Ch. 20: Getting Out of Hand

Gasps could be heard all around the table from my stunning declaration. Little Iren's mouth hung open so wide, I was tempted to bonk him on the head just to get rid that stupid expression. Devin appeared shocked and angry at the same time. Not sure why he'd be angry though, it's not like I was doing anything to make him mad. Baymun on the other hand didn't appear surprised at all. He nonchalantly asked, "And why would you getting married to a disobedient breeder make her less of a nuisance?"

"Well obviously since she's a spy, we can't allow her to leave our city with valuable information. I was thinking of having her killed, but it is about time that I settled down and began contributing to our race's glorious bloodline. Therefore, marrying her would be killing two birds with one stone. I could have a sufficient breeder and she would be contained here in our city. She seems to be a bit of a talker, but once we have received enough information from her I could have her tongue removed. Besides - we need strong bloodlines anyway. The woman seems to be adequate enough." I didn't want to tell him that I couldn't stop thinking of her. Something about her just kept driving me mad - I had to have her. I only hoped that my excuses would be convincing enough so he wouldn't realize my main goal is to be married in order to eventually achieve the title of King.

Baymun raised his eyebrow. "Adequate? Tell me, how could she possibly be adequate?"

"She's more than adequate brother! She's like the best person I've ever seen!" Iren couldn't take it anymore and began talking non-stop, "She's such a strong, different type of woman - not at all like the breeders. And she's sooooo cool!"

"How would you know if she's cool?" I asked confused.

Iren dropped his gaze for a moment and hurriedly said, "I mean she looked so cool in the arena yesterday." Turning his attention back to Baymun, Iren began to get even more animated and lively, "Brother you should have seen it! All the other guys had huge, massive weapons and were at least twice as tall as she was but she still won! The way she dodged and swerved - she only had to kill one man, can you believe it?! She let the other guys do the work for her! She was truly god-like."

Baymun scoffed a little, shaking his head. "God-like? While I would love to believe your detailed impression little brother, I can't help but wonder if you may be confusing her dodging for avoidance. Perhaps this woman was nothing more than afraid and incredibly lucky."

Devin faintly spoke up, "No brother, she definitely knows how to fight and . . . I've never met a woman so fearless . . ." his voice trailed off as Iren started bursting from the seems again, "Devin's right! She showed no fear when she spoke to brother Derrick. She called him all sorts of insulting things - even when he said he'd have her killed!" A huge smile was plastered on Iren's face, "She even talked about other things, telling Derrick that our empire could be better - no, wait she said it deserved better, right? Anyway - she was just so awesome the whole time. A person like that would definitely raise strong warriors don't you think?"

This was getting a little out of hand. I didn't need him telling Baymun and reminding the delegates about how much she insulted me, making me look like an inadequate leader. 'Why can't that stupid little brat shut up?'

"If you took away the insults and obvious prejudice of our empire, the woman actually had quite a few interesting ideas about change. She even mentioned that we were wasting our true potential . . . In a completely intellectual aspect, her ideas might be worth listening to." Devin appeared lost in his own mind-scape, like he typically does when he's thinking up a new potion recipe. I never could quite understand how my dull brother's mind works. 'Why would he even care about what she had to say?' She was nothing but a woman - a beautiful woman, but still a woman. They didn't have ideas - and if they did it definitely wasn't any good ones. The only persons allowed to have good thoughts were leaders - MALE leaders like myself.

"Hmm, that's rather interesting Devin. Here she comes now, perhaps we can ask her some more on these new ideas." Baymun suggested. I turned to look and couldn't help but admire what I saw. Even though the dress wasn't nearly as revealing as the previous one (and I had meticulously chosen that first dress too) she still looked incredibly alluring. She wore an off the shoulder green floor length dress with flared sleeves. The golden threading enhanced her golden undertones and the green from the material drew my attention to her beautiful eyes. For a moment I was lost there, if not for the fact my mood-killing little brother started talking, "Ezran! You're back. Here, sit by Derrick while older brother Baymun asks you some questions."

I looked at the delegates at the other end of the table. They appeared lost in their own conversations, but I was afraid they would begin listening to ours. Hopefully nothing will come up that might change their loyalty to me. I knew they would probably not be happy if this woman started spouting off nonsense about equality or some other garbage. They were already a little discontent that I didn't choose to strengthen our agreement by my marrying their offered breeders. They just didn't understand that I'd already made my decision on Ezran - they would just have to be satisfied with their women only being breeders and nothing more, no title would go to them. That title was Ezran's alone. I was going to make sure that Ezran wouldn't be touched by any other man, and marriage was the only way to ensure that. Breeders could be swapped as needed to release frustrations within the palace. They were tools of course. And if they were to get pregnant, the offspring would be used to assist the empire when they came of age. A married woman's children would be designated for the crown since the only ones who could marry were the royals anyway. I had to have Ezran be that woman - mine alone for all of eternity. She was like an unbroken magnificent horse I just had to tame and show off to the world.

Ezran sat down beside me, bettering my mood instantly. I gave off a dazzling smile. 'Surely a few questions wouldn't hurt?'

"So I hear you have a few ideas. When you walked out earlier you mentioned that Derrick was a benevolent King - where would that fantastic idea come from, hmmm?"

Instantly my smile froze and my heart plummeted to my stomach. I'm so dead.