Once again she was discovered. Eshta knew she should probably just give up the notion of trying to settle somewhere. It seemed a demon father would always plague her no matter where she went. Especially with the Demon King raging war every other minute.

  She hissed out a breath organizing through what she managed to grab and what the Inn keeper had thrown at her. The whole town would know she was half demon by the end of the night. Some might not care but she knew there would be enough that living there would be impossible.

  So she was off to the train station.

  When she slumped onto the train seat. She took in the children from territories that were over taken by the battles. Tags marked where they would go. She saw flutters of green, of blue, of yellow, of white. Then she furrowed her brows at a basket that didn’t have a tag. She leaned then sucked in a breath.

  Babies could be indiscernible between humans and demons for a time. If you weren’t looking for those features or if you hadn’t spent your entire life hiding those very features. What was more was the black hair and eyes that were gold looking at her.

  A clear sign of the royal family.

  The King had an illegitimate son. The realization fluttered over her in a soft wave of a surprising gossip that didn’t really affect her directly. Then though she looked around the groups of human children and she remembered being half demon amongst the humans. How much worse would a full demon be treated? Especially one with these features.

  Carefully Eshta lifted the baby from the basket and held him close to her. No one even noticed as her shifted the basket to her belongings. As she descended the train steps. No one noticed but right out side of the first stop Eshta started to panic.

  “What in the world am I going to do with a baby.” She hissed. She could barely keep herself going half the time how was she going to care for someone else? But she really couldn’t think of any other option that wouldn’t result in the babies mistreatment.

  Return him to his father? A Demon King that probably didn’t know or care about his existence. And even if he did care take a little innocent baby into a war zone to track down one of the most blood thirsty son of a bitches that ever came to be?

  No.

  She didn’t know what she would do with a baby, but she used her money to buy things he would eat.

  She kept him warm.

  She soothed him when he cried.

  And gave him all the affection she couldn’t remember ever being given. And soon that baby wormed his way into her heart.

  Eshta named him Oriol because it meant gold like his eyes. He started to call her Mama.

  She did sometimes wonder what would happen if the Demon King did know about his son and came looking for him, so she kept an eyes out for any such interest. But nothing seemed to indicate anyone was looking for Oriol. And when Oriol turned two? She honestly didn’t think anyone would come for him.

  Then she opened the door and found claws at her neck. Fear cut through her as gold eyes met hers. But the man didn’t have the definable black hair of the Demon King. His hair was nearly the same shade as his eyes.

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  “No. No, no, no, no, no!” Oriol screeched in his high pitched two-year-old voiced. The demon flinched back dropping his clawed hand. A sever blood stare still in his gaze. “Mama ma Mama. Now.” Oriol cried holding out his arms for her. Eshta stepped back then darted to her little boy scoping him up and holding him close. Oriol clung to her.

  Oriol glared at the other demon.

  “Mama.” He stated nuzzling her shirt.

  “Your majesty.” The demon breathed.

  “Mama.” He screeched. Heart thundering in her chest she opened and closed her mouth before swallowing.

  “I’m sorry. I saw him on the evacuating train and I know how demon children are treated in human settlements so I decided to take care of him.” She offered breathlessly.

  “Mama.” Her son stated happily gripping onto her shirt.

  “If you realized who he was why didn’t you bring him back?” The demon snapped at her. Eshta gaped.

  “Bring a baby into a war zone. To reunite him with a father in the middle of a battle who may or may not care about him?” Eshta presented shaking her head. The assistant shifted stance leaning back in a far less confrontational way.

  “Father?” he asked. She furrowed her brows nodding.

  “Yes. He’s very obviously the illegitimate son of the Demon king or something like that.” She voiced softly pressing her nose into the babies hair. The demon paused nodding.

  “I guess that does make more sense then the truth.” He sighed. “That baby your holding isn’t the illegitimate son of the Demon King. He is the Demon King. There’s an investigation into how he was turned into a baby and how to reverse it.” The rest of the demon’s words fell on death ears as she sat on the bed holding Oriol close.

  “Mama?” He breathed. And she looked down at the little boy she’d come to view as her son and she couldn’t quite. His little eyes flashed with magic and he turned to the demon.

  “Go.” He smacked his chubby hand. “A-A-way.” He commanded. The demon flinched but turned on his heels and walked out of the little house. Oriol gripped at her hair. “Mama?” He breathed no magic in his eyes just cautious desire for her approval. Her heart broke at that look. She pulled him close.

  “He’s not bad. He’ll watch out for you.” She offered though she couldn’t fully be sure of that. “Mama loves Oriol. Mama love you so much.” She swore holding him a bit tight. “Mama will love you when your small and Mama will love you when you’re big. Mama will love you when your right and Mama will love you when your wrong.” She continued to promise him. Oriol looked up at her.

  “Love.” He said with a big baby smile.

  She convinced Oriol that they had to go outside and get the demon. Oriol pouted as she carried him outside. The demon stood at the very edge of the property. He whipped around and looked at them. Oriol looked at her incase he could get away with not doing what they agreed.

  “Innow.” He commanded. The man stepped back onto the property. He knelt before Oriol.

  “Your Majesty I am truly sorry for my insolence.” He breathed. Oriol bobbed his head.

  “Sokay given.” He breathed dismissively snuggling into her arms sticking his thumb in his mouth.

  “Not the thumb. Bink.” She corrected softly placing the pacifier in his mouth. Oriol closed his eyes it was close to his bedtime.

  “Would you come inside?” She invited. The demon looked at her with an almost confused sort of caution. Inside she laid Oriol in his crib. He was pretty good at falling asleep it was always her little boy staying asleep.

  “You treat him like a child.” The demon observed when she kissed his hair goodnight.

  “Well, he looks like a child and acts like a child. If the spell fully reverted him to a baby it would probably do more harm then good treating him so strictly like an adult.” Eshta observed. “You can’t expect a baby to have the emotional control of an adult.” She added softly. Pouring two glasses of Semi decent Ale she kept on hand for special occasions. She offered it to him and he took it.

  “I’m Eshta.” She introduced.

  “Relnoi.” He offered back. “And I don’t think his Majesty has ever had emotional control.” He stated dryly.

  “Then maybe this is a good opportunity for him to learn some.” She stated serious but tilting her head allowing it to be taken as social jest if he chose to see it that way. “Any way. You can be assure that I have taken responsibility for this little boy and I will continue to hold myself to that until he is and can function as an adult. Until then and maybe after I will treat him like he is my baby.” She laid out throwing back the Ale and standing. “The bathroom is right over there. Towels are in the cabinet.” She set up a pull away cot in the place the seats might be. There was a short wall that separated there from where her own cot and Oriol’s crib was set up.