"Well, regardless, at least now we might finally get some answers to why the Oceana Abes made that stupid substitution," Lorelie remarked before looking at Adam and asking in a sweet voice, "Don't you have something to give me and Stacey?"
"Do I?" Adam asked with a puzzled expression, causing his two lovers to pout while giving him glares, and for Rowena to chuckle.
"You better had," Stacey said in a threatening tone.
"Ok, ok," Adam conceded as he held one of his hands up in a surrendering gesture while his other reached into one of his pockets and pulled out two rings that he held in the palm of his hand.
Both rings were black except for the jewels they held. One of them was adorned with orange-red jewels, while the other was adorned with turquoise and green jewels.
All the women in the room stared at the rings with interest, including Rowena, since she hadn't seen which two Adam had picked out for her granddaughter and Lorelie before now.
"Beautiful," Eri couldn't help but comment as she stared at the rings with her cat-like eyes.
"Yeah, I love how the darkness of the band enhances the gem's colour," Tephe remarked.
"It's kind of surprising how the popularity of Jenix jewellery has increased since Princess Solar made her discovery and Jenix became so hard to acquire," Aphrodite remarked.
"People naturally desire things they can't have," Rowena remarked.
"You're not wrong," Aphrodite replied while looking at Adam.
"So are you happy with them?" Adam asked with a smile, since he could already tell from their shining eyes that they were so he added, "I'm sure you can guess which ring belongs to each of you."
"Naturally, we can, but you still need to put them on our fingers, or is that something you're only willing to do for my grandmother?" Stacey replied while holding out her left hand as Lorelie mimicked her action.
"You know very well that was because we were portraying a married couple at the time," Adam remarked.
"Was it?" Lorelie asked with a knowing smile before waving her dainty fingers at him as a clear indication of what she was waiting for.
Adam smiled and shook his head before taking the orange-red jewelled ring while turning to Stacey, where he took her left hand with his own, causing her to smile as he slowly slid the ring onto her fourth finger.
Stacey beamed happily as she held her hand up to her face and inspected the ring on her finger closely.
Rowena smiled happily as she saw the beaming smile on Stacey's face, a smile she hadn't seen from her granddaughter since she left Darah Five.
Adam smiled at Stacey and her reaction before turning to Lorelie, where he repeated the process.
He took her left hand in his before sliding the green and turquoise ring onto her fourth finger, causing her to beam happily before she too started to inspect it closely.
"Is it my turn now?" Tephe asked excitedly as she bounced up and down on the sofa where she sat next to Rowena.
"Your turn?" Adam asked, confused, while all the girls also turned to her in confusion.
"Well, you gave Lorelie, Rowena and Stacey rings, so where is mine?" Tephe replied.
"If she gets one, I want one," Aphrodite immediately voiced.
"You're not one of his lovers, dear," Rowena said as she patted Tephe gently on the head.
"Neither are you," Tephe replied simply, causing Rowena's patting to freeze as she wasn't wrong.
She may have fed on Adam, but she wasn't one of his lovers, at least not yet.
"Rowena received a ring because of… "Adam started, then stopped to think for a moment before adding, "extenuating circumstances. Also, the whole ring thing was her idea."
"You mean you had no plans to ever give us rings?" Lorelie asked with a smile that gave Adam chills down his spine.
"No, no," Adam replied quickly while waving his hands before he continued, "I always planned to give you jewellery at some point in the future; I just wasn't sure when. However, I never planned to bring up anything about the special significance of placing the ring on the fourth finger of your left hand; after all, that's an Earth custom and not something I thought you both would be interested in."
"Hmmm," Lorelie responded as she stared into his eyes as if trying to tell how truthful he was being, before she broke into a beautiful smile again and nodded while saying," well good."
Adam sighed in relief until he heard Tephe's next words, which caused his eyes to twitch slightly.
"I still think I should also get a ring. I mean, we're going to be mates in the future."
"Can dragons even wear jewellery? I mean, what happens to it when you transform?" Adam asked as a way to try to change the subject while Stacey and Lorelie looked at each other. Rowena wore an amused smile, Aphrodite wore a jealous look, and Eri listened in curiously.
"The same thing that happens to our clothes," Tephe replied simply before her bright, inquisitive eyes changed to narrow and calculating ones as she added, "and stop trying to change the subject."
Adam, Stacey, Lorelie and Rowena all wore surprised looks when they heard her response, as it seemed slightly out of character for her.
"I'm generally curious because I don't know what happens to your clothes either," Adam replied.
"Hmmm," Tephe replied as she studied him with her narrowed, calculating eyes for a few seconds and then, as if nothing happened, her bright, inquisitive eyes returned as she happily asked, "Why have you never asked before if you were curious?"
"Errrr," Adam replied in surprise and confusion as the cheerful Tephe suddenly returned, causing the other girls to look at each other in confusion as Adam said, "It only just occurred to me since I hadn't seen you transform before our fight against Drot."
"Ah, I see, I see," Tephe said while nodding in understanding before she added, "Everything we are wearing in our human form before our transformation goes into our hoard for safekeeping before being withdrawn again when we assume our human form once more."
"Hoard? As in treasure?" Adam asked curiously.
"Exactly," Tephe nodded happily as if she was super happy that Adam wanted to know more about her and her race.
"Where do you store this hoard?" Adam asked as he inspected Tephe closely, as if trying to find if she was hiding something.
Tephe blushed slightly and her heart began to beat a little faster as she felt Adam inspecting her closely before she said, while fidgeting slightly, "It's not something you can see unless I allow it, watch."
As she finished speaking and Maya, who had been lying on her lap, looked up and watched. Tephe reached out in mid-air, only for part of her arm up to her elbow to suddenly disappear.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Adam remarked in shock, making all the women present break out in laughter.
"Calm down, she's fine," Stacey said as she placed a hand on Adam's in a calming gesture.
"So that's how it works," Eri responded with interest as she leaned in slightly closer to get a better look while adding, "It's my first time seeing it."
"I have also never seen a dragon access its hoard," Lorelie remarked as she looked on with interest.
"See that never gets old," Aphrodite remarked.
"Agreed, though it has been over a thousand years since I last saw a dragon do it," Rowena added.
As everyone continued to watch, they saw Tephe's arm begin to reappear as she pulled it back until her hand emerged clutching a golden dagger that was encrusted with jewels.
"What happened?" Adam asked as he stared at the dagger in shock.
"I accessed my hoard," Tephe replied as if it was obvious.
"Your hoard?" Adam asked in confusion.
"Yup, impressed?" Tephe asked proudly.
"Yeah, the way you took that dagger out of nowhere was awesome," Adam replied, making Tephe smile even more than she had as she said.
"Right."
"But I still don't get where it came from or how you even did it," Adam replied.
"Umm," Tephe replied while tilting her head and trying to think of how to explain it.
"Would you like me to explain it to him?" Rowena asked with a smile as she patted Tephe's head again.
"You know how dragons are able to do that?" Aphrodite asked in surprise before adding, "Where did you learn that?"
"A dragon I once helped explained it to me when they gave me something as thanks," Rowena replied before she began to explain, "A dragon acquires their hoard at the same time as they learn to unlock their humanoid form. Using a small amount of the same power they use to open subspace tears, they are able to reach into their own individual pocket space in subspace that is connected to them and them alone, meaning that no one else can access it.
Also, it's called a hoard because that's where a dragon hoards all their treasure and belongings."