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Only a very short time before this moment, I was complimenting myself for being comfortable with nudity, contrary to my usual nature. Yet, here I was, defending my chest with crossed arms. But I couldn’t help it! The eight newcomers included Princess Amelia and Oberon of all people! And my three maids from Tëan Tír, too! With me wearing what might as well be nothing but silk gauze!
To be wearing that in front of my sister and… well, my son.
In an uncomfortable sort of way, I do accept his relationship to me. I clearly remember holding the baby in my arms, and saying farewell to the little boy on my deathbed.
Oberon had his arm hitched for Grandmother, who lightly held it. I had almost forgotten that Lâra was the Fairy King’s concubine. He wore a basic Dorian style to match her, pretty much the male version of the yukata that you see in anime hot spring episodes. They were the only ones in that style though.
The princess and the six elven women surrounding her wore fishnet beach wraps over one- or two-piece swimsuits. Amelia’s white two-piece was distressingly bold, pretty much at the limit of what Atian morality allows, with string ties at the hips and a bandeau top barely restraining her bosom. Weirdly, she was wearing a tiara with such a beach outfit, like some kind of anime princess.
The women stared at me in amazement, either because of my tail or my state of dress, while Oberon simply inclined his head momentarily and smiled. He greeted me with, “I am very glad to see you are already on your way to good health, Didinnedo.“
He was going to call me ‘Mother’ in this place, it seemed.
Amelia scampered over to me without any hesitation and gave me a warm bear hug from behind, all while chattering, “I was so worried, Tiana! His Majesty said you almost died! Goodness, I can’t believe you can turn into a mermaid! You look so wonderful with your wings, of course, but this mermaid look is amazing, Tiana!”
<Child, you look silly holding your arms like that,> Immortal Mother chided me. <Why don’t you relax? They don’t see anything unsightly.>
Preparatory to retorting, I happened to glance down, only to discover to my astonishment that my raiment had turned into a reasonably normal bikini top and a pareo around my hips. This was far beyond what I was capable of creating on my own, but now that it was in place, I seemed to be maintaining it without effort.
<I saw nothing wrong with your raiment as it was, but since it distressed you, I made a new design for you.>
I gave up and dropped my arms. Still self-conscious, since there was a man looking at this, but at least it was no worse than fairy armor, right?
I had already allowed Amelia to hug me too long. I could feel the beginnings of swelling in my fangs, responding to the abundance pressing into me. I twisted further and tried to press her gently away while telling her, “Amelia, you shouldn’t behave like this in front of these people.”
“I don’t care,” she answered with a pout, while hanging on. “My Tiana nearly got killed again! Stop putting yourself in danger like that!”
Getting worried about my urges now, I lowered my voice further and told her, “Amelia, I’m on the verge of blood hunger and I might not be able to stop myself. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Still hanging on to me, with her breasts pressing into my back, making things that much worse, she said, “Go ahead.”
“What?” I yelped.
“Rod told me the reason you went and joined the knights. Instead of something like that, just go ahead and bite me! I would have been perfectly happy feeding you, Tiana!”
It wasn’t the reason Tiana joined. She’d be planning to do it after Lower School. But growing her fangs and almost feeding on Amelia while they were horsing around was the reason she decided to skip school and join early.
“That’s foolish,” I told her, finally pressing her away. “I can’t feed on you. You’re a princess, and… well, your fiancé would really hate me for it.”
She humphed and shrugged, still grasping my forearms, refusing to fully separate. “Considering his cheating and his expectant girlfriend and his other girlfriend, too, I’m entitled to a little revenge.”
So she was up to speed on everything, huh? I guess I had heard that already though.
Then she tipped her head and smiled. “Because I’m the sacrifice for the Hero Summoning, it’s dangerous for me to voluntarily have a tryst with a man, so my cheating partners have to be female, you know. You wouldn’t be a bad choice for my side chick, Tiana.”
I just gaped at her as she smirked. Was this really my lovable, pure princess Amelia, talking about side chicks?
Then I noticed that she just equated feeding me to sex, which meant she already knew what feeding a vampire is like. I blushed a bit.
Extricating my arms, I told her. “Not. Just. Yet. Okay?”
She pouted, taking hold of an upper arm instead, and raised her chin. “I’m not giving up.”
I turned to Grandmother, who was just watching with a smile, and asked, “Are you seriously proposing that Amelia and the rest are… well…”
Immortal Mother answered, “Lâra sent a request for help to Grandson before she came here. This is what he has brought, child.”
So my accusing eyes turned to him. He smiled, unashamed, and nodded. “Your maids have been waiting for some time to become your Servants, Didinnedo. I naturally requested them. Then Amelia’s maids wished they could volunteer as well, and Her Highness decided to bring them. All three of her maids have fed you before.”
I did avail myself of the maid staff at the Fairy King’s Castle a bit, because my maids let their colleagues know what feeding me was like, and I ended up with many offers. It was true that all three looked familiar.
A detail caught my attention, as I continued trying to force my fangs not to grow. Amelia’s bosom was pressing into my back again.
“Her maids?”
“They’re my maids at the Fairy King’s Castle,” Amelia told me. “Ged and Rod sent me to His Majesty after the wedding, because of the attack while we were arriving at Narses. They wouldn’t let me tell you, but I left for Relador the day after your wedding.”
“I told them not to send you there!”
Humans are simply not safe in that place. The reason almost all the mortal servants in the Fairy King’s castle are elves is the resistance they have to fairy charm.
Oberon reassured me, “Her suite is reinforced against faerie influence and guarded against would-be seducers. I enchanted that tiara to prevent her from becoming fairy-touched when she goes out of her suite.”
“Probably unnecessary,” Immortal Mother observed dryly. “Although perhaps it helps against seductions. My daughter already has the girl and her brothers charmed, so no fairy is going to steal her for long.”
I had suspected as much for some time, but I asked her anyway. “I do?”
“Not the way you fear, child. Your fairy mother permanently warded her family and many other close associates against becoming fairy-touched, in order to protect them from you and herself. But she couldn’t provide them a defense against love. Such a defense doesn’t exist and love for a fairy is quite powerful.”
I suspected that Mother’s ward had not been a hundred percent effective, but I wasn’t going to argue.
Amelia giggled, and before I could stop her, hugged me again. “And I do love you!”
Her exclamation point came in the form of rose petal lips bussing my cheek, firmly and emphatically.
To my alarm, even though I didn’t clearly feel the other usual symptoms of blood hunger, I was now desperately fighting the urge to feed. Something was wrong with me.
Immortal Mother stood and laid two fingers of a gentle hand on my mouth, which now contained fully-grown fangs. To my relief, my impulse to nosh on Amelia vanished, although the fangs remained.
<You haven’t fed in seventy three days, child,> she silently explained. <I held it off with draughts from your blood core, but your body has an instinct to feed that was left unsatisfied for all that time. Your hormones are all out of balance.>
Immortal Mother smiled, kissed my cheek, then dropped her hand. Fortunately, her hold on my urge continued for the moment.
With a smile, she told Amelia, “You’re distressing your sister, child. Give her time to get used to the idea.”
“I won’t!” I retorted.
“But she does need to feed, and she’s embarrassed to do it in front of everyone,” she continued, then told Grandmother. “It might embarrass the one who feeds her, as well. Have them say their hellos, then leave one and bring the rest to their accommodations. They need privacy.”
Amelia was still hanging onto my arm, but Immortal Mother’s influence clearly did something to help me not attack her, so she was safe for the moment.
The elven maids were glancing at each other and Amelia, clearly wondering who would be the one to stay behind. Oberon, on the other hand, had no need to stay, and I desperately wanted him to leave first.
Instead, he stepped up to my side. Ignoring my stare, he spoke to Immortal Mother. “Madame, a bit ago, you referred to me as ‘Grandson’?”
She nodded gracefully. “I am indeed your mother’s mother in her first life. That makes me your grandmother. I have no mortal name, but you may call me Cízí if you wish.”
Cízí being the High Fairy equivalent of ‘Granny’. It’s pretty much pronounced ‘Cheesy’. His eyes widened for just a brief moment, as he controlled his surprise.
He bowed briefly and stated, “Röandin, it is a pleasure to meet you in person at last. You have spoken to me from afar many times, but this is our first meeting.”
Röandin being the more formal “Grandmother”. At least he didn’t ratchet up to Röandinnedo.
Oberon is tall and broad-shouldered. Immortal Mother is petite, three inches shorter than me in my bipedal form. She’s barely taller than Lhan, who pretended to be part halfling. So she almost had to tiptoe as she stretched to put her hand against his cheek while smiling fondly.
“You’ve grown well, child.”
Turning to Amelia, she said, “Join your maids, child. One of my daughter’s Servants will stay.”
The princess had grown a slightly baffled look. Her eyes turned to me, then Oberon, then Immortal Mother.
“Daughter? Mother? Grandmother?”
“Lâra will explain, child. Go.”
Immortal Mother’s smile remained kind and her voice remained gentle. I suppose neither Amelia nor anyone else here could ever reach the end of her patience.
Without another word, Amelia nodded, kissed my cheek again, and obediently went back to join her maids. Her eyes remained perplexed, as if she was wondering why she wasn’t resisting. I have no doubt that Immortal Mother had given my sister a light touch of spiritual pressure along with her command.
Rather than backing away along with her, Oberon moved closer and put his hand on my tummy.
“I see,” he said softly. “It looks like Deharè saw it correctly. No wonder she chose to accept you.”
“What do you mean?” I wondered, very uncomfortable with the touching.
He realized it and withdrew his hand with an apologetic smile. “I had to check for myself, Didinnnedo. I apologize for discomfiting you. It is indeed my daughter within your womb. I had wondered if it were truly possible. The fairy physique does not allow incestuous children to thrive, and your body is that of her daughter.”
A story from before came to me, of what had happened to my oldest sister, a fairborn girl that Oberon had not known was his grandchild. It was the reason behind Mother’s undying anger with him that led her to not even call him father anymore. For fairies, a consanguineous pregnancy within two degrees can cause death of mother and child, and it had.
Immortal Mother supplied, “Her soul is not the one born of your daughter, Grandson. There was no concern.”
He nodded. “That’s true.”
“What did Mother see correctly, Lagan?“
With a bit of sadness, he asked, “Will you not call me Felhe, Didinnedo?”
Not only is he going to insist on calling me ‘Esteemed Mother’, he wants me to call him ‘Son’?
With complicated feelings, I confessed, “I… don’t think it’s appropriate for the time being.”
Then, due to a flash of guilt over his bitter smile, I suggested, “I’m sure, someday I shall.”
I could tell that Immortal Mother wanted to laugh. Her eyes were twinkling. I changed the subject, or rather, changed it back.
“What did Mother see correctly?” I repeated.
He looked down at my tummy, his [Fairy Sight] no doubt looking into my womb. Then this exasperating son of mine reached out and laid his hand right back on my tummy! No touchie!
With a gentle smile, and his hand lingering there, he answered, “I had thought it couldn’t really be so, but she saw the identity of your little sister. The one who is now the other of your two daughters.”
“Identity?” I asked, confused.
Instead of answering me, he spoke to the baby inside me. Not Mother, but the other one.
“I’m so truly happy to see it for myself, child,” he said with a hint of tears in his voice. “I once thought we had lost you forever. It’s such a blessing that we didn’t.”
I was staring in puzzlement at him, at the hand on my tummy, at the child in my womb. But he explained himself with one more sentence, as he told my daughter…
“Welcome home, Tiana-innan.“
