“You’re forgetting something,” Gordon said, still being manipulated by the thrall beside him.

“Hm?”

“The king found out about your plans. Either someone was an idiot or you’ve got a traitor in your midst.” Invisible hands pulled his lips into a cocky smile. “My family has a reputation for recklessly invading people’s minds. You want me to hunt down this weasel.”

Luke raised a hand. “Actually, no. We’re already handling that.”

“Whoever you’ve got, I’m better.”

“Maybe, but I don’t trust you. You haven’t even agreed to my original offer.” The older summoner glared at him. “Baby steps, Gordon. I may be one of the calmer members of my family but it is by no means easy for me to take the hand of a Grimoire, no matter what fancy reforms he makes.”

“Hmph.” Gordon inwardly cursed as his hand was raised. “There isn’t much choice, is there? We have an alliance.”

Luke reached across the table to shake his hand, smiling faintly. “Two of the oldest summoning families locked in a bitter rivalry for generations now joining hands. As I said, history.”

You’re a little late. Our families are already cooperating, in the loosest sense of the word. He had to wonder how bad the relationship between Lou and her father was that she hadn’t bothered to tell him that she’d subjugated their enemies. It would have made this whole trip redundant, as she could have simply ordered him to cooperate with her father and whoever Everett was.

Then, a truly terrible thought hit him. These people wanted his thralls to command the drakkon based off the assumption he controlled the thralls. One he didn’t fault them for. Contracts were absolute and who had ever heard of a Grimoire, now Mason, losing control of his succubus? If he weren’t living it, he’d never believe it. And he never forgot the cause of the problem the way Fen glorified that deviant Lou. Fen controlled him but Lou controlled her, which ultimately meant she would control a drakkon.

As if enough power hasn’t fallen into that woman’s hands.

Saints protect them, Gordon couldn’t decide if it was better or worse than the succubi controlling it.

“And we all skip off into a happy future,” Jackal grumbled. He downed the remnants of his glass and poured a refill. He raised his cup, sloshing some of the amber liquid over the side. “To Gordon Grimoire, who no doubt is turning in his early grave. He once said, as long as the Grimoires lived, he’d see us fall. Truer words never spoken.”

“Really, brother?” Luke sighed.

“Come on, Junior. A toast to the last Grimoire.”

Gordon felt the invisible hold on his body ease. Ah, she’s letting me handle this. He felt a moment of gratitude, which was quickly overwhelmed by a wave of disgust for feeling anything but hate for his tormentor.

He raised his neglected drink. “To the last Grimoire.” He took a moment to relish the Tome brothers’ surprise. Then he hurled the glass at Jackal’s face.

“Fuck!” the patriarch shouted as he pitched to the side, one hand going to his face. Gordon grinned savagely as he watched the man’s fingers hover over the shards of glass embedded in his skin, blood dripping down his face in thin rivulets and staining the white collar of his shirt.

“…I will admit he deserved that but please don’t escalate. I don’t want to make history twice by forming the shortest alliance in the world.”

“Little bastard!” Jackal stumbled to his feet, propping himself up against the far wall. “I’ll have your head!” he snarled.

“Don’t work yourself up, brother, or the blood will flow faster,” Luke said dryly. “You got what you asked for. Now, are you going to be sensible and ask the man to heal you or—"

“Get this little asshole out of my house!” the elder Tome roared.

“As expected. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave, Gordon, before my brother manages to do something else he’ll regret.” Luke stood from his chair. “We’ll be in touch with more details,” he said as he moved toward Jackal.

With a huff, Gordon stomped away. The last thing he heard as the dining room door closed was the two brothers arguing. A part of him wanted to linger, to grasp a few more details, but Fen’s mental prodding kept him moving.

[Quickly, pet. We’ve much to do.]

With Fen hurrying him, they were soon on their carriage and riding into the night. Gordon’s gut clenched with dread as he watched the succubus across from him practically bounce in excitement. “What’s gotten into you?” he grumbled.

“Master looked very handsome tonight~” [Shush. Someone is tailing us.]

You think they can hear us? he thought, while his mouth was forced to say, “Aren’t I handsome every night? Hmph. It was just showing a fool his place.”

“As you say~” [Perhaps. Perhaps not. There is no need to take unnecessary risks like fools. This is far too important. Ah~ So much to do. Lady Geneva is going to love this.]

What are you getting all excited for? It’s just a drakkon. And they plan on keeping the summoner with them. A move Gordon respected them for, a little. He still thought they were insane summoning the damn thing in the first place and he doubted it was just to serve as a decoy.

He very much doubted the king would be unhappy if they didn’t throw a hill-sized flying snake at him. No, these summoners wanted to make a point. If anything, the more radical members had simply used the situation to convince the more reluctant of their group.

[People always underestimate us. Jackal had two artifacts, one to detect the use of the mental affinity and the other to shield him from mental intrusion. I assume the rest had similar things. While intrusion is the most common application of the mental affinity, there exists many more. For example~ You are aware that people project their thoughts?]

It’s in the family’s records about thralls. Though if asked for details, Gordon wouldn’t have an answer.

[It’s nothing remarkable. Just as the sun projects heat, the mind projects your thoughts. Everyone can sense it to some degree. Such as the times you’ve turned around to find someone staring at you. Or your instincts have warned you off another. It is simply you subconsciously reacting to their thoughts. It’s an ability that can be trained even without the mental affinity.]

Hm. What does that have to do with you looking so smug with yourself?

The thrall smiled wider. [They sought to keep me out of their minds but did nothing to quiet themselves. So, rather than break down the walls shielding their minds, I made myself more receptive to their ‘thought projections’ we’ll call them. It is far less accurate than reading them directly but between the four, I have a very good picture of why they truly want you. Or us, should I say.]

And?

[It’s quite remarkable. Their plan was meant to take place over decades. You see, the summoners don’t want one drakkon. They want an army of them.]

Impossible. It’s pushing it to believe that you all can subdue one, even working together. Two? Five? We’re all dead, without a doubt.

The thrall giggled. [Ah, but humans have already tamed wild beasts and monsters. They even tamed each other, once upon a time, before they banded together against the other races. A method they hope to use again.]

What?

[You don’t want to guess, pet? I’ll give you a reward if you get it right~]

Gordon was unsettled by what the thrall might consider a ‘reward’ but his mind whirled as he sought the answer. He didn’t know what she meant by taming men, except perhaps through gold, but when it came to beasts, he had witnessed a little as a boy when he thought to have a monster for a pet.

His father had taken him to a monster stable but rather than receiving his new companion, it became another lesson. Monsters were as dangerous as elementals. One mistake could mean your life and the lives of others. Tamers captured them young and raised them strictly, but even then, it was difficult to break their natural instin—

He paled as a thought came to him. We tame monsters by taking the children. They…they want drakkon children?

[Exactly! Good boy~ But your answer is a little lacking.]

But…but that’s impossible! A drakkon child has never answered a summons! He could count the number of species whose adolescents could be summoned on one hand. Whatever process they went through to answer inter-realm calls was restricted to adulthood for the overwhelming majority.

[And that is why—]

Gordon would have cursed, and possibly slammed his head against the wall of the carriage, if he had control of his body. Instead, his anger was contained to his mind, where he released a violent stream of harsh words. That’s why they want you! Succubi are the easiest summons to contract with both the physical affinity and the mental affinity! They want you to birth the damn things!

[Father, more likely. It requires changing a bit too much of ourselves to be able to deliver a drakkon’s eggs. Not to insult your gender but females generally have the more complicated reproduction organs across many species.

[It doesn’t end at fathering the children. They want us to use the mental affinity to condition them. An adult drakkon at the height of their power may be hard to control but a child growing up in our clutches?] She trailed off into mental laughter.

Across from her, Gordon trembled. Those idiots! Those fucking idiots! They’re giving the creatures a fucking army! Why? Why can no one see what they’re doing? Why is no one stopping this? Are they really that good? Are we truly that incompetent? The king is worried about the equivalent of goblin bandits while these creatures are posed to take over the world! Or at least Harvest.

He doubted they would have their run of the world. If no one else could stop them, there were the dragons. Humans had few accounts of the world’s sovereigns but it was clear that a conflict amongst them had shattered the continent where they lived, rendering the land into the smattering of islands known as the Dragon Isles. The fleeing lesser draconids had attacked other species and forced them from their homes, setting off the Great War. That kind of power couldn’t be toppled with mere schemes.

Ah. So, it is us, he thought, defeated. We are that weak, that insignificant. There are thousands and thousands of races across the realms. What does fate care if we are to perish? It could be worse. The succubi don’t seem to want to exterminate us. And Lou won’t let them do anything truly heinous. Whatever her faults, she has a conscience. Can’t believe the future of humanity rests on the goodwill of that deviant.

Gordon felt a bit of regret. Just like his father, he had made it his mission to torment the Tome family, namely Lou as they were close in age. He made sure to poison their peers against her, making them the objects of ridicule if they refused. He insulted her relentlessly. Once, his father had suggested an engagement between them. At the next banquet he attended, he loudly and graphically declared how he would rather bed all manner of farm animals than be married to her.

All the while, Lou stood beside her frowning father, hands balled in the hem of her dress. She never cried, not once. It didn’t matter if he threw sticky foods in her hair or shoved her to the ground. She simply stared at him with cold, hateful eyes until her father dragged her away.

He didn’t know what Lou did to sway the loyalty of the succubi but it had to be drastic. She undoubtedly crossed several ethical lines to appeal to the cruel creatures. Lines she may not have been able to cross if he hadn’t done everything in his power to tear her down. Or, if this was her fate, a little kindness when they were children might have left her a kinder woman. Saints knew he expected little mercy, if any, from the woman she grew into.

[You’re right to feel regret,] Fen mocked. [We will gift this world to her and she will gift herself to us. Ah~ I only wish I could be there to give the news personally.]