The Demon King's Hero Of Light 215 Chapter 215 The Tangled Truth

Aella perched on a cliff of the dwarven mountains, watching the elves work below her. She had already delivered the fur to the world tree and had discussed more on which races the tree had brought into the realm. One of the sentient ones had been a tree species below her but the elves didn't know of it yet. She was trying to figure out how to tell them, without drenching the area with her pheromones. A good brisk wind was keeping her current area clean, but she couldn't stand just watching from afar, and if she tried to throw her voice, to talk to the elves, the wind might take her scent with it.

She spied King Elalar talking with some of the workers, and wondered if she could hold in her pheromones long enough to speak with him. Watching the way he moved, so effortlessly, made her uncomfortable, so she teleported far to the north, to a cliff overlooking the dead village she had found so long ago.

Everyone wanted her to have a kid, and if she got pregnant then she wouldn't have to deal with these stupid hormones. But who should she choose as her mate? Frederik and Jogug had been her choices during her first heat, but she couldn't seem to think straight at the moment. All of the images of the men she had encountered since leaving the pits flashed through her mind, and she found herself shuffling through them, picking and choosing the traits she really liked.

A faint noise behind her caught her off guard, and she half turned in time to fall back as a figure jumped on her. Aella found herself pinned to the ground staring into deep blue eyes.

"Who are you?" she whispered, unable to tear her eyes from his.

"You stink," he growled, deep enough parts of her clenched.

What was this?! Melding into the rock to get away from him, Aella then teleported high into the air and watched as he sat back on his haunches to look up at her. She could breathe a little easier from this distance, and took the opportunity to try and figure out what he was. He had wings, so he could fly up to her if he wanted, but she couldn't place what he was. There were feathers on his wings, which none of her people had.

"Are you a male harpy?" she asked, tilting her head to the side to see his clawed feet.

"And you're a demon in heat," he spat, standing up and looking over the frozen village below them.

"Why are you so far from the rest of your people?" she asked, motioning further east, towards where she knew the harpy nest used to be.

"We have spread through the mountains, looking for food," he said, crouching on the edge of the cliff. "There's not a lot of food since the portal has been shut down."

"I thought the harpies protected their males because you were so rare," said Aella, preparing to leave the area. She wanted to speak with Bridgette about what she could do. Maybe drink some cocoa, like Bob recommended.

"Our hatchlings are starving, demon. Food is more important then s.e.x. Leave me before your stench convinces me otherwise."

Aella teleported high in the air, and allowed the strong winds to carry her along as she thought over the creatures the tree wanted to bring to those mountains. She should let the tree know that it needed to go ahead with some of them, to ensure the harpies didn't starve.

"Noted," a voice said in her head, and she swung around in surprise before realizing the tree could hear her thoughts when they were directed to it.

Having so many voices in her head was getting annoying. Could she not have any thoughts of her own?

"Are we going to float up here for the next two weeks?" asked Precious, flapping his wings before settling back down again.

Aella teleported above Bridgette's library, making sure her bubble was tight around her, then teleported inside.

"Aella! What are you doing here?" gasped Bridgette, scrambling back away from her.

"I was hoping to talk to you, and maybe get a cup of cocoa?" asked Aella with a frown.

"Ah, I can get you cocoa, but I don't want you hanging around right now. I'm not ready to have any more kids just yet!"

Aella sighed in annoyance, and went to tell her about her bubble, but Alfred appeared around the corner just then, carrying a book.

"Bridgette, I found the book you were want… Oh, Aella! Great timing! I was wanting to talk to you!"

"What's up?" asked Aella, relieved that he wasn't going crazy about her heat, and looking forward to an adult conversation.

"I know you left Seifer in charge of the demon city, but he's becoming very difficult to deal with," said Alfred.

"What do you mean? What's he doing?"

"Well, he doesn't want anyone who isn't human to live there. Josephine moved all of the orphans over here because he was giving her grief for being a hero. He wanted her to heal people and workers on a constant basis, and she had enough of it. She was mostly moved when he found out and tried to stop her. She escaped but Curt was thrown into their dungeon. I told her I would try and get him out, but I've had no luck. Do you think you could do something?"

Aella thought about it. She could probably just teleport in, grab him, and teleport out without anyone knowing she had been there, but that might cause trouble with the guards when it became known he was gone. Better for her to go straight to Seifer.

"Here's your cocoa," said Bridgette, setting it on a table nearby and then hurrying away.

"What's her problem?" asked Alfred with a shake of his head. "Anyway, as I was saying, I have everything handled pretty well here. Some of the demons have even moved over and are following my rules pretty well. I think it helps that everyone knows I'm the Hero of Light. By the way, do you want me to tell Josephine you're here?"

"No, I'm going to be busy for another month still," said Aella, shaking her head. Could he have forgotten it was her time of month? She must be doing really well with keeping her pheromones under control. Picking up the cocoa, she took a sip and sighed in delight.

"Well, I need to find Bridgette and show her this book. I'll talk to you later," said Alfred, turning to where Bridgette had left.

Aella teleported to above the demon city and let her bubble down to drink her cocoa before it cooled too much.

"This is going to be tough," said Precious. "If you only ever show up to steal his prisoners, Seifer is going to start resent seeing you."

"Maybe I can get away with talking to someone else," said Aella, crumbling her cup into dust once it was empty, and allowing the wind to carry it away.

"But who would have the ability to free a prisoner?" asked Precious.

"Frederik," she said thoughtfully.

"Is it safe to go down there?" asked Precious.

"Only one way to find out."

Aella teleported above the throne room, and saw with relief that Seifer wasn't there. A few of the advisors were talking quietly by their seats, and Frederik was sitting in his smaller throne, with his head on his fist.

"Frederik," she said, landing before him and making herself visible.

"Aella!" he gasped, sitting up quickly and craning to see around her in order to make sure Seifer wasn't there. "What are you doing back? It's still the time of the full moon!"

"I know," Aella said, catching herself eyeing his muscles and snapped them back to his face. "I have a request."

"You want the human in the prison released?" he guessed with a lopsided grin.

"Something like that," she laughed. "How did you know?"

"I know that Seifer has been really hard on the humans, and they were bound to go running to you for help. I just wish I could help. He specifically ordered me not to give him to you. He's furious you took Jogug."

"But why?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips in frustration. "Everything that I worked so hard to get done, he's undoing!"

"Aella, I think I know, but you have to be willing to listen," said Frederik, turning his head away from where he had been eyeing her, to stare at the throne that now belonged to Seifer.

"All right. I'm listening."

"The people have been having a really hard time with all of the changes. If it was just one thing, like moving, or changing the currency from trade to coins, they probably could have handled that. You did more than just one, or even two, things. You threw them into a new city, with a new currency, and then expected them to get along with the very people they've been at war with forever. Then you brought the lions and told them to play nice before disappearing for a while year. It was just too much."

Aella watched him shake his head.

"You came from the pits, just like I did," she said softly. "You know how hard it was. I didn't want to rule a people who were okay with that."

"I came from the pits," he agreed. "But the pits I lived in were nicer to me, than they were to you. I got a meal every day; sometimes two. I had access to trainers who worked with me on the best way to fight my opponents to kill them. When we came up against you, it was a completely new experience.

"You were the little demon, killing everyone who went up against you, that no one expected. You have told us of the disadvantages you went through, and we didn't have any of that. I think that's why you won, but that hards.h.i.+p made you want to change everything that you saw as wrong. The people couldn't handle it, and when Seifer stepped up to rule in your place, he recognized that and started correcting things. Is it better? No, probably not. Are the people happier? To an extent, yes. Can I get you Curt? No, but Seifer can, if you ask him.

"He feels as if you put him in power, but still treat him as an underling. If you want him to be a real king, you need to treat him as one," said Frederik, glancing behind her and standing up quickly.

Aella turned to see Seifer entering the room. His eyes flitted over to her and a scowl immediately appeared on his face. As he pa.s.sed the other demons, they all bowed at him. She had to make a decision quickly.

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