Underworld - Scorching Sun: A LitRPG Series
Page 49
The twenty rooms had completely disappeared as Clarissa had demolished every wall to open up the space into one large room. In the back was a grand canopy bed fifty percent larger than a normal king-size mattress. The posts spun up in silver spirals of Wind-rich stone. Sky blue fabric arched from post to post above the bed which was covered in a comforter of blue and gold. As for the rest of the room, it was lined from wall to wall in antique display cases of different sizes and shapes.
After a quick glance at everything there, Aeris scaled me as if I were a climbing post and hung on to my neck while looking up into my face. “What did you do?”
“Take a look,” I replied while carrying her over to the nearest case.
She almost didn’t dare to as if she were afraid of what she might see, but when she did, the 100,000 hummingbirds stirred up inside of her.
“I promised you a ring, but I couldn’t pick, so I brought you a couple to choose from.”
She hadn’t glanced away from the rings as I finished what I was saying. But then she turned to the next case. Letting go of my neck, she started to spin, realizing what was in every case.
“Pick one or pick them all. It doesn’t matter for they’re all yours.” There were more than fifty display cases I had set up and each held dozens if not hundreds of rings and other pieces of jewelry.
She looked back at me like she didn’t believe it, and I playfully pushed her into the center of the room.
She slowly flew from case to case, but her speed grew with her excitement. Before she was done looking at half the room, she quickly finished her lap before flying back and throwing herself around my neck.
“So you still want to marry me, huh?” I said, only half teasing.
She didn’t speak and only nodded repeatedly before burying her face in my neck.
After she’d settled down a bit, she asked, “How? Were these all from Lord Darius’s estate?”
“About half of them were,” I replied. “The other half I got in Hallow when I bought out the jewelry section in the shop I told you about.”
“It’s too much. How am I supposed to choose?”
“You don’t have to. Wear a different one every day or maybe switch them out once an hour.”
She laughed and smacked me on the chest. “You dork.”
“Just promise me something.”
“Hmmm?”
“If you ever become a Primordial, even if it makes you look down upon the entire world, you still have to love me and never leave me.”
“What?”
“Shamash said there’s a small possibility that you could have a third transformation and become a new Primordial. He said you wouldn’t become less than human, but after seeing what Xaphan is like…”
She barely held back her laughter. “Xaphan isn’t that way because he’s a Primordial, but because he’s a cat. Even if I were to become a ‘Primordial’ you’d have nothing to worry about. The worst that would happen is that you would become a full-time homemaker.”
“Ha, ha,” I replied, a little relieved. “You don’t seem to be surprised by what he said.”
She shrugged. “Not really. There’s got to be some reason those old Matriarchs favor me so much and that makes as much sense as anything.”
“Okay. Then how long do you need to pick out your ring?”
“Uh. I have no idea, why?”
“Because I’ve been thinking about when we should get married and I can’t wait any longer. How about tomorrow?”
“Okay.”
I’d already opened my mouth to try to persuade her when her response registered. “What did you say?”
“Okay. I don’t want to wait any longer either. Tomorrow is just fine.”
I just smiled down at her, unsure what to say next. I immediately messaged Richard to tell everyone to start preparing. Though I’d kept it from Aeris, I’d told all the leaders what I was planning on doing.
The next moment, there was an announcement that went out to all. It was Richard’s voice saying, “Everyone report to the kitchen! We have some work to do. Tomorrow, King Meathead and our very own Wind Princess are finally getting married.”
Coming from every direction outside our new room, cheers and well wishes flew. It was like everyone had been waiting.
“Eh, he wasn’t supposed to say that,” I said.
“It’s your own fault for thinking Richard would keep it a secret,” she replied, rolling her eyes.
“Sorry.”
“About what? It’s perfect.”
Losing myself in her eyes, I knew that she was absolutely right. As annoying as they might get at times, this was our family and there was no guarantee we’d have them tomorrow. It was bound to be the geekiest wedding ever and I was perfectly fine with that.
All of a sudden, Aeris shot to the door and pushed it closed, then flew back and grabbed my hand before dragging me toward our bed. “Don’t get any ideas. You still have to watch your hands until after our wedding, but tonight you have to show me your cuddling skills.”
“What about picking out your ring?” I replied.
“There’s no hurry. Besides, there’s already thirty or forty of them that I have my eye on. Now get in.” With a surprising jerk from her little body, she threw me the rest of the distance to clear twenty feet and a convenient gust of wind blew the covers back. I spun to land back-first in bed.
With a bounce, I looked up to watch her approach. She vanished in a rush of air. In the next moment, the covers folded over me and a warm little body appeared lying on my shoulder and snuggled up against my side.
***
A couple hours later as I lay there unable to sleep, I began to worry about how Jasmine was adjusting. She’d had to suffer through the last couple nights without me sitting by her bed. Throwing out my perceptions, I found it difficult to pierce through the stone walls, but once I was through, since I knew exactly where she was, it only took me a few seconds to find her. As I’d expected she was lying with her back to the wall and her eyes wide open. I saw no tears, but she hid them so well it was impossible to know if she’d been crying earlier or not.
I shifted to see how easy it would be to move Aeris without waking her, but then I heard her whisper in groggy tones, “You can go to her, just take me with you.”
I’d told her everything about Jasmine including how I’d sat leaning against her bed at night. It seemed Aeris had been expecting this.
It wasn’t like she was difficult to carry. Even if she didn’t weigh less than her original human weight, she’d weigh almost nothing to my current level of Strength. So with a Wind Sprite sleeping with one of my arms hooked under her legs and the other her back, I left our room and headed toward the hall where Jasmine was.
Only about half of Sanctuary was sleeping. Some were watching the dungeon’s map, while others were preparing for tomorrow’s wedding. When Travis saw me and was ready to call out, I put my finger to my lips to shush him. He saw Aeris well enough and didn’t say a thing.
Having her with me also helped with the whole sneaking into another girl’s room at night thing not becoming too weird.
As I cracked open her door, I whispered Jasmine’s name. “It’s Elorion.” Pushing the door open, I slipped in. “I saw you couldn’t sleep so I came. Aeris wanted to come. I hope you don’t mind.”
Jasmine wouldn’t look at me even though she had yet to close her eyes.
Because it wouldn’t harm Aeris in the least, I transformed into my Vampire Form as I sat and leaned against the bed. It was the one I’d given her after leaving Persepolis. It was small enough to fit in the space just fine.
“You don’t have to keep doing this,” Jasmine said as she scooted closer to me.
“No,” I replied, “but now and then won’t hurt.”
Turning over, she didn’t say another word and pressed her back against mine.
I spent the rest of the night with my bride sleeping in my arms and a vulnerable dark elf vampire snuggled against my
back. As blissful as it should’ve been, my mind was filled with the restless thoughts of our unsure future.
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