The Offering

Chapter Seven - Aeris

"Neither of you even danced with a single one of them." His voice barks in irritation as we sit around the dining table.

It's too early in the morning, my head aches as I sit, holding myself up with one arm and trying to shield the sunlight from the window with the other.

"I expected all of you to make more of an effort. You Demwyn, you could have taken the lead, at least introduced yourself to the girls, instead of just sitting down all evening." Demwyn doesn't answer, just stares at his plate of food, his hair tied back from his face. Gods above he had already been training before breakfast, I was lucky I didn't hurl everything up as soon as I opened my eyes a few minutes ago.

"And you, Alvaryn, you sat right beside your brother all night not speaking to anyone except yourselves while the High Lords who are all looking for brides each were introduced and spoke to the women and behaved as they should."

"It was only the presentation father, we all know it is of little consequence and dancing with one of the humans would have made no difference either way." Alvy says in his usual matter of fact tone. I hold back a smile wishing one of the servants would bring me some wine to rid me of this headache.

"That is beside the point." My father snaps. "You are there to set an example for our Kingdom, this is the first time since the beginning of the treaty that not just one, but three members of the royal family will be choosing a human bride. It shouldn't be something you take so lightly that you sit around looking bored out of your minds like you would rather be anywhere else."

"I spoke to one of them father," I pipe up, seeing this as my place to step in for my older brothers.

"Oh really? Was that before or after you decided to get yourself blind drunk?" He asks sceptically.

"Somewhere at the beginning." I answer with a wide smile.

"And what was her name?" He asks, testing me.

"I'm not sure, I didn't think it was important at the time. She was hiding away against the wall looking terrified,"

"And so you decided to what? Make her more terrified?" Dem asks, watching me with the same scepticism as our father, it was concerning how much he could look like our father at times.

"No, I merely asked why she was hiding away from everyone instead of dancing like the rest of them." I shrug taking a sip from the hangover concoction the servant had finally set down in front of me.

"Are you sure she wasn't hiding from you?" Alvy asks with a smug expression. I smile back at him.

"No dear brother, she didn't know how to dance or something. It wasn't a particularly long conversation, but at least I didn't ignore all of them." I say, trying to hold myself apart from my brothers.

One a born leader, soldier and devout rule follower, the other an unwilling soldier and born scholar and me, the youngest of the three who tries his best to rebel against all the restraints and expectations held against me knowing full well it was unlikely to make any difference in the long run but unwilling to stop trying nonetheless. This offering is the epitome of all my relentless rebellion come to fruition. Being forced to choose a human bride, being forced to choose any bride is not something I want to have to do, it should be my choice when I marry.

Father lets out a heavy sigh, shaking his head slightly.

"I understand each of you has your reservations about my decision, but it is non-negotiable. Each of you will do your duty and select a bride from this year's offering. I will not jeopardize our house and wait for the next offering. Each of you has had plenty of time to enjoy your youth and live how you please, within reason. Now it is time for you to stop all of that and do your duty to this kingdom and to yourselves. Each of you needs an heir, there is no hope for a cure amongst our own kind and the humans grow stronger the longer we let them to grow and give them more land. Soon their lands will be the size of our kingdom and this treaty we have between us might not seem as favourable as it has for the past hundred years."

We each listen to his words. He was a good father on all accounts. Hard and strict on matters that were important, this being one of them, but loving and caring as a parent should be. It didn't stop the feeling inside of me from growing, that need to go against his orders and my so called duty. The word itself made me want to throw something.

He stands suddenly leaning his hands on the table.

"Just be the good men I know you are." He says before leaving with one of his servants muttering to him.

I let out a heavy sigh, drinking more of my hangover cure wishing it would hurry up and cure me.

"Way to let us hang brother." Demwyn says, scooping eggs into his mouth.

"Well we can't all be as charming and irresistible as me Dem, I could offer you lessons but I don't think it would make much difference." I smile and he only smiles back shaking his head.

"Did you really speak to one of them or was she just in the way of the wine?" Alvy asks picking at his food.

"Yes I really spoke to her, all I can remember is that she was scared of dancing and she had these bright blue eyes, like two sapphires, they were quite beautiful if you ignore the whole human part." I answer taking a piece of toast, hoping it will soak up any liquor still left in me.

"None of the humans were ugly though," Demwyn returns, always the knight in shining armour.

"No, but they are still human." I counter, buttering my toast. "If it wasn't a matter of breeding are you both saying you would choose a human woman over a fae woman?" I ask, looking at both of them before taking a bite.

They don't answer, but then they don't need to, I can read the answers on their faces. I smile and nod.

"It's a waste of time to think like that, we don't have a choice. You heard what father says, this treaty of ours might not last much longer, this offering might be our last, if we don't have a human wife then we have no way of making heirs." Alvy says, our pragmatist.

"I know Alvy, I know. That doesn't mean I'm going to go running around those human girls like they are the last women alive. Besides, we only need to pick one to pop out a couple of heirs, then we can fuck anyone we want." I shrug, leaning back in my chair.

They both look at me, shaking their heads in disapproval with hints of smiles, they were both so desperate to follow the rules and be the outstanding princes of our kingdom. Their reputation irrefutable, their honour unmatched, it was laughable to watch them, but I couldn't judge their choices just like they didn't try and suede me from mine.

"Alright Aeris, hurry up and finish your breakfast, you still owe me a sparring match." Demwyn says, smiling down at his plate like he planned to make this sparring match even more painful than normal.

I only smile back, raising my glass to him. "Of course brother, we wouldn't want you getting out of shape."

He shakes his head knowing full well I would struggle to keep up after my night of heavy drinking, even on a good day I have yet to beat Demwyn, Alvy on the other hand, we were evenly matched for the most part, but neither of us spent the amount of time Demwyn did training.

I wasn't sure why I had said what I did about the girl I had found hiding last night, Demwyn was right, she wasn't ugly, and her eyes were beautiful, they had captured my attention early on. But she was still a human. And a choice I was being forced into. And for that reason I would let her slip from my mind like all the other females I had bedded and forgotten over the years.