the men; they're more likely to have agreements about marriage. Women often have to prove themselves. Not always, but there are enough of us around that even with the size of some of these harems, there are normally more girls than spots," She says, walking over to the table. Once again she stands there waiting for me to do something.

Keeping her polite smile, she starts to tell me what she wants, "Since the table is round, every spot is equal. This is your room, so you get to choose where to sit. Oh, and if you had told me you didn't want to eat, I would've left you alone. I should make sure you know everything here. Even if the Princess asks to join, you can say no. To be honest, though, I would advise against that. She is the one who has the least limits on what she can demand of you. Plus the unfortunate ownership thing going on right now lowering that even more."

"Oh, okay. Does it really matter where people sit?" I ask, stepping over to the table. I pick the chair closest to me, the one facing my bed.

"Yes, on non-round tables, it shows your position and power. When you sit with us, you'll be on the left or right of Elora. She'll let you know before the party if she is meant to sit at the head of the table. Otherwise, you'll be next to her or one over. Though she'll rarely not be the head of the table now that she is trying for the throne," she says, taking the other chair. "Only the Queen would get that spot, or if we are at another candidate's house, which I doubt will happen."

"Why?"

"Oh, they don't get along and the fighting thing. Going over to their manor and letting them sit over them gives a look like they are above you, and that just isn't a good look for the future Queen," she says, once again placing the useless napkin in her lap. "We will probably pick up the number of events we go to now that we have a man to show off or talk about. A lot of parties don't let men in, but we can have you in a dress, and they can't stop you from showing up. Something the Princess is going to abuse. I'm sure you look stunning in a well-fitting dress. If you want a workout partner, I would love to join you. We mages need to keep our figure, too. Hmm, the hardest part is choosing the color for you. The changing colors don't give us a good color to base on. Maybe a silver to reflect your natural light. Which I say is yet another amazing thing. How long have you had that?"

"Birth."

"That must've freaked out your Mother. But hiding must have been hard for you, having a beacon of light always on. Oh, and the girls being mad at the attention you get. It's hard to look at anything else in the room. Especially with the white walls. Have you asked for a different color? Sorry, white is the normal color to set things up as if you don't know the color they prefer."

"Black."

"You don't have to pick black. You can have almost any color you can dream of. Though Inanos will feel great in your room if you do black. Honestly, if you want, I can send a hint her way about your color choice, and she may just invite you to her bed for a night here and there. You won't be able to get her pregnant, but I'm sure you know of more than one way to have some fun in bed. My room isn't white but orange as you can't have red without being royalty. Not sure if that would help with the light or not. But if it would help, you are welcome to join me after the bath. I'm told I'm a great cuddle buddy, and you're big enough to hold me to sleep or to have me hold you if you would prefer. I know guys like doing the holding, but I'm not sure if herms have that same preference. I'm happy to mix it up, too, if you don't have a preference. Or if you like doing both we could convince Ioelena or Inanos to join us. They are so fun to hold to sleep. I did hear Elora had Inanos hold her to bed and slept like a baby. So, if you get a chance do try that out. It does make sense a death elemental would be good for sleep. Just a step away from their element and all that. Oh, and talking about elementals. Fluvis, the duchess you carried for, backs our family. She moved out to the coast, she is a water elemental, so it is a bit farther to travel to. But I know she would love to have you over to meet the kids at some point. I know that is probably a pain point for you, but from here on out, any kid you give birth to is yours to keep and raise. You will still have the duty to share your seed out to donate kids, but no more having them stolen from your womb."

"That would be nice," I say back. At some point, a maid came in with the same cart that lunch came on. Aurora and Shimmer's maid started to move the food to the table. Once again, we have a salad and soup. But this time, there is some meat dish. I'm not sure what it is, but my mouth does water-smelling it. More pastries get set out in the middle of the table for dessert.

"This time, you get to go first, Alzi. And you can start with the meat. Nobody likes their meat going cold, so they loosen the restrictions on the meal. Most of the time, they hand out the courses one at a time to fix that issue, but with the food traveling up here, they get rid of that. The sharpest knife will always be for the meat. Sometimes, you'll have dull knives, and they will before any other food that needs a knife. The cooks here are excellent, and we have a good amount of trade coming through the cities, so we have a good selection of spices, so this should be a step up from the brothel. If there is anything you wish to eat, you can let your maids know, and they'll see what they can do to get it for you. The kitchen may need some good descriptions if it is something special to your village."

I follow her advice and pick up the knife and the big fork.

"My Lady, switch the utensils in your hands: right for the knife and left for the fork. Cut a small piece off, try not to show a large effort, then eat it. Once in your mouth, place the knife on the plate, cutting edge to the middle of the plate," Aurora says. I guess Shimmer's ask was only for lunch. Yes, like that."

I switch them up and cut a single piece of the mystery meat. I start to chew the tender meat, finding Shimmer to be right about the spices. I'm not sure what is missing in the meals if the taste is supposed to be so good. I just remember meals with Mommy being better.

"It's good to see that you enjoy the food. It seems the kitchen was worried about us being too skinny with how much then sent up," Shimmer says, taking her first bite. "Would you like to go down to the gym and exercise a bit? I heard they kept you locked up in the brothel too much. As I said at lunch, we have a great outdoor space that I can light up for an hour or two. We can work up a sweat there to give us something to clean off in the bath. I'm sure you want to start flying again and to do that, you need your strength back. I'm not Geta strong, but I'm reasonably fit for a mage, and I'm sure a dragon like you can look like a warrior even as a mage. The life mages back home always had a slightly better physique than other mages. I would love to get you back there, I'm sure you had plenty of exercise back in your village. Oh, you were likely the prettiest little thing at eighteen. I mean, right now, I want to jump into bed with you; what happens when you work out and make that body look perfect? Elora got a dangerous herm for this house and then teases us saying no pregnancies."

"That would be nice. I've wanted to get back into shape for a while, but pregnancy after pregnancy kept me from even trying."

"Yes, yes. I know of some exercises you can do while pregnant if you ever decide to get pregnant again. But you always lose a bit of muscle and put on a bit of fat, if not a lot. Don't worry, the robe may be loose, but I can tell you aren't far off. Get better at circulating your mana, and you'll look how you wish in no time. I would love to watch you fly soon, too. You must be so pretty in the night sky. The star's low glow must be a perfect backdrop to your pretty light. The perfect light show danced in the sky, swooping here and there. I'll work hard with you to get you up in that sky. A dragon deserves to soar, not be bound to the ground. One week. Yes, one week, and we'll have you flying like you never stopped. Mana is the best trainer, and Aurora will get you using it soon."

"Thank you," I say back, letting her fill in the silence as I eat the large meal. Finally getting to have more than one meal in a day.