Valor:<br/><br/>Valor knew it probably wasn't her intention to hurt him. After all she had written those vows without the knowledge he would even be present at the wedding so it wasn't as if he could be mad at her. Not that he had any real reason to be in the first place. He kept envisioning that kiss over and over again. It was a very haunting image that bothered him.<br/><br/>The vampire rolled onto his side and sighed. He would have given anything to not feel the nagging pain in the pit of his stomach. And yet despite all of his pain he couldn't cry. he didn't have tears to shed. This whole situation was his fault. He should have never started the affair with the princess. And yet even as he thought that he knew he would do it all over again.<br/><br/>"It doesn't have to be over," he reminded himself. Now that Jalice was officially the crown prince he would be spending several days traveling throughout the Valic Dominion to meet with the various lords in each section. Though mostly a massive underground labyrinth the Dominion was as massive as a country. Of course if he took Ariella with him it would be pointless. But he could preempt such a thing and tell Jalice that he could watch after Ariella while he was gone. It was perfect. He knew Jalice didn't like the princess and if he knew his brother he would be far more interested in convincing Rosalie to go with him.<br/><br/>There was a sudden knock on his door although Valor had known someone was outside. The vampire got to his feet and walked over to the door and pulled it open.<br/><br/>Valolie stood there. He was the highest lord of the house of birds. "Your presence is requested in the dining hall. Your father wishes to speak to you." His tone was acidic. Valolie didn't much care for either him nor his brother. But he loved his daughter and was supportive of her love for Jalice. Of course it had helped that it meant after centuries a member of the House of Birds would sit on the throne. It mattered not whether she was queen or king. Of course the treaty had changed all of that.<br/><br/>Valor followed the vampire to the dining chamber at a fast run. It took all of about three minutes at the fast pace he ran to reach the dining hall. And, with smug satisfaction, he beat Valolie to the door. He pulled the door open and gave a mock bow. "After you, my lord." He said this with his most fake voice possible. He was in no mood for any shenanigans.<br/><br/>"You should watch yourself...boy," Valolie said. "You don't have as much protection as your brother. It would be so easy to make you disappear."<br/><br/>Valor smirked, "Valolie that has a chance of happening the day you find your testicles. Of course if you're feeling froggy we could go outside and settle this right now."<br/><br/>Whatever Valolie might have responded with was cut off by Imperium's booming voice. 'There you are! Come in here my son. Come sit next to me."<br/><br/>The king was seated at the table with the humans. It was clear the king had been dabbling with a bit of the wine. His cheeks were paler than usual. Vampires could get drunk and quite easily. It didn't take much for them to go overboard. Sitting next to his father was the human king. Valor offered him a small smile and seated himself between them as his father requested.<br/><br/>Imperium XV slid on arm around his son's shoulders and shook him roughly. "Here's a good lad. I was just telling King Chester VII all about how great of a son you are. But he was telling me that you spent time in the castle court prior to coming back. I'm proud of you for the hard work you did and I apologize for calling you a layabout. You did a great thing keeping the princess company and well protected."<br/><br/>Valor wanted more than anything to move away from his father. He stank of nothing but alcohol. His eyes turned to Valolie who took a seat at the vampire table. None of them were eating. Some of them were drinking wine and making merry but most were sitting there staring off into space.<br/><br/>"I was also advising the king here that Jalice will be away from some time and we decided it would be best if you temporarily looked out for Princess Ariella and keep her safe once again. While everyone knows the treaty is in full effect and it is unlikely anyone would dare to harm the princess we have decided that it is better to refrain from that risk."<br/><br/>"That's fine," Valor began hardly able to believe what he was hearing. "Would it be possible for her to stayin my room while Jalice is gone? I have the space and could easily set up a second bed. If I am to protect the princess this would be the best way for me to do so." There was a risk in saying this of course. Humans tended to be very conservative and might not like the idea as it involved a married woman sharing the same bedroom as an unmarried man. Of course it wasn't like he was some random. He was the king's brother and they had no idea of his three week long affair with the princess.<br/><br/>King Imperium laughed loudly and slapped Valor so hard on the back he was sure he was going to feel that in the morning. "Look at my dear son! He is no longer a layabout! He is even offering great ideas to keep Ariella safe! I told him he would have made a great king, King Chester, but he did not want the crown. Perhaps it would get in the way of his wandering all over hell and creation doing Dragorax knows what."<br/><br/>The king took another deep sip of wine.<br/><br/>"Mmmm, mmmm, mmm. King Chester this wine that your people have cooked up is truly to die for. That aside I think my dear son has a great point. Perhaps not entirely proper by human standards but perfectly reasonable here. Few would consider the idea of bothering Princess Ariella if they knew Valor was around. He might not always show it but he is one helluva fighter."<br/><br/>The whole situation was cringe worthy. He hated when his father drank. But it looked like they might be playing right into his hands so he wasn't going to do anything to risk it. Of course suddenly Valolie stood up and pointed a finger at the king.<br/><br/>"You are a disgrace!" He roared. "Look at you sloshing wine all down your front like some common addict outside of the pub. The fact that you're the king makes me sick. My daughter would have been queen if not for this human woman. And as for YOU King of the humans. Do you truly think it wise to leave your daughter surrounded by beings that could kill her without breaking a sweat? Do you think Valor could stop a vampire like me from-"<br/><br/>Within a second Valor had Valolie pinned against the wall. A hush fell over the congregation. Vampires surrounded the two but nobody made a move.<br/><br/>"If you ever threaten the princess in my presence again you will lose your life," Valor said, his normally sultry tone turned to ice. Thinking quickly he added, "she is my brother's wife. So from now on she is my sister in law. And I will do everything to keep her safe. You may think you're stronger than me but you're just a bitter old man who was never good enough for the throne. You challenged my father 100 years ago and died. And I am his son. Believe me when I say the apple does not fall far from the tree."<br/><br/>Jalice:<br/><br/>Jalice knew they were both uncomfortable. After all why wouldn't they be? They were two strangers who had literally just met but suddenly found themselves married and about to consummate their union. But Jalice began to wonder if her reluctance to what was happening wasn't just because she didn't want to marry someone she didn't know. He wondered if she had loved one before him and been promised to that person much like he had been promised to Rosalie.<br/><br/>As she stepped out of her dress Jalice's eyes slid down to her breasts. They were nice and perky. The perfect size for his hands. But they also had a lot more color than he was used to. Vampires were traditionally a lot paler than humans but that made sense because they rarely ventured into the sunlight. Even those with pendants usually only went outside sparingly. His eyes slid further down her body. She had a lovely figure as well and her womanhood was hidden from him by a pair of lacy white panties.<br/><br/>As her hands worked his vest and shirt he did not stop her. He could tell she wasn't doing it out of the heat of the moment. Her movements felt mechanical. Once she had undid the button of his vest he pulled it off. His shirt came next. Jalice was a lot paler than Valor but he had a similar lithe build despite being several inches shorter than Valor. There was also a nasty scar that ran from his pec over his abs.<br/><br/>Still the uncomfortable edge between the two of them was making him nervous. He had never had sex with a human after all. In fact Rosalie was the only woman he'd ever had sex with. And they had been having sex for a long time. All of this was so different from that. There were no feelings between the two of them. Only a shared disappointment that this was going to be their life from then on.<br/><br/>But did it have to be so completely mechanical and devoid of feeling anything? If they were to be husband and wife, king and queen, then surely they had to develop some compassion for each other. Otherwise they were only ever going to be miserable. Still knowing that she was a complete stranger made him feel shy. he didn't understand how Valor made love to women he had just met so easily. Maybe there was some trick to it that the younger brother just wasn't privy to. Still he had to overcome his shyness if this was going to proceed.<br/><br/>Jalice reached out and fondled her left boob. Every time he touched her he was thrown off by how warm she was. Even though he had fed his body temperature remained naturally low. As he touched her boob he could feel the blood pulsing beneath her skin. Somewhat shyly he twirled her nipple gently between his index finger and thumb. Her breasts were larger than Rosalie's but that wasn't something he remotely cared about. Biting his lip he remember the first time Rosalie had had sex with him. Unlike him she hadn't been a virgin. And she had instructed him about things women enjoyed. One thing she told him to do was suck on her nipples. But he wondered if humans also enjoyed such a thing.<br/><br/>Tentatively he looked away from her eyes and leaned down. He took her other nipple into his mouth and swirled his tongue around it gently before sucking on it. A soft blush appeared on his cheeks as a result of the blood he had drank throughout the day in preparation for this moment. He wasn't sure how much she would enjoy what he was doing but he did hope it would take some of the edge off at the very least.<br/><br/>Kera:<br/><br/>Kera was disappointed to learn that the wedding was over but it wasn't long before she rolled her eyes when Crying Kera and Angry Kera injected themselves into the moment. When Angry Kera and Rosalie talked about fighting she shook her head. "Oh no. I'm not letting you two fight again. The last time you fought I couldn't feel my jaw for a week."<br/><br/>Angry Kera smirked. "You think you can stop it?"<br/><br/>Crying Kera stomped her foot. "Stop it you two."<br/><br/>Kera sighed and ignored them before turning back to Rosalie and nodded. "Yes, I came to watch the wedding but I have an awful sense of direction and got lost several times. Of course I had baggage in the form of these two idiots so you can imagine it not being easy to get here."<br/><br/>Kera placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry...I can't imagine the pain you must be going through. I had heard you were supposed to marry Jalice in a couple months but the treaty ruined that." She kept her opinions about Jalice to herself. After all it wasn't entirely fair since she hadn't really talked to Jalice since they had been children.<br/><br/>Crying Kera pulled Rosalie into another hug. "I'm so, so sorry. Whatever I can do to help just let me know. I'll do anything."<br/><br/>Kera pulled her off. "Why don't you two disappear for now?" Crying Kera pouted but vanished. Angry Kera also reluctantly vanished. "Like Kera said if I can help don't hesitate to ask. We are cousins after all. Maybe I can even stick around for a little while and keep you company."