Chapter 40
Sitting in his office, Rys realized his current challenges were over.
He had crushed Compagnon, gathered loyal allies, built his own kingdom, regained some of his lost power, and repelled an invasion attempt by his southern neighbor. Some of the women around him were even interested in him, and one of them relished her chances to be pressed into the carpet of his office.
A knock sounded at his door.
“Come in,” he called out.
Alsia entered. While in the palace, she wore simpler clothes now. Today, those consisted of a white lacy top, her red cloak, and a black pleated skirt with pantyhose. Her shoes were simple flats. Somebody had braided her blonde hair.
“Do you like it?” she asked, patting her braids.
He couldn’t recall her ever asking him about her appearance before.
“The better question is: do you?” he asked.
Alsia stared at him, then sighed.
He chuckled. “It looks good on you, Alsia. But you don’t need to do up your hair unless you want to.”
She gave him a small nod, then fell quiet.
While Maria had yet to properly move in, due to how busy she was in her duchy, Alsia lived here now.
That came with consequences, Rys had discovered.
For one thing, the Kinadain made the palace livelier. If he entered their wing, there’d always be something happening. They didn’t know how to be quiet. Or perhaps they didn’t care.
The warriors also spent a lot of time practicing outside, and they slowly began to accept the demons in their sparring after the battle at Fort Foret. Every morning was filled with the clatter of weapons and the grunting of dozens of soldiers.
But the most interesting consequence had been the steady trail of applicants to work at the palace. Vallis had privately made some enquiries for administrative staff at Tarmouth and with some of the larger merchants in the region. But the palace also needed more mundane staff.
Cooks, primarily. The Lilim were functional cooks at best, but they only knew how to copy things they already saw. And the imps intentionally burned Vallis’s porridge once and had been banned from every kitchen in the palace.
That incident had irrevocably altered the hierarchy of the palace in the eyes of the imps. Vallis had become bossbossboss, because she was more important than everybody other than Rys so far as they were concerned. Even Grigor was merely bossboss, after Vallis’s tantrum.
At some point, Vallis was going to find out about the non-existent imp union and the way it influenced the imps’ behavior. Rys really wanted to be a fly on the wall when that happened.
So, the palace needed cooks. Somehow, word had gotten out.
And the demihumans practically lined up at the palace’s door for work. Rys had been dumbfounded when he woke up one day to find a Lilim leading a dozen demihumans in maid uniforms through the palace’s corridors.
For one thing, why maid outfits? Who approved those? Did somebody think he had a fetish for them?
Initially, the demihumans came because of Alsia. Although more than one snuck into Rys’s bedroom and tried to get a promotion using their backdoor. Rys turfed her out.
If she wanted sex, that was one thing. But he wasn’t giving her the expectation of special treatment because she spent some time polishing his cock. It would set a bad precedent.
That, and Rys realized that he was going to be busy enough in the future. Maria didn’t take up much time now, but both Fara and Vallis had made their interest clear. He wasn’t sure if Tyrisa’s interest was genuine, given how she tended toward idol worship.
And he planned to do something with Alsia, eventually. That was a fairly busy harem. His palace staff could remain palace staff—presumably to the relief of most of the demihumans who came to work here.
An annoyed voice breaks intrudes into his thoughts, “I thought you weren’t thinking of marriage? When did that change?”
Rys looked at Alsia. She was leafing through the dense stack of marriage proposals he’d shoved to one side of his desk.
Sighing, Rys plucked the piece of paper from her hands. He batted her hands away from the pile when she tried to take another. This proposal was like all the rest.
A young, pretty demihuman girl from the Tolaran Federation, which was the nation that controlled the central island of Dalyros. Emphasis on girl. Not a single invitation involved girls over the age of eighteen.
“The Tolaran Federation switched targets after I told them how strict the requirements were to be considered for your hand in marriage were,” Rys said. “They’re all like this. I’m not sure if they genuinely want me to marry one of their nobles, or they’re trying to drown me in paper.”
“She looked cute,” Alsia said.
“I spend decades as the pet of the most beautiful woman in existence. Cute doesn’t quite cut it,” he said flatly. “They’re fishing. I wonder if I’ll get a hundred invitations from older women next week.”
“Unlikely,” Alsia said. “The Federation marries early. It’s common to arrange marriages for political reasons. When I visited, almost everyone my age was married unless they were a Sage or in the military.”
“Ah, that explains a lot.” Rys stroked his chin. “Can’t say they interest me. None of them are powerful mages, either. Do they marry as well?”
“Especially the mages,” Alsia said. “Magical potential is deeply important to us.”
That seemed like a great opportunity to ask her the real question.
“I noticed that magic matters a lot to your people,” Rys said. “Especially the type of magic. Why does necromancy and infernal sorcery ‘taint’ people, in the eyes of the Kinadain?”
Alsia winced and looked away. “That is… complicated.”
“Is it another belief related to this castle and other matters?” Rys asked.
“No, it is… much more deeply rooted. And terrifying. Especially for me, right now,” Alsia said, her eyes distant. “Can we sit? Together?”
Although her request surprised him, he gestured for her to sit on the sofa. Before joining her, he poured tea for both of them.
She thanked him and sipped her tea. He’d made sure to add extra sugar, given her preferences.
Almost a minute passed before she felt comfortable talking again.
“When I told you about the common types of demihumans, I left out an important one,” she said. “I am sorry.”
“I suspected as much, but it seems that it’s a sensitive topic.”
Alsia nodded. “It is one of the most sensitive. Most only speak of it in whispers. Even Hanna won’t speak of it properly. The older Kinadain are scarred by it. I only learned of it because I was being groomed to become a Saint. Most prefer to bury the problem, and instead instill terror about the cause.”
While Rys felt frustrated that Alsia was beating around the bush, he let her speak at her own pace. He somehow knew this topic was going to be a heavy one.
Jaime’s fury and pained face from Fort Foret came to mind. He had hated the fact that some of his kin were denied a chance at a proper burial. There was a deeply rooted issue here.
“The final type of demihuman is known as otherkin,” Alsia said. “Nobody knows what power they wield or why they’re different. But they are. They have twisted horns and tails, or strange growths on them. Their magical presence is different. Some live far longer than normal demihumans.”
Otherkin. Even the name itself made it clear they were ostracized by the Kinadain.
Rys sat silently, letting Alsia explain things.
“Tenno Morai is the most well known otherkin. The other Saints hate her because of this, but her power was too great to ignore her. Especially when the ships came from Gauron and Pharos. Supposedly, her power was the only thing that kept many at bay. She leveled keeps with a single arrow and cut down companies of soldiers with a single swing,” Alsia said.
Rys had already heard that Morai was powerful, but this only emphasized her power. She had stopped Gauron from conquering the archipelago.
So why didn’t she rule the place? Why did she hang around on a little island in the north-west?
The dark expression on Alsia’s face made Rys realize there was a more pressing issue. Namely, the reason this topic had come up to begin with.
“You mentioned the otherkin in relation to my question about the fear of ‘forbidden’ magic,” Rys said. “But you just told me that nobody knows why they’re different.”
Alsia shifted uncomfortably. Her tail poked out from behind her cloak and twisted in the air. “Any demihuman can give birth to otherkin. And while nothing is certain, there are theories.”
“Of course,” Rys said. “Why are otherkin hated?”
“I don’t know,” Alsia whispered. “It’s simply taken for granted that they should be… dealt with.” Her body shuddered, and she closed her eyes for several moments.
Rys rubbed her back, aware of exactly what she was implying happened but couldn’t bring herself to speak of.
“The main theory is that otherkin are brought about due to exposure to certain magic,” Alsia said, refusing to look at Rys. “That covers physical taint, such as what occurred at Fort Foret, but also…” Alsia’s face blew up, turning bright red, and Rys knew what she was going to say.
“You’re not supposed to have sex with me, is what you’re trying to say,” Rys said drily.
Alsia looked up at him with wide golden eyes. “No, no, I can—” She stopped herself, and stared at her lap. Her tail twisted in the air behind her head.
Rys grew increasingly tempted by how active her tail was, but he kept his hands at bay.
“Technically, you aren’t the problem,” she mumbled. “My dain only forbids me from having… sexual relations with members of the Malus League.”
“But the spirit of the laws is clear,” Rys said.
“If I’m the chief elder and duchess, does that matter?” Alsia asked, a cheeky smile creeping onto her lips. It vanished a moment later. “But… the consequences might be immense. Any child could split the archipelago. I’ve always dreamed about having a daughter. Teaching her swordplay and how to use magic. Now…” Alsia’s eyes turned distant as she imagined a future she had likely visualized many times before.
“Let’s worry about uniting Kavolara first,” Rys said, interrupting Alsia’s train of thought. “You need to focus on your objectives within the current dains you rule. We’ll need to speak with the dains up north, near Avolar. They’ve been extremely wary of us. I don’t think they like me.”
Alsia nodded, her eyes refocusing and expression turning less severe. “Yes, they’ve been rather abrupt with me. While I doubt there was anything between the previous elders and the northern dains, I suspect they don’t like our rapid growth in power. They are a very small collection of dains by comparison. Most of the region is independent of them.”
Her tail began to fall, as if reacting to the decreased excitement in the room.
Realizing this was his last chance, Rys reached out and grabbed her tail.
Alsia’s squeal nearly split his eardrums. Instinctively, Rys let go of her tail. The scales had been smooth, and warm to the touch.
Alsia leaped up from the sofa and held her tail in front of her. The tip of it twitched back and forth excitedly. The woman attached to the tail simply stared at Rys in shock.
“I take it that’s not something that’s normally done,” Rys said. He probably should apologize, but the moment he did, he knew he wasn’t touching that tail for a while.
“Do you normally just grab people’s tails without warning?” Alsia squeaked out.
“Fara’s told me off over it.”
Alsia’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Fara. “So you are having… relations with her.”
Rys leaned back and crossed his arms. “Does that bother you?”
Alsia stared at him, her expression marred with confusion. She tried to say something, but nothing came out.
“Do you want me to care?” she muttered, looking down.
“No, Alsia, I want to know why it matters to you if I’m having sex with Fara. Or Maria. Or Vallis. Or any other woman,” Rys pressed. He stood up and towered over her. “Because I don’t think it matters for the reason you think it does.”
Alsia’s eyes widened at the implication he was sleeping with multiple women, even if he actually wasn’t at the moment.
Then, as if to prove his point, Rys reached out and grabbed her tail. She squeaked but let him take it.
He ran his fingers along it and watched as her lips moved. She held in her gasps, but her body twitched with each of his movements.
While he explored the length of her tail, Rys noted details about it. The scales varied in texture and roughness. One side was smooth, and the other was rough, based on which side faced the ground naturally.
He received a stronger reaction by pressing against the scales, and especially by running a finger along the gaps between them. She began to pant and her legs shook. Her tail was alive. Pressing against it caused it to jerk and shift in his hands.
Her body also jerked, notably around her ass where the tail was connected to.
After several minutes of tail stroking, Alsia seized her tail back and collapsed on the floor. Traces of drool ran down her chin, which she wiped away.
“Mean,” she mumbled.
“You reacted a little more strongly than I expected,” Rys admitted. He didn’t mention the scent in the air.
“But this means…” Alsia trailed off, a stupid smile on her lips. “Thank you, Rys. You’ve given me a lot to think about. For many reasons.”
She stood and fled the room before he could do anything.
A shame. If he’d grabbed her tail again, she would have been putty.
Then again, there was an extreme consequence to doing anything with Alsia, and she would be back anyway. Her lack of sexual experience and embarrassment over it meant she needed time, but breaking down her barriers little by little was its own type of fun.
As he returned to his desk, Rys’s thoughts turned to the topic that he’d interrupted Alsia over.
A child.
Rys had always avoided having children in the Infernal Empire. Allowing Lacrissa anywhere near his children was a terrifying prospect, and one he couldn’t have prevented while serving Malusian.
With the fall of the Infernal Empire, everything changed. Rys could allow himself to have a child.
Alsia clearly wanted one, and she had him in mind.
But she was right. An otherkin child would bring war to the archipelago. They would change the path of Rys’s rise to power. The raw hatred that the Kinadain had toward Tenno Morai was proof of that. She had saved the Kinadain from destruction at the hands of invaders, and her own people hated her for it.
Despite everything, something in Rys called to him that having a child was the right idea. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, and his attempts to grasp onto the feeling failed. But it felt right, as if he somehow knew that he’d enjoy fatherhood.
Quietly, Rys returned to his paperwork. But his mind ticked away, as it always did.