"Umm…why are you on the ground." Exedra asked with confusion evident in his voice.
"I-I did something shameful and to my friend's husband and a prince no less! I beg your forgiveness!"
The dwarven woman repeatedly banged her head on the ground as if she was asking for forgiveness for the most horrible crime imaginable.
'Dragons really do have horrid reputations.' He couldn't believe this woman thought he'd be mad enough for this level of apology to be necessary.
Exedra waved his hand and Valerie's body floated up and he placed her back on her feet.
"I don't think it was shameful at all. I actually found you to be quite attractive just then." He hoped to ease the dwarven woman's nerves but it looked like she was very reluctant.
"In regards to the weapon you made…" Exedra hurriedly changed the subject, hoping to take her kind off of the events that just transpired.
"It is very well done. I thank you. We'll be traveling to the demon continent soon and I imagine we'll be seeing our fair share of battle."
Valerie froze and her previous embarrassment was replaced with utter disbelief. "T-the demon continent…?"
"The one and only." Exedra nodded seemingly not understanding this resection.
While demons weren't exactly popular in the world, no one really feared them either except for humans.
"D-did Lisa say anything to you about going there?" Valerie asked tentatively.
Exedra's frown immediately deepened. "I haven't told her yet, why?"
Valerie nodded in understanding before briefly glancing at Mira. "You should…talk to Lisa yourself and find out."
The dragon was going to press her further, but realized it might truly be something that wasn't her place to talk about.
Valerie seemingly had another realization before she bowed deeply.
"I know this is shameful of me but I have a request and I hope you can hear me out!"
Exedra studied the woman carefully.
She was getting stranger and stranger by the minute to him.
"Let's hear it."
-
Exedra and Mira were currently walking hand in hand towards the training grounds for Mira's daily practice.
"Daddy?"
"Yes my daughter?"
"Will I ever get a new mommy?"
Exedra chucked. "Are you not satisfied with the ones you already have?"
"No no I am!" Mira quickly defended. "But sometimes I think that auntie Valerie would make a good mommy or even that elven lady and daddy likes them too so why don't you marry them?"
Exedra sighed.
How could he possibly explain such a complicated matter to a small child?
Exedra stopped and kneeled down so that he and Mira were facing eye to eye. "The mothers you have now, Lisa, Lailah and Bekka are the women I have pledged myself to. I vowed to each of them that I would make them eternally happy and I would never compromise that by seeking out other women."
"Your mommies love me so much that if I brought another woman home and declared she was mine, they would protest sure, but they would not truly oppose me. Irregardless of how deep it may hurt them."
"That is why if you are ever going to get a new mommy it would have to be a woman that they are happy to share me with, so that they do not lose out on the happiness I promised them for even a single second. "
Mira's little brain was working overtime to understand her father's words. She finally nodded and offered him a simple okay before they resumed their walk to her lesson, where Exedra watched the entire time with proud eyes.
-
When Mira's lesson was over, Exedra promptly returned to his room where his wives were just waking up.
Each of them stretched and strained, their bodies clearly still feeling sore from last night.
Despite seeing they were in a state of discomfort, Exedra still wanted to jump on top of each of them and claim them again but there were more important matters at hand.
Bekka : "Good morning husband!"
Lisa : "Morning honey."
Lailah : "Good morning my love."
All three women greeted their husband happily and warmly.
Exedra could only shake his head as he marveled at the sight of his still naked wives staring at him intently. "It's already past noon girls."
"Gods why wouldn't you wake us!" Lisa scrambled and prepared to get out of bed.
"How did we even sleep so late? Oh wait…." Lailah gave Exedra an accusatory look to which he smiled helplessly.
"Eh I've already missed half the day so I'm going back to bed." Bekka promptly turned back over and prepared to go back to sleep.
"Wait… what are these rings?" Lailah was the first to notice their matching accessories that they were suddenly wearing.
"Gifts." Exedra shrugged off his fluffy black coat before he dove into bed with his wives.
Without letting any of them ask what the purpose of the rings was, he continued. "You girls missed quite a bit this morning."
Like that, he began filling them in on everything that happened while they were in their sperm induced comas.
In thirty minutes, Exedra had explained everything the girls missed while they were asleep.
While Lailah and Bekka were excited about the sudden trip, Lisa seemed to be hesitant, a fact that did not escape her husband's eyes.
He gingerly took her hand before he looked into her deep amber eyes. "What aren't you telling us my love?"
She hesitated briefly before she opened her mouth to give her husband and friends the story of Mira's birth and her escape from the human continent.
Lisa had not always lived in Antares.
Nor had she always loved only Exedra.
Eight years ago, she was actually living on the human continent.
And she loved a man named Atticus.
Atticus was a high ranking knight who would occasionally come into her bookstore.
She was enamored with his handsome, clean cut appearance and his sweet words.
Eventually, they entered into a courtship and she was head over heels.
She believed she'd found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Eventually, they began to try for a baby and while things were fine originally, that happiness did not last long.
Dragons are notorious for their difficulty in reproducing.
It is nature's way of ensuring a balance so that one race does not dominate the world.
While the couple knew this going in, they did not expect the difficulty to be so great.
Atticus became short tempered and irritable. Blaming Lisa's inability to get pregnant as a sign of her not being committed to him.
Lisa quickly became depressed and blamed her body for it's difficulties and became more depressed everyday.
One day, while Atticus was on patrol, Lisa was cleaning his study and accidentally found letters between Atticus and the general he served under.
In these letters, Atticus spoke of a plan to acquire a pure blooded wyvern and raise it to be his mount with his general promising him that if he could manage such a thing he would receive an instant promotion.
Wyverns are the result of an accident occurring in newborn dragons.
Should a newborn dragon have its mana forcibly suppressed and replaced with someone else's, that dragon would suddenly become a wyvern.
Wyvern's born through this method are fiercely loyal to those who turned them and will not hesitate to burn an entire town should it's creator receive the slightest scratch.
Wyverns, unlike dragons, do not possess intelligence and act entirely on their masters whims like overgrown scaly dogs.
They are also significantly weaker than dragons and lose the ability to take a human form.
But unlike dragons, they grow ridiculously fast, reaching maturity in just two years.
Though, their physical and magical prowess is nothing compared to a real dragon.
Because of these defects, Wyverns are seen as disgusting abominations by dragons both lesser and noble alike and are nicknamed 'The broken'.
Lisa was utterly horrified.
While she knew how wyverns came about, she never in her wildest dreams would've imagined that the kind man who used to bring her flowers every week wanted to raise their child to be a weapon.
Broken hearted and teary eyed, Lisa immediately prepared to flee their home only to find Atticus returning home and seeing her leaving his study in a panic.
This is how Lisa's hell began.