Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius was woken by the rays of the morning light. Cradled against him was his beautiful wife, Rena. Her red hair was draped over his arm which she used as a pillow for the night. He squeezed his hand into a fist several times to get the blood flowing through his arm again as it had fallen asleep from the weight of her head.

She snored softly in his ears and filled his heart with so much joy. Lucius gently caressed the side of her face before planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. After that, he pulled away and placed a hand on her belly.

"I have to go away for a little while, my little one. Be it gods, demons, or man… they can all try to stop me, but I will return in time to see your birth." He whispered.

"See that you do."

He felt a small hand run through the hair on the back of his head. Rena had woken and heard his kind words to their miracle.

"Of course."

They kissed passionately for several minutes before finally getting out of bed and ready for the day. At the base of the stairs all of those joining Lucius on his journey had gathered and were waiting for his appearance.

Rubellia hugged him tightly around the neck before giving him a small kiss on the cheek. Lyrah was not shy about requesting a hug from him as well. Which did elicit a small laugh from Lucius, but he decided to allow it. Natali chose to give a slight bow and promise to watch over her friend.

"Mother Adellia chose not to come say goodbye?" Lucius asked.

"She figured you would only want to be seen off by those close to…"

"Tell her that I would have loved to have seen her. Also tell her we have many things that I am looking forward to discussing upon my return, would you?" Lucius interrupted.

His words put a large smile on his sister's face. "Of course, brother dearest. I shall tell her. I am sure she will be delighted."

With one final round of tearful goodbyes, Lucius left the embassy grounds and turned for the main gates of the city. Those remaining turned the opposite direction and headed toward the castle grounds.

Desmond, Jade, Kalliope and Lucius walked closely together until they reached the main gates where Lucius had previously knocked the daylights out of a guard captain. That same captain was present today and had a small bandage over her nose to keep it stable.

It was likely that his punch had broken her nose and some other facial bones which would take a few months to heal properly on a guard's salary.

The guard glared at him, but said nothing as she ordered the gates to open for the day. Standing outside the gates were a group of elves along with three large carriages. Each carriage depicted a picture of crossed hammers on its doors, indicating they belonged to Aedrider.

Standing in front of the other elves was a gentleman with beautiful blonde hair and deep purple eyes. He wore a pristine black suit overtop a snow-white shirt. After seeing the party, the man bowed deeply with both hands at his side.

"I greet you, Lord Lucius Kane, Lady Kalliope of the Gray Wolves, Lord and Lady Desmond and Jade Addler." The man said with absolute poise and grace, "I am Therentil, a servant of Queen Aedrider. I am representing her daughter, Lethaya din Aedrider, fifteenth princess of our country."

"Therentil? A mouthful." Lucius grumbled. "We shall ride with you in the center carriage. Explain our purpose on the way, I do not want to delay our departure longer than necessary."

"As you say."

Everyone hurried to file into the carriages and embark the city at Lucius's insistence. Therentil joined Lucius and his group in the center carriage and after a few minutes of preparation, they were off. Lucius felt the stares of the strange people able to evade his senses fade into the distance as they left the Capital behind.

Once they were a few miles away from the city and he felt safe to discuss the mission. Lucius turned to Therentil, "So, what is it we need to do?"

Therentil sighed as if preparing to regale them with a great tragedy, "The Queen of Aedrider is showing signs of beginning her Long Sleep, the process by which elves die of old age. Currently there are two daughters that have a chance at taking up the crown.

"One is the fifteenth princess, Lethaya din Aedrider. The other is the twelfth princess, Ayalla din Aedrider. I am acting as a representative of the faction supporting Lethaya. There are rumors that Ayalla is involved in unsavory acts to gather support and resources for her faction."

Lucius raised his hand to interrupt the man. "What are these factions and what do you want me to do?"

Therentil nodded and answered. "Lethaya supports the maintaining of open borders and trade with other kingdoms as her mother had kept for the past several hundred years. Ayalla wishes to militarize our forces and isolate ourselves from others. Much like Haedda to the south.

"As I said earlier, we believe that Ayalla is involved in several unsavory business ventures to gather support and we are concerned for a potentially violent revolution by her side against the current regime. If she is not chosen, we believe that she will force her way to the throne."

Kalliope smiled. "I see what is happening… You specifically asked for us to assist you. I'm guessing that you asked Eroa for assistance from the King's Shadow and they told you Titan was their best operative, but he was currently living under Arcadios's laws… so you had to request through them."

"You are correct, Lady Kalliope."

"So this was all one giant farce to force me to accept a request from Aedrider to solve their inheritance problem? You could have just asked me." Lucius growled.

Therentil began to sweat, noticing the dangerous glow developing in Lucius's eyes. "I assure you we only found out about the trial last night. We had no involvement in the way things broke down. We only made the request and were told to wait." The man hurried to answer.

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Kalliope gently shook Lucius's arm. "Would you have accepted the request if they asked, given Rena's pregnancy? I don't think so. Likely the crown wanted to send you on the job to stay in the good graces of Aedrider, while the church simply wanted you gone."

Lucius contemplated her words carefully and came to the conclusion that she was right. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances, but Kalliope was absolutely right.

Lucius looked out onto the horizon. In a few days they would reach the border of Aedrider. Though they were still some distance away, Lucius could not escape the feeling that something threatening loomed on the other side of the elven borders.

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