Chapter 285 – Last Chance

*** Elora ***

"Enough of that, daughter. I won't have you talking to me like that after you won us a war."

"Yes, Your-"

A well-placed slap shuts me up; the Queen is tired of her useless daughter already. Her concubine comforts me for a second before pulling me along with them to a meeting room. Inside, the Kitsune Queen is already lounging in the corner, her tails flowing behind her. Their size and motion hide the total count, but she clearly has more than Yuki.

"Take a seat, Elora," the Queen says. "This Queendom has made a mistake. It was a clear and terrible mistake, and for that, I am sorry. I am also sorry for the divorce, but with the events that led to it, I do not completely blame you. I can see you are hurting yourself more than I ever could, so I will leave it at that. Now, to the opportunity I was talking about for you to get lady Alzi back. Please, take a seat."

"As you wish," I say. What could get me back a partner like Alzi?

"I have a deal with the Kitsune, and it extends to Alzi's Mother and lovers. The deal is the one I brought up at the party. If, and I have full confidence they will, Yuki comes back with the Ashmark family head and husband, then they are to marry you. Yuki, Nakuma, Victoria, Armirynth, Ilka, Akhae, Kelly, and Mai. The deal was more of an enforcement for you to marry them, but it does technically go the other way as well. Now, we need to give up a lot to make it come true, and Queen Kiyomi here is also offering more. She is worried that Yuki messed up too much as well. This is something we need to be careful with. If Alzi is against it too strongly, we'll give up on it and just convince her to live on the castle grounds for now. You understand what your position would be in the new harem, correct? All of you?"

"Anything you need."

"ELORA! I have never shown you the love you deserve, and for that, I am a failure and very sorry. Right now, I am working really hard to help you, and I need you to show some emotions. I need you to feel the love you have for Lady Alzi. This disassociation thing will get us nowhere. I need you to be you, my lovely daughter."

"Why? I don't deserve her love. I'm not worthy of her care. I'm nothing."

"Deserve?" the Queen says. "I- That is my fault, dear, not yours. I am sorry I made you think you didn't deserve love. You do, and you are a hard worker and a lovely woman. I just didn't teach you correctly. You are worthy of her care and love."

"You've done a real number on your daughter, Yuminae," the Kitsune Queens says. "My children fear me, yes, but they aren't out here questioning their worth. Maybe Yuki is a little stupid about it, but I'm certain she is thinking about how to get Alzi to stay in love with her right now. She should be in the city by now and running here with the slaves. So move fast. This is hard to watch, and I don't wish to throw all my daughters at Alzi, looking for one to get her to stay." Two more white-tailed Kitsune walk in, settling beside their Mother. Both have a small frown. If that is for having to come to this realm or for being offered up to Alzi, I don't know. Or maybe that's just their normal expression. "Miki, can you please check if Elora has something wrong with her? I can't risk her ruining our negotiations."

"Yes, Mother," one says, flashing to my side. "Don't resist." A wave of mana crashes into me, looking to do more than just heal me. Not much, though. I think she just wanted to know the type of kid in my womb. "Royal, lucky bitch. She should be fine, just crazy in the opposite manner of Nakuma."

"That will have to do, then. Thank you, Miki."

Shimmer hugs me from behind, kissing the back of my neck. "You're fine, dear. Just take a deep breath and find that fight again. Don't give up on Alzi quite yet."

"Now, seriously, everyone, take a seat," the Queen says. "I know we have a number of pregnant women in the room—there's no need to force them to stand for so long. We need to move quickly if Yuki is already in the city. My guards will stall her for a few minutes, but we need to figure this out, and it would be nice to start talking with Alzi before Yuki arrives."

Shimmer directs me to a seat, taking the one to my right. Miki and her sister bring their seats out to sit next to their Mother, my own taking a spot at the square table. Are the Kitsune going to join us at the table?

"Now, Elora, like I said, we all are going to have to take our rightful positions. Alzi will be the head of your harem. Yuki and Nakuma will likely join you. Some of the Kitsune may be added in to help convince Alzi that staying is the safest thing for her and her children. We are offering up the brothel owners, including the Mistress. She bent the rules by keeping Alzi like that, and we will use that to bring punishment to her, circumventing the Goddess of Justice. Only the start of the negotiations will be held here. The rest will likely take place in the temple of Fertility to help ease Alzi's mind about everything. The Goddess is able to oversee everything and keep her from being taken advantage of. However, we have no wish to do that. We are trying to give Alzi the best deal we can. I think most, if not all, of the women here like her and wish for her to succeed in her goals. Listen, think, and empathize with Alzi. Her life has been horrible due to my failures, and that is something we are all paying for here. Understood?"

"Yes," I say. "I am hers if she is willing to have me."

"Good."

"I have made no mistakes," one of the Kitsune Princesses says. "I didn't mess up or make Alzi hate me or enslave her or rape her or fail to keep her safe or let her get pregnant against her wishes or any of the many things you all did. I have been loyal to my love, and I will not be crawling on this floor to get her acceptance. I am simply here to ask for her help. Look elsewhere if you wish to give her a Kitsune slave."

Slave? I guess I could become Lady Alzi's slave. That's all I'm worth.

"We aren't trying to give Alzi a slave, Tanatsu," the Kitsune Queen says. "That would be Yuki if needed, anyway. You just happened to be nearby, so I called on you, too. I have others to offer to Alzi. You are just supposed to be nice and show Alzi how the relationship with the Kitsune is meant to be. Not how Yuki has done it."

More? There are more Kitsune around? I thought it was a big deal that we had two in the Queendom. Or are they still in her realm and only going to come down when the deal is ready?

My wives seem to be wondering the same thing, studying the whitetails in the corner carefully. Just Isda is missing, but she should be on her way to the capital. Will that help us? All the kids in her womb that Alzi would want to raise and love.

Sex. The Goddess of Sex. That bitch.

"Sex," I mumble. "We have to have a solution to Sex."

"Alzi has no problem with having sex," the Queen says.

"Geta and I can help with that," Shimmer says. "We can offer her the support of two more Goddesses, and that should keep the Goddess of Sex from taking Alzi for a while, at least."

"Shit! That is the other Goddess," the Queens says. "Well, I can go tell the temple who all those books are about. That will be a problem, though. Isda is her angel. Her angel. We will just give Isda over to Fertility until the issue with Sex is resolved. That should work out fine. Isda is a sweet girl and wishes no harm to Alzi. She will go willingly after we tell Alzi about our solution, and that should solve that issue. Sex won't be gaining power, and we'll have some control over her. I've got guards watching the Temple of Sex, and they are keeping most women from wandering in. Give Fertility a few more cards to play with, and we should be able to get a good deal with Sex."

"Fine," I say.

"Is this the best time to do this?" Shimmer asks. "Right after she gets everything she wants, we are going to corner her in this room and force her to accept our proposal?"

"It may be the only time to do this," the Kitsune Queen says. "After this, we'll take a trip down to the Temple of Fertility and hold the meeting there. She'll have the Goddess watching over her and giving her some comfort. It'll be too late if we push this back. The dragons want to take Alzi, and Justice and Nature are backing them. If you want my help with keeping Alzi, I'll need something. I'm sure the Phoenixes will be asking for more than just your marriage to Alzi to help as well. So, if you all care about Alzi, you'll find a way to get Alzi to remarry."

"Shouldn't we-"

"We don't have the power, Elora," the Queen says. "This isn't a small force coming to our doorstep. We need help, or we'll have to give up Alzi. This is the only way the nobles would be willing to help. We just finished a war; it may have been short, but it still took women and resources from us. I can't get them to fight a war against the dragons so soon, otherwise. The nobles would demand that I give up Alzi. It is only our family that needs her to reproduce easily. Why would they risk their lives to keep her yet again?"

"Fine," I have to admit.

*** Yuki ***

The house is empty. Not a single guard outside or even a note. They'd better not have lost the fucking war already.

"So, where are the damn dragons?" Victoria asks. "Seems a bit lonely in here."

"I don't know," I say. "If I knew, I wouldn't be looking all over the fucking house."

"Can't even keep track of your damn lover's Mother," Victoria says with a chuckle. "Well, let's go turn in our prisoners and look for them later. The Queen probably moved them to limit how many guards they need."

I don't have a better idea. The Queen likely does have them, but that also ruins my idea of running off with them all, going back to our realm, and cutting this Queendom out of our marriage. I'm sure Alzi would have been happy to divorce Elora and be with me instead.

Elora had better have kept Alzi safe.