Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Though he had searched all over the capital, Lucius found no signs of the missing men. He had located a few of his people blending into the general crowd, but still, two remained missing. It was highly possible they had fallen in battle and their corpses burned… but the attackers were not particularly strong.

He had picked up from conversations among many of the investigators that the predicted rank of most of the enemies was around Intermediate Rank. This explained why Lucius was able to take care of so many and so easily. There were definitely people of higher ranks including at least one potential Master Rank.

However, the higher ranked fighters were nowhere to be found and were believed to have fled in the confusion.

Their motivations remained a mystery. It was unknown if the attack on the academy served a greater purpose or to simply create fear. The idea that someone could raise such a force in the middle of the capital without warning raised a lot of concerns. It also created seeds of doubt among the populace on whether the kingdom could protect them or not.

Lucius sighed to himself and started to wonder if he could ask Kalliope to write the reports of his men's missing status. The King's Shadow would send letters to the men's families on his behalf, but he hated writing them. He simply found the task tedious. The one time he did write one, Kalliope berated him for nearly an hour about the level of insensitivity in it.

When a King's Shadow went missing, they were assumed deceased immediately. It was up to the individual unit commanders on if there would even be a cursory search or not.

While he was walking random soldiers or citizens would come up and try to engage him in conversation, but he saw no purpose in interacting with them so he chose to ignore them. Many of them made insulting comments, but it did not bother him in the slightest. Whatever problems they had did not concern him.

There were also people watching him. Just like at the front gates, they were able to keep out of his sensory range, but he could basically feel the eyes on him. It was like a sixth sense he developed…

"Some sixth sense…" He muttered, thinking back to Rena just a few hours ago.

Lucius was so enthralled by the battle that he let his guard down. Not one, but several archers had lined up to shoot him and he did not notice they were there. Kalliope called out just in time for Rena to react with an [Iron Wall], but she still ended up taking a few arrows as a result of her trying to protect him.

It was his fault and it bothered him immensely. As he was thinking about it, he heard a small crack beneath his foot. When he looked down, he saw that the stone had cracked. That was when he noticed his mana was leaking out from his frustration.

Allowing his mana to run rampant like that was dangerous. Since he could exhaust himself so much that it would kill him, he needed to be constantly conscious of how he used it.

He shook his head clear of those thoughts and opted to ignore the people watching him. Since taking up residence in the capital, he had been under nearly constant surveillance. It was strange these new people were much more skilled, but he assumed they upped their efforts after the incident with the church.

"Lord Kane. Welcome back."

The guards at the embassy greeted him with a salute and opened the gate for him. Sounds of food being prepared and excited chatter was coming from the embassy's interior. Curious, he opened the door to the sights and smells of a large dinner that had been prepared.

Callous though he was, he was slightly confused as to why everyone seemed to be in a celebratory mood. Natali calmly walked up to him and gave him a slight bow before gesturing with a wave of her hand for him to enter the dining room.

"Natali!" Rubellia called out, "In this place you are not a maid, you are a dear friend of my daughter-in-law as well as my family. Don't act so formally girl. Come sit, both of you."

His mother had one of the biggest smiles that he had ever seen her with since his father's death. The other women in the room also had huge grins. Desmond looked out of place and slightly confused, but generally happy to be included.

"What's going on?" Lucius asked apprehensively.

His wife stood up from her seat and walked over to him. Her eyes were slightly puffy from crying. For a moment he felt his heart start beating, furious at whoever it was that had brought tears to her beautiful eyes.

"Rena… who made you cry?" He demanded.

Her response was to simply giggle and give him a beautiful smile that made his heart skip several beats. Despite knowing the truth, seeing her in this way was still surreal to him.

"I guess… that you did, my love." Rena answered in a teasing tone.

"What? What did I…" He stammered, thinking back to everything he had ever said and done with her around.

While he was panicking to figure out how he upset her, Rena gently grabbed his hands and placed them gently on her stomach with hers over the top of his. Still confused, he began to mouth his next question, but was interrupted by a finger on his lips.

"Lucius, you are going to be a father." Rena said, tears once again pooling in her eyes.

Lucius felt his world shift. It felt like before this moment, his world was gray and empty. Everything almost appeared to take on a rose-colored hue. He gently removed one hand from his lover's belly and placed it on her cheek. With all the care and tenderness in the world he wiped away a tear with his thumb and kissed her.

Suddenly, Kalliope shouted out, "I win! I called it for the kiss!"

Natali clicked her tongue in response while Jade giggled. They both passed small pouches to the wolf-girl whose tail began to wag. It was unclear if she was happy for winning the bet or for the lovely couple.

Lucius turned to Lyrah, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"I promised sister that I would not say, brother dearest."

Everyone began to laugh, but their amusement was stifled by Lucius's next question, "Will they be marked?"

His words hung in the air like lead. No one knew how to respond until Lyrah returned his question with another, "Does it matter?" Her silver eyes glowed, something that none at the table had seen before. Even Natali was slightly baffled by the situation.

Before Lucius could answer, Rena moved in to hug him tightly. She smiled at the table before answering with confidence, "Not in the slightest."