The room was quiet as everyone wrapped their heads around this news, but I didn't stop.
"Your Majesty I believe it would be wise to consult whoever performed that analysis and ask what effects the poison could have on pregnant women before we jump to any conclusion."
I looked around at the four women.
"Until that is done I believe we shouldn't mention this to anyone."
Iris, Amy, and Beth nodded at my words and I turned my attention to the queen as she rose to her feet.
"I am going to speak with the analyst. Iris please wait with Adam."
Iris took my hand.
"You don't have to tell me twice mother."
The queen chuckled softly as she left and I saw guards surround her before the door closed.
"So. Care to fill me in on why these two elves insisted on staying with you?"
I turned to Iris and saw Amy and Beth lower their heads.
"Because they are my women. Anna has already met them and approved of them joining us."
Iris's eyes widened.
"So I'm not the first? When did you meet up with Anna? If she approved I have no reason to say no."
Turning to them she added.
"Welcome girls. Pleased to meet you."
"Thank you princess."
Amy and Beth spoke in unison as they curtseyed.
"Turns out that your mother has known Anna for a long time."
"Really?"
Iris was amazed and I just nodded my head.
"Yeah. She is the adopted daughter of General Marcus Kane who is the captain of your mother's ship. Anna serves as vice captain aboard the same ship."
"Wow. She was that close the whole time."
"Yeah. I'm honestly a little surprised that you never met her before. I mean haven't you ever been aboard your mother's ship?"
Iris shook her head.
"I've never had a reason to go aboard my mother's ship as I have my own also, members of the royal family are not allowed off the capital world until we turn 100 or are married. It's been a tradition since our home world was destroyed during our own first encounter with the Akvari over 500,000 years ago."
"I didn't know that. About your home world either. It was destroyed?"
"It's not something we like to broadcast and destroyed might have been the wrong word. It was poisoned with radiation, 99% of the surface is uninhabitable."
"I'm a little confused by the tradition though. Wouldn't it be safer to have them off world?"
"No. One of the first things done after a new royal is born is a fleet of ships is assembled to escort that person everywhere they go. By keeping young members of the royal family here we are required to keep their escort fleets here as well. So there are currently 8 royal fleets in orbit not counting our regular guard fleet."
"That's a lot of firepower."
Iris just nodded at me.
"So. You're a princess?"
"Yes. I am Iris Celestia the 97th princess of the Celestial Kingdom. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Captain Adam Hunt."
Iris stood and gave a graceful curtsey and I just laughed happily.
"I think that is the first time I have ever seen you speak politely Iris."
"Yup, and probably the last."
She moved closer and leaned in for a kiss which I returned without hesitation. Until I felt the hospital shirt I was wearing being pulled open. I quickly leaned back but my shirt was already wide open revealing my bare chest. Iris moved her hand to my chest and with a finger, traced the edge of the new scar on my chest.
"I always wondered how you got this. Now I know. You risked your life to save my mother and little brother."
She kissed me again.
"Thank you."
"I didn't know she was your mother at the time. I just didn't want the queen to be assassinated."
She brushed her nose against mine.
"That doesn't matter to me but it does make things easier."
"Easier? What does it make easier?"
She just looked at me like I was dumb.
"Adam. I'm a princess. Do you really think I can run off and marry whoever I want? There are political aspects to consider. But now that you have saved the queen not once but twice my father can give me to you as your wife to reward your actions."
When she spelled it out like that it made sense. I was about to ask a question but she beat me to it.
"Adam do you know who your parents are?"
I was instantly in a bad mood and Amy and Beth took in sharp breaths having seen my reaction when the queen mentioned my mother. I did my best to keep my cool but Iris could tell something was wrong.
"I know who my mother is, as for my father...my mother always said she killed him when she found out she was pregnant."
All three girls were stunned when I said that.
"I know you girls have questions but I would prefer to only tell my story once so can it wait until Anna is here as well?"
Amy and Beth nodded but Iris asked me a question.
"What about Megan? I'm willing to wait until we find her so you really only have to tell it once."
I shook my head.
"Megan already knows the first part of my story."
Iris was confused.
"If you've never met her how would she know?"
"I had another dream the other night."
Now Iris was really confused.
"Like the others? Why didn't I see it?"
"Not like the others. This wasn't the future, it was the past. I was outside my body watching my younger self."
I looked into Iris's eyes.
"It turns out Megan is from my hometown and that is where we will start our search for her."
I squeezed Iris's hand gently.
"I'm sure you don't want me to go without you so if you have to be married for you to leave the planet how soon can we get that done and be away."
Iris looked at me a few seconds and burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha...Adam we can leave anytime. I'm 327 years old."
I was speechless looking to Amy and Beth I asked.
"And you two?"
Amy: "193"
Beth: "107"
Again I was speechless and the three elves couldn't keep quiet anymore as they all started laughing uncontrollably at my reaction.
"Adam you lived among humans and other short lived races your whole life haven't you?"
I nodded still unable to find my voice.
"Anyone under 500 is still considered a child. How old are you anyway?"
"I'm 24."
The laughing stopped almost immediately. Amy was the first to speak.
"You're just a baby."
I gave her a smirk and replied.
"That didn't seem to bother you the other night."
Amy and Beth ducked their heads low and even their ears drooped a bit as Iris glared at them.
"You both are in deep trouble."
I was very confused.
"Um..Iris. Why are they in trouble?"
"Adam when she called you a baby she was being literal, among long lived species like elves the age of adulthood as well as the age of consent is 50. As someone with High Elf blood that applies to you as well even though you are at most only half High Elf."
"But I was hiding my true identity, they thought I was just an Earthling."
"That will only help them slightly, after all you used magic during your spar the other day. That alone showed you had some type of elf blood and they should have asked your age then, but they didn't."
She squeezed my hand again and didn't loosen her grip.
"There's more. I asked about your parents because of your eyes."
"My eyes?"
"Yes. You saw how my father rushed out of the room when he saw them."
It wasn't a question but I nodded and Iris smiled.
"Only High Elves with royal blood have purple eyes. In other words....you are High Elf royalty."
She gave me only a moment to process that before hitting me with even more.
"So these two Light Elves could be charged with sexually assaulting an underage member of the royal family. The punishment for which is death."
I couldn't fully comprehend everything but I already knew what I had to do. Placing the earing back on I ordered.
"Conceal."
The illusions quickly shimmered into existence and I once more looked human.
"I'm a 24 year old human. Your age of consent law is no longer valid."
Iris just shook her head sadly.
"It does not work like that Adam."
"Of course it does. Don't you remember? In every dream I looked human correct?"
Iris closed her mouth and thought about it.
"Besides those in this room only my mother and father know about it. As long as they are willing to accept it we might be able to pull this off. Do you really want to do this for them?"
I just smiled.
"If you have to ask that then you don't know me as well as you think you do. They are my women and I will not let anyone hurt them. Besides, if age of consent is 50 I wouldn't be able to marry you either and if I can't marry you as a member of the royal family I wouldn't be allowed off planet for another 76 years, 26 if I marry you when I turn 50. Megan would be long dead before I could get to her if I have to follow your elven laws."
My argument had Iris speechless. I was doing that alot. Looking to Amy and Beth they still had their heads lowered.
"Look at me you two."
They lifted their heads slowly and I smiled when they met my eyes.
"I'm not letting you go so just accept what happened and move on. Or do you not want me anymore since I'm so much younger than you?"
Amy: "I want you."
Beth: "I understand."
Iris added her own thoughts.
"Honestly a few decades isn't that big of an age gap, even yours and my age gap is normal. My father is just under 6,000 while my mother is just over 3,000 and that's not even the widest gap I've heard of."
"Ok. You need to talk to your parents fast before they blow my cover and tell everyone about me."
Iris gave me a peck on the lips before getting up.
"You're right. I'll be back soon."
After she left I had Amy and Beth sit. When they were seated and looking at me I held my hands out to them and they each took one.
"The only question I have for you is, do you regret anything we did knowing what you know now?"
They both shook their heads.
"Good. I want you to always be honest with me and yourselves. You're mine and I'm yours and I don't want miscommunication to mess it up."
I then pulled their hands to my mouth and kissed each one gently.
"Now I have some questions about what happened after I blacked out."
The two girls filled me in on the events I missed. The five assassins were to mangled by my spells to make any kind of visual ID possible so they had to rely on DNA and that came up empty. All casualties were maids or guards which I found to be an important detail, though my swift actions might have had something to do with that.
Iris was the one who saved me. She heard the commotion and when she got to the audience hall she saw me and got to work immediately, assisted by the two elves that were already beside me. I was right, they were only apprentices. That healer fully expected me to die but I couldn't really blame him, human commoner or queen it's an easy choice to make on who to prioritize.
I had been out less than six hours but in that time Iris had not once left my side. Not even to check on her own mother. That alone told me how much she loved me and I fell for her just that little bit more.
** Maximus POV **
I left Adam's room and nearly broke into a run as I hurried back to the palace. Going to my office I shifted a painting and pressed the button behind it. One of the recessed bookshelves retracted farther into the wall and then slid to one side revealing a spiral staircase descending into darkness. Summoning an orb of light I quickly followed the stairs down until I stood in front of a solid wood door. Using a key to unlock it I stepped into my sanctuary. Walking across the room I turned on the full wall sized screen and made a call. It rang for a long time until a man dressed as a butler finally picked up.
"James put my brother on the phone."
"Apologies my king but he is in the middle of.....something."
"I don't give a shit about what random, obscure, alien woman he is fucking right now put my brother on the phone NOW!"
There was silence before.
"As you command my king."
James walked away and a few minutes later another man who looked almost identical to the king stepped into view wearing only a robe.
"What do you want little brother I'm kind of busy."
"You need to return to the palace immediately."
"Not gonna happen. I told you already, I want nothing to do with nobles, nobles etiquette, or noble politics. Besides why would I give up on my dream of finding another race that can breed with elven males? Goblins and orcs can breed with our women but not males so shouldn't there be a race that works the same for us men? Until I find them I'm not going to stop my travels for anything."
"Not even for your own grandson?"
The man on the screen stopped talking for a beat.
"Nice try. I don't have a son so how could I have a grandson."
"Beats the fuck out of me. He's young and has purple eyes. I haven't even left the capital world in centuries so it couldn't have been me who sired his parent and my daughters would have announced it if they had a male child as he would have been heir to the throne until my wife has our son. So that only leaves you. When's the last time you fucked an Earthling?"
"Wait Alexandra is pregnant with a boy? Congrats little bro. Give your wife my best."
"You can do that yourself when you get here."
"I already told you I'm not coming home yet."
"Don't you get it?! If this boy really is your grandson, that gives him right of inheritance over any male child I have. He is the real crown prince of our kingdom you need to come home until we sort this out."
"Hahaha. Now that's funny."
"What's funny?"
"Little brother, if he is my descendant he'll have the wanderlust, same as me. He will have no interest in the throne and will abdicate at the first opportunity or he will slip away in the middle of the night like I did. Talk to him, explain your side of things and ask what he wants to do. If he turns down the throne then you can be 100% sure he's of my blood. Now if you'll excuse me I have a beautiful, humanoid, squirrel tied up on my bed."
With that the call was ended and the king was left standing speechless with only one thought going through his mind. 'Squirrel?'