For the next few hours, Erik and Naeku talked about the basics of their wedding, until Erik eventually returned to his dinsion. Since Naeku had agreed to let his other wives participate, it was ti to inform them, and let them contribute to the planning.
Of course, he could simply do so through their bond, but this needed to be done in person.
Emma was his first stop. His youngest wife worked hard to reach the third rank, so he found her in the training room. Fortunately, she wasn't ditating at the ti.
"Emma," he smiled in greeting, his heavy footsteps echoing through the room.
"Master!" she answered with a wide smile. Instantly getting up from her seated position, she rapidly approached and wrapped her arms around him. As soon as she was in place, she sighed and rubbed he cheek against his chest contently.
'Hehe, she really is the cutest of them all,' Erik chuckled in his mind as he petted Emma's soft white hair.
"What can I do for you?" she asked without letting him go. Despite vowing to focus on her training for a while, she still couldn't quite lose the urge to serve him whenever possible.
Erik smiled, and quickly explained why he was there. As soon as he was done, a bright blush started burning on her cheeks. She imdiately tightened her grip on him. "Really…?" she whispered softly, her smile widening.
"Of course," Erik chuckled as one hand caressed her back. "I did promise, didn't I? We've rescued my mother now, so… I think it's ti. Unless you'd rather wait, so we can do the ceremony in your London estate?"
"No, that's okay…" Emma murmured happily, shaking her head, even as she remained buried into his chest. "This place is my new ho now. Between you, Emily, Alice, my new sister-wives, and my parents, I have everyone I care about right here."
As she said so, one hand untangled from Erik's body to clutch the white jewel hanging from her neck. This was the gift she'd received from Elora, which contained half her parents' ashes.
"Okay then," Erik nodded gently. "So I guess you'll participate?"
She looked up at him and nodded enthusiastically, yet with a playful twinkle in her eyes. "Yes! It can make up for when you forgot our anniversary!"
Erik imdiately turned wry. "I believe that happened while I was in a coma from my first fight with Edda, no…?"
Emma giggled like a clear bell. "Still counts!"
Chuckling, Erik shook his head. "Alright, we'll have multiple celebrations to make up for them. I'll let Naeku know you'll help in the planning."
Yet, Emma imdiately beca a little more solemn and shook her head. "No, that's okay… I'd like to keep training, and so long as everyone I care about is there, the rest doesn't matter."
But Erik knew her better than that, not to ntion he could feel her true emotions through their bond.
"You should know better than to think you could trick like that, Glimr," he chuckled. "I get that you're anxious about becoming a third ranker, but so things are more important, alright?"
He grasped her chin and looked into her eyes as Emma started to pout. "I'll throw you as many celebrations as you like, but you'll only ever have one true wedding in your life," he continued gently, "because you know I'll never let you go!"
Among his wives, he knew Emma was a duality. On the one hand, the hardships she'd suffered made her treasure every mont with her loved ones, regardless of the setting. On the other hand, she'd grown up as a privileged young girl in England, who'd spent an inordinate amount of ti thinking about the one she'd marry, all influenced by abundant fairytales.
Erik knew, a part of pre-awakening Emma was still in there, and that part wanted desperately to be part of the wedding planning.
"So, I demand you take the new week off from training, and go help with the planning," he ordered with a smile as he looked into her heterochromatic eyes. "Reaching the third rank is important, but there's no current reason to rush it, alright?"
Slowly, Emma's pout turned into a small smile. "Well, if Master demands it, I guess I have no choice…"
***
Next up was Emily. He found her in her room, practicing sigils. Now that she'd reached the third rank, she wanted to start advancing her sigil craft, as Elora's apprentice.
Once he told her what he wanted, she turned out to be a lot easier to convince than Emma, but also far more surprising.
"Yes!" she exclaid with a wide grin when Erik asked her to participate in the planning. Just as with Emma, Emily found herself in his arms and grinning widely.
Erik raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's… surprisingly enthusiastic," he said curiously. "I figured you'd be in for the ceremony, but not for the planning."
Emily giggled as a mischievous glance went through her eyes. "Hehehe, and normally you'd be right! But I happen to have a very interesting idea for this…"
"Oh?" Erik muttered, his curiosity rising rapidly. "Care to share?"
"Not unless you order to, but I'd ask you not to," she grinned, knowing what his response would be.
"Fine," he sighed, just as Emily predicted. "Keep your secrets! I'll see on the day, I guess…"
***
With Emily and Emma done, he moved on to Astrid. She was actually outside his dinsion, on the Enkare Nkai training field. While Emily and Emma both had other interests, Astrid was solely focused on the art of battle and her personal power. Thus, even now, she never stopped training.
Currently, she was suppressing her level back down to the second rank, and training with the second-ranked officers in the Enkarian army in pure skill.
When Erik arrived, he found a whole slew of male and female warriors panting in exhaustion, while Astrid stood strong in their midst. Erik approached with a grin, and loved the view of her sweaty, well-toned body.
"Erik!" she exclaid with a grin, waving her hand as she went to et up with him, expertly dodging the groaning bodies on the ground. "You here to join the training?!"
Instantly, the grating intensified, but they ignored it. "Hehe, no, sothing very different, in fact," he chuckled, before informing her of his plans.
"We could also wait until both your and my mother can attend," Erik suggested seriously.
But Astrid imdiately shook her head, grinning as she wiped the sweat off her brow. "Nah! We did a small ceremony with Mom already, and frankly, I'm looking forward to this! If the other girls are doing it now, then so will I!"
As it turned out, Astrid was the easiest to convince.
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