One day, I returned to our room before the girls did. I was still trying to deal with the fact that I was now married. We were still, technically, under the age for the normal intimate activities of spouses. This did not stop them from maintaining more physical contact than I had been used to.

When I opened the door, I saw a tall, older woman sitting on one of our few chairs. Her clothing was of a fine, purple cloth resembling the bolts of silk my father had occasionally traded with some of the conquered worlds. Her black hair and dark brown eyes were striking. Her crossed legs were slender and revealed to the hip by an epic slit up each side. Her dress only had one decoration. A broach with the crest of House Altose.

“Hello, Solan. I am Hariaith Altose. I hear that I owe you congratulations. I must admit that it surprises me that you chose to wed my miscreant daughters,” she said with a bored air of superiority. “I own those girls, and I have chosen their fate. It would be unwise to get in the way.”

“I am afraid, as their husband, it is my responsibility to see that their interests are protected. You see, they have chosen to become mine. You own the House Altose and its assets. They now belong to House Dothstaire. Thus, I am the authority in this matter.”

Her eyes narrowed at me. “Do you think I don’t have more than one idiot boy at my disposal? I have an entire house to use against you. A house that is not in the same disgrace as your own.” With a dismissive sigh, the woman stood daintily and smoothed her dress down with both hands. Pausing, she cocked her head questioningly to the side. “We will address this matter later,” she said with a grim smile. “I’ll see myself out. Stick with the girls from now on. After all, your fates are now entwined. I find it impossible to avoid considering you one with them. I will plan for that.”

She gracefully exited the room in gentle strides.

When the Hunters came in a short while later, I explained our visitor and the lovely sentiments she had shared. This revived their anger at Hariaith. An impressive level of anger was expressed. Some of their ideas for revenge were quite creative. Many of them were unrealistic, and the rest would cross lines too far for even our people.

“Ladies. I did not cave to her threats. First order of business is to gather intelligence and work with the current chaotic power structure to know what she is up to. I’ll talk to my brother about our next steps.”

---===+++===---

A little while later, after our evening meal, I went to Slaith’s room. He answered on the first knock on the door. “Come in, brother! I hear you made a new friend today!”

I walked in calmly and took a seat on one of the comfortable chairs Slaith had purchased in the small town that was closest to the Cloisters. “Yes. Nice sarcasm, by the way. You’re learning! It seems my mother-in-law wanted to congratulate us on our nuptials. She seemed to think I had stolen something from her. She also made some implied threats.”

“I see. So, no family dinners?” he replied with a smirk.

“I will not waste time waiting for an invitation. We need to ask Stolath to look at the armor Haleth used to attack me. I want to know what it is and how Haleth got it. It stopped my hollow sword without it injuring him.”

Slaith spent some time thinking about this. “You should talk to him about it before you let him see the armor. I put it in a hole and covered it with dirt near your training grounds. If you trust him, we can lead Stolath to the training grounds and show him what we recovered from the body.”

---===+++===---

The Stolath was quiet for a long time after I described the armor that Haleth had. I left out the identity of my attacker, and that the ‘hunters’ were involved. “That sounds like the stories I have heard of the drakon scale armor. You seem to have stumbled upon the only vulnerability it has. I have not heard of an intact set on the market, although I have heard that there might be one or two in private collections. Would you show me the armor?”

“Certainly, if you think you can tell me more about it. Meet me at the clearing I train in. We have not looked at it in the light of day since the attack.”

---===+++===---

Slaith met us at the clearing. He had a bundle in a rough cloth sack. The Stolath watched quietly as the bundle was unwrapped. Charred bits of Haleth tumbled out of the darkened armor. There was a dark substance flaking off of the brasslike metal that had been exposed to the sword strikes and lightning of my strikes.

Stolath Zenash stooped over the charred mess. “This material flaking off was some sort of polymer coating to keep the scales from making noise. From what I can see, there are remains of a crest. It looks like this suit belonged to House Racash. I assume the crumbling body would be the remains of Haleth. Would I be correct?”

Slaith was the one to take the bait, “How did you know?”

The old man looked at Slaith like he was an idiot, “Well, I suspect that House Racash would only lend such a valuable item to anyone other than their heir’s protection. There is no way he could have purchased it. His house is insolvent. I’m guessing that he threatened to kill your wives for the bounty.

“You puzzle me, young Solan. Why not dispose of the girls and split the bounty with Haleth? You have made powerful enemies and gained assets that are more dangerous to you than they are helpful. Why protect them at great danger to you? Do you know what I see?” he asked as he crumbled a bit of burned flesh in his fingers. “He died shortly after you hit him with the first jolt of electricity. You must have been very angry to put this much into him. That armor is worse than useless against your ability. It conducts almost as well as gold.”

I cleared my throat, “What is it made of?”

“It is made of Drakon scales. It was made during the Drakonkynde Wars. We think the Drakons made them, but we have no idea why or who they were for, but the suits are very rare. They are also very light and easy to hide under heavy clothing. Only a few are known to exist.”

“Any suggestions for a replacement for the burned covering?” I asked.

The master looked at me with a blank expression. “Why keep the evidence of your conflict?”

I smiled what felt like a feral smile, “Why would I give up an asset like this, when it could become an asset of House Dothstaire. House Altose is already an enemy. I will just have to put House Racash’s heir under my protection. If they had the resources to acquire such a valuable and unique item, their resources are likely enough to balance out the threat of House Altose.”

The old master stood up. “I can give you a recipe. Your father can send you a mold to make a crest of House Dothstaire to put on your new toy. I’ll tell him about your find. Go ahead and burn off the old coating and the prior occupant before you coat the armor.”

“What if we heat it up too hot? Don’t bodies take a high heat to burn?” asked Slaith.

“I haven’t seen anything in my life that is hot enough to come close to melting that material. It’s the only armor that can stand up to a hollow sword. Neither one of them can be melted by anything our people know.

“Well, I have students lounging in my practice field while I answer silly questions. I’ll have your recipe for you at your next session.” With a snort, he began walking back to campus.

---===++===---

At the evening meal, Slaith and I sat on either side of Sayleah. Her friends, who were sitting opposite her, quietly walked away as if following predetermined instructions. Her six male companions got up from their places and stood in a loose circle a pace away from the table and stood facing out from their mistress.

“To what do I owe the honor of this visit from the scion of House Dothstaire?” she asked while looking up into my eyes. “I am guessing that you may want to make up for taking Haleth from my side. He had some valuable property that was loaned to him by my father.”

“I fear your assigned protector will not be returning. He took it upon himself to collect the bounty on my wives. It seems that a freak electrical storm, luckily, eliminated the threat. I fear wild animals may have made off with his remains.”

“I see. Slaith, should I be satisfied that the valuable item in his possession was also dragged into the forest by beasts?” she asked with a cold glare full of fear.

I responded as Slaith, who wisely stayed silent. “It would seem so. All things considered, how would you like to ask your father about joining House Dothstaire?”

“Why, young lord, are you proposing marriage?”

“I already have the approval of my existing wives. If you prefer, you could marry my brother instead…”

She frowned at that, still looking coldly at me. “My father would not approve of him. He is a wonderful friend, but he would only approve of a marriage to a noble who is the heir of their house.” She looked down at the table and took a deep breath. “I accept your proposal. I will be your willing bride. Let me handle my father.”

I placed my hand on her right hand. She was startled and looked up into my face. I could see the stress drain from her face as she locked eyes with me. “You would be my protector? What do you get out of this?”

“I would get a wife, a connection to a wealthy house that still has influence. I get another talented member for my household and an additional chance for a viable heir. You will be an equal partner with the other four girls. I know your political power in the school has been reduced, but I think we can recover and enhance your position.” I told her as we maintained our focus on each other.

She blinked, finally. Her head tilted a bit to the left and her brow furrowed as she looked at me. “You are a strange one. You have been collecting people you could have discarded for your own advantage. You shelter people who have been a danger to you.”

“I see ways that your particular gifts could be an advantage. It costs me little to save you all. Why not do it? Besides, who wants to be alone in the world?”

She continued to look at me like I was the strangest thing she had ever seen. “I will gladly join your family. My father will request one of the children to be allowed to inherit House Racash. Other than that, we will be dedicated as no other family in our world is. I will belong to you as the other girls belong to you. You own us all now. Please be kind to me.”

“I will try to be worthy of you all. As luck would have it, I have a wonderful new set of armor. I will use it to keep you safe.”

She broke out laughing and put her hands over her face. I took that moment to excuse myself, “I am sorry, but my brother and I have an appointment to dine with my wives. We can meet tomorrow to arrange for the ceremony.” We stood, and the six guards took their seats again. I noticed that they each sat in a way that made their interlocking fields of view cover all approaches to Sayleah’s table.

Slaith and I went to the table where the girls had placed themselves. They observed as we walked over. Greah was the first to speak up, “So, are we to have a new ‘Lady Dothstaire’ join us?”

Slaith could not hold back a snort of amusement.