Vol.5 Ch.29.2 – Pompous Prince And Serious Scolding II

Shockingly, Marcus' little Dishonor Guard didn't give us any trouble for knocking out their princeling, probably because a princess had done the actual knocking out. They simply tucked their tails between their legs, grabbed Prince Marcus and vanished in the flash of a Homeward miracle without another word.

“You know, when you said the other nobles treat you like dirt I didn't think it'd be this bad,” I told Anna once they were gone.

“Unfortunately, Marcus is far from the worst,” Anna replied, then amended: “At least when it comes to insults.”

I had nothing to say to that. He had all but confirmed that he had indeed been behind at least some of the assassination attempts against her, if not all of them. Her own brother had done his best to kill her behind the scenes. If Wilhelm had been telling the truth – and as far as I knew he had never lied to us – then even he hadn't been callous enough to try and outright kill Anna. And he was our sworn enemy. It was beyond the pale. However, to my surprise, it seemed to upset me more than it did her.

“I've always suspected it was him,” she said quietly. “He never made a secret of the fact that he disliked me and the feeling was mutual. Don't worry, I won't fall apart on you.”

I nodded. “I'm glad.”

“Should we head home, then?” Selene asked. “Not much more we can do right now.”

“I think that's for the best,” Anna said. “I need a hot bath, a warm meal and a good long cuddle with my lovers.”

I smiled. Yeah, we could do that. I met the gazes of all of my girls and found them all agreeing with me, some more reluctantly than others. Alisha and Yume knew there'd be a scolding coming. The only one who didn't seem fine with it was Athena, whom I had tried not to look at too obviously. Hestia had already figured us out but the others? Probably not so much.

Still, though, she moved a bit closer to us and said: “I'll be tied up here a little longer still.”

“That's alright,” I said, under my breath and without moving my lips too much. “Just come by whenever you're free.” And then I slipped my ring of keys into her hand. I hoped she understood the monumental amount of trust I was showing her with the gesture.

Her eyes widened and I thought I saw them sparkling in understanding and a moment later she gave me a neutral nod and stepped away again.

“Shall we?” I asked, turning to face my girls, and Alisha nodded in response before she began casting.

**

A flash of warm light later Alisha, Selene, Yume, Anna, Melinoe and I stood in front of our villa in the noble district and I took a moment to appreciate the fact that, despite it feeling like a lifetime since we'd last been here, we hadn't even been gone for a day. There was no layer of dust to be found, the chairs still stood the way we'd left them, just slightly misaligned with the dinner table, and everything was as it should be. Except for one thing.

“Whoa, check it out,” Alisha said as she ran out onto the terrace. And I couldn't fault her reaction. When Athena and Melinoe had fed their magic to our mystic fruit trees I hadn't expected this kind of result. The dragon berry tree, which had been a modest four feet tall before, now loomed over us, at least seven feet tall, its branches almost bending over with fruits that looked ripe and full. All the other mystic fruit trees had experienced similar growth spurts and our little grove was looking a lot more worthy of that lofty title now.

“They're amazing,” Anna agreed, all but salivating at the idea of harvesting the fruit for her potions.

“I can't wait to try them,” Alisha said as she stared at the dragon berries.

“Shall we get cleaned up first?” Anna asked, clearly eager to get her hands on the plants but clearly just as eager to get the grime of the day washed off.

“You go on ahead,” I said. “Alisha, Yume and I will join you later.”

Yume's tails, which had been wagging contentedly, froze.

“Sure,” Anna said dubiously but nonetheless left with Selene and Melinoe.

Both Alisha and Yume stood there unmoving, as I sat down in the shade of the dragon berry tree. When they made no move to join me I met their gazes and said: “Sit.”

My tone must have been a bit rougher than I'd intended because Alisha immediately dropped down next to me. Yume, less hurried, sat down on her knees, her tails fanning out behind her.

“You're mad, aren't you?” Alisha asked. She didn't sound meek or afraid, just ashamed.

I took a deep breath and considered, letting all the emotions inside wash over me. “I was,” I finally said. “When Melinoe told me what happened I was beyond furious.”

“And now?” Yume asked. She didn't show her emotions as clearly as the others, well, unless you were good at reading the movements of her tails and ears, but even so she sounded uncomfortable.

“Mostly I want to know why you did that,” I said. “It really messed her up. It nearly drove a wedge between the two of us. Gods above, it nearly drove a wedge between us.”

Both of them flinched.

“What were you two thinking?” I asked.

Yume opened her mouth to respond but I held up a hand.

“Later,” I said, then looked pointedly at Alisha. “It was your idea, wasn't it?”

“It was,” she said meekly.

Now that I was looking at her properly I could see her shivering the littlest bit and immediately felt like a piece of shit. Her and I had never really fought before. All the disagreements we'd ever had had been playful and silly. Alisha was so mature that sometimes I forgot that she was significantly younger than me. When we'd met she had been barely past the age of majority. “Come here,” I said.

She looked up at me and I leaned into the tree and opened my arm, gesturing for her to sit close to me.

She hurried over and pressed herself into my side, curling into me.

“I still love you,” I said quietly. “That doesn't change just because I'm upset with you.”

She let out a deep, shuddering breath in response. It had clearly been eating at her.

I let her calm down a little bit before I asked again: “So, why did you do this?”

“I was jealous,” she finally admitted, very quietly. She couldn't have surprised me more if she'd started mooing like a cow.

“Of who?” I asked, baffled.

“Of you,” she said, clarifying nothing.

I stayed quiet, waiting for her to elaborate.

“I'm never there when you get involved with a new girl,” she said. “You had your first time with Selene without me. When you tamed Yume I wasn't there. When Anna opened herself up to you you were with Selene, not me. When Athena admitted how she really felt about you you were alone with her. So when Melinoe showed interest in you I thought I'd... I dunno... get there before you. Be your wingwoman. Something like that.”

I flicked her on the forehead. This was just about the stupidest thing I'd ever heard and there was too much to unpack there. She had decided to talk to her goddess during my first time with Selene so as to give us some privacy. Yume and I had fallen off a cliff together. She had suggested Selene and I stay with Anna so that her and Yume could get some... magic practice in. And her and the others had actively locked Athena and me in a room together.

“And so you made a woman pine for me by showing her moments of intimacy the likes of which she's never experienced,” I concluded.

She sighed. “I thought we would just make her a little bit curious. I didn't know she'd never had anything like what we have.”

“Exactly,” I said. “You didn't know the whole story and still you went for it. That's why it was stupid.”

She looked down, chastised.

“At least you tried your best to help her work through it,” I said. “Otherwise this would have been cruel beyond words.”

“I'm sorry,” she said meekly.

“I'm not the one you should be apologizing to,” I told her, then placed a finger under her chin and made her look at me.

She nodded.

I smiled, then tried something new. I looked up at the dragon berries dangling above us, then drew on my Qi, creating a simple Qi Projection. When I had the construct built up I flicked my index finger. The force of the motion was projected upwards into the branches of the tree and knocked a single berry loose. I caught it, broke it open, handed it to Alisha and then kissed her forehead. “There,” I said, “scolding over.”

She sagged in relief and started munching on the fruit.

I, meanwhile, looked over at Yume. The moment she caught my gaze she leaned forward into a deep bow, her palms and forehead touching the grass.

“I apologize for disrespecting you,” she said down there, very clearly. Neither her tails nor ears were twitching. This was not a joke to her, it was a sincere apology.

“Get up,” I said and she leaned back, though she did not meet my gaze. “And what do you mean, disrespect? You did not disrespect me.”

She stayed silent so I continued:

“What I want to know is what you were thinking. Alisha is a good bit younger than either of us so I expect a certain amount of impulsiveness from her but you are older and wiser than any other mortal in our group. Why would you go along with this?”

She took a deep breath, evidently collecting her thoughts. Finally she said: “When you tamed me, there were some cultural ramifications I did not share with you.”

I was suddenly very keenly focused on her words.

“When I accepted you as my mate I did not merely become your lover,” she said. “I accepted you as the one man I respect. You are my mate, the one I never wish to disrespect or disgrace.” She paused to let her words sink in, then continued: “When Melinoe was curious to learn more about you I was too eager to show you off, to brag about my mate, to show more women what a wonderful mate you are. I let myself get swept along when I should have been the voice of reason. It was only later that I realized what a grave disrespect I'd shown you with my behavior. I did not act as someone worthy of being your mate. I acted like a vain fool. Even worse, what I did caused distress to another and almost drove her away from you, the opposite of what I'd wanted to achieve. I should have left seducing Melinoe to your discretion.”

My lips thinned. I couldn't say I liked the way she thought about our relationship but at the same time I couldn't fault her way of thinking. A relationship was, in many ways, about mutual respect. And though I thought her more worthy of respect than I was, evidently she saw it the other way around. Which, I supposed, meant that we were perfect for each other.

“Come here,” I said and held my other arm open. She gingerly sat down next to me and I pulled her close, into a hug. “It was stupid. And I'm glad you acknowledge it yourself.” Then I paused and spoke to them both: “And the worst part is that your stupid plan actually worked. It did bring Melinoe and me closer together and the fact that she's currently bathing with the others tells me that she'll probably stick around, at least for now.”

“After laying with you I doubt she'll ever want to leave again,” Yume said.

“Where did you do it, anyway?” Alisha asked.

“We ruined Ares' bed sheets and destroyed his marble floor,” I said.

“No fair,” Alisha whined. “I wanted you to take Yume and me on that bed, get it all messy.”

“And that might have happened if you two hadn't pulled this stupid stunt,” I said. She cringed a little, so I amended: “Maybe another time.” That perked her right back up.

I pulled them both close and we stayed like that for a while, just sitting in the shade of that tree and whispering sweet nothings to each other, affirming that a little fight didn't change what I felt for them.

Finally I said: “Shall we join the others in the bath?”

“Yes,” they both said.