The woman of aquamarine hair eyed Faith before shifting her gaze to his mother who was still perched on her throne. Faith gazed back at this beautiful woman a noted that she was most defiantly a dragon, her mana was just too expansive and refined for anything else.
"Dad, who's that?" - Faith asked curious, leaving the other questions for later.
Alzeor ancient as he was turned a bit red in embarrassment when his son asked about the woman behind him. It was part of the reason he was here but the until now he hadn't realised how hard it was to talk about. Coughing a little he scratched the back sheepishly putting Faith down at the same time.
"Yeah, well… about that" - Alzeor wasn't sure how to tell Faith the truth, it wasn't like it was something hidden but for Faith, it would probably be a pretty big deal.
"Darling let's go meet with our host before we go any further don't you think?" - The woman in question said with a soothing voice as the thing hidden behind her shook a little more.
'What is that' - Faith wondered as the thing behind her slowly fidgeted from left to right.
Without much delay black wings sprouted from the back of Alzeor back as he picked Faith and in a few strokes of his wings brought Faith back to his mother.
"Mom!!" - Faith shouted excitedly jumping into his mother's embrace, while Dirias just stared at Alzeor in annoyance.
He was absurdly strong and probably the most well know fire magician to date but he was still a dragon and Dark elves innate envy caused friction between the two species. Faith was a pretty big exception because of his affinity.
"I missed you sweetie" - Eshir replied in kind bear hugging Faith with all the force she could while not caving in his spine.
Faith worries from earlier were slowly washed away as he wondered how such a cold-hearted person like Eshir could possibly be so warm. That was until his vital check spell which was still running in the background picked up something rather strange.
It was a third source of mana not counting Eshir and himself.
'Well that's weird' - Faith thought wondering what the hell could be the cause of it.
Meanwhile, the woman standing behind Alzeor had followed with her own pair of wings but not before making sure the little one behind her was holding on tight. She stared half mad half jealous at Eshir who didn't bother to spare her a glance.
"Ahem" - The woman muttered, bringing Alzeor to his senses.
"Ahh right yes, well umm… how do I put this" - Alzeor stuttered
Eshir wondered what the scaled idiot was so flustered about but after taking another look she spotted a familiar face and it made a lot of sense. It seemed Alzeor had decided to come clean though She didn't particularly care. If Faith didn't like what Alzeor had to say that was Alzeor problem, not hers and if he didn't mind she was sure a little acting on her pat could tip the scales.
"Faith meet Lora, Alzeor's wife and the queen of dragons" - Eshir interjected before Faith's father could finish his excuses.
"What" - Faith blurted out, although it wasn't a question as he heard what his mother said clearly.
Luna was the first to react returning to Faith's soul space which apparently was something she could do as a blood pact. Faith had no time to question it as he was too dumbstruck to properly function. He'd thought the Lora could be many things but his father wife wasn't one of them.
Immediately Faith felt the need to be angry, to shout and to cry for what his father had done. But the more he thought about it the less it impacted him. For one he knew his mother and father weren't "together". It wasn't like he was the child of divorced parents either since his father and mothers only interactions in any kind of way were about him and nothing else.
They had nothing in common, didn't share the same type of personality and Faith was pretty sure the rivalry for his love had been the only thing the two shared.
'Well shit' - He thought realising he didn't really have anything to be mad about.
His mother and father didn't love each other and they never would. No one cheated and no one lied it was just Faith blissful misconception that his father and mother were a happy family that Brought his disappointment.
It was like if a comedian told you a funny real story, only to admit that none of it was true.
"Well I guess that makes sense" - Faith said, surprising all those apart from Eshir with his attitude towards his Father strange relationship with mother.
Alzeor had been ready to chewed out heavily but seeing his sons face distorted in slight disappointment hurt him more then anything else could have. He was a neigh unstoppable living calamity with complete control over fire and scales harder then Equinite but his son's disappointment felt like his heart had been split in two.
"Relax sweetie, it's not all bad" - Eshir said too her little devil trying to reassure him.
"But mom doesn't it bother you?" - Faith asked genuinely wondering how she could not be bothered in the slightest by Alzeor messing around with another woman.
"It's not my business where the lizard sticks it…. I mean who he loves" - Eshir replied correcting herself while speaking rather matter of factly.
'Actually, I'm looking at it from human terms, didn't exodus have like a biggilion wives. Also, I'm pretty sure demons have an increased libido so I guess having a child and loving someone could be considered in two different realms at times' - Faith thought, though as a human and just in general the idea of giving himself to more than one person made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
And in practice, things like harems or multiple wives didn't work well. It wasn't like Alzeor had a harem as he did love his wife dearly it was just that when the option to create an heir with Eshir presented itself in a time of merging in peace where such things were possible, he couldn't turn in down.
Yet Lora still spied Eshir spitefully even if she knew that Alzeor had no love for any women other then herself. If such a thing wasn't certain who could say what kind of heartbreak and betrayal it could make one feel.
"Besides honey now is a time for happiness, I've good news for you and even better news after that!! isn't that right Lora?" - Eshir said trying her best to cheer up Faith.
He was still finding it a little jarring to have what was essentially a stepmom, especially when in reality he couldn't say anyone had done anything wrong. He did not doubt that his father pride and good nature would've forced him to consult with his wife extensively before even thinking of accepting Eshir's offer.
Not to mention the rather low pregnancy rate of dragons due to innate longevity would have tipped the scales a lot towards accepting a member of the demon race who were the complete opposite in that respect. If they were trying and struggling for a child even at their age it would surely be an enticing offer.
'Now I just feel bad for Lora' - Faith thought concluding that the only one who lost in the situation was her.
'If you ever do that to me I'll tear it off' - Luna replied from her soul space.
'Do what?' - Faith asked a little frightened by the choice of wording, yet Luna had gone silent again.
He could only note to himself that the Rexel was far more frightening then she let on. Meanwhile, Lora seemed to be trying to convince the thing fidgeting behind her. Whatever it was it had a lot of mana and it didn't want to leave the protection of its mother.
"Come on honey, I promise he's not that scary and I'm sure you'll get along just fine" - Lora said, trying to comfort the little thing behind her.
Faith didn't need much more than that to piece together what or rather who that was as a huge smile formed on his face. The little thing was most defiantly what he thought.
"But mom, what if he doesn't like me. Dad's always talking about how amazing he is and if he doesn't like me doesn't that mean Dad will stop liking me too?" - a distraught little voice replied, clear naive worry in her tone.
Alzeor turned a tad redder from his normal healthy complexion in embarrassment over what his daughter had said. It was true though that as Faith was a big source of Alzeor's pride he tended to brag about him a lot.
"honey I promise that your father would never dislike you for something as silly as that and I'm sure Faith will love you just as much as we both do" - Lora said with a smile that was scary close to Eshir's.
On the stage where the entirety of Faiths family, and Dirias, were located a small girl of about 3 years old came out from behind her mother's safety. She had jet black hair with streaks of aquamarine and eyes the same as her mother. Like Faith she was quite adorable as all baby dragons were but unlike Faith, she possessed no ability to use magic yet.
'You know this is a strange new feeling' - Faith though, looking at his half-sister who until a few minutes ago he still didn't know existed.
'What do you mean?' - Luna asked wondering what Faith was feeling.
'I've only known her for a few seconds but I'd already die for her, siblings are weird like that I guess, maybe it's a dragon thing' - Faith thought gazing at the little dragon princess.