Chapter 331: Please grant me this great honor!
"The Palecoil were once feared across the Abyssal Depths for our ability to turn entire regions into uninhabitable wastelands. Our breath could strip the life from forests, our gaze could cloud the minds of even the most disciplined warriors." Erin explained.
Damon listened in silence, eyes on her massive coils shifting languidly through the venomous waters.
"Wow, you are very powerful indeed," he nodded. "I enjoyed learning about your bloodline and your background. Can you also tell me more about this world and why you are here?"
Her head dipped, but no words followed. After a pause, she finally hissed, "My lord, please forgive me. I am unable to answer that."
Damon exhaled softly. Another dead end? "Can you tell me why you can’t answer?"
"My lord... I would if I could. I simply do not remember."
His eyes narrowed. "Wait. What do you mean you don’t remember?"
Her movements below the surface were silent, yet he could feel the ripple of power each time she shifted. "Not forgotten in the way mortals do," she murmured. "It is as if the memories are locked away... sealed. I know there are pieces missing, but I cannot reach them."
"I remember many things," she continued, voice low and measured. "I remember our God, the Venom King. My great ancestors, my lineage, the meaning of my powers, and how to evolve. These truths live in my blood."
"But I do not remember my childhood. I do not remember my parents, nor where I was born. All I know is that I awoke here, in this mountain, and it became my prison. Beyond its borders, I grow weaker... until even dire wolves could end me."
Damon studied her, the horns atop her head catching the sickly glow of the pool’s light. "So you have the memories of your bloodline... but not of yourself. And this mountain isn’t just your home, it’s your chain."
"Yes," she said, coils sliding beneath the surface. "Out there, I am prey. In here... I am queen. And I do not know why."
"Wait. Does this change now that you are my bound follower?"
"I do not know yet, my lord."
Damon’s lips curved faintly. "So the leash the mountain has on you might not be as tight now."
"Perhaps. When you accepted me, I felt it, faint, but real. The borders no longer claw at me as they once did. Still, I cannot say if it is true freedom... or merely a longer chain. If you wish, my lord, we could test this."
"Go ahead."
She vanished in a curl of miasma, leaving only the sound of bubbling venom and distant dripping stone. A full minute passed before she returned, water hissing off her emerald scales.
"My lord!" she hissed, eyes bright with triumph. "I was not wrong. I can retain much of my strength no matter how far I go. I am not a prisoner of this mountain any longer. Thanks to you, I am already saved."
"That’s great news," Damon grinned. "Looks like binding you to me really did change things." He leaned back, letting the venomous sting bite into his skin. "From now on, you’re not just a queen in your mountain, you can be my Queen anywhere."
Her hiss this time was pure happiness.
Damon told her about the system message he had received. There was a good chance that more of her restrictions, even her missing pieces of memory, could return. The more he grows in power, the more her restrictions could be lifted.
The two of them continued talking when suddenly Erin sprang up, her coils sloshing around the miasmic waters. "My Lord, I know of a faster way!"
"Faster way for what?"
"To break the seals on my mind." Her coils tightened in the water, sending dark waves lapping against the stone. "If the bond we share truly erodes my chains, then there are ways that could tear away the rest. But they require... particular conditions."
"What conditions?" Dexter quickly asked. At this point, he was willing to try pretty much anything.
Erin then, out of nowhere, bowed deeply, deep enough that her voice was now a gurgled mess.
"I cannot understand you."
Erin then bobbed her head out and spoke hesitantly. "My Lord... please... would you please grant me the honor of planting your seed in me?"
"My lord, if you grant me this boon, then the bond we share will deepen, pushing against the deals inside my mind until they fracture. With each break, I will remember more, who I was, where I came from, and why I was imprisoned. And, my lord... I will grow stronger than I have ever been."
Damon now fully understood what she meant after giving himself a couple of seconds to let her words sink in. "Ah... so that’s what you meant," he mumbled. "Wait. What? You mean you want to actually become pregnant? Knocked up by me?"
"Yes, my lord. It would be my greatest honor and privilege to become a carrier of your lineage." Erin did not flinch beneath his directness. If anything, her eyes burned hotter, the slitted pupils narrowing with conviction. "For years to come, we could serve you and your family, protectors bound by both oath and blood."
Damon’s head was spinning. What the hell was she talking about?
"What are you talking about? If you become pregnant, then wouldn’t you be my family?"
"My lord?" Erin froze as though he had just uttered blasphemy. Her head reared back slightly, and for a moment, the coils beneath the surface stilled entirely. "My lord?" she whispered, as if unsure she’d heard him right.
Then, after a heartbeat, a hiss escaped her that was both startled and flustered. "My lord, I dare not presume such a thing. A lowly being like me could never dream of becoming your concubine."
"To share blood with you would not make me your equal," she said slowly, as though explaining something obvious. "It would make me your vessel, the bearer of a duty... nothing more. My loyalty, my strength, and any life born from me would belong wholly to you, not as kin, but as your property to command."
***
Mass release sponsored by Syphatrol