The Dread Knight's Rage

Solomon’s spear cut through the air so quickly and so quietly that even Jiaoying barely noticed it.

The weapon slid into the wall between her and her ex-husband with a subtle crunch.

"W-What the devil?! Who do you think you are!?" The man turned back to Jiaoying angrily. "Do you know this barbarian?!"

Jiaoying’s eyes were still slightly unfocused. Her voice was as quiet as a whisper. "That’s...Solomon."

For a moment, Solomon seemed surprised to hear the way Jiaoying had referred to him. Whatever the reason, he pushed it to the back of his mind as he pulled his spear out of the wall.

"It was loud in here. And you, whoever you are, are perilously close to making this my concern."

Everyone in the room knew that Solomon was talking to the man in blue. And yet, he didn’t look his way or even bother to ask his name.

After plucking his spear out of the wall, he turned to Jiaoying.

For some reason, she had difficulty meeting his gaze at that moment.

Solomon wasn’t a fool. He could surely deduce who this man was, given the context of their conversation. Jiaoying felt somewhat awkward about being seen with him, though the reason why continued to elude her.

She hadn’t done anything wrong. So why did she fear Solomon’s reaction so much..?

"I’m not used to seeing you stand with your head down. It doesn’t suit you."

Jiaoying felt an unexplainable tightness in her chest.

To the untrained eye, it might’ve seemed like Solomon was stepping in to white knight for the mature beauty. Only she was convinced of the difference.

Rather than immediately attack her ex-husband, as he had no doubt wanted to, he had simply stepped in to break up the moment.

And the first thing he had done, rather than starting a serious conflict, was to tell her to lift her head. Those three little words concealed a veritable ocean of underlying meaning.

Jiaoying was... speechless.

"W-Why don’t we all take a moment to calm down, huh?!" Lia said nervously. "I think we’re all just getting a bit too heated here, when there’s really no reason for it!"

The man in blue seemed to give Solomon’s back a rather scathing look. Something he didn’t even pay attention to. His eyes never once parted from those of his lover.

It did not take an ingenious mind to put together that his had to be one of the other people who were present in the room with her. The partial cause of all of those undignified noises and bestial little cries.

"For once, I’m inclined to agree." Lioraeth held a thin pipe between two of her fingers, casually taking pauses to inhale a sweet smoke that looked like glitter.

"I thought for some reason that you had come here for some manner of official business, Master Kinarth. I’m quite disappointed to learn that your only intention was to come and hassle the guests in my home."

Lia and Tavian’s father seemed to finally recognize that his prior behavior could gravely hurt his reputation. He began trying to save what was left before any more damage could be done.

"...Forgive me, Queen Lioraeth. I have shown you something discourteous and unknowingly allowed my emotions to get the better of me. I have come here to retrieve my children, and now that I have done that, I wish to take my leave."

"Your children are not prisoners here, nor are they in distress. Whether or not they choose to leave with you is a matter entirely up to them. Though none of this addresses the matter of my home being casually insulted."

Kinarth swallowed. "The magic tower of Eirbane is always happy to offer compensation in the wake of any unfortunate misunderstandings."

In that moment, Lioraeth smiled as if that were what she had wanted to hear all along.

"Well then. We shall see whether or not said generosity is great enough for us to continue acting in concert with the human magic tower. Recently, our elders have begun to express that our partnership is... less than necessary."

If Lioraeth bent Kinarth over the table and pegged him, she couldn’t have humiliated him any more than she already had.

From this point onward, everything was about saving face.

He smiled as politely as his aching coin purse would allow, even lowering his head.

"I will see to it that the benefit of our partnership is given corporeal form soon enough."

He turned to his children with an air of urgency.

"Well then, kids... I believe it’s time to go."

Lia and Tavian naturally looked toward their mother. Even as adults, they seemed as small as teenagers.

Jiaoying smiled at them earnestly. "It is alright. Go, and I will see you soon."

Kinarth’s nostrils flared. "You will not-"

"They are my children as well. I will see them as long as they want me to."

Jiaoying’s tone was harsh and unmoving. Any further arguments would have been about as pointless as pressing one’s head against a brick wall.

Besides... enough arguing had been done for one day. Now, all the powerful young mage wanted was to leave this damned realm as quickly as possible.

-

The next few hours were uncharacteristically silent.

As Lioraeth had promised, some fae elders showed up in rather short order to ascertain Yari and Giselle’s conditions.

Since Yari had been thoroughly exhausted from sex, she slept right through her examination. Giselle, on the other hand, was slightly more of a problem.

Sitting still seemed to prove quite the challenge for the elven noble. Saying that she was bouncing off the walls didn’t quite sum it up. Only five minutes after waking, she was learning to fly with her new wings and running across the ceiling while giggling.

Solomon was sitting in the living room once Yari’s exam ended. Bansha sat on the sofa beside him, curled up into a ball and sleeping her life away.

Meanwhile, her owner was sitting in total silence, staring at the spot in the wall where his spear had landed.

Although nothing appeared to be wrong with him on the surface, Jiaoying wasn’t wholly certain.

Which was why she watched him from behind a corner, not saying a single word and wondering why the distance between them felt larger than it did before.

As she decided to stop being cowardly and go to him, his siblings beat him to it, causing her to shrink back.

Nila proceeded to walk right up to her brother, holding out her hand and smiling warmly.

"Feast your eyes on my total brilliance, brother!"

At the very tip of Nila’s finger, a small flame sparked to life. Solomon and even Jiaoying were in visible awe.

That was, of course, until Nila suddenly sprang the largest nosebleed either of them had ever seen, and fell over as a result.