No other high elf, living or dead, could possibly interpret the ethereal beauty of silver hair to such an extreme, making it shimmer with an almost unholy glow, a beacon of pure, unadulterated mischief. The only one who could materialize silently, like a ghost in the night, was none other than Vereesa Windrunner, the youngest of the infamous trio.
"Ah!" Alleria, who just moments ago had been a veritable wildfire of passion, intent on showcasing every single one of her considerable charms for Duke's exclusive viewing pleasure, suddenly shriveled up like a raisin. She became as shy as an ostrich with its head firmly planted in the sand, actually covering… her entire face with both hands, as if she could simply un-see the situation.
Duke, bless his simple heart, was utterly flummoxed. "What in the blazes is happening now?" he thought, his mind a tangled mess of confusion and mild panic.
"Well, now, although I've been privy to the juicy details for quite some time," Vereesa purred, her voice a calm, almost maddeningly serene whisper, laced with just the right amount of playful malice, "seeing it with my own two eyes… I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that my dignified, beautiful, and oh-so-wise elder sister would be caught in such a… compromising position!" Vereesa's perfectly modulated tone, dripping with feigned innocence, made Alleria feel like her entire body had spontaneously combusted.
The very next moment, with the agility of a shadowcat, Vereesa embraced Duke from behind, her arms snaking around his neck. That mysterious sensation of abundant curves and delightful elasticity sent a delicious shiver down Duke's spine, and his 'Duke's Sword,' still safely nestled in its scabbard, performed a rather enthusiastic little dance. Alleria, momentarily forgetting her embarrassment at being caught red-handed by her sister, let out a light, breathy cry – a sound so utterly charming, she herself wouldn't have believed it came from her own throat.
A pair of emerald eyes, narrowed to slits, appeared from the gaps between Alleria's fingers. Still mostly hidden behind her hands, she shot a blazing glare at Duke… and then, with even more venom, at Vereesa behind him. "Puta de madre!" she hissed, a High Elven curse that, roughly translated, meant something akin to, "You blasted little trollop, are you deliberately trying to rub my nose in it?!"
Vereesa merely chuckled, a sound like wind chimes in a gentle breeze, and retorted, "Oh, no, big sister. I'm just like you. Head over heels for a certain charming scamp named Duke."
Having delivered her verbal jab, she then, like a slippery eel, gracefully slipped out from behind Duke, landing softly beside Alleria. With a mischievous glint in her eye, she leaned in close to Duke and, with an almost exaggerated shyness, began to whisper something in the ancient, melodic High Elven tongue.
It was a prayer, or perhaps a poem, woven with the delicate threads of music, and delivered in Vereesa's crystal-clear voice, it was undeniably moving and utterly enchanting to the ear. Of course, after stripping away all those delightfully meaningless syllables that existed purely for the sake of tone and melody, and then simplifying the translation with the grace of a bull in a china shop, the most accurate rendition of her heartfelt sentiment was:
"I'm not exactly a prodigy, so please, be gentle with me and guide me through the future."
Yeah, pretty standard fare for a newlywed, if you asked Duke.
Alleria, with a knowing look, gave Duke a gentle pat. He understood the unspoken command immediately and, with a flourish, drew his 'sword.' And so, Duke and Vereesa, in the dead of night, began their… sword dance.
Following a rhythm that shifted faster than a goblin's mood swings, Vereesa swayed her fair, flat abdomen with mesmerizing grace. Her five slender fingers, like white jade, gently unfurled, her pinky and ring finger curling into her palm, pressing ever so lightly against Duke's chest, as if in playful resistance to his 'attack.' It was their first dance together, and Vereesa seemed to have a touch of performance anxiety. She tightened her arms with all her might, coordinating with the 'attack' of her magical 'sword,' causing her pair of snow-white, impossibly long legs to weave through a dizzyingly fast, intricate, and undeniably sexy dance.
Much like the foxtrot Duke had mastered before his unexpected trip through the dimensional portal, their cross-swaying dance was a chameleon, sometimes elegant and poised, sometimes sensuous and undeniably alluring, and at other times, arrogant and shrouded in mystery. The 'mermaid line' of her body, honed by years of rigorous training, now showcased a captivating quality akin to a belly dancer's hypnotic undulations, leaving Duke utterly spellbound. Even though she was clearly 'defeated' by Duke's 'sword,' Vereesa's expression remained utterly confident, fiercely proud, deliciously ambiguous, and devastatingly seductive, as if the very goddess of beauty, Venus herself, had possessed her. Every inch of her radiated an almost divine allure.
In a blissful haze, Duke experienced a fleeting, bizarre illusion: the high elf before him seemed to perfectly overlap with a certain 'national treasure' celebrity from his previous life!
Life, as they say, goes on. And the sword dance, for now, never stopped.
Then…
The simmering tension of the two sisters' rivalry, a tempest in a teapot, was utterly extinguished after Duke's dramatic, near-fatal display of commitment. As the furious 'sword dance' finally concluded, a profound sense of tranquility, almost a peaceful exhaustion, settled over the room.
"Blast it all, Duke," Alleria grumbled, a playful bite in her voice as she nipped lightly at his shoulder, "my third sister and I have truly fallen under your spell. You've got us wrapped around your little finger."
Duke merely bared his teeth in a triumphant, if slightly pained, grin.
"Hehe," Vereesa chimed in, her voice as smooth as a mountain spring, a stark contrast to Alleria's occasional wildness. "Whether you're a dashing hero or a stunning heroine, there's always a line of suitors, isn't there? Doesn't this just prove Duke's utter excellence?"
Duke, ever the straight man, delivered his nonsense with the gravitas of a seasoned orator. "Indeed. I've already cast a divine-level hypnosis spell on you two. You'll never be able to live without me for the rest of your lives. Consider yourselves utterly and irrevocably enchanted."
"Tsk," Alleria scoffed, a look of utter disdain on her face.
"Oh, dear, what ever shall I do?" Vereesa whimpered, dramatically wiping away a few crystal tears from the corners of her eyes. (To be fair, the tears were real, but they weren't exactly flowing at the moment.)
"Third sister," Alleria snapped, "stop ruining our moment!"
Just as they were enjoying their playful banter, a soft white light began to bleed into the sky, signaling the approach of dawn.
The next morning, Duke was rudely yanked from his slumber by a persistent knocking at the door, accompanied by Vanessa's unmistakable voice.
"Rise and shine, Duke Beast!" Vanessa's unceremonious shout pierced the relative quiet of the room. "It's dawn, and you've got a very important Alliance Throne meeting to attend this morning!"
Duke blinked, momentarily disoriented, then a sudden, unsettling feeling washed over him. "Wait a minute, Vanessa," he called out, his voice thick with sleep. "What in the blazes did you just call me?"
"Edmund Duke!" Vanessa's voice from outside the door was infuriatingly calm. Of course, Gavinrad's barely suppressed snickering from the hallway betrayed the little maid, who was clearly enjoying her moment of rebellion.
Duke quickly glanced at the system logs, his eyes widening in horror. He instantly wanted to hunt down the mischievous maid and silence her forever. "You little sneak!" Duke roared, his voice laced with mock fury. "Don't think I didn't hear you change my name in the system!"
"Oh, no, Your Excellency the Duke," the little maid insisted, her voice dripping with false innocence. "You must have been dreaming. You heard it wrong."
"Hehehe!" Gavinrad's snickers echoed down the hall.
I'm in too good a mood to bother with you two rascals, Duke thought, a triumphant smirk playing on his lips.
At that moment, Duke turned his head, and to his utter astonishment, found himself completely alone. The Windrunner sisters, who had been there mere seconds ago, had dressed at lightning speed and vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the faint scent of elven perfume.
Well, I'll be a murloc's uncle… that's just too darn good.
When Duke finally emerged, fully dressed, Gavinrad and Vanessa snapped to attention, saluting him with impeccable military precision. Vanessa, ever the bearer of interesting news, added, "Ms. Alexstrasza next door seems to have vanished before dawn, too. She left a note."
Duke picked it up, unfolding the parchment to reveal a scrawl of crooked, almost illegible Human Common. The very first line screamed at him:
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! YOU DIDN'T TOUCH ME LAST NIGHT?!"
Ugh, what in the name of the Light is this? The lament of a dragon scorned? The wail of a spurned queen?
"Well, congratulations, you saved your life."
Hey, is this a thinly veiled threat? Some kind of murder trap?
"Actually, I have a terrible sleeping posture. No matter what position I start in, once I'm asleep, I go absolutely bonkers if I'm stimulated. Last time, an ancient dragon burst in during an emergency, and I accidentally clocked him so hard he was seriously injured. Took him decades to recover."
Duke nearly choked on his own spit reading that. The glorious, majestic image associated with the term "Dragon Queen" began to crumble, brick by brick, in the hallowed halls of Duke's mind.
The final message on the note read: "In truth, I possess secret methods to peer into my past. I am both sorry and profoundly grateful for last night, because you made me feel… good. I've already had a word with the little ones. The Red Dragonflight's standing principle is not to intervene in the petty conflicts and struggles of mortal races, but…"
Then came a long, intricate string of obscure Dragonic script. After Duke finished deciphering it with the help of his ever-reliable system translation, he felt like he'd just unearthed a treasure chest full of gold and jewels.
"Hahahaha!" Duke roared, a triumphant, slightly unhinged laugh echoing through the quiet hallway. "All my hard work, all my suffering to 'save' you, was not in vain, Alexstrasza! Not in vain at all!"