Ryusei knocked on her door a few days later.
She got up and answered it, giving him a smile, "What's up?"
"You almost died.. And I couldn't help."
"It's alright," she assured. "I'm okay now."
He leaned forward, capturing her lips hungrily.
She kissed back hard, her smile turning to a grin.
"Can I come in?" He asked huskily as they parted.
She nodded and opened the door wider to allow him in.
He presented her with a bouquet of flowers as he entered. "I saw them in the meadow."
"Thank you," she smelled the flowers with a smile before placing them in a vase on her bedside table.
He gave her a soft smile as he approached, his lips pressing against her neck. "You are so much more beautiful than they are, but I figured they would make you smile."
She blushed and gave a light laugh.
He chuckled as he continued to kiss her, his hands touching her body softly. "If I am bewitched, let it last forever.."
She smiled, moving to kiss his neck gently.
He trembled at her touch. "I couldn't stop thinking about you."
"Oh, really?" she asked quietly, kissing his cheek.
"My father thinks I should get married to one of the noble houses. I told him I was uninterested."
"I bet he was unhappy about that."
"Tsukasa explained I was in a relationship. My father believes it is a fling. He says I will soon tire of mortal women and then do as I'm told." He rolled his eyes as he kissed her shoulder. "I bit my tongue at that."
"Does he say the same to Kenji?"
"Yes. He believes we should be good little Fae and marry our own. I nearly pointed out his hypocrisy, but Kenji smartly dragged me back here."
Andy sighed, "With how long Fae live, you guys will outlive me and find new loves eventually."
"He fears I may choose the Ladrial." Ryusei replied. "I do have the choice."
"Ladrial?"
"Half Fae have several choices. We can stay the way we are, having longer lifespans than humans, become full Fae or become human."
Andy nodded slowly, "What do you want to do?"
"Until I met you, I had believed I would eventually become a full Fae and live in my father's realm. Now, I am torn. I do not desire to ever leave your side, but I do not desire to lose my family either."
Andy gave him a small smile, "I wouldn't want you to lose your family."
He gave her a soft smile. "It is a decision for another day. For now, let us enjoy being together." He reached for her dress zipper and drew it down slowly.
She chuckled softly, reaching to unbutton his shirt.
He let it fall to the floor with her dress, then drew her into his arms and kissed her.
She kissed back hard before pulling away with a grin.
He raised an eyebrow. "What are you smiling about?"
"I'm happy I'm with you."
He laughed as they tumbled to the bed.
After a while, there was a knock at the door.
Andy quickly dressed before answering it.
Tet had a puzzled look on his face. "We have visitors."
"Oh?"
"Wizards."
Andy's eyes narrowed, "What do they want?"
"They will not say. They wish to speak to you."
Andy sighed, "Alright. Let's go see what they want." She glanced back at Ryusei on the bed, "I'll see you later. I love you."
He gave her a nod and a smile.
Andy followed Tet to the throne room. She sat down and waited to hear what the wizards had to say.
One of them, a tall blond bowed. "Your Majesty. We wish to teach your son."
Tet looked alarmed. "Teach him what?"
The blond looked at him calmly. "Control. We have heard he loses his temper often, which causes trouble with his magic. We merely wish to help him learn control so he might gain more strength." He turned back to Andy. "Majesty, we know you do not trust wizards. I do not expect you to accept us without reservation. We will abide by your decision. If you decline, we will leave and never bother your kingdom again."
"Why are you doing this? What do you want in return?"
"We wish to help your son reach his potential safely. As for what we want? Merely a roof. Other than aiding your son, you will not have to see us at all. A small shack will suffice for our needs."
Andy glanced at Tet, "Go find Yuki. Let's see what he has to say."
Tet nodded, quickly leaving the room. He was back in minutes with Yuki, who was curiously watching the two.
"Mother?"
"These wizards here claim to want to help teach you. You know I'm not normally one to judge but I have had multiple bad experiences with wizards now so I'll admit I'm wary of them. But if you want to learn from them, I'll allow it. The choice is yours."
He looked at the two wizards. "Do you have names?
The tall one smiled. "I am called Camui. My companion is Vasha."
The second wizard dipped his head silently.
Yuki's eyes went wide. "You are the ones known as The Thanatos.. I have studied a grimoire of your spells…"
Vasha closed his eyes as if in pain. Camui's lips tightened. "That was long ago. We no longer use that name."
Yuki quickly bowed in apology. "Forgive me. You are more than welcome here. I would be honored to be your student."
Andy nodded and looked at Yuki, "Give them rooms in my old wing." She then looked at the wizards, "I welcome you to our castle and hope you find your stay pleasing. Yuki can give you more information about the castle and about meal times. If you ever need anything, just ask any of us and we can help you out."
"Your Majesty..we do not deserve your generosity. We will not dishonor your trust." Camui bowed, Vasha following suit.
Yuki led them out.
Tet watched them leave, then looked at her. "Was that wise?"
She sighed, "Though he is young still, I do want him to make some of his own decisions. He does need to learn control... Have the guards keep extra eyes out for them just in case, but I'm choosing to trust Yuki's judgement."
"Did you hear what he called them? And how would he study their spells in the first place?"
Andy sighed, "I don't know. I don't want to just tell them to go away if they can help him. And I don't want all my bad experiences to cloud my judgement." She took a deep breath, "I'll talk to them and get to know them better. Maybe I'll get a better judge of their character that way."
Tet nodded, then kissed her. "I hope you're right. Hungry? Ryon's cooking today."
She smiled and nodded, "Sounds great."
"Come on then." He took her hand and started for the kitchen.
When they arrived, Ryon handed them plates. "You look worried. What's wrong?"
"Some wizards came and want to teach Yuki. I'm allowing it for now but I'm still wary. Yuki's the only good wizard I've met so far."
"You mean those two that looked like beggars? Yuki brought them in and they refused food aside from some bread."
"After I eat I'm going to go talk to them. See if I can learn a bit more about them."
"Good idea. I get the feeling they have been alone for a long time."
Andy sat down, beginning to eat.
The others trickled in, getting plates and sitting down beside her quietly. Tsukasa took a deep breath, then spoke. "Why did you allow The Thanatos to stay?"
"Apparently they don't go by that name anymore," Andy informed. "And I decided to leave the choice up to Yuki."
"You might want to explain that to Raj. He went transparent when he saw them and hid in his room."
She nodded, "I'll talk to him in a bit."
Tsukasa finished his food. "We'll be on the training grounds." He left with Daiki and the others, leaving her with Tet and Ryon.
She finished her food as well, shaking her head, "I get the feeling no one here likes this choice except Yuki."
Ryon gave her a gentle hug. "We trust your judgement. And Yuki's. We are just wary. I do think there is something Tsukasa is not telling us."
"Wouldn't be the first time he's kept information from me," Andy replied dryly.
Tet snickered as he began washing dishes.
She got up and headed to her old wing, finding where they were assigned and knocking on the door.
Camui opened it slowly, bowing low as he saw her. "You honor us. What do you need?"
"I just wanted to talk. Get to know you a bit more, if you don't mind?"
"You do not need to be more kind to us. This room is kind enough." He watched her quietly.
Andy shrugged, "I tend to be a nice person and am often told I'm not like most royalty."
He smiled for the first time, his light blue eyes brightening. "You are not." He opened the door to admit her inside.
"So tell me a bit about yourselves. Where are you from? What do you do other than magic?"
He looked at her in confusion. "We long ago came from this kingdom. What else is there than magic?"
Vasha mirrored his look silently from where he sat in a corner.
"I don't know," Andy sighed. "I mean, Yuki does magic but he also learned to fight, he rides our friend who's a dragon, he reads..."
"We survive. We do spells for those who need help. We have nothing else."
Andy nodded slowly. "So you say you came from here? How long have you been around?"
He paused, then sighed. "225 years."
She looked thoughtful before quietly asking, "I'm sorry if it's a sore subject, but would you mind telling me a bit about that name you don't go by anymore? My friends seem a bit concerned and I just want to understand."
"The King we were owned by gave it to us because we did his bidding so well." His eyes lost their brightness.
"Why don't you use it anymore?"
"We do not wish to be that anymore. We wish everyone peace, even if we can never achieve it." He looked at her. "You understand the translation?"
Andy sighed, "I think so. And I'm sorry for bringing it up."
"You wish to know who you have brought into your castle. You are being a good Queen and mother. Do not apologize."
She gave them a small smile. "Well, when you aren't teaching Yuki, you can relax and have some fun for once."
They exchanged looks. "Fun?"
Camui shook his head. "We promised to stay unseen except to your son. We do not wish to cause trouble for you."
"You don't have to stay unseen," she chuckled. "And you don't seem like you'll cause trouble. I do have one of my men who seems a bit afraid, but I'll talk to him."
"Your men will not accept us." Vasha spoke for the first time.
"Why not?"
"The Q'tan will tell you."
Andy sighed and admitted, "I know Tsukasa knows something but I really didn't want to have to ask him."
"We did them great wrong that we can never atone for. We learned the truth too late. We will never know the peace of death, nor should we. Our curse is to wander this world for as long as it remains." Camui went to Vasha's side, resting an arm on the other wizard's shoulder.
Andy rolled her eyes, "You sound just like them with the "never can atone for" crap. People change. Even if you did bad things in the past, it doesn't automatically mean you're a bad person overall. But I'm sure I can't convince you of that, so I'll end it at that. But you're allowed to have fun and wander the grounds. My men can deal with their feelings of displeasure."
"You misunderstand. We are under a Q'tan curse to never die." Camui looked at her sadly.
"I've found most spells and curses can be broken. Maybe you just need to find the right Q'tan to help you break it," she answered. "And so what if you can't die? Have fun with your life." She sighed once more, "I apologize, I'm probably overstepping my bounds. I'll leave you alone."
They laughed softly. "You are a breath of fresh air, your Majesty."
"You can call me Andy if you'd like. A bit easier than 'your majesty.'"
They both bowed with small smiles.
A wince crossed Vasha's face and Camui quickly handed him a vial of white liquid.
"Are you alright?" She asked softly. "I do have some healing powers if you are injured?"
Camui sighed. "He suffers from a magical malady. The result of trying to vanquish an evil wizard."
"Well, I doubt I can heal it then, but I might be able to help with symptoms?"
"You would do that?" Vasha's eyes were puzzled. "Why?"
"Remember the part about me mentioning I'm normally a pretty nice person?"
Vasha looked down in embarrassment. "I am not worthy of your attention."
Andy rolled her eyes again and approached slowly. She held her hands out to him and covered him in purple light.
He closed his eyes, his features smoothing as the pain vanished. He sagged in Camui's arms.
Andy gave a small smile, "I'll let you rest." She headed to the door before turning, "One final question.. Why do you want to help Yuki?"
"Because he is good. He does not wish to harm or to rule over anyone." Camui straightened from laying Vasha on the bed. "He wishes all to be happy and at peace. And we don't want him blowing up your lovely castle." He gave her a teasing smile.
Andy grinned, "Yeah, Yuki is a great kid. Good thing he got most of his traits from me."
Camui nodded slowly.
Andy frowned a moment, before shaking her head, "I'll let you guys rest. We can always talk more later." She gave him a wave before closing the door.
Tsukasa appeared. "Something wrong?"
She gave him a small smile, "No. They seem nice. I hope Yuki can learn a lot from them."
"You won't listen to me will you?"
She looked thoughtful, "I'll listen to what you have to say, but that doesn't mean I'll do what you want. But we'll see. So start talking."
"Would you think differently if I told you they were allied with Dakon 200 years ago?"
Andy sighed, "200 years is a long time for someone to change."
"They helped plunge both the realms into darkness. They are not to be trusted. It is why my father cursed them."
"I was wary at first, but after talking to them I have a good feeling about them. I don't expect you to understand it. I'll keep an eye on them and will warn Yuki, but I'm not throwing them out just yet."
Tsukasa took a deep breath, then nodded. "I understand, even if I don't agree." He turned and disappeared down the hall as Raj materialized beside her.
"He is quite angry. Whatever did you do?"
"I don't expect any of you to understand but I'm choosing to put some trust into these wizards. I know they've done bad things but 200 years is a long time to change and become a better person. But maybe 200 years isn't that long to Tsukasa."
Raj nodded, "The Fae do live a long time." He sighed, "They were bad people. But I also trust your judgement."
"When I met Tet and the others, they opened my eyes to things I never knew about. They changed my whole way of thinking. Who's to say something similar didn't happen to Camui and Vasha?"
"I hope you're right," Raj answered. "If not, we're bound for trouble."
Andy took a deep breath, "I'm going to go check on Yuki." She kissed his cheek and headed down the hall.
He was in the tower, Camui lecturing him quietly. He gave her a smile, but didn't come over.
Andy watched them quietly for a bit, smiling softly.