Doctor Mitchell told Sophia and I we would have to wait for Natasha to wake up on her own before he could assess the damage caused, but by his estimations, she would not sustain any lasting mental impediment from the amount and intensity of compulsion she was under.

I was on my way back to my room to rest and do some maintenance on my runes when I turned a corner, coming face to face with a ferocious and evil little creature.

“UNCLE TITANOS!” It screeched and charged at me.

“Uncle what now?” I asked, momentarily stunned, obviously a carefully executed plan by the little critter as she latched onto my side in a fierce hug.

Her Mother and the team of Custodes assigned to them rushed after her, her mother apologizing profusely.

“I’m sorry. She heard you were back and has been wandering the halls ever since we were told it was safe.” I looked down, seeing two big brown glistening eyes looking up at me with the most potent puppy dog expression I’d ever witnessed.

“You aren’t going to leave again, right?” The human shaped heart wrencher pleaded anxiously.

I glanced back towards her mother, who was shaking her head at her daughter’s antics. The Custodes stared at me with a mix of envy and concern.

“I think I’ll stick around for a while.” I let out along with an exasperated sigh.

“Great! See you later, Mr. Titanos.” Sasha chirped and ran off, her mother and Custodes trying to keep up while yelling for her to slow down, but being met with only giggles.

I brushed my hand over the shadow left behind by the little girl, sticking unnaturally against the wall.

“You’re doing a good job, buddy. Keep watching over her.” I whispered.

I’d heard how just before my return Mavis had sent a dozen Custodes to retrieve the Prime-heir to use her as leverage against Katya, only for half of them to come back pale and telling horrific tales of giant shadow wolves with teeth the length of shins.

Continuing down the hall, I stopped in front of my room, only to realize I didn’t have a keycard.

“I’m sure Katya won’t mind. I mean, Clan Eve is probably worth billions.” I thought as I pulled out my universal key and stabbed it through the door where the latch should be.

***

Waking up the next they I walked out of the bedroom to see Katya sitting on the antique-looking sofa reading through documents being handed to her by Sophia standing nearby with a leather-bound folder.

“I expect to be reimbursed for the door, Mr. Titanos.” She stated sternly, without looking up at me.

“That was already like that when I got here. Those spiteful bastards must have broken it before leaving.” I lied, convincing no one.

“Hmm, then let’s change the topic to something else. I hear that we’re all Yours now. Care to elaborate?” Katya asked, her tone changing the very air in the room. Sophia paused for a second before handing over the next document.

I looked at her for a couple of seconds before replying.

“Ours is the right, not by blood but by Might. To Conquer and go conquering, to take as freely as we would give.” I recited as if fact.

Katya stopped her reading and looked up at me, studying my face.

“And is that your intent, to conquer us as the council would?” Katya asked dangerously.

“No, I’ve already finished my conquest.” I replied. Calmly.

“You are all mine and have been, since the moment I set foot in that shipyard.” I continued.

“We don’t feel very Conquered Mr. Titanos.” Katya responded fiercely, locking eyes with me.

“Nor should you. Oppression and threats are indulgences of the inferior, a weakness to be looked down upon when used against you and yours.”

“You’ve never threatened or oppressed?” Katya challenged skeptically.

“I won’t lie. I’ve often enjoyed using a tyrant’s own tools against them.” I replied with a playful smile.

“So, what will you do if we defy you? Our supposed Conqueror.” Katya asked, a hard look on her face.

“That would imply that I’d demand anything from you, which I haven’t.” I said with a grin, for the first time keeping up with the intelligent matriarch.

“Then what difference does it make, conquered or not?” Sophia asked with a frown.

“What difference indeed. Did you ever consider that maybe it is less Conscious Choice and more Force of Instinct?” I suggested, looking at her.

“And that just as your council’s methods are flawed, so too are their reasonings?” I looked back to Katya.

“They seek to control and dominate because of feelings of inferiority and fear. Why would my actions ever mirror theirs?”

“So then, Mr. Titanos, what is your goal?” Katya asked, folding her hands on her lap, seeming more relaxed. Maybe even satisfied with my explanation.

“Why do all this?” she continued, opening her arms to indicate everything that had happened.

“This was instinct guiding me. My own goals and desires are quite mundane, really. I want to find a place I can belong and be happy. I want to settle down and one day continue my line like you all do, though that will be a challenge in and of itself.” I chuckled wistfully.

“Oh? Are we to be on the lookout for a Titaness?” Katya joked with a smirk, some of the tension leaving the room.

I sighed and looked at her with humorously before saying.

“Aren’t I trouble enough?”

“But no, race is of no importance. There are other more abstract requirements, though.” I replied.

Katya laughed softly.

“Surely race would be a requirement, just as how a reborn Sentire cannot bear or sire a child, or are you saying we should expect a new heir soon?” Katya quipped, sharing a smile with Sophia at the preposterous idea.

“No, of course not. I always kept my emotions under control when we were together. Focusing only on the physical.” I replied.

Katya and Sophia stopped and stared at me like something clicked. Katya was the first one to ask.

“Wait, are you saying that you could have fathered a child with Natasha or Sophia?” She asked in astonishment.

Not sensing the mood at all or the intensity of the looks they were giving me, I explained while looking over the tray with food for something to eat.

“Technically, the Titan needs to be instinctively in love at that moment. The partner just has to want a child.” I answered, as I started raiding the food cart.

“Close enough to interbreed normally with humans?” Katya asked carefully.

“Sure, the child will inherit the mother’s race but carry a lot of traits from the father. In case of vampires, I’d guess it’s their base race with a few additives, so mostly human.” I explained.

“Awakening as a Titan is a whole mess in and of itself. Some never do.” I Said, finally looking back and seeing their troubled expressions.

“What?” I asked, confused and with my mouth full. Sophia stood frozen and Katya looked grimly at me.

“Do you have any idea what would happen if this got out?” Katya asked gravely.

“If clans without heirs learned that after centuries, if not millennia of searching, there was a way to revive a clan?” She continued in utter disbelief.

“They would hunt you down and fight each other to death to get you.” Katya said with an exasperated sigh.

“Dissection wouldn’t be out of the question either.” She continued.

“Natasha said the same thing, but dissection wouldn’t yield much. As you’ve seen with my blood, I’m quite human.” I said, a little worried.

“Wait, Natasha knew of this?” Sophia finally broke out of her stupor and asked, her face a mess of complicated emotions.

“I honestly thought she’d told them, but I guess not. Well, I had to tell them eventually, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.” I thought. Keeping my thoughts to myself.

“What about being compelled to be in love?” Katya inquired after glancing towards Sophia, having a small meltdown.

“My instinct doesn’t react all that well to compulsion, as you’ll recall.” I replied as Katya nodded.

“Listen, is this going to be a problem moving forward?” I asked seriously.

“Not all, although I do have quite a few young ladies I’d like to introduce you to now. More so than before.” Katya responded, sounding like she wasn’t entirely joking.

I shook my head, laughing at her obvious attempt as she flashed me a wily smile.

***

Katya and Sophia walked back to Katya’s office in silence.

“Full of surprises, that one. One after the other.” Katya muttered.

“What do we do about the council?” Sophia asked, avoiding the topic.

Katya considered something for a moment before a fiendish, diabolical smile crossed her face. She gripped Sophia’s wrist and shared her thoughts, insuring privacy.

“His actions until now have been because he believes us to be, in a sense, his. Following that logic, what we’ve had is what we’ll continue to get. So why not make him earn his regency a little?” Katya thought.

“You can’t be serious.” Sophia slowly understanding Katya’s plans.

“Of course, we’ll aid him in any way possible, but I believe it is the most prudent path toward the future.” Katya said.

“Send word to the other clans and the council. The House of Titans has absorbed clan Eve as a vassal clan, cutting all our ties to the old world.”

“This is going to be interesting.” Katya thought.

***

Three weeks went by in a flash, and a lot of things happened during that time.

Katya had told me she would like to inform the council that Clan Eve had been conquered and brought under The House of Titans but warned me that this would open me up to reprisals and attacks from both the council and anyone else with a reason to start something. Fine by me. I’d be ready for them.

Clan Eve had been left in a weakened state in the wake of Mavis’s visit. Branch families that had stood back or openly helped Mavis were forcibly kicked out of the Clan with little more than the clothes on their backs, while those who stood with Clan Eve during this time were brought closer. A trust having been built.

A production plan had been completed for the Rings of Protection, along with plans for an auction not long after the estimated completion date.

However, with my workshop demolished and paved over, I needed somewhere else to set up shop for production. Luckily, Katya had already made arrangements to remedy that situation.

At the highest level of the lead shielded bunker underneath the Tower, was an old supply warehouse. After the completion of the deeper levels and with the introduction of more advanced technologies, the warehouse had stood unused for almost a decade.

It was a match made in heaven. Walls lined with giant ventilation shafts meant to allow motorized vehicles to drive down from the underground multi-level parking garage under the Tower. Now it helped me air out the place when forging.

Plus, any electrical interference or bursts of energy caused by my forging would be stopped by the lead and copper-mesh concrete walls and ceiling.

Clan Eve was very eager for me to begin. I had barely started setting everything up before they began sending down pallets of precious metals.

It had taken me over a week just refining, casting and engraving the Ring-forge. It was slow and tedious work, but it would pay off in the long run. Making enchanted rings was a complicated and time-consuming process. That little material brimming with that much power had to be perfect, or it would just be dangerous.

After three weeks of not leaving the workshop, I received my first surprise visit from the newly recovered Natasha.

Which led to my current situation.

“You know, you look very impressive standing there hammering away all day.” Natasha said suggestively from my hammock. One slender long leg lazily dangling over the edge.

“Please stop, you’re breaking my concentration.” I pleaded with a smile, stifling a laugh.

“I’m serious. The way you swing that tool really gives a girl the shivers.” She continued faking a shudder while beaming an impish smile.

I put down the hammer and sat down on a nearby bench, laughing lightly. Natasha perked up from the hammock, looking concerned, as if she’d noticed something.

“What the hell is wrong with you Aleks? Get your shit together.” I scolded privately while clenching a shaking hand.

“Aleks, what’s wrong?” Natasha asked worriedly, suddenly standing in front of me, having crossed the workshop silently and instantaneously.

“Nothing’s wrong.” I said, looking up at her with a smile.

“Please don’t do that. Don’t pretend.” Natasha said as she looked slightly hurt.

“Natasha, I’m fine. I’m just feeling a little tired.” I said, getting up and walking over to a table with a small chest.

“I’ve finished Sixty-two rings so far,” I said, changing the subject and opening the chest, letting her get a look.

She frowned unhappily but didn’t push any further, instead walking forward to take a look at the intricately runed rings arranged in neat rows on the velvety material inside the chest.

“Some of them are a darker color that the rest.” She stated, concerned.

“Twenty-one, to be exact. They are for in-house use, clan heirs only.” I replied.

“Why? Do they do something special?”

“Oh yeah. They’re the premium versions, and they will make quite the impression on any moron stupid enough to try something.” I answered proudly, with an evil grin.

I closed the small chest and handed it to her, and walked back to my forge to continue. She apprehensively got into the elevator and left and with her, my calm.

Moments after the elevator doors closed, the lights dimmed, and the whispers returned, slowly building until they became a deafening cacophony of voices threatening to overwhelm me.

I continued striking the shimmering energy covering the forge, willing the power to do as I command with every strike, wild sparks and arcs of energy making short-lived protests before being forced back into line.

But the whispers continued to claw at me. Images were forced to the forefront of my mind with every strike.

Natasha crucified in her cell.

Sophia’s pained expression as she held the weakened light of her life in her arms.

I saw an old Titan sitting on a rock between worlds, his body starved and weak, but his eyes were wild with madness and power.

His words echoed with a fading sanity.

“I loved her. I tied my life to hers willingly, and they took her from me, killing that part of me. And in my rage and grief, I set a continent ablaze. And now, here I sit. On a lonely rock between worlds, knowing that if I returned, I would leave only destruction in my wake. That is our curse, Boy. We will always be the survivors, the ones left behind. One day there will be nothing left of you-” His eyes took on a manic glee “-Nothing left, like me.”

I shook my head roughly, cold sweat hitting the scorching metal, letting out angry hisses of steam. But I couldn’t dislodge my thoughts and emotions that easily.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Get your shit together already.” I repeated angrily to myself.