"Mr Kwon, thank you for responding to our summons."

Jiyong held his head up and the scowl that he really wanted to give back. He inclined his head in it's place and murmured, "Thank you for realizing who your original invitation should have been addressed to."

The pure - blooded Veela stood in front of them, who looked as if she spent her whole life evaluating people . She glanced back and forth between Jiyong and Seungri, saying nothing. Her cream colored wings swayed back and forth slowly behind her back like an offended cat. 'Poor thing,' Jiyong thought, and smothered chuckle. 'No, Noah didn't tell her,' She only realized that they were together and the letter should've been addressed to Jiyong instead when Jiyong had shown up at the meeting room with Seungri tucked under his arm. 

Jiyong glanced sideways at Seungri for a moment. Seungri had adopted a calm expression that probably came as second nature to him after all those month surpressing his emotions for the sake of his plans. He met Jiyong's eyes now, and smiled a little. All docile and obedient. A second later, he ducked his head. 

"That's how it is, keep your eyes down," said Jiyong, in an imitation of the haughty tone that once had been real to him as Seungri's suppressed emotions, and turned back to the woman in front of them. "How was it that the letter came addressed to Seungri at all?"

Her frown grow deeper as she lifted her chin up, staring down at Jiyong as if she tried to intimidate him which doesn't work. "We were informed that your bond wasn't that of a normal Veela's bond," The woman wasn't stupid enough to admit that Noah was the one who told them about Seungri, instead of them finding it out the way they should have if that's their best interest. "We assumed you didn't lived together, otherwise, we would not spoken to your mate without your permission."

Jiyong felt Seungri twitch under his arm. Probably at the notion that his life would be more restricted if he was a normal submissive. 

"You should've been," said Jiyong. "You should know everything about us before you send that imperious demand." Most dominant Veela would've used us like that and that woman in front of them should know.  She stared at Jiyong a while, and turned to the table behind her, arranged in circle inside the medium sized room. Five more pure-bloods were sitting around it. Three of them were Veelas, and two human. All wore the long, rich robe that were more like shawls around the shoulder, marking the pure-blooded Veela of the generation before Jiyong's. 

"Or," Jiyong continued, with chilling hauteur that he know will make them flinch. "Do the tradition of Veela bond doesn't matter anymore?"

"Of course it matters," the woman said. "Of course it does," she repeated, and with that, she regain her composure. "Forgive us for not realizing. My name is Lee Hae Ra, Head of the Lee house."

Jiyong kept his face passively cold, but inwardly he was impressed. Houses were the way pure-blooded Veela families used to identify themselves, when they lived on a single property that their maids and servants blood become linked, rather than on multiple houses like the Kwons have. And as he remembers, Lee was a family that contributed a lot of members to the Council, their old university Board of Governor, the ministry and every other office of honor that Jiyong could think of. 

But they are also exactly the sort of stuffy pure-blood family who would hold on to the old tradition and honour that they refuse to accept that things can change in time

"I do hope," continued Hae Ra, her feline like eyes glance at Seungri for a while before she turned back to Jiyong. "You'll forgive us for assuming." 

"We will," said Jiyong and he moved forward, his arm like chain around Seungri's shoulder. It wasn't just an act this time because he couldn't help but to feel agitated at the presence of those Veelas. Seungri didn't act like he minded, though. He was looking mildly from face to face, like he was a submissive who had no concern in the world because his dominant will decide for him. 

"Sit, Seungri."

Jiyong pulled out the chair, of course and he settled beside his mate. He spread his wing, placing it gently on Seungri's shoulder, protecting the submissive under their control. 

The room had dark red velvet panels on the walls that muffle sounds, or maybe they're just tapestries. The room was dim, lit only by candles on the mantel and few flames flickering lowly from the fireplace, that Jiyong couldn't tell.  Though, he do knows that the table beneath their hands was scarred, despite the glamour of it's perfect surface because he could feel the scars under his fingertips. And none of them had anything to drink or eat right now, meaning there's no distractions from the simple furniture.

The meeting start with them introducing themselves, also all members of families that Jiyong had thought will present, but speaking briefly. They chose Hae Ra to speak for them and they wouldn't go back from their choice because Hae Ra seems to be eligible enough for the duty. With her strong upfront and jaded expression. 

Jiyong would've been impressed with that, but he had to learn flexibility or Seungri and him would've ended up killing each other. He listened as she spoke, his hand on the back of Seungri's chair, as Hae Ra took her place at the head of the table, reserving most of her gaze for Jiyong.  Looking too directly at the mate would've imply that you wanted to claim them. 

"We are sorry that we are not aware of your living arrangement," said Hae Ra. "It change things now that we do."

"How?" Jiyong smiled at her. "I mean, beside who you'll address your letter to in the future."

Hae Ra didn't smile. "It matters,"  she said. "If we were aware that he stayed at the Kwons, with you controlling his actions, I suppose, then we won't have to worry about him tainting the Veela tradition."

Seungri tensed so much that Jiyong was suprised that no one else at the table who'd notice. Then again, he was pleased because that meant he was the only one who was that close to Seungri, the only one that were paying most attention to his mate. 

"What has he done that would convince you he would do that?" Jiyong asked. "He had been nothing but obedient to me, and accepted the bond as much as he could but you don't know that." Which wasn't entirely a lie because Seungri had been trying through their compromise.

Seungri said nothing, but his hand find a way to Jiyong's side beneath the table and poked him with one finger. Jiyong knew this wasn't part of the script but he doesn't expect Hae Ra dare to disrespect them like that.

"A woman who knows Lee Seungri and his disrespect for the Veela's bond well told us." Hae Ra begin. 

"That woman name is Noah," said Jiyong. He ignored his sin of interrupting her speech but he was going to do much more worse than that and it's time for them to get used to it. "I know. You don't have to pretend like she's some sort of mysterious source that you can only quote and not name."

Hae Ra tried to stare him down but that didn't work. With Seungri under his arm,  jiyong was more than willing to fight and the pure-blooded Veela had to simply understand that.

"Very well," said Hae Ra. "How did you know then? She mentioned no previous acquaintance with either one of you."

And if you're smart enough, you'll wonder how she could have known about the state of our bond, he thought. Aloud, he murmured, "she challenged Seungri to a duel and he won, using me as a proxy. The price that she withdraw from interfering our bond.  Now, she's using you as her tool instead."

One Veela from the side of the table, who's dark hair and even darker wings had already marked him as a member of the Kims house made an angry remark, "So you mean she has manipulated us?"

"Yes," Jiyong stared at him with mostly blank face. "and she succeeded. "

That led to some more waving around of arms and angry complaining, but Jiyong had been prepared for that. He shifted closer to Seungri, one arm wrapped lightly around Seungri, and they watched them wrangle.  He had no stake in which one of them won the dispute, as long as they recognize Noah's cheat and shifted their alliance. 

Finally, Hae Ra gathered their attention again by cleat and she turned back at Jiyong. "This change things," she said. "Of course we will need to consider her accusations more clearly." She paused, staring dead at Jiyong. "But since we're already talking about this, I need to ask you something."

"Yes," Jiyong thought he knew what it was. And he also don't know how they were to get around it. Not yet. 

Hae Ra leaned forward, slowly switching her gaze more to Seungri. "You said that Lee Seungri is your mate, but that Noah challenged your right to hold him," the her eyes returned back to Jiyong. "We all know the terms of challenging a Veela to duel. So, in what way will you explain this contradiction? Have you bonded or not?"

*

Seungri decided that, while he would go along as much as he could with the ruse he and Jiyong had planned, he would have to speak up now. There were ways and ways of being the submissive.

Especially to people like this, who can't understand us seemed to refuse to... 

Seungri turned and laid a hand on Jiyong's side, where they wouldn't see it, under the table. Then he looked up at Jiyong with huge, appealing eyes that he tried so hard to make have a slight sheen of tears. That probably show submissiveness to people like this, who have limited understanding of it. 

"My love," Jiyong said, turning completely towards him. His wings flexed for a moment, his talon unfolded and shown, and his voice dropped into a growl. "Do you need something?" His eyes darted vigilantly around the table, although Seungri doesn't understand until he seems to focus on Hae Ra. Jiyong thought someone had do something to hurt him silently, the way Noah had with the drug. 

I must done a good job at coaxing my tears, thought Seungri, mildly amused, and fluttered his eyelashes some more. "To speak," he whispered , while he might supposed to asked for permission nonverbally, Jiyong had mentioned that sometimes submissive could ask out loud. "Please," he tried to tilt his head wimsomely, although he had the feeling that he wasn't very good at this one. 

Jiyong had stared at him like he had become the center of the universe, his mouth hanging open slightly. His eyes looked dazed, Seungri noted, carefully concealing his own amusement. Then he blinked, his gaze snapped and locked on Seungri.

"Yes, you may," he said, and turned to Hae Ra and the others, his hand resting proudly in the middle of Seungri's shoulder blade. "My mate wish to address the table," he said. His wings open out in a gesture that Seungri didn't know, rising like he's going to launch himself from the ground, then dropping back down as slowly as whirling leaves. 

"Go on," said Hae Ra, eyes curious as she started at Seungri.

"You should know that I was raised without the knowledge of the Veela's bond," Seungri whispered. Jiyong tensed horribly beside him that Seungri could tell what he's thinking about, are you going to tell them the truth?

Seungri reached out and squeezed Jiyong's hand, but didn't take his eyes on Hae Ra. She looked at him as if he's an unusual creature but no one completely out of her experience. "How so," she asked. 

"I was raised at the orphanage," he answered shortly, not wanting to get too much into it. "And I thought it wasn't important for me to learn because I never once think I would involved in one."

Hae Ra stared at him, evaluating his words before she continues, "You're clearly involved in one now. If you don't have any problems with it, the rumors won't simply began."

Jiyong's eyes shot to Hae Ra but she disregard it because this conversation is simply about protecting the honor of the bond. 

Seungri pressed his hand reassuringly against Jiyong's side again, and if he trusted Jiyong enough to go along with this charade, it seemed the Veela trusted him enough to break it, because he relaxed and let his wing brush the back of Seungri's neck. Seungri took that as the only permission he needed, and turned to Hae Ra again. 

"I didn't fully accepted the bond because I couldn't,"  he told them. "I reacted badly and wanted to get away from him. Then I wanted to use him somehow. Using him as a proxy to ward off Noah seems to be a good way to do it."

Seungri could sense Jiyong blinking beside him. It must've surprised him since he never talk about this. He knew Jiyong would be staring at him with a wondering stare, trying to locate the moment when Seungri's mind had changed and decided on this particular lies. 

Because Jiyong knew, if Seungri meant that, he would've left him dying when the poison start working its way inside his body.

"And you've accepted it now?" she asked. 

Seungri knew that his blush could've been visible from space, but then, to all people around him, knew what Veela's bond consisted of. They knew Jiyong and him must had to establish the bond but it couldn't be helped that theirs wasn't defined by just that. 

"Yes," he answered nevertheless, and with his meek voice, he probably looked like a submissive right then, enough to satisfy them all. If the glance he darted at Jiyong and then the ground was any indication. Seungri hasn't planned on that, it just happened.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Hae Ra shrugged. "So your mate was a little behind in accepting the bond," she told Jiyong, and it was clear that she expected Seungri to be silent after that. "Did you fight the duel for him? "

"Yes," Jiyong spread his wings and bowed his head, in what might be a ceremonial gesture that Seungri don't understand but probably just to satisfy Hae Ra and the rest of the Council. Perhaps they would like a dominant Veela to still be submissive to them, Seungri thought, however much they might approve of Jiyong to be in control of his mate. "Noah used a proxy as well, a jeweled dragon of her own creation. I thought the least I could do was appease my mate when he asked for my help."

"Appease," Hae Ra said, raising one eyebrow. "And you won the duel?"

"Yes," Jiyong repeated the word with a different cadence than before, and leaned forward, peering intently from face to face. "And it sadden me to see Noah uses you as her proxies in this duel, trying to push against my mate, when her dragon and her direct intervention and drugs didn't work."

Seungri mouthed the drug, because that wasn't something they had discussed to bring up either. He looked at Jiyong but the Veela wasn't looking at him. He was watching the reaction Hae Ra made with a satisfied smile. 

The woman had actually turned away from them, Seungri realized, and she was staring at the other members of the Council as though they were having an intense, silent argument. Maybe they knew each other well enough for that, Seungri had no idea. When she turned back at Jiyong, and start to speak, there's a clipped sound in her voice. "It is true that Noah was the one who confirmed the rumor to us, of your mate direspecting the bond. But,  if you confirmed that he's now bonded with you, he won't be having his own ideas anymore. We find Noah's attempt to misinform us and to use us is quite annoying."

Seungri opened his mouth to correct them, but Jiyong got there first. "Pardon me, but he will have his own opinion, and his own will on how he wanted to live even with our bond," Jiyong said calmly, resting his hand on Seungri's shoulder. "It's my will that he does."

Seungri wanted to spit something, but he knew that this is the best that Jiyong could offer for now. And it would explain their action in the future, should Have Ra and the rest heard about them, in some way of Seungri's tale about the late acceptance of the bond had resolve their concerns about a submissive acting independently.

"Why?" She looked at Jiyong as if he was a stranger more than Seungri ever was. "A mate who's independent might gain many ideas that you wished they hasn't."

"I am secure of my concern for Seungri, my love for him, and he is the same when it comes to me," said Jiyong in calm, clear voice, his wings spreading out and over his head the way it did when he came in for landing. Seungri had to smile at him, which Jiyong returned with one corner of his mouth. His eyes on Hae Ra. "I know that he needs that to be happy, and as a Veela, I want my mate to be happy. You knew that, I believe?"

"The truth that we all have forgotten, I think." Hae Ra appear to mull it over for a minute, and then she smiled, a benevolent smile if he sees it right. 

When Jiyong thought they'll reach a conclusion of the meeting, another Veela, the one that he previously recognize as the Kim Namkyum of the Kims house, spoke, "I still have something to ask." Seungri stared at him, his black wings remain closed behind his back. "Would you give me a permission to ask your mate one last question, Mr Kwon?"

"Yes," Jiyong didn't consider or consult Seungri, which,  honestly was alright for him. He was eager to have a conversation where he was considered as a normal human being who's capable enough to make his own decisions.

I can pretend to be submissive for the sake of my bond with Jiyong, but there's no way I  could pretend for life, he thought with a light shudder, as he wait for Namkyum's question.

"Why did you set out on wanting to get away from this bond at the first place?," Namkyum asked. "I was vaguely aware of the kind of lifestyle you have back then, although I wouldn't pretend to understand how it really was for you."

Seungri bit his cheek to avoid snapping that there's wasn't anything that they're aware of. He understands how stupid it was, to explain things that people couldn't really sympathize on.. Not that he really want that either. 

"But nothing in life that would suggests to me that you would want to spend the rest of your life struggling with hopeless tasks," Namkyum splayed his finger under his chin and spent a few moments contemplating Seungri. "In fact, I would think you would welcome this chance, as a Veela mate, and spend the rest of your life being pampered."

"Wouldn't I be doing the pampering?" Seungri said before he can stop himself, but Namkyum only gave him a perplexed look. He hadn't either heard fully or wouldn't ask a second question when he had only asked for only one. Seungri rolled his eyes and continued, "I was raised in a completely controlled environment and all my life I've been mistreated by the Noahs. When I set my foot out from the orphanage, I, at least want to live my life on my own free will."

"There can never be absolute peace, though," said Namkyum, as he shake his head. "It seems ridiculous that you wanted to get away from your bond when it can protect you and give you exactly what you wished for without you having to work on it yourself."

"I want to have my own free will," Seungri repeated. "If I was threatened, or involved in things I couldn't solve on my own, then yeah, I would accept all those. But even with that kind of bond, things would work out better if I could decide on my own and do the same for my Veela. Instead of just squabbling on which one of us fits more into the role."

"Those matters are important," Namkyum said. "Without accepting the role as how it is, we wouldn't be able to-"

"Devide ourselves?" Seungri snapped. "That fits more of those stupid categories. I can't stand having my life being controlled over it, or let my bond with Jiyong be defined as something less than a real relationship. I can't change your perception of it, nor I can confide you to see in the same way as I am, but this is how I choose to live my life with Jiyong. And that's what I'm doing."

Everyone at the table, except Hae Ra gaped at him now. Namkyum just turned to Jiyong and shook his head in slow and tragic fashion. Jiyong get ready to call his magic if he needs to. 

"Mr Kwon," Namkyum said, with an accent as heavy as the shakes of his head. "I don't envy you the possession of your mate."

Jiyong smiled a second later, and shot a glance at Seungri that makes him envy the possession of his wings. He would've liked to fly out of there that moment. "I don't really know what to do with him at first." Jiyong said serenely. "He was a surprise. But now, I would not trade him for any other mate in the world." He draped his arm around Seungri and pulled him closer.

Seungri went with it, letting his eyes shut as he sighed softly. Yes, this is what he wanted. Someone to embrace him, someone to hold him close and bear him up. 

Not all the time. Not in the way Youngbae had first explained to him how submissive mate work. The image of Lee Da Hae kneeling down like a statue that someone needed to march around was one that Seungri thought will wake him up in cold sweats sometimes.

"Well, it's your life, not mine," Namkyum shrugged and leaned back to his chair when Seungri opened his eyes and stare at the Veela again. 

"Then it settled," Hae Ra added, with what looked like shrug then she stood. "I will tell the others, including the ones who send us as representative, that we've misunderstood the situation and you shouldn't be bothered," she glanced at Seungri.  "Even if we will always think that what you do is wrong."

Jiyong's wing pressed at the small of Seungri's back as he prepared to utter a hot retort. Then he remembered that it must've been a big deal for Hae Ra to be talking to him at all,  since she would've thought most of the time that he was a doll that needed his button to be pushed-

Or whatever the musty Veela's mate equivalent of that kind of doll is-

Dismissing the thought, he only gave her a tight smile and Jiyong's wing gave him an approving caress. 

"Thank you for coming over to meet us, Mr Kwon," said Hae Ra and gave Jiyong a little gesture with spread wings that Seungri didn't understand. Jiyong returned it, mirroring it with his own wings. 

That seemed to be much of the ceremony as the meeting needs to end. Namkyum and two of the others Veelas came up to talk to Hae Ra, and Seungri felt Jiyong steering and pulling him away. He stayed obediently silent until they left the room and return back to the Kwon's manor. 

*

Only then he let out a snort that hard enough to shake his own bones. 

Jiyong laughed. "I could tell how much you're struggling to hold than one in," he said, and his hand rested on Seungri, a gentle pressure. 

"They're just so annoying,"  Seungri muttered, shrugging Jiyong's hold off of him as he walked down on the gravel driveway of the manor. He walked towards the house and Jiyong followed. "Oh yes, we'll pat you on the head and tell you how cute you are, and then say we hoped that your greatest desire fails. Oh yes, how gracious of them."

"They're being gracious as they know how," said Jiyong and his voice has gone cold. Seungri stop and scowled at the Veela. He really can't believe that Jiyong who had been so understanding of the nature of their bond and trying to compromise with him on it, would suddenly have started to shares the belief of bunch of cranky Veela families. 

"Are you going to start forcing those traditional role on me again? Are you serious? I thought you didn't agree with them!"

Jiyong sighed. "I was raised with the same ideal, if a more modernized version of them. It's hard for me to not to agree with them on certain things." But Jiyong shook his head a second later and ran his fingers through his hair, then down to the edge of his wings that Seungri recognize as a calming gesture. "But there's one thing I  need to ask you. Is leaving this country, moving on,  or whatever it is, still your greatest desire?"

Seungri opened his mouth and wanted to say of course it is, he had just told Jiyong so, but then he saw Jiyong's averted eyes and his dropping, trembling wings. 

He sighed and came over, throwing his arm around Jiyong. He leaned in and pressed his lips against Jiyong's. Jiyong held back for a second, as if he don't want to hug or kiss Seungri without and answer, but then, both his arms and wings curled around Seungri's waist and he returned the kiss with same vigour. Kissing him silently and desperately. 

"I'm sorry," Seungri whispered after they pulled away. "I forgot how those words of mine could hurt you."

"Yeah," Jiyong mumbled as he placed his chin on Seungri's shoulder, still hugging his mate close. "An affirmation or a denial would be good about now, though". 

Seungri reached up and nodded, smoothing his hand gently down the curve of Jiyong's wing too. "That was my greatest life desire. I should've said. But I can split it into different categories," he added hastily, when he saw Jiyong's wings dropped and a discouraged heaved of sigh to give what was probably tears...if Seungri didn't correct his words soon. "But my greatest personal desire right now is for you."

There a white shimmer at the edge of Jiyong's wings for a moment, cold and threatening, like the glare off snow. Then it slowly, slimmed away. And Jiyong nuzzled more into Seungri's hair, pressing a kiss on it. 

"Thank you," he said. "I know it seems silly that I need reassurance like that..."

Seungri snorted. "No sillier that it is that I keep forgetting about how you're affected by certain things I said. If that's what you need Jiyong, then it is. I think we've both mostly been good at giving each other the things we need?" he looked hesitantly to Jiyong's eyes.

Jiyong smiled for a second, a raw, quicksilver dart of a gleam that spread along his face and made it shinr even after the smile faded. He nodded.

Seungri stood beside him in the embrace of his wings for a few minutes more, then he let Jiyong fly him into the house and carry him upstairs, and cuddle with him on their bed. He knew that Jiyong needed it. 

And honestly, after facing a bunch of pure-blood Veelas who still acted as though there was an indefiniable distance between themselves (and their values) with a mere human, and having them to speak to him  only when they thought he was under control like some wild beast, Seungri needed it, too.