Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer by Dante King (free e books to read online txt) 📕

“Do you need to, ah, feed him?”

Melody laughed. “With what? You think I can breastfeed a cat, just because I’m a catgirl?”

That did sound logical to Ben. “I don’t know how these things work.”

“You think I want him biting my breasts like he bit your fingers?”

She had a point.

“I guess nipples are not for nipping, despite the name.”

They both laughed.

“Nipper will feed on the flesh of your enemies,” Melody declared, her face beaming with the unmistakable pride of a parent.

“Uh, okay. I guess I’ll have to find some enemies soon.”

Ben yawned and stretched. He and Melody both sighed contentedly as the increasingly energetic Nipper alternated between chasing his own tail and staring up at them expectantly. Ben knew they would have to get up soon, but he was enjoying the warmth of the bed and of Melody’s body beside his own.

As he looked out now at the window and the world beyond it, he could see a giant egg sitting on the folded blanket below the window. A second child of their union from the night before. The egg was a little larger than Nipper’s egg had been, and its coloring was a rich shade of purple.

The fragments of the old egg sat on the floor beside it. Would the second child be the same when it hatched? Or would it be different somehow?

“This all just feels so right, Melody.” Ben brought her closer to him.

She nestled against him and raised her eyes to look at him. “How do you mean?”

“I just feel like I’m right where I’m meant to be. Here with you, with my family. And I can’t wait to begin building my empire again.”

“I knew you would be the right man to rebuild this empire,” Melody said.

“And how did you know? Did you do a DNA test and work out that I was the Forgotten Ruler?”

Melody looked at him blankly. “It was just feminine intuition,” she explained, as though it were obvious.

“Right, of course, that makes way more sense,” he said drily.

“This place will be perfect for you to begin building this empire,” Melody continued, ignoring his teasing. “You should find enough relics to increase your power greatly.”

“I hope so. If there is a dungeon beneath that stone slab Vinata and I found, we should find relics there, right?”

Melody nodded. “But we will also find monsters.”

“And not the good kind?” he asked.

Melody gave him a puzzled look. “No, they will be bad monsters. Dungeons are always filled with malevolent monsters.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Ben was sure he would get the hang of all these distinctions in time.

He thought back to the strange symbols carved into that stone slab, and the even stranger sensation of longing he’d felt as he stood over the trap door, if that’s what it was.

“It was like the dungeon wanted me to come inside,” he said aloud.

“The dungeons manipulate emotions in order to lure strangers to their deaths,” Melody explained, repeating what she’d told him the night before.

“This didn’t feel like emotions.” Ben struggled to articulate what he’d sensed out there. “This felt like destiny, like I was meant to find something in there. Something I’d lost.”

“It is possible that the relics themselves call out to you,” Melody replied. “You are not like the relic chasers who have attempted so many times to raid these dungeons. You are the Forgotten Ruler, and these relics were once your possessions.”

“Well, we’ll have to test that theory,” he remarked, shifting in bed. He finally felt ready to get up and get the day moving.

Nipper sprang hastily to the end of the bed as he saw Melody also beginning to get up. In his haste, he nearly slipped off the bed and onto the floor. With a chuckle, Ben scooped him up and held him in one arm, as his son playfully tried to nip at his arm.

Then, in the quiet, Ben heard a sobbing sound from outside. It was coming from a woman, somewhere near the window of the other room, the room that overlooked the clearing where the bandits had had their campfire the night before.

Ben quickly got dressed and softly walked into the front room, where he could hear better. The sobbing voice was light and high-pitched. It must have been one of the nymphs, but he didn’t know them well enough to tell which one.

A second voice, steadier and slightly deeper, reprimanded the first one. “Shh, we don’t want to wake them. They must be tired after rescuing us yesterday.”

Ben turned to Melody. “Come, let’s see what the matter is.”

Still carrying Nipper under one arm, he opened the front door and walked outside.

Imogen was sitting on the ground, her back to Ben and Melody’s hut. Her head was in her arms, and her shoulders were quivering. Her light sobbing was muffled by her position.

Lulu was pacing back and forth several yards away. She scowled, looking angry.

They both looked up as Melody and Ben stepped outside. Imogen’s face was red and moist with tears.

“Good morning,” Ben said.

“Good morning,” Lulu replied, her tone dark. Then she quickly looked apologetic. “I hope we didn’t wake you.”

“Not at all. You both seem upset. What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Vinata is gone,” Lulu said, kicking the dirt.

Melody gasped. “Alone in the forest?”

Ben reflected that the forest probably wasn’t as terrifying for a dryad as for a catgirl, but didn’t say anything. The other nymphs must have been concerned for a reason.

“I didn’t think she would leave without telling us,” Lulu continued. “What was she thinking? She can’t make it all the way back to the realm of the Vineguard on her own.”

“She didn’t go back home.” Imogen spoke up, her voice sounding weak. “She said something about a glyph stone in the forest. I didn’t think she’d actually go there, but she must have.”

“She’s always getting herself into trouble like this.” Lulu returned to her agitated pacing.

Ben turned to Imogen. “What did Vinata say to you last night?”

Imogen sniffed and wiped at her