It was nice to fly on Eve's back. He was strong and I loved to feel the way his muscles worked underneath me, the way his spine moved in waves. Every now and again he would make a comment inside my mind, like "Bird!" or "Pretty…" when he saw something he liked. It made me chuckle every now and again, but I didn't react to it much else.
I hadn't even asked whether my knight would be allowed to ride on his back with me. Why bother when I knew the answer anyways? After all, Eve too had his pride as a dragon. And he disliked both seraphs and demons. He was pretty neutral to her kind as a result, but he still wouldn't like her all too much. That was why a very heavily panting knight was flying next to us. It was impressive she was able to keep up, really. I mean, her wings were looking quite strong, but still. Her flying next to Eve was like a human running next to someone on a horse. Even if Eve was flying at a leisurely pace right now, he was still a mount. Or, well, a dragon who for some reason wanted to be a mount.
Regardless. I was pretty impressed with her. In fact, I might keep her around. Her reaction earlier had tasted sweet, too. I knew I would enjoy teasing her should I actually keep her close to me.
"Arrived," Eve's voice cut through my thoughts. And really, just as he said that I could see the city below us. I smiled, patting the place between his wings in acknowledgement and thanks. His response was a huff, but you could tell by the sway of his tail that he was actually happy about it. Such a cute little boy. I chuckled as he descended onto the meadow that seperated the woods from the city's stone walls.
As we'd said before, as soon as I'd dismounted from him he turned himself small. About the size of my forearm, so that he could leisurely warp his now nimble and almost snake-like slim body around my shoulders. At first there had been some trouble whenever he'd done this, but by now he knew how not to flick his wings in my face or tickle me with his tail or tongue. I didn't need to remind him to turn invisible either. That was my smart boy. I patted where his head should be and got a puff of smoke in turn.
Making sure that my clothes and my hair were no mess after the ride, and that my knight was still with me, I started to walk towards the gates. Now then, should I deactivate my »Heart of Ice« for the time being? Or maybe I should activate another one? What skills did I have anyways?
Hey, cut me some slack! First of all, it'd been a literal lifetime since I had lived my own life here. And I wasn't exactly young either. There were a lot of skills that I'd received over the years that I barely ever used. I'd just… lost count and overview at some point.
Don't kid yourselves, you would have too!
Anyways… I think I remembered there was one. While »Heart of Ice« prevented my true feelings to get out and made it so that my mimic only changed whenever I did so on purpose, there was another one that did help me look less like a cold bitch. It made every expression a bit softer and used my charming aura as fuel to have people agree with me more easily. It also made them more inclined to tell me the truth and less so to try to lead me up the garden path.
I'd never thought it much necessary before so I hadn't used it that often, but it did seem like something I'd want to use right about now. What was it called again? Right. »Feather Petals« Because of those proverbs, fine feathers and what not, and the other one about being a flower of ones sex. It was stupid if you asked me. A stupid name. But that didn't really matter, did it? Only fools and newborns thought the quality of the name had anything to do with the skills worth, after all.
*ting*
There we go. I would just try it out and see what happened. Maybe I'd use that skill a bit more this lifetime.
With my invisible friend and my stranger knight, I passed the gates to the city without any trouble whatsoever. The guards naturally knew who I was and it would be rediculous to even think a rex tenebrai would have to stand in line. Still, after all these years it was not something I was used to anymore. I couldn't just act like I had in my second life, and while I had lived that life I had always been mentally complaining about how I wish I was still able to act like this… But my heart rate still shot through the roof.
Eve noticed, apparently, because I could feel his tail coiling around my neck reassuringly. Damn, I really loved my friend.
The city, a small but busy place named Phares that was located right in between the former capital Creahville and the merchant metropole Vavineport, was one of the oldest cities in my domain. It was quite well developed, but had for some reason never grown in size. But the streets were better than in some parts of the capital city, the variety of goods you could purchase rivaled Vavineport and the quality found here often surpassed even Creahville's.
But the price for that colorful life was the city's dark side.
There were barely any criminal organizations in my domain. I couldn't stand things like that, so I always made sure everyone knew what would happen to such people. It was one of the few things I didn't just leave be as they were, coming to think of it. However, that didn't mean that there was no dark parts. The slums, for example. The many monsters around here that were a result of mercenaries avoiding this place. The high prices. And the ever growing demand for cheep workers - which also meant that the slave market here was booming.
I myself had never cared for slaves. But I as they were a completely normal thing in this world, I hadn't really payed any mind to them either. It was a trade that was perfectly legal in… well, any parts of this world as far as I knew.
As such, it was no wonder that Kai had ended up here at some point in time. Sir Ziraph, the magician who would notice his skill and take him in soon according to the horrible scripture, would then see him horribly wounded as he would trip and, quite literally, stumble into the treacherous noble. Sir Ziraph would try to heal Kai once he'd bought him, but he'd soon notice that that »skill« was in fact not a skill at all, but a constitution that allowed him to acquire multiple skills through training. Resistance to magic was the only skill he had as of now, and he himself wasn't aware yet either.
It was Sir Ziraph who put thoughts about revolution into Kai's head in the first place. He himself loathed the thought of me accepting the mountain's capitulation with prince Kai as so-called bribe, and he would be executed for attempted assault on my concubine not much later. That was the beginning of Kai's story, and thus the novel of shame's beginning as well.
It wouldn't be for much longer, though.
I made sure not to show that I had a purpose today. To do so, I leisurely walked through the main streets, stopped at some shops and even bought a few accessories I liked, as well as raw materials for magic stones. The later wouldn't be used by me but by Kai, however that was not something anyone would suspect I may have planned. Making magical artifacts had always been a hobby of mine, after all. Not that I was any good at it.
Phares was nice, I thought to myself once again. A lively place where the air tasted like sweet indulgence and savory adoration, with old but neat roads on which children would hop from cobblestone to cobblestone, pretending that the cracks were filled with holy light that would burn them should they step on them. The blobs of light that floated above various magic stones along those roads would soon keep the city bright during the night, but didn't do anything now with the sun still out.
It was already a good bit after noon when I finally decided to go inside a small shop in the very back of a tight ally. My knight was surprised, enough so even to ask: "Here, my liege?" But I only smirked. I understood why she reacted that way, of course. The shop looked worn down, and the location was suspicious. Truth be told, I would have never set food into this… establishment had it not been for the hints of the book-which-shall-not-be-named. It was actually a shop that locals valued thoroughly, though.
The inside was much better than the outside. Magic light was installed to shine like the stars all across the ceiling, the mint-colored walls were lined with book shelves of obsidian, marble was used for the floor and a chimney gave warmth, light and comfort in each corner of the store. In the middle was something that reminded me of a bar, which was actually a counter from which the tea and pastries were served.
Such a strange place, a pastry store and library combined as one. Still, after what I had read in the soon-to-be-changed novel I had regretted that I hadn't been able to try the layered cakes here. Especially a certain chocolate-rum cake with cherry cream…
Well, I wouldn't be able to eat that right now, though. They only served that one in winter. Right now there were more light-flavored pastries displayed. What a shame.
I leisurely walked over to the counter, ignoring all the whispers and looks I received. Instead I just let a bit more of my entrancing aura out in answer, effectively shutting up the gossip and making them whisper for an entirely different reason. Ah, yes, that was better. The smirk that wanted to slip on my lips was something I allowed to take shape this time.
Once at the counter, I let my eyes glance over the pastries on display. They did look good. I hummed, looking back up at the old man standing behind the counter. A halfling, if I wasn't mistaken. It hadn't been specified in that horrible piece of literary trash, but judging from his looks he was half vampire and half lion-shifter. I could understand now how Kai had been beaten up that badly by an elderly man. Well, not like it was uncommon or anything to take note of, though.
"I will take a slice of this one, and a cup of Lady Gray," I informed the owner, pointing to a fluffy strawberry cake with lemon cream between the layers and red velvet icing on top. The old man opened his mouth, as if to say something, but just ended up closing it and nodding. He then motioned for one of the slaves present to guide me to a table. The slave, a petite woman with auburn hair and freckled skin, hurried over and asked me to follow her in a hushed voice. She didn't even dare look at me. A bad sign, if you asked me. If a slave didn't dare look at strangers at all, not just avoiding eye contact as was usually thought proper, then that could only mean that the master was a heartlessly cruel bastard.
Good thing I would get Kai out of here soon enough. After all, I knew what would happen today. The very reason he was beaten up later, and the thing that led to Sir Ziraph noticing him. Originally, that was. Sorry, you disloyal pice of elitist shit, but I'll be taking this one from your hands now.