In his hands is a basket, but I soon skip over it as seeing Lugh all dressed up does many things to both my mind and my body,

His beautiful face is both mature and effeminate, but the aura of his body and his wounds give the impression of a hardened warrior. His muscles which show in his clothes, enrapture my eyes and never let them go.

The heavenly smell of his silver hair crushes my nose, and his heavy voice which ties it all together slays my ears. Right now, he is more seductive than any man of the night, and should be locked up for indecency.

Covering my eyes, I scream, “THANK YOU!”

Aimee then gets up to Lugh’s face, and says, “My king, it isn’t good for you to see her right now. You should wait until the ceremony so you can be surprized by her looks.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised anyway. Péatra is a beautiful woman, it isn’t like she could get prettier if she tried.”

I let out a gross laugh in response to this, and start to drool. The maids quickly catch my drool as it falls off my face stopping it from falling onto my dress, and Lugh says, “Please all of you excuse us, I need to talk to her one on one.”

“But.”

“This is an order, Aimee.”

As Lugh glares at her, Aimee composes herself and excuses the room along with the rest of the maids within the room.

Lugh grabs one of the other chairs in the room and sits beside me, then he says, “Have they been bothering you?”

“No, not at all. They have all been rather nice to me,” I say lowering my tone

“I see,” Lugh says as he moves the basket he holds.

Even now I still feel stiff when talking to him, even though I plan on marrying him today, what an embarrassment. How the hell am I going to look at him when we breed tonight?

My face turns red and I swing my head from side to side, until Lugh asks, “Are you ok?”

“YES!”

In the same emotionless expression, he always has on he, says, “That’s good. Now have this.”

Lugh places the basket on the table in front of me which is where the maids placed all of the make-up when dressing me, but currently holds my plate of meat.

He opens the basket, and inside I see many different plant-based foods, which make my mouth water a bit.

“I made a bit too much for myself, so I am going to need you to help me eat some.”

My body almost jumps to bite into the foods, but I restrain myself, and say, “Are you sure about that? I might dirty my dress and cause issues for everyone.”

“If you're scared of dirtying your dress, I can feed you.”

“NO! I will eat it myself.”

I take a few purple balls and through them into my mouth, and I say, “Sweat.”

“They are a form of candy, that the druids have been trying to make.”

Holding one of the balls up, I say, “I wonder what went into making them. The druids of Gorias really are talented.”

“That’s the highest of compliments coming from someone like you.”

“What?”

“Well, your work on portable castles is by far one of the most groundbreaking advancements in our technology so far.”

Shocked, I say, “You know about that?”

“You make small buildings out of plants, which can be carried in one's pocket, and then using Beast blood battle arts, you grow the little plant buildings into giant structures of a premade design. If perfected it will completely change the way we do warfare, an ingenious creation.”

Suddenly a force overtakes me, and I say, “It isn’t! It is riddled with problems that keep getting in the way. First is the fact that when growing the buildings requires a lot of blood, so multiple druids would be knocked out.

Then you need to grow each part of the building at different speeds which requires a lot more skill than it may seem. We also have to hand-make each building in its tiny form beforehand which takes a lot of time.

Before we even do that, we need to harvest the plants that go into making the building, and then modify them so they can work within our structure. Not to mention everything needs to be fresh, so if any mistake is made during the creation, it can set us back by a ridiculous amount of time.”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Noticing I was rambling, I covered my mouth, and say, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be, I find it very interesting.”

“I will be sure to keep on working on it while I stay in this providence.”

“Thank you. But in line with that question, I have to ask. Do you want to get married to me?”

“Of course I do,” I say with an exasperated look.

“In all honesty, I wonder if I am good enough for you.”

Lugh stares at me, then looks out the window and says, “Us beastkin are superior to humans, in almost every regard. It is just a matter of our biology.

We as a species are far easier to wipe out if we are not careful about both the mental and physical health of our population, along with nature around us and hence have a greater sense of how to balance life with nature.

But in one regard we are below humans, and it is about sex. Biologically speaking sex holds for more importance to us than humans do, our lives are far more dependent on our innate characteristics than humans. So, we attempt to control such a thing far more openly.

It is far more common for people to be encouraged to act certain ways, for those with weak traits to pick dangerous jobs and not interact with the opposite sex. While for those with strong traits are far more exposed to sexual activities, and are encouraged to engage in them. Which has led to quite a bit of abuse. In that regard we are just as bad as humans.”

“But women in the empire are allowed to both divorce their husbands and own land. Which many human kingdoms didn’t allow, and besides having kids is important for our race.”

“I agree with that statement, but power makes people act in strange ways. I have seen many women both young and old, treat Conchobar my brother as nothing more than a tool, and the impacts that can have on people.

Even for me, after I bested and ate the Vánagandr the person known as Lugh had all but died, all people cared about was the power that could be brought forth from my loins. It became so intense, that I even developed a phobia of eating meat, just like you.”

Shaken, I say, “I don’t have a phobia.”

“Péatra, I have been getting reports of you sneaking into the kitchen to make plant-based food for yourself.”

Lowering, my head, I say, “I am sorry for lying, I just didn’t want you to think of me as ungrateful for all of the food your people have cooked.”

“Don’t be, it is not like you are alone in the behaviour. Many within the empire have started to act as such, in response to the way we have been treating those with strong animal traits.”

“I know that, but it is still an excuse. Our people fought hard to allow us to eat, and now I am wasting food due to my own weakness.”

Lugh pats my head, and says, “It’s ok Péatra, besides I was like you for some time.”

“What?”

“I didn’t eat any meat. I hated the look of it and avoided it at all costs. But then my future wife told me something.

'Does it really matter if people want to use you, at the end of the day those traits might save your child’s life, so why should you hate them? People can treat you like a piece of meat all day, but at the end of it you are what you are and if you spend your acting in a way you wouldn’t have otherwise due to others, you might as well just become a slave.'

It was rather simple, and effective, but more than anything true. As I thank our ancestors for allowing Setanta to be born with such traits, and now when I see meat like this,-”

Eating all of the meat Aimee left out for me in one fell swoop, Lugh says, “I can eat as much as I want.”

Seeing his face light up for the first time ever, Lugh says, “Your wife really meant a lot to you.”

“You're right about that, she was the woman who taught me what love was, and until the day I die I will love her with all my heart.”

“I see,” I say saddened.

I already knew he felt like that. It was stupid of me to think I could match up to the daughter of the hero king himself. This was simply the reality that you knew from the moment you walked in here.

Suddenly, I start to cry. Stop them, stop them right now, don’t let a single tear fall from your eyes.

Lugh holds my hands, and raises my head towards him, and I say, “I am sorry for this shameful display.”

“Péatra, I will never love you more than my departed wife I simply don’t have the ability to. It is for that reason I didn’t want to trap any young woman in a marriage with me when I knew she would always be second in my mind while she could be the first in another’s.

But I promise you, I will care for your mind, body, and soul. Never betraying any aspect of them, I will sleep beside you every night, help you chase any dream you wish, cook your meals whenever you wish, and stay by your side even in the worst of pain.

I promise I will love you in some form that can be felt by you, and I will make sure any fear, any discomfort, any battle you are facing, will become something I will fight with you. I will trust you Péatra, so don’t cry.”

Holding his hand, I hug him and say, “I won’t. I love you, Lugh.”

He hugs me back and doesn’t say a word.

I have always been scared that one day, I will become a tool for someone to use. That I would never be anything more than a possession in someone's draw they take out when necessary.

But at the very least I can say, that if I stay with Lugh. He will see me as me, before he sees me as anything else, and I can love someone like that from the bottom of my heart as well.

Φ Conchobar walking up to me says, “Are you listening in pervert?”

“I need to make sure he is treating my girl properly.”

“Lugh wouldn’t intentionally hurt that girl, Medb.”

“Intentionally. But it seems he is being good, I am sure Péatra will be a good wife to him.”

Standing beside me, Conchobar says, “You have been pushing Lugh into this marriage for a while now. I feel like you are far too invested in it for this to simply be due to our plan.”

Walking up to him, I say, “Of course, it is not just for our plan.”

“Then why?”

“Because I want the both of you to be happy in some form. I refuse to let you two walk along this planet alone.”

Stretching out my hand, I remember the image of the two young boys who would never let go of it no matter how horrible I was.

“The both of you are going die happy beside beauty women.”

Smirking Conchobar says, “I doubt that for me. Besides I am fine with what I already have.”

“Don’t worry, I have already picked out a great woman for when you retire, so you should hurry up and abdicate the throne for Setanta.”

“On that note, I need to go make sure that boy actually delivered my stuff. I flew in and he was waiting for me to handle my things, and my Hippogriff.”

Walking away from him, I say, “Yeah keep bragging about having your hippogriff. I will catch one for myself one day.”

“Keep dreaming.”

“I happen to have a habit of making my dreams come true.”