Chapter 56
Abaddon’s army was almost to the mountains.
Despite the generally upward climb of that number, I didn’t feel fear. Not now.
Just days before, I believed that Abaddon being this close to Sanctuary meant my days left alive had entered single digits. The dire urgency of my situation was crushing, an ever-present millstone chained to my back. His march brought my demise. And it was creeping toward me, an unstoppable force.
My fortune had shifted, however. I now possessed all of the tower cores.
Abaddon, as an individual, was still far stronger, but the advantage he once held with his military was all but gone.
Two dungeon cores and seven tower cores could produce overwhelming numbers with ease, so when it came time to repel Abaddon’s army, I would succeed.
Make no mistake. I know this wasn’t a stroke of genius warcraft. Abaddon was the far more competent commander, but I didn’t need to be a sophisticated strategist to win with volume. I just had to have far, far more troops.
Thrashing his army wasn’t enough, however. A true victory meant eliminating Abaddon himself. As long as he lived, anxiety would hum in my mind at all my moments, stealing my hard-earned joy as I searched dark corners for potential threats.
To kill Abaddon, I needed to finish Abaddon’s Bane with Plague Master. To finish Abaddon’s Bane, I needed to acquire a living seraphim, so the fighting in the heavens had to continue.
The Silk held its first recruitment party on the plane of angeli.
We used our embassy in Queen Lace’s city as our venue.
While we technically had cities of our own to recruit from, many of those potential candidates had not gotten over the death and destruction I introduced to their lives.
Angelis whose families I hadn’t killed would be more welcoming of the Silk, I believed.
Demons were invited as well, which I wasn’t hesitant to approve at first. While I believed the two groups should intermingle and learn to live with one another, I wasn’t so sure that forcing those interactions would be good for recruitment.
Purity was in charge, however, and she believed it would work in our favor, so I followed her lead.
It was also Purity’s idea to allow Esita and ten of her friends travel to the angeli plane to participate in the recruitment.
None of my wives, including Invia, had any issue with her joining the Silk, but she had to earn her way in like everyone else.
Other than the attendees being mostly angeli and demons, the recruitment party itself wasn’t all that different from what we saw on the material plane with two major exceptions.
First of all, these recruits partied far, far harder than human women did or could.
They drank, snorted, and smoked three times as much, and that number was fairly exact because we had to provide the inventory.
The second difference was the moment I came in or on an angeli recruit who had agreed to join the Silk and passed our process, streaks of abyssal black ran through their silvery wings like runny paint, and their golden eyes turned black.
The various species of demons in attendance didn’t experience anything similar, but they also weren’t lawful good creatures from the heavens choosing to debase and pledge themselves to an abyssal sovereign.
By celestial standards, these angeli were considered fallen, forever-tainted by my corruption.
Seeing my seed change them so visibly helped me to better understand why I liked seeing abyssal traits in my women so much.
Yes, the visual of a beautiful woman having wings was excellent, but the fact that I did that to them made the changes even hotter.
They weren’t just branding themselves for me.
They were giving up pieces of who they used to be so they could become more of what I wanted.
It was beautiful, and the Silk was 133 members richer for it too.
“I like being able to feel where you are with Harem Master,” Podni said, joining me in the celestial library beneath Sanctuary. “I brought some tea if you're interested.”
“That would be great. Thank you.”
While tea didn’t taste like much, I enjoyed the way it smelled and how it felt to drink. The ritual of it was oddly comforting and was one of the few remaining tethers anchoring me and to my humanity.
“Am I distracting you if I stay?” she asked.
“Not at all. We’re so close to the end now that sometimes it feels like continuing this research is futile.”
“I can’t tell from your tone whether you are happy or upset about that.”
“Neither,” I replied. “That much is objective fact. For an opinion, I’m content with what our position looks like right now.”
“Just content?”
I nodded. “I could have made better decisions and put us in a better position. We would have lost a lot less. No, I’m not moping. I can’t learn from a mistake if I don’t acknowledge it.”
“I didn’t think it sounded like moping. You doubted yourself for a little bit, but it’s clear that’s behind you now.”
“How can you tell I don’t doubt myself anymore?”
Footsteps echoed through the library.
“That’s Solara,” I said.
“Yes, it is!” Solara added, coming out of the shelves with three grand tomes in her arms. “Am I interrupting? If this was a study party, I wanted to join. If it’s not that, I don’t mind giving you two privacy.”
Podni turned to Solara with a smile. “Can you tell when Byron is completely sure of himself?” she asked.
“Yeah, easy,” Solara replied. “It’s his eyes. They have more color when he’s hungry. It’s like determination meets boundless self-reliance.”
“My eyes don’t change colors.”
“They kind of do,” Podni countered. “Solara’s answer is the same as mine. That’s how I can tell you don’t doubt yourself anymore. You get the same eyes when you’re fucking. You know what you want, that you’re going to take it.”
Solara nodded.
Podni held out her arms to gloat that she called it.
“What else do I have written on my sleeve, since I apparently can’t read it myself?” I asked.
“That you grow more in love with us every day,” Solara answered. “I know that sounds grossly cliche, but we can feel it. Though, for me, I know you’re turned on by horns, so it’s not all love.”
I laughed. “I can like your horns and still be more in love with you.”
“But?”
“But they are incredible. I love everyone’s abyssal traits, really.”
“They are cute, aren’t they?” Solara joked, posing glamorously for a moment. “I like them too. It’s kind of like a visual record of my progress. It helps me see how far I’ve come.”
Podni sat back, mouth agape and eyes out of focus. After a pause, she said, “Gods, Solara. You just explained something I’d been trying to articulate in my head for weeks. How do you just spew these perfect nuggets?”
“You’re so sweet.” Solara reached across the table and squeezed Podni’s hand. “It’s pretty new to me too, so don’t feel bad.”
“It’s so true, though. I’ve never felt as hot as I do now, and I think that’s because I can see my progress in the mirror. My abyssal traits are physical evidence of something abstract, and that’s sexy.”
“I think you put it better than I did,” Solara remarked with a grin. “Seeing how celestials change when they ascend made me realize it.”
“I’ve always liked how it makes it clear to everyone that you’re unique,” I said. “You’re like nothing else out there, and no one can deny seeing that in you now.”
“And?”
“I already said I thought it was hot!”
“I want Invia’s tongue trait.” She stuck her tongue out and looked down at it as if she could measure it like that somehow.
“I want you to have that too,” Podni said.
Solara looked at her, confused, and then the realization hit her. “Okay, fine. I want you to have that kind of tongue too. All of you, really. I swear Invia licked my G-spot the other night. Wow.”
Podni nodded, knowingly. “It’s so good.”
“Spectacular.”
“I think we all agree that Invia’s tongue is incredible,” I said.
The conversation paused for a moment as we each reviewed our personal favorite memories of Invia’s tongue.
Solara cleared her throat. “You being declared a god has made them quite the status symbol. I’m married to the God of Debauchery, and everyone can tell.”
“I like that too,” Podni agreed.
“Byron, are you okay?” Solara asked, leaning forward.
“I was thinking about all of you having Invia tongues, and I totally lost track of everything else. All right. You’re both welcome to stay, but I need to get back to work.”
“I will contain myself,” Solara said, arranging her corner of the table for optimal note-taking.
Podni stood. “I’m going to see Invia.”
Invia summoned me to Xilouis’ former palace. An envoy from the domain of principalities had traveled down from their plane and through the archangeli plane to meet with us on the lowest level of the heavens. That alone was significant.
We received the envoy and their entourage in the same room where we negotiated peace with the other angeli kingdoms.
These celestials looked similar to angeli in that they had marble-like bodies, one set of wings near their shoulders, and a set of smaller wings sprouting from their lower backs.
The white glow I had seen in archangeli, however, was now limited to their feathers.
The most significant change, however, was their size.
These beings were twice as big as archangeli.
When a female celestial stepped forward to speak on behalf ot the delegation, I activated Sense Weakness.
Her greatest weakness was her self-esteem.
Those women were the easiest to break because they had broken themselves for the most part.
By the time I arrived in their lives, I didn’t need much time until they let me put those pieces back together in whatever manner suited me best.
“His Divine Majesty, the God of Silk and Debauchery, thank you for granting me the privilege of an audience,” she said, bowing.
“All who come in peace are welcome in my lands,” I replied.
“Incredibly gracious of you, your Divine Majesty. I come today as a voice for the domain of principalities. The kingdoms of my world have many differences and often feud with one another, but we are united by our desire to maintain peace for our peoples. You have made it known that you only wish to reach the seraphim. Is this accurate?”
I nodded.
“You have also made it known that only those who attempt to stop you are your enemies. Is that accurate?”
I nodded again.
“We have no quarrel with you. We would welcome you to travel through our plane unhindered if you can guarantee the safety of our people as you do. Its significance bears repeating: The entirety of my world is in agreement on this. We will open the door and let you pass.”
Invia couldn’t suppress her grin. In truth, I probably did a poor job of hiding mine as well.
“I’m sorry you had to make such a long journey for such a brief conversation,” I said. “You have captured the specifics of our terms exactly. What do you offer to guarantee your adherence to our terms?”
“Our word.”
“Any reasonable leader would ask for more than your word,” Invia hissed. “And you already knew this.”
I nodded that I agreed with her.
“Our word is infallible,” the envoy replied.
“That won't work,” Invia said.
The envoy held a blank, unblinking expression for several seconds. “What would be sufficient for human minds?”
My hand shot out to quiet Invia before she snapped back at our visitor.
“Are you here in jest?” I asked.
“Absolutely not, your Divine Majesty.”
“Prove you're serious about reaching an agreement,” I said.
“I do not mean to suggest otherwise,” she replied. “I fear a difference in customs is confusing the conversation. I do not know what is appropriate to offer.”
I doubted that very much. The game here didn't make sense to me. Why offer peace so readily and then make backhanded comments? The explanation couldn't be that they simply wished to confuse me, right? I didn't see what they gained from that.
Invia took the lead. “We want a wife or daughter from the royal families of each kingdom as well as one relic of great value and significance. If one of the other kingdoms informs us that either are frauds, we will investigate and retaliate against whichever side lied to us.”
That was pretty good.
The envoy turned toward me.
“She speaks for me,” I said. “You may address her.”
“Your price is too high.”
“You asked us to set the price,” Invia replied. “So, the price is set.”
“Will they be returned when this conflict has ended?”
“We can agree to that with an additional condition: If any kingdom betrays us, we keep everything. Anything we don't want, we will destroy.”
The envoy thought. “I cannot agree to this request without the consent of the kingdoms, but I believe they will agree with my judgment. Please give me two weeks to make the necessary arrangements.”
Invia laughed. “No. Three days. Any kingdom that hasn't agreed by then is out of the treaty.”
“Since there was confusion before, we should directly address one more item,” I said. “This deal does not include granting your people access to the plane of powers when we break through.”
“Why would it not?” the envoy asked, appalled. “Ascension was part of your offer from the start.”
“You failed to include it in the terms, believing we would overlook how important that is to your people. I promised to leave the gates open, but that doesn’t mean that access is free. Once you have met our terms for peace, we can negotiate ascension access.”
The envoy nodded, bowed, and departed with haste.
“We should just kill them all,” Invia complained. “We could have a whole plane to ourselves. Just us and our girls.”
“If that wouldn't take so much time, I'd agree.”
“How long do you think we have before our enemy is on our doorstep?” Invia asked.
“He will be in the mountains any day now. I think we can stall him there with silk soldiers for at least a few weeks if his army is roughly the size of what we saw in the southern lands.”
She shivered. “I hate waiting. I want to skip to the good parts.”
“We are almost there, my love. Almost.”