The Demon's Concubine

Chapter 12

"Well, you did ghost him for like, 80 years." Sting approached the two, Rogue not far behind him.

"It was a mutual 'ghost', y'know. Neither of us have a reason to keep in contact with each other." 

Rogue shook his head as he crossed his arms. "And even so, you're here now. I'm assuming it's because you wanted to take your 'concubine' out, hm?"

Natsu blushed but didn't deny, glancing around the room for the girl in particular.

"Where is Lucy anyway?"

"The girls are in the seating room, but be careful. Lucy's in a super bad mood."

Natsu narrowed his eyes as he made his way to the seating room, wondering just what could be bothering Lucy. She had said she didn't like balls, but she seemed pretty excited about going to this one. All last night she was gushing about being in public without a collar, meeting more of Natsu's family, and getting to actually mingle, something she never did at her own balls.

When he entered the room, he saw the girls; Lucy, Levy, Wendy and a friend of Sting and Rogue, Yukino. They were all sitting on a plush couch, and Lucy seemed to be ranting about something. 

He took in the sight of her, he'd never seen her dolled up like this before. She matched him, representing the Tartaros kingdom, and wore a red ball gown with a sweetheart neckline and large, puffy off-the-shoulder sleeves. She wore black elbow length gloves and was fanning herself with a black fan, and wore little accessories except for black earrings, a black choker and the ruby necklace he'd given her. Her long hair was done up in a high ponytail, and there was a braid on either side of her head.

She looked beautiful, and he noted how much this fit her more than the simple sundresses she'd been wearing all this time. He walked up to the girls, and she stopped talking once she caught sight of him. 

"Hey everyone." Natsu said as he helped Lucy to stand. The girls all greeted him, Yukino giving him a hug after having not seen him in years.

Lucy still looked very irritated, and Natsu nudged her side as he asked her what was bothering her.

"Your tailors. Seriously, why does every member of your staff hate me?" Lucy fumed, hiding her face behind her fan.

Natsu's brows raised before his face broke out in a scowl. "What'd they do to you?"

"Nothing too serious, they're just so annoying. They kept making me change into different slips, claiming the ones I was wearing would show through my dress, but I know they were just trying to make me late. And then as they were fitting me into the dress, they wouldn't shut up about how I'm so much "thicker" than they anticipated, and that I should've lost some weight before the ball. I told them to just make the corset extra tight and leave me alone." 

Natsu rolled his eyes, these servants really were just too jealous. He grabbed Lucy's hand and brushed his lips along her gloved knuckles. 

"I'm sorry, Lucy. I'll deal with them once we get back."

She blushed and nodded, hiding her expression behind the fan in her other hand. Natsu caught sight of Happy from where he was talking with the other exceeds, giving Natsu a hard glare. He dropped Lucy's hand and sighed, Happy still hadn't forgiven what he'd said, and he made that clear whenever Natsu showed any kind of intimacy with Lucy.

Loud trumpets sounded, causing everyone to bring their attention to the main entrance. Several guards filed in, and Ignia, the birthday boy, made his appearance. There was an applause before he raised a hand, signaling for the ball to commence.