Work Text:
"B-But Captain Bloodshed, shouldn't you take longer to consider-?"
"No." Bloodshed's harsh voice was enough to silence the noble sitting across from him in his parlor. "And we're done here."
"B-But Captain Bloodshed-!" The noble was ignored as the other demon stood up and stormed out of the room.
"Please forgive my husband," Thornstriker spoke from her seat, "I'm afraid he's been stressed out a bit these past few weeks."
"I do apologize, Lady Thornstriker, but this is great opportunity that he cannot simply look over."
"Of course. But at least a dozen other nobles have said the same thing to my husband and I think he's gotten quite frustrated hearing the same things over and over from everyone else about our daughter."
Solara giggled to herself as she watched the nobleman sputter. Did this dipshit really think that he was the first genius to try and do negotiations with her father over her? Did he think he had a chance to get his lazy, fat son married to the only daughter of Bloodshed, captain of the royal guard?
She had to be thankful for her father's short temper with all these noblemen and noblewomen who kept showing up to try and arrange a marriage between their sons and herself. Solara knew that her father had been getting these offers for nearly as long as she had been alive. Novabomb loved to talk about the one idiot who had literally offered his two year old son as a potential husband to her not even a day after Bloodshed had gone back to work.
It was so much fun recalling Novabomb's chuckles as he described her father, exhausted and worried as fuck because he had been home for two months helping her mother recover from her birth that almost killed them both, lose it and try to rip the man's head off with his own bare hands. Grandfather loved to tell it as well, recalling fondly how her father had to be restrained by about a dozen soldiers as he politely and passive aggressively told off the nobleman for being so rude to his son after the harrowing incident that had nearly befell his daughter-in-law and grandchild.
That, of course, didn't stop others from trying (at least until well after Thornstriker and Solara had recovered from the traumatizing birth). Solara could recall the nobles who had tried speaking to her parents while sometimes pushing their sons to try and 'win' her over. Father had been rather pissed at the lot of them for trying to get him to marry off his daughter who wasn't even of age yet while Mother had calmly dismissed them saying that it was still too early to make such life changing decisions.
It had been fun back then seeing it all go down. But Solara was now finding these rather boring and repetitive even if there was a little humor watching them go sour rather quickly. She had been of age for a few years and there seemed to be no end to the eligible bachelors whose parents or even themselves hoped to take her hand in marriage. And even if her father kept refusing them for now, she knew there would come a time where he might or even could consider the option.
Solara knew that she was an important figure in the demon court. As the product of a successful demon and human marriage, especially one of such high nobility, many nobles hoped to improve their status by marrying into her family. It was expected that she marry and continue her powerful bloodline within the court.
She wished she didn't have to marry. Marriage seemed alright using her parents as examples, but she knew it wasn't always lovey-dovey and romantic. It too had hardships and times where things looked worse. And some weren't all that great.
There was no way she was getting married to some asshole or some pervert who would fuck his mistresses or prostitutes. If she was getting married to anyone, it would be to someone who would love her back and stick with her even on her worst days.
And there was only one person whom she knew well enough that would be perfect for marrying her. The only person who loved her and respected for who she was and not because of her parents or lineage or her rarity as a half demon/fairy hybrid.
Cellus. Her best friend. The one whom she had loved ever since she was a little girl.
If there was anyone whom she would be willing to let her hand be betrothed to, it would be Cellus.
But Solara knew that asking her parents to let her marry Cellus would bring up so many issues. She hadn't told her parents yet about her preference for women yet and she had no idea how they would handle it. She knew many parents were accepting of their children's different... tastes, one could say. But she knew many of them would ask their children to push it aside or even just have a side lover while providing heirs with an appropriate spouse.
She didn't think her parents would ever do that to her. But with such social pressure for grandfather and her father to keep the bloodline going, would they ask her to try and have an heir with a man she didn't love?
Solara knew they weren't that cruel. And she definitely knew her father cared little for the court and their talks. But she also knew how detrimental it was for their family's survival to stay afloat in the deadly storm that was the demon court. Would her family suffer if they allowed her to take a woman for a spouse and not produce an heir to continue their line?
And she didn't know about Cellus or her family either. Cellus might not want marriage and even if she said yes to her, would her family allow her to marry another woman, even if she was the daughter of the Captain Bloodshed?
There was too much to worry about and with the number of men and their sons coming to their door, Solara knew that she would have to do something soon. Not even her father could turn away all these noblemen and suitors forever. Their family's rank demanded she make something of her life and as a woman, marriage was something everyone expected.
She would need to look into this deeper. Find something to get these idiots and their perverted sons off her tailcoats. A position that they wouldn't be able to drag her down from to make her create heirs for some selfish brat. One that no one would dare stand against her if she decided to make Cellus her wife.
Solara took one last glance through the door crack as her mother calmly put down the nobleman again before leaving for her room. Today was another day of staying single, but who knows how long that would last? She needed to do something to keep some bastard from forcing her parents to have her spread her legs for some fat, lazy slob of a son.
The only person she would ever open her legs up to on her wedding day would be Cellus and only her. And hopefully, Solara thought with a snicker, Cellus would spread her legs for her as well.
That would be a sight to behold.
END