Curiosity of the Demon Ing

Fosi entered the study on Merrili's shoulder and Kaffe, sitting to the side, started to stand before a scowl from Fosi forced her back on her ass. Once she was settled in the big chair, Fosi dismissed Merrili kindly and waited for the maid to leave, for the door to solidly close, set her elbow on the desk and rested her cheek on her hand.

Kaffe said, "I'm sor-"

"Shut the fuck up." So much had happened since the court mage's departure, forcing Fosi to remain in her transformed state for days and days on end, enduring disgrace and abuse, molestation and violence that Avlakoi in his true form as the lord of all demons would never suffer. "Tell me why, apart from my inability to enact it, I shouldn't kill you here and now for what you've done."

"If I may speak," Kaffe said, straightening up in her seat. "I have been engaged in study for your sake, and I do have something I must discuss with you... This may be hard to-"

"I don't care!" Fosi barked. "Pretending you've done anything for my sake, treasonous witch, I should bite your throat out to stop your lies. At the first opportunity, you trapped me in this weak body and you've forced me to become a liar to those who are closest to me, and it is only that being held above my head which saves you from execution at my hand."

"I-"

Fosi slammed her fist on the desk, startling Kaffe. "Since you see fit to pretend loyalty, at least now you'll put your talents to use. I've been waiting for the day Avlakoi could once again walk among us, so that I may visit terror upon mine enemies."

She spoke of the preceding days, the visit of the boar demon king, the ouster of the drunkard liaison for the sacrificial omen of war which replaced him, the nights spent in the company of the boar demons, her kidnapping and subsequent rescue. And she spoke of the future, one which only Avlakoi could manifest by scale and claw. By the end, Fosi had nearly forgotten her anger, filled instead with the satisfaction that she would be able to take revenge for a new friend, cement a new reputation for her so-called "father". The days of laxity were nearly at their end, and those who had trodden on his kinder nature would at last learn that only the strong are permitted to

be

kind. There was fang in her smile as she explained reticent Kaffe's role in what would come to pass.

"Now." She sighed. "What is it that was so important that you could abandon your position here without so much as a word of permission? Tell me of another environmental survey or anything of its like, and you might not leave this room."

Kaffe was biting her lip, there had been fire in her eyes since the beginning of Fosi's story, but she'd held her tongue, held back her venom. "That bastard Vormise has gone too far!" she snapped through gritted teeth, fangs scraping against one another. "We'll burn down the capital, the forests, stain the ground with blood that won't wash out for ten generations! I'll have his head preserved on a pike for what he's done to you, however many heads you want. No, crucifixion, put on display and carted to the palaces of the other vassal kings until there is nothing but bone held to the planks with rotting ropes and a stench that was once the festering, maggot-ridden bodies of the former boar king's entire family!" There was blood trickling from the site of her clenched fingers on her thighs.

"You understand my feelings at least, it seems," Fosi said. It felt like all of her anger had been shouldered by the other woman, now all that remained was execution. Never mind that the question had been ignored, it could wait. "Have arrangements made for the journey."

-o-

It was uncertainty in Suvir's heart as she rode in the demon king's personal carriage. The journey from her father's kingdom to the small territory claimed by Avlakoi had been cramped and silent but for the grumbling of the assassins pulling her along the rocky ground, had felt far longer than the distance actually was. This time she wasn't weighed down by the knowledge of her impending death, but she did find herself reaching for the calming hand of Lady Fosi, only to find her missing and replaced by... It didn't feel cramped, the carriage was built to the specifications of the demon king after all and it was not made for him bow his head, but he did fill the space on the other side. It had been explained to Suvir that, for safety reasons, the father and daughter couldn't be in one place at the same time, but Suvir would have liked a buffer between herself and this gigantic, implacable man.

The draconic face turned down to regard her, slit pupils growing to give her his majesty's full attention. She didn't know how she was going to last the next week in his presence, or why he'd insisted on her being with him when there were plenty of seats in the other carriages for those who were not marching. At least sir Caelic was right outside if she needed him...

... She did still find it uncomfortable to sit, after being with that man the day before...

"She has told me about you." Avlakoi's voice boomed from within his massive chest as if it were coming from far away, more humble and more humbling than Suvir had expected.

"I'm sorry..."

What she saw on his face couldn't be a smile, a scaly face like his didn't have the flexibility for it. He said, "Everyone seems to be apologizing to me recently. My daughter tells me that you saved her life, no matter the circumstances that led to it being endangered, that is worth giving thanks. As for the rest, your father's crimes belong to him alone. You may relax, please."

"Y-yes sire."

His butt shifted in the seat... did his hips hurt for some reason as well?

"There is no need to worry," he said. "I am far more capable than my daughter, in this way, and I will honor her promises to you and your safety."

"... Right... I don't doubt you, sire."

Avlakoi sighed and looked up to the ceiling. "And don't take what you hear at face value."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I am not the kind to take just any woman who catches my eye. That aside, I would not break something that my daughter values so heavily, and that is what a union between us would mean. You may rest assured, princess."

Despite the fear it had to bore through, laughter bubbled up to her lips and her composure shattered. "Hahaha, you're nothing like I thought! No wonder the other kings don't respect y-" She clapped her hands over her impertinent mouth, she'd been far too prepared to insult this man for days on end.

"We're alone," he rumbled. "Laugh, it's funny. Then, once you've finished laughing, think about the other kings and whether their respect is valuable."

Suvir giggled.

"What is it?"

"You sound just like she does, your daughter. She said nearly the same thing to me just the other day to soothe my nerves. I suppose we know where she gets it from."

The king nodded solemnly. "It is natural that one's progeny would follow in one's own footsteps, but not predestined in the slightest. My father would bite my head off if he heard me speaking like this, if I let him, that is. But then I've long since forgotten a desire for his approval." Was he showing her consideration, even more similar to Fosi? "The only way forward is to surpass our fathers and their fathers, or else wallow in the same mud that our ancestors did, under the weight of their problems. Say, have you ever been in the human lands for any reason?"

"No, sire."

"The sons and daughters of humankind are coddled for years on end, before they even prove they are strong enough to survive, and yet they have beat back our forces on every occasion after a long struggle, further back than written history. I have heard stories of some villages who leave misshapen babes in the woods for the animals, others where food is so scarce that children aren't given names until they're large enough to provide for themselves, but even in these cases, they live lives more comfortable than ours. And then they are stronger than us in the end."

"Pff," Suvir scoffed. "That's only because they have the gods on their side. Once you yourself overcome that barrier and kill their champion, I know the rest of them won't stand a chance. If not, why have we been breeding warriors in the first place?"

"A true believer, are you? It hardly matters, or will matter for many decades. You may not live to see the next iteration of the great war... Shall we speak of something lighter for a change? I hear that you've taken a liking for that wolfman walking beside us." His voice had come down to a conspiratorial whisper, though it seemed hard for him to be quieter than normal speech, what with those lungs.

"Who tol-" Suvir squirmed nervously and it did nothing to alleviate the pounding ache in her hips. "He's nice, I didn't expect that... He's a friend." How this man would react to her true feelings, and for whom, she didn't want to test.

"I'll admit that kindness wasn't a part of the hiring process, but I am glad to see it when I do. It is important that we do not lose focus and throw away something more important along with it by spending ourselves as nothing but warriors and whores... That isn't what I mean."

"I understand, sire." How was he this humble with a girl he'd never met before that day?

"... We've gone back to a heavy subject, haven't we?"

"Yes, sire..."

Silence ruled the space for minutes on end as the massive draconic figure closed his eyes and thought deeply. Suvir felt he might have simply gone to sleep, so sure of his armored scales that it wouldn't matter to him that a near stranger, fresh from enmity with him, was right there. Nobody had searched her when she came to the carriage, Lady Fosi had encouraged her to bring

that

dagger along, sheathed at the small of her back, and she felt they wouldn't have cared.

There were still poisons that worked on those with prominent dragon blood... Fosi herself had shown her how to pierce a defense like this... They trusted her so quickly...

"Tell me," Avlakoi said, coming back to the conversation from a long way off. "What styles are in fashion right now, that you like?"

"Are you interested in fashion, sire? What you're wearing now is-" Brutalist? Barbaric? Barely clothing? "-just a hide wrap... Maybe something made of cloth?"

"For my daughter. She isn't used to wearing clothes yet..."

Suvir felt herself blush and fought to swallow down the mental image of lady Fosi in the nude, from the tips of he toes, up her creamy thighs and her the firm swell of her... to the tips of those fingers, that clumsy, searching touch of hers...

Gulp.

"L-lady Fosi would look good in anything, sire."

Or nothing at all, especially in nothing at all... Maybe just a ribbon......

"I have seen parts of her wardrobe," Avlakoi said. "I can't appraise any of it by myself. I had no interest in clothing until I was a soldier, and then only because I needed to gird my loins for battle. Some opponents wouldn't balk at aiming to end a man's family line..." He stopped and looked away as if he were embarrassed, Suvir couldn't compare her initial idea of this man to the way he was now.

She lifted her hand and presented her fingers to show off the glossy paint Merrili had applied before their departure, only the pinky nail left its natural black. "I think this type of thing is stylish, sire." A type of adornment which couldn't be torn off by a forceful lover, not nearly as permanent as a tattoo, more subtle than stained patterns.

"Yes, I've seen flashes of color like that more and more recently. I'm told the humans use it as a way of strengthening their nails against splitting, hardly a concern for our kind. But it is pretty."

"If she'd allow it, I would be glad to practice on Fosi's nails, when she comes back..." Overjoyed to hold her hands that long...

Avlakoi bent down into the space between them and brought his head to bear. Suvir felt like a trapped animal, but some feeling in his gaze was too familiar to intimidate her for long. After a time staring into her eyes, he said, "If you have the supplies and the will, you may practice on me."

-o-

The lands of the boar demons, for generations going as far back as the first allies of the first demon lord, as far as mythology and archeology could tell, had been the forested lands of the North. Avlakoi's procession passed through logging operations where broad-shouldered boar men lugged massive double-headed axes on one shoulder and felled trees on the other, soldiers and spies hidden within them by the vassal king. Just at the border, Avlakoi knew that there was an invading force already mustered, hoped they did not see fit to attack.

For their sakes, they should stay hidden.

But just as the wheat had to be taken in, come war or peace, so too did the crop of trees have to be cut down once matured. Already there could be seen among the burly workers their children, too young and scrawny for logging, digging holes and planting new saplings for the next harvest in neat rows. No creature made of nothing but brutish simplicity and violence would live past their first generation, centuries of profit had honed this people into proper stewards of the woods besides. Here and there Avlakoi could make out the features of a lesser clan among the workers, bat ears, a bull's tail, goatish curled horns. He preferred not to think on the matter of how they'd come to have them.

He forcefully imagined that each of those men had a mother back at their village whose race was naught but an academic matter.

More likely, these were the children of raiders.

By his side, Suvir was propped up on her knees upon the seat cushion with a brush and a glass pot of paint, humming to herself, and he saw that this was good. She'd been so tense when he first sat down, and she had seemed an adorable thing even to Fosi, who was much closer to the princess' size. It had hurt to see her cowering in fear from him.

The brush didn't tickle. He couldn't feel it nearly at all through his scales, only the pressure of Suvir's palm where she rested her hand for stability. She'd had the idea that just doing his claws wasn't good enough, when he had these big, nice scales to use as a canvas.

Red, perhaps, hadn't been the best choice. It was darker red than his own scales, but by the unskilled application apparent on his claws, he felt he must look splattered with fresh, wet blood. He laughed under his breath.

If Fosi really had been his daughter, he wished that he would have been able to do this with her. For that, Suvir would make for an acceptable substitute. And this substitute wouldn't be put in nearly as much danger as a real daughter of his blood. But then, he couldn't have been like this with a real daughter no matter what; this was a special treat.

This area was nicer than the brambles surrounding his own castle, both because it needed to be, and it had the opportunity to be. The logging industry needed to foster and suffer the smaller plants and the animals that came to live around and within their crop, it would take decades for any region to see fruit from their labor and would not if not for the life and death of animals for fertilizer, the soil-stabilizing power of smaller roots retaining scarce water.

Avlakoi thought it a decent metaphor of the race. The largest men became so thanks to the contributions of those considered weeds. Then, when it came time to cut down the largest specimens, the weeds and the sprouts were left for another season to rise up.

There at his side, now heartrendingly happy, Suvir was a sapling under the shade of her father's branches, used for his benefit. It was fake, Avlakoi's fatherhood, but he looked upon this girl and felt rage the like of which led to a turning over of nations. A lesser man would be thinking of genocide, salting the earth and razing what still lived as an example to others, but Fosi wouldn't want that for the people of her new friend, and so Avlakoi restrained his impulses. But he could not restrain his blood, sending up fantasied retribution.

In time, the sun set and Avlakoi's errant court settled into camp for the night. A couple dozen men needed only two fires and as many beasts roasting above them. Avlakoi ate sparingly with Suvir sitting daintily on his lap, his painted claws glistening in the firelight and drawing fearful glances. Perhaps a different color would have looked less like he'd just finished disemboweling someone, indeed. One pair of eyes wouldn't leave him from across the fires; it wouldn't be possible to push that man away much longer, and Avlakoi hooked his chin as signal before nudging Suvir off and retiring to his tent.

Peris entered quietly and bowed his head only an inch. "You know why I'm here," he said.

Avlakoi crossed his legs and sat on the ground, allowing the two of them to see eye to eye. It was funny to him, even as Fosi, he hadn't been able to naturally look straight at this man. "I promise only to hear your request and consider it properly before giving you my final answer. I do not expect to be disturbed by this again, should I refuse."

Of course I'll refuse! There's no future in any kind of relationship between Peris and my alter ego... If she were actually my daughter and not me, there wouldn't be anything to consider, I'd have given her over at the first mention of his desire for a wife. He must think I have come to hate him, the way I've been forced to act...

"Sire. I do not know if you have heard the rumors, her and the beast man."

"I am aware that she has lain with Caelic, her knight, yes."

Peris' lip twitched. "Your opinion?"

"Have you ever asked one of the succubi their opinion of our more beastly brothers?"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Then," Avlakoi said with an angered rumble, "what would you say if I took any demon I pleased at any moment? Even an atavist woman?"

"That would be your right as king." Peris' tone shifted. "It would bring honor to any woman you chose, and I would think nothing less of you no matter what sort of woman it was."

"And a man?"

What in Hell's name am I saying?

The question hung in the air between them, as neither man could believe they'd heard that correctly.

Peris closed his eyes and carefully said, "My lord, you of all people in existence may have any pleasure this world can provide to you, free from the restriction of culture, opinion, or morality."

"Don't quote scripture to me. My friend, tell me what you would think of me lying with a man, by choice."

"I-" He took a moment to maintain composure. "As you wish, my lord."

"My friend," Avlakoi said more softly, dismayed, "speak to me from that position once more and you will forever be my servant."

Peris knelt and punched the ground. "What do you want me to say!? I've seen you fuck men before!" Peris whispered harshly, not so quiet that one pressing their ear to the canvas of the tent couldn't hear them. "I hated it too, but sometimes a rout doesn't cut it. I've seen the men you've broken, I've done it myself and retched afterward."

The realities of war against demons, their body or their spirit must be broken...

"No, not that either." Avlakoi uncomfortably shifted in his seat, Fosi's injuries still troubled him, but this body was strong enough to withstand it with mild discomfort. "If I had chosen to lie with a man, taking on the female role. Speak."

"This isn't a good joke."

"Then, do you hate my daughter for lying with another man?"

After all that, Peris wound down, put his elbow on his folded knee and rested his chin on his fist. "So that's where you were going with that. Red, you shouldn't do that to a man, I was about to punch you and hurt my hand. No, of course I don't hate her. I don't have any right to her, when I-" He stopped short.