Mantle of the Gods [LitRPG / Slow Burn / FTB Harem]

Miel took us back to our room.

More specifically, it was one of the floors of the palace where it looked like everyone had been staying. The rooms were plenty spacious, though not as large as the ones we'd been in at Mive or Tres. I counted over ten doors on either side of the hall, so there was plenty of room for everyone. It was only five in the afternoon, but considering that I didn't know when I'd get another chance to take a break, I'd retired to the room that had been assigned to me as soon as we'd gotten back.

Miel followed us to my room. She cleared her throat as I went to lie down on the bed. "Ether, I was hoping I could take you to see your dad and brother…"

I noticed that she'd left an invitation for me out of her request. I met Ether's eyes. "Up to you."

The ivory woman thought for a moment before nodding and letting out a nervous breath that she'd been holding. "Okay."

"Do you want me to come?" I glanced at her mother for a second to see if the older woman was going to object. I could see she wasn't opposed to the idea, but she didn't seem excited by it either.

"I think…" Ether closed her eyes and hesitated. She opened them and locked on to me. "I think I should do this alone first."

I tapped my CB. "I'm right here if you need me."

"I know." She stepped forward and gave me a quick kiss that lingered a little longer. She smiled as she slowly pulled away. "I love you."

I played with her white hair a little. "I love you too."

I watched the two of them leave and wondered how long I'd have the room to myself.

It wasn't long.

"Where'd Ether go?" Aelin didn't bother knocking as she walked in and jumped knees first onto the bed.

"Family meeting." I looked at the doorway where Justia was about to knock. I motioned for her to just walk in. "What's this about?"

"I thought we should talk about things now that Aelin is in the know." Justia looked over at the blonde. "But if Ether's not here…"

"I can fill Ether in later." I tapped on my CB. "We probably should bring in Rix and Fray, though."

Justia just nodded and moved to the other side of the room while I typed out a message asking the two of them to come to my room. For Fray's message, I made sure to include that it was so that we could bring Aelin up to speed with everything. I didn't want her to start panicking, thinking that it was something else.

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Both of them showed up about the same time, and as soon as they were in the room, I shut the door. I knew that Klix would have something to monitor us and that a closed door wouldn't stop Jenne from spying on us, but it at least made me feel a little more secure.

"So…" I looked over at the bed where Aelin was sitting against the headboard with Fray beside her. "How should we do this?"

"What are you going to do with us once you take a city?" Aelin fired the question off too fast to not have already prepared it.

"I've known who my mother is for only a few days…" I shrugged. "Honestly, this is more about me getting to ask her some questions than it is about me owning a city."

"So you're saying you don't need us?" Aelin crossed her arms.

"It's going to be hard for you to keep up with me level-wise…" I looked around the room. "Rix and Pixie should be able to, and Ether might be able to stay sort of close. There's apparently something that Justia and I can do to help her along as well, but the rest of you will get outpaced." I saw the fear on Fray's face. "That doesn't mean that I'd get rid of you." I held up my hands. "I've barely had time to think about this much, but my original plan was to just keep the team together once we graduated." I looked over at Rix. "But I've not had a chance to talk to anyone much about what they want to do after graduation."

The golden woman shrugged. "I'm with you. Even more now."

"Ether was planning on staying before she realized what she was." I swallowed, remembering the fight we'd had when she learned what I was. "I'm not sure if that's changed, but I think she's still planning on staying." I nodded at Justia. "And we're kind of tied together."

The brunette Healer nodded slowly. "I'd like to be able to move my parent's clinic to your city once you get established, but that's decades away."

The Wurn Mantle had been on the sixty-ninth floor, and I assumed that my mother's Mantle would be in the sixties as well. We were projected to be in the low twenties by the time we graduated, and even if we farmed like crazy and had someone power-level us, it'd take a decade at least to get us all high enough to get there. This whole conversation was talking about things that were years down the road.

"Decades?" Aelin looked between the two of us. "Why?"

"I can't just take a mantle of the Gods." I shook my head. Technically I could, but that was if everything went perfectly. "Plus, Gar is basically a crater at the moment. Celia Taray is in the process of setting up an outpost there, but it's going to be years before there's a wall and city stable enough to survive." I raised an eyebrow. "That's really what you want to talk about?"

"Of course." Aelin grinned. "I need to know how big this city you want is, because your harem is going to need to be proportional!"

I threw a pillow at her. "Being in the harem just got a lot more dangerous." I looked at Fray. "For someone like you especially. While you'll probably be stronger than anyone else your level, the Primus will be stronger than any of us." I turned to Aelin. "That goes for you too." I shook my head. "I knew ArchBishop Mavery wanted to use me as a weapon against the Primus, but now Klix and other Goddesses are adding their own plot to it. I don't see how we don't fight them at some point now." I nodded at the redhead. "And really, Rix is the only one who has any sort of advantage against them."

I'd been expecting Fray to be scared, but she looked strangely calm. Silent, but calm.

"I'm not leaving." Aelin blew a kiss at Justia. "Someone has to filter through all of the women that are going to try to woo Atlas…" There was something evil in her eyes. "Wait, if Klix is Pixie's mom and Ether's grandma, does that mean you're going to try to get some aunt and niece…"

"Pixie is my cousin." I enjoyed the abrupt way that Aelin's dirty train of thought ended. "Not going to happen."