The dragon's harem

After dinner, Arad retreated with Tyal, Alice, and Claug back to their room in the guest quarter. His plan for the day had worked flawlessly. Now both he and Gale had shown their trump cards.

While Gale had his resurrection potion that he could make from the Cronos Raptur, Arad had his life-erasing breath. The attitude of all the titans in the castle and city has changed. Now they treated him with both fear and respect.

The guards never dared stand too close to their room, the servants made to bow four times instead of just one for Tyal, and even the food seemed to have gotten a bit better. Arad doubted that Gale would dare skip having dinner and lunch with him now, but that made Arad a bit sad, as he’d miss Joey’s food.

But now Arad was faced with another problem. He had gone to his room first with Alice and Claug, Tyal followed just a few minutes after, and she wasn’t alone.

She had brought nine servants with her, all women. One of them was the one that Claug knew.

Arad looked at them a second and quickly realised why Tyal brought them. He sighed.

“Tyal. What are they doing here?” He looked at her, and she shrugged.

“What do you think? Nobles are trying to cash out on you before you leave. With me being just a concubine, none dared send their daughters as anything above a mere servant.” She sat on the bed, put one leg over the other, and looked at the nine servants standing in the room.

The first servant: “Speak up, one after another. Why did you come here?” Tyal pointed at one of the servants.

The second servant: “Seeing what Lord Arad can do, our family had to send someone. I volunteered since it’ll allow me to leave the kingdom.”

The third servant: “We don’t dare seek to form a close tie with Lord Arad, but having at least one servant by his side would give the whole family a higher standing in the future.”

The fourth servant: “I always wanted to be a royal servant, and this looked like the best chance of getting in.”

The fifth servant: “I always worked as a servant in the royal castle, but due to what happened before with Lady Claug, I was asked to transfer to serving Lady Tyal.” She looked at Claug. “It’s not an unwelcome change, though.”

The sixth servant: “Double paycheck, and bonuses.” Her eyes were already shining like gold.

The seventh servant: “Ah…well…” This one just wiggled in place with a shy face. Tyal glared at her, and she sighed. “Lord Arad is hot, I was just thinking I might get a chance to spend a bit of time with him, if you don’t mind.”

The eighth servant: The next one stared at Arad for a second and then at Tyal. “How safe am I here?”

Tyal immediately replied, “As safe as you can be. You won’t be harmed no matter what.”

The servant looked at Arad for a second, her face turning paler and paler. She then gulped, approached, and spat on his face. “Is this all?” Arad just wiped his face with his hand and didn’t react past that.

She fell to her knees, gasping for air, “Sorry for that. If you’d get angry and kill me for that, then I would have never survived what I’m going to tell you next.” She caught her breath for a second, “I was asked to gather information about you, your wives, and possible children, and then kidnap one to use as blackmail later. Someone with your power shouldn’t be kept without a leash around their neck, is what I was told.”

She waited for him to kill her and go on a rampage, but that never happened. Arad just sighed, “So why tell me this?”

She remained silent for a few long seconds. “Conflicted orders.”

Tyal smiled, “She is an assassin who was sent to her current family as an orphan. To them, she is nothing more than an expendable tool. What they don’t know, and what she doesn’t know, is…” Tyal flicked fingers, “Kneel.” And the servant’s face hit the ground, forced down by magic. “I’m the one who controls the assassins in the kingdom. Her family said to get someone to blackmail you with, I gave her secret orders to surrender herself to you. You can stand now.”

The servant stood and looked at Tyal, “So, you’re the Black Cloud. I would’ve never expected it.” She sighed and walked back to where she was before.

Now the ninth servant, the last one, came to speak.

Arad looked at her. “So? You’re the last. Why are you here?”

The servant looked at Arad for a second, then back at Tyal. “It is complicated.”

“Complicated?” Tyal lifted an eyebrow, but Arad was already standing up. He approached the servant and stood in front of her.

“So?” He said, “How should we do this? Should I beat you up first? This city won’t endure, so we’d better go someplace else.”

The servant looked at Arad in the eyes, and soon, steel scales started appearing on her face. Her eyes turned golden and cat-like, and the air around them felt colder.

“We don’t need just a different place, but a different time as well.” She then knelt down, “So for now. I’ll be admitting defeat.”

“There is no need for this.” Arad helped her stand, “You can keep this facade until later.” He sat down and then looked at Tyal, “She is a mature adult steel drakaina playing a Storm Titan. She came here looking for a mate.”

“And what about her family?” Tyal gasped, and the servant looked at her. “This persona is of Galia Cracklerun. She died in the mountain range thirty years ago, and I took her place then. My real name is Malina, of the Steelwatch.” She then looked at Tyal, making her fall to her knees from a splitting headache. “Sadly, your contracts can’t restrain me. I broke it.”

“What contract?” Arad looked at Tyal, and she growled.

“A slave contract that prevents them from leaking information out or taking a move against us. I only let those who were willing to take the contract come inside the room. Everyone else was refused.”

Those nines were supposed to become Tyal’s personal servants when she goes to Arad’s castle. But it seems that one of them was bigger than to be a mere servant.