“You will divert your armada to retrieve four women?” Alrick bit her lip and raised her eyebrows.
“You will understand when you meet them,” I said, and I turned to find Madalena and Sivaha smiling at me.
Then we all made our way down the steps of the dais and out of the destroyed throne room.
Chapter 15
Merging Waymund into Vaish turned out to be more challenging than any of the other clans. Goki had been blindly confident in his plan to catch Toriton at the wedding, and he hadn’t bothered to bring more than a token portion of his fleet to Dia-Prism 5. This meant that we needed to make a trip to the Waymund home sector and alert them that Alrick was now my queen before they fired on us.
It was one of the small idiosyncrasies of space travel. There were no communication devices that could travel across solar systems, so word had to be delivered like mail had been in the ancient Earth “Pony Express” manner: a ship or group of ships would have to travel to each sector and then alert them of the news. It was slow and inefficient, but there was no other method that we knew of besides the psychic link which the SAVO and Elaka Nota creations like Eve seemed to possess.
Alrick and Aasne both thought I should solve the communication issues by sending runner ships to the Waymund main system so that they would be ready for me when the rest of our armada arrived. Sivaha and Madalena were less trusting, though, and they didn’t want to allow any time for the clan’s admirals or upstart leaders to plan a revolt. Sending herald ships also cost time, and the majority of the Vaish ships were faster than the Waymund vessels.
My solution to such matters leaned more toward brandishing my teeth, so I just decided to play it like I did with Idonan, and we coordinated our entire fleet movement to hit Waymund’s home system at the same time. The action might surprise them, and they might move to defend, but we were in a hurry.
My small gamble paid off, and we did surprise the Waymund fleet at their home sector. They had not anticipated an attack, and they only had thirty thousand ships guarding their main planet. I outnumbered them by over ten times, and the admiral commanding the fleet responded to my communication instantly.
As soon as he learned that I had killed Goki and taken Alrick as my wife, he ordered the fleet to stand down, and we began the process of integrating them into the Vaish armada.
Madalena and Sivaha were experienced with the process, so I let them and Alrick work through the discussions for a day while I spent some time getting to know Aasne. We didn’t have our dinner, but I learned more about her upbringing in the Idonan clan, her love of painting, singing, and music, and her desire to be an excellent wife for me. I told her of my background, Yu’s experiments, my sister and mother, and the adventures I’ve had with Eve, Zea, Paula and Kasta. It was the start of the friendship that might develop into more, but I made it clear to her that my ultimate goal was defeating the Draugr, and that the stakes were impossibly high.
At the end of the first day of Madalena, Sivaha, and Alrick’s meetings with the admirals, my wives and I met for dinner in Persephone’s galley and reviewed the discussions. Alrick’s admirals had committed to cooperating, but Madalena wanted Eve to speak with them and the new admirals that joined us from Idonan. Having someone that could read minds made my growing empire unbelievably strong, but I could also sense that both Madalena and Sivaha missed Eve, Zea, Paula, and Kasta on a personal level.
And I missed them too.
“We will have a more appropriate celebration after they finish their rites,” the Prime Valkyrie said as she raised a glass of wine over our food.
“Agreed,” Sivaha said as she mirrored Madalena’s movements. “Still, our husband has nearly done the impossible, and united Odin’s clans under one king.”
“Jotnar will be the hardest,” Madalena said.
“All nuts can be cracked.” Sivaha shrugged and then took a long drink of her wine.
“Especially with a hammer,” Madalena said as she gave me a slight smile.
“And if a hammer doesn’t work, I’ll just use these.” I rested my hands on the revolvers that they had both given me, and Sivaha laughed.
“Did you see the look on the Waymund faces when you first fired? They were Goki’s personal guard, but I still think one or two of them shit themselves.”
“They were unprepared,” Alrick sighed with a bit of wounded pride. “We all were. My father expected to be dealing with a befuddled King Toriton.”
“My father was many things, but not befuddled,” Aasne said, and her eyes narrowed at the short-haired woman.
“No disrespect intended,” Alrick said, “but your father came to us begging for assistance, and he left himself open to be conquered because of his fear of the Vaish.”
“You do not know of his plan,” Aasne growled. “He never planned on coming planetside. He guessed that Goki would betray him, and my uncle was going to come in his place. Then, if you did betray us, our armada would crush your fleet and exact vengeance.”
“As I said,” Alrick replied with a slow nod. “There is no disrespect intended. As you can guess, my father was an arrogant asshole who cared nothing of other’s feelings. Especially mine. I had no real love for the man.”
“My father was also an arrogant asshole,” Aasne said as she shook her head. “I do have pride in my clan though. The Idonans so respect the art and song of Odin and his children.”
“As do the Waymund,” Alrick said. “In fact, our skalds are known to be--”
“You are Vaish now,” Madalena interrupted them, and the other two women stopped their argument and turned to the Prime Valkyrie. “Your previous clans do not matter. We are Nordar, we are Vaish, and we are Adam’s.”
“Yes, of course,” Alrick said as she smiled and bowed her head to me.
“I agree,” Aasne said. “I did not wish to cause a scene.”
“It is fine,” I said as I took another sip of my wine. I knew that my wives would butt heads occasionally. A group of any people would, and I had seen the bond between Eve, Zea, Madalena, and Sivaha grow stronger in the last month, and I knew that they would eventually normalize.
“My father was also an asshole,” Madalena said, and the other women turned back to her.
“I have heard that King Tanal was somewhat hard to please,” Alrick said.
“Yes, he was.” Madalena nodded, and her steel eyes turned to me. “Now we have a much better king.”
“That we do,” Sivaha agreed. “I didn’t really like my father either, so I killed him.”
“You killed him?” Aasne gasped.
“Yes.” The silver-haired woman shrugged and then swirled her wine around in her glass. “I realized I would do a much better job, so I put a bullet through his skull. A few of my siblings disagreed with my actions, and others thought they should rule instead of me, so I killed them too. Family can be annoying sometimes.”
Alrick and Aasne stared at Sivaha for a few moments, and I could tell they were struggling to keep the shock from their faces.
“I suppose that I became the asshole then,” Sivaha laughed. “But if you are going to live a life, it might as well be the one where you control everything surrounding you.”
“But you serve our husband?” Aasne asked as she looked to me.
“Of course,” Sivaha laughed again, and her brown eyes burned as she turned them to my face. “He is the avatar of Odin. He is blessed by Freyja. He is the king of kings. Who else is worthy to kneel before? You two are fortunate that he has taken you.”
“Yes,” Aasne said as she nodded to me. “I can see that.”
“As can I,” Alrick said, and I could feel the first trickle of pride come from her.
“During the submission to our husband, you said your middle name was ‘Elana?’” Sivaha asked Alrick.
“Yes,” the short-haired woman agreed. “My father wanted sons, but my mother asked that I have a woman’s middle name. He originally said no, but then she begged him and he conceded. The name w
as my grandmothers.”
“It is a nice name,” Sivaha said. “Much more feminine than Alrick. I will call you that instead.”
“No one has ever called me Elana,” Alrick said. “It does not feel like my name.”
“But it suits you better,” Sivaha argued. “We are sisters now, and we look out for each other. The name is better. It was given to you by someone who loved you instead of by someone who was upset you weren’t a man.”
“Hmmm,” Alrick said as she bit her lip and nodded. Then she turned to me with one of her eyebrows raised. “I will ask what my husband prefers to call me.”
“I am fine with Elana if you do not mind being called that,” I said as I looked at her female Vaish uniform. “You do look much more feminine in women’s clothing.”
“So you prefer these clothes?” she asked as she ran her hands down her narrow hips. She was a bit shorter than Zea but had a similar lean build.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I like the way you look, and I like the name Elana.”
“See? It is settled!” Sivaha slapped her palm on the table and then raised her glass. We all followed her gesture and took another sip of our wine.
The transponder on my suit beeped, and Nikki’s voice came across.
“Adam, I apologize for the disturbance, but the fleet has begun to warpdrive back to Nordar - 13. You asked me to let you know.”
“Thanks, Nikki,” I said. “How soon until Persephone’s warp drives are reset?”
“Eight more hours,” she replied.
“Alright,” I replied. “Engage them as soon as they are ready.”
“Yes, Adam,” she answered, and then my transponder beeped.
“Your pilot calls you by your name?” Elana asked.
“I told them to call me by my name before I became king,” I said as I drained the last of my wine. “I’m going to head to bed.”
“Elana and Aasne, I need a few more hours of your time to review the fleet layout and the chain of command protocols.” Madalena gestured to a data tablet that she had brought with her, and I saw the other two women’s shoulder slump.
“Ahhh, all work and no play,” Sivaha chuckled. “That is the Prime Valkyrie for you. Do not worry, sisters, I will ensure our husband’s sleep is restful.” The silver-haired woman grabbed my bicep, and I barely had time to nod to the other three women before she dragged me out of the kitchen.
Then we were in my suite half a minute later and making love with the intensity of two storms crashing into each other.
I awoke to the silver-haired woman gently rubbing my face with her fingers, and she told me that we had just come out of warpdrive and were preparing to enter Odin Geirr’s harbor. It meant that we had a good half an hour before we could leave Persephone, so I pulled Sivaha into the shower with me and made love to her again as the water streamed down to us.
Afterward, we brushed our teeth and put on clothes. I wore my Persephone flight suit, but Sivaha had a few dresses in my closet, and she took one that was burgundy and tight around her perfectly proportioned body. Then we made our way to the bridge in time to see Nikki land Persephone inside of the battle fortress. I didn’t see Madalena, Elana, or Aasne, but the rest of the crew was present on the bridge.
“The Prime Valkyrie asked me to tell you that she would await you in the hold,” Nikki said.
“Thank you,” I replied. “Is there any word on the rite?”
“They have done well. Our timing was perfect, and the four women have just reached the shuttle which is taking them from Nordar - 13 - a. They will arrive in the Odin Geirr in a half hour.”
“That’s great news,” I said as a thankful exhale left my chest.
“Yes, it is,” Nikki agreed, and the blonde pilot gave me a genuine smile. “I look forward to greeting them as Nordar.”
“Me as well,” Sivaha said as she tugged on my arm. “Let us not keep them waiting.”
Sivaha and I found Madalena, Elana, and Aasne in the hold. The three women wore tight fitting black Vaish uniforms, and I gave each of them a hug in greeting. Aasne and Elana seemed surprised by my show of affection, but they eagerly returned my embrace, and we then walked down Persephone’s ramp. A group of guards waited for us, but instead of getting into a hovercar, we walked over three docking spaces, and watched a small falcon shaped shuttle began its landing descent.
As soon as the shuttle set down, the doors flew open, and a tall blonde woman stepped out and gave me a smile that caused my head to spin.
Zea carried a burn tipped wooden spear in her hand, and wore white fur shoes, pants, and coat. Her peach colored skin was toasted red from the sun, and her blue eyes sparkled as she descended the stairs and walked toward me.
Eve came next down the stairs. The dark-haired beauty also wore clothes made out of white fur and her red eyes met mine as she flashed me a grateful smile.
Kasta came down the steps after Eve, and she carried a makeshift bow in her left hand, a walking staff in her right, and a quiver filled with arrows over her furs. She stuck her tongue out at me when she saw me and then leapt down the set of stairs in one bound before she hip-checked Eve. The vampire laughed, and she wrapped her arm around Kasta’s waist as they walked.
Paula was last down the steps. She wore the same white furs as the other women, but she carried a stone axe over her shoulder. The engineer quickly bounded down the stairs, and then she wrapped her arm around Eve’s shoulders on the opposite side of Kasta.
“Hello, handsome,” Zea said as she wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss that stole my breath away. “Did you miss us?”
“Fuck yeah,” I sighed when our lips parted. “I’m really happy to see you.” I thought about the time that the four of them had been taken by the Magate Order, and even though they had not been captured by slavers this time, being without them left me feeling a similar kind of emptiness.
“I’m happy to see you too,” she said, and her cheeks blushed a darker shade of red.
I wrapped my arms around her narrow waist and crushed her to me as I kissed her again, then I set her down and turned to Eve, Paula, and Kasta.
Eve ran her fingers across my face and stared deep into my eyes. We didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but I knew that she was learning of the events she had missed. She looked over at Aasne and Elana, nodded at them, and then finally pressed her body against me so that we could kiss. For what felt like a minute, our bodies ceased to be separate, and our hearts beat together as one.
Words cannot describe the love I feel right now for you and the women who stand with us.
I ran my hand through her hair and kissed her forehead. She sighed again at my touch and then gave me another kiss before standing aside for Kasta and Paula.
“I need some sugar, baby,” Kasta said, and I laughed as I threw my arms around her shoulder. The android woman aggressively kissed my mouth, and our tongues danced together for a few moments. I didn’t know what that meant for our relationship, but I almost didn’t care. Seeing them both after the two-week absence was making my heart swell, and I knew that I loved both Kasta and Paula.
“Come here,” I beckoned to the genius engineer, and Paula’s lips met mine as I picked her up from the ground. Then I hugged both of the sisters again and quickly exchanged another round of kisses with each of them.
“So how did the rite go?” I asked once we had all parted.
“It was amazing!” Zea said, and then the three blonde women all began speaking at once over each other.
“We hunted two uiun-bairs!”
“These asshole dog things tried to eat us!”
“Kasta shot a boar with her bow, and we ate like queens for two days!”
“Zea fell in the river and we all had to drag her out!”
“We skinned the uiun-bairs and made these clothes!”
“We were harassed by these assholes, but we scared them off!”
“We sang songs every night and told wonderful stories,” Eve said, and the
three other women stopped talking, smiled, and then nodded at her.
“It was great,” Zea said as she smiled at me. “Ummm, not saying I want to do it again anytime soon, but I feel… like. I dunno.”
“You feel powerful,” Madalena said from behind me.
“Yeah,” Zea agreed. “Like I can take on anything.”
“Me too,” Paula said.
“Rites are important for Nordar that wish to become warriors for their clan,” Madalena said.
“And that is what we wish,” Eve said, and Paula, Kasta, and Zea nodded.
“Soooo…” Zea said as her eyes darted behind me to Elana and Aasne. “Whatcha been up to while we’ve been gone?”
“You knew my plans,” I said as I smiled at her.
“Yeah.” Zea returned my grin. “So I’m guessing you were successful?”
“He was,” Sivaha said, “And now there is only one Blood Overlord Clan left unincorporated.”
“I get the feeling we are in for a long story,” Paula chuckled, “but before we get into that, can we grab a shower and some food?”
“Oh, fuck yeah,” Zea moaned. “Adam must think we smell gross.”
“You all smell wonderful,” I said. “I’m happy to see you again. But yeah, let’s get you showered, grab some food, talk about what happened, and then plan our next step.”
“But you forgot one thing, my love,” Eve said.
“Hmmm?”
“The purpose of us performing our rite was so that we could become Nordar. We wished to become Nordar so that we could submit to you and become your wives.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said.
“Well,” Zea cleared her throat. “I still want a shower before I get married. So let’s do that first.”
I smiled at the four of them and I then let out a long exhale of gratitude. I had worried about them passing their rite, but I shouldn’t have. They were all amazing, strong, and capable women who had demonstrated hundreds of times that they didn’t need me.
But they still wanted me, and I wanted them in my life forever.
“Let’s go home,” I said, and then I gestured over to where Persephone was docked.
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