Chapter 135: Bug Planted
Brant’s jaw tightened with shame. "I understand."
Jenny looked at Lysa. "You came to kill Lucard because you believed a lie."
Lysa lowered her head until her forehead nearly touched the floor. "Yes, my lady. I was wrong."
"You were wrong," Jenny said. "But you also came because you loved your father and trusted the wrong man. I will not call that evil. I will call it foolish."
Lysa’s eyes reddened. "I accept that."
"Then do not be foolish again."
"I will not."
Jenny looked back at Brant. "House Vardros will accept Ash Wolf’s service, but not as free mercenaries who come and go by coin. You will serve under contract. You will answer to House Vardros first. You will protect Jake. You will protect the house. You will not sell information. You will not take private jobs without permission. Any man who cannot accept that will leave now and never come near us again."
The hall became quiet after Jenny finished speaking. It was not the quiet of comfort. It was the quiet that came when a door had been opened, and everyone understood that walking through it meant there was no easy return. Brant looked at Jenny, then at Jake, and finally at Lucard. He understood that House Vardros was no longer only a broken noble family asking for help. It was becoming something again. Serving it now might bring danger, but it might also bring a future that Ash Wolf had lost generations ago.
Brant placed one fist against his chest.
"Those terms are fair."
Jenny’s voice became firmer. "They are not requests."
Brant raised his head. "Then they are accepted as orders."
Jake looked at Jenny with quiet admiration.
Peter’s face softened a little.
Lucard watched without interrupting. Jenny was doing well. She spoke like someone learning to place a wall stone by stone. She was not cruel enough yet, but she did not need to become him. A house led only by fear broke too easily when stronger fear arrived. Jenny could become the face people served willingly. Lucard could become the shadow they feared to betray.
That balance was useful.
Jenny turned to Lucard. "Do you have anything to add?"
"Yes."
Lucard picked up the bottle of red wine and two clean cups from the table.
"This house does not accept empty words."
Brant looked at him. "I expected that."
"Good."
Lucard poured wine into the first cup. The liquid was dark red and clear, the kind of wine nobles served when they wanted a simple moment to look expensive. The wine carried a faint sweet smell, mixed with the deep bitterness of old grapes and sealed wood. It looked like something made for celebration, not a hidden chain. As he poured, a tiny movement passed from his fingertip into the wine. It was smaller than dust. Even if someone stared into the cup, they would see nothing except the red surface.
One controlled blood parasite egg entered the wine.
It did not hatch.
It slept.
Lucard poured the second cup.
Another egg entered that one.
No one noticed.
Not Jenny.
Not Peter.
Not Brant.
Not Lysa.
Inside Lucard’s heart, blood bug stirred faintly, sensing her eggs leave the blood storage pocket. The little creature’s instinct reached toward them with a weak motherly hunger, but Lucard’s will pressed down before that instinct could grow. These eggs were not food. They were not children to protect with emotion either. They were tools. Living tools, but tools all the same.
Lucard pressed one quiet command into the blood chamber.
"Sleep. Wait."
The little mother blood bug obeyed.
Lucard carried the first cup to Brant.
"Drink."
Brant accepted the cup with both hands. He did not ask what was inside it. Perhaps he thought it was part of a noble oath. Perhaps he thought refusing would insult the family he had just asked to serve. Perhaps he trusted Lucard because Lucard had saved his life.
Trust was often the easiest door to enter.
Brant drank the wine in one long swallow.
The egg passed over his tongue, down his throat, and into his body. Lucard felt it through the faint blood mark. The egg reached the stomach first, then touched blood through a tiny weakness left behind by Brant’s old sickness. Lucard guided it gently. It did not need to grow yet. It only needed to hide.
A system message appeared inside Lucard’s mind.
[Controlled Blood Parasite Egg has entered selected host.]
[Host: Brant Ashwolf.]
[Status: Dormant.]
[Hatch Command: Available.]
[Note: The egg can remain hidden until activated by the host’s blood authority.]
Lucard’s expression did not change.
He handed the second cup to Lysa.
Lysa looked at him for one moment. There was still fear in her eyes, but there was also gratitude. She knew he had saved her father. She knew he had not killed her when he easily could have. That made the cup heavier than wine. Her fingers tightened around it, and for a breath, she seemed to understand that this was not only a drink. It was a line. Once she crossed it, she would no longer stand outside House Vardros as a girl asking forgiveness. She would stand inside its shadow.
She accepted it.
"I will repay House Vardros," she said.
"Words are light," Lucard said. "Live long enough to make them heavy."
Lysa nodded and drank.
The second egg entered her body.
Lucard felt it move. Lysa was younger, healthier, and cleaner than Brant. Her blood was stronger than a common woman’s but still weak compared to true warriors. The egg slipped into a quiet blood path near her heart and settled there like a grain of red dust.
[Controlled Blood Parasite Egg has entered selected host.]
[Host: Lysa Ashwolf.]
[Status: Dormant.]
[Hatch Command: Available.]
[Note: Host is suitable for obedience conditioning, pain command, tracking, and emergency termination.]
Lucard lowered his hand.
Two eggs had found homes.
Three remained.
Brant placed the empty cup down and bowed his head. "From this day forward, Ash Wolf serves House Vardros."
Jenny nodded. "Then rise, Brant Ashwolf."
Brant stood.
Lysa stood with him.
Jake looked excited but tried to hide it. "Does this mean we have soldiers now?"
Brant’s tired face warmed slightly. "Not many, Young Lord. But the ones who remain loyal will stand."
Lucard said, "Numbers matter less than obedience."
Brant looked at him. "I will separate the men again tonight. Those who followed Merrick knowingly will not remain. Those who only obeyed orders without knowing the truth will be tested."
"I will test them myself later," Lucard said.
Brant did not flinch. "Understood."
Jenny glanced at Lucard. She heard the coldness in his words, but she did not stop him. Ash Wolf had come with value, but also danger. If they were accepted, they had to be cleaned before they could be used.
Lysa looked at Jenny. "My lady, I also ask to serve directly. I can scout, move quietly, and carry messages. I know the forest roads around Gravehold better than most city guards."
Jenny studied her. "You will first serve under Peter’s watch. You will train. You will not move alone until we trust your judgment."
Lysa bowed. "Yes, my lady."
Peter looked slightly surprised that Jenny had placed Lysa under him, then accepted it. "I will see what she can do."
Lucard looked at Lysa. "If you lie, run, or betray this house, you will regret surviving Merrick."
Lysa’s face paled, but she did not look away. "I know."
No, she did not know.
Not truly.
If Brant betrayed them, the egg could hatch inside his blood and bite pain into his heart until he fell to his knees. If Lysa betrayed them, Lucard could make her body freeze before she reached the gate. If either became a true danger, the parasite could be destroyed after attaching to a vital blood path, and death would look like sudden blood sickness.
It was not perfect control yet.
They were weak eggs, born from a young mother bug. Stronger mages might notice such things. Stronger knights might burn them out if they knew where to search. But Brant and Lysa did not know. That ignorance made the chain strong enough.
Lucard did not need them to suffer.
He needed them to remain useful.
Jenny rose from her chair.
"Then it is decided. Ash Wolf will be accepted under House Vardros. Tomorrow, we will write the formal contract. Until then, Brant, gather your loyal men and bring me their names. Lysa, you will speak with Peter about what you know of the roads, safe paths, and old camps near Gravehold."
Brant bowed again. "Yes, my lady."
Lysa bowed too. "Yes, my lady."
Jake smiled a little. "Welcome to House Vardros."
Brant’s eyes softened. "Thank you, Young Lord."
Lucard watched the scene quietly.
A fallen house had gained its first teeth.
Not sharp enough yet.
Not many enough yet.
But teeth could grow.
As Brant and Lysa left the hall, the two sleeping eggs inside their bodies moved with them.
Lucard felt both faint marks through his blood.
One near Brant’s heart.
One inside Lysa’s blood path.
He turned the empty wine cups upside down on the table.
Jenny looked at him. "What are you thinking?"
Lucard looked toward the door where Ash Wolf had disappeared.
"That loyalty spoken once is not enough."
Jenny sighed softly. "I know."
"No," Lucard said. "You are learning."
She turned to him with a tired look. "That almost sounded like a compliment."
"It was."
Jake whispered to Peter, "Brother’s compliments are difficult."
Peter nodded. "Very difficult, Young Lord."
Lucard ignored them.
Inside his heart, Blood bug slept. Inside Brant and Lysa, her eggs waited.
House Vardros had accepted Ash Wolf.
Lucard had accepted insurance.