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Hey everyone! This is another magical world, but this time with elves, vampires, werewolves, and such! This story also becomes a slow burn. They figure out their feelings for each other for sure around chapter 3 but it takes until the end to get to the sex, though we tease it plenty in other chapters. Just a little warning before we get into the story! Love you all and enjoy! *~
Avanær was an ancient and proud country split into provinces according to the races of its denizens, each ruled by a leader of their own people (or by three royal families in the case of the fae, or a council for the werefolk). The oldest and largest district was Fyrie, known as the Fae world, with the next oldest right next to it, Arcasias. Arcasias was where the vampyres ruled over their people, with the King and Queen and their children who were next in line for the throne. There was a rather large human province, a werewolf territory, and a demon domain. The entirety of Avanær had treaties among their peoples, laying down what was allowable between the different races and how to make sure everyone got their needs met.
Blood was donated from all of the other provinces and shipped to Arcasias so the vampyres wouldn't starve or have to hunt humans anymore; though many among the vampyre elite eschewed werewolf blood, claiming that it tasted terrible, while Fae blood was reserved for the ruling caste only. Food was also traded between provinces, goods and crafts, raw materials, and more. They all worked together to make sure Avanær would prosper.
In the very middle of the disparate regions was a plot of land that was designated a neutral zone. It was still part of the country, but it didn't belong to any single race. It was known as Varsonia, and the Vedora School of Sorcery and Inherent Magic had been founded there. Almost every noble family sent their children there, starting from the age each race began developing magical powers or their race's abilities; grade school for most but generally puberty for the werewolf tribes. It was a large school, with wings dedicated for each level of schooling and set up to keep most of the races separate.
Of course, these classes were for magical creatures. Humans, mostly lacking in innate magical abilities and living such short lives, had their own schools within their district. Every other generation or so, the humans would produce a sorcerer and they were, of course, welcome to attend, but the School was the place for everyone with long lives to learn about their magic. That was why Rhys Draven, bastard son of Duke Jasper Draven, was finally attending. Normally, he would have been in the school much sooner, but he had been taught by private tutors out of necessity.
Rhys' mother was a princess of the Wood Elf conclave, but no one in this area knew that. What they thought, originally, was that she was some human that the Duke was keeping around. Now, with her not aging, it was clear she was something else but no one knew for sure. Most people figured she had some vampyre blood, making her a dhampyr, the same as Rhys. dhampyrs were generally looked down on in vampyre society, but they had their uses.
Rhys had been working on controlling his elven abilities so he wouldn't slip around anyone that he and his family didn't want to know about it. There were prophecies about elves mixed with other creatures, and none of Rhys' parents wanted to deal with how people would react because of how insular the different societies were.
Everyone would have expected that Duchess Iona would have hated her husband's bastard, but the truth was that she loved him as if he was her own. If it was up to his three parents, he
would
be the heir, but it would bring too many questions. Even Marius would have been happy to step aside for him, but Rhys didn't want the responsibility of being the next Duke of Dravenwood.
His parents were in a triad relationship. All three of them loved each other, and all three of them stayed in the same bed. No one outside of their home knew that though. Everyone else thought Alavara Caimaer was simply someone who took care of the children and home, and who the Duke slept with.
Rhys was Alavara's only child. The birth had been traumatic and difficult, and ended with a c-section which was almost unheard of where they lived. After that, she was left unable to have more, but she acted as a second mother to the others and her heart and family was full.
Now Rhys was back from his trip to learn advanced elven magic in secret by his Uncle, the King of the wood elves, and he was being sent to Vedora. His siblings were already there, and now it was his turn to go. He was all packed and waiting for the car to pull up and take him to the dorms where he'd be staying during the school year. He was excited to see his siblings again, as it had been a long three decades away learning from his uncle and cousins.
Rhys had been hearing various perspectives about the upcoming appearance of literal vampyre royalty at the School from his siblings during his "exile." There was a great deal of speculation about the return to the School of Prince Vasile Valravyn following his twenty year hiatus among the humans. Word had been spreading around the School that he had been trying to battle a Basilisk-blood addiction and had spent five of those years alone in the woods, meditating and praying to Shezmu to deliver him from the wrath of Hekate. Yet another tale explained his scruffy appearance with the claim that he had cast aside his wealth and position while among the humans and lived amidst the unwashed masses in the shanty-town outside of Poivin, the major human city.
There were as many rumors as people spreading them, but the man's reputation was nevertheless spotless, at least among vampyres. There was a faction in the School that had traditionally opposed the vampyre hierarchy, and even they seemed to like the guy.
Of course, Rhys understood how rumors were around royalty. He'd seen it with the vampyres, and he'd seen it with the elves as well. He'd been a fairly well kept secret at the wood elf palace to everyone except those who lived and worked within the palace, and the help gossiped all the time, especially around him because it was easy to forget he was there when he was quietly reading books. He wasn't going to make any judgments on the Prince until he met him. As an illegitimate royal himself, though, the title itself didn't interest him much. It wasn't going to be what made him hang out with the man.
The first person he saw once he finished all his paperwork, got his school ID, got his things stowed away where they needed to be and got into his uniform was his brother Marius. Marius came over and threw his arms around his brother's shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug before letting him go.
"Wow, look at you!" Marius exclaimed as he looked over Rhys. "You grew your hair out, I see, and you got taller. You'll have every man and woman falling all over you soon enough."
Rhys shook his head at that. "I doubt it. The dhampyr stuff always gives people pause. It's so good to see you though."
Marius grinned at him. "Come on, come sit with us for dinner."
Marius led him over to one of the tables. Vampyres could still eat food just fine, and even better if the food had been cooked in blood, which was a great delicacy in Arcasias. The table was covered in that exact type of food. It took some effort to not show his reaction on his face when he took in the blood sausages, potatoes, mostly raw steak, and other savory foods laid out on the spread. He was so used to the sweet fare of the elves now that the savory food of the vampyres seemed less appetizing. He briefly wondered if he was becoming a little too elven for this area now.
Most of those sitting at the table were his siblings, but Marius introduced him to their friends. He shook hands with each new person before he sat down next to Marius. Someone asked him, "Are you excited about the Prince coming back to school?"
"Should I be?" Rhys asked back, looking surprised by the question. "I'm just a lowly bastard dhampyr. What interest would vampyre royalty have with me? I'm nothing but a piece of gum on his shoe."
"You're
touching
his
shoe
?" Marius asked, pretending to swoon while everyone laughed.
"I'd only be so lucky!" Rhys joked, fanning himself as if that was making him hot all over. "I bet he'd just step around me, unfortunately. How could I ever get the attention of someone so important?"
"You could try asking for it," said a quietly cultured voice from behind him. In all the commotion from their conversation, no one had noticed the approach of the handsome Prince of the Vampyres. Rhys turned in shock to see Vasile Valravyn standing casually nearby, a crooked smile on his face which was reflected in the twinkle in his lavender eyes.
This was Rhys' first time ever getting to see the vampyre prince, since his schooling had been mostly private and he'd been gone for a while now. Vasile was easily six foot four inches tall, making him only about three inches taller than Rhys was. His raven black hair fell to his broad shoulders, matching perfectly with his pale and unblemished skin. Despite the rumors of his scruffy appearance, he must have shaved recently because all Rhys could see now was a very light five o'clock shadow. He was well built, which the uniform for the school easily showed off, though Rhys' uniform wasn't quite as well tailored.
He was a beautiful man, and even Rhys could admit that much. Still, he wasn't going to admit that out loud, even if his eyes did widen slightly as he took in the man's appearance.
"Surely it's not that simple, Your Highness," Rhys replied, his own teal colored eyes sparkling right back. "With all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds you, you could surely make better choices than little ole me. I'll just have to make do with checking you out from afar and drooling like all the other riff raff who couldn't have a prayer's chance in spending more than fifteen minutes with you."
Vasile had heard about the bastard son of Duke Draven before. He was interesting gossip because he was a dhampyr who was held in high esteem by his father and siblings, and rumors said that his stepmother was very fond of him, which was odd for a child born out of wedlock. He was also talked about because his looks were anything but vampyric. He was a tall man at six foot one and had deeply tanned skin that looked like it should belong to a human or one of the wood elves. His hair was a rich red color, just a couple of shades darker than ginger, and he kept it long down his back. Right then he had it up in two braids on each side that came down to meet in the middle. His eyes were also a very vivid teal color, like the pools of water in Fyrie sometimes were colored.
Rhys' nose was slightly turned up and he had only a hint of facial hair on his face. His lips were full and seemed to be curved up into a permanent smirk. It was clear by looking at the siblings he was with that he got most of his looks from his mother. The only vampyric thing about him was his sharper canine teeth and a look in his eyes as if he was sizing everyone up when he met them; a sign of a hunter.
