"Sorry for spoiling the lovely atmosphere, but I helped you move," Ren spat, clicking his tongue. "I carried the brat with the gems. That counts for manual labor, doesn’t it?"
Roxy shrugged, sitting at the edge of the bed as she felt the mattress under her. She was exhausted, her body aching from the birth and the move, but her mind was wide awake.
She badly wanted to explore.
"Then you should leave. We are not giving you a thank you if you are expecting that," Zarek growled, stepping forward. His shadow swallowed the Fox King. "You are no longer needed. Get out."
Ren shivered theatrically, clutching his silk robes. "Oh no, I am scared. The big bad lizard is going to breathe on ."
Syris rolled his eyes at the exaggerated movent. The Basilisk looked ready to summon a poison mist just to shut the Fox up. Torian was already extending his claws, the gold chains around his neck jingling with his agitation.
They were cornering him. The pack instinct was kicking in; they were already tolerating each other as the four males that love Roxy, they can’t afford to have another one.
Much less a fox.
"It’s a lovely evening, guys. Let’s not spoil it," Roxy sighed, pushing herself off the bed.
Torian froze in his steps. Zarek stopped his advance.
Her four mates turned their gaze to her simultaneously. They gave her a Look.
It was a Look that said, ’Do you really want to keep this stray? Do you want to turn him into us?’
What? Do you think I have any fucking choice?
Roxy thought furiously, glaring at the invisible System window hovering next to Ren’s head.
I am curious, okay? Roxy argued with herself. What makes him such an important factor that the System won’t let reject him?
"Let him stay for the night," Roxy rolled out.
Zarek’s jaw clenched. Kaelen’s hackles rose. Torian let out a low, unhappy chuff. She could sense their disappointnt; they wanted to celebrate their new ho as a family, just them, but there was really nothing she could do.
There must be sothing Ren was hiding.
Why did he give her that anklet then?
Was he interested in her? Why?
He doesn’t give that look of desire; he actually acts and behaves like a rchant so what makes him so different?
Ren, noticing the thick, tense air, dropped his smirk. His ears twitched, flattening slightly. For the first ti, he looked less like a King and more like an interloper who knew he wasn’t wanted.
"If you are trying to pity ," Ren said quietly, his voice lacking its usual lody, "there is no need—"
"Shut up, Fox," Torian spat, crossing his massive arms. His tone was harsh, thick with jealousy, but resigned. "If our Mate allowed you to be here, just shut up and take it."
The tension held for a second longer, then broke as the Alpha males prioritized Roxy’s comfort over their rivalry.
"I will go make sothing for you to eat," Syris offered smoothly, stepping in. "I will prepare a restorative broth for lactation."
"I will heat the bath," Zarek grumbled, glaring at Ren one last ti. "The water needs to be scalding."
"Actually, there is—"
Before Roxy could even interject, he was gone. She wanted to tell him that the bathroom was now a pond, so there was no need for him to heat a bath for her; it was a hot spring catered for baths.
"I will call on a few wolves to make rounds around the periter," Kaelen added. "Just in case any pests followed us."
"And I," Torian growled, grabbing Ren by the back of his expensive silk collar, "will show the ’Guest’ to his room."
One by one, they dispersed to their tasks.
Torian dragged Ren down the hallway. Roxy watched them go, seeing Ren stumble slightly, his usual grace failing him for a split second.
She stood alone in the room of the massive bedroom and blinked at the turn of events. Should she be happy that they weren’t at each other’s necks?
You know this is your fault, right?
[You’re welco.]
****
Deep in the middle of the Night, Roxy jerked off from Zarek’s embrace on the bed.
The new house was silent in a way the old cabin never was. The stone walls absorbed sound, and the sheer size of the place made the quiet feel heavy.
Roxy lay in the center of the massive Emperor bed. Kaelen was snoring softly to her left, Zarek was a furnace of heat to her right, and Torian and Syris were sprawled at the foot of the bed. It was a pile of apex predators, and she was safe in the middle.
From a distance, Roxy could hear Tanith’s scream for her mother, and she imdiately scrambled off the bed.
The movent didn’t wake the n; they were surprisingly exhausted or maybe too deep in sleep to even bother because of the soft material of the bed.
They were not used to all these comforts, Roxy was giving them.
Sothing they had never experienced.
Roxy grabbed her silk robe and padded barefoot across the heated floor, slipping out of the Master Suite and into the long, moonlit hallway.
The Nursery was in the East Wing.
As she approached the door, she heard the crying stop. It ceased abruptly, replaced by a soft, rhythmic humming. Roxy frowned.
She pushed the heavy iron-wood door open silently.
The room was bathed in silver light from the large window. The mobile above the cribs was spinning slowly.
And there was Ren.
The Fox King was standing over Tanith’s crib. He had abandoned his outer robes, wearing only a thin, white inner tunic that hung loosely on his fra.
He wasn’t holding the baby. He was leaning over the railing, one hand extended gracefully over Tanith’s face.
From his fingertips, tiny, glowing motes of violet light were drifting down like snow. They swirled into shapes, miniature foxes, birds, and flowers, that danced in the air before fading away.
"Shh," Ren whispered, his voice as soft as velvet. "The world is loud, little glitter. But the night is quiet. Don’t wake your mother."
Tanith was wide awake, her eyes fixed on the play in front of her. She reached up with a tiny, pale hand, trying to catch a violet butterfly.
Roxy watched from the doorway, her hand on the latch. She should be angry. He was in her nursery uninvited. But there was no malice in him. There was only a profound, aching loneliness.
Talk about soone who tugs at your own heartstrings without even doing anything.
"You’re good with her," Roxy said softly.
Ren flinched violently, the violet lights vanishing instantly. He spun around, his ears pinning back in surprise.
"I... she was screaming," Ren stamred, looking guilty. "I didn’t want her to wake her other siblings and other people in the house."
"It’s okay," Roxy smiled, walking into the room. "I’m not mad. Magic beats a pacifier any day."
And besides, the triplets slept with their eyes pressed down, so every chaos happening was muted in their eyes.
And I ain’t gonna lie that I just made that up.
She reached into the crib and picked Tanith up. The baby fussed imdiately, rooting against Roxy’s chest.
"She’s hungry," Roxy noted. She walked over to the rocking chair near the window and sat down, adjusting her robe to let the baby latch.
Ren stood awkwardly by the crib. He started to back away toward the door. "I should go. This is... private."
"Stay," Roxy said. Beckoning him closer, after all the beastworld was not so tight on privacy for him to say that. "You’re already awake. And I could use the company."
Ren hesitated, then slowly walked over. He sat on the window seat, giving her respectful distance, but his eyes were drawn to the baby feeding.
"The Fox Tribe..." Ren started, his voice quiet, looking out at the snow. "We don’t have this."
"Have what?" Roxy asked, stroking Tanith’s hair. "Midnight feedings?"
"Life," Ren whispered. "Our females... They are beautiful, fragile, like glass vases. But when they carry life... they crack."
Of course, they will, System, won’t you bring a species that doesn’t have a redundant reason?
Why must it always be the females cracking?
Can’t the males have sothing wrong with their dick, too?
[You can switch lives with him to find out.]
...
Ren looked at Roxy and found his cheeks burning with embarrassnt that he was starting this conversation.
"Pregnancies are rare. Successful births are rarer. Our mana is too volatile. It consus the mother, or it consus the child. Most of our nurseries are empty. We fill them with illusions of children so the mothers don’t go mad with grief."
Roxy’s heart ached. Oh....
This is different.
For a mother who has had five successful kids, she felt the pain even from just one sentence.
"Is that why you ca?" Roxy asked gently. "To find a solution?"
"I ca for trade," Ren lied smoothly, though his eyes betrayed him. "But... I stayed because I saw you. You carry the blood of four Kings, yet you stand. You birth hybrids that should be impossible, yet you smile."
He doesn’t know of her species, but judging from the mates she managed, he knew one thing: She was strong.
But that was a lie; Roxy was the weakest living being in the Beastworld. Her mates had known from the mont they held her in their arms, and they allowed her to feel the strongest.
He looked at Tanith, who was feeding contentedly, her white scales shimring.
"Why is it different for you?" Ren asked, dodging the truth of his own dying body.
"Maybe because I’m stubborn," Roxy joked lightly. "Or maybe because I’m not from here. Where I co from, humans are resilient. We don’t have magic, so we have to be tough."
"Tough," Ren repeated, testing the word. "Yes. You are tough. Like the Iron-Wood."
He watched the baby pull away, satiated and milk-drunk. Roxy burped her gently, then cradled her back against her chest.
The moonlight poured through the window, illuminating Roxy’s face. It caught the softness of her jaw, the tiredness in her eyes, and the fierce, protective love she held for the child.
Ren stared.
In his court, beauty was makeup, illusions, silk, and carefully rehearsed smiles.
But this... this woman in a simple robe, with ssy hair, sitting in a rocking chair in the middle of the night... was raw, and real. It was the most vibrant thing he had ever seen.
Before he ca to the nursery, he was struggling another night of his rot, spreading up to his neck, yet when he stood around her, he didn’t even notice the pulse of it.
Was it her doing?
"How are you so beautiful?" Ren whispered, the words escaping before he could stop them. "More beautiful than the beast world?"
Before Roxy could reply, he moved toward her and knelt beside the rocking chair, bringing his face level with hers.
The violet light in his eyes was filled with pure, unfiltered emotion.
He reached out. His hand trembled slightly, the tremors of his sickness that he tried so hard to hide.
His long, cool fingers brushed against her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw. Then, with a boldness that surprised even him, his thumb brushed against her lower lip.
"Why?" Ren whispered, "Why does my heart sing in curiosity to know more about you?"
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