innocent brother.
Hence, why I was angry that Lucius had kept this from me, because if he'd have told me about Dariush being his brother then none of this would have happened! My comments to Nero would have been about a brother that he didn't know he had, not the one that's by his side and ruled in his absence. It was a cruel twist of fate indeed and one that no matter how much I tried not to think about it, I found I could fixate on little else.
Thankfully, after this there was no more talk about my relationship with Lucius and I was more than glad of it. Although, I could tell that all three of them still had questions. But at the very least, I think they could now understand the start of our troubles hadn't been when I had first stepped foot into Hell but in fact long before that. Oh no, because Hell had just ended up being the icing on the poisonous cake!
Besides, I had a feeling that after these three noble shifters had kidnapped me and I had been returned, Lucius had obviously thought it best to put together some sort of team. This much was clear seeing as Trice had been charged with finding a way to remove the hex. Something he had explained to me after finding me putting myself up for sale in way of a bounty.
Of course, my disappearance, or should I say more to the point, after the harpy Queen had kidnapped me and Nero, then removing the hex had come secondary to finding me. This side of the story had come from Trice, as he told me it was the reason that Vern and Griff had been called back to the castle.
Now, as for those two, it was soon their turn to explain what happened after they returned back to Lucius’ kingdom, as shortly after arriving was when it had all begun. Starting with Lucius supposedly being overpowered by some kind of vision of me at the harpy Queen’s lair. Because after this, Lucius had quickly left the castle telling no one of his plans other than letting Vern know that Nero was still alive. After that, it was easy to assume that Lucius hadn't been long behind us as he had found Nero and been able to save her life before she really did die.
I had to be honest but hearing this the moment Vern had appeared would have been some of the happiest news in my entire life! That was, had it not then been tainted by the fact that Lucius was about to kill his own brother, as something like that certainly had the power to put a downer on any happy occasion!
But getting back to trying to prevent that from happening, not long after this conversation, the brothers finished up their drinks and I watched as Gryph nodded to someone by the bar that I had my back to. I turned and looked over my shoulder to see a male demon that had light, aquamarine coloured skin. It also glowed in a yellowish tone around the symbols that seemed to have been cut into his flesh. Around his neck was also some kind of webbed skin that joined up to his ears and fluttered whenever he spoke.
He also had what looked like gills on each side of his head, that could be seen thanks to a thin strip of hair he had running down the centre of his mainly bald head. One eye was covered up by a patch sown directly into his skin, and the other was a dirty yellow colour framed by the harsh slant of a dark jagged brow. He looked mean and menacing, despite the fact that he winked his one eye at the barmaid he had obviously just had his manhood serviced by… or what had Trice called it, having his ‘cock polished’.
As for the barmaid, she was a red skinned demon with pointed ears and black lines around her features in the places an old woman would have wrinkles. She also had two sets of eyebrows and a pair of glowing horns that started from her forehead and framed the crown of her skull. Long, dark ebony hair flowed down her back, and was interlaced with plaited dreads and beads reaching the beginning of a tail. One that was allowed to snap out freely due to the hole in her gypsy style skirt. She also had a piercing