Chaos' Heir

Liiza groaned, adjusting herself in the hope of finding a more comfortable position. The effort failed miserably, leading to another series of suppressed complaints and snuggling.

Khan had been awake for a while, but his eyes remained closed. Still, he felt everything Liiza was doing on top of him, planting a helpless smirk on his face.

"You have always slept on me or my left," Khan eventually said. "You can't expect to change that in one day."

Liiza snorted but didn't reply, insisting in her hopeless attempts to find a comfortable position on Khan's right. She didn't give up even after a whole minute passed, but Khan let her do as she wished. After all, he knew why she had become so fixated on that trivial matter.

Khan and Liiza's new tattoos were on their right and left arms, respectively. Also, they were meant to be two halves of one, which became complete once the couple joined their hands.

Liiza couldn't expect the two to sleep hand-in-hand but still wanted the white and blue tattoos to match. However, she had grown used to curling on Khan's left side and couldn't get her body to accept resting on the other.

At some point, Liiza hmphed, lying on her back on the mattress. She wanted to cross her arms in annoyance, and she did with her right, but her left hand searched for Khan's palm, clinging to it to make the two tattoos one.

Khan shook his head, finally opening his eyes. His blue light shone on the room's ceiling, but they quickly moved to his right. He also half-turned, making sure his right hand remained on Liiza's.

Liiza wanted to dwell in her annoyance a bit longer, but her expression melted when Khan caressed her face, pulling her onto him. She hid on his chest, clinging to his torso while loving caresses ran through her hair.

Khan's mind had every right to be a mess. After all, he had just gone through his first official night as a married man. Everything that had happened after the ceremony had been too heated and passionate to allow proper thoughts, so that was the moment to have those.

Nevertheless, Khan couldn't feel more at peace and devoid of worries. His mind was blank as he studied the white and red strands between his fingers, caressing the cold head under them.

The event was undeniable now. Khan and Liiza could have struggled to explain and justify it in the past, but no more. The two had officially married according to the Niqols' customs and in front of many witnesses. Even humankind would have to accept its validity.

That should make Khan feel different. Except it didn't. If anything, he was only more complete than he already was after kidnapping Liiza. She was his woman, his partner, and his better half, and the entire world couldn't deny it now.

The only slightly concerning thoughts might have come from the revelations during the marriage. Khan hadn't known about those profound worries Liiza had hidden in remote parts of her mind, but they made sense.

Liiza had always understood mana better than Khan. She couldn't have learned about her element's true nature ten years ago, but her status was now completely different. Liiza was a proper Shaman, so she could understand where her training would lead.

Liiza had also been quite talented. Her ice wasn't ordinary, so the evolution it would cause wouldn't be, either. Liiza would have had to pay a steep price for power and had probably already started doing so.

The past vague explanations had become part of a bigger picture now. Liiza didn't randomly choose to turn her flesh into organic ice. That was one piece of a larger, more significant transformation that would have turned her into what her element intended her to be.

Yet, those problems were gone now. Ordinary couples would need to talk about them, but Khan and Liiza were unique. Just like his chaos couldn't hurt her, his presence could add life to her ice. Khan had already planned never to let Liiza go, but learning about that detail turned those intentions into a proper responsibility.

"Husband," Liiza called, Khan's chest suppressing her voice.

"Wife?" Khan wondered.

"You know I like it when you are rough," Liiza announced, "But it's getting harder to breathe."

It turned out Khan's hug had tightened when his brain delved into those revelations. Yet, he didn't relax it and squeezed Liiza even more, making her release a giggle.

Liiza had to let go of Khan's hand to roll on top of him and push herself away from the hug. Still, she didn't go anywhere and lay on him, her fingers already diving into his hair while his blue light illuminated her proud smirk.

"I told you I'm not going anywhere," Liiza reassured. "Now more than ever."

Liiza wanted to tease Khan a bit longer, but his eyes fell on her left shoulder, and his fingers rose to trace the white branch-like tattoos. Those marks carried deep, intrinsic meanings, and Khan lost himself studying them and experiencing what they represented to him.

"You'll have to teach me to read these," Khan muttered. "I might be able to replicate this language with my runes."

A foreign sensation expanded in Khan's brain, making him look up only to find Liiza's serious face. She had started to lose herself in that intimate moment, and Khan couldn't help but join her, rising toward her lips to kiss her.

Another passionate moment was about to start, but the room's door opened a mere second after the couple's lips touched. Khan and Liiza simultaneously suppressed their groans since they sensed who the intruder was, and the latter climbed down from him while he threw a blanket over them.

"Uncle Khan! Aunt Liiza!" Tamara happily exclaimed, unaware of her interruption of that intimate moment, while rushing toward the bed and crawling over the mattress.

"How come I'm Aunt Liiza now?" Liiza jokingly complained, capturing the little Nele in a hug, which Khan joined.

"Aunt Zaza said it's improper to call you Liiza now that you are married," Tamara revealed, settling between the couple as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"That old hag is already corrupting you," Liiza cried, caressing Tamara's hair. "Where is my precious little Tamara?"

Khan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The Nele were famous for their no-touch policy, but there Tamara was, lying between a mutated human and a Niqols while they hid their nakedness under a thin blanket.

"Tamara, let me tell you a secret," Khan whispered. "Aunt Zaza will do anything you say if you tell her you saw her cry during our vows."

"She did, right?" Liiza chuckled, scooting a bit more to her left to lay her head on Khan's shoulder while keeping Tamara between them. "I thought I imagined it."

"Who can blame her?" Khan joked. "Even her old, withered heart must have melted when hearing us, especially your part."

Liiza threw a scolding look at Khan but still rose to meet his lips. Tamara couldn't see the kiss from her position, so she didn't think twice about interrupting it.

"Another secret?" Tamara wondered, tilting her head.

"Another?" Khan asked.

"Aunt Liiza made me keep two already," Tamara nodded.

Khan frowned, and Liiza rolled her eyes, wearing a coy smile while coming clean about what she did. "I told Tamara I might have been pregnant and that we would have raised our kids according to my customs."

That revelation wasn't a big deal, but the timeline didn't make much sense. Khan had learned about Liiza's pregnancy only after Zalpa had confirmed it, which meant Tamara had known about it before him.

"You girls are keeping secrets from me," Khan dramatically gasped, pulling Liiza and Tamara closer. "I'm hopeless and outnumbered now."

"Girls must have their secrets," Liiza claimed. "Isn't that right, Tamara?"

"Girls' secrets!" Tamara exclaimed, giggling happily while curling up on Khan's torso. The little Nele also yawned, seemingly on the verge of falling asleep.

"Tamara, why did you come here?" Khan asked, cuddling the little girl to ease her way into her sleep.

"Uncle Ilman said the Nele responded," Tamara revealed, yawning again. "Tamara wanted to help translate the message, but Uncle Ilman told me to call Uncle Khan first."

"You have been plenty helpful already, then," Khan praised, caressing Tamara one last time before glancing at Liiza. She nodded, tilting her head in his direction to request a kiss, which he didn't hesitate to give her before leaving the bed.