10 people sat in a circle of different designed thrones. The thrones ranged from simple and rustic to ornate and elaborate. Each throne was unique, fitting the style of the occupants. They were the members of the court, each member representing a species, and most having sub rankings.
The reasoning for the members meeting was of a dire situation, as in the past month, 5 people had mysteriously gone missing with no clues being left behind.
Gabriel Moguel, representing the wolfshifter's, was the first to speak, brushing his brown hair back as he did so. "So, do we have any leads? Any patterns to the disappearances?" Isis Seam, representing the elves, held up a closed scroll that detailed information about the missing people.
"Only one, each victim was of different species, yet age, biological gender, looks and status are all different" Isis stated. Cova Nix, representing the witches, gestured for the scroll, opening it to look at the details. Cova looked over the information, trying to see if there was any key detail they missed, "hmm. . . One could guess that this may be part of a ritual, but none of the rituals I've heard of, match the M.O."
There was a moment of silence as people thought of a possible answer or solution, but that silence was broken as Romy Fischer, representing the dragons, the cleared his throat and made a suggestion that everyone thought of, but didn't dare say out loud. . .
"Am I the only one who thinks this sounds just like the curse of-" Celi Ryu, representing the humans, slammed his hand down to silence the dragon, "watch what you say, even the name of that curse is forbidden, besides, the dark tomes were burned ages ago, there is no way someone knows that spell"
Amandla Bititi, representing the catshifters, laughed out loud at this, swinging their legs over one side of the arm rest as they leaned on their hand. "But wouldn't that leave ashes? What's to stop a powerful witch from remaking it?" This caused Celi to scoff and wave his hand at the catshifters' ignorance.
"Idiot, the fire used to burn the tomes were enchanted to leave no trace, not even the ashes were left, and even if they were, the wind would have scattered them" Celi explained, to which Amandla threw a dagger at him, but he moved his head to the right, causing it to hit his throne.
Celi pulled out the dagger and placed it in his coat pocket as he continued to insult the catshifter, "childish, King Lupin made a mistake letting someone of your kind into the court" "What do you mean by 'your kind'?" Amandla hissed, their hair fluffing up in defense. "You know what I mean. . . street cat"
"THAT'S IT!!! YOU'RE DEAD!!!"
The other court members groaned at this, having seen this happen time and time again, "so, who do you think will win this time?" Marte Seam, representing the trolls, asked, getting out her wallet so she could place her bet, which made Ayaan Kuni, representing the demons, laugh, his large fangs showing, "oh please, Amandla doesn't stand a chance"
Gasper Silva, representing the griffins, pulled out 5 tokens and placed them on his arm rest, "I'll gamble and vote for Amandla, their sister is a general" Coran, representing the fae then pulled out 10 tokens and a gold ring, "I'll take that bet"
Cova sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he mumbled under his breath. "You're all childish"
Soon, Nalini had to leave Leo, as she needed to open her coffee shop, so he was left alone in the study, sitting on the hammock in the corner of the room, his tied up hair falling past his shoulder as he dazed off in thought.
"Gale? Are you alright?" Leo looked up suddenly, seeing King Lupin. He was smiling slightly, his fangs showing, but his violet eyes were darting across Leo's features with concern. Of course, Leo didn't notice this, as he was distracted by a fresh scar on the king's bare shoulder.
"your highness, are you hurt?" Leo asked standing up to get close to the wound, not noticing the deep blush on Lupin's face, who hesitated before lifting Leo's face towards him with his ring finger.
He gently traced the outline of Leo's lips with his finger, before pulling away suddenly. Leo's face remained red, as Lupin smirked at him. "I'm fine," he breathed out, his voice barely above a whisper.
Lupin sighed and asked, " but what about you? You passed out right in my arms~"Lupin then moved closer to Leo, nearly towering over him due to the height difference, but he bent over and came face to face with the witch, who blushed a deep red.
"U-uh your highne-" "Lupin, please."
Leo gulped at this, looking over the king's serene features, his white hair that shined when the light gleamed on it, his half-bare chest that showed off his pale skin. As he took a second before realizing he had been staring too long, this became apparent as the king's smirk became more wide and mischievous.
Leo felt his cheeks burn as the king's gaze lingered over him. Lupin's amused expression made Leo look away, feeling embarrassed and helpless. Lupin was about to say something, but was cut off as Leo looked away and said, "i-i um-. . .I'm fine, your highness, I just need rest is all"
This surprised Lupin at first, but he just recomposed himself before saying, "alright, as long as you're ok, now I wanted to bring you this." He then lifted a satchel with his other hand, regaining his wide smirk.
Looking around the room, Leo quickly realized that his satchel was in fact gone, and that the one Lupin was holding had to be his, so, he reached to grab it, only for Lupin to jump back slightly and pull the bag behind his back, he then lifted it back up with the opposite hand.
"L-Lupin! Gimme it!" Leo whined, once again trying to grab the satchel, only for it to be lifted above his head by the much taller man, who laughed at Leo's pout. He then bent down to Leo's level and said with a fanged grin,
"Come and get it, little gale~"