Princess Hannah of the Jade Harem CH 33

Hannah sat still, her mind clear, as she took time to remain calm. Three days ago, they had learned more about her condition than they ever hoped, and it had some frightening revelations. She was indeed cursed, or at least heavily blanketed with magical wards. These magical wards were placed on her by extremely high-level players with near god-like abilities. They had changed her form, stripped her of her past, and cast her into a prison world, probably to languish away forever. But it appears that people had plans for her, and she was pulled from that world to this one, arriving as if she had just spawned as a new chosen in a strange world.

There were so many questions now that it kept making her head spin to consider them. The largest of which was if this form was even remotely close to her real one. The polymorph said she had been changed into a human female, so was she originally male? For all she knew, she wasn't even human and might be a goblin. Was that why Umtha and the goblins all followed her so readily? Could she be something else, maybe a pseudo-dragon like Zilix? One thing was sure: New Eden had more alien races than they knew about, and she could have come from any one of them.

The possibility should have been terrifying, but in a way, it was exciting. It was a strange sort of comfort to know that she had this great potential. Maybe it was because she was playing the Lilim, and her appearance was so fluid that she had gotten used to the idea that she could be anyone. She dreamed of what an amazing creature she might have been and how it had four arms and wings.

“Ha, I could have four arms now,” Hannah said and sprouted two more just to play with it. She stood in the bedroom she was hiding in and turned in front of the mirror, admiring her new appearance.

“What does it matter what I look like when I can look like anybody?” she asked her reflection. It didn't reply, and she was grateful for that. If it had, she would be sure she was losing her mind, which was already something her family worried about. She let the extra arms fade away just as the door opened, and in walked the handsome dark-haired man she called her husband. He had the lovely tiger woman known as Rajeen on his arm as she strutted across the room to greet her.

“I am glad to see you are well,” Rajeen said in her low, purring voice.

“We were worried about you,” Frank admitted. “You haven’t wanted to do much of late. Are you sure you are alright?”

“I am fine,” Hannah said with a genuine smile. “I know I probably shouldn’t be after learning what kind of spells are shackling me, but I feel relieved.”

“You feel relieved?” Frank pressed as if unsure how to react to that.

Hannah nodded and explained that having solid proof that something was wrong with her was a genuine relief. Now, she knew she wasn't wasting her or anyone else's efforts as she worked to unlock these mysteries. She had proof that she was Hathlisora and that her race and memories had been stolen. Besides, what good would having another breakdown do? There were only so many times she could fall apart over things she couldn't control. In fact, she admitted that what really annoyed her about the situation was that the machine was broken and couldn't scan the crowns.

“I really want some answers about the crowns and a clue as to why the memory trigger failed,” Hannah said.

“Legeis thinks he can have it fixed in just over a week,” Frank said as Rajeen walked up to Hannah and pulled her into a hug.

“I am proud of you for taking this shock so bravely,” Rajeen purred as she crushed Hannah with strong arms. “So many would be wallowing in depression over something like this.”

“It's hard to be depressed when you are surrounded by so many people who love you,” Hannah said as the hug ended. She looked into Rajeen's eyes and smiled before leaning in to plant a gentle kiss on her feline-like snout. “And to be honest, I don't care that this isn't my real form. I can be anyone I want to be, and my form is almost as fluid as Jaina's. I love playing this role and the adventures it opens up for me.”

“I am so relieved to hear you say that,” Rajeen replied softly. “You are precious to us, and we have spoken about the situation in detail.” She looked at Frank to let him know he should explain it, so Hannah waited to hear him out.

Frank paused then told Hannah that the masters of the Jade Harem had decided to throw the full weight of the harem at Hannah's problem. They would combine their efforts to help her recover what memories they could and find a way to remove some of these curses. Girls would be put to work doing research and aiding in experiments designed to find solutions. None of them would be told exactly why they were doing these things, only that it was needed for the goals of the harem. On top of that, Gwen had sat in on these meetings and was going to pull some strings. She had a few powerful connections that owed her favors and was going to see what she could learn.

“So everybody is working to help me now?” Hannah asked in surprise. She couldn't believe that after the shock of what happened, they were committed to going ahead. “You’re not hoping I give this up and put it away?”

“It was foolish of us to think it could be put away,” Rajeen replied. “It was our fear that drove us to steer you away from this path. We wanted the girl we fell in love with to remain as she was and were afraid that your past might take you away from us.”

“And you don't think that anymore?” Hannah asked as she felt a great swelling of love. Frank took her hands as he smiled before leaning in for a long, slow kiss.

“None of us fear it anymore,” Frank said as the kiss parted. “Because we know you love us and  would never hurt us directly.”

Hannah felt so overcome by their understanding and support that she pulled them together to hug them as one. She thanked them profusely as her eyes went wet, then stood back to suggest she wanted to do some research.

“Your room is ready,” Frank said. “Quinny and Umtha have been arguing for days over who is going to be your assistant.”

“Oh, those silly girls,” Hannah laughed. “They can both be my assistants if it means that much to them.”

“I have girls going to distant cities in teams to scour bookstores and libraries for any tomes you may find useful,” Rajeen said. “It is not often I send girls from the harem, but they are the best resource for getting things done.”

“I really appreciate this,” Hannah said as she felt unbelievably happy. It was as if the shock of the test had opened a door to new and greater possibilities. She supposed that was exactly what it had done, and it was time she did some work of her own. “I guess I should get to work then.”

“Please,” Frank said as he shook his head. “I don’t know how much more arguing from those two I can take.”

“I will sort them out,” Hannah laughed, then quickly kissed each of her masters on the cheek. “But there is one thing I need to sort out with you both.” With that, Hannah raised her arms, and suddenly, her sexy clothing was covered in a swirl of light. It faded to leave her in a simple but lovely yellow dress with white lace at the cuffs and collar and tied with white ribbons. She then focused on her appearance, and her copper skin became fair as her dark red hair turned a sunny blond. Her eyes rounded, becoming blue with soft, almost pink lips and gentle features. She still had the curling horns and tail, but otherwise, Hannah looked just as she did the first day she woke in New Eden.

“I want this to be my official appearance when I am working or serving as the princess,” Hannah said.

“You are a lovely woman,” Rajeen said with a nod. “But why have you chosen a second appearance?”

“Because I need to,” Hannah replied and reached over her head. A broad-rimmed sun hat appeared in her hand. “I need to remember who I am, and this is the form I was changed into. It's my closest link to what I was, and I don't want to forget it.”

“This appearance is for working?” Frank asked curiously. “Does that mean you will have another appearance?”

Hannah nodded as she was surrounded by black smoke. She stepped out of the cloud dressed in sexy stockings, a leather corset, and silk panties. Her long red hair was back, as were her devilish eyes, only now her skin was red as well, making her look every bit like a devil.

“This appearance is for when I am serving my role to the harem,” Hannah said. “I want to separate the two roles so people know when I am available for playing and when I am doing something important.”

“I understand,” Frank said as he wrapped his arms around her. “But I kind of like the sex devil.”

“You are such a boy,” Hannah laughed and bared her fangs at him. “And I am going to bite you.” She made a growling sound as she pretended to bite his neck, nuzzling him as her heart swam with affection.

“We should tell you that we talked about the levels,” Frank said as she was pretend biting him. “We agree that you need to start leveling as fast as possible.”

Hannah sighed and leaned back to nod her head. She had expected this, especially considering recent events. Roric and his girls had decided they needed to level in order to be more able to assist the kingdom. Frank believed it was a good idea and wanted his girls to start leveling, too. A lot of ideas were discussed, and a few were tested as they looked for ways to maximize experience gain. They hadn't discussed it much since the machine incident, but she wanted Frank to understand he had her support.

“Frank,” she said as she touched his arm. “I will do whatever it takes.”

“I know,” he said, but we can talk about that later.

Hannah nodded as her appearance blurred, and instantly, she was the blond woman in the lovely yellow dress. With a twist of her hand, a large floppy hat appeared in her hand as if she were going to a garden party. She tied her sun hat around her chin with a white ribbon and headed for the door. The bedroom opened into a grand hall that dominated the center of her royal palace. It was a beautiful space of white marble and painted murals decorated with golden trims and colorful gemstones. Flowers and silk were everywhere, creating a posh, if not decadent, space where many of the harem girls lounged. All the masters now had private bedrooms in the palace, all connected directly to the harem. Confused looks greeted Hannah as the harem girls didn't immediately recognize who she was. She explained it to a few of them, showing them the transformation to help settle the matter. They understood her need to separate work and play time and promised to spread the word to the girls who were not present.

Hannah thanked them as her eyes searched the room for her quarry. She finally stood at the center of the space and called out to them by name.

“Where are my two brats?” she shouted as her arms folded and her foot began to tap. Instantly, two heads popped up from a pile of lounging women as Hannah smiled at Quinny and Umtha. Both girls were in their succubus forms, a gift from Hannah as they were her collar. They ran to present themselves as Hannah gave them a haughty look and demanded to know why they had been bickering.

“We both want to be your assistants,” Quinny said as she smiled at Hannah’s appearance. “And you look pretty like this. I always loved your blond look.”

“This is how Hathlisora appeared,” Umtha said with a nod. “A beautiful blond woman with horns.”

“Her statue didn’t have a tail,” Quinny argued.

“That was one of her appearances,” Umtha said with a hint of anger. “She could appear with wings or a tail as she chooses. That's why I should be her assistant. I knew her past self and how she works.”

“Well, I know her current self, and I want to be her assistant,” Quinny argued. “I even helped set up her room.”

“Only because nobody asked me to help,” Umtha said in a hurt tone.

“That’s enough of that,” Hannah said with a raised finger. “I want no more fighting from you two. You will both serve as my assistants, and I will put you hard to work.”

“Yay!” Quinny cried as Hannah took them both by the hand and pulled them off.

“I am glad you are alright,” Umtha said. “What happened to you in the machine must have been scary.”

Hannah shrugged and explained that it felt strange and was uncomfortably loud, but otherwise, it had been fine. The one troubling element was that the others swore they heard her screaming. Hannah was sure she hadn't screamed, and it had been suggested that she had blacked out for a moment. She was fairly certain that hadn't happened and that she had been in control the whole time. Another strange but far less upsetting facet was that her essence had somehow been used without her will. Not only did they suspect it was what boosted the machine's power, but it didn't leave her unconscious. Supposedly, it was her magic ring that protected her from losing consciousness when she used the power, but the ring hadn't been on. It was another facet of the growing mystery that surrounded her that she wanted more answers for.

“So what are we doing first?” Quinny asked as they hurried for the portal in the center of the room.

“I am going to do some reading, and you two are going to inventory the books,” Hannah replied. “I also want you to go to the bookstore in Gwen's city to check on my stock. See if anybody has turned in a book on magic of any kind, and if so, bring it here.”

“Can we stop in the ice cream shop across the street?” Umtha asked with bright eyes. Hannah loved how much Umtha had taken to human sweet treats and agreed the girls could get an ice cream if they behaved. Then she did something unexpected and ordered them to dress, putting Quinny in a red dress and Umtha in a white one. She then took her assistants to the hidden magic room and swept in to find Webster snoring on a pillow.

“Some things never change,” Hannah laughed as she looked about the space to see it clean and tidy. “Alright, the first order of business. There is paper in the drawer. I want a list of every book on the shelves with notation of which shelf it is on.”

She set the girls to the task as she sat in her chair, taking the new book on the study of dark magic to hand. This needed to be the first one she read, hoping that with this knowledge in place, the necromancer book would make more sense.

Webster woke from his nap and crawled across the desk, chittering in her head with telepathy.

“I was busy,” Hannah replied as she stroked his back. “But we can take a walk later when I need a break.” She heard his squeaky reply and shook her head. “No, I am not going to go bat hunting in Quinny’s forest.”

“I added a cave with a special bat in it to the hills,” Quinny called from where she and Umtha worked at the books.

“Is that the cave with the shrieker bats?” Umtha asked.

“Yeah, they have a scream attack that does a little damage,” Quinny laughed. “But they aren’t too deadly.”

“Screaming bats?” Hannah laughed. “I suppose it's creative.” She opened her book and began to read as her spider curled into a ball to purr under her touch. For the next few hours, she studied the book, that was a treasure trove of information. The girls finished their inventory and were sent to the bookstore, but not before getting Hannah a blue glitter bomb. Now, she sipped her delicious drink as she made notes from the book Santos gave her.

“So nobody has shadow magic or dark magic fully understood,” Hannah said as she considered other things she had read. “People keep using the terms interchangeably, but they aren't the same.” She tapped her finger on the book as she looked at a proposed diagram of the magic system. She had no idea the system was in doubt, but it explained a lot. Now she knew why the necromancers were doing so much research and why every magical school was invited to help. They were trying to answer the questions and quantify how it worked. They were trying to build an organized system that could explain everything, a sort of universal magic equation. There seemed to be no consistency, just a hesitant guess as to how it should be organized.

“So if this study is right, light isn’t a school of magic; it's a category. Holy Life and nature are part of the light sphere. But then nature is part of growth, isn't it?” She looked at Webster, who continued to purr and offer her no answer to her question. “But then, wasn't growth another category?” she continued as she tapped the page in the book.

“I have seen this chart in the book of necromancy,” Hannah said as she thought back. “And it was far more organized. They must have figured it out or gotten so close that it became dangerous.” She sat back to consider if maybe she needed to study both books side by side. “No, I need to read this one through first, and maybe a few related ones. Then, when I read the necromancy book, I know where to reference for more information.”

Satisfied with her decision, she leaned back to stretch. She had been locked in her room for hours without a break. She wondered what was taking her little dark angels so long when they finally returned with soiled dresses and sour looks.

“What on earth happened to you two?” Hannah asked as she got up to inspect the two succubi, who were covered in dirt and ice cream stains. They held a few books that looked as if they had been used to beat a fire giant to death with singed covers and torn pages.

“You burned my books!” Hannah shouted as she took the site in. They had obviously been fighting again and used her books as weapons or shields.

“I told you she was going to be angry,” Umtha cried.

“It wasn’t our fault!” Quinny countered.

“Alright, stop,” Hannah commanded with a snap of her fingers. “Now, what happened?”

“We went to the bookstore like you asked and dug through the books for ones on magic,” Quinny began. “We found a few and piled them up.”

“Then we went for ice cream,” Umtha cut in as she frowned. “And they had a lovely pink one that tasted of berries.”

“She likes cherry,” Quinny said as she shuffled a book, causing loose pages to fall out.

“And how did this lead to you destroying my books?” Hannah pressed with a stern glare.

“Well, we were just coming out when three players blocked us and asked if we were interested in some fun,” Quinny replied.

“They thought because we were succubi that we would be eager to go with them,” Umtha said. “But we said no, and they got mad.”

“Wait, somebody harassed the princesses of our city?” Hannah asked with a raised brow.

“They tried to stop us and took the books,” Quinny added. “They said we had to earn them back. I tried to tell them who we were, but they said we were succubus, and that was all they needed to know.”

“So I summoned a fire spirit,” Umtha said. “And ordered it to get the books back.”

“It turned into a brawl,” Quinny said sourly. “I had to summon zombies, and the city guard showed up after one of the shops caught fire.”

“You set fire to Mother's city?” Hannah choked, unable to believe how out of control this story was going.

“It was an accident,” Umtha insisted as she held out the singed books. “Please don’t be mad at us.”

Hannah put a hand over her face, wondering how long until her mother showed up demanding to know why her daughters were setting fire to the city. She looked through her fingers to see the pitiful faces of the two girls, who looked absolutely miserable. She felt nothing but pity for the girls who tried to be of help. It wasn't their fault that somebody assumed that a succubus player was here for fun. What bothered Hannah was that they didn't take no for an answer or know that a succubus in this city would likely be Gwen's daughter. It made her angry, but for now, she needed to alleviate the suffering of her girls.

“Come here, you two,” Hannah said as she held open her arms. They ran to her embrace, and she hugged them warmly, kissing each on the head. “I am not angry at you. I am angry that any player in this city dared to accost a succubus here. They should know that there is a good chance you are one of Gwen's daughters and my wife. They are literally playing with fire by being rude to a succubus here.”

“It's how we dress,” Quinny said. “We have encouraged bad behavior by prancing around in our underwear. We wanted people to see us as sex objects, and now they do.”

“That's why I put you in modest dresses, but I suppose it isn't enough. We have already encouraged the bad behavior, and now we need to fix it,” Hannah agreed as she realized there needed to be some changes. She would talk to Frank later about making proper dress mandatory while outside the harem. She would also have notices posted that proper and reserved behavior was expected in the cities. If they wanted to play with the girls, they had to go to designated areas like the Lovewood.

“I will talk to the masters about making some changes,” Hannah said as she turned her girls loose. “Now, use cleanse and change into something more presentable.”

Quinny and Umtha nodded as their skin suddenly glowed, and all the grime was washed away. It was a simple power granted by the slave collar that allowed a slave girl to purify her body as if she had taken a long hot bath. They changed outfits several times, but Umtha had a very small list of magical outfits. Quinny had a lot more, but they were too sexy or too fancy when simple and functional would do. Hannah decided to take them to the swamp tower, where their bedroom still rested. She hadn't found time to move everything to the palace, and her wardrobes were here. She threw them wide and took out a few dresses, holding them to Quinny and Umtha as she picked out something nice to wear.

“I like sharing clothes with you,” Quinny said as Hannah chose her a simple green dress.

“It used to drive me crazy,” Hannah laughed. “But now I like sharing them, too. You two feel like you were always my wives, and I want to share everything with you.”

“So, are you looking forward to scanning the crown?” Umtha asked as she put on a blue dress that didn't suit her skin color.

“Oh, take that one off,” Hannah said and went to the wardrobe for something brighter. “And yes, I can hardly wait to see what they find. I am hoping it will tell us why I didn't get the memories I should have back and maybe give us a clue how to do it.”

“You really want to remember me?” Umtha asked in a hopeful voice as she stripped off.

“Sweetheart,” Hannah cooed as she held a slim, soft pink dress up to Umtha. “Of course I do. I don’t need my memories back to love you, but I know it means a lot to you for me to remember our past together. I will do whatever it takes to make that happen so I can look you in the eyes and tell you I remember.”

Umtha started to tear up as she took the dress from Hannah. Quinny held her, promising the entire harem would help because they were one big family now. She helped Umtha dress before Hannah pulled them to the bed and set between them with an arm around each girl.

“We are a family,” Hannah said. “And I can’t do this without you two. I will do anything to grow our love no matter what it is.”

“I love being part of this family,” Umtha said as she wiped her eyes. “And you know what?” she added before looking up to Hannah. “I want to stay here too. I want to stay and be with you and our family. I want to be happy here like you are, and I want you all to love me.”

Hannah could see the powerful change sweeping the goblin woman who had for years worked tirelessly to escape. She had found the same kind of happiness Hannah had in the power of their love and the foundation that was Frank. She pulled the woman close to kiss the top of her head and promised her that she would do her best to make Umtha happy.

“Wow, I feel like this is how it was meant to be,” Quinny said. “Married into a giant family with Frank as our husband and the harem our sisters.”

“If they are your sisters, then maybe you should stop making love to them,” Hannah joked.

“Never,” Quinny laughed and leaned into her. “Especially my sister, the silver princess.”

“I love you,” Hannah said as she turned to kiss Quinny. “My dear wives, little dark angels, and the best friends I have ever had.”

The three smiled as they hugged, sitting on the bed of the tower room. This home and this huge family was a dream beyond anything she dared imagine. This was what mattered to her now, and she would do anything to protect it. If an enemy came to these walls, she would throw everything she had at them. She would be whatever she had to be to protect her girls, be it Princess Hannah, Heather the necromancer, or the dark threat that was Hathlisora.