Who Are You?

As the minutes trickled by and the girls continued their talks, the conversation suddenly shifted to Exedra.

Bekka: "We heard about Exedra..."

Lailah: "How is he? How are you?"

Hearing the genuine concern in the voice of these young girls, Yara found herself truly touched yet again to have these two as part of her family.

Even if their road here was less than ideal, she was still incredibly grateful that they were here.

"He's fine, he's stable now so that's all that matters." Yara was secretly trying to convince herself as much as them.

Bekka : "We should see him when he wakes up!"

Lailah: "I haven't seen him in a long time... I think he avoids us."

The girls settled into silence before Yara uttered a single question that has always plagued her mind.

"Have you ever resented my son?"

Anyone could tell that her question took them by surprise, and yet it was not one that was unfounded. 

Exedra was intended to be a punishment for them afterall. 

Both of their families simply came to the dragons and said, 'let's put our trash together with yours!'

Both girls took a moment to glance at each other before giving surprising answers. 

Bekka: "Never!"

Lailah: "No."

Their firm refusal admittedly put a smile on Yara's face and she became slightly emotional. 

Lailah seemingly noticed this and moved her chair next to hers and took her hand in a kind and warm gesture.

"We only resent circumstance, but since we have been here, we have been very happy." She squeezed Yara's hand slightly to convey the seriousness of her words.

"Your son seems like a wonderful man from your stories, I only wish we were a bit closer."

Bekka merely nodded from her seat, and Yara couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

Her son was well liked by all of the staff and the guards. Sometimes they doted on him more than she did.

But in front of his wives, her son's bright and charming personality disappeared as if it were never there.

He became shy and easily embarrassed, leading to him avoiding these two altogether.

Yara knew how her son felt about them, how could she not?

Yet it always seemed as though she lacked the words to convince him to let go of his self-hatred and try to love the girls the best he could.

Before Yara could muster up words in response, she caught sight of Duke running towards them.

"Duke? What's the matter?"

"My lady, please pardon my unsightly arrival, but there has been terrible screaming coming from the Young master's room. The medical team has been alerted and are on their way immediately."

Yara immediately stood up and prepared to leave.

Turning her back to tell the girls they'd have to continue tea another time, she was shocked to find them standing as well.

Bekka / Lailah: "We're coming with you."

For a moment, Yara stood there slightly gobsmacked.

Once she'd gotten over her shock, she made up her mind then and there that as long as her son lived through this, she would punch him over his head and demand he treat these girls better!

"Alright girls, let's go." 

-

Approaching Exedra's room, it was easy to hear the screaming that Duke had spoken of, even from all the way down the hall.

Slowly, it began to die down as the girls reached the door and Yara immediately feared the worst.

Yara pushed the door open hard, nearly knocking it off the hinges and sending it flying.

Yara rappidly glanced around her son's neat and tidy room, however her brain immediately stopped working when she noticed something that did not belong.

A man slowly rose off of the ground and stood up, at a glance he appeared to be 6'3. 

He wore nothing but black sleep pants that appeared to be much too small for him. His body was extremely well defined, as if it had been chiseled from marble by gods themselves.

He wasn't overly muscular or terribly skinny, his body sat perfectly in between the two.

He had long dark red hair the color of wine that hung all the way down to his waist. His bronze skin was flawless and without a single imperfection.

On his head, there were two dark horns as black as obsidian. 

Staring back at Yara were a pair of red reptilian eyes that glimmered like the finest of rubies.

Looking into those eyes, Yara had the strangest feeling as if I'd seen them countless times before, yet she'd surely never.

Staring into the face of the stranger in her son's room, she was immediately struck by his criminally unfair beauty. 

Even when Yara compared him to 'that man', she fund that the man in front of her was just slightly superior. 

He looked so much like…

"A-Asmodeus?" she meekly called out.

The man appeared to be confused before a glint of recognition shone in his eyes and he spoke.

"No… it's me, mother."

The man's voice was smooth as silk, as if merely listening to it could lull an unguarded soul into blissful sleep the likes of which they would never awaken from.

"Exedra?!"

The last thing Yara saw was the man nod with a smile that could enchant any woman before she inevitably passed out from shock.