That was the thing about Lily, wasn’t it? She wasn’t only stoic but also a loner. It didn’t show through how she made love but she didn’t want anyone else. She was scared and she had lost a child of her own. It wasn’t something she was looking forward to ever again and while she was Arri’s matchmaker she herself was alone. His coldness didn’t even seem cold to her, it just didn’t matter.

She got up on the horse and they made the move. She opened up gates for them where she could but getting into Arri was an entirely different matter. They were riding for a day through the desert and it looked like Lily knew exactly where they were going. “This is the Xelas, the road between the desert and Arri. I know it well.” There was a pained look on her face for a split moment. “If we follow it, we’ll come across the oasis. Children and others are taken from here for tribal rituals. If you’re not careful you could disappear as well. They won’t bother us, I’ve made sure of that.” It had been roughly fifty years, hadn’t it? 

Finally in the shade of the rainforest surrounding Sularia they made their way up to the gate. “Good evening Luria!” Lily waved to one of the guards and the gate opened.

“Evening my lady, I hope your travels have been well?” They eyed the blood on her.

“Could have been better but what’s done is done. Good to see Sularia isn’t in piece thanks to my idiotic sisters.”

The guards let a few laughs out, “I’m pretty sure Queen Willow keeps the lot of them in check herself. Your grandmother is very strong.”

Lily nodded and led Jax into the gemstone covered city. “This is Sularia. We’re going to the hillside.” The Yellow Court manor was lined with holy lanterns and topazes. Yellow rose bushes were also present but as they got closer to the house she could hear a commotion inside. She stopped the horses and got down off of it. 

There were three figures outside. The curvy Angela, the silent Cathrine, and the troublesome one Toya. “Oh my, please don’t tell me you are all here visit me at once.” Lily let a sarcastic remark out as Toya made a face.

“Please, your child is on a rampage. We merely are keeping her to one part of the house. If you knew how to rear her she wouldn’t be such a troublemaker.” Toya spat before Angela smacked her upside the head.

“Like you know how to rear a child properly.” The two started to fight back and forth over who was the better mother before Cathrine took both of their heads and smacked them together.

“Please stop.” Cathrine’s words entered their minds and the two siblings stopped their bickering. “The young one seems troubled over what happened in Adeluna.”

“She knows then? That was fast.” Lily sighed a bit as she looked up at Jax. “Jax has been kind enough to help me with that situation. Jax these are my sisters Angela, you might have heard of her. The other two are Cathrine and Toya.” She pointed to the unknown sisters who stared at him for a minute before looking back at Lily’s manor.

“I’m afraid your foyer might be damaged beyond repair this time.” Angela seemed sad at such a loss of art.

“We’ll fix it. The girl has lungs of steel and by far that makes it the worst thing she can do.” Lily chuckled as she beckoned Jax to follow her. “Please forgive my daughter, teenagers are the worst.” As soon as they got in the front door a side table flew back Lily barely missing her. “Must you be so angry with me?”

“WHY?! Do you always leave me at home? I can be helpful!” A small brown haired girl with a demonic presence came up. She had wild brown eyes as she stared at Lily. Her features were quite similar to the queen but the attitude was completely opposite. “Demons! They are my area of expertise.”

Lily took a sigh and shrugged. “You are sixteen Nymphaea, you are hardly the expert at anything. Just being half demon doesn’t make you an expert on them. Now please calm down.” Like that was the wrong word spoken Nymphaea took another table and threw it. The rage was real.

Bending over Lily unlocked a secret panel and brought out a bucket of something. She threw what seemed like water all over the girl. Steam started to rise as Nymphaea began to scream. “I said, that’s enough.” The demonic aura began to calm down as Nymph was on the ground breathing harshly.

“You didn’t have to take care of it like that.” Nymph was out of breath as she leaned up against the wall.

“You haven’t been doing your herbal baths like I told you to. I’ll speak to the caretakers of you after your scolding. Your hot temper is exactly the reason why I’m not letting you help me out. You would get yourself killed and then what would I do? You want to be dead like your sister Opal?” Nymph winced and looked away. “Yaeger and I did not fight so you could get yourself killed and I won’t hear any more of it. Speaking of your good for nothing father where is that sword of yours?” Lily scolded before Nymph pulled herself up and threw the sword at her. 

“Whatever,” Nymphaea left and Lily sighed more.

“I’m sorry about her she is quite the troublesome one. Now then… We should take care of this demon problem… At least a little bit before I let you go. I’m prepared to pay you more.”

As soon as they entered the city, Jax stared at the beauty around him. It wasn’t the plants or how the buildings were built, but the woman that walked the streets.”Maybe I should stay a few days?” He thought with while he smiled at a few of the women, they smiled back or turned away. He didn’t take any offence. He was a new face around here.  Why hadn’t he come here before? His work never took him past the wastelands. He would always stay around the south of the island. Being an assassin usually means staying in the large cities or killing people on their way to another city. He had killed only few men heading through the wastelands, their destination unknown to him and he didn’t care to know.

While their horse’s came to a halt his eyes saw the three women standing outside of the house. His jaw almost dropped, he had never seen the Goddess Angela before, only heard of her beauty. That red hair…”Mom had red hair..” He thought then pushed the thoughts away. He couldn’t think of his parents, he didn’t want to feel.

Jumping off his horse, he pulled his bow from its spot on the saddle and put it over his head to secure it onto his back. He listen to the sisters fight and almost laughed. “What a lively bunch.” He thought to himself and couldn’t help but chuckle. When he saw Lily motion for him to follow, he nodded. “Nice meeting you all.” He said about to laugh at them all, it was like they were all children, but it was humorous to watch. With a nod to them all, he followed Lily.

As they entered the room with her daughter, Jax didn’t hesitate to move aside. The table flying at them made his eyes widen for a moment. What the hell was going on? He wasn’t one to be around for family drama. If she had paid him already he would be gone. Stepping aside once more, he watched the angry child. She was really mad at her mother, Lily, the Queen.

Jax stood off the sidelines watching them and watching. Was he supposed to help her with this demon problem of hers or could he leave? Leaning back against the wall near the door, he crossed his arms and waited. It wasn’t until Lily splashed the water on the child he pushed himself off the wall and looked from the poor child to her mother. “What the fuck?!” He cursed inside his mind. If he was more of a man, then an unfeeling one, he would had said something. Instead, he leaned back on the wall and waited.

When the child left, he pushed off the wall once more and walked over to Lily. “Wasn’t that a bit to harsh? She is just a kid.” It took him a moment before he realized what he had said. Looking away, he looked at the sword in her hands. She mentioned pay and he nodded. “Forget it. Let’s get this done. I don’t do family drama.” He said sternly and pointed to the sword. It must have been magical in some way or she wouldn’t have need it so bad.

Lily’s grip around the sword tightened for a moment. Before long they moved to her study and she closed the door. “Before we continue. You said a bit harsh.” Her eyes were sad as she looked at Jax. “I don’t expect you to understand me. I don’t expect you to care about my daughter or my family. I don’t expect you to give any fucks.” She set the sword down and leaned on her desk.

“Nymphaea is half demon. Her bloodline is that of a shadow demon, one of the strongest there are. Her blood is constantly fighting itself and I remember when that child was so scared of the dark because the darkness loved her so much more than the light she was raised around. How every day she was so alone because my house is a holy house. She was the only one. Do not think that I don’t care about her. Should her blood get out of control like it just was and she gets out of this house and actually kills someone… I will have no choice but to put my own daughter to death. A little pain to save her soul? I would do that for her.” Her voice was soft as she went to grab the sword again. “It’s why she has to bathe in the herbal bath. So she doesn’t have to die a pitiful death not even knowing who she is anymore.”

A deeply pained sigh left her as light seals on the sword began to appear. Before them stood a man who was probably more beautiful than any other man in Sularia at that moment. He had wild brown eyes and dark brown hair just like Nymphaea. “I didn’t think you would let me out. You look beautiful Lily.”

Lily had a harsh look in her eyes. “If it wasn’t for the fact that I need information your ass would stay where it is. Cut the shit.” The words that left her were hurt. 

“You let me out and then you yell at me. I really don’t understand you sometimes. Just ask what you want so I can go consul our daughter.” Yaeger’s voice was soft with her as if understanding why she was so mad at him.

“You are a sword, you can’t consul her. You made that decision on your own.” Lily found herself pulled away from the reason why she really called on him. “I would kill you again for the things you did if I could.”

Yaeger put his hands up and looked at the woman. “Now Lily, you said you didn’t want to go on about this. I lost control Lily I-”

She cut him off with a slam of her fist. “I don’t give a damn, you tried to kill our daughter. She wasn’t even born. Just answer my damn question so I can stop looking at your face. Who are the people after me and why are they insisting on me looking at you?” There was anger and a lot of unresolved pain.

“Probably from my clan. Shadow demons hardly take the killing of one of their own lightly. We’re pack creatures and I did let myself become vulnerable. You’ve done well hiding the girl but I doubt that’s going to remain the same if they followed you here. Also, diluted holy water isn’t going to keep the blood at bay if she doesn’t listen to you. Even I could tell that wasn’t completely useful water. It’s unlike you to hold back if your heart is into it. If you are going to go for it go all the way.” Now Yaeger was being stern with Lily. “You were stern with me.”

“I had to be.” She ran her hands down the marks on the sword and his image vanished. She sword the sheath tightly so he couldn’t speak. “Damn man.” She took a few breaths to compose herself. “I suppose I wasn’t completely ready for that.” That was hardly the correct answer as she looked at Jax. “It appears the situation is worse than I thought it was.” She threw two bags at him. Instead of silver they were filled with precious gems. “If I knew that’s what it involved I wouldn’t have put you through dealing with Nymphaea and then Yaeger. You can find yourself some good entertainment at the inn if that’s what you want. I need time to figure out what I’m going to do and a man like you won’t want to be around things like that. Family drama? That’s only the half of it.” A soft but sad smile remained on her lips.

Jax was ready to move already. He wanted to help her anyway he could and get the hell out of there. As soon as she moved he followed. The half elf dropped his hands to his sides and walked behind her. He didn’t know what she was going to do with the sword, but he was slightly curious. Stepping into the room that looked like a study, he moved to the side as she shut the door behind them. She started to speak and he fought the urge to roll his eyes. He didn’t care about her reasons, but as she spoke he started to understand. A demon child must be a great burden to bare. He looked into her eyes as she stared at him. He saw the love in her eyes mixed with sadness that she had to do what she had done. At least she wasn’t taking pleasure in what she was does.

Lily soon started to work. She moved her hands over the sword and then a man appeared before them. He looked from the man to her, you could tell they were lovers once, or more. Jax stood there leaning on a nearby table, he listen to them bicker with one another and then it was down to business. “Shadow demons, huh? They are nasty.” He thought to himself. He had only met one in his lifetime and didn’t want to meet another again.

The half elf was almost glad when she tossed the bags of silver at him. She spoke to him with frustration. When she finished, he gave her a sweet smile and bowed. “If you ever need anyone killed, send me a bird. I am usually in the big cities. And you know there is a price. Goodbye, Love.” Straightening he turned away from her and made his way out of her home. “She was a great in bed, I give her that.” He thought to himself with a smirk as he jumped onto his horse and tightened the reins of the other horse on his saddle. He was done here and needed to get back to collect the rest of his money and more onto the next kill. He didn’t stay to enjoy the city, he had work to do. Softly kicking the horse on the side, he rode out of the city.