Chapter 277: Fire Resistant Clothes, Demon Speed, and Everyone Is Already Here Except Zorathys
Chapter 277: Fire Resistant Clothes, Demon Speed, and Everyone Is Already Here Except Zorathys
Elyn’s POV
Rin made a disgusted face at Azerion.
"How much snacks did he steal?" she muttered.
"I don’t know if he stole anything," I told her. "But again, what are you guys doing here?"
"We couldn’t just leave you like that. I mean we did, but then we realized that perhaps you may need us after speaking with the King, so we came back," Rin said.
Vaelory finally reached us, breathing heavily.
"Yes," she said, hands on her knees. "Your Highness, this—"
She pointed at Rin.
"She’s a demon."
"Of course I am," Rin said, blinking those depthless orbs. "We’ve established this already."
Vaelory glared at her.
"Did you have to run?"
"I was walking," Rin replied.
"You were walking too fast for me to keep up," Vaelory said.
"You were just too slow. It’s not my fault."
"I’m human. You have demon speed or demon strength or something — I don’t know what it is but you have it and it makes you faster than me."
"Then keep up with me," Rin said. "It’s that easy."
"How is it easy? I just said you’re a demon. One I don’t even understand."
"I’m a raven demon. It’s quite easy to understand—"
"Both of you," I said, smiling. "Shut up."
They immediately mimed zipping their lips.
I sighed and rubbed a hand across my forehead.
"Rin," I said, "take Azerion to his room."
Then I turned to Vaelory. "Find Morthen. Tell him to write an announcement regarding the petitions — anyone sending them to the palace must write them the proper way from now on. Not the way Zorathys has them writing it."
Vaelory nodded, stood upright, took a deep breath, and headed down the stairs.
---
Sometimes, before anyone even tells you, you know things aren’t going to go as well as you hoped.
I should have known from the beginning.
A part of me was absolutely aware that inviting the children on the tour with me and Zorathys was going to end in disaster. My sixth sense had been very clear about it.
Did I listen?
No.
And so here I was.
Standing at the entrance of the palace, dressed by Rin and Vaelory, who had decided that since I was going on what they had named a date with Zorathys, I needed to look the part.
I had not argued with the word date because arguing with it meant thinking about it and thinking about it meant wondering whether Zorathys actually liked me, and I was this close to admitting that I liked him, and the whole thing was too much to be dealing with before a tour. So I had stood still and let them dress me.
The trousers were deep charcoal — fitted through the hips and thighs, the fabric smooth and structured in a way that moved well without clinging too desperately. The shirt was from Velistrae, which Rin had mentioned with the tone of someone presenting a credential. I could tell immediately. It was a deep, muted burgundy, almost black in certain lights, made of something silk-adjacent that draped rather than sat. It hugged the right places without announcing them too loudly. The neckline plunged — not scandalously, but enough that Vaelory had selected a long chain of dark gold that settled exactly in the middle and drew the eye downward before bringing it back up.
I looked good.
I was aware of this.
I was also aware that Zorathys wasn’t here yet, which meant I was standing at the entrance of the palace looking like this with no one to look like this at, except Azerion, who was beside me kicking a sweet along the ground with his foot and had not looked at my outfit once.
Then footsteps.
I turned.
Aziren came running toward me with his arms already stretched wide open, the little flames in his hair jumping with the movement, his amber eyes bright.
I laughed and leaned down to hug him.
Thank goodness my clothes were fire resistant.
"I missed you," he said into my shoulder, warm and immediate.
"I missed you too," I told him.
Zayrion was not far behind.
He walked at a measured pace, glasses adjusted precisely, tails swaying, red beads catching the light. He looked at Aziren hugging me. Then he looked elsewhere. Then he looked back.
"Aziren," he said, in the tone of a very small, very serious professor, "don’t run around like that."
"I missed the Queen," Aziren said, entirely unbothered.
I smiled and straightened, then spread my arms toward Zayrion.
His ears twitched.
He looked at my outstretched arms. Then at my face. Then he adjusted his glasses — which were perfectly straight — and with great dignity, walked forward and hugged me.
His tails swished behind him.
The glasses had clearly needed adjusting.
"I missed you too," I told him quietly.
He said nothing. But his ears stayed up.
The twins appeared next. Thalira first, her light blue hair loose around her shoulders, wearing something pale and flowing that moved when she walked. Retheris beside her, hands in his pockets, wearing deep navy that made the blue in his hair look more pronounced. They looked at each other when they saw me, then back at me, and Thalira smiled immediately and Retheris tried not to.
Then they decided to forgo the pretense and immediately ran to me.
"Your Majesty," they said loudly as they approached me with wide arms.
I chuckled and hugged them.
"I missed you," I said with a laugh.
"We missed you too," they said.
Velira arrived next with her bunny tucked under one arm and her purple wings folded neatly behind her. She stopped in front of me, looked me up and down with the focused attention of someone conducting a thorough professional assessment, and then nodded once as a wide smile took over her face.
Then she swooned, a hand to her chest.
"My heart!" she said dramatically. "If only my mother could see this beauty, this perfection you own."
I chuckled at her dramatics.