Chapter 484 – Time to Remove the Idiots

*** Alzi, Third Body, With Elo and Zarzi ***

Zarzi is a very lucky woman, getting this body to herself. And her wives. And I do have to pop over to Elo from time to time. She's obviously struggling with everything. She says her sister's soul has taken the memories or something, but I sometimes find her staring off into space. I really hope I don't have to take over handling the court.

The needs are never-ending. These towns need food, this one seems to be short on taxes, or there are fights over borders, and so much more. I feel like most just don't want to make a decision and just want someone else to handle the problem for them.

"You're thinking about the Queendom again," Zarzi says.

"Aren't I supposed to?" I ask. "I am the Queen, or Empress."

"Yes, that would be the right thing to do," Tharzi says. "It's not a problem we ever thought we would have."

"I did," Zarzi says. "In my fantasies. But I did have those dreams. I will say a wife thinking about the Queendom while spending time with me is just about the only part of the fantasy that has come true. I was a bit more heroic in the dreams."

"We've got a hundred kids getting close to hatching. You have plenty of time to start being heroic," I say. Either Tharzi or Cisu has to take me up to the castle when it's time to check in on Elo. Most of the time, she comes down to the temple, but I do need to make sure she's doing fine. She's slipped up before, and I can't just count on Dragon telling me when she starts to stray.

The egg room now has a real bed for Zarzi, her wives, and me to sleep in. The entrance doesn't really work for doors, so we have to deal with a curtain of beads. It blocks enough, though, since only the Priestesses are allowed up here. For our more private needs, we can always go to Tharzi's and Cisu's room for a bit.

"Empress Alzi," Elo says. "I'm sorry to intrude, but I have a report for you."

"A report on what?" I ask.

"A list of houses that need culling," Elo says. "I told you I'd have it by the end of the week, but that was just a guess. The list is complete now, and we can prepare for how to kill the families."

"The families?" I ask. Does that mean killing children? How young are we supposed to go?

"Of course," Elo says, shuffling past the beads. A hundred kids haven't let her stay thin. She isn't waddling size yet, but it won't be too long before I always have to come to her for these meetings. "We can't let a weed sprout again. It has to be removed completely. Anything less, and this will be wasted effort. You'll just create more problems that way."

"Babies?" I ask.

"Is that a problem?" Elo asks.

"What did the babies do?"

"They can curse the Goddesses for letting them be born to traitors," Elo says. "Your village was the result of past Queens being too weak. They let traitorous thoughts fester until they took over a city. The others wouldn't let the entire city burn to the ground, so they had to be moved. Right now, the thoughts are just in some silly nobles' heads. End them there. I've been looking through all your servants and maids and found someone who can do the job. She already killed my daughter, so she's ready for this job. Normally, I would do it in the middle of court, but I'm too weak to do it now, and you... Well, do you wish to do it? Geta could work as well. There couldn't be any complaints about a Valkyrie of Death taking their lives. But Shimmer must absolutely not do it, and it would be best if she weren't present at all. Eterna, included. Yzzorres would be the best wife to do the act, but we both know she isn't going to come. You could try using your mate bond, but that would likely get her to come over and kill all of the nobles. It could work that way, since Yzzorres has done it before, and Zarzi has likely provided enough silvers to remake all the noble houses. I'm sorry, I've brought you limited options. I can..."

"Sextia can do it," I say. "I'm guessing this means that you plan to assassinate them?"

"Yes, Empress Alzi," Elo says, eyeing the corner of the bed.

She's too formal in these meetings. "You can always sit down," I say. "You can also just say Alzi. We're married, and you're carrying a bunch of my kids. So make yourself comfortable. I'm surprised that we're still having issues when I got three Goddesses killed."

"Thank you, Empress Alzi," Elo says, taking a seat. "The nobles don't plan to hurt you, but your kids. They hope to trick them into becoming their puppets. A stupid idea, I know, but we can't risk it or let others think that those kinds of thoughts are allowed. Plenty have caught on that you have the strength your color demands, but there are always a few, with each change of power, that seem to lose their sight. After my wrongful power change, I had to kill ten noble families. But that is my fault. Mother only had to kill two. You have five to kill. The highest was twenty, but that was way back when there were hundreds of noble houses."

"Five," I say. "That's a lot. How many families would that leave? If Queens are constantly killing noble houses, there can't be many left."

"There aren't many Silvers left," Elo says. "Twenty will be left after these five die. We've started allowing Reds who prove themselves to take up the lower rungs of power. That's why the broods are so important. I didn't think it through. I- Yes, the broods I'll have, and the one from Zarzi, are important for getting our power back. We've wasted a lot of power because of traitorous Queens, but I hope this time, I can do the right thing."

"You will," I say. It's not like she has a choice. With Dragon watching so closely, Elo might as well have a slave collar around her neck, which is probably why she refuses to use just my name in these meetings. "Anything else interesting?"

"Interesting, no," Elo says. "But taxes are always something that needs to be discussed..."

Shit. If Elora comes to me for decisions about taxes, I'm going to be fucked. I don't understand how they work! I just know Mommy would have someone come around and demand some coins every so often for taxes. How am I supposed to know how much should be collected for everything?

"Fine," I sigh.

"I know this is boring, but I want you to be informed about things. Elora is going to start talking to you about these things, and she hasn't been a Queen before. I want it to go well for her, and I want your lands to prosper. I want you to be involved so that nobody dares to say others were the cause."

"I understand why," I say. "But that doesn't just make it better." Could I start begging Future to tell me what option would be best for the people? What if I promise that I'll try to get her pregnant if she tells me? If only it were that easy. I would only get two questions before I was out of kids to give her that she cares about. Maybe I would get lucky, and they would just never be her 'sisters?' Could I get Luck to help me like that?

"You really don't want to deal with the taxes," Zarzi chuckles.

"No," I say. "I was thinking of playing the Goddesses off each other to solve all my problems."

"Learning about taxes is a lot better idea than whatever plan you were formulating, Empress Alzi," Elo says.

"I know."

...

"Ok, I think I understand a bit more," I say. "But I still don't feel good about making a decision. Can't you figure it out?"

"Very well," Elo says. "I just want you to feel the power you have now, Empress Alzi. But onto the details for killing the families. Can we meet up with Sextia? I want to make sure my assessment about her is correct."

"Shyla is telling me that Elora is looking for me," I say. "I can have them both come here."

'Space?'

'I'll bring them over. Just get them to my temple.'

'Thanks!'

"They're coming over now," I say. "Elora has some stuff for me. We can work on it together."

"I'm happy to help her," Elo says.

...

Soon, the warrior comes brushing past the beads with the red-haired wood elf in tow. "Thank you for seeing us," Elora says.

"You called for me, Empress Alzi," Sextia says, bowing down.

"Yes," I say. "Elo here has an interesting request that she believes you can fulfill. We need to make sure that you'll be able to do it. For everyone's safety."

"What is needed?" Sextia asks.

"Assassinations," Elo says. "We have a small group that can help you. But dragons aren't the best at being quiet, and my daughters managed to get most of the ones who knew what they were doing killed. You are already in service to Empress Alzi and have proven yourself capable of killing even a Queen. So, are you ready to wipe out some dragonkin nobles' houses?"

"Whatever you ask," Sextia says. "I've grown a lot from the war."

"Yes, I'm sure killing a Queen did wonders for your power," Elo says. "I think you can do it."

"Actually," Elora says. "That is what I wanted to discuss. Mother has her head of spies, or information, and I wish to replace her. I think she's gotten too lazy over the years. When pressed, she delivers, but we shouldn't need to press her to do her job. I think Sextia needs to start rebuilding it. If she is going to be helping you in the dragon realm, we may want to create a new position for now and let Irdrue keep her position until we can find a replacement, or see if having Sextia over her is enough to keep that dark elf moving."

"I will make sure she doesn't fail the Queendom, or our Empress," Sextia says.

Being an Empress is weird. Now I have spies and assassins? What else do I have and not know about? I can see why Elo bothers me with these things so much. There really is too much going on with even a single Queendom, and I'm pushing to have three of them.

"This is giving me a headache," I say. "But I can see how having information would be important. We can do that. But Sextia, are you ok with possibly killing babies?"

"Are they your kids, Empress Alzi?" Sextia says with a blank face.

"Of course not!"

"Then it doesn't matter to me," Sextia says. "My mother wouldn't let me go out fighting, but she did make sure that I didn't care about what I would eventually be killing."

How nice of her. "Ok, is there anything else we need to talk about together? I feel a little bad discussing killing kids by the eggs."

"Irdru should join these talks if we're keeping her around. Some families in the lower realm should also be wiped off the map. Between Irdru and Sextia, they should be able to work out a good plan," Elora says. "There's no need to include us for figuring out the details. We'll just review them. However, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have Yuki and Nakuma check them over. If Tanatsu is talking to you, she would also be a great person to discuss them with, and Victoria has done some work like this before as well. We have a rather long list of people we can consult with, really."

"Having them check it all would be good," I say. "I'm sure Aya can convince Tanatsu to help us. Should I be worried that I managed to get so many assassins around me?" Why do I have so many assassins around me?! When did that happen?

"Hmm? Oh, no, it's normal, and they all like you," Elora says. "Victoria isn't much of an assassin. Yuki, Nakuma, and Tanatsu would be hung by their tails until they died if they tried to hurt the husband of their people. You're safe."

"She isn't wrong about that," Elo says. "Your assassins are loyal to you. Don't worry about it."

"Good," I say. It's good to hear that from someone besides Elora. She's working hard for me, but, well, her past.