Chapter Text
The owl demon was ready for his wife's possible miscarriage, straining to swallow tea from a cup, while critically watching every movement of Stella. She, for now, with an inappropriately businesslike face under her own curses, was harassing her husband, while Stolas, focused on the situation, caught the movement of a blue spot to his left with his peripheral vision. However, he did not maintain a dialogue with Stella or her brother, and certainly did not respond to the swan's curses. His nerves will be safer.
Andrealphus looked at him not without a bit of frown, still not receiving any kind of look from the prince in response. The peacock thought that he was so immersed in watching the demoness to the very tips of his feathers that he simply did not notice the marquis's emotion, which seemed to be addressing Stolas with the words: "I also feel uncomfortable with her..."
In addition, the continuation of this phrase was floating in his thoughts: "...but it's good that I'm here." Which, by the way, he would not have dared to say. But then the man could not sensibly understand this subtext of his own thought - he wanted, if something happened, to stand up for the defense of not his sister, but Stolas... And then it seemed to him quite right, if not completely fair. He had been watching their dysfunctional marriage for too long, and that 'long' had dragged on with the inaction of his brother-in-law himself, with the hitherto unfulfilled goal of influencing the nightmare that, for the most part, Stolas was experiencing because of Stella... And, as the brother of the culprit, only he could get through to her. But isn't it too late?..
When the swan was still sharing her truly murderous plan, Andre kept catching himself thinking that he wanted to bring something of his own, finally, out of personal principles, to protect the victim from imminent danger. And what was extremely advantageous was that the peacock was the only one so close to his sister, and was informed point by point about this plan, which worked out brilliantly. Honestly: he had never been a weakling. But Stolas... In general, his words about the owl always infuriating him were not true.
Returning to the present, just as strainedly as Goetia had recently, Andrealphus took a sip from his cup, continuing to hold his face, and listening with the same caution to his sister's swearing, which was gradually subsiding in the woman.
Such a lull was not good.
"Now, remember my words. In one moment you will lose all your pathetic thoughts about me as 'filthy', and this will solve our long-standing problem,” Stella, with a terribly calm look, different from the look of minutes ago, with a slight smile put the cup on the saucer. Stolas’s feathers on the top of his head rose imperceptibly.
Well, yes... here is the deceptive calm that gradually began to disturb the always cold mind of the marquis, bringing mixed feelings. He jerked his beak upward, throwing a meaningful glance at his sister.
The early instinct, which was taut like that string, seemed to vibrate at the very moment when the demoness calmly put down the empty cup. The lower part of the prince's beak pressed hard against the upper one: "What do you mean, I'll lose my thoughts?"
And, whatever it meant, the man understood it at the very last second.
The restaurant doors were knocked almost off their hinges, and a lasso, so terribly familiar, shining with a snow-white color, rushed towards Goetia, emitting, as soon as it reached Stolas, a heavy and 'scorching' energy for him. However, the key word in all this sudden horror is barely.
The angelic rope did not have time to touch the dark feathers of the victim. The swing of the lasso was prevented by a thick wall of ice, against which the rope bounced off and rushed back to the owner's feet, with a resounding slap.
"What the?.." Striker, who had burst into the establishment, twisted his face in irritation.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" The second, already female voice addressed, apparently, the peacock.
As soon as Stolas saw the lasso, the reaction was unexpected for him. He simply closed his eyes, not having time to release even a particle of magic. From total surprise, his reflexes slowed down, as it should not have been, and even one wave of his hand using magic would have helped the demon retreat. But... Even the highest demons could be afraid of an angelic weapon. Such is the truth of hellish life. And it is not even a fact that his magic would have contributed to the defense against the sacred rope.
But the man did not have time to even rely on magic with all his might, as he heard two sounds following one after another: the scraping of something building right in front of his beak, and a slap.
It all happened so quickly that the owl did not pay attention to his wife's scream at first, regulating his breathing with his eyes still tightly closed.
However, he reacted instantly, opening one scarlet eye, when he was muffledly called from behind, and quite close:
"Get up."
The prince turned his head to Andrealphus two hundred and seventy percent, but... he fulfilled the request, and with all the desire that arose.
To the screams of the visitors running out of the restaurant, who were also not inferior to Goetia in their fear of the lasso, Stolas jumped from his chair, leveling himself with the peacock, with some remaining twitchiness and still disbelief, briefly assessing the latter's act. He wasn't quite thinking straight now, but he forced himself to calm down.
Andre gave him a quick, sharp look, then quickly waved his hand, already sparkling with frost, towards the mercenary, freezing his armed hand to the wall.
The owl next to him tapped his chest and, following his brother-in-law's example, directed his gaze at Stella.
"You should have noticed back then that I didn't like your 'vengeful plan'," Andre knew it was too late to bring his sister to her senses, but now he spoke up anyway. "I've already been poking you with my beak at the obvious with all sorts of hints: you wouldn't have gotten his property by resorting to murder - it's not even an inheritance, since you're not a blood relative of Stolas. And to take away what was rightfully yours from Octivia... I wouldn't have allowed it, frankly."
"What? Argh! You listened so attentively to my plan, laughed along with the company! You witnessed my despair from his betrayals, and covered it up with everything you could in return, with me," she responded with a guttural croak, throwing sparks from her eyes at her brother just like she did at her husband.
"My dear, you simply forgot, first of all, about your actions, when, since childhood, during the engagement, you started to ruin his life. You had selfish hysteria, but he, yes, had despair. While you never discussed your conflict with him, he stifled his loneliness even with this."
All the visible feathers on the swan's body stood on end. The Marquis looked at her with all seriousness.
"I listened to you. After all, I was there and supported you when you lost your temper. At least you had someone who didn't leave you alone. But I had my own unspoken opinion on who was the victim," against the background of the restaurant waiters' shouts, he watched the frozen Striker, also assessing the spouses with his gaze. Only his blue eyes were actively darting around, while Andrealphus stood straight.
"HA! So you're no better than me. You've always been an egoist, and even stuck a rag in your beak like an idiot when I asked for your advice. And you're still deciding who's the egoist, brother?"
"You shouldn't compare the master and his inept student, in the person of me, who hasn't yet fallen into the dirt with my dignity," the peacock combed the feathers on his head with his hand, quietly exhaling. It was hard to tell his sister the truth to her face, but she was already an adult demon, and it wouldn't be his fault if they held a grudge against him. "I felt sorry for your mentality. However, you haven't done anything to yourself for years. Well... Stolas, would you like to add?"
The Marquis turned to him, and the owl demon almost choked on air, standing between the speakers. And how was he supposed to react to the sudden 'rearrangement' of enemies? Suddenly, an ally next to him began to defend, because he saw the prince as a victim? He stood up for someone other than his own sister?..
Holy archangels, what was his brother-in-law like? Was he being sincere now? Goetia glanced at him sideways, silent for a few seconds. Andre politely waited for his words.
The owl continued after him, feeling the chill hovering near him, straight from Andre's body. Microscopic snowflakes had already settled on the dark feathers where the frosty one glanced, and from some stupid charm he croaked to himself. As quietly as possible.
"I'm tired, Stella. But we ourselves have no right to dissolve the marriage, and I've been telling you this for years. Turn to your father, who can rule over us... a forced union, since we mutually want to get rid of each other."
"And agree, from the divorce you will at least get your share of the property, than by killing Goetia," the peacock added, slowly closing his eyes on the woman puffing inwardly. It is hard, he will be honest.
"Oh, yes... And that too." Stolas felt somehow awkward that the marquis continued his thoughts quite well, because he himself was slowly coming to his senses from what he had seen. And then his first ally... And then, Andrealphus...
A gloom appeared on his white face. Specifically, the events with the mercenary business shook the sobriety of the mind, and, as a result — devastation with silent, unlike the demoness, anger, and not a rolling relief thanks to an unexpected protector.
Of course, he expected something like that from Stella, but not so self-confidently... To start and finish with murder. With a plan for two, like an arsenal, to go hunting together for one of the Goetia, and, if not to kill, then to scare him to a semi-fainting state... Savagery. True, the beast's partner wanted to personally cross himself out of the crazy case, but this does not change Stolas's skepticism towards him. It is difficult to judge only by the marquis's shown sincerity... Not at all.
The swan opposite them squeezed the feathers on her head with one hand, breathing through her beak. She saw how Striker, who was not badly frozen, had already passed out against the wall from a piece of ice squeezing his hand.
Her brother again turned his narrowed gaze to the owl, offering:
"Do you want to leave now?"
"Huh?.." For the man it sounded like a splash of cold water in the face, which brought him out of his observation of his wife. She was thinking about something chaotically, shifting from foot to foot, and looked away from the demons. She would definitely start collecting her things from the estate in the near future, sending them to her parents' house, and... it would be better for him not to be there with her. Yes, for now. Octavia had left for the camp a few days ago anyway, and it was good that she would not find her mother's rampage.
Stolas looked at the woman blankly for the last time. At that moment Andre overtook him, snapping his long fingers and dissolving a wall of ice in space, after which he directed the owl to the exit of the empty restaurant. By the way, before their quarrel everyone had scattered, and there were no prying ears. Although he didn’t care about the rumors about his family with Stella: she was already chatting to everyone about their troubles.
"Then perhaps we'll leave," smoothly moving towards the parking road outside, the peacock heard the muffled steps of Goetia behind him, who almost stepped on the hems of his robe, but stopped in time at Andrealphus's back.
Without showing any displeasure, the latter noticed a small group of imps in the distance of the restaurant — those same frightened waiters — and moved towards them, saying:
"I'll contact your superiors and compensate for the damage. All later."
The neatly dressed demons only nodded quietly, and the frosty one turned to face Goetia when they reached the parking lot a few steps away.
"Is everything in order? Or do you need medical help already?" The marquis asked him, looking at Stolas, whose consciousness was somewhere else. They were standing near the peacock's car, where his personal driver was humbly waiting for at least some movement in the cabin, which did not come.
Well, the feathered one's breathing was fine, but there could have been other internal problems that clearly did not allow the demon to concentrate on the street surroundings, and halfway through he looked down. Although these could have been the consequences of shock, but it is not his fault.
"I'm fine... And that we're standing by your–"
"Car. Yes, since Stella will be leaving in yours, and you probably won't want to be at home yet, I can give you a ride. What do you think?"
"Mm... Where then, in that case?.." The owl asked somewhat incoherently, frowning heavily.
"At least to my place, there you can come to your senses. In that same hotel, for example, it would be problematic. You can barely think on the go," Andrealphus shrugged his shoulders, shaking his fur coat, which accidentally caught Stolas' cheek almost close. For some reason, he sneezed, which made Andre grin. "Where else would you pay, like this? Well, well, Stella didn't have a continuation of the plan where I would have pinned you down on my territory."
He assured him conciliatorily, when he received a look of scarlet eyes full of skepticism, but it quickly disappeared from his white face.
“Are you feeling really bad?” The marquis leaned toward the man unobtrusively.
“My head hurts.”
Having decided everything beyond dispute, with all his desire for the good, Andrealphus tapped his fingers on the door of the long, silver car, and the driver got out on cue to open it for them.
"Well, that's it, you're welcome. Carefully, carefully..." The blue-eyed man had already seen his consent, followed by a heavy sigh from Stolas, and just in case he held the owl demon by the shoulder, not disdaining to help him sit down on the soft chair.
Before Goetia was about to straighten up in the chair, the brother-in-law touched his top hat, as if hinting.
"You don't want to hit your already tormented head, do you?" He gracefully bent his wrist, still leaning over the door, and his eyes flashed in the shadow of the salon.
"...Right, ahem." The owl pulled himself back for another dullness, and seriously pulled himself together, trying to relax his aching head.
At the same time, Andrealphus sat down next to him like a fluff, and the car moved from its place.
The peacock looked sadly at Stolas, who threw his head back, who hooted as soon as his head touched the soft upholstery. Despite his lousy condition, he did not lose his vigilance towards the very unexpected marquis until the very end of the trip. The day turned out to be crap.