Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius lazily rolled his eyes open to find two wolf ears in front of his face. The slight tickle of his breaths made them twitch occasionally and he felt the need to be slightly playful. He smiled to himself before he lightly blew a slightly stronger puff of air into Kalliope's adorable ears, gently waking her up.

She looked up at him with clear, gray eyes and a simple, satisfied smile. Neither of them were wearing any clothes, nor were they covered by any sheets or blankets. In fact, when Lucius attempted to pull a blanket over them to sneak in a little more sleep, his hand came away with shredded fabric.

It seemed that their night of passion had gotten rather rowdy. He remembered a strange sensation that had slipped his mind amidst the intensity of their love, but now that they were awake and more sane, he found his hand tracing a bite mark on his chest, a few inches above his nipple. Kalliope looked at where his hands were rubbing and attempted to hide her face in his chest.

He simply chuckled at her suddenly acting shy and pulled her face toward his own by her chin. After planting a deep and passionate kiss that seemed to last several minutes, he asked, "Is that how it works for us all the time?"

The woman's ears twitched a few times before she mumbled, "I don't think so. It doesn't happen often when talking about mixed species mating. So I am doubly surprised that our instincts acted up with you being a different species as well as half-human. Not that I am complaining of course."

"A shame." Lucius grinned, which earned him a light punch to the chest. With a hearty laugh, he stood and began to hunt down his clothes. Unfortunately, though he found both his and Kalliope's, they were not in any sort of shape to be used.

"Something wrong?" Kalliope cocked her head as she asked what seemed to be a sarcastic question.

"You didn't happen to bring spares, did you?"

Her gentle laugh echoed through the room and sounded like music to Lucius's ears. The only other time something like this happened to him was with Rena and it only served to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, his feelings for the rambunctious wolf-girl who had been by his side for four years.

They began to draw clothes from their storage rings to wear on the trek back to Corva's manor. While doing so, Lucius was not shy in taking peeks at Kalliope's form. She was keenly aware of his gaze and though embarrassed, she happily made a little show of her effort for him.

Seeing her tail move back and forth happily while her face seemed to turn as red as a flame, nearly put Lucius back in the mood again. However, they had things to do for the day so he had to swallow his desires. Kalliope seemed to sense his trepidation and swallowed harshly before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"There are some things you should know. Since we mated."

"You keep using that word and I don't know how I feel about it." Lucius said, "Is it wrong to call it love-making, or throes of passion, or just sex?"

He was genuinely confused by the situation. They had discussed sex before, though not necessarily within the context of each other. Kalliope had never been averse to the word, so suddenly using this new terminology threw him for a little bit of a loop. Also, it unsettled him slightly to refer to such an important act as something that sounded so animalistic and uncaring.

She was important to him, which somehow made her feel more objectified than he would prefer.

"Mating is what it's called when our instincts kick in like that," Kalliope explained plainly. "It's not super common, even among beastmen of the same species. But when you have sex with another beastman, or I guess in your case, a half-blood, sometimes our bestial natures kick in. When that happens, you tend to lose control a little."

That much was clear to him. What used to be a massive and beautiful bed, covered in fine silks and high-quality comforters, was now a shredded mess. Despite how wealthy he was, Lucius was not fond of hearing what the bill for this would be.

Kalliope smiled shyly before continuing, "But as I tried to warn last night, before you broke the potion, the heightened state also triggers ovulation and so there's a good chance…"

"How good?" Lucius asked plainly.

"Seventy to ninety percent? But that is when both are beastmen and, well, I don't know how all these things apply to you."

"That high, huh?"

Kalliope looked at him with slight worry. Her hand slightly covered her stomach, "Is that an issue?" Her lips started to tremble a little, but Lucius did his best to give her a warm smile. He placed his hand gently on top of her head in a petting-like motion.

"No, my love," Lucius answered. "If I had been worried about it, I would not have thrown the potion. Whether or not anything happened today, I am happy."

"Maybe I'll have all five of the grandkids that dad wanted at once…"

Lucius felt himself nearly fall over from shock. He found himself doing the mental calculations of how he would separate his time and attention between six children at once. Trying to juggle that sounded like a nightmare, but he already made the decision to be with Kalliope in that capacity.

"I really don't know how I feel about that many at once, but I made my decision and will honor it."

Kalliope laughed at him as they exited the inn. She explained to him how it was extremely rare for a beastman to have that many children at once. Lucius sighed with relief as he silently dropped a sack of gold containing nearly a hundred thousand coins. He hoped it would cover the damages, but if not, they could bill him later.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

They chose to return to the manor immediately after that. Somehow, the carriage had found their inn and was waiting for them right outside. The carriage driver looked like a simple enough man, but Lucius praised him for being so resourceful in locating them.

The trip back to the manor was very similar to the night before, with them gathering the eyes of many passersby. Lucius could feel the princess enchanter's wavering excitement the moment they pulled in front of the mansion. Before Lucius could guide Kalliope out of the carriage, Corva threw open the doors of her home with a simple longsword in her hand.

"Look, you had your night of passion, I get it. Great. Congrats." Corva shouted, "Take the damn sword I spent all night making for you while you all went out and had fun!"

Light reflected into Lucius's eyes as Kalliope barely managed to catch the sword that Corva nearly threw at her. The elf was not actually upset, but she was clearly on some sort of sleep deprivation high. Lucius noticed a package sitting in her hands that she seemed to have pulled out of a storage ring.

Wind blew hair about Lucius's face from Kalliope swinging her sword off to his side. Mana ran down the length of the blade and illuminated the faint runic etchings down the length of the blade. The pommel of the blade also glowed slightly. Lucius blinked because, somehow, the mana had gained a secondary color underlying the typical gold color.

Along the length of the blade, the mana flowing seemed to have green undertones while the mana condensing at the pommel seemed to have hints of browns mixed in with the gold.

"What does it do?"

Corva unceremoniously shoved the package in her hands into Lucius's arms as she began to excitedly wave her hands about to explain the weapon she created. "That sword is made of an alloy between steel and black silver that surrounds a mithril core. The blade is enhanced with a wind blade enchantment.

"Though the mithril core will hold a small amount of mana, when you actively feed your own mana into the weapon it will generate a barrier of wind along the cutting edge to increase penetration through armors and shields! The pommel is enchanted with an earth spell. When you power the pommel and slam it into an object or person, it sends shockwaves deeper into the target."

Lucius found himself slightly impressed at what Corva could whip up in a single night. Likewise, the glint in Kalliope's eyes indicated she was raring to go and test the weapon out already. However, just before she leapt into action, her eyes fell on the wrapped object in his hands. She glanced quickly at Corva before sheathing her weapon on her hip.

Enjoy new adventures at empire

"That's for you, I think." Kalliope whispered while shifting her feet slightly.

"Ah, yes. That is yours." Corva grumbled. She seemed openly disappointed that her sword was not going to get the full test run immediately but turned her attention to the final item nonetheless. "Right. That one. Go on, open it."

"Surprise?" Kalliope said meekly.