The wedding festivities had been exhausting. It had been centuries since so many royal families all gathered in the same region for any kind of ceremony. Thousands of guests and countless feasts later, Azar was happy for the quiet. He had to manage his time to attend to both his new wives and ensure they acclimated well to living in his palace. While he wasn’t too worried about Ilyan’s behavior, he knew Thalisa was raised as a princess all her life. Sharing her husband with a desert chief’s daughter was likely not what she envisioned. Nevertheless, the opportunity to marry a Pureblood King came around for the first time in hundreds of years, so her family was honored to beat out the other royals.
Azar was relaxing in the royal baths, tended to by several servants that prepared wines and snacks. Thalisa was welcome to join if she pleased, though he half expected her to snoop through all the wardrobes first. She was presented with countless new clothing and jewelry to satisfy a woman of her appetite. She was materialistic, but it was something Azar could relate to, so he had a suspicion they would find some mutual understanding.
The Pureblood closed his eyes and relaxed in the warm water, his tattooed form entirely nude and submerged. It was silent except for servants playing gentle harps somewhere in the distance and out of sight. As he relaxed, he thought back to how he had to fight and claw to regain his name. There was a time where Thalisa’s family would have had him executed for his exile and committing patricide. And now they couldn’t wait to hand their daughter off to Azar to have his children. Royalty was always fickle and unpredictable.
@LouJoVi