Chapter 361: Fireside Council

“She was definitely trying to goad you into doing something reckless,” Aila advised with confidence.

“Reckless like what?” Jay scoffed. “She couldn’t think I’d punch her, would she? Who’d be stupid enough to throw hands in the middle of a fancy restaurant?”

“I can’t imagine,” Aila smirked. At Dys and Syd’s offended expressions, she rolled her eyes and continued. “No one in this room, certainly. However, there are other ways to act recklessly. She probably expected you to say something that could be used against you. In a way, you kind of did.”

Jadis let her frown show on all her faces, not that Aila could see them all. She and Aila were back in their room in the temple, alone for the night as the others found alternate places to sleep so as to give them some privacy. Jadis had made a nest of pillows and blankets on the floor in front of the fireplace, using the couch as a backrest since it didn’t make for a good seat due to her size. The three of her were seated side by side, bare feet stretched out towards the crackling fire. Aila had made herself comfortable sitting in Jay’s lap, wearing nothing but a shirt and some underclothes as she cuddled into Jay’s embrace.

The dinner with Aila’s parents had concluded relatively well, with no further incidents to speak of. Jadis still wasn’t sure Aila’s mother was on board with the relationship her daughter had become mixed up into, but she seemed less tense than she had at the start. With time, Jadis thought she’d probably come around, especially with Eir doing such a good job of smoothing Senta’s ruffled feathers. Vikwas looked far happier at the end of the meal, having spent a good amount of time talking with Sabina. Something about having the inventive smith around seemed to inspire confidence in the man, though Jadis couldn’t quite figure out his reasoning. Maybe it was just the fact that she could talk shop with him about wagons?

After Jadis and her companions had escorted Aila’s parents back to their inn, she had explained the full encounter with Elodie to the group. She didn’t bother trying to hide the details from her guards since both Severina and Runar had been directly involved in the conversation. In fact, as Jadis recounted the interaction, Severina even offered a few corrections on the exact wording, though she didn’t offer any opinions of her own. Maybe it was professional conduct, or maybe she had some relationship with Elodie and her family that prompted her to keep her silence, but Severina didn’t try to sway Jadis with any warnings. That lack of commentary surprised Jadis, since she would have thought someone so closely linked with the second prince would leap at the opportunity to badmouth someone who was of the first prince’s faction.

Another surprise came when Runar tossed a few words of his own opinion into the air.

“That one’s a cunt with teeth,” he had said with a curled lip that showed off his fangs. “Watch what you dangle near her.”

Putting aside her Valbjorn tormentor’s vivid description, the opinions on the interaction varied among her companions. It was fairly clear to all that there was something fishy about what Elodie had said, though the exact design and purpose was uncertain.

The group didn’t spend much time discussing it with Jadis, though. Rather than go into a full analysis of the conversation, Jadis was sent back to her room by Eir with a stern warning to focus on Aila for the rest of the night rather than petty politics. An order that Jadis was happy to follow, hence the love nest in front of the fireplace.

It was just like Aila, however, to focus on the annoying encounter rather than more attractive pursuits.

“What did I say that was so bad?” Jay asked, pressing her face against the top of Aila’s head as she spoke. “I thought I was pretty reserved considering how insulting she was.”

“You were,” Aila agreed. “She said a lot and you said little. What you did say corrected her, informing her and, by extension, the rest of the nobles who were eavesdropping that you don’t view Alex as a pet or a novelty. She’s a companion, same as the rest of us. That’s a major statement, don’t you think? I’m not saying you’re wrong to have done it, but you did just claim a Demon as your companion in a very public way, while you’re still technically under suspicion of consorting with the Cult of Samleos.”

Put like that, Jadis could see what Aila was getting at. Everyone had to know the cult thing was a farce, a false charge that was a result of the bickering rivalry between the two princes. But Alex complicated that perception. It was a little harder to deny a relationship to a cult that worshipped Samleos when she literally had a Demon companion who rode around on her back most days.

“Out of everything that Elodie said, that was the one and only thing you took the time to correct,” Aila continued. “And she said a lot more than just calling Alex a pet beast.”

Reviewing the conversation in her mind again for the umpteenth time, Jadis brought up her own analysis of Elodie’s phrasing.

“I noticed that she put her father and Severina in the same boat together. Her words implied that General Egilhard was just as important to the war effort against the Demon invasion as Severina. From what I can tell, that’s a pile of bullshit. He’s damn well useless down in Weigrun. Maybe even worse than useless, since he’s smuggling eleria for whatever reason. I don’t know a lot about Severina, but I’d bet my underwear that she’s done a lot more to fight demons than anything that egg-face has ever done.”

“No doubt,” Aila agreed with Dys’ words. “She did the same with Runar. She implied that he and her father are close, close enough that Runar should be speaking to her in a very familiar way. For anyone listening, that would make her father seem like an important man with strong connections to other important people. And if Egilhard has those kinds of connections, that means she has them.”

“So why didn’t either Severina or Runar reject her implications?” Syd asked as she leaned her head onto Jay’s shoulder. “Runar obviously doesn’t like her, and I don’t think Severina would be cozy with someone who’s in Prince Hraustrekr’s faction.”

“I’m not sure,” Aila shrugged, her arms rubbing against Jay’s hug. “She probably has some value to them as a connection, so they let that perceived connection exist. We’d have to ask them to get more details.”

“Hm, fun,” Jay grumbled sarcastically. “Talking to Runar about people I don’t like.”

“She also said more about you, you know,” Aila pointed out. “By saying that you proved some rumors she heard as true, she implied that more rumors going around could be true as well. It’s subtle, but she’s basically saying that some of the worse rumors in circulation could have a basis in reality. That was probably the whole point of the interaction to begin with. To damage your reputation with the nobles who were observing.”

“Of course she did,” Dys groaned. “Maybe I really should have punched her in the face. Would have been a lot more satisfying and I doubt it would have hurt my reputation any worse than how you’re saying it went.”

“Why try to tear me down like that anyway?” Jay asked in the next instant. “Does she really need to pick fights with me?”

“You’re already her father’s enemy,” Aila sighed. “You hate him and I doubt he’s unaware of the fact. He tried to get you onto his side and that’s failed. Now he’s probably hoping to undermine you to lessen your power and influence. And if he’s doing that, his family will likely do the same. Even if his daughter doesn’t know anything of importance and has no direct connection to General Egilhard’s dealings, she’s probably against you just because you are against her father. Let’s be honest; even if she wasn’t being a catty bitch, would you be friends with her once you knew who her father was? Or would you avoid her just on principle?”

Jay opened her mouth to deny the claim, then paused before slowly closing it. She liked to think she was a good enough person to not blame the sins of the father on the son—or in this case, the daughter. But Aila was right. She wouldn’t want anything to do with someone who was so closely related to a person who had been purposefully fucking with her life for his own gain, never mind the cutthroat criminal associations.

“Probably not, no,” she settled on saying. “But just because we aren’t friends doesn’t mean we have to be enemies.”

“Noble houses don’t work like that. If one house feuds with another, the individual members aren’t going to be on good terms with each other. And for all intents and purposes, you are a noble house, and we’re your household. Even if you don’t have a title, you’ve got the power. More than I think you realize.”

Maybe Aila was right about households, Jadis admitted. She wasn’t a noble, but she did consider her lovers to be her family, or household, or whatever. She wouldn’t let anything happen to any of them, and if anyone had beef with one of them, she’d have beef with that person by default. A dangerous road of grudges and revenge lay down that line of thinking, though. Jadis would have to be careful she didn’t fall into step with people like the princes and their adherents, drawing battle lines in the sand just because of affiliations. There had to be room for alliance and compromise, even with people she didn’t like, otherwise she’d just end up as an island surrounded by enemies.

…Egilhard’s daughter was making it damn hard to play nice, though.

“What about your parents?” Jay asked. “Do you think they’re okay with you being a part of my household now?”

Aila was quiet for a while, the sound of the crackling fire all that could be heard in the room. Jadis didn’t press her, waiting for her redheaded lover to think through her thoughts and emotions. When Aila did finally speak, her voice was quiet.

“I think my father is feeling better about things now that he’s met everyone. I think he was worried I was getting swept up into some kind of cult or something, but meeting everyone changed his mind on that, I think. Mother, though…”

Syd leaned in, wrapping an arm around Aila while Dys did the same from the other side, effectively tripling Jadis’ hug. Aila sighed at feeling, her body melting into the comfort of the embrace.

“She’s just worried for you,” Dys finished Aila’s thoughts. “She doesn’t want you to get hurt, physically or emotionally.”

“I know,” Aila nodded. “I’m just not sure how to convince her that she doesn’t need to worry about me like that.”

“I doubt you can,” Syd mused. “It’s a mother’s prerogative to worry about her children. She’ll probably still be worrying about you when you’re older than she is now. Unless…”

“Unless?” Aila echoed when Syd didn’t immediately continue.

“You could give her a grandchild or two to focus all that attention on,” Syd smirked as Aila met her gaze. “A couple of big, healthy, half-Nephilim babies would probably take up all of her time, enough that she won’t have any left to worry about you.”

Aila laughed, a smile gracing her kissable lips.

“I doubt that very much,” she shifted to lean her forehead against Syd’s. “She’d probably get even more protective of me and just wrap any babies under the same blanket, smothering us all with her zealous attentions.”

“Maybe,” Syd grinned. “Maybe not. We could find out?”

Aila seemed to think the proposition over before shaking her head.

“They just met you today. I don’t think either of my parents would look favorably on the announcement that I’m pregnant literally the day after our introductions were made. Let’s hold off a little longer on that, okay?”

“Okay,” Syd agreed with no disappointment in her voice. “I can wait until you think it’s a better time. But what about when I get Eir or one of the others pregnant? Do you think that’ll cause any problems with your parents?”

“I… don’t really know, honestly,” Aila shrugged. “I don’t think either of them ever expected me to be in a relationship where that would even be a consideration. I know I didn’t. I guess we’ll just have to navigate that part of the road when we get there.”

“Yes, we will,” Jay agreed as she smiled against the top of Aila’s head.

“What about our Lover’s Bond?” Dys prompted, forcing Aila to turn her head towards her. “I’d like to renew that with you tonight. Want me to turn my potency off for now?”

Aila bit her lip as she thought it over, a certain glint in her blue eyes as she considered Jadis’ question.

“Put yourself at natural,” she finally said, a mischievous smile working its way across her lips. “I don’t think I’m at the best time in my cycle right now, but there’s a chance. If it happens… Well. We don’t have to tell my parents right away, do we?”

“No, we don’t,” all three of Jadis agreed.

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