Page 19 of Dark Shaman: The Lost Treasure (The Children Of The Gods #98)
"No, but that's because I wasn't supposed to interact with them."
"Fair point." Tony flipped to a new page, starting a sketch of the chamomile. "But who took care of them after the old doctor died? Who treated their ailments, their aches and pains?"
Eluheed pretended to consider this. "Perhaps they didn't need care. They're all young and healthy."
Tony's chuckle was low and knowing. "Young? My friend, they're as old as human civilization itself. But that's not exactly a secret in the harem. Everyone knows." He paused. "Everyone except you, apparently. I'm surprised a clever fellow like yourself hasn't figured it out yet."
"I don't understand." Eluheed maintained his facade of confusion. "How should I have been supposed to guess that? And if everyone knows, why did no one tell me?"
"Good question." Tony's pencil scratched across the paper.
"Most people figure it out eventually. The staff are afraid to talk openly, but the ladies can basically do as they please because they have Lady Areana's protection.
They speak freely among themselves and with their companions.
" He glanced up briefly, his eyes meeting Eluheed's.
"Naturally, they're careful not to say anything offensive about Navuh himself when in range of the many listening devices.
Even Lady Areana's protection has limits. "
Eluheed pointed to another section of the garden, and they shifted positions, maintaining the pretense of a botany lesson. The sun beat down mercilessly, and he could see sweat dripping onto Tony's notebook, smudging some of his sketches.
"How did you find yourself on this island?
" Eluheed asked. "And how did you end up in Navuh's harem?
You said he was interested in quality breeding stock, but that implies looking for the right males, and I know no one was looking for me.
I was brought over by one of his associates.
" And sold like livestock, but he chose not to mention that.
Tony's expression darkened. "I was lured here under false pretenses.
A job offer too good to refuse, working on cutting-edge genetic research.
" His laugh was bitter. "I wasn't meant to serve in the harem, though.
Navuh lured many highly educated men to the island for his larger breeding project, but because I look enough like him—dark hair, olive skin, the right build—I was sent here instead.
The other guys get to go home after they are done providing their services, but no one leaves the harem, so I'm stuck here until the day I die. "
Chills ran down Eluheed's back despite the oppressive heat. "What larger breeding project?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Tony turned to a fresh page.
"My job here is simple—to get Tula pregnant and provide Navuh with an intelligent son he can claim as his own.
The problem is that Tula doesn't want to have a child, and I can't blame her.
" Tony's voice dropped even lower. "Do you know what happens to the children born here? "
Eluheed shook his head.
"The boys are taken away as babies. Removed from their mothers as soon as they're weaned, sometimes sooner.
They're raised in the Dormant enclosure and told that Navuh is their father.
When they are old enough, they are moved to the war camp, turned immortal, and trained to be warriors.
" Tony's pencil pressed harder against the paper.
"They never know who their real mothers are.
Navuh's excuse is so none feels superior to the others and all are judged on merit alone. "
"What happens to the girls?" Eluheed asked.
"The girls born to the ladies fare a little better, I suppose.
They're allowed to stay in the harem, raised by their mothers.
But they're not allowed to become immortal.
They live and die as humans." Tony looked up, his eyes holding a mixture of anger and sadness.
"It's a particular kind of cruelty to let a mother watch her daughter age and die while she remains young forever, but it's a better fate than what awaits girls who are born to dormant mothers in the breeding enclosure or are sent there.
They are not allowed to transition either and grow up to become breeders like their mothers.
" Tony sighed. “Even the harem ladies are breeders, just of higher caliber.”
Something about what Tony had said bothered Eluheed. If becoming immortal was a choice and not a birthright, how did the dormant children transition into immortality?
"You said that the girls are not allowed to become immortal. That implies it's a choice, something that can be granted or withheld."
Tony studied him for a long moment. "You really don't know, do you?"
"I'm beginning to realize there's a great deal I don't know," Eluheed admitted, which was true enough.
Tony bent back over his notebook, sketching with renewed focus. "The immortal males have fangs and venom. When they bite someone who carries the dormant godly genes, it activates them. The person goes through a transition and becomes immortal, but only the boys are induced."
Eluheed's mind reeled. Fangs and venom? His own path to immortality had been completely different. These immortals were an entirely different species.
"The sons born to immortal or dormant females and human males can be activated when they reach puberty," Tony said. "They get induced by older immortals and become warriors in Lord Navuh’s army of immortal soldiers."
"Why not induce the daughters as well?" Eluheed asked.
"Navuh wants them to remain dormant because their fertility is as high as human females when they're dormant.
Once they transition to immortality, their fertility drops dramatically.
He wants breeders, not more immortal females.
That's why the boys are removed from the Dormants' enclosure as soon as they reach puberty and moved to the training camp.
The Dormants are kept away from immortal males so they don't get activated by mistake or purposely. "
"That's monstrous," Eluheed spat, forgetting to maintain his pretense of casual interest.
"Welcome to Navuh's world," Tony said dryly. "Where women are breeding stock and men are cannon fodder."
Eluheed felt sick. He'd known Navuh was evil, but the industrialized approach to breeding an army was on another level.
"The girls born in the Dormant enclosure are doomed to the same fate as their mothers," Tony added quietly. "Generation after generation, trapped in a cycle of breeding more soldiers for Navuh's insane quest for world domination."
Eluheed's mind raced as he tried to process everything Tony had told him. Immortals with fangs and venom. Dormant genes that could be activated. Breeding programs designed to create armies.
What kind of crazy world had he stumbled into?