Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Rena slowly walked back to the embassy with Lucius and Kalliope. She walked hand-in-hand with her husband while Kalliope gripped onto his other arm. For once, he did not shrug her off or chastise her for the behavior which surprised Kalliope.

The look in her eyes was one of caution and concern, wondering if she did something wrong. It seemed that Lucius was not planning to have the conversation with Kalliope yet. Rena also felt it was not her place to bring it up to the woman herself. Their relationship was between them after all.

In addition to that… Rena had something else on her mind that was distracting her. Her head was somewhere among the clouds and she failed to notice that they had eventually arrived at the embassy. It was still heavily guarded and the lower floors were barricaded tightly.

"Lord Kane! Lady Kane! Lady Kalliope!" one of the men rushed toward them with an expression of relief on his face. "I see you have returned. Are you all okay?"

"The incident at the academy is resolved. We should remain on alert in the event anyone else decides to pull something in the city. Should things stay calm over the next few days, then we can relax procedures." Lucius ordered.

Everyone saluted him and shared the orders among the other men around the perimeter. One went inside to relay the information to those inside the main building.

Lucius turned to the two girls and kissed Rena on the cheek. "Both of you head inside. Let everyone know you are alright. I will be back. I'm going to look for our still missing men."

Kalliope had told him her reasoning for heading to the academy in the first place. He scolded her for her decision, but he could not say too much since she could protect herself and was currently fully healed. The amount of blood she lost initially scared him, but she was fine now, so he relented.

Before he left, he gently squeezed Kalliope's wrist, which shocked both women. Rena giggled at his antics because he was acting just as shy as he did when they were younger.

With Kalliope still trying to figure out what was happening, they both entered the embassy. Lyrah called out her name and began to dive at her for a full-body hug. Rena reflexively stepped back and gripped herself for protection.

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Natali, Rubellia, and Kalliope looked at her oddly because she had never recoiled from a 'hug attack' from Lyrah before. Not only that, they all looked at her strangely. Rena followed their eyes and noticed that she had her hand hovering protectively over her abdomen.

Lyrah was the first to say something and did so with a sly grin. "Something to share with the class, dear sister-in-law?"

Slowly, Rubellia's eyes opened wide and tears started to form at the edges of them. Natali was next to realize what Lyrah was referring to. Kalliope was the last to react, but picked up quickly.

Rena's hands started shaking and her vision became blurry. It had been a little while since she found out, but it had not sunk in yet. She found herself in disbelief still about the situation. After all, it could be a mistake and completely unrelated to why she was having difficulty processing those healing potions and spells.

"I-I-I can't say… isn't it too early to tell…"

"Anyone in this damn building use Light Magic and can cast healing spells?" Rubellia shouted.

One of the cooks came running out of the kitchen with his hat in his hand and claimed he could cast healing magic. He was immediately ordered to cast the strongest level healing spell he could manage and pulled out a more powerful one than they expected. "[Lux: Greater Heal]"

Everyone watched as the orb of light split into two. One sank into Rena's chest and the other sank into her lower abdomen. The cook bowed and quickly returned to the kitchen with a face slightly flushed.

Lyrah stepped up and smiled gently, "Congratulations, Rena!"

"No way…" Rena began to sob. Despite how she sounded, she could not contain her happiness.

They had only been together for a short while, in the scheme of things. However, Lucius and her were both sure to make up for lost time with nearly every free moment they had. Truth be told, it was liable to happen sooner or later.

"Am I really?" Rena whimpered.

"Do you want to know if it is a girl or a boy?" Lyrah asked.

The simple phrase triggered Rena to cry even harder. "N-n-no. I want to find out when the time comes…" She cried out.

Rubellia pulled her into a tight embrace and gently patted her head. Rena could feel the drops of tears falling on top of her head, but happily accepted the affection. Though she could not see them, she heard and felt the other girls surround her in a large group hug.

Kalliope's tail was wagging in excitement for her and she kept whispering about how excited she was for her. They continued to give her messages of love and support until one of them asked the question weighing in the back of all of their minds. "When are you going to tell Lucius?"

Rena paused and felt panic rise in her chest. How was she going to tell him? Would he be happy? Would he be a good father? Would she be a good mother?

All of these questions whirled throughout her mind and she had answers for exactly none of them. "I don't know… Do you think… Do you think he will be happy?"

"Of course! He loves you so why wouldn't he be? Besides we've all heard you two…"

"Stop it, stop it!" Rena quickly covered Lyrah's mouth. She had no issue with sharing details of her love life, but she did not want to talk about it with Rubellia present.

"I don't know how to bring it up. Or when… Oh! What should we name it? Should we choose names now or wait till it's born…" Rena continued to rant to the background of several people smiling at her.

The kitchens and staff worked themselves into a frenzy as they started to prepare a large meal. Rubellia took the lead on the preparations for the event as the girls started to talk with Rena about the method of her disclosure to her husband.

Rena eventually decided that she would come up with something on her own which triggered them to start making bets on how he would react. Lyrah was left out because they could not trust that she would not have cheated. Of course, Lyrah pouted, but she had no choice but to shrug and agree. However, she did lord it over them that she knew the baby's gender and what the baby would look like.