grandfather. Sveta cast a praying glance at me. I shrugged again. She deliberately sobbed and slowly began to unbutton her hooks. Grandfather grinned and snapped his fingers. Lace bra flew to the far corner of the room. Sveta screamed again and flushed with paint from the edge of the hair, perhaps to the very belly. “Now get dressed,” the grandfather seemed not to notice her embarrassment. When she finished straightening the dress, he gazed at her head-to-head again and smiled rather contentedly. “Now it's a hairstyle,” he just ran his hand over her head, and her black curls immediately obediently lay down in perfect order. Behind their ears, they intertwined into thin braids, crept up the back of their heads and climbed under a luxurious golden crest adorned with precious stones. In her ears, instead of the usual cheap earrings, diamond earrings glittered, and on the neck shone a refined necklace with a large ruby ​​in the middle. Bracelets appeared on the wrists, and on the fingers of the whole pair of thin ringlets. “That's better,” the grandfather smiled and helped her up. Light flushed again, but now not from shame, but from pleasure.

“Can we go now?” - I asked with irritation.

“Do you want your lady to go barefoot all evening?” He grinned and leaned over her legs. Something flashed on his palm, and the next second, Sveta's feet wrapped around thin golden threads that formed fancy sandals. - Do you feel comfortable? - he asked. Sveta took a couple of steps, and then looked at him with surprise and gratitude.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I don’t care about you at all, my dear,” he said with a strange grin and suddenly melted into a rainbow haze.

Sveta looked at me in bewilderment:

- Who was that? She asked breathlessly.

“That was my grandfather,” I replied gloomily, and picked her up.

She was silent all the time while we were walking around the pillar, and when we went out into the hall, where my relatives were already standing. The first sound she made when the twins flew up to us - it was a cry of not that fright, not that surprise.

“Cool form, Shane,” said Shaul.

“I can't stand her,” I replied, and frowned even more.

Gaer examined Svetlana, whom I still held in my arms, turning to her right, then left dark green eye.

“Shane, does she even remember us?” - he suddenly turned to me.

“Of course, he remembers, but then you looked like people,” I replied.

“Oh, yes,” he said, and made flips in the air. Shaul repeated his pirouette with no less grace, and then they both sank to the floor and slowly crawled off to the tables.

- Who are they? - Sveta asked quietly when their flexible six-legged bodies covered with white and black wool disappeared into the crowd.

“Gaer and Shaul,” I replied. “I told you about them, but apparently forgot to mention that in true form they look like dragons.”

She sighed and pressed closer to my shoulder.

I really can not stand my true form, although, according to many, I look in it much more organic than in human form. I do not know. In fact, I was already so used to my fragile human body, that now I felt somewhat ill at ease.

The father could not not know. He specially conceived everything in such a way that today I walked all evening in my true form. And the guests were surely warned - I saw the queen's feathered griffon-like shape, covered with a reddish-white wool wolf King shape, black slate Tragha, Skare's golden shoots, Trabyble's greenish-red wings and the same color Freya's mane.I saw a mountain lioness with a reddish tan that lay on her beloved father’s couch, with her paws crossed, and, waving her tail complacently, she drilled me with turquoise eyes. In the crowd, Gilwa's petal iridescent sparkled and gleamed the bright red leathery head of her spouse, as if scalded with boiling water. By the far wall in a high-backed chair, Lord Geal, my maternal grandfather, shone with golden curls, and next to him, shading him, blackened the silhouette of Uncle Keyran. I noticed about fifty familiar demonic forms in exquisite costumes, sparkling with massive gems, gold and fangs. But my mother was nowhere to be seen.

I sat down on the step and sat the Light next to me. If he decides to run away, then at least he won't hit. Honestly, looking at all this brilliant society, I regretted that I didn’t rub her out of her memory and dragged into this story with engagement and wedding.

Sveta was silent, looking around with eyes widening in surprise. Suddenly she rose and smiled. I followed the direction of her gaze, but did not have time to react when the monster, covered with greenish-scarlet wool, hung on my neck with a squeal: “Daddy!”

Sveta smiled, watching as I tried to free myself from her clawed arms. Freya gently licked my tongue on the cheek, but I suddenly wanted to press her to me and put a kiss on her lips. The touch of Svetlana's fingers to my elbow helped me to cope with this obsession, and I finally managed to unstick my daughter from myself.

“And I'm glad to see you,” I grunted, pulling away from her. “Meet Sveta, this is my daughter, Freya, I told you ...” I suddenly felt my cheeks darken when I remembered exactly what I was telling her.

“Very nice, my lady,” she sat down in a shallow curtsy and slightly spreading her palms to the sides, said Sveta quietly in Russian.

“Wow, daddy,” Freya looked at her with surprise, “Lord Trent said that you only meet for three days, and you have already brought her up perfectly!”

I squinted at her and snapped my teeth in alarm.

- First, do not dare to talk about your future stepmother in the third person in her presence, - I hissed in a rage, - and secondly, Sveta does not need upbringing to communicate with you or your kind.

“Dad, but she still has nothing ...” began Freya, but I didn’t let her finish. I rose to my full height and loomed over her. Now it was easy - if in my usual human form, I was even slightly lower than her, now her head was approximately at the level of my stomach. “I understood everything,” the daughter said quietly, and also crouched in a curtsy. “It's a great honor for me, madam,” she said to the tari.

Then she turned around, proudly threw up her head, and proceeded to the Royal Family of Chaos. I spent her heavy eyes.

“Why are you so Shane?” - Light clung to my elbow. - She's your daughter. Her reaction is quite natural ...

“I am not going to put up with her reactions,” I said sharply. - Now is not the place and not the time to show your discontent. And she knows this very well.

We again descended to the step, and then the mountain lioness, who did not take her eyes off me, jumped off her couch and, gracefully wagging her tail and maneuvering between the guests, approached us. She sat down next to Svetlana and laid her head on her knees. At the same time, the girl visibly turned pale and threw a frightened look at me. And I frowned even harder. So immediately, without waiting for the submission and knowing what kind of reaction in an unprepared person her form will cause? This, at least, is a manifestation of disrespect for my bride, and, at most, an attempt to wipe my nose. Like, know your place, boy ...

“That was rude,” she murmured softly to the tari, narrowing her eyes slightly.

Sveta looked at her with genuine horror and did not dare to move.

“It’s rude to immediately approach the unprepared girl and lay her head on her knees,” I grumbled in response.

Her lion face stretched out in a contented smile, showing impressive fangs.

- Do not be afraid, dear, - not taking her eyes off me, she turned to Sveta in Russian with a funny accent. - This is not a combat form. In it, I rarely attack people. And even more so I will not attack in the middle of a dinner party in honor of the engagement of my grandson to his bride.

“Thank you, my lady,” said Sveta barely audibly .... Read more →