Chapter 9 - Belath

I stare in shock for a moment before running forward at vampire speed to wrap my sire in a hug.

"Father, you're here." Pulling back slightly I take in the sight of my maker it's been too long since I've last seen him, "You look well." Excited I can't stop smiling I always look forward to his visits even though he often tries to persuade us to spend more time Hadlau. Maybe we will spend more time there now that we've found Emmy.

"Of course I'm here. Word has been spreading of you finding your fourth mate, so I came for a visit, seeing as you didn't tell me yourself." He gives me a reproachful look. Embarrassed at having forgotten to inform him in the excitement of the last few days I just offer a small smile as I rub the back of my head.

"Sorry father. A lot has happened in the last few days. But this is our mate Emilia." I turn back to Emilia introducing her to my sire, "Emmy, this is my sire Sliske."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." She says with a shy smile as polite as always.

"Lovely to meet you too Emilia. We've all waited a long time to meet you." Father steps forward taking Emmy's hand to place a kiss on the back of it. He's always been a fan of courtly etiquette and keeps it up even when not at court, the action makes Emmy blush never having experienced it before. "Now why don't we head inside, and we can sit down to talk."

Listening to his suggestion we move into the main library occupying the reading area, Lilas and Kor sharing one seat while father, Emmy and I share another. I place myself between father and Emmy so that she's not overly surrounded as this conversation will no doubt be long and overwhelming.

"Well, I should probably start by saying that my visit has also been prompted by the Council. They want you to return and take your rightful places." Father tells us making eye contact with all of us except Emmy who is still confused. He turns his gaze back towards Kor and Lilas before continuing, "After all when the Gods left it was with the wish that you rule over Rialria, their beloved country."

"They said for us to rule with our mates, how could we do that when until recently we've been incomplete?" Lilas retorts, none of us have ever really wanted to rule preferring our quiet life here together over the politics and schemes of the court.

"I was there as well don't forget." Father reminds him sharply, "It has been over 2,000 years since the Stones were created so while at first it was fine for you to learn and grow, you were only young back then. But none of the Council imagined that your resistance would continue on this long especially not after Bel claimed his Stone."

"I still don't understand." Emmy mutters clearly more confused than before.

"Forgive me, I should have started with more of an explanation to your questions." Father apologises, "Your mates are called Lords due to respect for their age and power, you'll find that others will call you Lady out of the same respect. They all have seats on Rialria's ruling Council, but they refuse to occupy them full time only when urgently needed. However by the Gods request though they should be ruling as Kings of Rialria."

"We've always supported the idea of a Council ruling full time though rather than us having all the power. Wouldn't it be better if every race is represented by a member on a ruling Council?" I can't help asking even though I've asked this question before and have always been given the same answer.

"Because the Gods selected Kor and Lilas to rule along with their mates and the Council member all respect their choice. If you feel a Council is useful you can still assemble one to advise you, we have never suggested that you need to rule without assistance or advise from those you can trust." Father gives the same response as always, "I hope this helps you understand more of what you've heard today Emilia."

"Yes, thank you." She replies to him, her voice quiet still trying to process what she's been told.

"Now onto what the Council sent me for. They want you to come to Hadlau urgently, they need your input on some matters there and they feel it's important that you all come and spend some time at court. He holds up a hand to stop us when we open our mouths to object, "Not to stay, for now. Just a visit so they can meet Emilia for themselves. I have also been told that if you don't agree to go to them they will come here instead."

Kor lets out a low growl at the very idea of the Council invading our home. Lilas rubs Kor's leg slowly getting him to calm down. Next to me Emmy has gone very still, she has been since father first mentioned us going to Hadlau.

"Very well." Lilas tells father, knowing we have to agree if only to stop them from coming here. "In the morning we'll depart for Hadlau. The Council are not coming here, Kor might tear them apart if they do." He's right Kor wouldn't stand for them coming uninvited to our home and annoying any of us or even scaring Emmy.

"Bath." Kor grunts standing, likely wanting to go and calm down. He's just starting to leave as Emmy calls out to him.

"Can I come with you?" He nods waiting for her to catch up to him taking her smaller hand in his to take her down to the baths. It's a big step for her, I'd have thought it would be longer before she'd be comfortable having a bath with one of us nearby. After all just the other day she'd kept out of sigh when I'd come in to drop off towels and clean clothes for her.

Father, Lilas and I talk for a little while longer before deciding to retire for the night early in preparation for leaving tomorrow. Father goes up to the room we keep set aside for him during his visits while Lilas and I head down to the baths to find Kor and Emmy. On the way down I grab Emmy's new hairbrush, it'll be easier trying to brush her hair out while it's still wet.

"Everything all right in here?" I ask when we enter the baths finding Kor and Emmy soaking in silence. I get a calm nod from Kor while Emmy just lets out a small squeak from the opposite edge of the bath from Kor sunk with only her head and neck visible above the water, her face flushed. "I brought your hair brush down with me Emmy, want me to try giving it a brush before you get out and dry it?"

"Please." She replies moving towards me so I can crouch down and start brushing her hair. The red waves appear slightly darker now that they're wet, still beautiful though despite some of the tangles that are still present. I set to work gently trying to removes the tangles, the water making it much easier than it would have been if it was dry and no doubt less painful for her.

"Done." I declare when I'm finally able to run the brush through all of her hair without it getting caught on anything. "We should probably go up to bed now, we'll need an early start to pack some things before we leave. Emmy why don't you turn around while Kor gets out and then we'll wait for you in the hallway?"

She nods her face still flushed bright red, more flushed than it should have been from the heat of the bath. It seems sharing a bath with Kor, even with keeping distance between them, has her nervous. Or perhaps by the shy little looks she keeps shooting his way, focusing on his chest, maybe it's admiration. Not that I can blame her Kor has a very impressive physique that I can't help staring at as well, especially dripping with water.

Just watching him is turning me on but I have to control it, there's no time to sneak off anywhere to take care of it. Not like this morning when Lilas and I snuck into my room for a bit of fun while Kor and Emmy were still in bed. We'll have even less privacy in Hadlau so soon we'll probably have to discuss our sex life with Emmy, we can't keep her in the dark when we're there and to move forward we need to talk to her. Hopefully sometime soon she'll want to join us.

Once Kor's secured a towel around his waist we go and wait in the hallway for Emmy. Keeping an ear on what's going on in the bath I can't help grinning at Kor and teasing him a bit.

"Nice bath, Kor, seems like you've had fun?"

"One of the best." He smirks clearly happy, a glint in his eyes telling me that the other baths he's thinking of are the times we've had sex in there.

"Just think of how amazing it'll be when we all share a bath together." I can't help saying before going quiet as I hear Emmy coming to the door. Joining us she's wrapped up in a towel as well with her hair wrapped in another, so we head upstairs Emmy making no move to go into her room as walk past it to the shared room.

Lilas helps Emmy dry her hair while Kor and I head into the closet to get changed. As we head back into the main room Kor picks up an extra tunic of his which he hands to Emmy when we get back to them. She goes and changes into Kor's tunic the closet as well followed by Lilas once she's done. All changed for bed we climb in with Emmy and I in the centre with Kor behind her and Lilas behind me quickly settling down to sleep in a tangle of limbs.

Morning seems to come too soon; I haven't slept well, and I can tell Lilas and Kor haven't either, Emmy likely only sleeping well due to yesterday's travel. The three of us get out of bed careful not to wake her, wanting her to sleep for as long as she can before we leave.

We make quick work of packing up what we need to take with us, it's not much because we have more clothes in Hadlau so most of the packing is for Emmy. She still only has three dresses, so we pack up her two new dresses leaving the one I made for her to wear while we travel. Some of Lilas's robes and Kor's tunics are also packed for her to wear until she has more than two dresses.

Now that we're spending who knows how long at court we'll have to have some more clothes made for her, Madame Loni might be making some, but it'll be easier and faster to buy more from a seamstress in Hadlau. As much as I love Madame Loni as well she doesn't often make dresses for court so going to a seamstress there might be better. We'll need to buy some jewellery as well; Gods know how the women at court will treat Emmy if she's there in outdated dresses and with no jewellery.

That's another reason we didn't want to be going to court so soon, Emmy isn't ready for the way these people act. She's lived a simple life in a farming village never having been to a town before the last few days and now we're going to court the complete opposite of everything she's ever known. I just hope that the women aren't too harsh or nasty to her if not I don't know how we'll react, it likely won't be pretty for anyone who hurts Emmy.

The packing done we get changed into light clothes suitable for travel, we'll be spending most of the next few days flying on Kor's back to reach the capital as soon as possible. Everything ready we go back into the main room wanting to spend some more time in bed with Emmy before we have to leave. That plan ends though as we find her sitting up awake already rubbing her eyes and letting out an adorable yawn.

"Good morning." She says sleepily stretching trying to wake herself up a bit more. The movement causes Kor's tunic to slip of one of her shoulders slightly which I find very distracting, but she doesn't seem to notice the affect she has on us. "Do we have to leave yet?"

"Not quite yet. The packing is all done we've left a dress out for you to wear while we travel and packed the two new ones from yesterday. More will have to be ordered when we get to Hadlau though along with jewellery." I tell her, no doubt this will all seem like a lot to her but when we get there the expectations will be different.

"But what about we ordered yesterday?" She asks tilting her head.

"It'll be too far to collect so it'll be easier to order more from a seamstress in the capital. They'll have more fabric available to choose from as well." Lilas adds, "Why don't we head to the kitchen and start breakfast while you get dressed? The sooner we can get going the sooner we'll arrive in Hadlau, Bel can you go and see if Sliske is awake?" Both Emmy and I nod in agreement. She goes into the closet while the rest of us head into the hallway, Kor and Li going to the kitchen while I walk to my father's room.

Knocking on father's door he opens it almost immediately. He's already dressed as well possibly having heard us getting ready ourselves.

"We're moving into the kitchen for breakfast if you'd like to join us?" I offer knowing that he would have joined us regardless of an invitation. As expected he agrees and the two of us go to the kitchen where Lilas, Kor and Emmy are already eating their own breakfast while we pour ourselves some blood.

Breakfast is quiet only talking occasionally mostly about father's journey here, getting a feel for where we could stay on our own journey to Hadlau. Normally we'd camp overnight but having Emmy with us we'd prefer to be staying at inns when possible where proper food will be available, she's still under weight and is still adjusting to regular meals so we don't want to go backwards.

Lilas starts packing food for the journey along with some blood for father and I that goes into a wineskin he's placed runes on to keep the blood fresh. While he's busy with that I run back upstairs grabbing the bag we'd packed earlier as well as Emmy's hairbrush and some ribbons. It'll be easier to manage tied back while we're travelling.

Arriving back in the kitchen I hand the brush and ribbons over to Lilas, whose the best of us when it comes to hair, leaving Kor to finish packing the rest of the food. He takes a seat next to Emmy, getting her to turn so that her back is to him he gets started on brushing then braiding her hair. It doesn't take him long before he's tying the braid off with a blue ribbon that matches her dress.

"Everyone ready?" Father asks standing in the entrance of the kitchen watching us in amusement, having been and collected his own belongings. We all nod and head out into the garden where Kor will be able to shift.

Father climbs up first, catching the bags we throw up to him before I climb up behind him. Like yesterday Lilas passes Emmy up to me before climbing up behind her, once seated he lets out a whistle to let Kor know that we're all seated and ready to go. With a few steps Kor takes off into the sky settling at a speed that's slightly faster than usual to try and reduce the amount of time we'll spend travelling.

After hours in the sky Kor finally lands in forest clearing letting us climb down. We've been flying for so long that when Lilas helps her get down Emmy is struggling to stand, not used to flying for such a long time her legs have become numb. I wrap my arm around her waist to support her as I walk her slightly away from Kor before we both sit down while Lilas passes some food over for her, just some bread, cheese and a bit of cold meat.

"How long will it take to get to Hadlau?" She asks quietly as she picks at her food. The idea of more flying doesn't seem to be appealing to her at the moment, not that I can blame her long flights take some getting used to.

"Around a week, depending on how fast Kor flies and how long we fly for. We'll stop when we can but ideally we'll fly for as long as we can. I promise though once we get there you'll be able to rest for as long as you want, whatever the Council wants can wait until you're feeling better." Lilas tells her and it's true, her wellbeing and happiness comes first.

"Thank you." She mutters blushing, "But Sliske said that the Council matter is urgent, I'll be fine once we get there. You shouldn't put the Council off." We nod agreeing to her idea but share a look knowing that at least one of us will stay with her while the other two will go and deal with the Council. Lilas will have to one of the two to go, being the most diplomatic of the three of us so it just comes down to if Kor or I stay with her.

Our lunch break doesn't last long so we're soon back to flying. Behind me I can feel Emmy leaning more against my back, her deep even breaths suggesting that she's managed to fall asleep. It's likely for the best it can get boring up here after a while especially as Kor is flying high enough that there's nothing to look at except clouds.

We have a lot of flying ahead of us to reach Hadlau. Father hasn't mentioned what it is the Council wants our opinion on but hopefully it's a simple matter that they're using as an excuse to get us to the capital. Whatever it is they want I hope we don't have to spend too much time there or around the rest of the court.

It's been perhaps a decade or two since we last came to the capital so if we have any luck then the more troublesome court members have retired and been replaced by more tolerable ones. I know it won't be the case for all of them because the court members with extended lifespans have rarely changed over the years. If we can't avoid being around the court it will probably take us a few days to adjust to any changes, not just in members but alliances. All the more reason to want no part of it.