Upon reaching the large, mostly tree-based structure that served as a home for the ruling line of Kirino, the three guests had been escorted up several winding flights of stairs, carved into the living wood of a simply massive tree, and emerged into a set of rooms that clearly served as an entire guest wing. The place had been constructed with equal parts craft and magic, and multiple trees supported wings like these ones, connected by staircases and rope bridges held steady by ancient spells, magicks the kirin had long since lost the ability to command. It was through the presence of those from the First Line that the spells maintained themselves; Ephraim knew this very well, and he suspected Virgil had at least guessed. None of them were capable of magic like this any longer. Solitude in this realm had deteriorated the species, whose magic was once made stronger by interacting with others. Isolation had its prices, even if the reward was eternal peace.
Ephraim had been loath to allow them to split Nerys off from the group, but she had already made her decision, even if he didnât like what it meantâfor her or for the rest of them. He should, he knew, respect her wishes. He had no place interfering in her life unless she desired him to do so. That much had always been true. As agent of the Arbiter, neutrality was required of him, unless his help was asked for. It was no business of his what happened to the kirin as a species, or Nerys as an individual, even if he did find the latter surprisingly difficult to swallow.
He was, in fact, still quite angry. Enough so that when theyâd been informed their current state of dress was not sufficient to the ceremony of the occasion, it was only his brotherâs firm hand on his shoulder that prevented him from snappingâwhether figuratively or literally he didnât even knowâat the small group of servants whoâd attempted to pull at his coat. The three of them had been ushered into different rooms, and Ephraim had thrown out the pair of servants who made as if to help him dress. He certainly did not require that. Judging by the number of them out in the hallway, either Virgil or Keira had done the same. He was going to say Keira. He knew what Virgil was like. The fox had probably only gotten to partially undressed before he decided to proposition one or both of the handmaidens that followed him inside.
As he often did, Ephraim chose not to think about it. He was incredibly tempted not to change his clothing at all, because frankly, the standards of these people were of no consequence to him, but in the end, he decided that Nerys was already suffering enough for having invited them; things would only be worse for her if he started a confrontation about something so irrelevant. So with a withering glare at the clothing that had been left for him, he shook his head and dealt with it.
A half-hour later, he was arrayed in a deep, indigo blue that sharply contrasted the crimson color of his eyes. The traditional garments of Kirino had not changed much since they first acquired their own realm, and still showed influence of human historyâin this case, what he wore was comparable to feudal-era formalwear from Japan, where most of the creatures had once been concentrated. Much of the garments of Yokaino were similar, but for the opposite reasonâdemon royalty had inspired humans, back when they used to cross much more frequently between realms. He lingered for another half-hour or so, mostly because there was nothing else to do, and emerged some time later to find Virgil doing the same from across the hall. He was dressed in green, of all colors, but it was the smell that wrinkled Ephâs nose. Heâd been right about his brotherâs activity. It would not register to a human or kirin nose, but perhaps the rather bright red faces and slightly-shaky strides of the attendants said enough.
Ephraim scowled at Virgil, who only smiled in reply. Now they were waiting on Keira, and then they could proceed to the ceremony.
Keira had been ushered into a room down the hall from the Solomon brothers, where a pair of female attendants set to work, or at least, they tried to. After several attempts at removing her clothing and trying to get her to bathe, Keira had ended up slapping the one; she wasn't fond of being touched, and on top of that, she had no wish to be a part of this.
Nerys was a fool for agreeing to this, and if she wanted to throw her life away, then so be it. Keira wasn't going to stop her. For several long minutes, Keira sat in the room in front of the mirror, and finally she couldn't lie to herself anymore. She would go; and she would stop it.
She bathed by herself, but she had no idea what they expected her to dress in, so she reluctantly allowed the attendants back in, but only briefly. The end result mortified her. While the color was alright, she was in a dress of all things, and a very form-fitting one at that. It was red, and strapless, and made Keira herself highly uncomfortable. For a second she stood there blushing a crimson almost as deep as the dress she wore; but she would just have to get over that.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out into the hall, and was not at all surprised to see Ephraim and Virgil already out. Keira took one look at the kitsune and dropped her eyes; she could feel her cheeks turning red, much to her horror, and she hissed through her teeth, "You say one word and I'll throttle you." Honestly, what was wrong with pants?
âThen woe is me, I shall simply have to use more than one,â the fox replied cheekily, grinning brightly, the flash of fang perhaps not strictly necessary. But he liked making the kirin uncomfortable, as they so clearly were with predatory creatures like himself and Ephraim. He liked making Keira uncomfortable, too, but for entirely different reasons. So he used a clawed fingertip to trace the bare line from the base of her ear to the inside of her wrist, leaning in close enough to lick a stripe over her pulse point. Really, he should have at least been satiated for a while, considering what heâd just been doing, but the desire he had for her was not of quite the same kind as the desire he had generally. Virgil was no foolâhe knew he should be wary of that.
He just couldnât bring himself to care.
âYou look simply ravishing, lovely. Red is a good color on you,â he purred, though whether he referred to the dress, the blush, or both, was unclear. Ephraim rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, but Virgil was, as ever, unperturbed, and simply drew back slowly, turning his head to glance at his brother from the corner of his eye. Eph was scowling, but that was normal for him, so it would have been impossible for most anyone to tell what kind of mood he was in. Empathy did have its uses, however, and Virgil knew just how angry the Hellhound was, though there was a fair amount of confusion in the emotional cocktail as well.
âLetâs go,â was all he said, and the three were escorted from there to an open meadow in the middle of the great forest. As one would expect of such a place, it was strewn with brightly-colored flowers, the sunlight illuminating the occasional pollen floater that took to the air, carried along by a gentle breeze, just barely strong enough to notice, but not near strong enough to actually disturb anything. It was like even the world they were in was adverse to chaos. Unnatural for Virgil, who came from a realm that oftentimes embodied chaos.
They were led to a place on the left side of the meadow, with what looked to be kirin dignitaries of minor importance. Eve attired as they were, the three of them stuck out like sore thumbs among the universally pale-haired, fawn-eyed kirin, most of whom were also rather short, perhaps no more than five and a half feet for the females and five-eight or so for the males. The ceremony appeared to be quite traditional for these people: at the center of the meadow was arranged a large circular platform, perhaps two feet off the ground, that currently held both the officiator and what appeared to be Nerysâs groomâhe looked like the rest of the kirin present, except that he was dressed much more richly. Apparently, the color of kirin weddings was yellow. Or at least it was the color of this one. Virgil supposed that the bride would be led to that platform and assisted in ascending it. A few ritual-looking objects were placed on an altar between the officiator and the parties, including some kind of chalice and a knife. Virgil had a feeling he knew what that was aboutâthe binding ceremony for some youkai was not so different, though he would have expected the kirin to find it too barbaric.
There was a persistent light feathering of music, though nothing so loud or lively as to risk offending the distinguished attendees, and even that fell silent when the bride approached.
Nerys sighed, standing perfectly still as the handmaidens went to work on her appearance. They drew long combs through her pale azure hair, smoothing it out and leaving the strands luminous. She pursed her lips together when they began tugging at it, pulling it together and looping it so that it was pulled back into a formal bun, leaving longer strands to fall in soft waves down her back. She was then donned in soft silk, the same color as her hair. It was light, feathery to the touch, and it only caused Nerys' frown to deepen. She was to be wed to someone she didn't know, for the sake of the realm, to someone she didn't even love. Maybe, in time she could learn to love them...but it wouldn't be the same as to be in love with them.
Her mother had told her once to never learn to love someone, because it wasn't love. If it had to be learned, then it wasn't real love. But who would possibly love a half-breed? That thought caused her eyes to falter, overshadowed with a dark glaze as the attendants stopped what they were doing, blinking confusedly at her. They shook their heads before continuing their work, and the end result was...odd to Nerys. She glanced at the long mirror, gazing at her reflection. It felt odd to see another person there, for the person staring back at her was not her. The person standing in front of her was dressed in a white kimono, the pale blue gown underneath barely visible. It was tied with a matching blue obi, and etched with gold rings.
It was beautiful in every sense of the word, and Nerys felt out of place, undeserving of such material. Before she could linger longer on her appearance, she was ushered out quickly, a startled yelp leaving her lips in the process. "Hurry or you'll be late!" one of the hand maidens stated as they pushed her out the room she currently occupied. It wasn't long before she met the doors to the outside of where the ceremony was to take place. She hadn't even been told who her betrothed was. She had a faint guess as to who it was, after all the man hadn't really changed even after almost twenty years. She sighed softly as the murmurs disappeared behind the doors. She shifted nervously.
Why was her body shaking? She was making the right decision, because it had to be right. She was helping out her realm, by being here she was helping them. But why did it seem so wrong? There was a lurch in her heart, a knot forming in her stomach, as her breathing became slightly labored. Was she having a panic attack? She couldn't breathe. She felt like she was suffocating, and the walls around her began to close in on her. She couldn't do this, she couldn't. But she had to. Before she could turn around, the large doors were opened, and a bright light filled her eyes. She blinked to readjust them, and her eyes fluttered towards the outside, glancing at the handmaidens who led her to the meadow. She could see her friends, and the frown that had been placed on her face pulled into a light smile. At least they were still here for her, even if it was for a few hours longer.
With a heavy sigh, she moved slowly, even as the music receded, her legs would not allow her to move faster than the pace she set for herself. She glanced up to see who her groom was, and a frown marred her face. She was wrong about who she thought it was, but perhaps that was for the best. Glancing at the man who would be her husband, she wondered once more if she could learn to love this man. It was evident behind his eyes that he had no desire to do the same, however; the question of heirs would be brought up, and that thought caused Nerys' face to flush slightly. She would be required to have heirs with him, to continue the lineage. She didn't want that with him, but in the next few moments, that decision would no longer be hers to make. And she couldn't keep her eyes from glancing towards him.
While Keira was never one to sit with bad posture, she was currently sitting ramrod straight, her eyes forward. Her face was as placid as it ever was, but there were undertones of anger in her eyes. A part of her simply could not fathom just why Nerys had agreed to this, and then she also knew why her friend had done so. Nerys simply could not say no when it came to helping others.
Keira sighed through her nose, more than a little irritated. Her grey eyes followed Nerys as the woman walked down the isle to meet her groom, the knot in Keira's stomach tightening along the way. This was wrong, and all four of them knew it. She was sitting between Ephraim and Virgil [who had chosen the seating, she had no idea], and her hands were in her lap. The longer that the ceremony wore on, the tighter she clenched her hands, until her knuckles were white.
When it came time for the bride and groom to exchange their vows, Keira couldn't stand it any longer. Though Ephraim was between her and the isle, she was up and over him before she'd even realized that she'd made the decision to move at all. There were numerous murmurs and startled cries as other guests and patrons realized where she was headed: straight for Nerys.
She grabbed the other woman, pulling her away from the altar and glared at her. "I've had enough of this! You marry someone because you love them, not because someone is telling you to marry them, you idiot! I'm not going to let you do this, and be miserable for the rest of your life. You're going home, with us, because they don't need you here. We need you. I need you...you're my best friend."
Ephraim made no move to stop Keira when she half-jumped, half-climbed over him to get to the aisle, though he did shoot a glance at Virgil, who was grinning before anything was even said. They both knew the general thrust of what was about to happen here, of course, and honestly, both were a little relieved. They might not be allowed to interfere in this, but a human? She could do whatever was in her power. The laws of the universe and the Arbiter were strange things, but Ephraim knew that Kurogami had never made a single one of them without a very good reason.
Nerysâs groom looked more startled than anything by what was going on, blinking in surprise, but his eyes immediately sought Caiusâs, and that man was anything but surprised. More like enraged, which, while a rare emotion in kirin, had been known to happen. Just because they were usually nonviolent didnât mean they were immune to the nastier emotionsâthough perhaps to know only Nerys would give someone that impression. âGuards!â the man in charge shouted, and several of the sterner-looking creatures moved to pull Keira away from Nerys.
Well, at least that had been the plan. Unfortunately for them, the hostility against a technically weaker speciesâKeira was far from a typical human, but rules were rules, and they didnât make an exception for beings like herâmeant that agents of the Arbiter were allowed to interfere if it suited them. The first hand that reached for Keira was intercepted by Virgil, who gleefully squeezed hard enough to fracture it. âFantastic,â he said playfully, âI was getting a little starved for chaos. This should be fun.â
Ephraim wasnât so sure fun was the right wordâsuch soft creatures were hardly any kind of amusement to defeatâbut that was only until Caius transformed, and then a slow grin split his face. âI wondered why youâd picked a puppet instead of trying to take power directly,â he said, eyeing the beast before him. At first, heâd simply assumed that it was disdain, that he was so very disgusted by the idea of being bound to a half-blood that heâd elected to have a pawn do it in his place and rule indirectly. But the marriage ceremony required at its later stages the transformation of both parties, and the gasps from other assorted members of the Court were quite sufficient to confirm that he had not wanted them to see this. âBut I suppose itâs obvious enough just how the king died now.â
âYou know nothing, Hound,â Caius snarled, but Ephraim was quite sure he knew enough. The kirin before him was neither the white of most nor Nerysâs black. Rather, his entire hide, mane, and tail were all a deep crimsonâthe exact shade of blood. That was only known to happen in the rare instances in which one kirin killed another in cold blood. It marked them apart, so that the rest of their kind would know their shame and their sin. Rather overdone, perhaps, but quite useful at the moment, considering. He wondered why the man had transformed now, but the answer was evident enough when the kirin charged towards the altar and his friends,
Ephraim waited all of a second before dropping to all fours, the jaws of the Hellhound parting in a feral snarl that, despite the noise of the various guests and guards and commotion, managed to be louder than everything else taking place. Several people froze, wide-eyed, and watched uncertainly as the red kirin made to kill their former leaderâs heir and her friends.
âat least until he was pounced on by a full ton of muscle and angry Hound. Ephraim locked his jaws around the base of Caiusâs neck, twisting his body and dragging them both down to the ground, where they fell in a heap not ten feet from the altar. Caiusâs Shirei shrieked and made to interfere, but promptly collapsed in a blaze of blue-white fire, the kitsune flames eating through it and leaving only ash behind. The rest of the guards, some wounded but none dead, backed away, no longer certain what to do. Theyâd been taking orders from a murderer, the killer of their former king, but⊠were these outsiders any better? It was not a question with an immediate answer.
Ephraimâs shoulder was pierced by Caiusâs horn in the struggle, but in the end, the Hellhound had the kirin pinned to the ground, jaws still closed around his throat, but he hadnât bitten hard enough to kill him. In fact, he seemed to be deliberately keeping the man alive, something that perhaps none of those present understood the reason for until he looked up, red eyes locking with gold ones, and stilled, as if waiting for something.
Ephraim had been loath to allow them to split Nerys off from the group, but she had already made her decision, even if he didnât like what it meantâfor her or for the rest of them. He should, he knew, respect her wishes. He had no place interfering in her life unless she desired him to do so. That much had always been true. As agent of the Arbiter, neutrality was required of him, unless his help was asked for. It was no business of his what happened to the kirin as a species, or Nerys as an individual, even if he did find the latter surprisingly difficult to swallow.
He was, in fact, still quite angry. Enough so that when theyâd been informed their current state of dress was not sufficient to the ceremony of the occasion, it was only his brotherâs firm hand on his shoulder that prevented him from snappingâwhether figuratively or literally he didnât even knowâat the small group of servants whoâd attempted to pull at his coat. The three of them had been ushered into different rooms, and Ephraim had thrown out the pair of servants who made as if to help him dress. He certainly did not require that. Judging by the number of them out in the hallway, either Virgil or Keira had done the same. He was going to say Keira. He knew what Virgil was like. The fox had probably only gotten to partially undressed before he decided to proposition one or both of the handmaidens that followed him inside.
As he often did, Ephraim chose not to think about it. He was incredibly tempted not to change his clothing at all, because frankly, the standards of these people were of no consequence to him, but in the end, he decided that Nerys was already suffering enough for having invited them; things would only be worse for her if he started a confrontation about something so irrelevant. So with a withering glare at the clothing that had been left for him, he shook his head and dealt with it.
A half-hour later, he was arrayed in a deep, indigo blue that sharply contrasted the crimson color of his eyes. The traditional garments of Kirino had not changed much since they first acquired their own realm, and still showed influence of human historyâin this case, what he wore was comparable to feudal-era formalwear from Japan, where most of the creatures had once been concentrated. Much of the garments of Yokaino were similar, but for the opposite reasonâdemon royalty had inspired humans, back when they used to cross much more frequently between realms. He lingered for another half-hour or so, mostly because there was nothing else to do, and emerged some time later to find Virgil doing the same from across the hall. He was dressed in green, of all colors, but it was the smell that wrinkled Ephâs nose. Heâd been right about his brotherâs activity. It would not register to a human or kirin nose, but perhaps the rather bright red faces and slightly-shaky strides of the attendants said enough.
Ephraim scowled at Virgil, who only smiled in reply. Now they were waiting on Keira, and then they could proceed to the ceremony.
Keira had been ushered into a room down the hall from the Solomon brothers, where a pair of female attendants set to work, or at least, they tried to. After several attempts at removing her clothing and trying to get her to bathe, Keira had ended up slapping the one; she wasn't fond of being touched, and on top of that, she had no wish to be a part of this.
Nerys was a fool for agreeing to this, and if she wanted to throw her life away, then so be it. Keira wasn't going to stop her. For several long minutes, Keira sat in the room in front of the mirror, and finally she couldn't lie to herself anymore. She would go; and she would stop it.
She bathed by herself, but she had no idea what they expected her to dress in, so she reluctantly allowed the attendants back in, but only briefly. The end result mortified her. While the color was alright, she was in a dress of all things, and a very form-fitting one at that. It was red, and strapless, and made Keira herself highly uncomfortable. For a second she stood there blushing a crimson almost as deep as the dress she wore; but she would just have to get over that.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out into the hall, and was not at all surprised to see Ephraim and Virgil already out. Keira took one look at the kitsune and dropped her eyes; she could feel her cheeks turning red, much to her horror, and she hissed through her teeth, "You say one word and I'll throttle you." Honestly, what was wrong with pants?
âThen woe is me, I shall simply have to use more than one,â the fox replied cheekily, grinning brightly, the flash of fang perhaps not strictly necessary. But he liked making the kirin uncomfortable, as they so clearly were with predatory creatures like himself and Ephraim. He liked making Keira uncomfortable, too, but for entirely different reasons. So he used a clawed fingertip to trace the bare line from the base of her ear to the inside of her wrist, leaning in close enough to lick a stripe over her pulse point. Really, he should have at least been satiated for a while, considering what heâd just been doing, but the desire he had for her was not of quite the same kind as the desire he had generally. Virgil was no foolâhe knew he should be wary of that.
He just couldnât bring himself to care.
âYou look simply ravishing, lovely. Red is a good color on you,â he purred, though whether he referred to the dress, the blush, or both, was unclear. Ephraim rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, but Virgil was, as ever, unperturbed, and simply drew back slowly, turning his head to glance at his brother from the corner of his eye. Eph was scowling, but that was normal for him, so it would have been impossible for most anyone to tell what kind of mood he was in. Empathy did have its uses, however, and Virgil knew just how angry the Hellhound was, though there was a fair amount of confusion in the emotional cocktail as well.
âLetâs go,â was all he said, and the three were escorted from there to an open meadow in the middle of the great forest. As one would expect of such a place, it was strewn with brightly-colored flowers, the sunlight illuminating the occasional pollen floater that took to the air, carried along by a gentle breeze, just barely strong enough to notice, but not near strong enough to actually disturb anything. It was like even the world they were in was adverse to chaos. Unnatural for Virgil, who came from a realm that oftentimes embodied chaos.
They were led to a place on the left side of the meadow, with what looked to be kirin dignitaries of minor importance. Eve attired as they were, the three of them stuck out like sore thumbs among the universally pale-haired, fawn-eyed kirin, most of whom were also rather short, perhaps no more than five and a half feet for the females and five-eight or so for the males. The ceremony appeared to be quite traditional for these people: at the center of the meadow was arranged a large circular platform, perhaps two feet off the ground, that currently held both the officiator and what appeared to be Nerysâs groomâhe looked like the rest of the kirin present, except that he was dressed much more richly. Apparently, the color of kirin weddings was yellow. Or at least it was the color of this one. Virgil supposed that the bride would be led to that platform and assisted in ascending it. A few ritual-looking objects were placed on an altar between the officiator and the parties, including some kind of chalice and a knife. Virgil had a feeling he knew what that was aboutâthe binding ceremony for some youkai was not so different, though he would have expected the kirin to find it too barbaric.
There was a persistent light feathering of music, though nothing so loud or lively as to risk offending the distinguished attendees, and even that fell silent when the bride approached.
Nerys sighed, standing perfectly still as the handmaidens went to work on her appearance. They drew long combs through her pale azure hair, smoothing it out and leaving the strands luminous. She pursed her lips together when they began tugging at it, pulling it together and looping it so that it was pulled back into a formal bun, leaving longer strands to fall in soft waves down her back. She was then donned in soft silk, the same color as her hair. It was light, feathery to the touch, and it only caused Nerys' frown to deepen. She was to be wed to someone she didn't know, for the sake of the realm, to someone she didn't even love. Maybe, in time she could learn to love them...but it wouldn't be the same as to be in love with them.
Her mother had told her once to never learn to love someone, because it wasn't love. If it had to be learned, then it wasn't real love. But who would possibly love a half-breed? That thought caused her eyes to falter, overshadowed with a dark glaze as the attendants stopped what they were doing, blinking confusedly at her. They shook their heads before continuing their work, and the end result was...odd to Nerys. She glanced at the long mirror, gazing at her reflection. It felt odd to see another person there, for the person staring back at her was not her. The person standing in front of her was dressed in a white kimono, the pale blue gown underneath barely visible. It was tied with a matching blue obi, and etched with gold rings.
It was beautiful in every sense of the word, and Nerys felt out of place, undeserving of such material. Before she could linger longer on her appearance, she was ushered out quickly, a startled yelp leaving her lips in the process. "Hurry or you'll be late!" one of the hand maidens stated as they pushed her out the room she currently occupied. It wasn't long before she met the doors to the outside of where the ceremony was to take place. She hadn't even been told who her betrothed was. She had a faint guess as to who it was, after all the man hadn't really changed even after almost twenty years. She sighed softly as the murmurs disappeared behind the doors. She shifted nervously.
Why was her body shaking? She was making the right decision, because it had to be right. She was helping out her realm, by being here she was helping them. But why did it seem so wrong? There was a lurch in her heart, a knot forming in her stomach, as her breathing became slightly labored. Was she having a panic attack? She couldn't breathe. She felt like she was suffocating, and the walls around her began to close in on her. She couldn't do this, she couldn't. But she had to. Before she could turn around, the large doors were opened, and a bright light filled her eyes. She blinked to readjust them, and her eyes fluttered towards the outside, glancing at the handmaidens who led her to the meadow. She could see her friends, and the frown that had been placed on her face pulled into a light smile. At least they were still here for her, even if it was for a few hours longer.
With a heavy sigh, she moved slowly, even as the music receded, her legs would not allow her to move faster than the pace she set for herself. She glanced up to see who her groom was, and a frown marred her face. She was wrong about who she thought it was, but perhaps that was for the best. Glancing at the man who would be her husband, she wondered once more if she could learn to love this man. It was evident behind his eyes that he had no desire to do the same, however; the question of heirs would be brought up, and that thought caused Nerys' face to flush slightly. She would be required to have heirs with him, to continue the lineage. She didn't want that with him, but in the next few moments, that decision would no longer be hers to make. And she couldn't keep her eyes from glancing towards him.
While Keira was never one to sit with bad posture, she was currently sitting ramrod straight, her eyes forward. Her face was as placid as it ever was, but there were undertones of anger in her eyes. A part of her simply could not fathom just why Nerys had agreed to this, and then she also knew why her friend had done so. Nerys simply could not say no when it came to helping others.
Keira sighed through her nose, more than a little irritated. Her grey eyes followed Nerys as the woman walked down the isle to meet her groom, the knot in Keira's stomach tightening along the way. This was wrong, and all four of them knew it. She was sitting between Ephraim and Virgil [who had chosen the seating, she had no idea], and her hands were in her lap. The longer that the ceremony wore on, the tighter she clenched her hands, until her knuckles were white.
When it came time for the bride and groom to exchange their vows, Keira couldn't stand it any longer. Though Ephraim was between her and the isle, she was up and over him before she'd even realized that she'd made the decision to move at all. There were numerous murmurs and startled cries as other guests and patrons realized where she was headed: straight for Nerys.
She grabbed the other woman, pulling her away from the altar and glared at her. "I've had enough of this! You marry someone because you love them, not because someone is telling you to marry them, you idiot! I'm not going to let you do this, and be miserable for the rest of your life. You're going home, with us, because they don't need you here. We need you. I need you...you're my best friend."
Ephraim made no move to stop Keira when she half-jumped, half-climbed over him to get to the aisle, though he did shoot a glance at Virgil, who was grinning before anything was even said. They both knew the general thrust of what was about to happen here, of course, and honestly, both were a little relieved. They might not be allowed to interfere in this, but a human? She could do whatever was in her power. The laws of the universe and the Arbiter were strange things, but Ephraim knew that Kurogami had never made a single one of them without a very good reason.
Nerysâs groom looked more startled than anything by what was going on, blinking in surprise, but his eyes immediately sought Caiusâs, and that man was anything but surprised. More like enraged, which, while a rare emotion in kirin, had been known to happen. Just because they were usually nonviolent didnât mean they were immune to the nastier emotionsâthough perhaps to know only Nerys would give someone that impression. âGuards!â the man in charge shouted, and several of the sterner-looking creatures moved to pull Keira away from Nerys.
Well, at least that had been the plan. Unfortunately for them, the hostility against a technically weaker speciesâKeira was far from a typical human, but rules were rules, and they didnât make an exception for beings like herâmeant that agents of the Arbiter were allowed to interfere if it suited them. The first hand that reached for Keira was intercepted by Virgil, who gleefully squeezed hard enough to fracture it. âFantastic,â he said playfully, âI was getting a little starved for chaos. This should be fun.â
Ephraim wasnât so sure fun was the right wordâsuch soft creatures were hardly any kind of amusement to defeatâbut that was only until Caius transformed, and then a slow grin split his face. âI wondered why youâd picked a puppet instead of trying to take power directly,â he said, eyeing the beast before him. At first, heâd simply assumed that it was disdain, that he was so very disgusted by the idea of being bound to a half-blood that heâd elected to have a pawn do it in his place and rule indirectly. But the marriage ceremony required at its later stages the transformation of both parties, and the gasps from other assorted members of the Court were quite sufficient to confirm that he had not wanted them to see this. âBut I suppose itâs obvious enough just how the king died now.â
âYou know nothing, Hound,â Caius snarled, but Ephraim was quite sure he knew enough. The kirin before him was neither the white of most nor Nerysâs black. Rather, his entire hide, mane, and tail were all a deep crimsonâthe exact shade of blood. That was only known to happen in the rare instances in which one kirin killed another in cold blood. It marked them apart, so that the rest of their kind would know their shame and their sin. Rather overdone, perhaps, but quite useful at the moment, considering. He wondered why the man had transformed now, but the answer was evident enough when the kirin charged towards the altar and his friends,
Ephraim waited all of a second before dropping to all fours, the jaws of the Hellhound parting in a feral snarl that, despite the noise of the various guests and guards and commotion, managed to be louder than everything else taking place. Several people froze, wide-eyed, and watched uncertainly as the red kirin made to kill their former leaderâs heir and her friends.
âat least until he was pounced on by a full ton of muscle and angry Hound. Ephraim locked his jaws around the base of Caiusâs neck, twisting his body and dragging them both down to the ground, where they fell in a heap not ten feet from the altar. Caiusâs Shirei shrieked and made to interfere, but promptly collapsed in a blaze of blue-white fire, the kitsune flames eating through it and leaving only ash behind. The rest of the guards, some wounded but none dead, backed away, no longer certain what to do. Theyâd been taking orders from a murderer, the killer of their former king, but⊠were these outsiders any better? It was not a question with an immediate answer.
Ephraimâs shoulder was pierced by Caiusâs horn in the struggle, but in the end, the Hellhound had the kirin pinned to the ground, jaws still closed around his throat, but he hadnât bitten hard enough to kill him. In fact, he seemed to be deliberately keeping the man alive, something that perhaps none of those present understood the reason for until he looked up, red eyes locking with gold ones, and stilled, as if waiting for something.