A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Naturally, the remaining eyes quickly panned towards the two voices. One of which was, unsurprisingly, Astrid, who marveled at Elora's ability to store and conjure such large items.

The other, perhaps just as unsurprisingly, was a red-faced Emily, who now stared at Elora with narrowed eyes, while pointing an accusing finger at the fairy.

Elora blinked innocently, before cocking her head to the side as she looked at Emily, "Yeah? So what?" She had decided to answer Emily, rather than Astrid, as this was exactly the reaction she was hoping to get from the fiery, black-haired woman.

Astrid barely noticed, however, as she was currently busy marveling at the bed, touching it, to make sure was actually real, and trying out the mattress.

With Elora's answer, Emily's eyes began to spit fire, "You know damn well what! Since we got here I've been complaining that we had only one bed to sleep in!"

In response, Elora giggled with amusement, "Oh! That was real? I'm so sorry, little pet! It's just that, for the past two nights, you clung so tightly to Master, I figured your complaints were just for show!"

Emily's eyelid twitched, but she forced herself to remain calm. Going off at this domineering, annoying, and mischievous fairy was only going to bite her in the ass. So she spoke through gritted teeth, with fury in her eyes, "It was not for show. I would really like my own bed, please."

"Oh well, if that's the case, we can certainly discuss it in a minute, when Astrid is settled, alright?" Despite her seemingly polite and civil words, no one in the room actually believed it would be that easy for Emily, particularly because of Elora's playful grin and mischievous twinkle.

Speaking of the others, Erik was explaining the particulars of Elora's storage jewel to Astrid, while Emma stood nervously in between Emily and Elora during their discussion. 'Can't they just get along?' she thought to herself. 'I can't wait for Big Em to marry Master alongside me.'

Still through gritted teeth, Emily answered Elora, "Fine." Her eyes spoke volumes of how little she expected to come from Elora's promised discussion.

With Emily's agreement, Elora chuckled meaningfully and then turned to Astrid and Erik. By now, Astrid had finished marveling over the bed, and Elora asked, with a grin, "Will this do?"

Emily grimaced at the difference in treatment. 'Aren't both me and Astrid still in her precious non-family bracket?' she thought to herself resentfully.

Yet, in the back of her mind, she knew the difference between her and the vampire woman.

Erik's feelings.

She did believe Erik cared for her, just not enough to stop Elora from having her fun. In the end, the only way for her to be somewhat equal to Elora in Erik's eyes, was for her to love and marry him.

The problem was that she didn't love him. Not yet.

But, despite Erik's unwillingness to reign in Elora, Emily couldn't find it in herself to blame him. He had done too much for her and Emma. Just watching the bright smile that hung daily on Emma's lips was enough for any resentment towards Erik to fade away.

She didn't really want his help anyway. Elora was her problem to deal with, and she didn't want to have to beg Erik for help. Naturally, asking Emma was another option, but she didn't want to put her little sister in that position. Emma was happy, and she'd be damned if she did anything to jeopardize that happiness.

In response to Elora's question, Astrid nodded enthusiastically, while lying spread-eagled on the bed with a grin on her face. "Yeah! This bed is awesome! I've never felt anything so soft!"

Luckily, Astrid wore pants, so she didn't put herself on display. The pants were part of the outfit she had been given by Elora. It wasn't anything fancy or magical like Emma had gotten, but the clothes were sturdy and comfortable. They were colored black and red, and they had a wintery look, with a fur collar across her shoulders.

She sat up and smiled at Elora, "Thank you! It's not exactly a private bedroom, but it's better than not sleeping, or sleeping alone in one of the empty houses around here."

With that, Erik wished Astrid a good night and went to the bedroom, followed by Emma and Emily. Elora, however, stayed behind for a moment with a mysterious smile on her face.

She approached Astrid and presented her with a flat stone covered by sigils. Emma would have recognized this as being similar to the stone she had used to keep an eye on Astrid while she slept.

"Here, take this," she said, as she handed the stone to Astrid with a playful look in her eyes.

"What is it?" Astrid asked as she looked at the stone with curiosity and a speck of suspicion. She wasn't really sure what to think of this woman yet, even if she had saved Erik seven years ago.

Seeing her reaction, Elora chuckled, "There's no reason to suspect anything. I'm not sure Erik would forgive me if I did anything to you. Just take it. You can activate it by pouring your energy into it." Next, she winked, mysteriously, "No one will know if you use it; not even me. And Erik has no idea I'm giving it to you."

Now all the more curious, Astrid took the stone and inspected it, but found nothing strange. She looked up to ask more questions, but Elora had already gone after Erik and the others.

Astrid inspected the stone some more, but after a moment, her curiosity won out, and she cautiously poured some energy inside the stone.

When nothing seemed to happen, she poured in a little more, until, eventually, something changed.

A little startled, Astrid almost dropped the stone when one side of it suddenly turned into something akin to a screen, showing a room.

To be precise, it showed the bedroom that Erik and three women had just disappeared into. "Why would she give me this," Astrid mumbled, even as she focused on the scene in front of her. She couldn't help but look, as she was desperately curious to see if Erik acted any differently without her around.

Of course, the possibility that this was all some kind of ruse, and Erik actually knew perfectly well she had this sprang to mind, but that didn't stop her from watching.

As the scenes on the stone played out, seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours, all while Astrid's face became more and more flushed with various emotions. 'I should really stop watching this,' she thought to herself, even as she didn't take her eyes off the stone for a second.

At some point, her hand slowly snaked toward her lower body.

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