Queen Mavel says “I understand. You will still get to meet my daughters, the unmarried ones at least. I plan to take them with me in hopes that they can meet someone.”

  “No offense, but how many daughters do you have?”

  Queen Mavel says “Five. Three of them are unmarried and will be going with us.”

  “No sons?”

  Queen Mavel says “No, unfortunately not. Hence why I need to find good husbands for my remaining daughters. I will have to select my successor from among them. I already know from all the problems that I have had that my people wouldn’t allow one of my daughters to succeed me.”

  “I imagine that ruling as a woman in a non-matriarchal society is definitely not an easy thing to do. Men don’t like taking orders from women, it tweaks all their insecurities. Especially their pride.”

  Queen Mavel says “Oh, you don’t need to tell me that. I am very aware of how fragile most men’s pride is. I have had two husbands after all!”

  Mavel and I share a laugh at that and both Amn and Shiro join in, but Gremshow remains silent. Considering how he has said his wife treats him, that may have hit too close to home. That subject gets dropped as we move from the throne room to a grand dining room.

  Her daughters are joining us for dinner, but Mavel limits herself to just introducing them. As expected, all five of them are very attractive, but one stands out from the others. She is stunningly beautiful with long blonde hair, a very curvy figure, and piercing blue eyes.

  Luckily, she is one of the two married daughters, otherwise I might have been a little tempted. From the way that Gremshow is staring at her, he is obviously tempted even with her being married. Mavel also notices, but all she does is give him a look of disgust, which he doesn’t notice.

  In fact, during an exquisite meal, I notice all of her daughters giving him looks of disgust. However, they only do it when he is not looking, probably to keep things peaceful. After all, their kingdoms are neighbors so keeping things peaceful is fairly important to them.

  I would be willing to bet that Queen Mavel and Gremshow’s wife get along fairly well. They would probably spend a lot of time complaining about Gremshow and other men like him. Not that I would blame them for doing so, they have every right to complain.

  Come to think of it, Gremshow never said what his wife’s name was, he just called her names. That alone would tell me that she has every right to complain about him. We may not have stayed long at his castle, but he still could have introduced us.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Since he is Amn’s ally, I will keep my mouth shut for now, but I’m starting to not like Gremshow. Not that I really liked him anyway, I just need to put up with him for this trip. I will just avoid him as much as I can and I won’t say anything for Amn’s sake.

  The dinner is amazing, the food is perfectly cooked, and the conversation is entertaining. Considering that this counts as politics, I actually end up really enjoying myself. If only politics could always be like this I wouldn’t have to spend so much effort avoiding it.

  Queen Mavel says “You are really going through that food. Do I need to send to the kitchen for more?”

  “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

  Queen Mavel says “No trouble. Has Amn been starving you?”

  “No, nothing like that. I just need a lot more food than normal people.”

  Queen Mavel says “I know that beastmen eat more, but I didn’t expect it to be to this degree. It makes me wonder how the tribes to the north even survive.”

  “Oh, I am not a beastman. This form is just for convenience. I didn’t want to terrify your people.”

  King Gremshow says “Wait, you’re not a beastman? Then what are you?!”

  “I suppose the easiest way to explain it would be to call me a baby dragon.”

  Mavel, her daughters, and Gremshow all laugh like I am joking with them, but Amn and Shiro don’t. It takes the others a minute to notice that they aren’t laughing and that stops their laughter. Mavel is the one who asks Amn if I am really serious and she is quite surprised when he confirms it.

  I am pretty sure that at first they just think that Amn is playing along with the joke. The table goes quiet as they slowly come to the realization that we are not playing a joke on them. It is Mavel’s oldest daughter, the really hot one, that is the first to ask to see my real form.

  When I glance at Amn he gives me a nod, so I get up from the table and move to a clearer area. I push the other tables in the room aside to give myself enough room and then drop shapeshift. There is quite a bit of screaming, both from the table and from the servants, but when I don’t attack it calms down.

  Me laughing at Gremshow, who screamed like a girl, probably helps everyone calm down. Or it could be the fact that Amn and Shiro don’t react at all and just keep eating calmly. Still, it takes a few minutes for everyone to calm down and for them to return to their seats.

  Mavel’s oldest, who didn’t scream at all, is the one who approaches me and asks if she can touch me. When I agree, she starts running her hands along my scales and she has a huge smile on her face as she does. When she doesn’t get eaten, her sisters all join her, but they ask for permission first.

  At first they are all calm and respectful, but then the oldest one reaches my wings. It turns out that my feathers are amazingly soft and cuddly, or at least that is what the daughters are saying. It is enough to get Mavel herself to get up and come feel them, at which point she asks me if I want to sell some feathers.

  With my regen it wouldn’t be hard to regrow some feathers, but I decline her offer. I don’t need money and I really don’t want to set a precedent of selling off body parts. It takes me several minutes to convince the lot of them to stop cuddling my wings and go back to dinner.

  As soon as they release my wings I shapeshift back to my beastman form and return to the table. Amn and Shiro are obviously finding the whole situation highly amusing. The interesting one is Gremshow, every time I glance in his direction he flinches.

  Mavel and her daughters on the other hand hit me with an endless series of questions. In the end, I basically have to tell them my entire story to get the questions to stop. Luckily, more food is brought out so I can at least eat while I am telling my story.