A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Suddenly, everyone turned their attention to Naeku and looked at her with expectation. She quickly stopped fussing over her father and frowned in thought. The young leader realised how important this was, and wanted to give the best answer she could.

After a moment of silence, during which Ankhur extended his omnisense to cover the room, locking out Elora, Naeku decided to start with a wry disclaimer. "Well…" she muttered apologetically. "Let me preface this by saying I can't tell you everything…"
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Instantly, everyone's eyebrows shot up. They knew she would never willingly keep information from them, so there had to be something else. But that concerned them all the more.

"What do you mean, little Naeku?" Nadia asked with a worried frown. "Did they do something to you?"

Ankur was also quickly losing some of his calm at the thought of anything having been done to his daughter.

Seeing their expression, she quickly decided to explain the problem. With a helpless sigh, she raised her right hand, and pushed away some of her dark fur on the back of it, to show them the small green mark underneath.

Before they could start speculating, she explained, "Don't worry, it's nothing bad, and I willingly agreed to it. It just prevents me from talking about anything they designated a secret… Which unfortunately includes saying any more about it."

Silence fell. Everyone's eyes were locked onto the mark, their faces struggling between scepticism, worry, and awe.

"Are you sure about that? You're not being forced into anything here?" Amina, the vampire, asked with a cautious expression. Her eyes carefully scanned the werepanther's face, trying to find any sign that Naeku was not herself in any way.

Naeku was about to deny it, but then Ankhur suddenly groaned, and used a herculean effort to sit up and grab his daughter's chin with a frown. Forcing her to look into his piercing yellow eyes, he said solemnly, "Answer Amina's question, little Naeku, and tell us the truth."

Despite the pain spasms rocking his body, he mobilized his third rank power and omnisense to inspect the tiniest irregularity he could find in her body and expression.

Naeku sighed, but didn't avoid her father's gaze. "I'm not being forced into anything. All that mark does is prevent me from talking about some of their secrets. It doesn't do anything else, nor does is it prevent me from mentioning anything they might have done to me."

"I promise," she finished, softly, reassuringly.

It remained still for a moment, as Ankhur tried to find anything out of the ordinary. Any signs of deception or internal struggle that might point to his daughter not being in complete control of herself.

Finally, he was forced to give up when he couldn't find anything. With a sigh he fell back into his pillows. "I can't find anything," he groaned from pain, despite the relief he felt.

Everyone else in the room sighed as well, as tension quickly left their bodies. Naeku smiled softly at the care and concern he felt from everyone there.

Yet, there was a small part of her that felt strange. After learning about the effects of her motherly aura and realizing it had been running unchecked for the last eight years, she couldn't help but wonder how much it was to blame for her harmonious family and their love for her.

Fortunately, no one noticed the sudden doubt and slight anxiety that shone in her eyes as her family wasn't looking at her so closely anymore. Quickly, Naeku buried those feelings deep inside, not wanting to worry them.

"You don't need to worry, everyone," she smiled softly, while looking around the room. "Honestly, Erik and his family aren't so bad. That woman who was carrying Lady Runa, for example? She may seem callous and indifferent, and she probably is to most people, but from what I've seen, I'm sure that the love she feels for her family burns bright and deep."

"I see," Ankhur nodded thoughtfully. "That's reassuring, I suppose, especially because Runa belongs to her family…"

Yet, despite Naeku's assurances, all of them still thought of Elora as a serious threat. After all, Naeku was the only one who knew Elora wasn't human, and that her magic had no offensive or defensive properties, everyone else just thought she was a regular, human, third ranked Arcanist.

Yet, such information was firmly protected under the secret umbrella, disallowing Naeku to talk about it. Not that it mattered much for Naeku herself. Despite what she knew, she still considered Elora a very dangerous woman.

"Still, they clearly have strange and dangerous methods," Amina commented with a frown, as her eyes remained locked on the mark gracing Naeku's hand. Finally, she looked away from it to look sternly at her husband. "We can't let our fondness for Runa influence our thoughts here, husband. They are dangerous."

"I know, I won't forget," Ankhur nodded gently, before turning back toward his daughter. "What about Runa's son? You can tell me how he wounded Lilith and ended up that way later, tell me about his character first."

"Erik…" Naeku muttered as she frowned thoughtfully. At first, everyone expected something profound to follow, but then the young werepanther suddenly scoffed and smirked, "He's a scoundrel."

With a shake of her head, yet somehow unable to stop smirking, she continued, "He has twice as many wives as you, Father, and three more women that serve him… in every way."

She was actually under a false impression regarding Seraphina, but that knowledge would have likely changed little about the reaction her family had to this information.

"What?!" they all exclaimed at the same time, with even Ankhur fighting through the pain to make his displeasure known.

"Did he try anything with you?!" Ankhur growled with narrowed eyes, with his wives', father's, and sister's reactions being no different. Only his mother, the wizened Fatima smirked slightly instead.

Naeku immediately rolled her eyes at her family. "No Father, he didn't. We had plenty of other things to do. But even if he did, it wouldn't be any of your business!" she huffed while narrowing her eyes at them. "I'm twenty-two now, and perfectly capable of handling myself!"

Although, due to her status, Naeku hadn't ever been in a real relationship, she also wasn't a cloistered away, naïve, innocent, daddy's girl of a princess. All the werepanther clans living in western Africa had, at one point or another, send envoys to try and woo her, after all.

Yet, their reactions was a little different from what she'd expected. "What?!" they all cried out, again in discontentment, this time even joined by Fatima. "What do you mean he didn't?! How dare he! Are you not good enough for him?!"

Naeku blinked in surprise. After their turn around sank in, she groaned, and facepalmed in frustration. Never before had they reacted this way. But then again, never before had there been a man that didn't immediately try to secure her hand.

Of course, to be fair to Erik, had he been given a few more days, and if he hadn't been so preoccupied with his mother, he would have at least made his interest known eventually.

Before her family could say anything else, Naeku quickly shut the conversation down by continuing. "Anyway… let me tell you everything I can about what happened from the moment uncle Enkai left…"