Grand Feast

Lord and Lady Wrath were bombarded with wishes of good fortune from the many guests. Lady Lust was crying onto the shoulder of a very uncomfortable-looking Gabriella while Herra laughed lightly at her lover's discomfort.

Despite a few jealous looks from a few of the other blade maidens in the feasting hall, Syrin appeared to be enjoying herself, even snuggling up to her Lord husband a few times, seemingly for no reason other than to enrage them a bit more. Lord Wrath did not indicate that he minded her actions, or at the very least did not care to ruin her fun. It was her night, after all, he reasoned to himself no point in admonishing her harmless actions.

He took note of his younger brother speaking to Lord Xavier as they shared their third toast of fairy juice for the night. He shrugged slightly, the boy would learn his lesson come morning. He promised himself something at that moment. That he would be sure to make as much noise as possible with his lady wife within the master bed chamber above his youngest kins' training area come dawn.

Ah the joys of being the oldest sibling, will it never cease to bring endless joy?

Syrin glanced up at her husband's eyes when his chest started to rumble in a sudden and a rather evil-sounding bout of laughter. She smiled softly, wondering what he had found so humorous, she would ask him when they were alone later.

Even if he presented himself as a faceless figurehead of the clans, there was still a young man under all that cynicism and black humor. It was nice to see it shine through, even if it was only for a brief moment such as this.

"My lady wife," He spoke as his laughter left him, "Not even wed for an hour and already you are the cause of much of my joy." The young man shook his head amusedly.

"Oh, my dear lord husband, I plan to make you do more than just laugh by the end of the night." Her smile was wide now, no longer the small proper smile of a lady but the playful grin of a youthful woman enjoying herself immensely.

The young man tilted his head to the side in acknowledgment of the idea, before ghosting his fingers along the length of her ribs, watching as she stiffened trying to hold in a laugh.

"Oh..." Wrath looked down at her questioningly.

She suddenly shot up from her position on his chest, an embarrassed look on her face. Syrin had no way of truly knowing, but she was absolutely sure that he was smirking beneath that mask of his.

"Do not shy away now you vixen." He said putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her back into him. "What are these things that you are planning on doing to me?"

"I'm sure you can think of such yourself." The new Lady of Wrath's blush deepened as she buried her face into the lord's side.

"An innocent like me?" He said fainting purity.

"Ha!" Syrin scoffs and looked up at his face. "As if, the prowess of his lordship in bed is a common subject between the maidens."

"They must be talking about someone else." Wrath uttered with a shrug.

"It appears so," An exaggerated sigh lifted her chest. "What a shame it was not him that I wed."

"Fear not maiden, for I am a fast learner." Wrath jested, giving his new bride the feeling that he was a lot less serious than originally rumoured.

"I'm sure you are," She patted his chest, feeling his muscles tighten at the unexpected action.

Just as he opened up his mouth to respond, he caught Lord Love waving him over indicating that everything he had asked to be done was ready.

"No stay." Wrath stands up with her and puts his hands on her arms keeping her in place .

"Bu.."

"This is your day," He stated, cutting her off. "You will not get another, I do not want you to miss it."

Syrin looked up at him and her snow-coloured brows knit together. He could practically see the gears in her head turning, while she tried to think of something that would make him allow her to go. As the lady of the house now it was her duty to deal with situations like this alongside her husband. To not go would feel like she was already neglecting her duties.

"I will tell you everything later," He promised, though he will not say it to her directly, the duty she felt towards the clans already had him liking her all the more. "I will not keep anything from you."

Wrath looked into her eyes and saw her wavering. "Stay, enjoy the rest of the celebrations for the both of us."

"Alright," She muttered with a sigh and sat back into her chair before looking back up at him. "I will wait for you."

"That is fine," Wrath gazed over to his friend before he said. "I must take leave."

Lord Wrath reluctantly left his wife at the festivities with his sister looking after her. He needed to speak with his most trusted liegemen about the death of his father. His second in command Devon was there along with a few more members of the Wrath clan, mostly sentinel guards, Lady Lust, Xavier Lord Love, and Granular Lord Envy were already present.

Devon, Lord Wrath's former second in command and current leader of the Black Blades of Wrath had his hands on the table as he looked over a map of the continent of Creonix, more specifically the Ember Region along the northmost coast where the Princess of Embers ruled the Ember Kingdom. He took a moment to acknowledge his lord when he was within social distance, greeting him with a slight nod before pushing himself up from the table.

The young lord nodded back, pointedly ignoring the face-splitting grin that formed on Granular's face as he entered the room and took his place between Lady Lust and Lord Love.

"The death of your father in the Kingdom of Orvivia has raised many questions, my lord," Xavier spoke softly.

"The more pressing matter, however, is the situation within the Ember region." Lady Lust cut in before he could continue making Lord Love turn to her.

"My esteemed, most ancient, lady I feel that perhaps eradicating the fang is of the utmost priority at this moment."Lord Wrath could nearly physically feel the woman's annoyance at being addressed in such a way from his position beside her.

"Enough you two," Lord Wrath admonished, "We have the resources to deal with both issues, and let me remind you both that allowing himself to become too focused on one task is exactly what got my father killed." The two looked down in respect at his harsh tone, even Lord Envy's smile dimmed slightly at the statement.

"Well said, my lord..." Devon trailed off as if looking for the right words, before shaking his head. "However, it appears that the two incidents are not solitary in nature." He noted causing the Lord of Wrath to look at him piercingly.

"Go on man, out with it." He really would prefer to be with his soul bound at the moment but duty dictated this needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.

"It...appears my lord that the Phoenix Knights your sister tasked with patrolling the southernmost area of the captured lands had a confrontation with an enemy scouting party of Phoenix rangers." He paused for a moment looking at Xavier as if asking for assistance, to which he only got a tilted head of confusion.

"There are only two forces in the southern lands that equip Phoenixes as mounts, are you telling me the Claezane Oligarchy ordered their rangers to fly halfway across the damn continent to attack the Ember Kingdom?" The Ember Kingdom and the families that ruled the Claezane Oligarchy were nearly on the opposite ends of the continent of Creonix.

The idea of the Claezane rulers ordering such a thing was truly baffling. Not only were the two countries trading partners through the shipping lanes that connected the northern coast of the Ember Kingdom and the southwestern coast of the highly industrial Claezane Bay. Due to the phoenixes' aversion to large bodies of water, they would have quite literally had to have flown over three different kingdom's territories to get there and he knew damn well the Wyvern riders of the Vingdon Alliance to their north would not have allowed them to pass without altercation.

"Ah, no my lord, not at all." Devon amended quickly looking downwards.

"It seems according to the telepathic message your sister got from the Arch-Mage under her employ not too long ago, that the riders bore the colors and single of the previous rulers of the area the...defunct Renmaz Kingdom." Lady Lust spoke softly, thrumming her fingers on the lip of the large table.

Lord Wrath looked at her for a long moment before taking a significant step back, taking off his mask, and using his magic to teleport a bottle of black rum into his hand. Uncorking the bottle he downed the entire beverage in one go before tossing it over his shoulder where it shattered, maids appearing to clear the remains. He would have to remember to reward them for their swiftness in the face of the strange and random action. He retook his position beside her, leaned onto the table with his palms, and heaved a deep sigh.

"Fuck," he asserted matter of factly. "You are sure of this?" He knew the answer, Lady Lust was far too experienced to doubt her words but still, it would be so much better if she was wrong just this once.

She nodded grimly at her former student.

"Fuck." The young lord stated again, sighing.

"Sorry, but why is this such a problem?" Lord Love suddenly asked, curious. "I have heard of the house of Renmaz but they were destroyed by the last lord and lady wrath nearly twenty-five years ago, yes?"

"The issue, my good Lord Love, is the fact that not only do they also have the knowledge of how to train Phoenix Knights and now apparently rangers as well they also had a very unhealthy passion for summoning archdemons." Lord Envy spoke up before Lady Lust could use his ignorance to speak ill of him, much to her disappointment.

"They were also quite well known for working with the fang brotherhood and the kingdom of Galerose to the southeast of the Ember Kingdom." Lord Wrath expressed with distaste."If this scion of Renmaz has a legitimate claim to the throne it could turn into a foursome of powerful nations clashing in the south, assuming Claezane honours it's the defensive pact with my sister's nation."

"With demon hosts and fang troops mixed in, let's not forget that the Wyvern lords of Vingdon will use it as an opportunity to seek revenge on Claezane, for joy." Devon spat dryly.

"Surely the church of Dusk would intervene on your sister's behalf if they returned with demons, my lord." Xavier supplied, hesitantly, now seeing the imminent headache incoming.

"Undoubtedly, however, I am not certain of how effective their assistance will be after the multi-year crusade against the host of the devil Rankara." Lord Envy and Lady Lust both shuddered at the words of Devon.

They had both been a part of the urgent crusade to push back the devil before it became another demonic incursion upon the mortal realm. The crazy second son of Renmaz had attempted to bind a devil to his will with predictable results, Lord Alfrard and Lady Shira had spent most of her first five years as Queen resisting wave after wave of lesser demons and archdemons because of it. Even the Amazons had gotten involved to defend the lands of a fellow warrior woman or whatever the hell their twisted reasoning was.

Hopefully, he would never have to deal with them during his reign as Lord Wrath.