Chapter 373 – Captured Birth

"I've got a cut-up ant on the table," I say. "You have five monsters bleeding like crazy, a slave Dryad that somehow has a knife wound, and you're missing an arm. What the fuck is going on?"

"Just start with the Dryad," Tanatsu says. "The five aren't that important, and I've stopped my bleeding enough."

"If I don't have the mana?"

"You do."

"If I didn't?"

"You can make more."

"You're getting pregnant if I ever have to make more mana for this. The count will be my choice. Pull the knife out," I say. The cut won't take much time or mana. But an entire arm isn't going to be quick, and then I have to patch up the stupid ant. At least she's kept her end of the deal here.The Dryad is a little pale, but breathing. The knife wound takes a bit more work to close up than I thought it would, proving that Tanatsu really knows the body well. A single stab going through that many organs is pretty impressive. The apes just need to be healed over, and then I can give Tanatsu her arm back."Nature has some strange beast," Tanatsu says. "Crazy what she has hidden in that stupid forest."

"The forest isn't stupid," the Dryad says. "Just- Nature just turned it into a staging area for war."

"It took my arm. I get to call it stupid if I want to," Tanatsu says. "The stupid forest almost got you killed."

"You were the one who stuck the knife in me and walked into the forest yourself."

"Look," I say. "I don't care. Why do you have a Dryad with a slave collar on?"

"She came with some monster, so I took her. She'll be the final try, and you can take her off my hands. I don't want her," Tanatsu says. "I just need my love."

More maids wouldn't hurt. "I'll think about it," I say. "Now shut up and bite down. Or bite your tongue off. I don't care," I say. "Actually, don't bite your tongue off. I don't want to heal that."

...

"Keep the Dryad with the Ant," I say. "I've spent too much mana today. I'll be back tomorrow."

Aurora is getting her wish for family dinners. It's too hard to get everyone I love to join me for dinner any other way. I would basically need to have a separate dining room, which would cause problems with everyone. Sure, they wouldn't openly complain about it, but this is easier to do for the maids as well. There's no need to punish them, just so that I don't have some women I don't really like at the end of the table.

And then I end the day with Syro doing her mind healing thing. It doesn't do much for me. Osanna is still the only reason I'm able to get any sleep consistently, and working around blood and guts all day isn't helping me. But it calms me down. To know someone else knows everything. Knows it was wrong and just wants to comfort me. Maybe when we get to the memories that haunt me more, it will really help me.

Even now, perfectly safe in this carriage after a good night of sleep, I'm scared. I refuse to look out into the darkness, worried we'll pull up to one of the brothels and I'll be directed upstairs. I can't look at myself; too much blood is splattered on my clothing. None of it is mine, but all the blood looks the same. There's so much I have to do, only to shake on the ride home.

Why can't I just enjoy my time? I'm supposed to be free.

Would making this a routine help? I wouldn't mind it. Healing women in the morning, expanding my knowledge of healing in the afternoon, enjoying some family time before trying to fix my stupid, worthless mind, and my second body gets to take care of my kids. My special days will be spent having two bodies play with my kids instead of having an orgy.

Syro just has to be ok with being pregnant until the end of this healing thing if she wants to keep sleeping with me. That nighttime activity isn't going away anytime soon. Lottie is already pregnant enough. I don't care to bring in Azula's wives. And I have to be careful with the maids and my lovers. So Elora's wives will have to take up the rest, or I'll need to reduce my desire to breed.

Shut up, magma! Why do you care about breeding? Life doesn't care that much. Stupid thing. If I learn how to use it, will you calm down, or maybe if I breed my entire hometown?

"Are you ok, my Mistress?" Sarania asks.

"So many have messed with my mind."

"I'm sorry, my Mistress. I'm sorry. Syro is helping. The difference is small, but it's there, my Mistress. Keep this up, and she may manage to help even more. Then we'll see you truly return to the woman you always dreamed of being. The woman we all know you can be. I hate telling you to suffer just a little longer, but sometimes that is life. We have a goal in mind now and are working towards it. An end to the pain is coming. I promise."

"I hope so."

"If it's ever too much, my Mistress, just say something, and I'll find a way to give you a break. It's always fine to show your emotions. Just make sure the targets of them are correct. Don't berate your lovers and kiss your enemies. I'll be there to help."

"Thank you."

...

Of course, there is one other thing that can break up the new routine I'm forming.

Labor. And not mine this time, which is a good thing. I'm not going to be a good student if I'm giving birth to all these kids. But I'm not happy to be starting with the Queen and one of her wives. Why couldn't it have been Aurora, Calli, or Shimmer?

"Are they sure?" I ask. "I have to go to Tanatsu to work on helping her lover."

"Yes," the maid says. "She's had a few kids by now, and we are quite sure what it looks like."

"I know," I say. I don't know what I expected, but it's annoying. I was just thinking about my schedule yesterday, and it's already changed. "Kelly."

"I don't have a lot of mana," Kelly says. "You'll have to do all the work."

"I've got plenty," I say. "I guess, to the castle?"

"Yes, this way, Princess Alzi."

I've never met the King, which is a little strange. It must be weird for him to know his planned replacement is already living on the castle grounds, has gotten the Queen pregnant twice, and another wife pregnant once, and is about to have them vulnerable in a way that I could get them pregnant yet again if I want to. A strange position to be in.

Maybe I should've gotten Nakuma to teleport us there instead of using a carriage. We'd probably be early, as I doubt they would forget to account for travel time.

"Both Lotus and the Queen are in labor," the maid says. "They suspect you gave them Dragons, so it will be a harder birth for them than normal. I know you two combined will be able to handle it. I just wanted to warn you."

"Sisters want to come out together," I say. At least all my kids seem to love family. Hopefully, they keep that as they grow up. I'll have to keep watch for any teachings from the nobles that ruin family bonds. "Two kids are a tiny amount for me, especially when they're coming out of different women."

"Yes, it is more of a warning that there will be two women. We all recognize your skills. We have the time to discuss the details, and they both have been through labor before," Shyla says.

"Thank you," Kelly says. "It is nice knowing that. I'll watch over the Queen, and you get Lotus, Alzi. Unless something difficult happens, I'll be able to ask for any help well in advance thanks to your mana. It'll be safer for the Queen this way. You know the basics of the steps. But we won't be going too deep into the details for the Queen. We'll have to wait for another pregnancy to do that. We shouldn't make the Queen into a show. Plus, you've handled some difficult births before on your own, so this should be simple."

"That makes sense," I say. "I could work it out on my own eventually. I would just have to use a lot more mana."

"Hopefully, you'll still have time to work with Tanatsu. I know that's important to you, but kids don't care about what you wish to do."

"I know." Irlo is going back to the castle tomorrow, so she'll get to meet her newest siblings then. I'll need to work with the Queen to have all the kids meet each other soon. I don't want to keep waiting to have all of the kids get introduced. Dragons shouldn't have to wait to understand what their blood connection is.

"Follow me. They are in the Queen's personal bed chamber."

Inside the room is what I should've expected. Two women close to the hard part of labor, not that the early contractions are easy or pleasant, but pushing the baby out is a lot harder than getting the body ready to push out a baby.

"Thank you for coming," the Queen says. "Sorry for bringing you in a bit early. We were just worried about getting you here if you went all the way to the assassins' guild."

Oh, that's where Tanatsu works? "Did she..."

"No. She just plays guard there in exchange for resources. I can promise you that she had nothing to do with the attempts. Fuck, they are getting close," the Queens says.

"I would hope so," Kelly says. "Please try to get comfortable, we need to start checking you two. Do we have water and rags? You should always be prepared to work without any mana."

"Right here," the maid says. "A few buckets of warm water, one that was boiled recently, and plenty of clean rags."

"Good, now it's time to start the checks."

This feels a lot better than any other labor I've been part of. Not being the one pushing makes it a lot better already, but having Kelly here, who actually knows what is happening and isn't about to pass out, is a lot better than my fumblings when I did this before.

"We'll start with the Queen, Alzi. Then Lotus. You two should stay close, but have enough room to stay comfortable and move as you need to. If you want to switch positions, you can; just let us know if you need help. Otherwise, move as you need to. We have a lot more room here than I'm used to."

"Thank you, Kelly," the Queen squeezes out. The maids work quickly to strip the two women down and help them onto the bed. They both choose to lie down, with some pillows keeping them up a bit. Then we move in to check for their dilation.

"This is about the right size, Alzi," Kelly says. "Ok, it's time to start the hard part."

...

The Queen and her wife had relatively easy labors. No surprises or anything. Just a lot of pushing and cheering as things worked out normally. A bit more blood than they normally have, as dragons don't come out easily, but besides that, nothing strange. Well, the Queen did give birth to a royal Dragon. The second one I've fathered.

Suddenly, my arms are captured by some vines. "What?" I ask. "I- I trusted you all."

"Alzi? Lotus, stop this immediately!" the Queen says. "You promised me!"

Lotus's eyes are white as she holds our child to her breasts. The Queen gets captured next, and slowly the rest of the room, until only Lotus is free.