First Demonic Dragon

Chapter 1170: The Fairest of Maidens

Of the three, Ayaana was the quickest to respond. However, her action may have been slightly overzealous.

Covering the entire back wall of the manor in a layer of ice was a bit much to try to hide something everyone had already seen.

The extreme lengths she was willing to go to in order to hide the girl only piqued the gods’ curiosity even more.

But of course, there were some who already knew her by name.

Odin smiled fondly. “Such a friendly child. It is almost difficult to believe that you three are her parents.”

“Indeed.” Father Dagda nodded. “Odessa does seem far too gentle to be the child of dragons.”

The heads of everyone at the table snapped towards Odin and Father Dagda, then back towards Abaddon and his wives.

“Baaah!!”

Suddenly, all three of them looked down and found a herd of baby goats in their laps.

A heavy burlap sack was slammed on the table. The sound of the clinking was more than enough of an indication as to what was inside.

“…And what is this supposed to be?” Abaddon asked in annoyance.

“An offering. Or a tribute, if you prefer. I can have more brought here within the hour, enough to fill up this entire backyard!” A god said.

Abaddon narrowed his eyes. “…Dare I ask what this is for, Apollo?”

“Don’t be coy. This is my official offering for your daughter’s hand. The one with the orange hair.”

The sun god’s bold declaration was like the spark that lit a powder keg.

Suddenly, dozens of male gods at the table began pulling out jewels and manifesting animals.

“T-Then I would like to ask for the hand of your adoptive child! This should be more than enough for you to perceive the depths of my sincerity!”

“That’s chump change! Here, I’ve got-”

Zheng slammed his palm on the table.

The shadows at the feet of the gods wrapped around their torsos and pulled them back into their seats forcefully.

“Honestly… do you think you all were called here to participate in silly marriage talks..? I am trying, for reasons I don’t understand, to save your miserable lives and all you can think of is how you can prey on a sixteen-year-old girl.”

The goddesses, like Skadi, were none too surprised by the current direction the meeting was headed.

As soon as they laid eyes on Abaddon’s daughters, they knew that they possessed the kind of beauty that men would lose their heads for.

Even some of the gods who had wives right next to them had placed their hat in the ring.

They naturally looked toward Abaddon, expecting him to enact some form of retaliation, but on the contrary, his only concern seemed to be stopping the goats in his lap from chewing on his robe.

He did seem a bit irritated, but then again, most would be if they were being nibbled at by critters they hadn’t asked for.

It was a while before Zheng released his shadowy shackles on the gods. Judging by the looks on their faces, he clearly wasn’t going to be winning any popularity contests anytime soon.

Zahara and Ayaana were actually quite proud if they were honest…

“Now… can we finish this with some semblance of decorum, please?” Zheng asked impatiently.

His tone indicated that refusal was pointless to begin with.

–

Hours later, a herd of new little visitors were running amok in the Tathamet house.

“Baaah!”

“No! Stay away from my drapes!” Ayaana scoded.

Even with the mother of animals inside of her, the young goats were clearly no more compelled to listen to Ayaana than they would have been if she were a normal person.

’Goatssss!!!!’

Odessa let out the loudest telepathic squeal imaginable as she slid on her stomach towards the little devils.

’Hi, babies!! What are your name-’

“Just the girl I was looking for.”

’Uwah?’

Zahara lifted her daughter by the scruff of her neck and stared at her seriously.

“What were you thinking? Didn’t we tell you to stay in your room and out of sight??”

’N-Not in so many words…’ Odessa shrank back slightly.

“Young lady.”

’I-I’m sorry! I just wanted to take a peek since it’s not like we ever have real gods at the house!’

“””Excuse me??”””

Nyx, Hera, and Gaia all lifted themselves from their reclined positions on the sofa, clearly offended.

’I-I didn’t mean it like that, aunties… You guys are great and all, but I guess I’ve never really seen you all as the goddess-y types?’ Odessa shrugged nervously.

She had no idea her ’apology’ was only making things worse.

Though, when one looked back, it wasn’t exactly her fault.

The Tathamet home is a very comfortable place. She had seen these women at their most relaxed for almost every year of her life.

No bras, bed head still rampant, green facial masks, the whole nine yards.

She and Hera liked to stay up late at night and eat snacks while watching Lifetime movies. Every time, Hera’s eyes were glued to the screen as if she were watching television for the first time. (She was just a sucker for drama.)

The only ones they had to blame for her warped opinions of them were themselves.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be something negative. It just means that she sees you as family.” Abaddon tried to coax them.

’Yeah, that’s right!’ Odie nodded furiously.

Both of their attempts to make things better fell on deaf ears. The three goddesses sank lower into the sofa. They seemed to lose a bit more of their divine aura somehow.

“Look, it’s my fault.” Courtney sighed as she took her sister from her mother’s firm grip. “She came into my room asking if I had a better view of the backyard, and I didn’t think about what could happen.”

Odie pouted as Courtney held her like an XXL teddy bear. ’What’s the big deal..? All I did was wave… I didn’t even go outside or anything.’

Abaddon shooed away a goat that was chewing on his sandals. “When can you start taking world mythology as an elective?”

’Next year.’

“You’ll understand then.”

Courtney looked around at all of the animals and the burlap sacks filled with gold, shiny stones, rare wines, and many more of God’s favorite goodies.

Her father was even holding a large komodo dragon egg in one hand.

“What’s with the petting zoo and bags full of loot?”

Ayaana hissed as she grabbed her daughter by the nose and shook it lightly.

“This young lady, is why we didn’t want you or your sister to be seen. We’re up to our noses in dowry offerings now, because most of the gods present today want your hands in marriage.”

Odie’s face almost turned the same color as her hair. ’W-W-W-What!? Me?! My hand!?’

Courtney was far less flustered. She stared at the offerings with a look of deep contemplation.

“…Any of them hot?”

Somehow, everyone in the room heard Abaddon’s heart break just a little bit. He stumbled against the wall in an effort to keep himself upright.

Zahara was much less disturbed than her husband. “Oh, please. I would sooner die before I see you with one of them. Gods like that are thoughtless and fat with lust. My baby deserves a prince charming or three who are loyal only to her!”

In the back of her mind, Courtney didn’t know if she wanted multiple partners. She couldn’t even make one relationship work.

“I don’t really have that marriage crest thing all the rest of you have, so I think I can put off marriage for a while. I’d kind of just like to lose my virginity since I’ve officially been holding onto it longer than Thrudd.”

Abaddon fell to his knees and placed his head against the wall.

Ayaana went to his side to console him. She rubbed his back while whispering gentle words to keep him from jumping over the metaphorical ledge.

’W-What marriage crest thing??’ Odie looked around dramatically. ’Do I have a thing too!?’

Abaddon fell facedown on the ground.

“ANYWAY!” Courtney tried to change the subject before her father deteriorated so much that he could no longer even hold his form together. “Why are the two of you still stuck together? Shouldn’t you all be separated by now?”

Zahara waved her hand dismissively. “We’re catching up on the time when Lailah was unconscious, since we couldn’t fuse then. We should still have some time left.”

Courtney furrowed her brow. “She was down for a few days… you guys are going to be sticking around until then?”

“You almost sound like you don’t want us around.” Zahara pouted slightly.

“No, no, it’s not that.” Courtney quickly clarified. “It’s just… don’t you worry about getting stuck?”

Ayaana and Zahara laughed musically.

“Oh, honey, we promise you don’t need to worry about something like that. Our forms are very well managed.”

“The pact binding us holds firm. You’ll continue to have more motherly love than you know what to do with.”

“If you say so…”

Suddenly, Abaddon popped up.

“Got your second wind, dad?” Courtney chuckled.

He turned to her with a complicated smile that she wasn’t expecting.

“Go get your aunt Lusamine for me. They’re back.”