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The Tributes (lunar wolf & MsBloom)

Xadé sat down on the edge of the chair she was offered, her legs modestly together and hands in her lap. Had it not been for the constant reminder of the choker around her neck she might perhaps have felt a bit more relaxed at how seemingly calm the prince had been to find out about her dual genitalia but this was also counteracted by his wish to go over the file with her. It felt almost like an interrogation, as if he wanted to find some detail for which he could punish her, or use as an excuse to send he back to serving as a maid.

"So be it then," Duncan said and stood back up.
He approached the uncooperative tribute once again, this time with a fire burning in his eyes and hints of smoke escaping his nostrils.
"Do you wish to see your home destroyed?" he asked in a hissing voice.
"The city that sent you burned to ashes?"
He then struck the girl across the face so hard it sent her tumbling against the wall.
"You are rightfully mine, regardless of whether you comply or whether you were forced to become your city's tribute."
He now stood close enough to the girl that she would have to bend her neck as far back as she could to look at his face.
"And I will have you. You WILL bear me children. Whether or not you wish to do so as a prisoner locked away in the dungeons below the castle or live as a queen is entirely up to you."
He opened his hands and his nails were now more like sharp claws as he tore off her dress and left it in shreds on the floor between them.
 
Alexander gently took her hand in his “you need not fear once I make up my mind I don’t change it but the fact that your medical condition wasn’t mentioned and the fact that the other tribute didn’t seem to be here willingly has me worried that more tributes are not here willingly.” Alexander knew there was going to be hell to pay for some of the cities come morning.

Serena tasted blood when he hit her and when he shredded her dress Serena shift to a standing position and hissed at him he fangs on full display. As she was angry enough she shoved him away from her using her full strength which would easily send him flying. “Unless you wish to lose your hands I advise that you not touch me again” Serena wasn’t in the mood to deal with his shit.
 
Xadé was calmed by the words of the prince but she was still nervous about what it all would mean. Would it mean her parents would be punished, maybe interrogated, even tortured until they revealed the truth about her.

"Nothing special you say?" Duncan said as the girl hissed at him and showed her fangs.
His more aggressive actions had forced her hand and she had revealed herself to be at least part vampire. As king of the mountain kingdom he was of course aware that such creatures walked among the humans. There was more to her though. He was sure of it and it intrigued him to no end.

Rather than continuing to provoke the girl he sat down at his desk and started going through the files of the tributes. He discarded the one his brother had chosen and started reading out the names on the other seven files aloud. He didn't look at the girl though but opened each file and browsed through the information about each of the other seven tributes. One stood out, an orphan whose family had made the ultimate sacrifice for their city since it would mean the end of their bloodline to send their only daughter as tribute. The details on how this girl's parents had died were vague at best and pure lies at the very worst.

He now looked at the girl again.
"Tell me Serena, how did your parents really die? Were they hunted for being vampires perhaps and you chosen as tribute to make sure you would not continue their bloodline?"
 
“What is bothering you I can see it on your face?” Alexander would look in to everything before acting but he had to find out the whole truth before he could act.

Serena hissed once more “my parents paid the ultimate price for their love and I will not have their memories dragged through the mud” Serena didn’t care what he thought but she would not blame her parents for their love as it had resulted in her. Often her parents had told her stores of their home kingdoms. Her father had been the grand general of the dragon army and her mother the crown princess of the vampires. After they married their love had resulted in her and she had known that she was well loved by them
 
There was a tone of genuine concern in his question and Xadé looked up at him.
"There are many secrets I am certain my family would never share with an outsider for fear of becoming outcasts, maybe even exiled."
She swallowed nervously and twisted her hands in her lap.
"I have doubts that what you find in that file will be far from the truth."

Duncan nodded several times in response to the girl's outburst. He had no intention of dragging her parents memories through the mud and he told her as much. It was perhaps true that as protectors of the eight cities his family, his people and the army of dragons he commanded had often fought the vampires. His grandfather had even led a full scale attack on their kingdom, far to the East and for a long time after they had been thought to be extinct and for the last few centuries there had been peace.
"They were killed because of you, were they not, for having you, for loving you," he added and raised an eyebrow.
"Until they were your family lived isolated from the rest of your community as a way to best keep their secret. It is sad really. Love is such a grand and rare thing in this world, true love that is, the kind of love that ..."
He trailed off for a little while.
 
Alexander nodded his head and then held out the sheet where she would spot some glaring errors reguarding her likes dislikes and personality. While her parents had told the council member the truth the male had changed what they had told him to suit what he wanted.

Serena looked at him “they were killed for loving each other the people who killed them never knew about me” Serena was glad for that but she still had no desire to be there at all
 
"But ..." Xadé began as she glanced through the file.
"This is all wrong. Mother would never say I can cook and sow, nor would Father because I can't," she said and bit her bottom lip.
She was shocked not only with the mistakes made in her file but more so with the blatant lies.

"Listen Serena," Duncan said and tossed the file on the table in front of him.
"I understand much better now your reluctance to be here, especially having been forced to become a tribute, but I promise you that I am not a bad person, and you will have a more decent life here than you'd have among the Humans. Here your mixed heritage will be accepted in ways the Humans would never accept you. We, my people and I are mostly of mixed descent as well, of Human and Dragon. We too were outcasts long ago, until our ancestral King Áedán saved the eight cities from an invasion of slavers from across the seas. That is when the agreement was made."
He paused and motioned once again at the chair.
"Each generation one adult virgin of each city would volunteer to serve his kingdom. It was in a sense a way for him to forge an alliance and also a way to increase the numbers of his people. According to out historians there were only a mere hundred of our kind in those days. Today, thanks to tributes we are in the thousands. My mother was a tribute generations ago and while she was chosen the same way you were she loved my father dearly. Maybe not at first but she grew to love him."

Duncan paused again and clapped his hands calling for a servant whom he ordered to bring them some wine and fruit.
"I will not release you. I cannot. What I can do is to allow you to live in my private quarters with no demands on you other than a brief conversation here and there and that you do not try to escape until you have lived her at least a full year. You will of course have your own room and bed to sleep in."
 
Alexander nodded his head and then dug out a blank form and handed it to her “fill it out I need to see the differences this will give me grounds to dig more in to the other tributes” Alexander was fuming but for the time being he had to keep calm. While he wanted to do more then go over her file at the time Alexander knew this was important and it would help him when he went to his brother about changing how often the humans were sent to them. If the cities were picking rather then letting the tribute choose he knew that soon they would try to run and escape causing more problems then they needed at the moment. Alexander then looked her over and smiled lightly as he was looking forward to later that night.

“can I trust you not to tell a soul about me” Serena figured that since he was trusting her she should return the trust with a secret of her own even if it did go against everything her parents had taught her. Serena had seen the photos of the generals and had seen her father among them and she felt that of all the dragons she could trust him. Serena moved to the large open space of the room and waited to hear his answer before she would show him her deepest secret. Serena stood still and after several seconds where she had once stood was a large midnight blue dragon. Serena looked at him and waited if he moved to hurt her she would crash through the window and take off leaving his kingdom. With his dark her scales were she would blend in with the night sky to the point that she would vanish from site.
 
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Xadé took the blank form, asked for a pen and was given one. She first put down all the easy information name, name of her parents, the names and genders of her siblings, date and place of birth. That was really when she started having trouble with the truth. She had after all not actually been born from her mother's womb. She had, according to her father been hatched from an egg like fungal growth. She saw no reason for him to deceive her on such an important matter, nor why he would make up such an elaborate story to do it. She skipped over it for the time being and continued to list her skills and education. Under other important information she put down her birth defect, her fully functioning penis. She then returned to the question of he time and place of birth. The actual date and location of course was no problem but then she hesitated and biting her lip she pointed to the form and asked what exactly they meant by birth. Of course she was well aware that this question in itself suggested there was something odd about the way she had come into the world.

"Your presence here as a tribute is of course already known to myself, my brother, the matron and a few others but that is also about as much as is known about you outside my quarters. If it is your wish for it to remain that way then it is my prerogative as king to keep it that way for as long as I wish to do so."
He smiled and was pleased that he had got through to the girl enough for her to trust his intentions towards her to not be malicious. Should it turn out that she was unwilling to lay with him and bear his children in another 18 years then he would simply choose another consort willing to submit to such duties.

Duncan didn't know what he had expected her secret to be but he most certainly had not expected her to be one of his kin. He sat there for a long time staring at the beautifully midnight blue dragon in front of him, half with disbelief and half with excitement and curiousity.

He nodded as if to confirm his promise to not tell a soul about her and then stood up approaching her slowly. He was tempted to take on his own dragon aspect as well but refrained from doing so.
"My my. I must say that is one big secret," he said and reached out his hand to touch her scales.
"Now you really have to tell me about your parents Serena," he added as his hand gently caressed the scales on her neck.
 
Alexander looked at her "just leave that blank it's no big deal" Alexander had seen the changes in her answeres and after taking the forms from her he put it in her file and then ruffled her hair lightly before grabbing more and sending a guard to get the other tributes to fill them out so he could see if the others forms were falsified as well. Alexander was more than a little pissed but until he was certain that all the forms had been falsified there was very little he could do. Alexander stood up and walked over to his balcony doors and opened them letting the warm summer airflow into the room and clear out the stale smell that permeated his chambers. "Sorry about this but I need to be certain that only your forms were incorrect and not everyone else's as well"

While she didn't move away from his touch she did growl when he mentioned her parents. Serena stayed in her dragon form for a while and let him look that form over since she figured if something was wrong with how her wings or anything else had formed he would say something. while her father had told her she was a perfect representation of how a dragon should look he had died before she had grown into her adult form. Serena watched him closely while he touched her neck but she made no moves as of yet to take off but she was tempted and the desire was clear in her eyes.
 
Xadé nodded as he told her to leave it blank and actually took some pleasure in the way he ruffled her hair. He was nothing like she had imagined the king and the prince would be. She was of course still for all intents and purposes a prisoner but one that would have all the freedom she could ask for within the premise of being tributed to the dragon shifters.
"What will happen to Caen-Wyhl now? What will happen to my family?" she asked and looked up at the prince as he stood by the balcony doors with a light breeze blowing through his hair.

"You are beautiful," Duncan said as he retracted his hand.
"So perfect in every aspect, even if perhaps your wings are a bit on the small side," he added as he stepped back and walked around her to look at her from every angle.
His own dragon form was of course much larger than her's was but that was only natural. It was quite easy for him to imagine the children the two could have together but he didn't mention it. He had made her a promise and he intended to keep it.
"You are thinking of escape are you not?" he then said and smiled.
"Why would you? What is there for you out there, on the other side of those mountains? Your parents were hunted and killed by the Humans you grew up among. Now I am of course only speculating but perhaps it is for the best that you were sent here to live among your kin, as free as I can possibly allow."
 
Alexander looked over at her "I honestly can not tell you that as I have to speak with my brother as he is the king but I will let him know that your family wasn't involved in this as I am assuming they would not lie on something like this" Alexander ran a hand through his hair if this was the case with all the villages there was going to be hell for them in the near future but Alexander would stress that this once they do not blame the families of their tributes as that would be a sure-fire way to cause them problems in the long run.

Serena watched him while he moved around but she ignored his comments about her wings being small as she was still young by their standards. most dragons were considered fully grown and an adult when they turned 200 which meant she had 182 years to go before she was seen as an adult in their eyes. Serena looked at him and then spoke "I know full well your people wont accept me either at least out there I have a better chance of being happy"
 
Xadé nodded. Of course such a decision would be left to the king rather than to the prince. She relaxed a little though when the prince assured her that he would speak on behalf of her family.
"Is there something else you wish me to do?" she then asked, not sure what to expect him to possibly request of her.

Duncan looked at her. She was beautiful indeed, and she did make a good point. If his people found out about her being part vampire they would be very sceptical about accepting her as one of their own. There was nothing that said they would ever have to find out though.
"Tell me Serena. Does your vampiric half demand human blood, or could you get by on live stock?"
 
Serena looked at him and hissed when he mentioned human blood. She had grown up on livestock blood and the taste of human blood sickened her to no end. Needing to be on her own for a but Serena took off out of his room opening the balcony door and jumped taking flight. Since she needed to feed she headed to where she could smell a heard of cows. Serena never fed off the real young or old as they had a harder time recovering from her bites compared to the middle aged cows.

Alexander chuckled a bit “for now relax your so tense you look ready to pass out” Alexander then sent word to his brother office asking to speak to him when he was available. This would give him a chance to tend to his other work before seeing him as he would need to gather the other forms as well.
 
Duncan took her reaction to mean that she not only could get by on cattle but that it was also what she preferred. That was good because it meant that her vampiric half could be hidden from his people and she could be presented as one of them, a Dragon shifter having grown up among Humans. He was prepared to maintain such a lie in the face of his people as a measure to keep her secret between the two of them.

He watched her open the doors to the balcony and take off. He was not worried though. The girl had a lot to think about and he was somehow confident that she would return. To follow her now, or have his guards hunt her down would not work in his favour, but to trust her and show her some of the freedom she could have would.

Relax? How could she relax when she had no idea what was going to happen to her. Was he going to use her to stir up trouble among the cities and then reject her because of her penis. Perhaps he thought it meant she was not capable of conceiving and perhaps he was right. She herself had no idea either way but she bled monthly and that was according to her mother a sign that she was fertile.

The prince didn't seem to show much interest in her physically, or maybe he simply wanted to wait until the evening to have her. She nodded in response though and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down as much as possible while at the same time she felt mycelial tendrils extend from her fingertips into the wood of the chair she was sitting in. She hoped he didn't notice this other oddity about her. It might cause him to bring back the subject of her question regarding what it meant to be born and then she would have to tell him the story her father had told her about her conception and birth.
 
When Serena reached the field with the cows standing around and Grazing she shifted in mid-air and landed lightly on her feet. Serena gazed around at the cows present and when she found one she moved carefully to its side before she leaned down and sank her fangs into the cow feeding as she needed to. while she had been expecting to be followed, Serena watched the area she was in while waiting to see what would happen. after she fed Serena headed off to a nearby cave that she had spotted and after shifting she settled in to take a nap.

Alexander looked at her lightly "do not fear once a consort is picked we do not reject them as that is cruel to the tribute if we are not interested in the one we pick, they remain with us as a secretary and we pick a new one to attend to other duties but it is rare that that happens I think the last time it happened was five hundred years ago and that was only because the original tribute was baren" Alexander looked at the clock and smiled knowing dinner would be brought to them soon
 
While Serena was gone Duncan sat down at his desk to think. He knew he had gotten through to the tribute but it worried him that she had not volunteered but rather forced, and that it had been at the cost of her parents' lives. He was not worried that she would not return even if of course she could if she wanted to simply fly away and try for a different life than the one he had offered her. Even when she had not returned a couple of hours later he was worried that she had escaped. He simply figured that she needed time to think and to process his offer.

Xadé nodded when the prince assured her that she would not be rejected due to her anatomical duality but she was feeling restless. If he did not intend to deflower her at that moment then she wished for him to give her some other task or show her around the private quarters she assumed she would be sharing with him. The physical interaction with wood through her mycelial tendrils did not have the calming effect it usually did, nor was there any sort of nourishment to be drawn from the old and chemically prepared wood. Instead it was rather making her feel a bit nauseous.
 
Alexander looked over when there was a knock on the door and with a smile he went and opens the door knowing it was their dinner. Alexander let the servant in and watched as they placed the food on the dinning room table that was in his room. Given the fact that he could like the others of his race shift in to a rather large dragon the rooms were large to accommodate that part of their form. Once the table was set and the servant had left he motioned for her to join him so they could eat.

while he waited Serena slept. Had she thought anything over no she was too worn out and needed to sleep. What she didn’t know is that one of the patrols had spotted her and while the others moved in to apprehend her another was headed to the king to inform him that they had found and intruder.
 
It was a while ago since Xadé had eaten and she was reminded of the fact when the servants brought them dinner. She was not a big eater but she she took some fruit and cheese. He was nothing like she had imagined and yet she couldn't figure out what he was going to do with her. He had said that there had been tributes who were rejected for being barren and if she was honest she was not sure whether or not she was fertile due to her so-called birth defect. What then?

She hesitated a few moments while nibbling on the cheese before raising the question. He had of course suggested that she would still be treated well but would anyone else accept her as she was?

Duncan sat at his desk going over the files of the tributes contemplating what to do to resolve the issue of the cities having begun to force young girls to become tributes when the captain of his personal guard knocked on the door and informed him that they had spotted an unknown dragon trespassing on their lands.

He looked up from his papers and nodded.
"Leave her to me," he said and asked for the location of this unknown dragon, which of course was not unknown to him, something he might have given away by referring to the dragon as her.

He dismissed the captain of the guards and walked onto his balcony, took his dragon form and set off to find Serena in the cave where she slept.
 
even though he had been dismissed the captain followed him as he didn't feel comfortable letting the king go off by himself to deal with an unknown dragon in their lands. while they flew the male tried to figure out how the king knew the dragon and why he felt that he had to get involved personally. as it was the guards were scrambling as someone had been stupid and had woke the dragon up and they were currently suffering because of those actions.

"you should eat more then that" Alexander didn't want her getting ill because she didn't get enough food and nutrients in to her system
 
Xadé smiled at Alexander when he urged her to eat more.
"It has been a while since I ate," she admitted and picked up a piece of roasted meat with her fork and as she brought it to her mouth she noticed the tendrils extending from her fingers as if that was the most natural way for her to draw nourishment from the juicy piece of meat.
She quickly bit into the meat and started to chew in the hope that he wouldn't have noticed yet another one of her abnormalities.

Duncan might not have risen to king through prowess in battle or any other exceptional feat, other than having been born as the first son of the former king but he was no fool and had done most of his military training in the intelligence corps and it was not lost on him that he was being followed. He therefore set down on a peak above the indicated cave where Serena slept and waited for the captain of the guards.
"While I do appreciate your loyalty and your concern for my safety," he said and fully extended his wings.
"I do not appreciate being followed. I cannot tell you how or why but the dragoon you found is mine to deal with, and I must do so alone."
There was nothing in his words to indicate that the unknown dragon was one of the tributes but there was perhaps a hint in the tone of his voice.
"I ask you to simply trust me, and if you don't you may remain here, unseen and ready to intervene should I call for your aid."
 
"I do trust you, sire, with my life but the guards who stayed behind to watch over the dragon are rather stupid at times. I ordered them not to wake her but there is no saying that they listened" the male jumped when Serena roared and then sighed and shook his head "and the idiots woke her up" with a growl the male looked at his king and waited for his orders wondering how he knew this dragon and what all was going on but for the time being he would wait and listen.
 
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