Draziel's POV
The humans had just arrived. I watched them filing through the gates as their captors received their share of the bargain and began to sail back home. Relief coursed through me, with the strength of the waves, I doubted they would make it here at all.
I monitored closely to ensure the number of slaves brought matched our demand. Humans had added greed to their arsenal, and I had learned to double-check their end of the deal each time they arrived.
Two hundred women were required. I had counted up to eighty when I noticed a unique figure walking through the gates. She was taller, with knee-length hair. Unlike the others who obeyed the order to keep their heads down, she scanned the entire premise with sharp, aware eyes.
Taking note of her uniqueness sparked a sense of novelty in my heart, but the moment was short-lived as the door to the room sprang open.
"Hello, Ziel. Have you heard? The humans arrived safely. I told you the sun god would favor us, and you doubted me." Kealith said as he walked up to me, squeezing my shoulder with his blood-stained hands.
"Have the nurse check them for infections or illness. Separate them. We need some preserved for breastfeeding the infants. And bring me news about the experiment." I turned from the window and settled into my seat.
"Well, sadly, ten newborn females died this morning. Draco and the others are gloomy. The toddlers, on the other hand, are doing fine."
The weight of the news was heavy. And with each piece of heartbreaking news, the vision blurred.
How long does one have to put effort into a vision to see real results?
"Hey, Ziel! Chill, you are always so uptight. On the good side, more human females are here, which means the bloom festival will take place. We get to sleep with as many women as we want." He leaned closer, squeezing my shoulders even more. I pulled away.
"You don't get to sleep with as many females as you want. You choose one female to breed with for the season. I don't want to see you sleeping with anyone before the blooming festival."
"Arg, we have hundreds! We can get a hundred more and have a harem, it's not like we can mate with them… you are such a buzzkill, you know that."
I had no room for irritation. " Just leave, I need to do more research. Send Draco in when you see him." Pulling his hands off my shoulders, I requested that he leave immediately. Reluctant but obedient, he left, leaving me in solitude once more.
The pile of scrolls formed a mountain on my desk, some loosely falling to the ground and others dawdling in the loose breeze.
It was high time I attended to it—the feeding charts, wellness, and also the status of the world outside. I had to go through them before the day ended. But at least the humans were here. Walking back to the table, I took a seat, frustrated and tired, my eyelids sagged for a brief moment.
'Ziel.' A familiar voice wrapped around me like a thick fog.
'Wake up, wake up, Ziel. You can't rest, not now.' The strain in her voice made my heart palpitate, my mind slowly drifting into the pit of grief and trauma.
She never left.
Pressing my hand on my temples in hope that I ease the ache that her presence brings to my mind, but it was futile, her presence was haunting, and as time goes by, her voice has grown from a mere whisper to a furious request. She's more impatient now. Now worried. She hasn't rested for a hundred years. My heart sank with grief.
'You can't let go of the vision. You promised you won't'
"I did. I am trying; it's not working—I was cut short by her response her voice rang louder in my mind.
'Try harder, Ziel.'
"I am… I am, I promise." Her voice started fleeting.
"Try harder, Ziel. Please." I panicked.
"Seraphine, wait…"
The door opened again, and Draco walked in. My back straightened with urgency as I noticed an extra presence.
"Hello, Lord Draziel." Draco said with his brow tightly knotted. It had me wondering if he heard me a while back. Or he was just naturally worried.
"Take a seat." With a bow he drew a sit and then pulled it closer to me. Draco was a soldier with war scars and traumatizing life experience. Once he had fought with a water dragon and narrowly missed having his head chopped off by a flaming ice sword. People said the sword scraped his head so neatly nothing grew on it again, which in turn left his head bare with no hair and so many scars.
He never talks about why his head had no hair. And everyone had made a story off of it.
"Kealith told me some infants died this morning."
"Yes, the kids who died were some of my offspring with the human female. They were… they were girls, my lord." His knotted brow loosened, and his face fell on his huge calloused palm. I saw his body shake right before he started to whimper.
More men had cried in the past year. I wasn't exactly phased by his breakdown. But it was understandable. I pulled a napkin, which history had proved to always come in handy, and I tossed it to him, and without looking up, he caught it.
That's a soldier for you.
"Make sure you are taking your drugs, and make sure everyone is taking their drugs. We need to make sure the sperm isn't the problem."
"I took them… the sun god didn't favor me. What atrocity have I committed to have lost a daughter?" He raised his head. "A daughter! I bought so much in preparation. I dreamt of seeing her face, and she died! The sun god took her away from me."
"Try again. It's expected."
His wailing and quivering continued till his pupils were barely visible and his voice had grown raspy and short.
"Aren't you trying for kids this season?" He asked.
My blood ran cold. "There is a higher chance that you would breed more kids. Kealith's children never died. Your blood wasn't poisoned."
I gave him a warning look before a sigh of distress. Suddenly, everyone seemed more focused on my reluctance to breed. "I am aware, Draco. I don't want to have kids, not until the wolves have been taken down. I need to be focused."
"We will be victorious, my lord. But having a child now will make our wait bearable, don't you think?"
"For you, not me." I hushed him with yet another hard stare. His eyes were burnt red, and he pursed his lips in fear.
"I am sorry for questioning you, my lord."
"Life is miserable, my lord. A life without a mate is empty. Until this project succeeds and the girls mature, which could take another two hundred years, none of us will know what it means to be mated."
"Time is on our side." I lied through my teeth; even I don't believe that. "We will have everything we wanted, we will have our nation back, stronger and better, I promise."
"I believe you, Lord Draziel, you are the strength of the entire capital. Thank you."
"Fine, leave, get some rest. A new season is coming." He dismissed himself after bowing, but soon another visitor walked through the door.
"My lord," she said, bowing low.
"Speak."
"The ladies are very healthy, I checked. And they are being ordered to take their bath at the moment, soon to be distributed." She said. I nodded without looking back.
"How is your husband?"
"He is fine. Thanks for the loan, I will do everything in my power to repay you."
"No need, you do enough."
"Thanks, my lord. Do you need any woman? They are all of different kinds. You just have to give me specifics, and I will bring them for you."
I had never slept with a human female. I had no plans to. But that tall woman at the gate—the memory of her stirred something unfamiliar.
Breeding was addictive. Even with humans. But I refused distractions pleasure was a gateway to distraction. My people needed me.
"No. Thank you. Leave."
She bowed and exited.
Yet the image of the stranger lingered.
I cursed myself for remembering her at all.