Chapter Eighty Eight
P E T I T I O N : BEGGARS CAN'T BE CHOOSERS
Osiris jumped in place and tensed and shook with excitement.
"I can finally test some of them!"
He's made a few things here and there, but he's still unsure of how strong or fragile they are.
Seth was still upset with him, but he let the man fuck him however he liked. It will take time to stabilize this relationship. They didn't start off with the.. best of intentions, but they were trying.
Everyone sat in their respective areas and Osiris was at the top in the royal booth.
It sucks not fighting myself, but.
Zyair felt like his days were numbered by how Seth stared at him. I didn't do anything to your mate.
Is Osiris showing interest in him? That's the only thing Zyair can think of. But he's not stupid.
Maybe it's that human blood in him.
A knock.
Zyair pinched his brows and nose together and looked behind them. A Lux child? They opened the door without asking.
"Can we talk."
Osiris waved him in without looking.
"Come, sit." He patted a seat beside him. "I can tell you have something to say."
Darwin sat beside them as Osiris sat in Seth's lap.
"I'm surprised you're not conspiring with the fam."
"I've warned them since you were a child. No one listened."
"You did try very hard."
"I did."
Osiris sighed sadly.
"If your mother was not the Queen, I would let you live." Darwin started to cry. "But I can't risk anyone from this family living past this point."
"I know."
"So what brings you here?"
Zyair felt like he shouldn't be seeing this.
He glanced at Seth.
He actually looked like he felt the same way. Should we leave? Seth shook his head.
"I wanted to ask if you could make my death fast."
"That's fine." He waved him off. "Go fuck, or if you wanna fight-"
"Thank you."
"Tell the rest of the family that they're fucked. You are the only one I will kill quickly."
Darwin nodded before booking it out of the room.
Osiris jumped up and cracked Seth's jaw as he noticed his spell about to fight. Seth just rubbed it and looked at Osiris with annoyance.
Mucni found a good corner this time. They watched.
"Do you think we can go talk to him next?"
Hoix gave the angel a look.
"Let's wait. More of his family looks like they want to talk to him."
Especially after what that little Prince just told them.
"Isn't this so wonderful."
The rest of the Lux's started to freak out.
"Won't your god get upset at you."
"She's curious as well."
They wonder if he can make it to the top. Their bets have changed. Never has there been another creature that has made the gods move. It's so-
And the little angel was lost in her head. Hoix turned to Bothu. The Orc King was watching the fight with Osiris's little orca feline creature that was tussling with Okrus. The fool. He likes to fight too much.
The orca lost.
Everyone looked at Osiris who just laughed.
"Try this one!"
It looked like a woman with belt like strands of hair that ended in large, squared hands. She was wearing a complete white suit with latches on her arms and legs. Her face was.. well it looked goofy and cute, despite how deadly it felt.
It's at least an S Class summons.
Summons, spells, whatever he was making, were odd.
Okrus hollered and went at it. Pasz looked like he wanted to join now. Now that they know he isn't violent, he's approachable.
Milu sat with Hina with her granddaughter crying silently beside her.
"So he's your grandson."
The Monarch's are split fifty fifty with their genders, and Zyair liked to keep them separate. So the woman on one side and men on the other.
Of the Monarchs at least.
"Yes."
Milu looked at the Dragon Queen.
"You only lost one, does he not have others?"
She glared at her before she finally sat straight.
"He has six wives and ten children and five grandchildren."
"Then-"
"But I don't know for how long."
Her face twisted in grief.
"…"
Dragons do end family bloodlines over squabbles, I can't even imagine what he will do for that.
Kekoa was someone the Queen refused to control.
He was the last of her lineage, so she understood.
Many of them have children that they cannot control.
Not anymore.
Her own children prefer the dwarven king over herself. And he's my husband.
She didn't have nearly as much trouble with her own family.
They just stop talking to me when they're mad.
"I need to talk to him."
Hina looked at the booth the Lux children sat in.
They were screaming and fighting while watching Osiris with wide, nearly white eyes.
"I would wait a bit."
Hina looked at where Milu pointed.
"You're not the only one wanting to talk with him."
She saw many eyes looking for an opening to chat with her grandson.
"…."
Maybe he'll calm down later.
"You're right. I will wait."
"Ulice is off with Hoix again."
"She likes that little goblin man. Leave her be." Phax motioned something with her hand. A glass of wine appeared. "Want a glass of wine?"
"Yes."
"Of course."
"Always."
Walnut appeared no sooner than when she said glass.
Zyair tries to keep them all separate like a compulsion, but he's too busy to bicker at them this time.
They don't meet often, but sometimes there are times they have to in order to settle debts. This was just the first official gathering.
Phax the tiefling gave them all a large glass of wine.
"Ginkgo is off in prayer today."
The centaur was very religious. Her people are always looking to earth as their god. They pray to mana.
Such a weird race.
There were gods for them to worship, but they chose something that was not.
"I don't think she slept."
"No one slept my dear." Walnut was already half done with his drink. "Not even the new god."
"He's not a god, not yet, at least."
"Didn't the original Monarch have twenty as well?"
"Yeah, on one heart. This bastard has two."
Hina looked at her grandson.
He got a heart from his mother, and another from his father. Dragons only have a one.
It was a birth defect.
Defect shouldn't be the term used to describe it.
"Where's Ulice, she would know how close that bastard is." Phax looked and spotted her still with the goblin. "Still with the love of her life."
"He used to have thirty wives and a whole slew of grandchildren."
"Isn't that little treasure goblin his kin?"
"Oh! Right!" They all looked at Hina. "Wasn't your son helping the Lux Kingdom try and capture her?"
Hina felt her blood suddenly chill.
Everyone looked up and Osiris was staring at them with a blank face.
"I-I'm not sure." She wasn't. She spent too much time with her work to notice. "I can't keep track of everything he does."
He was slippery, the way she raised him to be.
"You better be careful. Ulice will start a war over that goblin."
He was as ugly as rocks but Ulice loved him. He has zero interest in her.
"She's a guild master, and I even have a few branches set up in my Kingdom!" Milu nodded. "The Tyrant Guild, or something."
"I thought it was Treasure Guild."
"It's the Purgatory Guild."
They all turned their eyes from her grandson and looked at Hoix. He was standing with a pleased looking Ulice beside him.
"I-I apologize from my son."
"Don't be. Osiris is taking care of Goss like his own child. I doubt there will be anything left after he is done."
Fuck.
"Goss?" CHANGE THE TOPIC. "How did they meet?"
Hoix gave her a look.
"When Okrus started his war he nearly wiped out my entire family. He somehow adopted her after he learned she was a treasure goblin."
"Golden goblin now!" Ulice chimed in. "He turned her into a little monster. A scared, runny little monster, but it's no wonder the dragons couldn't catch her. I tried to jump her once for a hug and she was gone right as I moved. She can sense any intention thrown her way!"
Suddenly the icky glare of Osiris was gone and back to watching Okrus destroy another one of his spells.
"How pleasant."
So he has a family.
Hina could feel the mate bond he had with Seth. So it's not just the Nox's. I should have looked harder for you Kina. I could have done something.
It was difficult to learn just what happened to him with his life with the Lux's. Her soul boiled. She can take transgressions from other dragons, but not from HUMANS. Hina sighed. At least some of my blood will survive. Even if it's just one.
But he will end their line.
She can tell from a glance.
So Goss named it Purgatory?
He snickered.
He did call her hair that once, as a joke. Speaking of. That shadow demon was still watching the fight. Can he store things too?
Mucni left.
Osiris paused and felt the little shadow speed to the other side of the planet.
".."
Next time then.
It was like watching a dying fish gasping for air on land. Walnut watched the Lux's try and scheme their way out of this. He's already been approached twice.
Like hell I'm crossing that.
Walnut watched and listened to the gossip and fight. Bothu and Okrus were having a blast, and Pasz just kept jumping back and forth after getting a hit or two in. Such a cutie.
The little kobalt somehow went from slave to Monarch. But he's just so cute. Walnut would eat him if he was any weaker. He'd give me a good boost.
Zyair looks stressed.
Walnut has never seen that elf anything less than perfect. But now he's a bumbling fool. They were all bumbling fools.
To think that it's possible to get that strong is crazy.
He sighed and asked for another glass of wine.
"So what brings you here, Luella."
She smelled like sweat and something fruity.
"You liked my dogs, right?"
He did.
"I do."
Her nails were bleeding. She chewed off three of them so far. I wonder if I can make it ten.
"Then-"
"I would think carefully before you speak."
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fu-
Osiris went back to watching the fight.
So some things work well together, and some don't.
Fire and ice always self imploded after three hits. I'm trying every combo in the book. Games always made it look so easy-
"I don't want to die."
Luella was crying and sobbing, like the true coward she was.
"Go get drunk or something, I'm not doing this will all of you today."
He's still waiting.
Shhh, it's almost time.
He felt a hand squeeze his thigh.
Soon.
Osiris spent the rest of the day watching everyone run around and try to please him.
It's like being home.
This is his comfort zone.
Seth had his head in his neck, over his bite, as Zyair continued to stress and host for them.
He felt a nip.
"So who's been asking to chat?"
Osiris has watched him turn down every servant that has approached them after Luella left.
He didn't need to be around them to see and hear everything they are saying.
Look at them try to save their own heads.
Darwin is the only one getting shit faced and flirting with every elf he sees. Man or woman. Maybe I should let him get laid at least.
Osiris had no hard feelings after he learned the boy ran to get their father when the beast first spawned. Zayd ran in fear. He was supposed to stay behind while Darwin ran, but.
And he went off and died.
"Oops." He let his ego slip. "Don't mind me."
Hesitantly people started to move again.
"Everyone."
Everyone has come to ask if they can talk with him.
"Hm. Let the goblin come in."
Zyair motioned for a servant to go collect him.
"Also get Darwin as many people as he wants, if possible."
Zyair looked at the very drunk Prince. He was flirting with a servant again.
"Just Darwin?"
"Yes. Actually give him a VIP treatment."
What is a VIP? He just means special treatment, right?
"Of course."
Zyair instructed his men and let them lead the Prince somewhere away. The other children didn't like that very much. Jealous, even now?
"Aren't they so cute when they're about to die?"
"Very."
I need this event to end already.
Then he remembered something.
"May I ask something of you?"
Zyair looked through his pockets and pulled out a badly written note and a pair of baby shoes.
"Can you give this to Dain for me?"
Osiris's thing nabbed it and placed it in its bag.
"Sure, can't promise he'll read it."
"That's fine, thank you."
He was waiting for a calm moment and right now is the only one he's found.
They waited for the Goblin King.
All day Hina watched everyone have a chance to talk with her grandson. Should I ask again?
Halia hasn't left the bed since they returned.
She can sense the end too.
Hina wasn't sure he would do it now, or later. If he's waited this long for the Lux's…. She was kidding herself. Will he allow a letter?
Halia might want to tell her family goodbye.
Hina rubbed her grandbaby's back.
Her wings and tail were out.
"Why did uncle do that."
She was his daughter's daughter. She was next in line if Kekoa died. She had their mana.
Osiris has neither.
Theirs were red, Lux's green. He was orange.
It fits him.
Maybe not aesthetically, but it was him.
The hours passed and midnight arrived.
Even now time goes on.
A knock.
She opened it from where she sat.
"What."
"The Prince would like to see you."