My Taboo Harem!

Shekinah had possessed a mind that moved beside his own, graceful where he was theatrical, merciless where he was playful, and brilliant in every place Marcus remained painfully slow and stupid. With her at his side, they would already have dismantled the Dragon’s circle, poisoned his alliances, broken his confidence and arranged his death with enough elegance that history would mistake it for fate.

Instead, the world had returned Marcus first.

Marcus.

Danton looked at him again.

’Too bad.’

Truly, tragically, cosmically too bad.

He lowered his hand and smiled.

"It means the Dragon cannot be on two fronts at once, Helel."

Marcus’s irritation eased as he finally began following the thought.

Danton resumed walking.

"From what we know, Roxanne has likely told him about the plan involving the princesses. If she did not, someone else did. Secrets around Phei have developed a terrible habit of abandoning their original owners."

He lifted one finger.

"Look at what he and Maddie have been doing. Gathering the princesses. Bringing them together. A pull... gathering them into one circle where they can be watched, protected and taught to trust one another."

Marcus’s eyes narrowed.

Danton spread both hands.

"Family, affection, safety, breakfast, emotional openness. Disgusting things. But very effective, unfortunately."

"He knows we intended to use them," Marcus said.

"At least part of it."

"Then why has he made no move?"

Danton grinned.

"There you are. The brain lives."

Marcus ignored him.

Danton’s hands returned to his pockets.

"He has made no direct move because he does not know our exact timeline. He knows the princesses are important to us in the awakening. He knows several families were preparing their daughters and he may even understand how deeply the girls are connected to the return of our brothers and sisters than we assumed."

His eyes gleamed.

"But he does not know how and when we intend to act."

The concealed passage seemed colder as Danton continued.

"And because we have allowed time to pass without touching them, his vigilance has thinned. He still watches, of course. He is not an idiot."

Danton glanced at Marcus.

"Present company remains valuable for comparison."

Marcus’s mouth tightened.

"He watches them," Danton continued, "but he is no longer expecting the knife every second. He has brought the princesses close, made them comfortable, and begun treating the danger as something approaching rather than something already standing beside them."

He smiled:

"Exactly as we planned."

Marcus considered that, the pieces beginning to align... Danton’s expression became more thoughtful.

"At the same time, we must assume he knows about our other operations."

"How much?"

"All of them... let’s believe that for now."

Marcus looked at him sharply.

Danton laughed at the reaction.

"Perhaps he knows nothing. Perhaps he knows only fragments. Perhaps his little terrifying brain has already crawled through every secret room we own, tasted our archives, insulted our ancestors and written a complete report in brightly colored ink."

His shoulders rose in an easy shrug:

"It makes no difference."

Marcus frowned. "How does that make no difference?"

"Because planning around an ignorant enemy is how intelligent men die surprised."

Danton’s smile vanished.

"We should assume Phei knows everything."

The words entered the concealed space with quiet weight.

"We should assume he knows about the Coffer... the Void-Djinns... the princesses... the Pages and Anahita. The unawakened bloodlines; every family being positioned around him. Every move we intend to make."

Marcus listened closely now.

"And then," Danton continued, his smile returning like gold sliding over a blade, "we construct a plan that works even if he knows everything."

Marcus’s eyes slowly widened.

"If he knows," he murmured, "then he will be watching for the most important move."

"Of course."

"So we attack on every front while blinding him with one."

Danton’s grin widened... Marcus continued as understanding finally broke over him.

"We make a loud move against a smaller target. Something immediate enough that he cannot ignore it. Something personal; he rushes in to save the day, believing he has stopped the operation before IT begins..."

Danton’s eyes brightened with delight.

"Exactly!"

He clapped Marcus on the shoulder hard enough to make the Heavenchild prince stagger half a step.

"Look at you! Thinking without supervision. Shekinah would be so proud. Well, no, she would still find you exhausting, but the sentiment is beautiful."

Marcus pushed his hand away.

Danton continued, now fully animated.

"One visible strike. Loud. Ugly. Personal. We make certain he sees it. We make certain everyone sees it. Let the Dragon arrive in glorious fashion, rescue the endangered little lamb, break several expensive things and congratulate himself for ruining our plan."

He laughed brightly.

"While he is busy saving the day, we complete two moves or more in the shadows."

Marcus smiled: it was a slow, satisfied smile, far too pleased with itself considering Danton had supplied almost every useful thought in the conversation.

Danton looked at that smile and nearly laughed again.

Marcus truly believed he had become dangerous merely because he finally understood the board after someone else arranged the pieces and pointed at them individually.

’Adorable.’

"Two hidden operations," Marcus said. "Executed simultaneously while all his attention is fixed elsewhere."

"And all the attention of his little household," Danton added. "Phei’s greatest strength is also his most exploitable weakness. He protects emotionally... Threaten one person correctly and everyone around him moves. The Dragon rushes toward the fire, his women gather around the victim, his allies search for the attacker, and the entire beautiful little family machine turns in one direction."

Danton lifted two fingers.

"Which leaves two other directions wonderfully empty."

Marcus’s smile deepened.

"The Pages?"

"Perhaps."

"The princesses?"

"Certainly." Danton stepped closer and looked directly into his eyes. "Smile, Helel."

Marcus frowned. "I am smiling."

"No. That expression looks constipated and ambitious. Rejoice properly." Danton caught Marcus by both shoulders and gave him a delighted shake. "We are going to recover all those girls you have been whining about since the Dragon stole them from beneath your nose."

Marcus went still:

"You mean..."

Danton released him and spread his arms wide, golden eyes burning with delighted cruelty.

"Yes!"

His voice rang through the sealed passage like the announcement of a festival no sane person would attend.

"We are going to start taking them back."

Marcus stared.

Danton’s smile became radiant... "One after another." The temperature around them rose... "In the same fucking week."

Marcus’s eyes widened as greed, vindication and anticipation flooded his face. Sierra. Amber. Elena. Maddie. Yuki. Jade. Every humiliation, every rejection, every woman who had crossed from his influence into Phei’s circle suddenly seemed reachable again.

He looked almost reborn beneath the promise.

Danton watched him and smiled too.

Not because of the plan.

Because Marcus had no idea what Danton truly intended.

He did not know how carefully the first crisis would be crafted, how many false paths would be laid, how many loyalties would be turned into weapons, or how completely each rescue would guide Phei toward the next trap.

He did not know which homes would burn, which alliances would fracture, which fathers would blame their daughters, or which princesses would willingly step into danger because someone they loved appeared to need them.

Marcus imagined abduction.

Danton imagined choreography.

He imagined panic moving through Paradise Island... all according to his design, every frightened call arriving at the correct moment, every enemy choosing precisely the response he had prepared for them.

He imagined Phei racing from one disaster to another while unseen hands emptied the spaces behind him.

By the end, the Dragon would believe he had saved everyone.

That would be the sweetest part.

He would stand amid the wreckage, surrounded by those he had protected, and only later discover what had been taken while he was busy winning.

Danton’s smile softened.

Marcus mistook it for satisfaction.

It was longing.

Old, vicious and patient.

’It is time, Shekinah.’ The thought passed through Danton with the intimacy of a prayer and the certainty of a threat.

’It is almost time to bring you back.’

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