The dragon's harem

Zephyr flew through the room and silently landed on the table. Zephyr usually only wore an emerald dress, but today she had pulled something she hadn’t worn in centuries. An old emerald dress decorated with gold and sapphire. Her hair was well combed, her skin smooth, her nails long and painted green, and what surprised everyone the most was that she didn’t stink of alcohol.

Today, she wore her royal robe and mantle. Zephyr had to present herself as the Wind Spirit Queen, the same being who granted the humans and dark elves the land upon which they built their kingdoms.

Many had heard of her, but few saw or believed she was real. When interacting with spiritkind, the humanoids mostly dealt with pixies and rarely fairies. Spirits were beings that no normal mortal would ever get the chance to interact with, let alone an elusive Spirit Queen.

The mere fact that the mortal world’s atmosphere is Zephyr’s elemental expansion alone shows the influence of a spirit queen and the power they hold over the world in which they reside.

Aella was getting crowned today, and Zephyr was going to accompany her. The entire goal was to make everyone understand that the Wind Spirit Queen is siding with Aella and the empire.

While that itself wasn’t necessary, thanks to Arad’s raw power and ability to bridge the gap between the countless races of this world, Zephyr’s influence was peculiar and something that the empire would benefit from a lot.

Over thousands of years, Zephyr had proved her power, wisdom, and undying will. Everyone in the mortal world knows that whatever she does is the new rule. If she so wished, the dragons might’ve stopped the war, and the countless kingdoms might’ve already banded together.

Her wind brings both blessing and destruction, and it carries her dominion over the lands. If Zephyr wanted a kingdom destroyed, she would send a storm or a tornado; if she wanted them blessed, she would send them clouds and rain.

And that was without counting the fact that all the other spirit queens bow to her will.

If she, the one spirit above them all, was to stand by Aella’s side, everyone would think twice before disrespecting Aella.

But, there was still a problem.

While many knew that Aella was her herald, most of those people thought that Aella just got power from Zephyr and barely met or interacted with her. None understood that Zephyr granted Aella more power than any spiritmancer or warlock could ever hope to get.

When signing a contract with a spirit, the user usually gets elemental power relating to that spirit. A regular human getting power from Zephyr would get access to some powerful wind spells and blessings, maybe even the ability to fly and sense anything that moves through the air around them, but that’s where their powers would end.

Aella would’ve only been able to bend the wind to her will if that was the case, but in reality, she got far more power. The reason was simple, and it was that Zephyr lives inside Aella. She had become almost one with her.

It could only take a single hit or an insult directed toward Aella to trigger Zephyr and have her come out in person to raise hell and flatten the ground with whatever sorry fool dared run their mouth.

The closest way Zephyr could explain it to the maids was to ask them to imagine a cleric gaining power from a god, and a cleric who has a god living inside them. Just imagine, instead of Lydia just being able to use Amaterasu’s power, she had Amaterasu herself inside her, and both of them were ready to throw hands.

Since the maids didn’t quite understand the horror Zephyr was talking about, she explained one more thing to them about Aella. Since Kali’s divine magic is too vast, and since Zephyr already dominates all of the air of the world, if given time to charge, Aella should be able to fire an Oxygen Destroyer arrow that will wipe all life from the mortal world.

This elvish woman, this one who could be taken down by a glass of milk, the one who always had two sticks up her nostrils when cooking in the kitchen so she won’t smell the meat the other maids were cooking. She has the power to say, “This world is already too far gone, and I’m choosing to cleanse it from all life.”

Granted, Aella would need Zephyr and Kali to cooperate with her, but that won’t change the fact that she is now a woman who can, on a whim, wipe all life from the mortal world with a single shot. But the scary part was that Aella had once told the maids that the world’s fate rests beneath Aella’s feet. Zephyr wasn’t the only one who would go on a rampage if she wanted, but the one they should be afraid of was Arad, and that man would make anything she did look tame.

Lexi nodded in the back. “Indeed! Queen Aella is amazing! She can snipe an ant from two mountain ranges away, shoot arrows so powerful they could obliterate castles, and summon raging tornadoes to level kingdoms to the ground. I’ve seen her fight an archdevil, and she was toying with the crazy bastard.”

With a giggle, Lexi imagined the world inside Arad’s stomach, how it was formed, and all of the spirits working to make it real. The fact that he has that much power, and the fact that he was just a gentle and sweet teddy bear made her smile, knowing well that he will be there to protect them.

While both Zephyr and Lexi seemed to have Aella’s power in high regard, the other maids couldn’t see how that was possible. They never saw her fight, and they couldn’t imagine the gentle, slender, and loving Queen Aella to be such a violent and rampaging monster.

Queen Aella, a world power? That was impossible. Arad and Zephyr, on the other hand, were the real monsters.

As they gave Aella a second look, they still couldn’t see where all that power was hiding. They could’ve looked for longer, but they still had a job to do.

Four maids tended to Aella’s nails, each taking a limb to work on. Gamond had trained them to the bone, and she was a cruel and ruthless teacher. They might not be masters of the craft yet, but their skills already far surpass those of the regular noble servants.

One brushed and combed her hair, making sure every strand was visible and smooth. To their luck, Aella’s blond and radiant hair was nothing short of silky and ethereal in its nature, as light as air, and as soft and gentle as the breeze.

Two took her measurements and sent them to a group of tailors, who made last-minute adjustments to the dress that Isabelle and Merida had made. While those two were skilled, they could not account for everything. What did Aella eat this morning, what shoes she wanted to wear, whether she is getting a corset or not, whether it is cloudy or sunny outside, all of those factors played a role.

The dress itself was massive, frilled, and looked more like a green wedding dress than a royal outfit. Aella was already worried about how much that thing cost, and she just saw the maids bringing the jewelry in, several elvish pounds of gold and gems.

“Should we start with the makeup now, or should we leave it for last?” One of the maids asked, and Lexi laughed in the back. “Makeup? We won’t use it. Just look at her face, it’s already pale and smooth. She doesn’t lack anything.”

“Lexi is right.” Zephyr flew away from Aella’s head and landed on the dresser. “Spirit magic keeps people young, especially since she is an elf. Using makeup would just distract from her natural beauty.” When Zephyr smiled, all of the maids could feel a shiver running down their spines.

“Don’t worry, no one would think she needs makeup. If such a person exists, I’ll change their mind.” She threw a glance at the maid who asked about the makeup, making her take a fearful step back.

“Don’t tease them too much.” Aella smiled and looked at Zephyr. “Besides, I’m just a sideshow. We’re going to parade the great Wind Spirit Queen Zephyr around to show the people we really got her on our side. I don’t matter that much.”

Zephyr laughed. “Me? I’d rather strip naked and swim in a barrel of wine than be paraded around like some kind of prize. But, we need to make sure the people understand that whoever messes with you, Arad, or the empire, is going to more trouble waiting than if they just messed with me.”