No one knew how much time had passed as Nevaris comforted Ana. Before they knew it, they had transitioned back to the drawing room, their dinner long forgotten.
Nevaris sat on the couch with Ana nestled snugly in his lap. She was fast asleep, the exhaustion of the journey here and the events of the night pulling her into the empty embrace of unconsciousness.
Lilith sat across from him, her gaze complicated as she watched the sleeping Ana. Garren, the ever present and loyal butler, stood behind Nevaris like a solemn statue waiting for the order to break out of his petrified stasis.
Nevaris gazed out of the window to the city below, his expression unreadable.
The silence held. Not uncomfortable, but with the weight of what was to be said next.
Without turning Nevaris spoke in a light tone, "What do we know?"
Knowing he was speaking to him, Garren responded with a grim face, "Not much, young master. From what the madam found, she was one of the Serpent Priestesses. But that is where any information begins and ends. No known family or relatives. Nor any way to trace her origins."
Nevaris continued to stroke her hair as his expression remained unreadable.
"No one knows anything?"
Garren's expression was a little embarrassed as he replied, "None that we could find. It is as if they know of her, but not about her. Almost like she's…"
"...a ghost." Lilith finished in a whisper.
Nevaris turned his gaze to Lilith for a split second before lowering it to the furrowed brows of the sleeping Ana.
'How was she even selected as a fiancee for a prince of royal blood? Or is it just another way to show off how little they care about me? Not even caring about the kind of woman sacrificed to the trash that stains their race. Unbelievable,' Nevaris mocked himself inwardly.
Pushing away his stray thoughts, he turned fully to Garren. But the look in his eyes sent a cold shiver down his spine.
His voice was calm, almost casual. But after centuries of war and battle, Garren felt a feeling he had only experienced once before as a child. The day he had gone to the forest outside of his city to hunt and was stuck in a cave surrounded by wolves. A cold, suffocating tightness that wraps itself around your throat, making it hard to breathe.
Terror.
"Do you suspect any outside forces involved? Any signs of manipulation?" Nevaris said.
Garren gulped nervously before replying hesitantly, his head lowering without his permission as he answered, "N-None that can be seen as plausible evidence. But…the possibility can not be eliminated."
Lilith's fists clenched as her emerald eyes flashed venomously. Nevaris fell silent, then nodded. Once–slowly–as if digesting the information, or lack thereof, that he was given.
The old butler straightened his spine as he once again slipped on his mask of composure. But his thoughts were chaotic.
'Something has definitely changed! The young master has never acted like this or spoken like this before. And that killing intent was way too potent for a weakling that had spent more hours under a fist than behind it.'
While he had acted convinced of Nevaris' identity in the drawing room earlier, he had only believed his words around sixty percent. That percentage due to the fact that he smelled the same, looked the same, and there were no signs of dark magic or any sort of foul play detected around him.
Besides the obvious glow up in the looks department, the muscles that could put seasoned warriors to shame, and his lazy attitude. The biggest change that made Garren doubt himself was his aura.
Beneath his jokes and unburdened attitude, it felt as if 'something' was coiling in the depths of Nevaris' very being. Something dangerous, something hungry.
As his mind warred with itself, Garren looked toward Nevaris once and as he did his tense expression began to soften. As he watched Nevaris sit in the seat, his hands delicately parting Ana's hair like she was a precious treasure, his face almost broke out in a smile.
'Well, regardless of who he is or what happened to the young master. I like the current him much more than the past version of himself.' he said inwardly before pushing the thoughts away and once again relaxing as he decided to just leave it for another day.
After all, dragons aren't beings that take pleasure in solving riddles or complex issues. They are lazy by nature. Why spend so much time thinking when you can either burn the problem to a crisp or sleep?
…
The space fell into a strange lull where no one spoke. Everyone had their own thoughts but for the three individuals still conscious, there was a tension whose pressure continued to strengthen against the thin film of the silence.
Feeling the increasing frequent glances directed at him, Nevaris let out a wry chuckle as he turned to face the volatile woman across from him shooting daggers at him with her eyes.
"Is there something on my face? Admiring its perfection?" he asked innocently.
Lilith smiled back at him just as innocently, "Wondering if I should plant a fist on it. A few more shades would look wonderful on you~."
If he didn't believe it before, now he believed without a doubt that this woman was dangerous.
The corner of his lip twitched as he asked, "Have I offended you in some way?"
Lilith's first reaction was to answer with a sharp retort, but seeing the genuine expression on his face, she turned her head in a small huff.
After a beat of silence, she responded. Her voice was still sharp, but the cutting edge behind it was nonexistent. "Of course not. You are a 'mighty' dragon prince while I am just a slab of meat being fed to you for the benefits of my race. I am aware of my position."
He had to admit, that comment hurt a bit.
Seeing his awkward expression, Lilith felt a little guilty. Deep down she knew that he wasn't to blame for her current situation, and yet here she was, acting like a petulant child.
Lowering her head a bit, Lilith began to apologize, "I'm sor-"
"I'm sorry." Nevaris' voice interrupted at the same time.
Lilith's body tensed slightly as her lowered head rose stiffly in shock. Her perplexed expression revealed the doubt of what she had just heard.
But Nevaris spoke again, his voice clear and distinct. But the weight behind it landed like a weight on her chest. "I am sorry, Lilith. That was insensitive of me."
Lilith blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then tilted her head in genuine confusion as she asked, "What are you apologizing for?"
Then she added, a little embarrassingly, "Y-You haven't really done anything. I'm just venting my frustrations on you when I do not even have the right too."
Her last words were spoken with a bitter smile. Her eyes are a little vacant as if accepting some grim reality.
But unaware of what she said that had set him off, the atmosphere in the room changed as Nevaris' face turned solemn.
Seeing the cold, resolute look in his eyes. Lilith's heart began to beat erratically as her breathing turned faint.
"Don't have the right?"
It wasn't a question for her. More of a curious, almost thoughtful ponder. But his presence seemed to have shifted.
Lilith's thoughts went silent. Her entire being watching, waiting for his next words.
He tilted his head slightly as he looked straight into her eyes. "Says who?"
Flustered by the intensity of his gaze, she stammered, "W-Well, no–no one actually said-"
His voice cut in again. Deeper, heavier. "Then which law states it?"
Lilith's face shifted from embarrassment to humiliated rage as she raised her voice, "ARE YOU STUPID!? THERE IS NO SUCH-"
"Then why do you have no right?"
Lilith's indignation faded. Leaving only straggled silence in its wake as her mind registered his words.
"If there is no law in place, no individual mandating it–why do you not have the right to express yourself to me, your fiancee?"
Lilith had no response. She just stared at him, her mind spinning webs in an attempt to piece together his words and meaning, but failing to understand.
Nevaris leaned back, closing his eyes as the silence settled. Then they opened, but his gaze was…wrong.
And when he spoke, the very air in the room seemed to have disappeared.
"I think I need to make some things clear. So that such foolish, moronic thoughts never cross your clearly addling brain again."
Lilith should have gotten angry–furious at the insult. But she couldn't put a single iota of venom towards the man before her. Her chest tightened as she began lowering her head.
"Look at me."
It wasn't a request. Hell, it wasn't even an order.
It was a law carved in certainty.
Her head snapped up to meet his gaze as if hearing a divine edict. Her thoughts blurred as she found herself lost in those mesmerizing pools of mercury.
"Who are you?"
Lilith's throat bobbed as she swallowed, her voice coming out smaller, weaker than her sober pride would have allowed.
"...your wife."
Nevaris shook his head, asking again, "Who are you?"
His voice even deeper, darker than earlier pierced through her stubborn insecurities.
"L-Lilith. I am Lilith."
His voice echoed through the room again with an approval that made her dizzy.
"Good. Before you are a wife, before you become a mother. You are Lilith. No one can or will ever take that from you. Not me, not that bastard emperor, not even the gods themselves. And if anyone dares to try…"
Nevaris' expression appeared haunting in the flickering torchlight.
"...then I will take from them…everything they've ever loved. Everything they've ever wished for and held dear. And I will present them–broken, hollow…ruined–at your feet."
Lilith's face flushed with heat, her pupils morphing into eerie heart shapes as she listened to this horrifying, enchanting confession.
Nevaris' eyes were like two dark pits. His gaze devoured the light around him. His voice haunting, yet enthralling.
"You are mine. My Lilith. My wife. My queen eternal. Any who blaspheme you, who mock you, or seek to stand against you. I will present them at your feet like groveling dogs. So that all are aware of the costs that come with casting their filthy gaze toward our family. That is my apology–my vow. My promise, to both of you."
His gaze then shifted to Ana, now awake and staring at him with eyes full of fanatical devotion. But the tears that swam in them behind the mask were clear for all to see.
Nevaris chuckled at what he saw as the 'cutest' eyes he had ever seen. But when he turned to Lilith, his expression froze as he began to sweat.
What he saw…was dangerous.
Garren, who had made himself invisible through the entire discussion, tensed up as if facing some fabled beast.
Lilith's expression was hidden behind her loose hair. But the trembling of her shoulders radiated bad news.
"Garren~"
The old dragon visibly flinched. "Y-Yes lady Lilith!"
She raised her head, smiling sweetly. But her eyes had become to black holes, both locked on the figure of the dragon prince seated across from her.
"I would like to have a few private words with my husband~. Would you kindly leave and lock the door behind you?"
Garren didn't hesitate. With a blur of motion, he reappeared outside of the room, the door already part way closed as he locked gazes with the shocked and betrayed look of his young master.
'I'm sorry young master. But this old servant is just following orders.'
And with a soft click, the room was empty save for one dragon, a teary-eyed love-stricken serpent, and a very, very turned on arachne.
Tonight–was going to be a long night.