Chapter Thirty-Two: The Queen's Reasoning

"Ren...now that you are here, there is something I must ask you." Ashastha asked.

"What is it?" Ren asked curiously about what she would want from him.

"I ask for you to do something for me." Ashastha said as she took the cloth off her chest, revealing her massive chest entirely, causing Ren to blush.

"Please...mate with me."

"....what?" Ren asked in utter surprise at the Queen's request.

"I wish for you to mate with me." Ashastha said.

Ren jaw figuratively dropped to the floor, hearing her request again.

"Wait, wait, let's back up a second. Why do you want me to...mate with you?" Ren asked, trying to get some clarity on this situation.

"Well, there are a couple reasons. First,  I need to have a child, an heir to the village. Due to the fact that there are no men left on this planet, this has caused me to be without a child for my entire life. Secondly, it's to ensure an alliance between the people you represent and my own; if I were to take you as a mate, then our alliance would become even stronger and easier to maintain, and lastly..."

Ashastha stood up and showed her back to Ren. On her back was a giant glowing green symbol.

"What is that?" Ren asked.

"This is the symbol of one of our five goddesses, Xyenta, the goddess of love. By her blessing, each one of our people is given this symbol, but it only appears when we meet the one we were destined to mate with, and when we met earlier, I could feel my symbol activate. So this is one of the reasons why I ask this of you." Ashastha explained.

Ren was trying to consider everything Ashastha had just told him.

"Ashastha, it's not that I don't appreciate you asking this of me; I think you're very beautiful, in fact. But there's someone that I love, and I can't betray her." Ren explained.

"Do your people not practice having multiple wives?" Ashastha was upset at Ren for not agreeing to her proposal yet.

"My people don't typically." Ren said, answering.

Ashastha clenched her hand and said "Is that one you love one of the two in the village?"

Ren noticed how angry she got but still answered truthfully "No, Ceti and Aleyda are just friends."

"Then is she among those you came to the planet with?" Ashastha asked.

"Yes, she is." Ren answered.

Ren could've sworn Ashastha's eyes glowed at hearing that.

"I would like to meet this person." she said with a scary smile.

Ren was getting nervous.

"Did I just piss off a Queen?" He asked himself.

"She will be coming tomorrow; she is the leader of the group." Ren said, trying to explain who she was.

Ashastha took a deep breath and started to explain something of importance to her.

"Ren, the symbol means a lot more than just being my mate; our beliefs, my very own beliefs, say that when the symbol appears, we have met our fated one, and Ren, that only happens once in our lifetimes. You are my fated one, Ren, so I refuse to give up just because you have your heart solely on one other person."

Ren had to think about what to say in order to not anger her further.

"Ashastha is not as if I'm saying no, but right now I do only have one person in my heart, and she means a lot to me, and I won't say no due to her people also practicing multiple wives, but I'm personally not used to things like this, so the main thing I ask of you is to give me some time. Also, I don't think it's going to be easy to convince her to even consider this." Ren said trying to find a middle ground between not rejecting her and saying that may not be possible.

"If her people practice having multiple wives, then why wouldn't she be fine with it?" Ashastha asked.

"She's...kind of intense about things that involve me." Ren tried to explain Lucilia's attitude; after all, he remembered what she had done to Cilan.

"Well, Ren..." Ashastha said before walking over to where Ren was.

Ashastha pushed him against a wall and said to him, with her glowing eyes looking directly into his green eyes "I can be intense too."

"Well, you certainly are..." Ren said, trying to restrain himself. After all, a woman is practically doing everything she can to mate with him, so it was very difficult for him to control his own lust.

Ashastha backed off of Ren, who was still shocked at her actions "I will respect your wishes for now...just know I won't be giving up."

After Ashastha left the room, Ren took a deep breath.

"That was...unexpected." Ren thought to himself as he tried to calm down.

*Back at the Camp*

"Princess Lucilia?"

"Yes Silili?" Lucilia responded to the guard.

Her eyes were darkened like she hadn't slept at all, she hadn't eaten since Ren disappeared, and the only thing found from his group was Ceti's backpack. Despite search teams looking for as long as they could, there were no other signs of any of them.

This made Lucilia's anxiety worse; she was terrified of what might've happened. This is a foreign place to her and her people; what if some beast attacked them? What if this planet had an unknown population of individuals that found Ren and the others? These thoughts plagued her mind as the day went on.

Silili took a deep breath before telling Lucilia "We have found evidence of a unknown monster around where we found the backpack, it was a giant footprint nearby."

These words made Lucilia's heart sink. Now the thoughts are even further, but the next thing Silili said gave her some hope.

"We also found what looked like the same beast, dead nearby. Colette thinks it could've been the same monster." Silili explained.

This made Lucilia's expression light up; just a bit of hope changed everything for her.

"But what could've killed it?" Lucilia asked.

"I don't know; perhaps Ceti, Aleyda, and Ren managed to kill it?" Silili said.

"But if that's the case, where are they?" Lucilia asked.

"Maybe they are hiding somewhere for the night; anyway,  we shall see come morning; it's too treacherous to venture out without sufficient light." Silili said.

"At first dawn, send our scout teams; we have to be sure." Lucilia said.

"Yes ma'am!" Silili said.

Silili left the tent that Lucilia was in, her fists clasped together but also having some renewed hope.

"Ren, you better still be out there somewhere; find your way back to me." Lucilia thought to herself.

*The next morning*

"Are you ready, Ren?" Sthora asked Ren, who had his backpack and his weapon ready.

"Yeah, I got everything for the trip, so you're coming with me?" Ren asked Sthora.

"Yes, myself and Xysira will be escorting you." Sthora pointed at the red-headed lady next to her, sharpening her spear.

Xysira had shoulder-length red hair, which matched her scales around her body. Like Sthora, she also possessed wings, except hers were a combination of red and black. Like Sthora, she also possessed a similar skin color to Ren. Ren also noticed that her eyes also glowed red, a similar shade to Lucilia's.

"Alright, you guys know where you found me, right?" Ren asked, just making sure they knew the direction.

"I do; I was part of the team that found all of you." Xysira said.

"Great, if you lead me to the river nearby, I can lead us to my camp." Ren said.

Sthora nodded her head and said "I understand; let's go, Xysira."

The three headed towards where they found Ren, which was about an hour away from the village, with some minor talking until they came across the dead Sogaris that was killed by those who saved Ren.

"How did you manage to kill it?" Ren asked Xysira, who was there.

"We cut open his chest and ribbed out its heart." Xysira said.

"Thats...brutal." Ren said, realizing just how Xysira said that without blinking an eye.

"It was fairly easy; we've mastered killing Sogaris." Xysira commented.

"I will have to make sure not to piss their warriors off..." Ren thought to himself.

The three headed towards the river bed, and now Ren guided them to the camp where the others were set up.

"HOLD IT!" a woman's voice yelled. The woman ran over to where Ren and the others were. "Wait...Ren?" 

"Hey Colette, it's fine; put the weapon down." Ren said trying to tell Colette.

"Who are these two?" Colette said still aiming at the two.

"Our new allies, now could you please put the gun down?" Ren said.

"Were these the ones who took you?" Colette asked, slightly lowering her weapon.

"No, these are some of the people who saved me, Ceti and Aleyda; now if you would please put the gun away before a diplomatic incident arises." Ren said.

Colette listened to Ren and put down her gun. "The princess is going to want to talk with you...and your guests."

"That was the plan; there's a lot that needs to be discussed." Ren commentated.

"Ren?"

Ren turned after hearing the all-too-familiar voice.

It was Lucilia who dropped her rifles at her feet before running over to Ren and embracing him.

"Hey Lucilia, I told you I'd be fine." Ren said, returning her embrace.

Lucilia didn't say anything; instead, she let out all of the emotions she had kept inside Ren's chest as he held her tightly.

"I'm home."

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