"No!"
Solomon shoves Gorgon hard and wrests Jiaoying from her grip.
In the sa breath, he draws his sword and points it at his fellow deathless.
Sothing Gorgon seems hopelessly amused by.
"Do you know this woman, Brother?"
"Stop calling that. I’m not your brother."
"But of course you are. We are more deeply bound than blood can ever express."
Gorgon looks past Solomon towards Jiaoying.
"Do you know this woman..? She’s an interesting one."
"Don’t look at her." Solomon insists. "She’s leaving, and you’re not going to touch her."
Gorgon’s eyes shine with recognition.
"A mate then? Why that’s... Oh, I don’t know what to say about that. Do you know how long it’s been since one of us has deigned to take a mate?"
"No, and I don’t care."
"Well, of course you don’t because you have refused to get to know us at every turn." Gorgon almost sounds as if she’s pouting.
Solomon’s eyes glow like the sun.
His rage only seems to amuse her even more. Similar to the way an owner might find a puppy guarding its bowl to be precious.
Jiaoying slips out of Solomon’s grip. She warily takes her own defensive stance at his side.
Despite this, Solomon still makes an attempt to shield her with his larger body.
Gorgon tilts her head to look past him toward her.
"You know, it’s not nice to stare or eavesdrop, little human. Especially not where family mbers are concerned-"
"Don’t talk to her." Solomon’s voice is quiet, but it is as powerful as a roar.
Gorgon huffs. "Honestly, Disaster, it was cute the first couple of tis, but your continued alienation of yourself is becoming rather distressing. Your sister can’t even get to know the people in your life while they’re still here?"
Solomon’s teeth are clenched together so tightly that they are at risk of shattering. "You are not-"
"My na is Xu Jiaoying. Knight Commander of the illustrious Eirbaine Empire. I am the sword of his majesty, and the one they call Executioner."
Jiaoying steps from behind Solomon again, and she is as cool as a cucumber.
Her eyes have that sa orange glow that Solomon witnessed on their first night together.
Solomon can sense Gorgon smiling beneath her helt.
"How cute. A woman after Disaster’s own purpose. I can see why he would have chosen you; his Yaksha would imbue him with a natural attraction to the strong."
"Solomon is not my partner. I am just his advisor." Jiaoying reaffirms.
Gorgon looks back and forth between the two of them as if she didn’t believe it.
"...What do you think, Rava?" She calls over her shoulder.
Suddenly, Gorgon’s tiger stands.
It circles Solomon and Jiaoying, staring at both of them with eyes that hold imnse intelligence.
"...It is there. Faint, but I can sll it, master. He has seeded her before."
Solomon almost dropped his sword when the tiger began talking. Jiaoying’s expression tightens as well.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Gorgon wags her finger. "No one likes liars, Knight Commander Jiaoying."
"No one likes nosy won who hide their faces either."
Rava growls deeply.
"Calm." Gorgon holds up her hand.
Begrudgingly, the tiger quiets down.
The armored woman rakes her eyes over Jiaoying. As if she were so kind of uncommon form of entertainnt for her.
"You have such fire... I’m feeling magnanimous today after not seeing my brother for so long, so I’ll let that slide for now."
Gorgon turns to Solomon again.
"Have you told her what we are?"
Solomon doesn’t respond.
Gorgon shakes her head in disappointnt. "... You should most definitely let kill her now, Disaster. Your attachnt to this woman is too great."
"Stop talking."
"When she dies in roughly a hundred years, all you will have is grief. It will destroy you. Why will you not let spare you from that hell?"
Solomon presses his blade into Gorgon’s neck. "I said-"
"Fuck... this is really pissing off."
Embers flutter in the corner of Solomon’s eyes.
When he looks back over his shoulder, Jiaoying’s hair is floating above her head. The embers are coming from her eyes.
Her way of speaking has changed into sothing undignified and hard. Her posture has also beco uncharacteristic.
Casually, she raised her hand to her chin and cracked her neck.
"All of this complaining about my life and what you’re going to do with it... Debating over whether or not I get to live as if you have any kind of bearing on that at all. Who the fuck do you think you are...?"
Gorgon’s eyes slowly shift from being amused to being insulted.
Rava instantly responds.
He lunges at Jiaoying from the side.
A column of fla erupts in Jiaoying’s hand, and a tal noise rings out into the air.
A sword appeared out of nowhere. It was the most beautiful weapon Solomon had ever seen in his entire life.
It was a longsword, made from a glowing red crystal. The poml was wrapped in leather and gold. Just the aura of the weapon was unbelievably nacing.
Solomon blinks to make sure he isn’t seeing things.
Faces. Nurous ghostly faces swirl around within the blade. They cry, curse, and demand a release that will never co.
Rava’s great fangs are biting down on Jiaoying’s blade, and yet they can’t break it.
But the more impressive feat is how Jiaoying holds back a one-ton tiger with only one arm.
Her defiant, fiery gaze never leaves Gorgon. Gradually, her skin begins to turn blue, and her muscles are ballooning.
"The only one who gets to decide when I die... is . If you think being old as shit entitles you to be my god, I promise I will test the limits of your alleged immortality."
Jiaoying flicks her arm and sends Rava flying away.
The tiger sorsaults and lands on his back legs, unfazed.
Gorgon and Rava lock eyes.
They both seem to smile in rich amusent.
"Rava... why don’t we play with her for a bit? I’m sure that Redeer won’t mind much."
"I will tear the flesh from her back, master."
"That’s my good boy."
Gorgon drops down onto all fours like a beast. The aura she emits is suffocating.
Solomon starts to tell her to back away when a thick, blue arm suddenly knocks him aside.
He flies maybe twenty feet in the air before landing on his feet.
When he looks back, Jiaoying is utterly unrecognizable.
She turns back and smiles at him, her teeth growing into sharp tusks.
When she speaks, her voice is overlapped with that of another.
"You might want to stand back, handso. It’s been a while since I’ve been this furious."
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