Chapter 30: It takes a child to make you see

 They were all, Orion, Baliel and Darius, sitting by the coffee table in the lavish living room. Sipping on their mugs of warm chocolate, they stood in silence.

 The adults let the thumps of Darius's tail lull them into a calm state of mind. Darius stole glances at the two, every so often. He wondered why they weren't talking to each other. Had something happened?

"So, I will be going off to the Westermire academy during the fall," Darius said. He didn't want to leave his father behind, but Andiel had been adamant that Darius should get the best education that Fairstar had to offer. Besides, if the demon boy was lucky, Anastasios might come to Westermire as well. 

"We will miss you, child," Orion said, and then took a sip from his chocolate. "Have you already begun to prepare?" 

"I have," Darius nodded, and then remembered the two-hour shopping spree that his father had taken him on, so they could get everything. "I have already begun to read my schoolbooks. Plus, I am thinking of signing up for all the battle orientated classes." 

"Still dreaming of being a bounty hunter?" Baliel asked, and the boy smiled.

"I have to be the very best. The one that even the criminals in the realm of the Forgotten Times fear," Darius told him, and then placed his cup down. "I will also take healer classes." 

"Is that so?" Orion asked, smiling brightly. "I am certain that, if you are before a hitch in the road, your father will be more than happy to help you out." 

"But I won't be a full-time healer," Darius said with a scrunched-up nose. "Healers are heroes too, but they help only after someone has gotten sick or hurt. I want to prevent people from getting hurt." 

"I am certain that you will be the best bounty hunter there is," Orion told him, and then looked to Baliel. "Right?"

"I am already feeling safer, with such a hero among us," Baliel said, and watched as Darius's tail began to wag again. "Although, you have to work on your poker face, young man. Or, rather, your poker tail." 

"How come?" Darius asked, his tail stopping its movement. 

"If you are before criminals, and you are undercover, your tail can't be allowed to give you away. You must be calm, my boy. Always," Baliel told him, and pointed at the tail, that was slowly beginning to wave back and forth again. "I take it you are confused?" 

"Why would I be undercover? Bounty hunters don't hide from their marks," Darius asked, but Baliel just shook his head. 

"No matter how strong you are, there will always be someone stronger," the elf clarified, and then pointed at the tail again. "When you get a job like that, you will have to see it through. If you don't, your fellow bounty hunters will hunt you down. So, what do you do with a tail like that, when you need to trick someone stronger, and perhaps more cunning, than you?" 

"Not let it wag?" Darius suggested, and then bit his bottom lip. "But I don't know how to do something like that." 

"They will teach you control in the academy," Orion assured him, and then looked at the half-empty cup of the little boy. "Finish your chocolate. Do you want croissants after that? It is almost noon. You should get something to eat, before I send you home."  

"Chocolate croissants?" Darius asked hopefully, and Orion shook his head. 

"With cheese and ham. If I let you eat sweets for lunch, Andy will have my head," Orion said, and then chuckled, when the demon boy's tail stopped its wagging. Baliel looked at Orion, and his eyes widened just a fraction. 

  Andy? The elf asked himself. Were the Fey and the other elf close? Andiel was an upstanding healer, with an adorable child. A lord could get away with getting such a spouse.

The child was immortal, or was going to become one in time, and so a good heir for the lordship title. His shoulders sagged. That didn't escape Orion's notice. 

"Baliel, why aren't you drinking your chocolate?" The Fey asked, and Baliel just pushed the cup away from himself. 

"Not hungry," he murmured. The truth was, he had never drunk anything as expensive. It was pleasantly sweet and creamy, but he felt unworthy of getting the treat. 

"You drink that, or I will be cross with you," Orion said teasingly. 

"And then you won't kiss him?" Darius suggested, and both adults turned crimson. 

"Well, I..." the lord stammered, and Baliel's shoulders sagged some more. 

"Darius, don't say such things," Baliel chastised, but the boy was staring straight into the bright-green eyes of the Fey. 

"Well, no, if he doesn't drink the whole cup, then I won't kiss him," the lord finally finished, not daring to look into the eyes of the elf. Baliel blinked. Had he heard that right?

"Wait, what?" The elf asked, but Orion just groaned. 

 "Don't make me repeat myself and just finish your cup," the Fey whined, and Baliel gulped down the content of the cup in record time. His palms were becoming sweaty.

He looked around wildly, waiting for someone to jump from a corner, and tell him this was all a joke. Then he felt it, lips on his, a body in his lap. He closed his eyes, and enjoyed the closeness. 

The two heard clapping, and broke off the kiss, to stare at Darius, whose tail was wagging like mad. 

"I knew it! You two smelt like you belonged to each other, and you found each other," the demon boy exclaimed, and then took a sip from his cup. 

"Wait? You little troublemaker smelt that we are mates and didn't say anything?" Orion all but growled. The tail stopped its wagging, and the demon's ears sagged a bit. 

"Well, I figured that, if I told you, you won't believe me. But if I let you find each other, then you will be together for life. Just like how it is in Beth's stories," the boy clarified, and the two adults shook their heads. 

 "From now on, if you smell that someone is another's mate, do tell them. We could have walked our separate ways, and never found each other," Orion scolded, but his grimace turned into a smile, when he turned to look into Baliel's eyes. 

"I have been waiting for you. Putting off marriage, until I found my mate," Orion said, snuggling closer to the elf. 

Baliel just smiled, and chuckled, when Darius's tail resumed its wagging, albeit in a more sedated fashion.