It took a moment for the queen's words to register. A new ship as a reward? I smiled happily but there was something I had to do first.
"My apologies Your Majesty might I have a moment to settle these two?"
"Of course. When you are done we can talk more."
Standing up I bent over and picked up Beth in a princess carry, Amy looked jealous so I leaned over and whispered.
"If you wait here I'll come back and carry you as well."
She blushed crimson all the way to the tips of her ears and took a step back. The queen must have excellent hearing because I heard her giggle. I walked over to the bed and placed Beth on it gently, judging by the lack of smell someone had cleaned up while we were out. Looking over, Amy was where I had left her so true to my word I went and picked her up in a princess carry as well. She squealed happily and kissed my cheek, I set her down beside Beth and kissed them both gently on the forehead. Returning to the couch the queen smiled at me.
"With how well you treat them it's no surprise that they have fallen for you. Your mother taught you well."
My face instantly went icy and the room even felt a bit colder as I hissed out my next sentence with venom in my tone.
"My mother taught me nothing!"
Catching myself I reined in my emotions and bowed my head.
"My deepest apologies for my actions Your Majesty."
"No. I apologize for making an obviously false assumption. Perhaps you would like to talk about it?"
Involuntarily my hand traced the scars on my neck. The queen watched my hand as she couldn't see the scars, after all I hid them well. Forcing my hand down I spoke.
"I apologize again Your Majesty but I would rather not bring up the past at this time."
She looked mildly upset that I wouldn't open up but didn't mention it.
"If the past is off limits, how about the future? I mentioned giving you a ship but now that I think about it those four Lizardman ships already belong to you. Even if you don't want to keep one as your personal ship selling them would earn you more than enough to by you a top of the line vessel. Not to mention the reward for rescuing myself and the surviving crew there is also the sale of the Akvari ship to discuss."
I frowned at that.
"I made no claim on that Akvari ship so there is no reason to buy it from me."
The queen smiled happily.
"That was originally the case yes. However the General wished to reward you for retrieving his fallen crew. They finished their headcount this afternoon and every single crew member, alive or dead, has been accounted for. There is no monetary reward for retrieving corpses so the General told my husband that your price was for all five ships. Originally my husband was angry thinking you were greedy but I set him straight about it."
The queen took a sip of tea.
"So. You can now afford to purchase almost any ship you want, leaving my husband at a loss for what to reward you with. Is there anything you want? Something that with your status you can not get?"
I thought about it for a minute and then remembered my dreams. The ship I was on. I had researched it and found out the brand, I had no clue what exact model it was but I knew who made it and the ship class.
"Your Majesty there are only two things I can think of."
"Say it."
"I have had a dream for a while to own a Phantasm class ship made by Starliner."
She whistled.
"And the second thing?"
I scratched my head.
"I'm sure you are aware that as an Earthling I am only allowed up to a C-grade Genetic Augmentation Serum. If at all possible could I be permitted to receive a B-grade one?"
"The serum shouldn't be an issue. As for the ship don't you think you're aiming a little too high?"
Scratching my head again I spoke.
"Yeah. I always knew it was out of reach but my mentor told me you always need to have a goal, something to set your sights on or you will eventually find yourself adrift with no guidance on where to go next."
"Your mentor is wise. Do you still keep in touch?"
I went silent and when I did respond my voice was flat and emotionless.
"No. We don't."
The queen nodded.
"More bad memories from your past?"
I nodded.
She gave me a troubled look.
"You are strange. You speak of your mentor with pride but you also seem to despise him. Which is it?"
I didn't want to answer but it was a direct question from royalty.
"It's both. I respect him for the things he taught me and despise him for the things he did to me."
I saw the sadness in her eyes and realized she understood more from those words than I had intended to share. She noticed that I was ready to clam up if she pressed harder so she excused herself and left.
** The Queen's POV **
As I left Adam's room I looked back at the closed doors and shook my head sadly.
"Your Majesty why do you show such interest in that Earthling. He was very rude."
"There is something about that child that draws me to him. I can not place it. As for his rudeness I believe it is a defense mechanism as well as not having been taught proper etiquette. I could sense great emotional pain from him when his mother and his mentor were mentioned and the way his fingers were stroking his neck made something clear."
"What was made clear? I felt the bloodlust when his mother was mentioned as for his mentor what did you determine."
"This is not the place to discuss it. Let's just say that that child has suffered more in his short life than I have in my 3000 years."
** Adam's POV **
After the queen left I was so engrossed in my own thoughts I didn't notice Amy and Beth had come over until they hugged me.
Amy: "Do you want to talk about it?"
Adam: "Not right now. Maybe someday."
We just sat there until a knock was heard and dinner was brought in. The cooks had been informed that I was an Earthling so all three plates had the same things on them and the three of us enjoyed our dinner in comfortable silence.
After dinner we bathed together and then as we were about to get in bed my communicator rang. Opening it up I saw Anna's beautiful face, unfortunately she looked angry.
"Hey beautiful. How was your day?"
"It was fine. Except for one thing. I believe I told you to take pictures and for some reason I have not received any."
"Well I only took a few photos at the end."
"But I wante.."
Cutting her off I continued.
"However, I did record the whole thing."
Her eyes glittered happily but my cheeks were pinched from both sides.
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
They both yelled in perfect unison.
"Is that them?"
Amy snatched the phone from me and ran off with Beth to the bathroom locking me out in the bedroom. They were in there for nearly 45 minutes before they came out, they appeared to be a bit grumpy but they both hugged me.
"Why didn't you tell us you already had three wives?"
So that's what Anna told them.
"It's complicated. Anna and I only met a month ago as for the other two I have never actually met them yet."
"Yeah Anna told us you have to find them with only a name and what they look like? That's going to be hard."
"Yeah it is."
The silence dragged on for a bit before I spoke again.
"So what do you two want to do? Are you sore from last night still?"
They both grinned at me. Beth pushed me onto the bed and they both shrugged off their bathrobes.
"We already sent the video to Anna."
"And we promised her another one in the morning."
Four hours later Amy and Beth were fast asleep completely worn out. With their heads resting on my shoulders I traced circles on their backs while I thought about the future. Something had been bothering me for a while now, why weren't these two girls in any of my dreams. I had come to care about them, not as much as Anna, Iris, and Megan but I felt it was only a matter of time.
Deciding I needed a second opinion I carefully got out of bed doing my best to not wake the two exhausted girls. Picking up my communicator I sent a text to Anna asking if she was awake. Ten years ago there would have been signal lag but luckily, a now famous, researcher had discovered the key to faster than light communication.
A few seconds after I sent the message to Anna my communicator buzzed with an incoming video transmission.
"Hey Adam. I thought you would be asleep? Were those two not enough for you?"
She winked at me but I just gave a small smile in return.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm worried about something and wanted to talk with you about it."
"Is it about the two elf girls?"
I nodded.
"Yeah. I can't help thinking that something bad is about to happen and they don't make it. Why else would they be nowhere in my dreams?"
Anna was quiet for a few seconds.
"That's a possibility but it's also possible that something has shifted events from what should have happened. Think about it. After the dreams started did you stick to your same routine or did you change it up to look for us?"
I thought for a moment.
"For the first two months I didn't change anything, but when the dreams became more frequent I started looking for you all."
"Well there you go. By having those dreams and changing your routine you altered what should have happened. Nothing more and nothing less."
I smiled at Anna.
"Thanks. Hearing you say that helps alot."
"No problem. That's what wives are for."
She giggled and cut the link ending our call. When I was sure the link was closed I let the smile fade. I understand what she is saying but one thing didn't change. My ear was itching again. Placing my communicator on the bedside table I settled in to get some sleep.
That night I had another dream only it was different than the previous ones. Instead of being an older version of myself I was outside of myself watching a memory. It was in my hometown before everything went wrong, in the memory I was doing my chores but from my new perspective outside of my body I saw a girl peaking her head out from around a corner, watching me.
Instead of my perspective following my body it followed that girl, all day she watched me from out of sight. When my body went home she went to her own home as well with a smile on her face. When she went inside I recognized her parents, they were die hard human supremacists and when the little girl told them her child fantasy of marrying me when she grew up they went ballistic.
My perspective followed the girl the next day as her mother dragged her to the whipping post where I was chained. Her father seeing that she was watching began to whip me over and over again. I remembered that day, that man had stormed into my mom's house and dragged me out by the hair while my mom did nothing to stop him. He had been ranting about not letting me have his daughter and teaching me to stay away. He whipped me until I blacked out and when I woke up I was still chained to the post, it was one of the worst days from my childhood.
Now I was seeing the reason for it. The girl was begging her father to stop but her mom held her back until he was done. Then he threw the whip on the ground and turned to face his daughter.
"I don't ever want to hear you talk about that mixed blood piece of filth again, do I make myself clear? Answer me Megan!"
I didn't hear her response as my mind focused on the girls name. Megan. As the dream began to fade out it narrowed in on her face and sure enough it was a much younger version of the Megan from my dreams.
I was awake now but I kept my eyes closed as I processed what I just learned. I now had a clue as to where to begin my search for Megan. Smiling I opened my eyes to see both Beth and Amy standing by the side of the bed looking down at me.
"Can I help you with something?"
Amy ever the bold one, outside of bed, responded quickly.
"Nope. Just admiring the view."
Beth nodded and blushed while I chuckled and gave a wink.
"It's a view you'll get to see every day if you decide to come with me."
The smiles they gave me were brighter than the morning sunlight coming through the window.
"We talked about it with Anna last night. She said she has no problem with us coming and so we will be joining you. Please take care of us."
"Please take care of us."
The both of them repeated the same line and gave a graceful curtsey. My only response was to get up and wrap them both up in a hug. They both blushed as I was still fully nude from last nights activities.
"So. There should have been an outfit delivered for me to wear to my audience with the king. Do you know where it is?"
Beth wriggled out of my embrace and walked to the table where a box was resting while Amy answered.
"Yes. It was delivered shortly after the two of us woke. After you are clean we will help you put it on as some of the ornamentation is rather delicate."
After they helped me bathe they deftly dressed me in my new attire and when I looked in the mirror I had to admit I looked good. And judging by the rosy blush on the two girls faces, they thought so as well.
"Can the two of you turn around and not look this way until I tell you to?"
They appered confused by my request but nodded and turned around. When I was sure they weren't looking, I faced the mirror again and brought my hand up to my earing. Placing the pad of my thumb on one side and the pad of my index finger on the other I pinched and a thin needle shot out and pierced both fingers with a faint beep the needles retracted and I whispered a command.
"Reveal."
As soon as the word was spoken my image in the mirror shimmered as the illusion faded. Now instead of human features I looked like a High Elf with the signature long pointed ears, bright silver hair, and my eyes had changed to a beautiful purple color I had only ever seen on Iris. Now that my real features were on display the clothes suited me even better, I looked like an honest to God elven noble. I was glad the clothes had a high collar so I didn't have to see the scars on my neck. Taking another moment to admire myself I then performed the same action with my earing only this time the command was 'conceal'. Now that I was showing my human features again I told the girls they could turn back around.
As the time for my audience approached there was a knock on the door. Amy answered it and the butler who had shown me to my room upon my arrival was there.
"Pardon my intrusion Ship Captain Hunt. I have been instructed to make sure you are ready and to escort you to the audience hall."
He then entered the room as I rose from the couch and stood in the open area so he could circle and inspect my attire.
"Yes yes. Everything looks to be in place."
He pinched a piece of lint off my shoulder and brushed his hand down my back to straighten the creases from sitting, before giving his approval.
"Now then follow me and we shall be on our way."
As we left the room and walked down the hallway the itch in my ear grew stronger. Making a decision I stopped walking and spoke.
"One moment please."
The butler turned to me with a questioning look while I turned around and looked at Beth and Amy.
"Can I ask the two of you to wait in the room? When you're there call Anna and tell her my ear is itching real bad. She'll understand."
Handing my communicator to Beth I continued.
"No matter what you hear wait in the room for me. Okay?"
They were more than a little confused but they nodded, turned, and reentered the room. Facing the butler again I said we could continue, he nodded and resumed walking.