The dragon's harem - Chapter 1590: Aether and Astra
Chapter 1590: Aether and Astra
Hours passed, and the maids were already running all over the place. The news finally spread across the whole private quarter, and some of it even leaked out.
But what no one knew was how close they were to it happening. It was evening, and the two blazing suns were slowly approaching the mountains, bathing the world in a crimson light. The shadows extended forward, washing over the castle and forcing the maids to start lighting the hallway gems.
It was then that one of them approached Linda’s room. She knocked on the door, “Lady Linda, should we bring you something to eat?”
The maid waited for a few seconds before hearing Linda’s reply. “No need. But you can find me some kid toys.”
“As you wish.” The maid didn’t even enter and rushed away, coming back just a few minutes later with a small box of toys. She knocked once more, then pushed the door open.
The maid walked in and laid the box in the corner of the room, then looked at Linda, seeing her sitting on the bed, breastfeeding a baby in her hands. “I’ve got several toys, some other maids already thought about…”
She froze, “What’s that?” She pointed at the baby.
Linda looked down, then back at the maid, “Who? The child, what else?” She smiled, “She was born just an hour ago.”
“What!” The maid jumped to her feet and rushed in, staring at the little girl in Linda’s arms. “Wait, how? You didn’t call anyone!”
“Why would I call anyone?” Linda looked a bit confused, and the maid felt like her brain was about to explode. “You can’t just give birth on your own. You aren’t a cat!”
“But I’m a drakaina.” She looked at the little girl with a smile. “And look, she came fine.”
The maid almost tore her hair off, but immediately took a deep breath and rushed out to get the other maids. They took their eyes away from Linda for just an hour to prepare and coordinate with the entire castle, only for her to give birth alone without anyone even knowing.
As the maids started rushing in, several things became clear. First, Linda’s child was a girl, a little baby with just a few hairs on her head. Second, she was a human, not a dragon, because she was born whole and not in an egg. Third, Linda thinks and acts like a drakaina; otherwise, she wouldn’t have given birth like that.
It was just a normal day, but now, they had a flood of work to do.
Minutes later, a healer nun rushed into Linda’s room to check on the little girl.
“How do you feel?” The nun asked, and Linda just looked at her, “Well, nothing. Alive maybe? What am I even supposed to answer with?”
The nun scratched her head, “Are you in pain, feel dizzy, itchy, or have difficulty breathing, anything out of the ordinary?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Hearing Linda’s answer, the nun looked a bit skeptical. The little girl was fine at a glance, but she was more worried about the mother, who gave birth on her own, unattended by anyone.
The nun then turned toward the little girl and looked at her. She looked strangely clean and healthy. “I’m afraid to ask, but how did it go? Where is the umbilical cord? How did you clean her? With warm water?”
Linda lifted an eyebrow, “What? The cord, I ate it. For her, I licked her clean.”
“The fuck you are! A goat!” The nun rushed at her and grabbed her by the head, “You’re crazy!”
“I’m neither a goat nor crazy, I’m a drakaina.” Linda replied with a passive face, then pointed at the little girl, “Stop screaming, you’ll wake her up.”
While the nun was still glaring at Linda, someone was sitting on the crib, right above where the little girl was. A thin man in his early twenties with a messy beard, long white hair, a leather jacket, and an amused smile.
“Noisy bitch, got a good voice.” He chuckled, and Linda glared at him.
“Come on, told you to call the fucking humans. Not my problem, you keep to your old traditions. Father isn’t even here yet. Why am I not even surprised?”
Then, the little girl in the crib flinched, causing him to frown. He stood, his legs passing right through the chair beside the crib as he approached the nun. With a swift move, he threw his hand forward, piercing her back.
For a moment, the nun was fine, until she felt something moving around her heart. She wasn’t injured or bleeding, but something was there.
She stumbled back, barely hearing a distant voice ringing in her head. “Keep your voice down, sister, unless you want to wake up my little sister. She cries, and I’ll send you to meet whoever god you follow.”
The nun rapidly turned around, but couldn’t see anyone. She touched her chest, cast a healing spell on herself, but felt nothing. “What was that?”
Linda, in the back, sighed, “First, keep your voice down. Her brother will kill you.”
The nun followed Linda’s finger but couldn’t see anyone. In this room, there was only her, Linda, and the little girl.
“What brother?”
“Hers.” Linda pointed at the crib.
At that moment, the door opened and Arad walked in. He immediately froze, his eyes glaring straight at the strange man sitting on the crib.
The man smiled, “Hehe, look who’s late. By a hundred fucking years.” He snorted, “Couldn’t blame you. You void dragons are slow.”
Arad blinked, “A soul?” His eyes shifted to the crib and saw the little girl sleeping peacefully.
“Linda, care to explain?” As Arad asked, the man chuckled, shaking his head, “Won’t ask me? Though you’d jump at me with a clenched fist.”
“It was twins, a he is the older brother, a time and void dragon. The little sister is human. But, while she only needed eight months to be born, he needed a hundred years. One of them had to die, give birth to her at nine months, causing him to die. Or wait to give birth to him, and she’ll wither away and die.”
Linda pointed at herself, “Like how void dragons have a womb garden, we time dragons have a womb rift where time doesn’t flow. It was there that he decided to try something stupid.”
“What Mom wants to say is that I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want my sister to die. So, I chose to give up my physical body and remain as a soul, so that my sister can be born without me crushing her.” The man smiled, “And look at her, little Astra, healthy and fine.”
Arad looked at Linda, “You named her Astra?”
“I did, she wanted to call her Rose. What kind of stupid name is that?” The older brother laughed, “By the way, I’m Aether, a good name to remember.”
Arad stared at him, then at Astra, “The soul of one-of-a-kind time and void dragon, and a human with both time and void bloodline.”
Aster leaned on the crib and looked at Arad, “Thought you’d be more excited.”
“She’s asleep, want me to make noise?” Arad looked at him, and Aether chuckled, “Hell no, she needs some sleep. Me too, so… see you later, Dad.”
Aether disappeared into a cloud mist that sank into Astra’s body. Only Arad and Linda could see him, probably Astra as well, but to the still confused nun in the room, Arad was talking with thin air.
Arad took a deep breath and turned around, “She looks fine. Keep an eye on her with Linda, she is a human after all. I’ll go…”
Before he could finish speaking, the door burst open, and the Metallic Queen was there.
“Where is my baby!” Arad’s whole security team couldn’t catch her.
“How did you get here?” Arad asked with a worried face and approached the Metallic Queen, confused. She shouldn’t be able to appear out of nowhere.
“Hooo…” But the moment he stepped away from the crib, another person appeared in his place, his mother, “There are two in here! Come look!”
Before long, the room got flooded as everyone rushed in.
