"That definitely would cause her to blow up with anger and reveal her hideous self under that facade," a face peered next to Florence's shoulder.
"AHH" she screamed in surprised then hit the face with her forehead in her moment of flight-or-fight. Florence groaned holding on the sore spot of her forehead, then looked at the figure squatting as they held her head.
"Vera! Are you okay? I'm sorry for hitting you" Florence came to her aid.
Vera laughed it off, "it's alright. It was my fault for snooping around. But anyways do you want a partner to go with you to the tea party?"
"A partner?" Florence thought as Vera gave her the glowing puppy eyes as if indicating, 'pick me! I'm available!'
"Yes! I can go with you since Estelle is also my friend."
"How convenient, if it's not too much trouble for you then I would love to go with you."
The two ladies sat with each other in the training area as they converse on gossips while watching Hendery join the training with the twins.
"Lilliannnn! Lawrenceee!!" Hendery tackled the sweaty twins. "Ew! You guys stink!"
"Duh we're training right now!" Lillian said.
"Hm you need to work on your muscles, those things look like sticks!"
"We're six year olds and still developing!" Lillian defended herself.
"We're only training our abilities, not physical training" Lawrence added on. "Six year olds don't have the stamina of a teenager year old, dumb cousin."
"You look like teens though. I'm sure you can physically workout a bit," Hendery commented as he could tell they're almost five feet while he was five feet and eight inches. Hendery is currently thirteen years old, being part of the royal family he grew fast like how the twins did. "I'll train with you guys then!"
"What abilities do you have Hen?" Lillian asked. Because of the incident in the Duke's estate before, she couldn't see her cousin's abilities.
"Manipulation, flight, super strength, and wind" he answered.
"Wind?" Lawrence demanded a demonstration.
Hendery opened his palm up-right and the air starting to gather around his hand. Then a miniature tornado was twirling on his palm.
"Woah! A tiny tornado!" Lillian gasped in amazement.
Hendery then started to fight with a straw dummy using his wind powers to further strengthen his punches and kicks. He cleanly sliced the dummy's head with just one kick.
Lawrence smiled devilishly as he came up with an idea. Calling Hendery over he asked, "can you make a tower of wind? Like vertically up."
Raising a brow, Hendery didn't know what Lawrence was planning but he still summoned a twirling tower of wind. It only about ten feet tall, but it's force was strong.
Putting his hand out, Lawrence summoned his flames and engulfed it to the tower of wind. He put all of his strength into it, making the tower of fire burst upwards toward the high skies with immense force.
'So that's what he wanted to do!' Hendery thought to himself as he fell to the groun in his butt, watching the tower of flames soared to the sky. The power of winds can further make flames stronger. In this case, Hendery's wind tower was powerful yet with just a burst of fire it became a flame cyclone!
"WOAH!!!! That's so fucking cool!" Lillian clapped and jumped in amazement.
Rufus and the Head Knight had their mouths dropped open. For a teen and child to do such a thing! How frightening!
The cyclone soon diminished. It was a good thing the training grounds were vast in fields and not many trees were around. Though it was gone, the knights halt their training and stared at the direction of where the cyclone were originally. All they saw was a teen looking boy! They couldn't even use their ability to that caliber!
"Oh it's the halfling that the Head Knight was training!"
"How can a halfling have such power? I thought the vampire blood would weaken the demon's blood in them."
"Whatever the case, that boy is powerful."
"What do you expect from the King's son? He's a royalty."
"You want to be my sidekick?" Lawrence helped Hendery up.
"Who's your sidekick! Respect your elders! I'm older than you."
"What a loud nagging grandpa," Lawrence pugged his ears with his hands.
"No fair! How come you guys gets to be duos! I want a partner too!" Lillian complained.
"I'm not his partner!" Hendery rejected her claim.
"Sit down doggy," Lawrence teasingly ordered.
"WHOS YOUR DOG?!"
—————————
"Well, you don't need to worry about your son" Vera said. "With a power like that he can protect himself, but Lillian is the one you should keep an eye on."
Florence was still in a state of shock after looking at the fire cyclone appearing out of nowhere. "I didn't know Lawrence could do such a thing..."
"Kids will always have something to surprise us. Looks like Hendery will have to stick to Lawrence as a sidekick HAHAHAH"
The Duchess and Hendery stayed for the afternoon before leaving by evening. At dinner Lillian told Irvin about her day and how amazing Lawrence was.
"Father, it was a HUGEEE fire tower" she emphasized with her hand movements. "I didn't know people can combine their abilities this way. It's was crazy!"
Irvin nodded and focused his attention on his daughter. He was used to Lillian's cheerful personality and Lawrence's calm demeanor. If they were to talk, he undoubtedly listened unconditionally and wholeheartedly. This gesture of his didn't go unnoticed either. Florence's heart always warmed up when she sees the father and kids interact with each other. It was wholesome to watch, she thanked god he didn't neglect them or have bad opinions of them.
Dinner ended as they all go to their respective rooms to rest. On the bed, the two cuddled in each others' warmth as if to make up for the lack of seeing each other during the day. Often Irvin would take off some time to spend it with Florence, but being a King he have many responsibilities.
"Irvin, what if I say the twins aren't your kids but someone else's?" Florence tested the waters. Looking up at his mesmerizing eyes, she stared into them with no signs of fear.
"If you love them, then I will love them too. It doesn't matter who the father is, if you consider them as your children then they're mine as well."
His answer touched the most vulnerable part of her heart. This was the answer she wanted and anticipated, in the mist of her beating heart, Florence kissed his lips.
Pulling away she saw him stunned, Florence didn't blame him as she never took the chance to initiate, it was him who did. Recovering from his shock, Irvin swooped in for another kiss, this time it took longer and felt more sensual than the rest.
Pulling away from her flushed face, Irvin smirked "I know the twins are mine. But even if they aren't, it doesn't mean I wouldn't want more kids with you."
"How shameless!"