Chapter 107

Chapter 107: Chapter 107

Dulce rose to his feet and wandered into the room just as Kath’tan was about to leave for lunch. The Demon wore a silver band on his head, the crown standing out against his dark red hair and skin.

His purple cloak swirled around as he turned to him, catching the sound of his footsteps. "Will lunch go well?" He expressed his worries.

Kath’tan thought back to his brief encounter with Grand Duke Yamra, "It should," He said shortly, stepping out to seek out his mother.

She was already waiting outside her door, a smile on her face when she caught sight of him. She met him halfway, leading the way to the dining room.

Grand Duke Yamra was seated at the head of the table when they arrived, his gruff expression giving nothing away.

Valrena and Kath’tan sat on either side of him, and when they did, his expression subconsciously softened. He said nothing however, giving the silent order for their food to be served.

Kath’tan felt the Grand Duke’s scrutiny but he had been subjected to it all his life, so it was easy to ignore even though it came from a Grand Duke. Instead, he focused on his mother filling up his plate before she even ate.

Yamra watched it go on for a few minutes before interfering, "He’s no longer a fledgling, Valrena. He can feed himself."

Valrena paused with her arm across the table, "Well, I was kept from seeing him as a fledgling..."

"Do as you like," Yamra quickly cut her off, aware of what was coming.

"So what do you intend to do?" He spoke up when his daughter had satisfied herself with filling up Kath’tan’s plate. "Have him join the royal lineage?" He asked directly.

Valrena eyed her son’s goblet even as she was asked such an important question. "You’re still going to remain the Grand Duke for another thousand years, what does it matter what I do?"

Yamra pressed his lips together, his worries that the people would never accept a mixed-blood Grand Duke held little water now. Because his daughter was still young, she could very well have more children.

"Kath’tan will return to Earth soon, his stay is only temporary." Valrena said simply, keeping to herself about her only child’s disinterest in the matters of nobility.

Lunch was pleasant enough, conversation was minimal but it was far better than any meal Kath’tan had shared with his father and half-siblings.

Even more surprising was when Grand Duke Yamra invited them to take a walk with him after lunch, including Kath’tan.

It was jarring, the difference between the way a Wrath faction Demon was treated here in Ashford and how a Chaos faction Demon would have been treated in Threnval.

At first glance Kath’tan passed as a Wrath faction Demon, his red hair and skin were glaring, yet his presence only elicited shock then curiosity. Even though he mostly passed as a Wrath faction Demon, in Threnval his eye color was enough to set him apart and have him treated with disdain.

It prompted him to ask a question that he had only dared entertain when he was younger. He didn’t speak in the presence of Grand Duke Yamra unless a question was directed at him, which didn’t happen often.

Mostly, it was his mother and the Grand Duke speaking about him. It wasn’t disconcerting, Grand Duke Yamra’s questions were often born of concern and his mother was always quick to defend him.

So when the Grand Duke had to leave to attend to matters of the state, leaving him and his mother behind next to a fountain in the garden. He blurted out, "Are there other mixed-blood Fiends?"

Valrena looked away from the bird fountain in the distance that caught her attention, walking in that direction. "Not anymore," She replied seriously, reaching into a chest by the bird fountain to take out a handful of bird seeds.

Kath’tan could barely focus on her holding out a handful of seeds to attract the birds drinking from the fountain, struck by her response. "So there were once mixed-bloods?" He prompted impatiently.

"Thousands and thousands of years ago, they were the norm. There were only five cities of Flaeris and they were occupied by Wrath and Chaos faction Demons alike, only then, there were no factions, just Fiends."

Kath’tan was so shaken by this story that he barely registered his mother taking his hand to place some bird seeds in them. He glanced down when a purple-red bird flew onto his hand, perching guilelessly to peck at the seeds.

"Then a Lord rose to prominence spreading the belief that red-skinned Fiends were the true descendants of Flaeris and things only got more dire from that point." Valrena concluded with a faint smile. "My father is already worried that you can’t become Archduke or Grand Duke because you’re a mixed blood, but perhaps that is what is needed to right things."

She crouched to retrieve more seeds, "We still remember the past and the truth but I doubt that holds true for Wrath faction Demons. Perhaps showing them a glimpse of it would be the step in the necessary direction to restore balance. Or I fear we would continue down this path of self-destruction." Valrena rose to her feet then, "There I go talking too much again. Do you want to try out your hammer some more? I can’t fight so I’ll have to live vicariously through you."

"Yes," Kath’tan agreed without hesitation, falling silent again. There was turbulence in his heart, beating into his blood, his entire worldview getting restructured.

He had long come to the conclusion that it was ridiculous that Chaos faction Demons came from beyond the sea when they were so similar save for the color of their skin.

It was difficult not to be moved by his mother’s grand dreams, but he had lived as a Wrath faction Demon all his life. The belief that they were the superior faction was deeply ingrained in them from the Grand Dukes to the lowest commoner, from the oldest Fiend to fledglings.

As they left the chirping birds behind to resume his training, he couldn’t help but think that perhaps it was better to wipe out the flawed Fiends, it was difficult to see them as worth saving.