Chapter 937: Dreaming high is part of the species.
Vex slept as if nothing in the world could reach her.
She was lying on Strax’s lap, wrapped in a thick blanket one of the maids had brought shortly after dinner. Her blue hair spread over his arm, one small hand loosely holding the fabric of her father’s shirt, and her peaceful breathing made her chest rise and fall in a soft rhythm. After training, running to tell Mercedes every detail about the ice drop, trying to recreate the tiny point three more times without permission, and eating more sweets than she should have, exhaustion had finally won.
Strax sat in his armchair near the fireplace, still enough not to wake her, but with one hand resting on her hair in an almost automatic gesture. From time to time, his fingers moved slowly, stroking the little dragon’s head while he watched the flames crackling in front of him. There was something strangely peaceful in that scene, something that did not match the man who, only a few days earlier, had crossed the continent to tear a Monarch from her own castle.
On the other side of the small table, Mercedes calmly drank tea.
The Monarch of Ice sat with impeccable posture, as always, but there was less rigidity in her shoulders. The porcelain cup remained between her fingers, and steam rose before her cold face while she watched Vex sleep on Strax’s lap. As much as she tried to keep her expression neutral, there was a discreet softness in her eyes that betrayed how much that sight affected her.
For some time, neither of them spoke.
The mansion seemed quieter that night. Outside, snow continued falling over Asgard, but inside the room, the warmth of the fireplace, the scent of tea, and Vex’s peaceful sleep created a rare kind of pause. There were no urgent reports on the table. No soldiers bringing messages. No shouts, threats, or promises of destruction.
Only three people in a warm room.
Strax broke the silence first.
"Was the agreement Monica offered good?"
Mercedes raised her eyes from the cup.
"It was."
"Truly good, or good in the sense that you accepted only because Monica made it seem impossible to refuse?"
The Monarch of Ice let out a small laugh through her nose.
"Both."
Strax smiled.
"Then it was a typical Monica agreement."
"Exactly."
Mercedes drank another sip of tea before continuing.
"A train route to the mountains is excellent for my kingdom. Not only for convenience, but for economic survival. The economy of the North has been damaged for years, and the Heavenly Emperor never cared enough to treat it as a priority."
Strax watched her face in silence.
Mercedes spoke calmly, but there was an old weight behind those words. It was not childish resentment. It was the cold conclusion of someone who had administered a difficult territory for too long without receiving support proportional to the importance of what she protected.
"The North was useful while it served as a natural wall, an ice reserve, a source of resilient soldiers, and a barrier against certain creatures from the mountains," she continued. "But when villages began losing crops, when routes froze beyond normal, and when entire families began depending on emergency supplies, the Capital sent reports, not solutions."
"Reports are the favorite way governments pretend they have done something."
Mercedes looked at him.
"You sound like someone traumatized by city hall."
"I am."
"Did Monica defeat you?"
"Monica defeated everyone."
The answer made Mercedes smile again, and Strax considered that a small victory. It was rare to see her truly relax, especially after everything that had happened. Even so, Vex’s presence asleep between them seemed to soften the edges of both of them.
"With the railway, we can transport food, medicine, coal, treated wood, and replacement parts in much greater volume," Mercedes said. "And with the export of ice, minerals, and certain mana crystals from the North, my kingdom will finally have a stable source of revenue that does not depend only on local taxes and military contracts."
Strax nodded.
"I am glad."
Mercedes raised an eyebrow.
"You seem genuinely satisfied."
"I am."
He looked at Vex.
"I want her to be able to come and go without problems whenever she wants to visit me. I do not want every trip between the North and Asgard to feel like a military expedition or force you to reorganize half the kingdom just because she felt like seeing trains."
Mercedes fell silent.
Her gaze fell on Vex again.
The girl slept deeply, unaware of the political weight of that conversation. To her, probably, a railway would only mean being able to visit her father, see the big city, eat banana ice cream, and perhaps learn to make ice stars. But to Mercedes, that same railway meant trade, food security, stability, and a real bridge between two worlds that had once seemed far too distant.
"You are thinking of her in a very practical way," Mercedes said.
"She likes practical things."
"Vex asked whether a train eats coal because that would mean it is alive."
"That is practical logic for a dragon."
Mercedes slowly shook her head.
"You two truly have a concerning way of seeing the world."
Strax smiled, but did not answer immediately. His hand continued stroking Vex’s hair with care, and the little dragon shifted slightly in her sleep, tightening her hold on his shirt before relaxing again.
Mercedes observed the gesture.
Then asked, in a lower tone:
"What sudden change is this?"
Strax raised his eyes to her.
"What change?"
"This sudden desire to be a father."
The room grew a little quieter.
Strax did not look away, but his expression changed almost imperceptibly. The usual provocation did not disappear completely, but it retreated enough to make room for something more honest. He looked at Vex again, then at the fireplace.
"I do not know if it was sudden."
Mercedes waited.
He breathed slowly.
"Maybe I just took too long to realize."
"Realize what?"
"That I was already being a father before I decided to act like one."
Mercedes did not answer immediately.
Strax continued, keeping his voice low so as not to wake Vex.
"She is not my daughter by blood. I know that. She was an egg that appeared in my life in the middle of bigger problems, and I helped protect her until she hatched. For a long time, I treated that as a strange responsibility. Then as something that needed to be managed. And then I let you take care of her because, honestly, I thought it would be better for her."
"It was good for her."
"I know."
"But it was not enough."
Strax nodded.
"It was not."
Mercedes placed the cup on the saucer without making a sound.
"And now?"
Strax looked at the sleeping girl.
"Now I am getting old."
Mercedes blinked.
"You?"
"Yes."
"Strax, you are a dragon."
"Dragons get old too. They only take longer to admit it."
"That was almost humble."
"Do not get used to it."
She let out a small laugh, but soon grew serious again.
Strax slowly ran his thumb over Vex’s forehead, moving away a blue lock that had fallen over her eyes.
"I am going to have children one day."
Mercedes went quiet.
"Perhaps many, considering my life."
"Considering your wives, that is a reasonable prediction."
"Exactly."
He smiled faintly, but there was something too sincere in his tone to turn it only into a joke.
"And I do not want to wake up one day and discover that I am strong enough to win wars, kill Monarchs, and face gods, but incapable of sitting with a child and teaching an ice drop without frightening her."
Mercedes watched his face attentively.
"I thought you were preparing for a war."
"I am."
"You are always busy getting stronger."
"I am that too."
"Then?"
Strax settled his head better against the back of the armchair, careful not to move Vex.
"Then maybe I need to learn not to turn everything into hunger for power."
Mercedes had not expected that answer.
He noticed.
And continued.
"I still want strength. I need it. There are things coming that will not be solved with diplomacy, trade, or goodwill. The gods will not wait for me to finish playing family before knocking at the door."
His voice remained calm, but the hardness behind the words was real.
"But if I live only chasing power, I will end up becoming exactly the kind of thing I am trying to stop."
Mercedes was silent.
Strax looked at the fireplace.
"I have wives who spent too long waiting for me to return from wars, journeys, hunts, and problems. I have a city that grew while I was busy destroying enemies. I have a daughter sleeping on my lap who was almost taken because I thought a few seconds of distraction would be nothing."
His hand stopped for an instant over Vex’s hair.
"I need to learn to be present before the world teaches me that in the worst way again."
Mercedes lowered her gaze to the cup.
For a few seconds, it seemed she did not know exactly what to answer. That was not the version of Strax she usually expected. The mocking Strax was easy to deal with. The violent Strax too. Even the arrogant Strax had predictable patterns. But that man sitting with a child asleep on his lap, speaking about the fear of becoming absent, was much harder to ignore.
"You know," she said at last, her voice lower, "I almost fall in love with you when you talk like that."
Strax turned his eyes to her.
The silence lasted two seconds.
Then he shrugged.
"One day you will be mine anyway."
Mercedes stopped with the cup halfway to her mouth.
Her gaze immediately turned icy.
Strax continued, as if he had not just thrown a stone into a perfectly calm lake.
"I would not mind if you fell in love."
The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.
Vex grumbled something in her sleep and curled a little closer against his chest.
Strax looked down.
"You are going to wake her."
"I am going to wake you another way if you keep talking like that."
He smiled.
"Was that a threat?"
"It was a promise."
"Interesting."
Mercedes narrowed her eyes.
"Do you ruin every good moment on purpose?"
"It is a talent."
"It is a deficiency."
"That too."
She stared at him for a few seconds, trying to keep her severe expression, but the corner of her mouth betrayed a minimal reaction. Perhaps it was indignation. Perhaps it was humor. Perhaps it was the irritating recognition that this kind of provocation was as much a part of him as the rare moments of honesty.
"You are impossible."
"I have been told."
"By your wives?"
"Frequently."
"They are right."
"Frequently."
Mercedes finally drank her tea, but her gaze remained on him over the rim of the cup. There was coldness there, yes, but not the coldness from before. Not the same one she had carried when she arrived in Asgard ready to freeze half the mansion. It was something else. Something closer to caution, curiosity, and an irritation that no longer seemed to want to kill him immediately.
Strax noticed.
But had the rare wisdom not to comment.
Vex moved again on his lap, opening her eyes only for a fraction. She looked at Strax, then at Mercedes, clearly understanding nothing about what was happening.
"Did you fight?"
Mercedes answered first.
"No."
Strax confirmed.
"Almost."
Mercedes looked at him.
"Do not help."
Vex blinked slowly, too sleepy to insist.
"I made a drop today."
Mercedes softened immediately.
"I know."
"Did you see?"
"I did."
"It became round."
"It did."
"Almost a star."
Strax opened his mouth.
Mercedes cast a cold look at him.
He closed his mouth.
Vex smiled in her sleep, satisfied with maternal validation, and settled back against Strax as if the conversation had ended there. A few seconds later, her breathing returned to the deep rhythm from before.
Mercedes watched the scene.
"She trusts you very much."
Strax looked at Vex.
"I know."
"Do not treat that as something guaranteed."
"I will not."
This time, there was no provocation in the answer.
Mercedes nodded slightly.
Snow continued falling outside, covering the mansion gardens in silence. Inside the room, the fireplace crackled, the tea remained warm, and Vex slept between the two adults who, in different ways, had decided to protect her.
Mercedes placed the cup on the saucer again.
"About me being yours..."
Strax raised his eyes with a slow smile.
"Yes?"
She smiled too.
Cold.
Dangerous.
Beautiful.
"Dream a little lower."
Strax let out a low laugh, careful not to wake Vex.
"I am a dragon. Dreaming high is part of the species."
Mercedes shook her head, but this time she did not seem truly irritated.
"Then keep dreaming."
He smiled.
"With pleasure."
And, for some time, the conversation ended there, not because there was nothing more to say, but because the comfortable silence seemed too rare to waste.
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