The dragon's harem

Hours later, Arad had one last thing to solve before heading back and setting off to the elvish kingdom. Who will he take back with him to act as the ambassador of the half-fallen-angels? At first, Arad thought that it would be Zariel, but she said that she wouldn’t be the one going with him. She has a lot of work here and would rather stay.

Unlike Lucifer, Gabriel had many children and wives. When Gabriel approached Arad, he gave him a strange look. The one he brought with him didn’t look right.

A little girl no taller than her father’s knee. She has long golden hair, onyx eyes, and two pairs of wings. One translucent and the other pair akin to raven wings sprouting from her hips.

“Kaede, greet Arad. You’ll be working for him from now on. Make sure to do as he says. He killed a god of war, so he knows more than it seems.”

The tiny girl looked at her father, then at Arad, “I’ll be more worried because he can kill a god. What’s a monster like him doing on the mortal plane?”

Arad smiled, “Half wind fairy? That’s rare.”

Gabriel nodded, “Her mother is a wind spirit. She used to live with me as a familiar, and this one just appeared out of nowhere.”

Arad had seen a case like this before. Zephyr and he had created Yuwaku the Nymph in the same way. It’s how fairies reproduce; it’s not something they could actively control. If they are relaxed in the presence of someone they trust and spend a lot of time with, there is a good chance of their magic mixing and creating a new spirit.

Kaede is technically a spirit, but she has the blood of her father, the curse of the half-fallen-angels.

“Cursed Wind Kaede, glad to be working with you then.” She flew to Arad and extended her hand. Arad was about to shake her tiny hand with a finger when a foot flew out of his chest and kicked her in the face.

Before Arad and Gabriel could do anything, Zephyr and Kaede crashed into the wall and bounced back, rolling all over the place with fists and kicks flying left and right.

“Zephyr!” Arad yelled, and Zephyr stopped, looked at him for a second, and then went back to fighting Kaede, forcing him to pull them apart.

“Why did you attack her?” Arad growled at Zephyr, and she pointed at Kaede.

“Now that I’m looking closer, you’ve gotten uglier, Riah.” Zephyr gave Kaede a closer look and then gasped, “Wait, your magic is a bit strange. Did you eat something wrong?”

“Riah is my mom! You crazy spirit!” Kaede clapped her hands, and a gust of black wind flew from her fingers and washed over Arad and Zephyr.

“You thought I was my mother? So you’d dare attack her? Now die, rotting from the inside out.”

Kaede’s wind was infused with her curse, which allowed her to cause anything that breathed it to rot from the inside out. Her black wind is so toxic that she could wipe out a whole city just by setting it in the wind.

To her fairy’s surprise, Arad didn’t even flinch and Zephyr took a deep breath, sucking the cursed air through her nostrils and puffing her chest so much that her clothes almost burst.

“That smells foul.” Zephyr smiled. “A good try, girl. But I’m already cursed.” Zephyr’s clear and refreshing green wind magic turned jet black and burned all over the room. “You’ll need more than that to harm me.”

But before Zephyr could keep showing up, Arad squeezed her like a rat. “Stop it!”

Zephyr gasped, halted her magic, and glared at him. “What are you doing?”

Arad didn’t reply to her question and just started shaking her like a can of soda. When he stopped, she gave him a sharp glare, and he started shaking her again.

He kept doing that until she sighed, “Fine, fine, I’ll stop.”

“Good.” Arad nodded, then looked at Kaede, “You two, stop it. Unless both of you want me to beat you up.”

“Beat her?!” Gabriel gasped and took a step back.

“Zephyr? Don’t worry about her. I’ll keep her in check. She might act strange sometimes, but it’s just her trying to kill boredom.” Arad smiled, then looked back at Zephyr.

“Why did you attack her? Why would you attack her mother?”

Zephyr looked at him and then shrugged, “Riah? Around a thousand years ago, she swindled me out of a forest. It was my fault for not reading well, but still, I’ll bother her whenever I’ve got the chance.”

“What?” Gabriel gasped, “Swindled? You’re talking about the forest of ash? The deal was that we’ll give you the mine you asked for, and Riah would get the forest.”

Zephyr glared at him, “Come on! You didn’t tell me the mine was almost dry! It only had enough ore for a couple of years, not worth a whole forest.” She scratched the back of her head, “I should’ve…Ah! Forget it.”

Zephyr disappeared into a puff of smoke, a second before Riah stormed the room. “Kaede! I’ve sensed Zephyr around!”

“Yeah, that little one. I’ve given her a good beating.” Kaede flew to her mother with a smile.

“Wait! You hit her? She is the spirit queen; she could’ve lifted this whole city and flipped it like a table.” She glared at Gabriel, “You should’ve called me the moment she arrived. Where is she now?”

Gabriel looked at Arad, “She just left.”

But the moment he spoke, he could see Zephyr standing right behind Riah. To his luck, Riah was quite observant and spotted Zephyr’s reflection in his eyes.

Riah turned around with a quick back step to avoid Zephyr’s grasp, and she did manage to get away. “Come on! I know you’re just messing around, stop it.”

“Said the one who kept throwing griffin poop in my forest for five hundred years. Don’t blame me for being just as persistent as you were before.” Zephyr flew toward Arad and sat on his shoulder. “But, good to see you doing well, Riah. Not many like you left in the world.”

Riah sighed, “Damn it, Zephyr.” She then flew and sat on the desk. “You aren’t here for some stupid reason, right?”

Zephyr pointed at Arad, “He just killed the god of war sealed beneath the city. Your daughter is going with him to serve as the link between the two kingdoms. It just makes sense for me to show up and give her a look. With me being the oldest spirit in his house and all.”

Riah sighed and rubbed her face. “To dragons, the oldest speaks first. To humans, the young greet the old. To elves, the old watch over the young. To fairies, the old pranks the young.”

Zephyr nodded, “Since if I don’t do that, you fool would start worshipping me as a goddess, and I can’t have that.”

“A distant and aloof wind spirit with might that rivals the gods, people would indeed fear you.” Riah looked at Kaede.

“True. If that little girl came and found me there, she would’ve been terrified to the bones and might’ve avoided me at all costs. No, I bet she’ll have the courage to attack me from time to time. She won’t fear me, and that’s good.”

“Kaede, this is Zephyr, the Wind Spirit Queen. I know you’ll want to treat her with the respect a Queen deserves, but Zephyr hates that. Treat her like any other spirit. You should be fine that way.”