The tall flame haired and slightly shorter blue haired beauties continued their conversation in a carefree tone as they moved toward the waiting room where Easol had told her latest group to wait.

“… It’s been six weeks child. There will be a harem. This is the way of great men. I would like for you to be in it. To be the first concubine, to stand at Jace’s elbow and lend your consul, and yes to share his bed.” Verna gave up maneuvering the girl and laid her cards on the table.

“I will not. Wait. IS THAT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT?!!”

Verna winced, then covered it quickly, she was wondering how long it would take the Fairy girl to realize her purpose with all the tasks she had been setting her on.

“Oh gods above! You’ve had me out looking day after day for remarkable women to form a harem for Jace? Tell me all the other tasks weren’t for this purpose as well. What was that statue for?” Easol looked livid. Her outrage seemed rather funny to Verna.

“Yes, the statue was to ADVERTIZE his appearance to the women of the city.”

“And the bards?”

“To spread the word that the king was looking for a new harem.”

“The Cults?”

“To create a grass roots level adoration for him, and yes to find beautiful women who want to serve their new God King.” Verna was speaking in a calm and serious tone. It seemed pretty clear to her how every step she had taken was well considered and planned out. Furthermore, all these things had ancillary benefits of cementing his rule.

“Is that all we’ve been doing for the past six weeks? Trying to build a harem for this human? Gods! My mother always warned me never to be drawn into a kindred’s schemes. ‘They’re crazy and waste time on foolishness’ she said. How right she was.”

Verna gave her a serious look feeling a little bit irked at this silly girl and her brainless mother, “Crazy? Waste of time? How dare your mother categorize my people in this way? Furthermore, how dare you! We’ve put a lot of time and effort into laying the foundation for that man’s Harem. This is vital for a well-run kingdom. Have you not seen what happens in kingdoms where the King is unhappy?”

Verna saw Easol get red in the face, it was such a shame this girl had no interest in men, she would have made an excellent plaything for Jace, considering how she was cute even when she was livid, and knowing the next words to come from the irate fairy were going to be mostly pointless, started tuning the fairy out as she thought about how to deal with Jaenin.

“Nana, let me tell this to you straight. I’m not going to help you any further to build a harem for that man”

“But you’ll stay if the work is useful yes?” Verna countered absentmindedly

Easol visibly hesitated, “Yes”

“Well building a harem is useful. We don’t need an angry, upset or bored king here. Furthermore did you not think about what it would mean if you lead this harem? You would be surrounded by beautiful girls, all the time.” Verna dangled the largest carrot she could think of out in front of Easol’s face.

“Human girls” Easol sounded a bit less heated. Verna knew she was getting close with this tactic.

“Yes, human girls.”

“Where is your place in all of this?”

Verna paused a moment. “I’ll be an official wife. Queen perhaps. Or just another women in the harem, this is up to Jace.”

Easol sighed, “My mother was right. I can’t believe I’m actually listening to this.”

She felt she almost had the child, a little more of a push in the right direction was needed. Of course, the girl would have to throw her heart into this plan for it to succeed, Jace, looked for a lot more than a pretty girl. Of course, without Easol, Verna would have to find another way to look for potential girls for this harem, so winning her to the plan was vital, no matter how headache inducing. Worse she was finding little worth keeping in the dreck Easol kept bringing her, though considering how humans treated women, she suspected she might have to take some potential beauties under her wing and train them up over a period of years to be worthy of Jace.

Finding good playthings for Jace was proving troubling.

Verna had allowed Easol to completely distract by her, sidetracking her from thoughts about Jaenin as she wandered into the waiting room. She came to a halt, sure enough much to her chagrin the Jaenin that Easol found was the Jaenin she feared. Jaenin in a dress was still Jaenin. Verna started at him/her for a long moment then decided to find out what Jaenin’s game was immediately.

With a flurry of black smoke, Verna vanished from where she was standing, the world stretching around her has she arrived behind Jaenin, striking out with her fist, a blow strong enough to cave in the skull of a human with ease.

Easol’s heart caught in her throat as Verna teleported herself across the room and launched a vicious attack at this Jaenin, more so since she actually seemed serious about killing this starving human. Verna’s form vanished and appeared behind Jaenin, her hands empty but with the strength of a kindred this wasn’t a serious problem as she swung hard at Jaenin’s head. Easol couldn’t help screaming inside her heart “Didn’t you tell to treat this Jaenin like he was an enraged dragon? Who would attack an enraged dragon?”

Jaenin barely moved, and simply let Verna hit her, and a strange thing occurred. The fist sank into this Jaenin’s head as if her head was made of stew. Staring at the strange sight of Verna with her fist embedded into the half destroyed head of Jaenin, her jaw dropped as Jaenin spoke as if the first was a trifling matter.

“Verna, it’s been how long now? Almost 50 years and this is how you say high to a good friend?”

“Jaenin, since when were we good friends?” Verna’s reply came quickly, as the others Easol selected quickly fled to the side of the room, cowering in fear. Considering the fact there was some enraged kindred who just put her fist through the head of a creature which apparently wasn’t mortal in the normal sense Eason judged their reaction to be wise in the extreme and retreated with them.

Jace felt the approach of the entity through the palace; He had left the cube and released the pulse and despite the troubling aura, he had hurried to use the privy, his ill stomach acting up, though of course nothing had come out. He had been terribly constipated for several days despite the pain in his guts. One of the blessings about getting the cisterns and sewers working, AND becoming the king of this pile of trash was he didn’t have to use a chamber pot, furthermore the privy was restricted for his use and therefor clean.

Buckling his pants back on he sighed as he noted his belt was now being belted a whole notch smaller then when he came. His head swam as he straightened and started to walk toward the door, when he felt that horrid nerve pain, and now a new crawling sensation under his skin as the world swam in his vision. He had the uncontrollable urge to vomit so he just made it back to the bowl in time to throw up.

He hadn’t eaten anything in days, so he was surprised to see the vomit was almost a shit colored brown, and thick. The vomit basically spewed out of his mouth uncontrollably, as his sides cramped. His vision blurred as he felt the stabbing feeling grow greater and the vomiting went on and on.

He couldn’t help breaking out in a cold sweat, or at least he thought it was a sweat, until, in between vomiting bouts, when he wiped his brow he saw something black smeared on his hand. He was trembling uncontrollably and though he had ignored his physical condition for a while, now even the most intractable person would have no other conclusion to make then to admit, something was critically wrong.

Verna was walking next to Jaenin knowing she could do nothing if Jaenin wish to slaughter everyone in the city, let alone stop him from killing Jace. The part she couldn’t figure out though, was why Jaenin was looking for Jace in particular. Well, that wasn’t true, she could think of several reasons why Jaenin might be there. Starting with the celestial body missing from the sky, and rounding out to the removal of the curse. But she couldn’t figure out why Jaenin would care enough about either of those events to come seek Jace out.

Jaenin was a strange existence, old even by a dragon’s reckoning, he/it popped up from time to time in old records dating back from prior to the grey king and the gods. If he was the last of his kind, or the only one of its kind no one knew. Jaenin wasn’t particularly reclusive, just the quieter and less pivotal a moment might be the more likely it was to cross his path. Verna herself had met him once, when she was a younger woman, before meeting her husband, she had met him by chance and picked a fight with him. It was a humiliating memory. Made more so because Jaenin dragged her back to her tribe and before most of the tribe, including the patriarch, and humiliatingly spanked to the roaring laughter of the tribe. It was an experience made no better when she learned who this Jaenin was. The patriarch, the Dragon King himself, told her she must be blessed to survive and to actualize that blessing by becoming a priestess.

Striding alongside Jaenin, she wondered about the dress, and about the charade. Jaenin clearly remembered her, he/it could have entered the keep without the game. Even if Easol never said anything about him she would have discovered his infiltration the moment she saw him. There was no real reason to do any of this.

“Does this Jace have any male friends?” Jaenin spoke as they moved through the keep.

“Not really. Frankly he doesn’t really have any friends, except, perhaps me.” Verna’s answer came quickly.

“A man needs male friends. I wonder what it is that is keeping him from making them. Is he not sociable?” Jaenin kept speaking as he was walking.

“He’s not particularly withdrawn, or he wasn’t. This is not his native tongue, but he speaks it clearly…” She trailed off not sure why she was talking to Jaenin about Jace, feeling a bit conflicted.

“But?” Jaenin spoke quietly, as his slowed his pace. Verna couldn’t figure why Jaenin was eyeing the privy. To her surprise, he stopped directly across from it, and was watching the door intently; the guards outside it were strange, and Verna pondered the meaning briefly before answering.

“He has grown more withdrawn recently.” Verna concluded the thought, and then cursed at herself for speaking freely like this. She was beginning to suspect Jaenin was using some sort of mental magic upon her.

“You are sleeping with him correct? I can smell that you have chosen a mate.”

“Yes” The quick answer that escaped her lips sparked her rage as she now knew for certain he was using some sort of mind magic on her.

“Your kind mates for life usually. I thought you were married before. Ahhh, even a child and you never chose him as your mate? Was he not strong enough? The great beauty Verna G’Tharon, marrying a weaker male? How did this happen? I bet half the men in your tribe were crying tears of blood at the sight”

The cruel question and the lewd smile on Jaedin’s face was like adding gas to a fire, as her rage soared. But it was impossible to resist speaking in the face of his questions and to her horror her mouth moved and said words she never would have admitted even in her heart, “It was a mistake, I married a man who I felt I loved, not one who won me with his strength. I thought my people’s traditions were rubbish, and gave no credit to my parents and elder’s wisdom.” She never wanted to kill someone as much as she wanted to kill Jaenin right at this moment, but she found she couldn’t even lift a finger against this ‘thing’. It was as if she was a passenger in her own body, the realization made her feel fully violated.

Jaenin lost his cruel smile and glanced at the door behind him then spoke quietly in an almost taunting tone. “That was the first time you actually seriously wanted to kill me girl. I would have thought you would have learned your lesson last time. Even the great king watched me warm your bottom, laughing. It was shapely too. Oh, it still is.” He paused as if savoring her struggle, shame and humiliation, then spoke again, “Let’s play a game. You’re going to come with me of your own free will. We will speak with this Jace, and when I ask you something, you answer honestly before this Jace. No matter what the question. I will no longer compel your tongue or body. If you can do this, I will not destroy this Jace’s, body and soul, while making you watch. Don’t over think your answers when I ask you girl, I only want your complete honesty. Understood?”

Verna felt the “hold” he had over her vanish. Staring murder at Jaenin, she nodded reluctantly. Her rage and shame warring within her. She knew Jaenin could be maddening, but this was a violation. Her fear for what he planned for the rest of the day grew. She was so wrapped up in her anger she actually missed Jaenin turning into a boy in front of her. The clothing and hair changed, what was once a dress turned into a tunic and pants. His hair shortened, and now he looked like the spitting image of the man she met once upon a time.

“Come Verna,” his overall change in appearance almost threw her for as bad a loop as him walking into the privy.

Verna followed behind him cautiously, uncertain of why, only after entering the privy she suddenly heard some faint desperate panting. Her nose crinkled, she thought she knew that smell. Pushing past Jaenin, she rushed around the corner and found Jace on his hands and knees, something that looked like black blood oozing out of his skin, his eyes bloodshot staring into space as he struggled to breath. He was coughing uncontrollably.

“Poison!” Verna shouted, and then started channeling healing magic into Jace as she placed her hand on his forehead. She felt her palm go numb and prickly where she touched the black fluid or blood. Her channeled power dissolving as it touched Jace, just like all wizard’s magic did when touching a sorcerer. Her breath caught in her throat at that moment. Panic rose up, threatening to overwhelm her. As she felt the panic dissolve all her rage she only now realized how much this man had started to mean to her, now she was faced with the prospect of losing him.