The test

As soon as he had been freed he ran over to Fiona's side and Gritzl was mainly background noise to him all but forgotten as Gritzl walked away.

"Will you be my mama?" asked the little one as he stared up at Fiona's face.

She caught a quick breath at the hesitancy in his voice.

The change that came over him after believing that he finally belonged to someone made Fiona's eyes water.

She wiped away a few tears, Fiona hadn't even had sex yet and everything seemed to be going wrong in her life right now but when she saw how the child stared at her.

Fiona simply nodded.

His dark hair stood up in the air like he got an electric shock, she smoothed it down with the palm of her hand.

The boys eyes initially widened with terror when he saw her hand reaching for him all he had known was violence from adults.

Who often slapped him when he got in their way or did some sort of mischief to get his basic needs met.

Fiona's soft gentle hands caressing him made the boy stand still and stare at her longingly; this affection was something he had waited for all his life and would never get used to it.

She gave him a quick hug and then grabbed a hold of his hand.

"Come child, let's go home together," she gently whispered.

Having received a taste of paradise in Fiona's embrace he asked, "You won't let them send me away?"

His hand now clutched her own tightly and it trembled.

Once more she leaned over and pulled him into her loving embrace while she spoke softly in the boy's ears.

When she finally lessened the hug and clutched the boy's hand once more she had won him over completely.

The boy was now looking up at her adoring with tears in his little eyes.

Even though he was still afraid to trust her he was at least willing to try and she squeezed his tiny hand for affirmation that she meant what she just promised him.

Tiamat's eyes widened at what she said to the boy, so enamored they were with each other that they failed to notice his presence.

Many times he had thought about stepping in to intervene but instead he stuck to the shadows.

He had to see how his future wife would handle the tough decisions that came her way. Tiamat wouldn't always be by her side, so he needed someone with fairly decent reasoning skills.

That was probably setting the bar low but a lot of the women he met were either scared of him or after his wealth.

He didn't just want beauty but also brains as Tiamat didn't want to spend the remainder of his life tied to an idiot either.

Fiona paused, "Where are your clothes and shoes?"

"Gritzl burned them. I don't have any more."

Her facial expression never changed at his response, instead she said, "first thing we'll do is get you some replacements."

His eyes widened at her generosity.

She smiled and called out to Tiamat, "I know you are over there lurking, can you please carry the child back to my room?"

The ground wasn't the cleanest and she wasn't about to risk the child stepping on something that could cause him injury.

Tiamat nodded and came from behind the tree, his heart soared like an eagle. This was as he expected of his future wife.

The boy recoiled when she tried to persuade him to go with dragon lord Tiamat. He was obviously scared of the new master of Thornwyck prefering to hide behind Fiona's dress while he shot fearful, cowardly glances at Tiamat.

Patiently she drew the child into her arms and calmly explained to him what would happen next as she believed that it was lack of knowledge that made him lash out.

Her explanations only took a few minutes and when she was done the young boy had a calm and serene expression on his face.

Today was the happiest he had ever been all his life and the immediate change that came over his was uncanny.

He stuck his chest out with pride and then the little warrior in the making walked over to Tiamat with the swagger of a hundred of Tiamat's elite soldiers that he secretly admired.

The little boy went up to Tiamat with a bright smile and a look of adoration on his young face as he pulled on Tiamat's pants leg and simply said, "up!"

He giggled when Tiamat gently reached down to pick him up from the hips and then successfully planted him on Tiamat's shoulders.

The whole time the boy whooped with glee delighted with the feeling of sitting on top of the world.

Fiona rewarded Tiamat with a look of admiration for his efforts that made Tiamat's head spin.

Tiamat felt like he would walk ten thousand miles just to have her look at him like that for the rest of his life.

As they walked together the boy got off his shyness and he basked in the attention of the couple that were doting on him.

He no longer feared the oversized giant who seemed gruff and monosyllable.

The boy had taken to Tiamat like a fish to water and asked questions all the way back to the main house.

Fiona had her attention solely on the boy and she asked him, "what's your name."

"It's Seth, my lady."

"Well I'm Fiona and this is Lord Tiamat, anytime you have a problem you can talk to either of us," she replied pleased with his answer.

Tiamat raised an eyebrow how presumptuous of his bride to volunteer his services without his consent he would have to curve that flaw of hers before it becomes a habit.

They looked like a ready made family to the villagers as they walked on by with the boy on his shoulders and Fiona close by his side.

Things were finally changing for the better at Thornwyck or so they thought.

From the watchtower, the alarm bell rang loudly for the first time in years.

An elite guard yelled out, "My lord Tiamat come quickly, there is an unidentified army marching straight towards us!"