Moving to stand beside his mate, Bog turns his attention to the painting in question. Bay was a very beautiful goblin with her aquatic features and smooth-scaled pale sea-green skin. She nearly resembled several of his present subjects, including a certain female that he'd rather not think about at a time like this, but Bay had several features that distinguished her from pureblood goblins, besides the pale green butterfly wings. The persistent fairy blood had made every one of Firth's descendants tall with fairy-like hands and faces, no matter the goblin blood added to the bloodline.
"Here I thought I had learned everything about the royal law and now I know that I haven't learned anything," Marianne groans, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"What do you mean?" he asks.
"I told you about the difference in ascension laws but I didn't tell you about the difference in ranking because I didn't realize it was different. In the Light Field, the title of king only goes to males and the title of queen only goes to females," she remarks.
"So you won't be King of the Light Field? That doesn't make any sense since it is your birthright, and therefore, you should have the higher ranking," Bog comments.
"Actually, the rankings are the same in the Light Field. It is only a difference between male or female," Marianne explains. "However, should there be a disagreement on matters for the kingdom, the royal-born has more authority and will outrank the royal-married. Also, should the royal-born die before their child is of age to take the throne, then the one who would have been next-in-line after them will become regent and will rule beside the royal-married in their relative's stead until the new next-in-line is crowned."
"That is different than the Dark Forest," he murmurs. "The Dark Forest's queen only has equal ranking if they can pass the trials themselves. If they have passed the trials then they inherit the title of king after their mate dies, even if the heir is old enough and has passed the trials themselves. If the queen has not passed the trials but the heir is not old enough to become king, then the queen will rule as queen until the heir has passed the trials. It's the only time that no one can challenge for the throne since the true reigning royal is not of fighting age yet."
"I guess that means that Griselda didn't pass the trials," she mutters. "Wait, that means that I'll have to take the trials as well. Can it wait until after the infant is born?"
"If you had to take the trials yourself, then yes it could wait until after the infant is born," Bog informs. "But you don't need to or have you forgotten that you've already proved your strength six months ago?"
"Does that even count?" Marianne questions.
"According to the elders, it does count since you did defeat me despite not killing me," he answers.
"Marianne King of the Dark Forest doesn't exactly sound goblin-like," she chuckles.
"You can always use Mom's name for you and call yourself the Thistle King of the Dark Forest," Bog suggests.
"Well, it's too late for me to change my mind about this whole arrangement. I've grown very fond of you," Marianne teases, pulling him down for a deep kiss.
The temptation to do more than just kiss is very high and Bog pulls Marianne tightly against him. His claws snag her clothes slightly as one hand moves up her form to tangle itself in her disordered shaded brunette hair and the other travels down her form to firmly grip her backside.
Hungrily, Bog trails his mouth down the soft flesh of throat, growling at the clothes obstructing his prize. He chuckles against Marianne's collarbone at her squeak as he picks her up without moving the location of his hands and sets her on the parchment-covered table he had deserted.
Her hands are far from idle and their teasing positions on his back make it very hard for him to remember why they should not be doing this. His royal scepter offers them a loud reminder as it falls to the ground and echoes through the stone cavern.
Right.
It's not like their subjects would be traumatized. At worst, it would be some coming-of-age youth that would happen upon them and Marianne would become embarrassed by the loud voyeur. There is also the fact that they need to save their energy for tonight.
"Quit tempting me or you'll be too tired for your first official Wild Hunt," Bog chides, smirking at her laughter as he sets his royal scepter back into place against the table.
"Gee, that would be a shame to be too tired to have more sex after impressing you with my hunting skills," Marianne mocks, flicking his nose. "I'll behave. Now, back to our lesson. Who is Bay King's mate?"
"That would be Queen Briar," he answers, tapping on his carapace. "He's the one to thank for this being added to the bloodline. There's a painting of them with their young ones around here somewhere, of each of the ruling royals and their young, actually. There's even a painting of Queen Mother Elise."
"Firth King's mother? I thought Griselda said that she had died long before Firth had defeated the Zircon King," she murmurs.
"She did but Firth had a painting made. Legend has it that he actually painted it himself," Bog comments.