“You’re so silly, Alyssa. I’m not going to eat our home. We live there. That would be a mean thing to do,” Cindy reassured her, then smiled fondly at the sleeping swarm in her arms. “Me and Snapper love living there, we don’t ever want to leave. No we don’t.”
“Glad you had fun, dear,” Felucia muttered, the elder sand wraith walking behind her daughter with a dull scowl on her face. In her arms was Specca, the nixie sleeping quietly with her tail dangling below. “So did this one, apparently. Which reminds me, why exactly did I have to carry her back?”
“Because our master ordered you to,” Sheal hissed at her. “And watch her tail, don’t you dare step on it.”
“Why can’t she carry her instead?” Felucia snapped, glancing to the nearby arachne in the group. “She’s already hauling one of his girls up the stupid hill without a care.”
“It’s not so bad, Felucia. I’m having fun carrying Alyssa,” Rolian giggled, skittering alongside the group with the witch riding on her back. “I don’t mind at all. I’ve got Juggy in my pocket and Alyssa on my back; it’s nice to have friends so close to you.”
“Thank you, Rolian,” Alyssa sweetly said, patting the spider on the head. “And I appreciate the lift. It’s a longer walk with my smaller legs, so this makes things easier for me. And to be honest I’d rather have you carry me than that mean old sand wraith.”
“I hate my life,” Felucia complained. “Having to serve that stupid man, carry his drunken lady, and let that little insect sleep between my tits whenever she wants.”
“Boobies,” Pip murmured in delight, snuggling closer to the sand wraith’s chest while smothered in her large bosom. “I love you, boobies.”
“Serving our master is your job now,” Sheal snapped at Felucia. “Be grateful for the opportunity to change your muddy way of life for something grander. And you should count your blessings that he trusts you to be around his concubines as you are.”
“For the record, they’re not Daniel’s concubines,” Falla corrected her. “They’re just as much his mates as we are. They’re not below our status in the least.”
“If anything, Clover, Star, and Cindy are his concubines right now,” Alyssa mused with a shrug. “They’re the only ones we haven’t permitted to mate with our man yet.”
“Wait, I’m a cucumber now?” Cindy asked her, puzzled.
“You really do only think about food, don’t you?”
“Wait,” an elven ranger spoke up. “So Clover is not Lord Daniel Sorres’ mate, but rather his mistress?”
“Something like that,” Falla sighed, looking up at the stars. “It’s complicated. She’s his mate, but we haven’t given her the okay to mate with him yet. We were his official mates first, so that call is ours to make when we feel she’s ready to join us.”
“Interesting,” another elf pondered. “So, what is the process for becoming worthy of mating with him? What does Clover have to do in order to be granted such a gift by you girls?”
“We have to want to mate with her too,” Luna happily said, with the elves and Sheal turning to her in question. “We need to love each other so much that we would never, ever, ever, ever want to be separated from each other.”
“She… needs to mate with you girls first before she can do it with Lord Daniel Sorres?” an elf carefully asked.
“No,” Falla argued shaking her head, then smiled weakly and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well… yes… but not like… it’s complicated.”
“We need a bond,” Doku spoke up. The group turned to the harpy as she was walking ahead of them while holding onto Daniel’s arm, the woman resting her head against his shoulder while sighing softly in delight.
“We need to share that special bond with each other, the same that we share with our darling Daniel. We’re a family, of sorts, and as such we need to be as close to each other as can be to make it work. We must love each other, through and through, just as much as we do with Daniel. That’s how it works in our home.”
“So… what you’re saying is…” a ranger slowly questioned. “If someone wants to have sex with Lord Daniel Sorres, they need to earn such an honor by sucking up to you girls first?”
“Is that what I have to do?” Cindy asked, turning to Falla. “I just have to suck on you to have sex with Daniel? Is that all?”
“No!” Falla cried out, holding out her hands as the sand wraith started moving very close to her with a hungry look in her eye. “That’s not what we’re saying! Just… focus on taking care of Snapper right now, Cindy. Please. That’s all you need to worry about. Don’t pay any attention to what we’re talking about.”
“We need to truly love each other,” Daniel spoke up, with everyone turning to him as he kept his stoic gaze forward. “Those that I’ve chosen to be my mates, I did so because I genuinely want to take care of them, to give them better lives, and to have the honor of being the one who makes them happy. I haven’t taken any as my loved ones simply to have sex with or for carnal pleasure, that would be a terrible thing for me to do. All the girls in my family, the women who I fell in love with, I cherish everything about them, and I’m thankful we can all be together like this.”
“You really do love Clover?” an elf asked.
“Does that surprise you?” Daniel wondered, glancing back to her with a smirk. “I suppose I can’t blame you. I’ll admit, when we first met she didn’t exactly win us over with kindness or her gentle nature. She put up quite an icy front with us for some time. But during our travels I could see the loving soul she had within her, one that I came to cherish all the same. Now I can honestly say, yes, I do love Clover. And I think she’s warmed up to us as well.”
“We pretty much hated her when we first met,” Alyssa mentioned. “But now… after getting to know her more and with her learning not to be such a bitch all the time, we’ve grown closer. She’s become part of the family. Never thought I’d say that before, believe me, but it’s true. I can’t deny that now.”
“But she doesn’t have the right to mate with Lord Daniel Sorres yet?” an elf asked.
“I’ve already decided that I want her to be my mate,” Daniel reasoned with a shrug. “I love her and want to provide her the best life she can have. To be more intimate with her is something I wouldn’t object to in the slightest, however that has to wait until my mates give the okay beforehand. They were my mates first, the ones who allowed me the honor of having all of them as my mates together. The choice for whether or not Clover is ready to join their ranks is up to them.”
“We’re… still undecided on that,” Falla hesitantly said. “We’re getting along better now, but still…”
“I like her more now than when we first met her,” Luna added. “She’s not a mean elf anymore. It wouldn’t be so bad to have her join us… I think.”
“We still need to come to a unanimous vote regarding her,” Alyssa said, shaking her head. “It’s just taking a while because we never thought she would be eligible for such a thing before. The fact that she’s even part of our family now is surprising enough as it is. Even more so than seeing Specca getting drunk. And that was very surprising to witness.”
“Never knew she could act like that,” Falla mentioned, glancing to the sleeping nixie. “I’ve never seen her behave like that before. She was acting like Rolian normally does.”
“She and Juggy were getting along super well,” Rolian giggled. “I didn’t think she liked Juggy that much before, but she sure loved her tonight. I’m so happy to see them getting along.”
“I see,” a ranger mused, surveying the man’s many companions with a worried eye. “So Clover’s fate with being bred by Lord Daniel Sorres is in your hands.”
“If I may say something in her defense,” another spoke up. “Clover really is an amazing woman, despite her tendencies to act like a total ice queen with those around her. She can be a real cunt sometimes with her attitude, but her soul is as beautiful as a fucking diamond. We all saw how wonderful she is when sh
e became a huntress in our home. I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say she would be an excellent addition to Lord Daniel Sorres’ harem, if you would only allow her the chance.”
“That reminds me,” Daniel said, coming to a stop and turning to face the elven rangers. “I’ve been rather curious about that discrepancy between her and you elves. Throughout all our time with Clover before going to Green Haven, she made it sound like nobody in your village really liked her. Like she was an outcast and was barely accepted among the village. Yet when we arrived everyone was praising her name, treating her with the utmost respect and reverence.”
“She was always like that,” an elf sighed. “Ever since she first wandered into our home years ago she always acted like she was an outcast, even with all of us welcoming and admiring her. She’s the best archer we’ve ever known, she’s been a valued hunter and protector for our people, and even though she comes off as a cold, uncaring individual we could tell she was hurting inside the whole time. But no matter how hard we tried to make her feel at home, she always seemed to withdraw further into her shell and refuse to acknowledge any praise we gave her.”
“She was scared,” Alyssa said, gaining their attention. “That’s what she said to us about why she was always so difficult. She was scared of getting close to anyone, being counted on by anyone, because she feared losing them like she did with those she loved before. It took Daniel’s love towards her to finally yank her stubborn ass out of her shell and get to her to open up again.”
“We thought as much,” an elf softly agreed. “Hearing about how her home was wiped out, losing everyone she ever knew in an instant… it was understandable that she tried to block out the pain the way she did.”
“Yet you were able to reach her,” another praised Daniel. “All of us, even our priestess and her daughter who admired Clover so much, we couldn’t heal Clover’s wounds no matter how hard we tried. But you, you managed to do the impossible and breathed new life into her soul.”
“I don’t think it was just me,” Daniel said, admiring his mates nearby. “I think we all managed to heal her heart.”
“No, I think it was just you,” Alyssa countered, shaking her head. “She hated us just as much as we hated her when we first met. You were the one who gave her a chance, Daniel. If it wasn’t for you, she would still be her old, bitchy self.”
“We wouldn’t have been able to tolerate her long enough to help her stand again if you weren’t with us,” Falla agreed. “She is how she is now thanks to you. If it were just us that met her before, we would have dumped her unpleasant ass long ago.”
“She… was a little mean before,” Luna had to agree with a weak smile. “But she’s much better now thanks to you, Daniel.”
Daniel chuckled weakly to that as he found it rather hard to argue with them, offering no further rebuttal as he again led the way towards their carriage with Doku tenderly holding onto his arm. His companions and escort followed him up over the bend onto the hilltop before everyone quickly came to a halt, with the rangers drawing their bows in a flash as they saw a newcomer awaiting them.
“Hey, who goes there?” one yelled as they drew their arrows onto the stranger.
“You’re on private ground. What business do you have here?”
“Get away from Lord Daniel Sorres’ horse this instant!”
“His horse?” a girl questioned, standing beside Lucky who was sitting down on a bundle of flowers and soft grass. Brushing his nose she was met with the animal grunting softly and nudging against her hand in a fond manner, electing a curious chuckle from the girl who then turned her slick smile towards the elves.
“Odd, I thought this one belonged to Alyssa,” Charlotte knowingly stated. “And if anyone would know that, it would be me.”
“Charlotte?” Alyssa gasped.
“What is she doing here?” Luna asked.
“You know her?” a ranger questioned as Daniel slowly stepped forward and raised a hand to calm them. Lowering their arrows the elves watched in wonder as the man calmly approached Charlotte, the witch having a soft brown cloak over her usual attire while her wand was leisurely being twirled in hand.
“That’s alpha witch Charlotte,” Falla explained. “She rules the witches in this region.”
“An alpha witch?” a ranger wondered. “You’re friends with an alpha witch of Koskaysil as well?”
“My grace,” Daniel said, giving the witch a small bow. “It’s nice to see you again. It’s been some time since we’ve had a chance to speak face to face.”
“Indeed,” she replied, gesturing him to stand upright. “I hope you don’t mind me dropping by at this hour. Though if memory serves, we seem to have our most memorable meetings at night.”
“Surely a mere coincidence,” Daniel jested.
“My grace,” Alyssa stuttered, hastily hopping off Rolian’s back and dropping to the ground with a thump. She scrambled up onto her knees and smiled nervously at the alpha while quickly removing her hat.
“What a lovely surprise to see you again. To what do we owe the honor of having-”
Holding out her hand Charlotte silenced Alyssa instantly, the alpha glancing around at the women with a curious eye before turning to Daniel with a playful smirk.
“Who are you? Really?”
“Excuse me?” Daniel wondered.
“The Daniel Sorres I spoke to in Eston surely can’t be the one standing before me now, can he? Last I saw him, he had a few ladies begging for his bone, sure, but that was all he had to speak of aside from his silly little belief of humans and monsters living together in peace one day. He was an odd fellow, but one that caught my interest by the slightest of margins. Now, it seems he’s doubled the number of women he keeps in his company-”
“Closer to tripled, actually,” Daniel corrected with a grin, stunning Charlotte for a moment before she giggled and shook her head at him.
“I see. Tripled the number of women he keeps in his company. That’s quite a manly feat if you ask me. And this carriage here looks significantly different as well, not at all like the one I gifted him with before he left my sight.”
“My apologies, but I’m afraid the generous gift you bestowed upon us in Eston was lost during our travels. We had to secure a replacement to continue with my journey.”
“Such things happen I suppose,” Charlotte mused with a shrug. “Though, that’s not all that’s happened, has it? No, no. I’ve been hearing some rather unusual tales about Daniel Sorres lately from my dear helpers. Stories about him traveling far and wide across Koskaysil with incredible speed, winning the affections of monsters residing in this land, and curiously enough, actually making strides with his quest to, and I kid you not, bring peace between humans and monsters in Eden.”
“I would have preferred the strides to have been larger thus far, but I can’t complain about the progress I’ve made,” Daniel smirked.
Charlotte slowly walked around Daniel, eyeing him over with an intrigued murmur, all while Daniel calmly watched her with a slight amount of pride to her words seen in his grin.
“The clothes are different, yes. And the sword and shield you now possess seem to belong to a valiant noble rather than a pesky little boy with barely any masculinity to show the world.”
“I didn’t believe you held me in the highest regard during our last visit,” Daniel admitted with a shrug. “Nice to hear you being honest with me about that.”
“I certainly did not view you as such when we last met,” Charlotte agreed shaking her head. “However I just keep hearing more and more wild and unbelievable stories about you from my trusted helpers, and they never lie to me. No they don’t. It seems you’ve convinced them you’re not the same boy we encountered before. Not at all.”
“Well, it’s pleasant to hear Apoch and Astreal think so fondly of me now,” Daniel said, turning to face the witch with an inquiring look himself. “A bit surprising, though not as surprising as being graced with your presence tonight in
stead of theirs. I can’t help but think that your visit isn’t just so you can praise me so generously as you now have. Something tells me there’s a reason for you dropping by to speak with me in person.”
“Maybe there is, maybe I just wanted to stop by and share a nice cup of tea with you,” Charlotte reasoned with a shrug.
“That sounds like a lovely idea,” Daniel agreed, then glanced over to the women who were all staring at them in silence. “Girls, go on in and make yourselves comfortable in the bedroom. You’ve had a busy night, you deserve your rest. I’ll join you after our guest leaves.”
“I can prepare the tea for you two right away,” Doku proposed.
“No, I can do it,” Sheal insisted, stepping in front of her. “It’s my job now anyway as your servant. Please, allow me the honor.”
“That’s quite alright,” Daniel assured, raising his hand while Charlotte was eyeing him over with a curious smile. “I can handle it this one time. Both of you are to join the others and wait for me to return. That’s an order, Sheal. And, Doku? That’s an order to you as well.”
“Yes, Daniel,” the two girls softly replied, lowering their heads and stepping back.
“And, Felucia? I expect you to be on your best behavior while I’m absent. I trust that you will keep that in mind.”
“Of course… master,” Felucia said through a forced smile.
“Oh, I have so many questions for you,” Charlotte coyly said to Daniel.
“And I have a few for you as well,” Daniel replied. “For starters, what kind of tea would you prefer to drink?”
“Surprise me. You seem to be doing well so far.”
Daniel nodded to that then opened the door to the carriage and gestured her to enter, the witch smirking at him with a challenging murmur before walking inside.
“Daniel, what is going on here? Why is she-” Alyssa nervously started to say before he held up a hand to her.
“It’s alright, you don’t need to worry yourself over this. Charlotte and I are just going to have a nice cup of tea and a civil conversation. I’m going to find out her reason for being here, for now just do as you’re told and go rest. Make sure Snapper and Specca sleep well. And, Rolian? I will trust you to watch over my girls in the bedroom until I return. Please try to make them feel comfortable.”
Chronicles of Eden - Season II - Act II Page 27