Aether Beasts

[Thank you a ton for the super gift DaoisthjHmRD, your continued your support is honestly very heartwarming and pushes me to continue writing this novel < 3]

[This is a quick note to some people. I've said this in another chapter, but I'll repeat it for those who are unaware. I know some of you are not a fan of the slower pace and multiple povs but In a few chapters, this slower pace will end and things will go back to first-person for Aiden as the main focus. It was only for this arc as I had a lot of things I wanted to set up, and others to introduce to the readers. This slower pace will be ending soon, and things will be speeding up like before. A lot of novels have parts where things slow down for one reason or another. I can assure you this won't be the entire novel, just this arc and maybe another in the future if I see the need again. This was also my first time doing something like this and multiple povs and for next time I'll know what to keep in and what not to. You live and learn. I hear your concerns and I will not ignore them.]

Aeverie reclined on her comfortable seat as Julian massaged her shoulders. She let out a sigh and congratulated herself for teaching him and for how dedicated he was. Sure he could be an annoyance at times, and far too clingy, but he was also extremely loyal, to a fanatical level, and she was pretty sure if she asked, he would die for her. Not for the first time, she wondered about maybe shaping him so that he remained with her, but then she shook the thought away. She had promised herself that she would fix him and then send him on his way to live a proper life, not bound to her and no longer broken by the past.

As she enjoyed the comfortable feel of his hands on her skin, she thought about her upcoming plans, and if tonight would be the night this city would change. At first, her only plan had been to rid the city of the slave ring and all those involved, but after she had learned about the people in charge, she had realized their deaths would destabilize things so she had been forced to put more plans into play, and it had not ended with that.

Shana, one of the dryads who had come on the journey, and a friend to Aeverie, had come to her very upset, and with information that the charity they had bestowed was not been used in the right way. Aeverie had been aware and hadn't really been going to do much about it, but for a friend, she would, and it's not as if it wouldn't work along with what she already had planned.

In fact, at this point, she was going to change the city in major ways. Contacts had been made, along with binding oaths, people had been killed, and others were raised into positions of power. This city would come out better after she was done, and had cleaned the filth.

In truth, even if her sister hadn't asked, she would have dealt with the slave traders. She had already planned to send people into the city to gather information, mainly out of boredom, and they would have discovered the slave trade.

It was a disgusting thing, slavery, and something the green court fought against. Slavery was outlawed in their lands, and those caught with slaves or having anything to do with them were killed. They also did not trade to those who dealt in salves, which she had heard in the first decades had caused major shifts as the green court provided far too many valuable resources alongside multitudes of other things.

As Julian was moving to her neck, one of her personal guards entered. She had brought her own guards on the trip for many reasons, the greatest being their loyalty to her, and their superior skill and power. She did trust the other guards, but not with her secrets, and certainly not enough to carry out the tasks she gave to her personal guard. She had hand-picked them and helped train them to be as good as they were. They were great fighters, but mostly average. It was not in battle that they truly shone.

As the guard stopped in front of her, Aeverie waved a hand and used a technique to silence all sound and sight for Julian. He paused for a moment then continued working on her neck. She had done this before, and by now he was used to it

"Lady Aeverie, all is in order." The guard bowed. "We are ready to begin."

She smiled. "Good, any problems or things of note?"

"Not for the plan, but the alchemist, Dylan who we trailed after his meeting with the enemy spy, had his own protection in place. I believe we may have been caught trailing him due to the closeness we needed to implant the device."

"The vampire?" She asked.

The guard nodded. "The device and creature did seem like one of hers."

Aeverie tapped her chin, wondering what they were hiding. She was smart enough to know that the Red Ribbons had not been sent on the expedition with a human alchemist out of interest. She knew there was something going on and was determined to find out what. Of course, it had been more difficult due to them having a professional with them who knew of information gathering, infiltration, and other espionage.

Hayley was good at what she did.

'But not good enough.'

"Did you at least get the tracker planted?"

The guards smiled. "We did, my lady, and we have been able to confirm it has not been discovered."

"Good." Aeverie smiled. She was going to find out what those bloodsuckers were up to. "If all is ready then you have my permission to begin, don't fail me."

The guard bowed low. "We shall not, my lady."

Once he had left, Aeverie dispersed the technique from Julian and then turned onto her stomach so that he could massage her back.

Now that was over with, and in motion, she could move her mind to other topics such as the lost daughter of the Umbrin clan and the bet that she had made with Kai and his younger brother. A fight that would determine the girl's future, and if she would return to her lands already having conquered a branch family on her own or at the side of a man she did not love as some tool to be used. It was risky and all depend on Aiden, who she knew was currently training with Zirani.

She had not seen him fight but had heard he had bested a thousand drops sect disciple in seconds, impressing Xavier, and then there was the fact that Zirani had trained him. He was very capable and talented, and that was without mentioning the divine power that lay within him. She did know how that would factor into things, but whatever happened would surely be interesting. She had heard that talk of the fight had spread already and bets were being placed. She would have to place some on Aiden winning. If her elder sister had allowed this, then she must be confident Aiden could win, and her sister was rarely wrong.

The day before they left was going to be quite an event, especially since Aiden wouldn't be the only one fighting. The blonde had challenged one of the Red Ribbons, though Aeverie didn't know the reason. She did know, however, that the blonde had shown interest in joining the Red Ribbons, which made sense in a way. She was a vampire and wanted to find out more about herself and her race. The Red Ribbons as far as Aeverie knew through various sources were good at what they did, which made why they were here even more interesting since this would be considered punishment duty, and she knew from her sources that the Red Ribbons had done nothing to warrant punishment, certainly not one as bad as this.

She turned onto her back, and with a wave of her hand, closed the door, and removed her own and Julian's clothing. She spread her legs, and Julian moved in between them, not needing any sort of verbal command.

'Definitely not a boring trip anymore.'

—--

Zirani tilted her head to the side and frowned as she spotted one of Aeverie's personal guards headed her way.

"Continue what you've been doing. I'll be in an hour or so."

Aiden looked like he wanted to ask, but she sent over a mental message promising she'd tell him later

She was training Aiden and Misty in a different way than she had, and to be honest it felt good since it had been a little over a month since she had last trained them and it had felt good, to be helping arcanists with such great potential growth, to help friends and loved ones.

"Princes, Zirani." The guard bowed. "I have come to inform you that we are beginning."

She nodded. Aeverie had told Zirani her plans, and she had been very impressed and proud of her sister but hadn't shown much of an interest in doing much to help the plan, since she didn't really need to. The only thing she had done was increased the parameters of the spatial tree in the city garden, and tell her sister to inform her of when the plan was going to start as she wanted to inform Sofia and get them ready.

She also needed to speak with certain people that her sister had helped rise to power and would help when the dust had settled after tonight. The rescued women would be given all the help they needed and if things went fully to plan, then this city would end up far better than it had been and far brighter.

She thanked the guard for informing her and he bowed low before leaving. She glanced at Aiden and Misty once more and then moved to a nearby tree. She placed her hand on its trunk and then was gone.