Chapter Twenty-One

"Wrap a sheet around his body and press a wad of it to the wound. Don't let the blood soak through the fabric as you carry him. Our guests can't see that he's injured." Kurama's words were calm and precise. "Do it quickly, before they smell how much of it there is. I can blame the small amount that is decorating the other sheet on carelessness. I'll make it seem as if you were too rough with him."

"Don't be selfish," Valihari hissed as he wrapped the fragile body in one of the crisp white sheets. "You're more worried about the image-"

"In Makai, a weak leader is a dead leader," Kurama whispered. "You must not let anyone know of Ayden's weakness. They'll exploit it to the fullest extent. Now get him upstairs. I'll be up in a moment."

He waited for Valihari to do as told before motioning Sage over to him. Sage raised an eyebrow, his eyes darting to the droplets of blood decorating the bed. "What's going on? Is Ayden hurt?"

"Valihari tore him during their mating," Kurama lied easily. "Please get our guests to the reception hall. The happy couple will be there shortly." He waited for the crowd to begin drifting towards the many cars lining their circular driveway.

Hiei stood in place, giving the rumpled bed a disgusted look before turning his eyes to the fox. "Where do you want me?"

Kurama's smile was bitter. "I want you to stop this. Stop destroying our son. If you aren't tearing his body apart with your whip, you're tearing his soul apart with your words." His emerald gaze was cold as he gazed at his lover. "Very soon, it will be the two of us again, Dragonfly. Our children will leave us, and I will be all you have. Don't make me abandon you." He moved past his mate and into the house, drifting up the stairs with a medical kit retrieved from the linen closet. The cruelty of his words was nothing compared to how much damage could be done to Ayden's fragile mind with Hiei's own remarks and body language.

Valihari held the bloody sheet to the gaping wound. "I thought the seal of the four judges would keep it closed."

"Ayden has never been a healthy child." Kurama gently moved Valihari's hands away and took the chance to examine the wound. The blood had slowed but had not completely stopped. "The twins should have had matching sets of DNA, with simply a chromosome of difference between the genetic codes to mark one as female and the other as male. It didn't happen that way."

Valihari's eyes searched the face of the fox, questioning him further with his gaze.

"I have my suspicions, of course, but they can't be confirmed now that the woman is dead. I believe his mother went to a scientist thinking she would be able to manipulate the genetic coding of her unborn children. Perhaps she thought she could gain power through their weakness; that Hiei would have no choice but to try again if the pregnancy went wrong." The fox shrugged. "All I know is that Ayden gets very ill, often for no apparent reason. He becomes bed-ridden, but eventually the spell is over and he's back to normal. Hiei would never allow me to conduct any medical examinations on him, and now Ayden holds to that decision." He bandaged the wound and climbed from the bed. "There, all better."

Valihari turned his attention to the prone body on the bed as his lover began to stir. His teasing smile was firmly in place, shadowing the worry and doubt that had marred his features just moments before. "Have a nice nap?"

Ayden groaned and buried his head in the pillow. "My back hurts."

"Your ass or your back?"

Ayden shifted and groaned again. "Both."

Valihari leaned down and kissed a trail down his spine. "That's just too bad. Screwing you was just the start. Now, we have to go and receive the extravagant gifts that will be offered to us at the reception." Several kisses (and a blowjob) later, they were both dressed and headed to the reception, escorted by the rest of the family.

The ride was near silent, if you could drown out Sage's excited talk of sex and the night of the honeymoon. All occupants, save for Ayden, managed to block out the silver fox's enthusiastic lecture to his little brother about properly pleasing a man. Ayden, on the other hand, could do little but blush and stammer out a response.

##########

The party went by in a blur for everyone. Ayden was forced to walk the length of the grand ballroom several times over, trying to ignore the ache in his ass and the intimate hand resting on his backside. Talking politics was boring when required of him. Having to do so at his own reception, though, was just plain annoying. However, the lavish gifts were almost worth it.

##########

Sage's breath caught in his throat as he caught view of the figure walking through the door to the ballroom. Holy fuck, the man was hot. His cheeks tinted red as he heard his boyfriend chuckle beside him.

"This is your brother's mating reception, not a dating service," Ian whispered in his ear. "Stop checking out every available demon. We don't need a third for our pairing yet."

Sage turned to glare over his shoulder. "We need a third before the initiations. You know that we're going to feel the pressure to perform a mating ceremony of our own once we've taken over. I'd rather have the third member of our ménage a trois before we have to face that."

"Then at least have the consideration to include me in the decision," Ian hissed. "Binding my life to yours is one thing. If we pick the wrong person, it could end up like the situation between your father and his dead mistress, and that mess happened when they weren't even mated. Imagine what it would have been like if they had been."

Sage shuddered. "All right… all right. What do you think of him?"

Hiroshi's ice blue eyes scanned the room. He plucked a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter as he moved farther into the room. His eyes fell upon Sage. He smiled softly, before averting his gaze elsewhere. When his eyes caught sight of Kurama, he approached the redhead from behind. "She's going to be here in less than a minute."

Kurama looked over his shoulder. "Who is?"

"Hiei's lost daughter." His eyes softened. "She will not cause trouble; that much I promise you. She was denied by her father and abandoned by her mother. She grew up the daughter of a military man, one of the generals of Hiei's own army. She's been trained well by the man that adopted her."

Kurama stopped listening when the lithe figure walked through the doorway. It was easy to recognize the traits her parents had passed along. Cinnamon hair fell to her knees in a swaying braid. Crimson eyes stared out at the celebration with unbridled curiosity and intelligence, but no malice. The man at her side placed a hand on the top of her head. "Go, explore if you desire."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Papa." Her movements were swift and precise as she dodged the masses of politicians, making her way to the person she wanted most to see. She flung her arms around Ayden, ignoring his wince of pain as his wound was touched. "I'm your little sister!"

Her excited declaration had Valihari's eyes narrowing as he moved his lover from her grip and into his own arms. "You've come to hurt Ayden?"

The young girl looked truly flabbergasted by the accusation. "Of course not! I've come to tell him that I'm the new head of your royal guard. And, of course, to bring a present. We may be related by blood, but the ties of loyalty are much stronger." She gazed over at the prominent figure of her adopted father. "Papa told me that I'm loyal to you, just as he is loyal to your father. So I suppose we'll get along rather well. I'll spend almost every waking moment at your side, and I'll hurt whoever hurts you." Her eyes took on a deadly tone. "I might even kill them."

Ayden smiled softly. "It's good to know there's someone I can trust."

##########

Kurama felt exhausted. Sage was already attempting to seduce Hiei's youngest daughter away from Ayden's side. He had been taken with the energetic ball of fire immediately. Maybe the difference between the two foxes wasn't so great after all. They both obviously had a deep attraction to fire demons. What was the girl's name again? Rain. He faintly remembered the general telling them how he had found her abandoned in the middle of a thunderstorm, cold and nearly starving, not even two yet.

His head ached, and he grabbed Hiei's hand. "Let's go home. We have quite a week ahead of us."

Hiei stood, putting a hand at the small of his fox's back. "If you think you can get out of your promise because you're tired…"

"Hiei, choose your words wisely," Kurama warned. "I never abandon my promises. Even if I don't take you tonight, I will take you before the week is over. That should be enough to quell your desires for a night."

##########

Hiroshi sipped his champagne as he leaned against the wall and watched all of the interaction. His eyes rested on the girl and he found himself smiling. Sage and Ian seemed enamored of her at first sight – from the way she bounced up and down when excited, to the way her eyes darkened when angered by a rather harsh remark directed at Ayden. While her physical appearance marked her as Hiei's child, her temperament belonged to neither parent. She had been raised by the general, a rather passionate man himself, and his lovely wife, a woman whose personality nearly mirrored Rain's own.

Things were going as planned. It was time to report to his own master.

Author's Corner: Alright, another chapter for my loyal readers. This chapter is your breather break, meaning it doesn't require you to be on the edge of your seats, gripping the computer screen and screaming "WHY?!". In that respect, I did very well. However, if you think all things are over... You are going to be in for a very big surprise. (evil laughter) Anyhow, another chapter should be up soon. My dearest thanks to all those who reviewed, as well as everyone who read the chapters. Also, I have to thank my amazing beta reader.