Somehow, the Desert was turning into a nursery.

First Skogsra and Valkyrje. Then Seraphine and Cahyr. Someday, perhaps, the child that Marceline might yet carry. And now Rota. For a stallion not focused on procreation with every living woman, he had certainly racked up several children beneath his care. If it weren't for the fact that each and every one of those children represented both a little snippet of hope for the future and a tantalizing bit of leverage over certain creatures, he might have been offended. As it was, he was rather content with this turn of events.

Children, after all, were not eligible to be raided.

The chimera's dark eyes followed the graying child as she strode across his home with vague interest. He recognized her, even knew her name, though he had never spoken with her directly. She belonged to Kara, which he knew only because he had been the one to sire Nyimara's last child. She didn't actually belong to his once-Queen, despite how close she and her dam clung to the silver-maned witch.

"Welcome home," he offered neutrally as he approached, his green eyes gone dark with an unreadable expression. "It seems you and Cahyr both found your way back without help."

Which was a little suspicious, Asmodeus wouldn't lie. He certainly wouldn't put it past Nyimara to use both children as a way to test his resolve and attitude toward her potential return. As much as they could not be taken from the Desert, he really had no business forcing them to stay either. That didn't mean, however, that he had any intention of letting any of them leave.

"I am still King." He said, without elaborating that he stood now without a Queen. He had been a King beneath Nyimara when the girl had last seen him, and he hoped that reminding her of this would ease any fears she might have as to who he was or what his intentions were. "And this is still your home, if you want it, Rota."

Adult Stallion 16.0HClassic Champagne ChimeraSolomon x Xiomara