Lottery King 7, page 25
“Well, I don’t like really trendy names,” I said. “I like something a bit more classic. Something easy to spell and pronounce, for sure.”
“Can you give some examples?” Poppy asked.
“Um, Harper, Maggie, I like Daisy, too,” I said. “Peter, Robin… huh, we could name one son after my best friend. There are lots of names in the Eternal Realm I like, too. River, Finn, Nori, uh…”
“What about Daniel?” Dinah asked.
“That’s a good strong name,” I agreed. “I like Daniel a lot.”
“Daniel for a boy?” Nyxx asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded, and a slow smile pulled at my lips as I looked at Dinah. “Daniel for a boy.”
“What about for a girl?” Ivis asked.
“What about Nora?” Poppy suggested.
“Oh, I like that.” Dinah grinned. “That’s very pretty. Michael?”
“Nora,” I tested the name. “Yeah, I like that, too.”
“Did you two just pick names?” Ivis giggled with excitement.
“I think we did.” Dinah blushed deeply under her russet complexion.
“We did.” I smiled. “Daniel or Nora. I love both of those.”
Poppy and Helena tossed around the idea of having to pick names eventually, too, but they were less determined on finding a name than Dinah had been. It seemed they were enjoying the topic of conversation purely from a standpoint of it being fun. I let my mind wander away from the topic as I enjoyed my breakfast, and it wasn’t until one of my wives asked me a direct question that I was pulled back into the conversation.
“Michael?” Ivis repeated.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “What did you say?”
“Do you have any ideas why The Rising might have wanted to capture the ancient teachers?” Nyxx asked.
I grimaced slightly as I realized how sharply the topic had shifted away from baby names, and I took a second to consider the question.
“No,” I sighed and shook my head. “I suspect The Rising are composed of Koschei’s students… followers, acolytes, disciples. It doesn’t matter what they call themselves.”
“Do you think they’ve taken the teachers for Koschei?” Poppy wondered.
“Like they were planning to deliver them to him?” Helena asked.
“That’s possible, I suppose,” Nyxx muttered.
“They might have,” I agreed. “I suppose it’s also possible Koschei captured them and delivered them to The Rising for some reason.”
“To torture them?” Gemma wondered. “Or punish them.”
“I didn’t even think of that,” Helena groaned softly. “What if they refused to help Koschei, so he sent them here to suffer?”
“Ugh,” Dinah muttered with emotion thick in her voice. “Horrible.”
“Michael will save them,” Ivis said with conviction. “Or his soldiers and staff will.”
“We’re not leaving Myanmar until this is all sorted,” I insisted.
We were all quiet for a moment as the weight of everything sank back over us, and I could tell that staying cooped up in this room all day wasn’t the best idea.
“How about we go explore the house a little bit, hmm?” I suggested.
“A change of scenery sounds good to me,” Ivis sighed.
“I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs a little,” Gemma said. “I’m not used to this much sitting.”
“Should we get dressed first?” Poppy asked. “Wait, I’ve just realized I didn’t mean that as a question. I want to get dressed first.”
“Okay,” I chuckled at my fashion-forward fae and looked down at myself. I only wore the boxers I’d hastily crawled into last night. “I suppose I should put some shorts and maybe a shirt on, too.”
“Aw, do you have to?” Helena teased.
I smirked at the playful banter of my lovers, and we all went into the walk-in closet together. We dressed in comfortable and casual clothes for the day, and none of us picked out any shoes to wear.
Poppy picked a cute pair of cut-off shorts and a bright purple top with short sleeves and star-shaped buttons up the front. Helena went with a simple sundress in a neutral shade of green that I’d never seen her wear before. Dinah selected a dark blue t-shirt and drawstring linen shorts that had tiny polka dots all over them. Ivis put on a pair of cream-colored shorts that were cuffed around the bottom, and a jade-green tank top. Nyxx chose a maroon shirt with thick straps and tucked the hem into a pair of black shorts. Gemma’s ocean-blue shirt had a pocket over her left breast that was shaped like a pineapple, and she threw a flowy skirt over it that swished playfully around the middle of her thighs.
I smiled at my lovely women as I threw on a pair of khaki shorts and a light shirt with a very subtle palm tree pattern.
“Where should we go first?” I asked.
“How about we start with downstairs?” Helena laughed.
“That’s just crazy enough to work,” I snorted.
We shared a good laugh as we headed down the hallway toward the main staircase. The house was busy with the sound of workers cleaning and going about their daily chores, and I spotted Rune as he disappeared into the study he’d been using as a work space.
“Should we check in with Rune?” Gemma asked.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “If there was anything big he would bring it to us, but I’d like to see about the process of shutting down the festival.”
“Do you think the locals will be very angry about that?” Ivis asked.
“Yeah, I do,” I sighed.
We followed Rune down the hall and into the office, and the golden-haired fae nodded in greeting as we entered.
“Good morning, your majesty,” Rune said.
“Morning,” I said. “I wanted to check in on canceling the festival. Have the organizers given you much grief about it?”
“Well, they aren’t pleased,” Rune admitted. “They’re insisting on leaving everything in place. They don’t want to tear down the tents, booths, or activities in case this whole mess gets taken care of in time. They’re hopeful you’ll fix things, and the festival can carry on as was planned.”
“But they’ve agreed to halt all plans?” I checked. “No more ticket sales, no admittance to anyone who might show up, right?”
“Correct,” Rune confirmed. “They’ve sectioned off the areas for the festival, and we have guards securing the location. But the tents, booths, games, tables, all that stuff is just waiting there. Just in case.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “So long as no people other than my security are allowed into the grounds.”
“Exactly.” Rune nodded.
“Good,” I sighed. “I don’t suppose you’ve learned anything else of value yet?”
“Not yet, your majesty,” Rune said.
“Okay, thanks, Rune,” I said.
My ladies and I made to exit the room, but a shadow nymph slipped inside before we left. He called to us in that raspy voice I’d come to associate with all shadow nymphs.
“Your majesty, wait!” He held up one dark hand. “I have new reports from the scouts you might want to hear.”
Chapter 15
His words pulled me back into the room like gravity, and my ladies and I walked right back over to the table where the shadow nymph waited beside Rune. The tension in his dark form told me there was a lot of information about to be shared with me.
“Is everyone here that needs to be here?” I asked.
A few more shadow nymph guards were present in the room, and they all made their way over to stand with us at the table.
“Uh, yes, I believe so, your majesty,” Rune murmured as he scanned the room. Then he nodded in confirmation. “Yes.”
“Great,” I said, and I gestured at the shadow nymph who’d just arrived.
“Go ahead.”
“Our teams have spent the last twelve hours scouting out the entire jungle in a thirty-mile radius around this region,” the shadow nymph explained, and he pointed at the regional map on the table. “We have silently infiltrated The Rising’s camp, and we have enough information to confirm they are connected to Koschei.”
“Disciples?” I assumed.
“Former disciples, it seems,” the shadow nymph corrected. “Several of the local reserve guards on my team overheard them speaking about Koschei. It was clear that they had worked and learned under him for some time, but now they have lost respect for his methods and ideologies.”
“They’re moving on from his teachings,” Helena said. “That could make them even more dangerous.”
“That’s the way it appears, your majesty.” The shadow nymph nodded. “They called his ways old-fashioned, and they spoke about a desire for a more radicalized method.”
“And there aren’t any lifeline tethers here,” Nyxx said, and she looked at me for confirmation.
“Right,” I said. “No one outside the island is still connected to Koschei.”
“So The Rising isn’t associated with Koschei anymore?” Rune asked.
“Correct,” the shadow nymph said with certainty. “At some point, we suspect somewhere in the last twenty to forty years, they have distanced themselves from Koschei. The Rising has begun acting solely under their own decision making without direct or current influence from Koschei.”
“So they don’t know we’ve captured him,” I deduced.
“That’s a safe assumption, your majesty.” The shadow nymph nodded. “One of my team reported that two members of The Rising had been discussing Koschei, and how he never went far enough.”
“Holy hell,” Ivis gasped, and she looked horrified at the idea.
I reached over and touched her arm in a comforting gesture, and I turned back to the shadow nymph.
“What else?” I asked.
“We also located plans about the human sacrifices at the festival,” the shadow nymph reported. “They have arranged for three humans to be tied to stakes in the center of the grounds. They intend to burn them alive.”
“Oh, my goddess,” Poppy breathed, and she covered the lower half of her face with her hands.
I looked at Dinah, and her russet skin had paled.
“You can leave if you need to,” I said in a gentle voice. “You don’t have to listen to this.”
“No.” Dinah shook her head. “I’m okay. I will stay.”
I gave her a supportive smile and turned back to the shadow nymph.
“We’ve already put a full stop on all festivities,” I said.
“There’s more, your majesty,” the shadow nymph said.
“Go on.” I nodded.
“Well, uh…” the shadow nymph hesitated. “I’m sorry, we don’t know what the more is, unfortunately. I have teams out there still trying to figure out what else The Rising has planned, but so far, we haven’t found anything solid.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “Have them keep working. Are the people who were abducted at the riots in the camp? Do they have humans? Lady Pemala?”
“We saw several humans locked in cages,” the shadow nymph confirmed. “We also located Lady Pemala in the camp. She was unconscious. We’re not sure how or why, but we did confirm she is still alive and breathing.”
“Okay,” I sighed. “We need to infiltrate the camp. We need to free the people, free the ancient teachers, rescue Lady Pemala, and stop The Rising.”
“I suspected that would be your plan, your majesty,” the shadow nymph said. “I gave my teams orders to bring any new information directly to us. Even small details, anything they learn, it’s going to come to me or directly to you, your majesty.”
“Good work,” I said. “We need to plan our attack.”
“We can help with that,” Gemma said, and she smiled at Nyxx.
“Definitely,” Nyxx agreed.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Helena asked.
“I don’t think so,” I said as I gave my four wives loving smiles, and I winked. “Maybe prepare a really good pep talk for me.”
“Are you going with them?” Ivis asked in a small voice.
“Yes,” I said without hesitation. “I need to be there to make split-second decisions, and test to see if there’s any lingering influence from Rhaiden. It will also be beneficial for any of the captives to see their king there to save them. Plus… if anyone is dangerously injured, I could tether their lifelines to save them if it comes to it.”
“That’s a good point,” Poppy breathed.
“Yeah, I didn’t think of that,” Ivis agreed.
“I know you don’t like it when I put myself into these dangerous situations,” I said. “But I’ll have many guards and soldiers with me.”
“And me,” Gemma added.
“Me, too,” Nyxx said. “We’ll keep him safe.
“Pfft,” Gemma snorted. “Michael is a hell of a fighter. He can hold his own in a fight.”
“Thanks,” I chuckled at my mermaid lover.
“We know,” Dinah sighed. “But none of that stops us from being worried.”
“Yeah,” Poppy agreed, and she pointed at Dinah like she could solidify my Filipino bride’s words. “That.”
“I love you all,” I said, and I pulled my diplomatic wives in my embrace one at a time.
“We should plan, your majesty,” Rune said in an apologetic tone.
“Yeah,” I said, and I looked at Poppy, Helena, Dinah, and Ivis. “Do you want to stay while we plan?”
“Yes, please,” Ivis said.
“Me, too,” Dinah agreed.
“We might notice something useful,” Helena pointed out.
“You’re more than welcome to stay.” I grinned.
I turned back to the table with a deep sigh, and we started to organize our plan of attack on The Rising’s camp.
Nyxx and Gemma worked easily with Rune and the shadow nymph team leaders in the room. We planned to break into five distinct teams and come at The Rising’s camp from all directions.
We had enough soldiers to warrant that kind of division among my forces, and it would cover the enemy’s escape routes. I loved the idea of surrounding them before they even knew we were coming. It would lock them in on all sides, and give us the advantage.
“Good,” I said as Nyxx identified the five routes my teams would take. “How many do we have?”
“Three hundred, your majesty,” Nyxx replied.
“Three hundred?” I asked in confusion. “Wait–”
“Sorry, three hundred per team,” Nyxx corrected. “Not total.”
“Oh!” I replied with relief. “Okay, yeah, that’s good.”
“Sorry,” Nyxx chuckled. “I didn’t mean to confuse you.”
“It’s okay.” I gave her a half-grin.
“We can bolster those numbers further,” Gemma said in a thoughtful tone.
“How?” Helena asked.
“There’s a reserve base here in the Andaman Sea.” Gemma pointed at the end of a narrow inlet from the ocean on the south side of Yangon. “We can call the merfolk soldiers in.”
“It’s only a few miles outside the city,” Rune added. “They’d have plenty of time to arrive.”
“Do it,” I said without hesitation. “How many will that add?”
“One hundred soldiers to each team,” Gemma answered. “Five hundred soldiers in total.”
“Thanks.” I smirked at the precise clarity of her response.
“That will be a great addition to our teams,” Nyxx said, and she gave Gemma a little smirk, too.
“Might I point out something, your majesty?” Rune asked in a deeply respectful voice.
“Yes,” I said.
“This is not my opinion…” Rune said like he was already trying to defend himself.
“Yes…?” I arched an eyebrow at my advisor.
“The organizers of the festival are very keen on not canceling…” Rune said with a grimace. “Obviously they will do so if you order it, but if we can manage to get this done tonight, it would make a lot of people very happy.”
“The festival is set for tomorrow,” Poppy said like she’d just remembered.
“If this takes more than one night,” I said in a heavy tone, “then the festival is going to be the least of our worries.”
“Of course, your majesty,” Rune conceded easily. “As I said, it’s not my opinion, but the organizers insisted I pass that message on to you. My main concern is your safety and the success of this mission. If we must delay, I fully back that choice.”
I glanced between Gemma, Nyxx, and the shadow nymph leaders with a questioning look in my eyes.
“We can be ready tonight,” one shadow nymph leader said with certainty.
“I agree,” Nyxx said.
“I’m going to go and contact the merfolk soldiers right now,” Gemma said. “I see no reason they won’t be able to make it here in time, and if they can, there’s no reason to delay this mission past nightfall.”
“Even if they can’t make it in time…” Nyxx said in a thoughtful way. “I still think we’d be good to go in tonight.”
“I would prefer to have them,” the shadow nymph who’d delivered the reports earlier said. “It’s always better to have more soldiers than you need, but I agree. The lack of them wouldn’t make our mission futile.”
“Alright.” I nodded. “You all have your tasks. Get to it.”
Nods and comments of agreement worked around the room, and Gemma hurried out to contact the local merfolk soldiers. Nyxx leaned over the table, and it was clear to me she was going to stay and continue planning with the rest of my shadow nymphs and team.
“I’ll have lunch sent in for you,” I murmured in her ear.
“Thank you,” Nyxx said, and she paused long enough to kiss me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I said, and then I whispered, “you’re sexy when you’re bossy.”
Nyxx smirked at me as she turned back to the table.
Poppy, Helena, Dinah, Ivis, and I headed out of the room to let my staff work, and we met up with Dedan in the foyer.
“Good afternoon, your majesty,” the blue-winged butler said. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Send some lunch into the study, please?” I asked. “My teams are hard at work in there.”
