Wings, Beasts and Claws: Violet Embers

*King Dorian* I awoke with the sun and struggled to go back to sleep, the stress of the past few months preventing me from drifting off. I stayed in bed as the morning light grew brighter, my gaze locked on the canopy above our bed. After a few minutes of being lost in my own thoughts, a soft humming sound made me turn. A smile spread across my lips at the sight before me, and I shifted around until I was much closer to my slowly waking wife. Her long, warm brown hair was spread out around her like a river of chocolate that shone like silk. Her lashes like crescents against her cheeks and her face was peaceful and soft while she dreamed. Her soft pink lips pouted slightly and the corners of her eyes wrinkled as she started to slip away from her slumber. She started to shift around in her sleep as I draped my arm over her waist, the blanket that covered her slipping away and revealing her lavender-blue nightgown. “Dorian…?” She murmured as her breathtaking amethyst eyes fluttered open. “How long have you been awake?” “Not long.” I told her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. “Did you sleep well?” “Yes.” She nodded, blushing as a yawn took over. “Did you?” I looked down at her and smiled at the beaming look in her eyes. But before I could say anything more, the doors to our room burst open and the rapid pitter-patter of bare feet rushed towards us. “Momma! Papa!” Little voices called out to us as we sat up to greet them. “Good morning, my sweet stars.” Amara said, smiling brightly as our kids took turns giving her their morning hug. “Did you sleep well?” “Yes, Momma.” Cal, our eldest son said, rubbing his eyes as he moved towards me after giving his mother a hug. “Good morning Papa.” “You look like you stayed up late again.” I chuckled when he froze, turning away with a pout to avoid my gaze. “Did you keep your cousin up late again?” “...No…” He muttered, peeking at me before he sighed. “Yes... but we wanted to watch the Knights Night training that Uncle Arden was doing!” He started tugging on the end of his nightshirt as he spoke, clearly nervous about getting in trouble again. “It was the last night that he was doing it… so we wanted to watch.” “We told you.” Our daughter Melina added, sticking her tongue out at her eldest brother. “Papa always finds out.” Her older twin brother Teris chimed in as he snuggled deeper into his mother's arms. Amara and I shook our heads and proceeded with our morning routine, getting our children ready before their Nanny Ivy came to take them for the day. Callistus, being the eldest and nearing his sixth birthday, helped us with his younger siblings who had turned three a few months back. Our youngest and the last of our children was just six months old and wriggling in her cradle that sat against the wall facing our bed. We had named her Latethea Chara Avelia after my mother who had passed away shortly before we fell pregnant with her. Thea, as we lovingly call her, and her eldest brother Cal are the only dragon Shifters among our children. They both have my deep black hair and their mothers beautiful amethyst eyes. Our twins, Sotiria Theron Melina and Straton Teris Minta are wolves with the same warm brown hair as Amara and my bright red eyes, and preferred being called Melina and Teris. “Good morning!” Ivy called out as she came in, beaming a bright smile as our kids raced to her. “Ivy!” They all chorused, pulling on her skirt and launching question after question on what today's activities were. “Dorian.” I turned and smiled as Amara approached me with our baby girl in her arms, babbling away in a soft blue dress. “She’s been staring at you this whole time.” Thea’s little hands reached out towards me and Amara laughed as her tiny, squishy body leaned forward, asking me to hold her. I took her in my arms and chuckled when she flapped her hands excitedly, grabbing at my nightshirt and looking up with bright little eyes. She had on a small pale blue ribbon on her head that seemed to tickle her ear as she swatted at it. Soon, the ribbon was in her tiny grasp and she pulled it off, making her little black tresses stand on end in every direction. I chuckled at this and took the ribbon from her, setting it aside before gently fixing her wild locks. “Your Majesty?” Ivy stepped forward then and reached out for her, smiling softly at my little girl. “May I?” I nodded, kissing Thea on her little forehead before passing her over to Ivy. She then turned and started guiding our kids out of our sitting room, listing off all the things they were going to do today and who they would see. Not a minute after they left, four servants, two male and two female, walked in and proceeded to help my Amara and I get dressed and ready for the day. After bathing, dressing and having breakfast together, we stepped out of our rooms and made our way towards our office where our Aides were waiting for us. Amara took a seat behind her desk on the far left corner of the room while I took the larger one in the center and we began combing through the many things that needed our attention. My Aide Noctern, who had been one of my longest friends, started his morning report and the morning soon slipped away. Sadly, my Queen only stayed at her desk for a short while since her duties as Queen revolved more around handling minor disputes among Noble families, any big holiday, birthday or banquet that was planned as well as other things that needed her physical presence. And with our son Cal’s sixth birthday closing in two weeks, she was busy running around the Palace checking on everything that was needed. We had many high ranking Nobles coming in to celebrate with us as well as several Delegates from the other three Kingdoms coming to the Capital as well. This birthday was very important among all Royal Dragon families because our son was going to be receiving his Royal Bloodline Blessing. This was a ritual done when a young Prince or Princess turns five and allows a Priest to show everyone around what animal the young Royal would turn into before they come of age to actually Shift. This helps confirm that a Dragon has been born into a Royal family or, like in the past, it helped the current King and Queen know whether they needed to try for another if the eldest turned out to be another animal. But last year, before Cal turned five, my mother became sick and we decided to postpone the Ritual until she was better. But a week after Cal’s birthday, she passed away in her sleep and a funeral was held that winter instead. Thankfully, Amara and I both knew that Cal was a dragon and that our youngest Thea was one too. And those close to us knew this as well since they had been present when our kids were born and seen their Inner Lights shift into the shape of a dragon soon after birth. Strangely enough, all of our kids Inner Lights did this which let us know that our twins were wolves. But out of all our nieces and nephews born to Amara’s twin brother and half-sister, only one other child had had their Inner Light showcase their animal at birth. And that was my brother-in-law Arden’s eldest daughter who was two months younger than Cal: Diana Mareya Delphia, or Reya, as she liked to be called. We didn’t know why this was the case, and had chosen to keep quiet about it to see if there was something special about her as she grew. Though her appearance was unique enough to everyone, being born with her mothers straight black hair and her fathers amethyst eyes. We had all thought that Reya and Cal looked like twins and they had grown up to be very close. And with Amara’s brother being her personal Knight and his wife Morina her Lady-in-waiting, Reya and Cal lived just a few feet away from each other. Both of them getting into trouble together and staying up late to explore and play while everyone else slept. “Your Majesty.” I shook my head clear of my wandering thoughts and turned to Noctern, my smile vanishing as I saw the dark look in his eyes. “They are beginning to be harder to deal with as of late.” He handed me a small stack of papers that reported similar incidents across my Kingdom, and my blood began to boil as I continued reading. “There is also something else that worries me.” He passed me another, smaller page and I stiffened. “How accurate is this intel?” I asked him, glaring at the deep black words spread across the white sheet. “Extremely, Your Majesty.” His words shook a torrent of fear down my spine and I crumpled up the page in my hand. “It was checked three times by different people… and a fourth witnessed it.” “Have security tightened around the Palace.” I told him, digging through my files to find the pages I needed. “Make sure that those entering for my son's birthday banquet are checked thoroughly, and, if possible, have a few Palace Knights set Guard routes in the city… I don’t want my people targeted by them any more than they already have.” He nodded and bowed, turning to leave just as I found the file I was looking for. ‘The Order of Will’ This was the name of a growing faction of Shifters that were completely against the idea of a fated Mate. They had all turned their backs on the All Mother Goddess’ gift and proclaimed that their free will was being controlled with it. Their mantra had become, ‘By Will than By Fate.’ and the symbol of a paw with feathered wings illuminated by sunlight became their insignia. They had started forming a year after Amara and I married and the general public began finding their fated Mate. At first it was nothing but protests and a few people causing fights in pubs and public areas. But as the months passed and the other Kingdoms started reporting more fated couples, their numbers grew and so did their violence. Dozens of commoner homes, shops and even schools were vandalized if they had any ties to a fated couple. People began to disappear, turning up dead in a different city soon after finding their fated Mate. Many were threatened or made to reject their Mate by force, with some being tortured in front of their families until they submitted. Looting, and fires were also reported, all done by Shifters who wore the Orders insignia somewhere on their person. And they had even unleashed some of their own members onto the public when they would gain the Curse of the Beast, rendering them nothing more than violent monsters that had lost their humanity. I had managed to protect my people as best I could, sending out my highly skilled Knights and even calling on the houses of Nobles with their own Knightage to assist me. With their help, we had cut back against the attacks of the ‘Order of Will’ and kept our citizens safe. But that just meant that they were gathering elsewhere, and the other Kingdoms had reported dealing with the same issues. It also looked like the Order was getting funded through a very wealthy source, but none of my spys had been able to find out who was pulling the strings. And the many low level members that had been imprisoned knew next to nothing about who was really behind it all. This concerned me the most because many Nobles as well as the Delegates of the other kingdoms will be on my land and in my home during our son's celebration. They will be close to my family. They will see what our children look like. And who our most trusted people are around us. “Dorian?” I looked up to find my beautiful Mate making her way towards my desk, her concern knitting her soft eyebrows and making her lips frown. “Is it the Order again?” She walked around the desk and stood beside me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Yes… a few merchants reported being attacked for no reason a few miles outside the city.” I sighed and took her hand in mine, pulling her closer. “It looks like they’re making their way to the Capital in time for our son’s birthday.” “I know we’ll be safe, and that we'll solve this madness soon.” She said softly, leaning forward and pressing her forehead to mine. “The All Mother Blessed our family for a reason, she wouldn’t give us a few short years to be together if we weren’t meant to get through this.” I nodded and placed my hands on her waist, pushing my chair back a bit before pulling her onto my lap. “You’re right.” I cupped her face in my hands and looked into those deep purple orbs I loved so much. “You’re always right.” She giggled softly before leaning in closer, her body relaxing against mine as our lips met. ‘I’ll do anything to protect you and our children.’ I thought, deepening the kiss while she giggled some more and weakly fought to break free. ‘No one will take you from me.’