With only fifteen minutes left before they had to get up and dress for dinner, they decided just to lie there and let their bodies recover from all the loving.
The twins were lying on either side of Candace, resting their heads on her stomach.
She was gently rubbing their soft green hair that was almost dry when she suddenly remembered something that she was supposed to ask them.
"So, remember what I asked you guys about a couple of weeks ago, where I noticed you didn't change into bats when you came?" Candace asked.
"Of course we remember." Jared mumbled, half asleep. "Except you never brought it up again."
"Yes. I was going to ask you, but then I forgot."
"You—you forgot? How could you forget something that important?" Jason's eyes slowly opened.
"I'm sorry. Was it important?" Candace murmured. "I just thought it was because you two had better control than your brothers."
Jason and Jared both turned their heads and looked at each other.
"Darling. We don't transform into bats and we don't lose control of our bodies during sex because we're not…" Jared paused for a moment, not knowing how to explain.
Jason sighed. He twisted his body until he was facing her, his head still on her stomach.
"We're not normal, Candace." He sighed. "You are the only one who knows that because you are our wife."
"Huh?" She gave him a questioning glance. "What do you mean?"
"Let me see if I can explain it in simple terms." Jared cleared his throat.
"For us, being a human does not requires mindful transformation. Being a bat however, requires mindful transformation."
Candace frowned. "I don't quite understand. Are you telling me that being human is the default for you?"
They both nodded. "That's exactly what we are telling you. For example, if we were to be knocked unconscious while we were in bat form, we would transform back into human form because it really is our default."
"That sounds really normal to me." She shrugged. "What's so strange about that?"
"Darling. What do you think the default state is for our other brothers?"
Candace thought about it for a moment. Suddenly her eyes widened and she gasped with surprise.
"When they lose control, they revert back to being bats!"
"Precisely!" Jason and Jared both spoke up.
"But why…"
Jason shrugged. "We don't know. Maybe it's because our mother is not an Avgo female?"
"Neither is Byron's mother." Candace pointed out.
"But you haven't slept with Byron yet. You don't know if he will turn or not."
"Actually, I have seen Byron transform into a bat when he was losing control. It was the day when he found out he was no longer the Crown Prince due to his illegitimate status."
The twins nodded. "In that case, we have no idea why we are the way we are. It could be due to one other thing that makes us…abnormal."
"What is that?"
"We can also turn into mermen." Jared muttered in such a low voice, Candace thought she was hearing things.
"Say what?"
Jason cleared his throat. "We don't just have the ability to turn into bats. We can also turn into mermen, just like our mother can."
""Wow!" Candace gasped. "How come you never told me?"
"It's something that we try to hide away." Jared's face was grim. "If it were ever to be revealed that we did not breed true, our mother would be rejected by the Emperor."
"Breed true?" Candace's mind grappled about, trying to figure out exactly what they were talking about. "What in the world are you talking about? How much truer can you possibly be?"
"You don't understand." Jason sighed. "The royal bloodline is a pure lineage of blood bats that breed true."
Jared nodded. "When a child is born of the Emperor's lineage, that child cannot transform into his mother's lineage. He or she can only transform into a bat."
"Ohhhh." Candace nodded. "I remember hearing someone tell me that my children could only be bats because their fathers were all blood bats."
"That's right. Unfortunately, we can not only transform into bats, we can also transform into mermen." Jason's face flushed with embarrassment.
As she stared at both of them in astonishment, the twins looked away, unable to meet her eyes.
"Please keep this secret for us, Candace." Jared pleaded. "We have kept this dualistic nature a secret all these years to protect our mother."
"We don't care what happens to us, but if this gets out, she will be disparaged and ridiculed." Jason mumbled.
"That's ridiculous!" Candace scowled. "Why would anyone think such trash!"
"It's because our mother is the Emperor's only wife who was not an Avgo female." Jason responded. "Many people think that because she is not an Avgo female, ours and Ariana's genetics are of inferior stock."
"No one has ever been able to prove that we are inferior to our other brothers and sisters." Jared shook his head. "However, if they knew that we could transform into mermen, they would absolutely point out that it was due to the inferior genes from our mother."
Candace took a deep breath. "But you men are bats. The only people who can change into blood bats are those who have at least on blood bat parent."
"Hmm yes, that's right." Jason nodded. "We got lucky. We were able to morph into bats with our first transformation.
"Yeah. We didn't actually shift into mermen for at least another year, and by then, we were able to hide it fairly well." Jared grimaced.
"Ariana is barely ten years old. She's too young to morph because she hasn't hit puberty yet, but our mother is very concerned. She is not sure if Ariane will morph into a bat first or a mermaid first." Jason confided.
"If you're so worried about her transformation, why not send her and your mother to Avalia and let her live with Mother Gwen for awhile?"
Jason and Jared looked at each other for a couple of minutes, but then Jared sighed.
"That would mean she would have to leave Father."