No_Creative_Name
patreon
AR Chapter 406
🕑 Added 2025-06-07 04:00:40 +0000 UTCI smiled down at my mate, nuzzling at the nape of her neck before pulling back to look at my children. The male, our son, moved more than his sisters. The girls cuddled together, largely willing to just share the other’s warmth. Their black and white scales blended together such that it was nearly impossible to tell their entwined limbs apart. When their brother managed to barely move himself towards them, they both hissed just a little at him. He didn’t care and simply collapsed over them.
The exhausted infants didn’t fight back, and they all melted together into a little puddle of perfection. Sybil tried to extract herself for a moment, then, for the first time that I could recall, she put her own desires over those of the Empire. She settled back and wrapped her tail around the three and almost purred in pleasure. Then, she shifted back and forth until she’d found the comfortable position she most wanted, and then sighed deeply.
“Will you let Vefir treat you now? I’m sure we could use his attention on the children, just to make sure that there’s nothing that happened to them in the course of what happened here?” I prodded gently, and Sybil sighed, schooled herself, and flared her frills in assent.
Vefir nodded briefly in thanks and then sent a pulse of healing through Sybil. Every wound she’d sustained was only surface level, but as Vefir sent the magic into the location, something occurred to me.
“The wyrms. They’re venomous, or their magic is. Is this going to—”
“No.” He clacked his teeth. “The magic itself has a different touch, a different taste. It doesn’t propagate or consume magical essence. Instead, it’s self contained, more solid instead of liquid to my touch.”
That didn’t make sense to me, not really. There was so much that just didn’t, but I hadn’t tested my magic in comparison to others the way that Vefir and the rest of the healers had for over a year now. As such, I took his word for it and watched as Sybil’s scales knitted back together. As I pulled myself from adoring my children, my mind flickered through what to do in a situation like that again. Off how little the shadows had cut through even Sybil’s scales meant that, at a distance, in a group like that, Keel would be fine so long as there wasn’t a multiplicative aspect to the magic where dozens of Misti Hawar attempted the same thing at the same time.
Against Khatif? Dangerous, but they would survive.
Against Kha? They’d die by the dozen.
So I’d only need to focus on protecting my children from this. In the future, I’d need to keep myself near them whenever we thought it at all possible for Misti Hawar ambushes. Maybe some way to leverage the presence of multiple Keel at the same time?
My mind raced despite myself, and I leaned back in to my family as Vefir stepped back.
“They’re all the picture of health.” He smiled softly as he seemed to contemplate reaching a hand forward. Then, he considered better of it and met Sybil’s eyes. Her scales flexed back and forth in discomfort as she spoke.
“I am not as worried about their impending deaths now. If you would like, you are free to touch one. With the back of your fingers, only.”
Vefir didn’t express any displeasure with that, instead grinning widely as he did just as Sybil’d instructed, running a single finger down the entirety of my son’s spine, from head to tail. Right around where his hips met the base of his tail, my son shivered a little, as if tickled. All four of us Keel, Brutus attempting to look at the little ones and guard us at the same time, couldn’t help but laugh. Sybil and I both did the same to our daughters, and each reacted with the same shiver as their brother.
Our smiles broadened, but I tore myself away before I got pulled back into the moment. I rolled my shoulders back and looked into Brutus’s eyes.
“You are my Alqat.”
“Yes, Zaaktif.” He replied, holding himself straight upright.
“I can protect myself. These ones cannot. They are the future. Protect them with your life, Brutus.”
“Yes, Zaaktif.”
“And if that honorless coward shows her face again, I want you to rip every last bit of flesh from her bones while her screams echo off the walls.”
“Without a doubt.” Brutus growled in response, his face contorted with rage.
“Good.” I flared my frills before turning to Vefir and Sybil. “In my momentary absence, focus entirely on ensuring that there’s no possibility for the magic to sneak to harm them. Brutus will ensure the rest is taken care of.”
“Yes, Zaaktif.” Vefir nodded.
“Yes, my mate.” Sybil whispered. “Protect them. Please.”
“I’ll wipe that one’s lineage from the face of the world. Nievtala bear witness to it.”
Her voice rumbled her approval in my mind and I didn’t pay it attention beyond recognizing it existed. Her name merely stood as a testament to my promise. Then, I asked Sybil, “Who do you want me to speak with to ensure that your will is accomplished?”
“Yamal.” She spoke without hesitation. “She woke from her evolution some days ago, and she will serve well beside the rest of the leadership of the Empire.”
“Good. Now, rest, and protect our children. I’ll be back as soon as I can confirm that the menaces have been driven entirely from our home.”
My people nodded, believing in my word as I strode out. And I, as soon as I was outside of the nursery, returned to the position of Zaaktif. Regardless of what I’d been called while there, in the presence of my little ones, I was a father. Here, in the cold, snowing world that threatened my children’s continued survival, I was the killer, the destroyer, the conqueror that wouldn’t rest until every threat was eradicated.
I grinned in as predatory way as I knew existed as I strode forward out, searching for my enemies. A thought occurred to me as I left the warmth of the nursery. With those myriad feelings… maybe I was just a father in both places.
