Aiden looked at the women and then addressed the Maid telepathically. 'Tell them they are free now and they can go or I'll offer them protection—but they must serve me.'
The Maid nodded slightly, her expression calm. She gently rose to her feet, Aiden still in her arms, and turned to face the kneeling women.
"You are free," she said, her voice soothing yet commanding. "The bandits who enslaved you are gone. You all can go back or be under me and my master but you must pledge loyalty to my master and my master and I will provide protection to you all"
The women exchanged nervous glances, their eyes filled with both hope and uncertainty. Slowly, one of them stood up, trembling but resolute. "We will... serve him," she said softly. "Anything is better than what the bandits did to us."
"We don't have any place else to go even, our village was massacred when we were kidnapped"
