Ksini couldn’t work out what she had done wrong. She had expected this Rethan to act negatively around her, but she didn’t think they would go straight to attacking her at the sight of her hanging over the Rethan’s partner. She was only curious.
Still, the second Rethais had stepped into the room, they had panicked, grabbed their dagger and started stabbing at Ksini’s tail. Luckily, it was just a normal dagger, and it wasn’t too painful, but it was definitely annoying. She wanted to talk to Rethais. But she’d been distracted by the presence of Rethais’s partner, who was sleeping away in bed, not waking up because Ksini had made sure they’d stayed asleep. In fact, all of Rethais’s guards, everyone else in the area, was currently unwillingly asleep.
“Are you done yet?” Ksini asked.
“You hurt Lysar!” Rethais shouted back.
“I did no such thing.”
“You hurt them!”
“I didn’t hurt them, the stupid Rethan is fine, they are just asleep!”
“YOU HURT THEM!”
Rethais was stabbing harder now. And further up Ksini’s body. But they were unaware that the wounds were instantly healing. They seemed to be in a complete frenzy, and logic and reasoning were beyond them. All of a sudden, Ksini realised she’d been dumb. Rethais had gone Defensive Stance over the imagined sight of a gigantic monster attacking their partner. That was fine though. It meant Ksini finally had an excuse to try something she’d been meaning to test for ages.
In a single swift movement, Ksini grabbed Rethais by the throat, lifted them off the ground then spat in their face. Rethais spluttered briefly, but the adrenaline seizures slowed down and Rethais was no longer foaming at the mouth. They had also dropped their blade, but they were clawing at Ksini’s arm, trying to escape.
“Are you done yet?”
“You come into my private space and hurt my partner and wonder why I am doing this?” Rethais snarled. “You are a giant monster and I am scared! Go away!”
Ksini tutted, then spat at Rethais again. The higher dose made Rethais’s heartbeat settle down. They were now just panicked instead of being Defensive Stance. Ksini wondered if Rethais was suffering from a Half-Stance, since they seemed somewhat lucid.
“I won’t go away until you’ve listened to my offer.”
“But you are scaring me!”
“Alright, fine!”
Ksini growled as she changed her form, into that of a very large Rethan, while still holding Rethais in the air. Rethais was overcome with confusion from what they had just seen, and they did calm down enough to be able to talk properly. But they were still shaking and seising a bit from the adrenaline flood.
“Are you done now?” Ksini hissed.
“W-what do you w-want…” Rethais stuttered. There was sheer terror in their eyes now, as it occurred to them who they were talking to. “I… I do not want trouble…”
“I want to make an offer to you.”
“W-what… what offer?”
“An extremely long life. Not as long-lived as your little sibling, but a long, healthy life, with riches and power. I’m offering you the chance to be god-touched, to be blessed, to have perfection.”
Rethais blinked. “But… you… you want something in return…”
“I do. I want you to breed. A lot. I want at least ten kids from you. Not all at once, of course, but I NEED you to actually use that perfect Rethan womb and those perfect Rethan testicles and produce kids. Not with… that average little bitch though. Find another Bloodline Rethan and produce perfect kids with them. Mother and father. It’s not a huge ask, especially since I’m going to make it so you see 300, maybe even 400. What do you think?”
Rethais blinked some more, but that confusion turned into a snarl. “I refuse! The whole damn reason I am here is because I did not want to be forced into having kids, and I am NOT going to abandon my beloved Lysar!”
“Shame. Maybe I should make some more suggestions. Like… maybe Lysar gets to live long too. Rather than dying young.”
Rethais though had stopped paying attention. Their adrenaline levels were starting to spike again and they started clawing at Ksini’s arm. However, Rethais seemed a tad more aware this time, and remembered that they had a second dagger. They grabbed that dagger and forced it deep into the inside of Ksini’s elbow.
Ksini grunted in pain, then decided to give up. She knocked Rethais out, then threw them at the wall, but wasn’t completely surprised that Rethais never hit it. Something flashed into Rethais’s path and caught them.
“Are you done yet?” Litvir hissed as they gently put Rethais down on the bed. “Are you done messing with my family? Because it is making me very angry.”
“None of your business.”
“It is ALL of my business!” Litvir summoned their gunstaff. “You keep on doing this. Hurting my family. You think you are above consequence. I am going to change that.”
“Your threats are empty.”
“The Twelve Anew killed the previous time dragon. We will do it again, if we need to.”
Ksini inspected Litvir. Litvir was being genuine. And, right now, Litvir was willing to hurt Ksini. That was a bad thing, because an injury from a god would remain on Ksini’s body.
“You wouldn’t dare hurt me!” Ksini tutted. “You’re a softie deep down. I’m not sure how I managed to make something so soft, considering what I made you from.
“I dare.” Litvir stepped forward and picked up Rethais’s fallen dagger. “I am a good kid though. I am giving you a chance to leave before I hurt you.”
Ksini decided to call Litvir’s bluff, and laughed. “You wouldn’t. You’re-”
Before Ksini could finish taunting, Litvir threw the blade at Ksini. The dagger scratched Ksini across the cheek, then embedded itself in the wall behind her. The fact that the wound had been caused by a mortal weapon meant it did heal properly, but Ksini had quickly realised the error of her ways, and didn’t want to risk a real injury.
Without saying anything else, Ksini disappeared. Litvir snarled, then straightened themselves out. They quickly checked on Rethais and Lysar, to make sure they were alive and breathing, then hit the silent alarm by Rethais’s bed. Not wanting to get caught up in the mess, Litvir disappeared in a flash of light, just as Rethais’s security team rushed in, to see what was going on.