Chapter 20: Confrontation

The remaining half-breeds brought their human prisoner with them as they followed Fenrir to his cave. Silence, broken by the occasional murmur from the crowd, is all that accompanied the group. Fenrir ducked into his home, Vogaix and the children on his back. The group immediately stopped playing and looked around, the cave was dark for the half-humans that did not have dragon blood, but Lucy was staring at the dragon's story on the stone walls. He knelt down, letting his heir and the children down as the rest of the group clambered into his home. The first non-dragon-blooded people that he had offered a space to live in his home in… years. Not since Ame. He sighed, skin crawling in his own scales. Everyone held torches up to the wall as they quickly spread through his home like cockroaches. The orange light of the torches reminded Fenrir of that fateful night. He saw Slepna approach the room that held the remains of his clutch, holding the flame for the half-lamia on her back, whose tail was wrapped around her body as tightly a the creature could manage. He couldn't let them in there with fire. They'd burn it down again.

"Centaur!" He instinctively shouted at the half-centaur in draconic, his loud growls causing the entire cave to shake. Slepna jumped and turned around. Fenrir looked surprised, Slepna knew some draconic. "Do not go in there. Not with…" He shook his head and stepped between Slepna and the clutch, "Not with torches. None of you go in there with flame." He must have appeared worried, as a half-harpy looked up at his massive figure with worry in its eyes.

"Sir dragon? Are you… feeling okay?"

"I am fine." He looked into the room, memories flashing with a vision of his clutch burning, with Marath burning over them, "But no going in there with flames. That room, the room the gold leads to, and that," His tail flicked over to Marath's horn, "Are all off limits." He looked around the room, his pupils dilating to allow him to see more detail, "Do you all understand?" Everyone nodded slowly as some murmurs of apprehension flowed through the crowd. They weren't sure this was the right idea. Fenrir was beginning to regret his decision as well.

"Okay," Vogaix clapped her hands together and flew into the air slightly, to the height of Fenrir's back, "Now that we have ground rules down. We can start setting up. This will be a good place for us. Good hunting grounds, good place for defense, and a good hiding spot. Is that okay, Fenrir?" She looked at her father, a slightly apprehensive look lay behind her eyes. He nodded curtly. "Alright, good! Everyone, go ahead and find a place you'd like to set up, but make sure it's nowhere near the off limits areas." The half-breeds immediately spread throughout the cave, searching for places to set their homes up, and Vogaix flew towards Fenrir's face. "Thank you again, dad. It… means a lot that you'd offer this. And even more that you'd actually go through with it," She let out a soft giggle and turned her head away as she blushed. She wanted something. Fenrir pushed his snout into her chest softly. His heir jumped slightly, before wrapping her arms and tail around his snout as much as she could. She sniffled as a small drop of water fell off of Fenrir's snout and onto the ground. "We're going to get her back, right?"

"We," He hesitated slightly, comforting people was never his thing. That was always Wynfir's specialty. They tried to teach him, but he never truly picked it up, "Yes. We will." Even Vogaix could read the uncertainty in his voice, but she hugged tighter and gave a muffled thanks into his scales.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this moment," A voice echoed through the cave walls underneath the pair, and they both looked down. Kurma was standing, her huge body hunched over the human knight, massive scaled hands wrapped around its wrists, "Do you have somewhere we can keep her?"

"A graveyard, preferably," Fenrir growled down at the knight angrily. It looked at the ground in shame.

"I know about a smaller room where we could keep her," Vogaix flew down to Kurma and the human, "Until we are more sure she won't run back."

"Got it." Kurma started to follow Vogaix to one of the smaller caverns in the cave that Fenrir hadn't been able to fit in since his childhood. The thought of a human in his cave, much less one that was loyal to the king, disgusted him. But something in its eyes did seem to be genuinely sorry. And the others brought up a good point, that having another fighter, one familiar with the layout of the city, would be useful. The dragon huffed in slight annoyance and laid himself down next to the entrance to Marath's room. Nobody would be entering here, and he would kill to make sure of it.

He spent the remaining hours of the day watching the half-breeds set up tents and the little bits of furniture they had managed to take with them. Many of them set up little tent doors in front of the caverns that they decided to reside in. He growled at a few members of the group who got too close to any of the spots he deemed off limits. Most of the adults seemed weary around him, except for Vogaix, Slepna, and Kurma. The dragon felt himself getting tired as he used his tail to play with the children. Less half-breeds were moving around, most of them had made their way to sleep. He carried the tired children to Slepna, who gave them all a ride to the makeshift nursery. As Fenrir closed his eyes, he heard a quiet voice.

"Can… I sleep here, Fenrir?" He opened one eye to see Vogaix standing there, loose clothes hanging over her body. It surprised him to see her asking this, and he wanted to say no. But that isn't what he heard coming out of his mouth.

"Go ahead," He moved his tail aside, letting his heir curl against his stomach before covering most of her body with his massive tail. Something about it felt… right. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having people to sleep with again.

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Khora slowly pushed open the door, there was a massive knight in front of her father. He was covered completely in armor, and a blade was placed softly on his shoulder. The king nodded softly, and he stood up, taking his spot next to the king. It was the man who had knocked Khora our and carried her back to the kingdom. His armor was finely decorated and very worn. He had clearly been through a lot of battles. Khora looked at him with spite, he was the reason she was here, he would die alongside her father. She would make sure of it. "Khora," Her father looked at her with fury in his eyes and gestured at her to approach, "How was your… vacation?"

"It was nice being away from here," The princess growled at her father, gripping a non-existent knife in her hand, "I always adore never having to see you."

"Charming as always, my daughter," The disdain in his eyes was obvious. He had always hated her, but it was obvious her behavior made him despise her more. Good, it was mutual.

"Is this your new head knight? You decided to make the big strong man who knocked out your defenseless daughter your right hand man?"

"He brought my oh so lovely daughter back to me, why wouldn't I?" He looked at the knight slightly, then back to Khora, "Speaking of the knight. Sir Maximus will be following you until your wedding with Philip goes through."

"He," She looked at Maximus, who stood motionless next to her father, "What? So I get no time to myself until you stick me with that Merlean?"

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"Yes."

Khora walked out of the room and slammed the door, digging her nails into her palm even harder. How could he stick her with that man? With Philip or Maximus. The knight had always given her the creeps, and how he handled her didn't help. Before she even had the chance to walk away, Maximus came out of her father's room. He looked down at her, the slits in his helmet were too thin for her to see any detail but his gaze made her feel cold. She looked away from him with a small pout and began walking back towards her room, with her new warden following her closely behind.

At Khora's door stood Mary. The servant's face lit up upon seeing the princess, and she rushed towards her, pulling her into a tight hug. Mary's hugs were always amazing. They both softly giggled, and Khora felt her eyes begin to tear up. "I'm so glad you're safe, ma'am. The dragon didn't hurt you, right?"

"No, I'm okay," Khora wiped her face on Mary's blouse, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around the servant, "I've been in the forest for so long though, I need you to help clean me up."

"As you wish, miss Khora," They began walking into her room, and Maximus followed closely behind. Mary turned around and gave the knight a look, "If you wouldn't mind sitting out here, sir Maximus. The princess doesn't want just anybody seeing her body." The knight seemed to think for a moment, before shutting the door and leaning against it, causing the old wood to creak slightly.

"Thank you, Mary," Khora felt her entire body shake as tears fell off of her face and onto the ground, "I missed you." The princess collapsed to the ground and began to cry, her entire body heavily shaking. Mary wrapped her arms around Khora, softly this time.

"It's okay, you're here, you're safe." She gave Khora a soft kiss on the forehead as she wiped her dirt covered face with a handkerchief.

"I was safer out there…" The princess managed to blubber out a soft phrase in between her tears, "I don't feel safe here, Mary. I haven't for a long, long time."

"Sweetheart," Mary's voice went soft, and she cupped Khora's cheek in her palm, "Breathe for me, okay?" The princess nodded and took in a deep breath, still shaky from crying. The two sat there for a while, slowly breathing together. "How about you tell me what happened while I clean you up, okay?" Khora nodded and sniffled again as Mary slowly took off the princesses' shoes.

"The dragon that took me," She winced as Mary touched her ankle, "Careful, Mary."

"Did it do this to you?"

"No. That was Philip. Right before…" She shook her head and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, "It doesn't matter when. The dragon is Vogaix's father." Mary looked at her with surprise as she moved to her pants.

"Small world," The two laughed softly as Mary rubbed a hand over some cuts on Khora's leg. She had gotten them in the village as she was waiting for a luck-dragon to approach her. "How do you know, though? I thought dragons were just animals, and he didn't raise Vogaix, did he?"

"He could speak our language." Mary looked as surprised as Khora was when she first found out, "More fluently than most of the Merleans, even. He… took me to where Vogaix and her family were staying. I was just there for most of the time. It was nice, honestly." She looked down and bit the inside of her cheek, "I met Slepna, the girl that was helping with Vogaix's treatments. She's nice."

"That's good," Mary put her hands underneath Khora's shirt and gave her an inquisitive look. The princess nodded and put her arms up, "It's… interesting to know dragons are intelligent. Or at least that that one is." She took off Khora's shirt slowly, seeing a massive bruise on her stomach.

"Oh, that was Maximus, gave me a bit of a beating before bringing me back." Khora laughed and winced slightly at the pain of the bruise.

"And your father still made him the head knight? I understand why you don't feel safe here now. I'm sorry I can't help you more, princess."

"It's okay, what I need now is a bath," She stood up and wobbled a bit, "Help me with it?"

"Of course, Khora." Mary smiled at her as she led her to the baths that were attached to her room, cleaning her softly.

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Boran opened his eyes as he heard Jasmine ask Yağmur something. "Yeah, that's my pa," He responded while he rubbed his forehead slowly.

"Hi there, Mur's dad," The girl stumbled out of bed and grabbed at a shirt laying on the floor. It was riddled with rips, but she put it on without giving it a second look.

"Nice to see you again, Jasmine," Boran chose his words carefully, he needed her family and Yağmur to get off of the blood so he needed them to like him. To trust him, "Mur?" The former knight felt a smirk form on his face. Through it all, he was glad to see his son getting along with someone.

"It's just," Yağmur blushed and looked away as he answered, "Just a nickname she came up with. I like it."

"I do too," The smirk turned into a fuller smile as he looked at his son, "It's cute, it fits you."

"Thanks, pa," Yağmur put on a ripped shirt as Jasmine playfully nudged him, "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be by the king's side?"

"Shouldn't you be in the new knight's quarters?" Boran snapped back, a slight spark of anger lighting in his chest as if his son had tried to insult him. Yağmur looked over at the glasses with dried remnants of glass-dragon blood in them and back at Boran.

"I don't have to stay there all the time. I prefer it here anyways."

"I'm sorry for lashing out, son," Boran stood from the chair and picked up the glasses, pocketing them, "The king has banished me from being inside the walls. The… wound is still fresh."

"Oh." Yağmur stood in front of his father silently.

"He's sorry, Sir," Jasmine latched onto his arm and began to pull him out of the room, "We have to go,"

"Get some more blood?" Boran stepped in front of them and the door, "I was going to talk to my son about that. So if you could kindly leave us, go check on your little siblings please." Jasmine looked at Yağmur, who nodded curtly, letting go of her arm and softly pushing her out of the room.

As Jasmine shut the door, the former knight's son sat on the bed with a sigh, "What is it, pa?"

"Why have you been using this creature's blood?" Boran sat down in front of Yağmur.

"It…" His son paused, scratching at his leg, "It feels good."

"Is that it?"

"No." The two sat by each other for what felt like an hour, the silence only broken by the sound of children giggling softly.

"Then what is it?" Boran decided to be the first to speak. Yağmur didn't verbally respond, he only pulled down his pants and pointed to his thigh. To the chunk of missing flesh that Boran had cut out of him when he was a child. Where his scales used to be. The former knight felt his hand shake as he remembered cutting through his child's leg. He balled his hand into a fist and began to speak. "I'm sor-"

"I don't give a fuck if you're sorry! Every single day I wake up, and my thigh screams at me. My arms burn. And nothing I do takes the pain away except for that stupid dragon's blood. I don't want to take it, but by the gods I have to. Because otherwise I cry every time I wake up." His son was standing up now, his hands shaking as well. He took a deep breath and wiped his face with his shoulder, "And you did this to me. Before I could even ask for it, before you even knew if I wanted it! And all because what? You hate that part of you? What if I wanted to embrace it? What if I wanted to be proud of me instead of living in constant pain?"

"I'm…" Boran got up and stepped towards Yağmur, "There's nothing I can do to properly apologize for the pain I caused you." He pulled his son into a hug, who just stood there slightly stiff. "I dream of that day every night, and I regret it more with every day. I just couldn't handle losing you if people ever-

"Stop making excuses."

"I'm sorry." Boran hugged Yağmur tighter, gripping his shirt with his massive hands, "I'm so incredibly sorry, son. You have to know that this… blood is not the way to deal with this."

"Why not?" He let out a muffled sniffle into Boran's chest, "It makes me feel good, and it makes the Cobbes feel good too. How is that a bad thing?"

"Have you seen the state this house is in? The state the entire city is in?" Yağmur wrapped his arms around Boran's body softly, not responding.

"I have. It's…" His next words were too muffled by Boran's chest to understand, but his father knew what he was going to say.

"I know, son," He knelt on one knee to get to eye level with Yağmur, pulling him away from him. His eyes were slightly red from tears, "I've seen what this blood does to people, and you have to stop now. Please?"

"I don't want to, pa…" His eyes avoided Boran's "When we ran out a couple days ago it… it hurt."

"I'll be here. To help you and the Cobbes. I promise."

"I'm scared."

"I know," Boran pulled Yağmur in for a hug again, stroking his son's hair slowly, "I know…" Father and son sat in the dimly lit room for a long time, the ambience of the outside muffled to both of them as they embraced each other. Boran knew this would be difficult. But he had to save his son, he had to apologize for how he scarred him all those years ago. He had to.