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Loose Threads
Thirty Five
“None of my clothes fit and it’s entirely your fault, Iain.”
He smiled amusedly. “And yet you’re not naked, Heather. I certainly notice when you are.”
She tried to glare. “Theodora took pity on me and is reproducing my clothes, at least the ones she can. I’ll have to grow more armor and that’s such a pain to do.”
“I know this is some form of affection between you two,” Dianthus said, “but right now it sounds a lot like you’re whining about becoming an Elfqueen last night, Heather. Whether you like it or not and I believe you do, you are a queen now and you need to stop whining. It’s beneath your new rank. From now on you need to remember that you are a living example to the Elves in our clan. Living examples don’t act childishly.”
Heather sighed. “You’re right, Dianthus. I’m sorry you had to hear that.” She held out her hand and chuckled as she examined it. “At least I’m not a giant like Ninhursag.”
“Considering we had to measure you to determine that you grew four centimeters,” Dianthus said, “I believe that goes without saying. The real reason you need new clothes is that I’m now the woman with the smallest breasts and the narrowest hips in the inner harem since you developed curves last night.” She smiled briefly. “Not that he has a problem with my breasts.”
“I’m more concerned that my draw length has changed and so I’ll need a new bow and longer arrows than my quiver provides.”
“As a queen, you can now communicate with your living weaponry much more effectively and you can instruct it to grow to the appropriate length,” Dianthus said. “I will show you when we are off duty.”
“Thanks.” Heather glanced at Iain. “There’s a lot I’m going to have to learn about being a queen, isn’t there?”
Dianthus nodded. “Yes, but I have already communicated the fact of your evolution to our maharani. She and I will begin your lessons this afternoon during individual training. There will be new responsibilities in your life but we agree that you will rise to meet them admirably.” She glanced at the new Elfqueen. “And I will not allow you to prove me wrong in this.”
“I will be diligent in my studies, I assure you,” Heather replied.
“Just remember to accept the congratulations you will receive this day with the grace of a queen and the resentment of those who are jealous of your new status with dignity.” Dianthus smiled broadly. “While gloating about your promotion is normal, it is not something that a proper queen will allow herself to indulge in where her detractors might see it.”
Iain frowned. “Who is going to be jealous?”
“While not as numerous as the Elves in Haven, we had a relatively large contingent of Elves already when Heather joined us,” Ninhursag said as she entered the room. “She was the least among them and yet you brought her to the clan and I didn’t. She knew it as did everyone else in the court. She obeyed me, but her loyalty has always been to you, which was one of the reasons I didn’t hesitate to give her to your permanent guard.” Ninhursag stopped in front of Heather. “But that too was seen as a promotion by some in my court since they coveted the attention from you that they assumed Heather was getting. After all, she wasn’t any sort of exceptional warrior and she allowed herself to be abused by Sanderson so they figured she won her new post on her back.” Ninhursag twined her fingers with Heather’s and looked down at the platinum blonde. “We know that they were wrong, but this will be seen as just another sign of your favor when news of this gets out. Greetings, Heather, and welcome to the ranks of the queens. You will remain in Iain’s permanent guard, but you will have new responsibilities and new duties when you are not at his side. Some of them you will not be comfortable with, but you will carry them out as needed.”
Heather nodded. “As you command, my queen, so shall I do.”
Ninhursag chuckled. “That is what an Elf says to an Elfqueen, Heather, and that is something you will have to become accustomed to hearing our Elves say to you.” Heather looked startled. “What you now say to queens who outrank you is much simpler. All you say is that you’ll do it.”
Heather blinked. “I will.”
“Good.” She leaned down and kissed Heather gently on the lips before straightening and turning to Iain as she released Heather’s hands. “Lucifer reports that she found one traitor amongst the Thistle MPC and has recruited the others to her cause. The traitor is currently being interrogated by Canaan, Ganieda and Dominique.”
“We need to make sure that it’s really hard for people in the future, including us, to suspend privacy law,” Iain said.
“We are not doing this on a whim, Iain.”
“No, we are not but we also don’t want this to be used as a justification for someone else leading the clan to someday be able to suspend privacy within the clan for anything other than absolute necessity.”
“And we will make sure that they can’t,” Ninhursag said soothingly. “Now it’s time for breakfast.” She looked from Dianthus to Heather. “The others are going to be very eager to question you.”
Heather frowned. “What for?”
“You two are the first to be with our Iain since he became a dragon. They are going to be eager to learn how he has changed in sexual behavior and preferences.”
Heather looked thoughtful. “Should we be eager to tell what, if anything, we have learned?”
“We should not,” Dianthus said firmly. “It is our business and if they wish to know our business they will have to pay dearly for it.”
“Ladies,” Iain said, “while the naked scheming is interesting to listen to, I didn’t get my snack last night and I am more than ready for breakfast. So I’m going on to breakfast and you three are more than welcome to stay here and plot.”
“We can’t have you faint from lack of food,” Ninhursag tucked her arm through his. “That would be rather remiss of me, wouldn’t it? Shall we?”
***
April looked up as someone appeared nearby. It was Giselle and Kasumi. Giselle let her mistress’ hand go and vanished. Kasumi looked around briefly before coming over and settling down next to the Duelist. The kami could see April was sitting with the snack and drink collection and that a few hundred feet away the children were clustered around a tree and looking up into the branches at something while drones circled nearby. “Good morning, April. I have been scheduled to help with the children this morning with you and Iain.”
“I know,” April replied. She smiled when Kasumi’s brows drew together. “I write the schedules and I wanted you to spend time with the children since you are probably going to be pregnant sometime soon.” The look of surprise on Kasumi’s face made her laugh. “Eve told me that you intend to marry Iain when we go back to visit your family. That means you’ll be sleeping with Iain there too and it is common knowledge that you want children so you aren’t going to be using any sort of protection and neither will Iain.”
Kasumi sighed. “It took nearly two years of trying with Shikarou before I became pregnant with Kozakura. While I am not trying to insult your opinion of Iain, I am not a pokegirl and the Earth Mother technique can’t be used to make me become pregnant. It will likely take a while with Iain too.”
April smiled at her and offered her a cup of lemonade. “First of all, the Earth Mother technique can boost your fertility, making it more likely that you will become pregnant, but more importantly were you aware that Ygerna is pregnant?”
Kasumi blinked. “I was not.” She frowned. “No, Ygerna did mention it during a converstation I was involved in, but she was not specifically speaking to me and I didn’t give it any heed.”
“You and she are friends, but it’s not surprising. That woman can be extraordinarily closed mouthed about many things. Fortunately I have her permission to tell whomever I decide I should. Just remember that now that you know, you do not have that same permission to tell others. According to her, she became pregnant on her wedding night. Theodora ran some tests and agrees that it happened within the first two days of sex with Iain. And Siobhan got pregnant by him in their first couple of encounters too.”
“I did not know this,” Kasumi said thoughtfully. “But I’m not sure that matters anymore.”
April eyed her curiously. “What do you mean?”
“As Iain said after his revelation yesterday, he is no longer the man,” she stressed the last word slightly, “that he was before this change took place. That might change how fertile he is with women.” She sipped at the lemonade. “In fact, he might not be fertile at all.”
“That is true,” April said, “but Theodora reports that the opposite may in fact be the case. Apparently his sperm’s motility has greatly increased. As for the volume and potency,” she shrugged. “That will take time and multiple samples to determine. And, as you can guess, there’s a problem in making sure that Theodora gets the top priority in acquiring the proper samples.” She smirked. “That problem, of course, is all of the women in his life who want to be at the front of that line. But Iain assured me that he is fertile with pokegirls, humans and spirit folk.”
Kasumi shook her head. “I thought Iain was supposed to be here. Where is he?”
“He should be leading the children back here now since it’s time for them to take a break from all the running he’s making them do.” She nodded towards the children. “Watch. It’s amusing how much fun they find him now.”
Kasumi focused on the children just as a serpentine form that she remembered seeing on the table the day before dropped to the ground from a branch of the tree the children were focused on and ran towards her and April. It stopped and turned back to watch as the children immediately gave chase. When they got close enough, it turned and ran towards her and April once more only to stop again until the children closed, so that in spurts it led the children to them.
Iain hopped over the collection of food and drinks to put it between him and the children as April clapped her hands. “Break time. Everyone sit and you’ll get some snacks.”
The children headed for the food and Kasumi turned to see that Iain had returned to his human form and sitting beside her as he watched the children. “We’ve already learned that if I don’t change back the kids will be too busy trying to get to me to stop and rest,” he said quietly. “And I wish you a good morning, Kasumi.”
“Good morning, Iain.” She eyed him curiously. “Why are you doing this?”
“They asked to play chase this way,” he replied. “I can always use the exercise, and I don’t see a problem with it, so I let them chase me.”
“Should I point out that you’re not even breathing hard?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, well, I thought I’d get more of a workout than I have, but they’re just kids. I’m sure April and Sofia have something much more active planned for this afternoon.”
“We intend to try and get a baseline on where your limits lie now,” April didn’t look up from handing out little loaves of gingerbread and cups of Joyce’s milk. “The biggest problem we foresee is determining what you’re trying to hide from us and then figuring out how to coax it out of you. I want either me or Sofia to go with you to Kerrik’s today so we can observe what they discover. Sofia thinks and I agree that he probably knows more of the right questions to ask than we do.”
“That’s undoubtedly true,” Iain said. “I have some questions too and I suspect that empirical testing is the only way they’re going to be answered.” He started to say something else but froze when Kasumi leaned over and sniffed his neck. With his perception he could see without turning that her eyes were unfocused and half open. She made an odd purring noise and licked his neck with a firm stroke, making him shiver. She sat up, humming contentedly as her eyes slid completely closed. Her mouth was shut but her jaw was rolling in slow circles, giving Iain the distinct impression she was evaluating how he tasted.
April was watching them with wide eyes. “Kasumi,” she said questioningly.
Kasumi’s eyes snapped open and her face turned bright red. Without a word she lurched to her feet and fled into the woods towards the house.
“Is she all right,” Olivia asked in a concerned voice.
“She’s fine,” April said. She dropped her voice. “If we let her start running away from you she may never stop. Go after her.”
Iain was already getting up. “I know. Sofia’s on the way. I just wish I knew what that was all about.”
“It’s obviously about you and her. The rest you can figure out when you catch her.”
Pandora appeared and Iain took her hand. “Theodora is going to tell you where to take me. After that, make yourself scarce.”
Her eyes widened slightly and the terrain around them changed. “I’ll be nearby. Be careful with her. She’s dangerous.”
“That’s high praise from you,” Iain noted with a smile.
Pandora smiled back. “It is until she hurts you and then I’ll be upset because you didn’t listen to me.”
“Go.” She nodded and disappeared into the trees. Iain leaned against a tree trunk and watched with his twee as Kasumi moved towards him, ready to give chase if she changed directions. But she didn’t and he pushed away from the tree as she came into view. “Did you really think I’d just let you leave?”
“I am so sorry, Iain,” she said in a rush. “I don’t know why I did that and I am so ashamed.”
“Kasumi, be quiet,” he said firmly and her mouth shut with a click. “You’re babbling and you shouldn’t ever do that. It means you’re scared and I don’t want you to ever be frightened of me. And I think we both know that what you did say was not exactly the truth and that you may have some idea of why you did that. However,” he continued as she blushed again, “I’m not going to go there. I do have one question though, how did I taste?”
Her eyes went wide. “Iain, I don’t know if I want,” she began.
Iain cut her off sharply. “Answer the question. How did I taste?”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I can’t describe it,” she said quietly, “but it made me want you as a woman wants a man.” Her eyes met his. “I can’t do that until after we’re married.”
“No, you want to wait until after we’re married, which is very different from you can’t have sex until after we’re married. But I appreciate what you want and because you want to wait we’ll wait.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“Now, I’d like your help in an experiment. I suspect your reaction was because I’d just been in my dragon form and it probably has different pheromones. I want to go back to my quarters, shower and change clothes and see if I smell less,” he paused, “interesting is probably a good word for it. Are you willing to help with the experiment?”
Her nervousness seemed to be fading in the face of his calm acceptance. “I am.”
“Good. Now you need to keep something in mind. Our lives are already intertwined and being married will just bind us together that much more. But even now, unmarried, you don’t get to run away from me. I will always find you but, more importantly, your place is at my side and I am going to insist that you be there. If you are embarrassed about something or upset about something, that sort of thing happens and we will work it out together, but you don’t get to just leave. That’s how we end up estranged like you and Shikarou were and that is not going to happen to us. Ever. You want to be married and so I am willing to marry you and to wait until we’re married for sex with you, but even without that you are a part of my life and I am a part of yours, now and forever.”
She was looking into his eyes with an expression of wonder on her face. “You mean that.”
He smiled. “Considering you and your truth spells, this would be something terrible and incredibly stupid to try and lie about.”
She nodded. “I would never forgive you if you did.”
“Fortunately it’s not an issue since I’m not lying.” He took her hand. “Now I’m going to call Pandora and she’s going to take us to the house. She’s just off in the woods.”
Kasumi blinked and the color drained from her face. “I am in so much trouble.”
“What is it now?” Iain glanced at but otherwise ignored Pandora as she came out of from where she’d been standing sentry to take her post just behind him.
“I ran off from you and April and I went wandering around in the woods alone. Giselle is going to be furious with me.”
“First of all, you were not alone,” Iain said quietly. “I was monitoring your progress the whole time so I could get in front of you.” She looked up at him in surprise. “Yes, I was. And I was doing it with Theodora’s help so if you’d been attacked we’d have been there in seconds. So I don’t think there’s anything to worry Giselle about. In fact, I don’t see there’s even any reason to mention what happened today to her. This is about you and me and if you explained what happened, she’d be worried that you’d get me alone with you and then tear off my clothes before having your way with me.”
Kasumi gave him a shy smile. “She might have reason to be concerned about those events taking place. It is what I wanted to do with you earlier when I tasted you.”
“Well, you keep that in mind for when we’re married,” Iain said teasingly. He reached out and took Pandora’s hand. “Home please.” Suddenly they were standing outside the Sabine house. “Thank you, Pandora.”
“Kasumi.” She looked at Pandora, who smiled at her. “When I met Iain, I tricked him into a promise to take care of me forever. Later, I did something I felt was incredibly wrong and I decided to leave forever and he wouldn’t let me go either. I released him from his promise and he told me that I couldn’t do that, that he wouldn’t let me do that and he wouldn’t let me leave. And he didn’t. I was wrong to try and leave him.”
“Are you saying I was wrong to try and leave?”
Pandora’s smile warmed. “Right or wrong doesn’t come into it. His mind is made up and he has made his decision. All we can do is accept it. There are only a few things he refuses to reconsider and this is one of them.”
“All right, Celestial,” Iain said. “Stop messing with Kasumi’s mind and shoo.” She chuckled and vanished. He shook his head and opened the door. “Come on. You haven’t been in my bedroom suite yet, but there’s nothing particularly spectacular about it.”
“You have a suite? I have a bathroom and a bed.”
“My office connects to my bedroom and to the hallway. Someone called it my suite and the name stuck.” He led her upstairs to his bedroom and waved her in.
Kasumi had never been in his bedroom before and she stopped once inside so she could look around. There was a dresser made of some dark wood and an open door led into a walk-in closet. Two other doors were on different walls but both were closed. Against the wall was a pair of overstuffed ottomans and a chair sat next to the dresser. But it was the bed that dominated the room. It was huge and had heavily decorated posts in all four corners that held up a roofed canopy that almost brushed the ceiling. Curtains hung on rods on all sides, carefully tied back so as to be out of the way and pillows were piled in a large heap at the head. All of the bedding was different shades of brown with the lightest being the sheets and darkening as the layers moved out to the curtains and canopy. “I’ve never seen a bed that big. How big is it?”
“It’s a standard sized harem master bed.” Iain waved her towards it. “So it’s four and a half meters long and four meters wide. Some of the women in this house are terrible bed hogs so that ensures I get some space to sleep on. The bed is actually made of metal and it’s covered with an outer layer of wood so the restraints will hold.” A light came on in the closet as he disappeared into it. He was back a few seconds later with some shorts and a t-shirt. “The ottomans are so people with muscular tails or wings will still have a place to sit. Feel free to use any of them. I’m just going to take a shower so I shouldn’t be too long. Behind the ottomans is a refrigerator with drinks in it. Both of the ottomans are storage units and inside one of them are some packages of jerky.”
“Thank you,” she said as she settled down on the bed and watched him open one of the doors and close it behind him. She ran a hand over the bedding. The fabric of the sheets and pillowcases felt like silk, but she suspected that it wasn’t.
Iain was back a few minutes later, now wearing the clothes he’d carried into the bathroom. His hair was still damp and tied back with a piece of ribbon. “So, are you ready to try an experiment for science?”
Kasumi slid off of the bed with a chuckle. “I am. What exactly am I testing?”
“I want to see if my scent is no longer intoxicating. If it is, I’ve got brand new problems until I can figure out how to correct this.”
She gave him an amused smile. “I’d ask if you were concerned if I couldn’t control myself around you, but I have already proven that it does seem to be an issue.”
“No, I don’t have a problem with you being interested in me or dragging me off for a bit of fun,” Iain said as he eyed her curiously. “However I would have a problem with Yuko acting that way around me.”
Kasumi’s eyes narrowed and she growled softly. “She had better not. I have already explained to her that you are mine.” She blinked and her cheeks reddened. “I am sorry for my presumption.”
Iain took her hand. “I like you being possessive.”
She cocked her head. “You are telling the truth but I do not understand why you would feel that way.”
“I didn’t go find Yuko because I was enamored of the idea of having another kami in my life and especially not in my bed. I want you with me because you’re you, and not because you’re a Nipponese spirit folk. I found Yuko because I know you feel rather alone and I hoped that having her around would help you in some way.” He shrugged. “It seemed a lot easier than trying to convince your family to move here and, frankly, I’m not sure I want them that close on a full time basis. Akane is nice and Ranma is acceptable, but your other sister Nabiki is a pain in the rump and your father and Genma are even worse.”
“And yet you want to marry me,” Kasumi pointed out.
“I want to marry you. Yes, you come with those other people and I accept that. If you really had to have them here we’d make it happen somehow. If you even wanted badly enough, we could make your sisters and even Ranma into spirit folk.”
Kasumi shook her head. “It was very hard to make me into a spirit folk because I had so little spirit folk blood.”
Iain shrugged. “If you really wanted them to be spirit folk I’d find a way to make it happen.” He wasn’t going to mention the Wolf database and, honestly, he didn’t have to. There were ways to do something like that which shouldn’t prove to be too difficult. “I’m good at that sort of thing.” He held out his arm. “So, do I smell as interesting as I did earlier?” He grinned suddenly. “Or should you smell my neck again?”
“For an accurate determination I should probably smell both locations,” Kasumi said. Her face was serious but Iain could see a twinkle of mischievousness in her eyes.
He decided to call her bluff. “I think you are quite correct. Please proceed as you will.”
She smiled at him and reached for his hand. “I will.” Lifting it, she carefully sniffed his forearm. “Your scent is still more intriguing than it was a few days ago but I feel no strident desire to ravish you.” She glanced up at him with an amused look. “Does that dismay you?”
Iain raised an eyebrow. “I think I’ll plead the Fifth on that question.”
She frowned and then smiled again as her twee gave her the relevant information. “I see. Your Constitution is no longer in effect as the United States is no more, but as you would say in a similar situation, I believe I will accept that as a yes.” She sniffed his forearm again and then ran her tongue up his arm from his wrist to his elbow in one firm stroke.
She looked up just in time to watch him close his eyes for an instant and shiver in reaction. “You know exactly how erotic that feels,” he murmured as he looked into her eyes.
She shook her head as she released his arm and straightened. “I am but a poor, young girl of limited experience with men and little traveled while you are a widely experienced man of adventure all around more than one world who has had more women than I have years of life. How can my experiences begin to compare to yours and how could I know the effect such a thing might have on you?” Her expression was artfully innocent. “Please turn around so I may see if your neck is not as appealing as it was a little while ago.”
“I hear and I obey.” Iain dutifully turned around.
He heard a dragging sound and turned to realize that Kasumi had pulled over one of the ottomans. “You’re too tall,” she said quietly. “Please sit down.”
Her breath was a shockingly warm breeze that suddenly caressed his neck and he shivered again. She gently tilted his head sideways to expose more of his neck. “That’s better,” she murmured. She leaned down and sniffed his neck closely. “Bathing seems to have helped. Your scent is the same as it is on your arm and it does not invoke the same urges I had earlier.”
Iain arched his back and moaned softly when she sucked his earlobe into her mouth and bit down gently and the sensation drew a line of fire down his body straight to his groin. She released him and pulled away with a low chuckle. He turned around. “When can I do that to you,” he asked huskily.
She smiled devilishly at him. “You may do so only after we are married, Iain. You see, I was mistaken. The taste of you does stir the same desires I had before, only now that you have bathed they are softer and do not overpower me like they did earlier. Still, I fear that if you reciprocate I will be unable to resist them.” Her eyes were dark when they gazed into his. “When that time comes, I wish to be able to welcome them and never resist them again.”
“You are an evil woman and I am pretty sure you know that.” He took her arm. “We need to leave. If I don’t drag you out of this room I am going to drag you to my bed.”
She just smiled and let him lead her out of the room.
***
Iain darted under the station wagon and didn’t hesitate before throwing himself into the storm drain as Misery cursed behind him and landed to turn the vehicle over to get to him. A rat chittered angrily at him and he ignored it as he raced by, heading down the drain system to escape his pursuer. A block later he leapt up and out of another drain to disappear into some overgrown shrubbery.
Raven looked at Kerrik where they were watching the chase with the benefit of a tracking spell. “He’s significantly faster than a human now.”
“He’s also learned to take advantage of his small size,” Kerrik said thoughtfully. “Do you think you could catch him right now?”
Raven shook her head. “If I can get him quickly I can, but otherwise he’d probably escape me too. If I can use lethal attacks it would be a lot more even since I could potshot him as soon as I see him.” She grinned maliciously. “Did you see the look on Misery’s face when he got out of the rune chains before they finished tightening on him? That was priceless.”
Kerrik smiled. “I did and, no, I’m not going to rub it in that the woman who brags about never losing a hunt keeps losing Iain.”
Raven’s smile vanished. “That’s different. You sanction Iain and you’d better be prepared to lose him to her. You’ve never seen her operating on that level.”
“So why doesn’t she use that level all the time?”
Raven frowned and then shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Then figure it out. If she’s got a better hunting level, she needs to learn how to use it all the time.”
“I never thought about it like that.” She rubbed her nose absently. “I’ll have to think about how to do that one without getting her training partners killed.”
“You do that.” Kerrik watched Misery shoot up to hover at a hundred feet and then shrugged. “I’ll call this off before Misery starts leveling the town in frustration.” He looked over at April. “So what do you think?”
She shook her head. “I’m still trying to decide if this is going to be a good thing for him or not.”
“It doesn’t matter, really,” Kerrik noted, “but I think in the long run it’ll be good for all of you.”
April looked at him curiously. “Why doesn’t it matter?”
“Wishing isn’t going to make him human again. He is a dragon now and we all have to accept that.” His ears flicked. “Iain, Misery, stand down and return to the starting point. This exercise is over.”
When they’d assembled, Misery punched a now human Iain in the shoulder hard enough to make him stagger sideways. “What now?” He rubbed the impact site.
“That’s for being so fucking sneaky,” she said with a smile.
“She’s actually paying you a compliment,” Morwen said quietly. “She wouldn’t hit a normal human that hard. She’d be worried she’d break him and irritate Kerrik.”
“Well, gee, don’t do me any favors. Let’s just pretend I’m still human.”
“Speaking of that,” Kerrik looked at Theodora where she stood next to April, “what does his DNA look like? I may have to bargain for it if I can.”
“His DNA is frustrating,” Theodora said. “When he’s human, his DNA is completely human, although his body is tougher than that of a regular human. When he’s a dragon, his DNA has no human traces in it that I can identify.”
Kerrik looked surprised. “Trust our Iain to be different. I’ve never heard of that happening before. What about his full sized form?”
Theodora cocked her head curiously. “Full sized form?” Suddenly she was in front of Iain. “You have a full sized form?”
Kerrik’s ears flicked and he turned to Iain. “Show us.”
Iain gave him a flat look. “Suddenly you’re from Missouri? I’m afraid it’s not going to be that impressive.” He stepped off to the side and an instant later was a dragon again, but this time he was the size of a van. His head swung around to focus on Kerrik. “See, I’m not a couple of hundred feet long.
Light played over his body. Kerrik nodded. “You’re roughly five meters long and mass around fourteen hundred kilograms.”
“I’d say that’s still pretty impressive,” April said as she approached Iain. “May I touch you?”
“You may.”
Kerrik watched as April ran her hands over Iain’s head. “So, how big does this species get?”
“Like several of the so called true dragon races they never really stop growing,” Iain replied. “But according to our teacher my physical age dictates my dragon age and because of that I’m just a kid again since that’s what I’ll be until I’m a century old. Then I get to be a teenager again, which is going to suck big time.”
April frowned. “You’re sexually active with us.”
“I am because I want my human body to be what I remember,” Iain explained. “As a dragon I’m still preadolescent and will be for decades.”
“So, there’s no dragon girlfriend who will be joining the harem,” April asked with a grin.
“Not that I’m aware of and my father didn’t give me away as a fiancé for food,” Iain replied with a rumble in his voice. “Of course, I was human then so it shouldn’t matter.”
“You’re still pretty upset about what happened to you aren’t you,” Raven said. “It’s not that big of a deal, is it? You just need to get over it.”
Iain came to his feet in a rush and stopped as April threw herself out of the way. Abruptly he was human again. “Are you done with me today,” he asked Kerrik. His voice was tight with suppressed anger.
Kerrik was watching him with a neutral expression. “Raven meant no harm with her question.”
“I realize that they’re a good fit for you,” Iain said in a more normal tone. “I realize that, other than Morwen, they’re the tops in their field and Morwen is smarter than everyone else in your harem so it balances out.” Raven looked surprised which quickly became unhappy. “I also realize that you’re very fond of them and so you cut them a lot of slack. In addition, I’m just your student and I need this training and I do respect you more than you know. Still, I don’t feel any urge to put up with their shit outside of training. I understand that they were decanted and forced to grow to their physical age and because of that that they’re still emotionally immature but that’s not an acceptable excuse. My children are younger than they are and they have manners.”
“Are you saying I’m a child,” Raven flared angrily.
“Actually I’m saying that sometimes your behavior is childish. Physically you’re a teenager. Mentally you’re a combat veteran with a fuck ton of PTSD. Emotionally you’re about eight years old.” He took a deep breath as she bristled and turned to Kerrik. “You know that they’re not you. They don’t have your depth of experience to help offset what happened to them and I think you’ve been forgetting that because on the outside they seem stable enough. But, other than with you, they try to pick fights with everyone around. Raven even tried to start trouble with Ganieda when they first met and Misery has no understanding of personal space where others are concerned. If you’re not careful they’re going to turn into bullies.”
Kerrik grimaced. “I can see where you might think that. However, what are my options?”
“It’s a clan problem, Kerrik. They need to be socialized and in an environment where they aren’t the biggest fish.”
“Where do I find that?”
April put her hand on Iain’s shoulder. “We could help them,” she said quietly. “Their problems aren’t that different from those often shown by powerful kits raised in a secluded ranch.”
“What about their power level,” Kerrik asked curiously. “Won’t that make working with them more problematic?”
“As long as they don’t try to employ lethal force, no,” April said. “Yes, they’re very powerful. Yes, they’re tough. But we have people who have centuries of experience on them and we train constantly. Some of my sisters are actually far more powerful than your harem members. There’s a reason why we haven’t risen to any of their challenges, Kerrik. They’d lose and they’d vent their fury at the loss on Iain. He’d get hurt and nothing useful would have been accomplished.”
Raven’s face purpled and she started to say something but froze when Kerrik put a hand over her mouth. “Will you help them,” he asked quietly.
Iain rubbed his face. “Do we want to take them on, April?”
She nodded firmly. “I think we need to, Iain. Someone has to take them in hand and I don’t envision Shikarou’s people volunteering for the job. I don’t think any of them are actually bad; they’re just unchallenged and undisciplined. It’ll also be good practice for the family for when our kids get older.” She smiled. “I can work them into our training program, so the disruption to our family will be minimal. And they can join the rugby practice team later on if they show some suitability towards teamwork.”
Iain shook his head. “All right Kerrik, we’ll take a stab at turning your group of lunatics into civilized persons.”
***
“Again.” Ygerna leaned against a tree and watched as Iain followed the movements of the training remote, his sword and body moving in synchrony with its.
“How is he doing?”
Ygerna glanced over to see Sofia. “He is doing better than I expected him to be at this point. Are you here to observe or did you need him for something?”
The Ria was still watching her male. Her ears flicked. “Why did you insist on becoming one of his instructors?”
“The known and recorded history of the Sidhe goes back to before the time that humans began experimenting with copper,” Ygerna said quietly. “When iron came to Eire from the outside, we taught our vassal humans how dig up and then make their own iron and later steel that they might not be wiped out by the invaders. During all of that, our martial arts were evolving to match our own developments in magic, weaponry and tactics. I am the last living practitioner of that martial history and I am teaching it to Iain because he asked to learn it so that we both can instruct our children in it when they are old enough.” She glanced again at the pokegirl next to her. “We’ll also teach it to any of the inner clan’s children or adults who are interested in learning it.”
“Thank you,” Sofia said softly, her attention still on Iain.
“I am not going to release him so you can take him into the woods for a quick taming,” Ygerna said teasingly.
“I know,” Sofia said. Her cheeks had turned slightly pink. “I was more concerned that might have been what you were doing with him. You tend to be ruled by your passions.”
Ygerna chuckled quietly. “As long as I am teaching him to be better, is that still not training no matter what the training subject is?”
“Before we moved here,” Sofia said. “I once was curious and looked into the history of sex battles. Pokegirls do not normally engage in such theatrics and, as I suspected, it was a form of battling created by horny men and women who were voyeurs and wished to watch their pokegirls have sex with strangers.” She glanced at Ygerna. “So we do not train in such silliness.” A smile crossed her face and vanished. “However, if I were to benefit from you giving Iain lessons in the sexual practices of the Sidhe on your own time, I shall not complain. Still, this is not the place or the time.”
Ygerna nodded. “You are my clan sister.” Sofia looked at her in surprise and Ygerna chuckled again. “No, I don’t truly see you as my equal, but you are part of my extended family. And I certainly do see you more as my equal than I would have before I came to live here. You may trust that I will work very hard to ensure that Iain does not die any time soon. I do need him to have more children with. I will also work him very hard to ensure he is as fit as I can make him for the trials he and we will all face in the future.”
“Good.” Sofia looked Ygerna up and down. “Are those clothes comfortable? I have never seen anyone wearing them before.”
“That’s because you didn’t get to California,” Ygerna said with a smile. She was wearing dark brown leggings and a loose athletic shirt along with running shoes. “These are very comfortable and let me have my full range of motion. Theodora made them for me so she can make you some if you want to try them.” She smiled again as she watched Sofia waver and sank the hook deep. “Iain will watch your ass more than he does now.”
“He will?” Sofia’s ears flicked as she thought and her tail lashed idly. “Perhaps I will try them.”
“He is finishing.” Ygerna pushed away from the tree and headed for Iain. “Stay or leave, but remain silent and do not interfere.”
“I will stay.”
Iain lowered his weapon when the remote stopped moving and waited for Ygerna. She smiled at him as she stopped a few meters away. “Are you ready to put what you have learned into practice?”
“Let’s see,” he said amusedly. “If I say yes, you will attack me. If I say no, you’ll say something cutting about me asking for this training and then you’ll attack me. I think,” his sword vanished and he took the practice sword from the remote before dropping into a ready position, “I’ll just let you attack me.”
She touched her hip and her sword and scabbard appeared around her waist. She drew the blade with a quick motion and surged forward with a laugh.
In the past few years Iain had trained with several women who used swords routinely, notably Eve, Lucifer and Pandora. Each of them had used a similar technique based on Western martial arts, but because their personalities were different, their fighting styles were different and he had something to learn from each of them. None of them had prepared him for fighting someone like Ygerna.
It was like trying to fight smoke filled with razors. She was easily as fast as any he’d fought, even though he knew that people like Pandora and Eve were holding back when they fought him, but Ygerna was always moving, advancing, retreating, sidestepping and she did it at what he would consider a trot at her slowest speed and a sprint at other times. She was never still, she seemed to never get winded or tired and she used those traits unmercifully. Her attacks were a whirlwind of shallow cuts and stabs that left Iain or, he presumed, a real opponent, bleeding out through a multiplicity of wounds on all sides. And with the plentitude of healing magic, Ygerna had no hesitation in bleeding him if she felt he’d earned it through a mistake. Lucifer and Eve had learned, to their surprise that Ygerna could do the same thing to a person wearing armor by going for the joints and other weak points in physical armor while stopping follow-up attacks from her opponents by deflecting incoming strikes with a small buckler that she used when facing armored combatants. They’d also learned that using magical armor just made her switch to an enchanted blade that had proven surprisingly dangerous against their magic.
Iain had to admit that what he was learning from the remote programmed from her memories leant itself to this type of combat, but it was just so foreign to what he’d learned already that he was having to rush to unlearn a lot before working on her lessons.
Finally Ygerna stepped back and sheathed her sword. She regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. “You have been training on your own, haven’t you?”
“You didn’t tell me that I couldn’t.”
“I did not because I was hopeful that you would but in truth I did not expect you to free up the necessary time to do so. Where did you take it from?”
He shrugged and handed the practice sword back to the remote. “I took it from my free time.”
“You cannot neglect your magical studies either, Iain, and that time is for your magical training.”
“I don’t skimp on my magic, Ygerna. I can’t. I purposely put extra time into my study time for unstructured study on anything I want to put my hand to. Right now I’m focused on your fighting style. It’s my way of having a hobby without having an actual hobby, so nobody can try to help me with it.”
She nodded. “Good. Does that explain the fact that you aren’t tired when not that long ago you’d have collapsed during my test?” She noted absently when Sofia slipped away to watch some of the other individual training sessions.
Iain shrugged. “While I was at my other teacher’s place she showed me better ways to channel my magic to keep from getting exhausted as quickly. There is still a price to pay and I’ll pay for what I just avoided later.”
She eyed him briefly before motioning for him to sit on a nearby bench. He did and she settled down against him, smiling when he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against his side. “I was told that I shouldn’t ask many questions about this teacher whose name I am not supposed to utter. Can she truly hear her name no matter where it’s spoken?”
Iain nodded. “Kerrik can do that trick too and someday, I suppose, I will be able to as well. He uses it to listen to those important to him and when they might need his help.”
“And how does your female teacher use this power?”
“It’s not really a power. It’s more like a spell, and she doesn’t have anyone important to her like that so she uses it to listen for prospective enemies, who would use her name when formulating their plans against her. And the spell is flexible so that if they tried to give her a code name, using it often enough within a short period of time would still get her attention.”
She shook her head. “Is your magic going to be that powerful one day?”
“It will.” He took a deep breath. “You know I was gone for almost a year while I was learning more about the new me.”
“I was told that, yes. It is not the same as having you tell me the events that transpired, Iain. So before I had heard and now I know.”
“Bloody literal fey.” Iain shook his head. “Transformation for the dragon species I joined is all about knowing the self. There was a lot of meditation involved and it gave me time to reflect on things and to consider the relative importance of certain things and people in my life. Once I did manage to become human again, I had to continue my studies until the processes of changing back and forth were effortless in order to learn how to keep the form I wanted to for as long as I want to. That involved still more meditation.”
She nodded. “And what did you learn that you wish to share with me?”
“I learned just how important you’d become to me and how major a part you now play in my life.” He took a deep breath. “And I also learned that at some time along the way I’d fallen in love with you and hadn’t realized it until I had the time to consider you at length.” Her eyes went wide and he nodded and kissed her gently. “Yes, I love you, Ygerna, Queen of the Sidhe.”
She sighed loudly and snuggled more firmly against his side. “I wish my mother were still alive,” she said quietly. “She would have liked meeting you.”
“Would she? I’m not fey.”
She looked at him. “Yes, you are. You would be welcome in any fey court, Iain.” She smiled. “You’d be more welcome in many of them than I would if I were not pregnant.” Her smile widened at his look of incomprehension. “Dragons are some of the most magical beings one can find in the worlds of the fey, Iain and they are very rare. Your blood would only make the children of any fey woman, Sidhe or not, more powerful.”
He looked stunned for a second. “Oh. Right.”
She gave a musical laugh. “You forgot.”
He made a grumpy noise. “I’ve been human my whole life. Realizing that I’m suddenly not anymore isn’t something I’m accepting with the equanimity that apparently you and others feel I should.”
“I shouldn’t tease you so. After all, I have never turned into something else.”
He glanced at her sideways. “I’m not so sure about that.”
She flashed a grin. “I am always a bitch, Iain. I just don’t let it show all of the time.”
“Oh. Never you mind then.” He looked thoughtful for a second. “Was your mother one of the ones murdered by Eoghan?”
Ygerna shook her head. “No, she died a few years before then. Our king sent her on a mission to a neighboring court to deliver a gift to that court’s rulers and she was attacked by goblins and killed. We found the site where they’d attacked her and several goblins she’d killed in defending herself along with a huge pool of blood that was hers. Her body was never recovered. The goblins had been attacking travelers for some time, but never in the same place twice and my mother’s death finally motivated our queen to mount an expedition to exterminate that particular tribe of them.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that sounds pretty final.”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
Iain looked at her curiously. “For what?”
“For telling me that you love me and not demanding I tell you immediately how I feel about you.”
“The fact that I love you means I’m willing to be as patient as you need me to be, Ygerna. We’re married and we’re having children. So that tells me Danu has blessed us being together and you won’t fight that. If there’s something you feel you need to tell me about anything else, you will when you’re ready. Until then I’ll just love you enough for both of us.”
She cuddled closer. “See? Thank you.”
***
Iain looked from Ganieda to Dominque. “So, both of you are participating?”
“You’re lucky it’s just us,” Dominique said with a smile. “You have six practicing mages in your family now and I’m sure more than just us two would like to be involved in this little experiment.” Iain looked puzzled and she grinned. “There is me, Ganieda, Lucifer, Eve, Ygerna and Kasumi. There’s also Rosemary but she’s still in her apprenticeship and doesn’t count yet.”
Iain shrugged. “Kasumi is clan, not family.”
Ganieda’s ears flicked as she smirked at him. “Yet. That will change soon enough.”
“True, but until it does her status is clan and not family. What about Ninhursag and Vanessa? They’re both trained as mages.”
“Yes, but neither is what would be termed a practicing mage.”
Iain raised an eyebrow. “Who decides who is a practicing mage or not?”
Dominique smiled. “As you’ve already guessed, it’s the ones who decided they were practicing mages.”
“I would never expect that,” he said sarcastically.
Ganieda’s ears flicked again. “Let’s get back on topic. We’ve prepared the experiment as you requested. Theodora helped to isolate the kind of target you wanted and we’re ready to proceed.”
Iain looked from one to the other and nodded. “Who has the memory?”
“I do.” Dominique muttered softly and then touched her forehead with the tip of her left index finger. When she pulled it away, a small softly glowing globe of golden light clung to her fingertip. She presented it to him with a broad smile. “And I can say we’ve figured out how to use formal magic to transfer memories in a fashion similar to how truewizards do.”
“Very nice,” he said. “Are you going to teach it to the other practicing mages of our clan?”
“We’re discussing it. We want to be very careful disseminating this spell considering the potential for abuse the leagues could put it to.” Her smile faded slightly. “But we still don’t know how to use it to drain all of someone’s memories like you can.”
“I’m actually glad you don’t know how to do that.” Iain leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the globe on Dominique’s fingertip, the globe sinking into his skin as he did. When he pulled his head back, the globe was gone. “That can actually be used to erase someone’s memories and I don’t see any reason for you to know it. Theodora can do that already and she will follow clan law if the issue arises.” He looked thoughtful for a second. “I think that’s an excellent choice as a first point for an experiment. If it works, what I really want to do shouldn’t be an issue.” He looked from one woman to another. “Are you both going on the trip with me?”
“We are,” Dominique said.
“Then we leave in ten minutes.”
“Why so long,” the Archmage asked curiously.
“That gives you ladies time to pee or get something to drink or whatever you might need before we leave.”
Ganieda blinked. “That was mean. I’ll be right back.” She headed quickly for the bathroom.
Dominique was fighting not to laugh. “The power of suggestion,” she finally got out with a smile.
Iain grinned. “It is a little cruel but it is a good way to make sure you don’t have to stop early during a trip. And just how much respect will you get in the lands of the dead if you’re squatting to pee when the monster sneaks up on you and gets you?”
“Probably not a whole lot,” Dominique admitted wryly. “I was smart enough to pee before you arrived.”
“Is that because he’s done that little trick to you before,” Ganieda asked as she rejoined them.
“It is,” Dominique said. “And I tried to warn you.”
“You said I would want to go to the bathroom before Iain arrived. You never said he’d use a cheap psychological trick on me.”
“You’d have just said that it would never work on such a powerful personality as yours,” Dominque replied.
Ganieda started to speak and stopped abruptly. She shook her head and smiled ruefully. “I probably would have done exactly that.”
“Are we ready to go,” Iain asked quietly.
“We are.”
He held out his hands. “Then let us go.”
Once each woman had one of his hands, Dominique gave him a curious look. “Have you tried shadow walking since you became a dragon?”
“I have. It works just like it did before.” He turned his attention to Ganieda. “Do not let go of my hand until I say you can.”
She nodded seriously. “Dominique warned me. I’m looking forward to you impressing me again.”
“Well, far be it from me to disappoint my pretty doe.” He wrapped the two women in his magic. “Step with me as I call it. Step.”
The world folded around them and unfolded in a brilliant array of colors. They stood in a large room made of metal. One of the walls was transparent while the wall directly opposite it had a closed metal door. Through the transparent wall they could see they were in space, above a white planet specked with blue. Below and around them were over a dozen arrowhead shaped ships that floated serenely in the darkness above the planet. Smaller craft descended from a few of them, headed into the planet’s atmosphere in brilliant streams of ionized plasma.
Iain’s eyes went very wide. “Those are Imperial Star Destroyers.” He looked at Dominique. “We are leaving right now.” He pulled on their hands. “Now step.”
They stood on a beach, overlooking a large body of greenish water which reflected the light of the three suns overhead.
Dominique looked at Iain. “What was going on there?”
“I’m not sure, but I think we were in an Imperial Star Destroyer in formation with others. That planet reminded me of the images I remember of Hoth from the Star Wars movies. With my luck, we were on the flagship and Darth Vader was on board and was detecting us. That is not a place to sightsee from.”
“Is this working,” Ganieda asked.
“When we get to our destination I’ll be able to answer that,” Iain said. “Until then, I am not sure.” His grip tightened. “And step.”
They stood inside a sparsely decorated bedroom done in pastel whites and blues. Dominique looked around. “I think we’ve arrived.” She looked at Iain. “Can I let go?”
He replied by releasing the hands of both women. “Ganieda, what do you sense?”
“We’re in a block of flats,” she said. “This apartment seems to be empty except for us but many of the others are occupied.” She cocked her head. “According to some of the minds outside, we’re in London.”
Dominique had pulled a curtain out just enough to look out the window behind it. “It is night, so the time should be right and I recognize the area. This is my apartment building and this is my flat. Now to check the date and see if this is the day I was thinking of. I should have left to go on a mission about an hour ago.”
I have verified the date and time, his twee told him. You are on target to within the minute.
Ganieda’s ears went flat. “Who is Vanora?”
Dominique blinked. “She was my landlady. Why?”
They heard the rattle of a key in a lock. “She’s coming inside, that’s why.”
“Fuck.” Dominique looked at Iain. “I have no idea why she’d be coming in. I don’t remember any requests for service in my flat at that time.”
Ganieda looked at the Archmage. “She’s here for food. You told her you’d be gone for a month and she’s going to take some of your food for herself.” They heard the door open and a feminine voice humming.
Dominique’s eyes narrowed. “I thought some of my things were going missing while I was gone. That stupid fat Catgirl bitch is going to pay.”
Iain grabbed her arm as she started forward. He carefully kept his voice low. “You aren’t here right now, remember? If she sees you, she might tell the past you and then your timeline starts to drift. We proved I can go to places in your memories if you share them and she stole from you years ago. Let it go.”
“I want her dead,” Dominique hissed. “Nobody steals from me.”
“Not now.” Iain’s grip tightened. “You still have your week, if you want to spend it with the two of us looking her up and cutting her into strips, I’m fine with that. But you can’t kill her two years before we met because she didn’t die then.”
Dominique looked into his eyes and growled softly. “I understand. That would screw with my timeline which would screw with yours.”
“More importantly,” Iain said, “it would screw with ours together. I am not taking a chance on losing you.”
She nodded and grabbed his hand. “Let’s go before I change my mind.”
Ganieda grabbed Iain’s other hand and he glanced at both of them. “Step.”
They stood on ridge overlooking a grassy plain covered with crystalline buildings. Roads made of a bright red material wound from one to the others, but nothing moved. Radiation levels are too high to remain for more than four minutes, his twee told him.
“Step.” They stood in the center of Dominique’s lab, almost exactly where they’d started their trip from. “And we’re back.”
Ganieda dropped onto a stool. “I have a question.”
Iain and Dominique exchanged a glance and the Archmage shrugged. “I’ve tried to break her of that but it doesn’t seem to be working. I think it’s the lecturer in her coming out.” She looked at Ganieda. “Just ask your question.”
The Snugglebunny Splice smiled thinly. “When we were on the ship you recognized where we were.”
“I think I did.”
“Does that happen often?”
He shook his head. “No, that’s the first time I’ve come out on a spaceship that wasn’t the Theodora.”
“I meant is that the first time you recognized where you were?”
Iain thought about it for a moment. “I’d say roughly half of the places I’ve visited I think I might be able to identify. To be honest, I’d have to spend a lot more time in some of them to determine if I did or not. Why?”
“Since Dominique explained shadow walking to me, one thing that has perturbed me was the idea that it was completely random.”
Dominique frowned. “She’s right. If it is random, you’d never arrive at your destination in anything like a reasonable amount of time.”
Iain looked from one woman to the other. “So if it’s not random, what is it?”
“I wonder if perhaps your mind doesn’t take you to places you’ve envisioned as much as it can while pathing out your journey,” Ganieda said. “The walk only travels to places you haven’t envisioned when it has no viable path to your final destination. It would be an obvious way to try and keep you safe as you travel since you’d not envision yourself arriving at a place that’s inherently life threatening.”
“May I make an observation?” Theodora appeared beside Iain.
Iain glanced at her. “You’re family too. Go ahead.”
“It fringes on a privacy violation so I will need your explicit permission. It is pertinent to this discussion.”
He frowned. “Oh?” He shrugged. “You have my permission.”
“A quick analysis of the places Iain has been to as well as those he has walked through to get to his destination, when compared to the complete upload of his memories he made allows me to be able to tentatively identify over seventy nine percent of the places he has shadow walked through.”
Iain looked surprised. “The number is that high?”
“Yes. I had to access memories that you haven’t reviewed in years for some of them and enhance certain items that you didn’t notice at the time while you were in a specific location before moving on.”
Dominique looked interested. “Please give us an example.”
“Iain once found himself on a battlefield at night. Analysis of the sounds of the rifles and other weapons he heard allowed me to pinpoint the location to the Soviet Union in winter sometime during the years of 1941 to 1945. He heard German and Russian weapons from that time period but his mind could not recognize them as easily as I can.”
Ganieda’s ears folded halfway back. “Where did you get the information with which to identify them from?”
“The Wolf database has an extensive amount of information on firearms and other weapons used throughout human history. I cross referenced it with Iain’s memories of the incident to identify the possible location and time period.”
“That is interesting.” Iain rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Please put together a list of the places you think you’ve identified so I can look at it later. Some of them are undoubtedly going to be worth visiting again someday.”
Theodora gave him a wary look. “Does that include visiting that Imperial Star Destroyer again?”
“Maybe. That universe has some interesting technology in it but I’d have to proceed very carefully because of the potential danger. Still, I should be able to get the plans for a lightsaber, which would be awesome. Rosemary would love one of those. And they use a different technology for their faster than light drives but it might be that the physics of their universe won’t support any other FTL technology and it might not work here.”
“Speaking of danger,” Theodora said. “Dragons are supposed to be resistant to weaponry. Dominique, we need to set up some tests to verify that Iain’s dragon forms have scales tough enough for that purpose.”
“I’ll talk to April.”
“Wait a minute,” Iain looked at all three women. “Does this mean I have to sit there and let Pandora stab me?”
Dominique smiled broadly at him. “No, it means you’ll have to let a lot of people stab you. We may want to shoot you too, but only under closely supervised conditions, of course.”
“OK, that doesn’t sound like it’s going to be any fun for me.”
“As you’re not a masochist, I’d say you’re probably correct in that assessment of the experiments we will be putting together,” Ganieda said cheerfully. “But this is for science.”
“That line of reasoning is starting to get a bit threadbare,” Iain said.
“And yet in this case it is true,” Theodora said. “Although instead of saying that it is for science, I would tell you the truth, is that it is so we and you can learn what your new limits are, which might save your life someday.”
“That reasoning I can accept,” Iain rubbed his eyes. “When? We still have a trip to Kasumi’s world coming up soon and I don’t want to put that off any more then we already have.”
“I will speak with April today and see if we can rough out some protocols and begin preliminary testing tomorrow,” Theodora was watching him closely. “Are you all right?”
He shrugged. “My emotions keep whipsawing all over the place, probably because of the fact that as a dragon I’m still a child. And I keep getting aches and pains all over.”
“Do you have any idea why?”
He blinked and pulled his hand away, his face smoothing into a pleasant smile. “It’s nothing serious.”
Theodora smiled winsomely at him. “That is a very nice try but you realized the danger too late. Ladies, please escort our male to medical so I can take more readings of him.”
Iain managed not to cringe as Ganieda got up with huge grin on her face. “Fuck.”
Iain Grey
Inner Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
Eve Grey - Megami Sama
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Canaan - G Splice (Hunter Amachamp & Alaka-Wham)
Zareen - Nightmare
Raquel - Fiendish Rapitaur
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elfqueen
Dianthus Barbatus - Elfqueen
Outer Harem
Allison – Umbrea (Outer Harem Alpha)
Daphne - Whorizard
Lynn - Growlie
Chuck – Doggirl
Ryan – Unicorn
Winifred - Rack (German)
Rosemary - Mistoffeles (Uruguayan)
Silver - Pegaslut
Joyce – Milktit
Outer Clan
Melanie – Iron Chef
Siobhan – Nurse Joy (Glasgow)
Queendom / Outer Harem
12 Elves
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
6 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Liadan - Twau
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria - Slutton
Rhea Silvia - Chimera
Geradine - Human
Mother s & Children
Vanessa
Myrna
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Canaan
Hannah: Huntress
Rebecca: Huntress
Joyce
Lisa: Milktit
Sherrie: Milktit
Harriet: Milktit
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami-sama
Seraphina: Megami-sama
Zareen
Caltha: Nightmare
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare