Shadowborn

Chapter Seventy-Five: Accommodations and Arrangements

The silence following my proclamation was an incredibly informative one. My main goal of scoping out Kat’s intentions was a pretty solid success. The blood drained from her face and the fear I’d felt from her since the moment she’d entered the manor spiked tenfold. It wasn’t just fear of me, either. If I had to guess, she was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Namely, Tydarr and I.

What did surprise me was the lack of surprise from my harem. While Kat recovered from my answer, I raised a brow at Serena. “You knew?” I asked curiously.

She just shrugged, not meeting my eyes. “Fortuna said you’ve killed four Chosen in your life, but the last conflict only had three to a side.” I felt Kat’s fear pulse again. “Plus, there were only two Chosen in the Seven. Rolar and Iliri. No matter how far back I look, I can never even find mention of a third Chosen on the side of light.”

I nodded. “Rolar’s prophecy was for seven to stop the threat. When I killed Tydarr’s last dog, I took his place on the team. Despite the protests of everyone but Rolar.”

She wrapped her arms around Nariko, who was looking at me with a mixture of awe and suspicion. “I always assumed you had good intentions. I talked with Rhallani about my theory, and she agreed with me. Naturally, we brought everyone else in on the discussion.”

“But…” Kat interrupted, trailing off. She managed to find her way to a seat and sank into it, her eyes never leaving me. “Why would you kill a Chosen? One of the good ones, at least?”

“Just because he was owned by a light god didn’t mean he was a good person,” I said slowly, keeping a tight rein on my emotions. “Askendar was a sadist, a rapist, and an overall monster. I killed him half because of what he did to people I cared about and half so he wouldn’t be able to do it to anyone else.”

“So you, what?” Kat challenged, barely failing to hide the unsteadiness in her voice. “You decided to be judge, jury, and executioner?”

“Pretty much,” I said, leaning back and kicking one leg up on my knee. “He was a Chosen. One of Tydarr’s. As far as anyone else was concerned, he could do no wrong. He certainly acted the part unless he was in private. I was ready to take full consequence for my actions, but he made things easy by trying to kill me first. He saw me and wanted to keep his perversions a secret, I suppose.”

Her knuckles turned white from how hard her fists clenched in her lap. “Tydarr wouldn’t have…He wouldn’t have made someone like that his Chosen.”

I resisted the urge to snort. “As much as I hate defending any god, he didn’t. Askendar was a picture perfect candidate up until Tydarr chose him. Once he had the power and prestige that came with a god’s favor, though? Well, he started acting on those desires he’d kept hidden all his life. At least that’s what I was able to piece together after.”

Her mouth opened and closed several times. “You’re sure he… he really did those things?”

I tried not to be offended. It wasn’t every day you learn your predecessor was one of the most despicable kinds of men imaginable. She wasn’t intentionally calling doubt upon my words, she was just grasping. “I know for a fact. He did them to me, too.”

She clapped a hand over her mouth, her already pale face turning a shade of green. “And the debt?” she asked through her palm.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “Chosen are meant to be killed by Chosen. Either personally or in combat with that Chosen’s party. The gods don’t like it when you break their rules, and they have a habit of punishing anyone who breaks them. A non-Chosen killing a Chosen invokes their wrath, either directly or indirectly. Curses, misfortune, divine intervention, you name it.”

“Like the goddess interfering with the Valax queen?” Rhallani asked.

“Just so,” I agreed. “Squaring Tydarr’s debt means the only goddess still actively gunning for me is Rosoia, the bitch goddess of rot and decay. Still not looking forward to her price.”

I could see the wheels turning, then she had a visible epiphany. “That’s why he chose me,” she breathed.

That caught my attention. “Oh?”

She gripped one of her blades, but it was more for comfort than anything else. “I’m not like the other Chosen. They’re all proper, trained, grew up in good families. Their families all trace back to generals in the war.”

She forced herself to meet my eyes. “I’m just a nobody. A dirt-poor girl who got tired of watching her step-dad beat the shit out of her and her mom and killed him with his own sword. My mom kicked my ass out on the street after. Skipped town and left me behind. I was days out from giving in to the local pimp just to fill my stomach when Tydarr chose me.”

Well. Shit. Now I felt like an asshole. “That would definitely make you an anomaly among Chosen,” I admitted.

“Fuck me sideways,” Kat muttered, “no fucking wonder you hate me.”

I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. “I don’t hate you, Kat. I hate your god for letting Askendar get away with so much. No doubt he’ll blame whatever Karn was doing to hide his actions and claim ignorance, but what’s done is done. Clearly he’s trying to make up for it, even if it’s far too little, far too late.” Noelle must not have been a fan of the irritation in my voice, because she climbed up in my lap and settled her back to my chest, pulling one of my arms around her stomach. “I’m guessing exchanging info on the Eldritch Beasts isn’t Tydarr’s real reason for sending you?”

Kat chewed on her answer for what felt like an eternity before she said, “No. No it isn’t.” Then she winced like she was in pain and I knew her god was punishing her. “He wants me to earn your trust. He wants to know how Allura is letting you break the rules.”

Before I could answer she cried out, clutching her head. Before I could even get to my feet, I felt a yank on the Link between Ash and I. Spots danced in my vision just before a wave of power blasted through the room. It made my lower chest tingle like it was divine, but the feel of the magic was unlike any divinity I’ve ever been exposed to. Kat gasped, eyes wide, and had to grab the back of her chair to keep from falling out of it.

“I—I can’t feel him. Tydarr. What the fuck was that?”

All of us looked a the Jailer’s Blade, which was sitting on the table behind Rhallani where she’d been. “Well that’s fucking new,” I commented.

Rhallani just groaned, her head falling to the table in front of her. “How in the hells am I supposed to make sense of that?”

I gave her a look that said ‘later.’ I didn’t trust Kat enough to discuss my theory of a literal god being trapped in the blade, not now that it seemed more likely than ever. Manipulating classes was one thing. Interfering with another god and their Chosen? Yeah, I’m sure that powerful-as-shit pulse of raw magic wasn’t going to cause us any trouble in the coming weeks.

“Not important. What is important is that I still don’t know the extent of what Allura did. Serena’s made several trips to the temple in the city to no avail. Haven’t gotten a word from her since she put me to sleep.”

Kat cursed. “Figures. Whatever, we can at least swap Eldritch stories.” She pulled out a booklet. “Got some juicy bits.”

That caught Rhallani’s attention. “We’ve got some stuff, too.” She pulled a journal out of her stack and flipped it open. “We’ll go first.”

For the next hour, Rhallani exchanged notes, compared drawings, and theorized on these Eldritch beasts and their relations to Noelle and this new demi-human Kat had found. The longer they talked, the more at ease Kat seemed to get. The girls and I chipped in every once and a while, but for the most part it was Kat and Rhallani doing the talking.

“I just wish I could think of a way to get that girl out of that slimy Balseron’s clutches,” Kat said eventually, leaning back. She ran her hands through her hair. “I get the feel money won’t do any good, and short of spiriting her away…”

I stroked Noelle’s back as she snored softly in my lap. “While I’m always down for a jail break, you’re right in being hesitant. According to what little information I’ve been able to gather, Balseron is one of the most influential lords in the kingdom. You piss him off, you risk pissing off a lot of other lords. Lords we’ll need if shit hits the fan the way I think it’s going to.”

Kat blew a raspberry. “Tell me something I don’t know. Gods, this shit is fucked.”

“For now.” She shot me a confused look, but I didn’t elaborate. Instead, I stood, taking Noelle with me. She was still sleeping all the time, but her wings had grown visibly. Just yesterday she’d come bursting into our temporary room grinning as wide as I’d ever seen, absolutely ecstatic that her wings had grown long enough that she could flex them now.

Tiana held her hands out and I set Noelle gently in her lap. It took some doing to untangle Noelle’s arms from around my neck, but eventually we got her latched onto Tiana instead. All without waking her up. “Come on.”

Kat, looking uncertain, grabbed her newly filled notebook and followed. To my surprise, Safina rose to her feet and joined us as well, bringing up the rear. I arched a brow in question, but she avoided my gaze. With a mental shrug, I said a quick farewell to the others and headed out towards the small, hidden staircase that led to the basement.

“Your mark is a collector,” I said, and Kat perked up. “You can’t buy Vanni’s freedom, but you can barter for it. All you need is something of equal value in his eyes. You’ve been in his house, so you might have a better idea of what would catch his eye than me.”

The uneven tunnels at the bottom of the narrow staircase were confined enough that Safina had to watch her horns for fear of scraping them against the ceiling, but she seemed loathe to leave me alone with Kat. Her protective nature had really been showing through the last week, and I was curious as to how much of that nature was her draconic instincts and how much was the woman.

“For obvious reasons,” I said, summoning the key from my storage, “it’s best if as few people as possible know this exists.”

“Know what exists?” She asked, eyeing the apparently blank wall in front of us. I’d paid Euribald a hefty sum to enchant the visage of a false wall over the vault. Once we’ve finished a few more properties, I’ve been strongly considering adding in a false vault down the road. That was more of a bucket list addition, though.

I inserted the key and heaved the vault door open. Kat’s jaw hit the floor when the gems inside illuminated the (much more organized) piles of gold, artifacts, and valuables. “I’ve had Rhallani cataloging in her spare time with Cynthia helping out now that she’s got some underlings to take some of the work off her shoulders, but we’ve still only gone through a fraction of what’s in here. Any ideas of his preferences?”

Kat turned a slow circle, and I didn’t miss the hungry look in Safina’s eyes. “Uh,” Kat said finally, “he likes pretty things. Artwork, sculptures, shit like that.”

“Right.” I started towards what we’d dubbed the ‘non-lethal’ corner where the valuable-but-not-dangerous items were stored. “Artwork and sculptures, then? Unfortunately, I didn’t know shit about art thirty years ago and that hasn’t changed much since.”

Kat let out a whistle. “And you’re just…sitting on all this shit?”

“For now. We’re selling off the stuff we can’t use bit by bit so we can keep spending money on the lower quarter.” I gingerly pulled out two vibrant paintings that were from over a century ago. “These might work.” Then I went through the jewels, looking for anything that stood out. I grabbed a few interesting looking ones and chucked them in an ornate chest.

“You’re just…giving this to me?” Kat asked suspiciously.

“Of course not,” I told her, hefting an intricate statue that was two feet tall and inlayed with dozens of gorgeous gems. “I’m sure the Chosen fund will reimburse me.”

She frowned. “Seriously?”

I rolled my eyes. “If I was greedy, I’d haggle up front. This was all supposed to go to rebuilding the lower quarter, so I would hope you’d pay me back in either gold or favor at your earliest convenience, but that takes a backseat to helping this Vanni get free of her Patron before our enemies come snooping.”

She cocked her head, then shrugged. “Sure, fuck it.”

I pushed the box of gems into her hands, banishing the rest to my storage. “You planning to leave tonight?”

She shook her head. “Nah, I’ll drag my ass back up to the castle then head back in the morning. One of my companions…” She let out a breath. “Well, let’s just say me porting into her room in the middle of the night is not a good idea.”

I opened my mouth to answer, briefly distracted when I made eye contact with Safina. She froze when she saw me looking at the jewelry adorning her horns, blushing furiously. I suppressed a chuckle, then resumed speaking to Kat. “If you need a resident expert in night terrors, I’ve got more than a little experience.”

She laughed dryly. “Fuck, I’ll probably take you up on that once we get this clusterfuck sorted.” Her eye was caught by a long, slender blade. The metal shimmered in the light, shifting colors. “Fuck me, is that an arcanium blade?”

I looked closer. “Seems to be the case, yeah.”

She lifted it off the rack and immediately the metal glowed softly with her divine magic. “Shit, I know someone who would fucking love this. She’s damaged two swords with her class skills already.”

I shrugged. “Take it, we’ll figure it out later. Consider it me buying a favor down the line.”

Her brows rose. “Fuck. Fair enough.” She gingerly slid it into its scabbard and slipped it into her belt.

“And you’re more than welcome to stay here,” I said. “The gods know we’ve got the rooms. In the morning you can take all this shit to an appraiser to get accurate prices, then you can go deal with the Ashra. Then we can worry about whatever game Tydarr is playing.”

She nodded, fingering the blade, then winced. “Ah, shit. Would now be a bad time to mention I come with a summons?” She fished out a rolled up paper and handed it to me.

I unrolled it and laughed. So Rolar was finally making a move, huh? “About time,” I mumbled. That seemed to confuse her, so I banished it and waved her off. “That all should be more than enough to get Balseron to part with his servant. Try to do at least a little bartering though, yeah?”

She groaned. “Fuck, I hate this part of the job. Are we sure I can’t just stab him?”

“Fairly sure. We’ll call that plan C, though.”

“What the fuck is plan B?” she asked with a smirk.

I shrugged. “Arson? Fire makes for good chaos. Got any four-armed skeletons lying around?”

She snapped her fingers. “Damn, we’re all out. Had to use my last one two months ago.”

“Shame. Plan C it is, then.”

She led the way out of the vault, but I had to keep Safina from wearing half the room out of the vault. When I pointed out she’d need to put it all back, she just bashfully looked at the ground. “My dragon really likes shiny things, apparently. And…”

“And…?”

She hunched her shoulders, wringing her fingers and avoiding my eyes. Her tail swished lazily behind her. “I…um…want to…give some…to….” I barely heard her mumble Rhallani’s and Valith's names and I chuckled.

“Alright, but you can’t take all of it out.”

Her eyes sparkled and she swept me up in a hug. “Yes, sir! I’ll only take a few things, sir!” Then she was off.

Watching her painstakingly compare each of the pieces only to select three—three that were far from the most valuable, but seemed to make her the happiest—brought a smile to my face. When I turned to leave I caught Kat smiling too, but I pretended not to notice when she schooled her features as quickly as she could.

I locked the vault back up, reactivating the mirage, and led her towards the staircase. “These tunnels stretch out for miles underneath the city. You ever see that,” I gestured towards a symbol carved into the wall; it was two overlapping triangles with an X in the center, “it means whatever tunnel or sewer or catacomb its carved into eventually leads here. We used them in the war.”

Kat ran her fingers over it with raised brows. “Why tell me?”

I just shrugged. “Could come in handy when shit hits the fan, who knows?”

She just nodded. We climbed back to the entry hall where several servants were conveniently cleaning areas that I was pretty certain needed no more cleaning. When I asked them to take Kat to one of our extra rooms, two of them jumped up to help immediately. Kat said her thanks one last time and followed Sani, the gray haired Nekomata, and one of the new girls Anya, a gold scaled Dragonling, off towards the wing with the bedrooms we’d restored so far.

I ran a hand through my hair and let out a long breath. Safina, still cradling the jewelry I’d let her have, stepped up next to me. “You’re sure it’s a good idea to just…give her all that, boss?”

“It’s a gamble,” I admitted. “But whether she pays us back—as well as how she pays us back—will tell us a lot about how much we can actually trust her.” I jammed my hands in my pockets. “My gut says she’s trustworthy, but Tydarr…”

“A lot of resources to put on the line for a test, if you don’t mind my saying.”

“We’ve got the capital to spare for the moment, and if it helps save this Vanni then it’s money well spent.” I gave her a meaningful look, having to crane my neck up a bit to do so from how close she was standing to me. “And I refuse to put a price on people, Safina.”

Her cheeks darkened and she looked away. “Right. What now?”

“Whatever you want,” I said with a chuckle. “We’re as safe as we can get in the manor, so as far as I’m concerned you’re off duty. You don’t need to play the bodyguard twenty-four, seven.” Her expression fell somewhat, so I hastily added, “Unless you want to, of course.”

She perked up a little, her tail swinging lazily. “I’ll go find Valith so I can give her gift to her, then I’ll probably go back to the library again. Until we fully trust this Chosen, my dragon wants me to stay near Rhallani and that blade she’s obsessed with.”

I patted her arm. “Follow your instincts,” I told her. “Fighting them is just going to make you miserable. If they’re telling you to stay near Rhallani, then do it. But don’t think you can only hang around her as a bodyguard. I’m sure she’d love to just have you around as a friend and companion.”

Her expression didn’t change, but her tail went straight as an arrow. I resisted the urge to shoot her a questioning look. She’d been working with a demi-human scholar that Adrianna had found to understand her draconic instincts better, and she’d certainly seemed more comfortable the last few days. I didn’t want to do anything that might make her self-conscious and ruin any progress she’d made, so I just nodded. “After today I think I need a nice soak, so let the others know I’ll be in the baths.”

Even knowing it was coming, a bear hug from Safina was an experience. She still set me down rather quickly and sped off before I could so much as get a glimpse of her face, but it was clear she really liked giving big, forceful hugs as if she was trying to crush my soul back into my body.

I chuckled to myself and picked my way to what might have been my favorite part of the manor so far. There were apparently private bathing chambers upstairs, but Rhallani still had the entire second floor sectioned off to keep me from getting a glimpse at what she’s been referring to as her magnum opus. That meant using the considerably larger, more communal bathing chambers downstairs. We’d sectioned off one of the two large chambers just for the women, though that didn’t mean the odd servant didn’t find their way into the room with me when I was soaking.

I cleaned off as quick as I could and sank gratefully into the scalding hot water. A groan slipped out of me, and I leaned my head back against the edge of the basin and closed my eyes. Euribald was quickly becoming one of my very best friends with the innovative enchantments he’d installed. Sink a little mana into the gems on the edge of the basin and the temperature rose. Miraculous.

The heat sapped the tension from my muscles and I let my mind sink into the mire of my list of shit. We’d been in the city for eight days now. Five of those days had been with a working bathing room, and I’d spent all five of those days soaking at least once. I wasn’t sure if it was an indulgence we could afford, but my thoughts never seemed to flow quite so easily as when I was just a few degrees short of boiling alive.

The hard work on the manor was nearly all complete. The first floor was pretty much done with repairs, and the bedrooms on the second floor weren’t far behind. We had plenty of rooms for everyone to have their own, both my girls and the servants included, but many of them still decided they’d share. All of them seemed happy, even when I wasn’t around. I’d specifically asked Liana to report directly to me since I knew many of them would be more than willing to hide any discomfort or unhappiness with their situation when I was around.

Cynthia, with the help of her underlings, had worked out a pay system. One of her current favorites, a guy named Deverin, was in charge of making sure everyone got their weekly stipend. Now we just needed to figure out some kind of weekly trip into the city to go shopping since many of the girls were rather hesitant to leave the grounds. All of that was only a fraction of what was going on, though.

When I’d hinted to Deetrik that I had more than enough resources to fund several projects at once, he’d sent out a call. Damn near overnight he’d tripled his work force, and now several of the other manors on the road where we lived were being worked on, as well as several of the businesses Cynthia had already come up with a contract for. He looked at me a bit strangely when I told him I wanted to convert the properties into more communal housing than mansions for whatever rich friends he thought I had, but once I’d given him the plans and the gold he’d gotten to work immediately.

We’d also started on some of the rundown apartments that were barely livable. It involved relocating a number of squatting families, but with Adrianna’s help we were able to find them all somewhere just as good if not better while we turned the crumbling shacks into something that could reasonably house people without threatening to fall down around them.

It was all burning through my reserves rather quickly, which meant I’d need to find a buyer for the treasure in my basement sooner than later. The income streams from the various businesses that were more than happy to exchange some future profits for renovations and investments would be helpful, but moreso in sustaining the little kingdom I was building long term than in financing the plans I had.

Luckily, the next step in destabilizing the shit system that had been put into place would hopefully net me enough income to work on the step after that. I just had to hope that my meeting tomorrow wouldn’t fuck up my plans for the future.

I’d wondered how long it would take for one of the Seven to contact me. If they were anything like they’d been when I’d left thirty years ago, I was certain Sandrel was in charge of the spies that had been watching the manor the last week. Not only that, but handing in the corpse of a Valax queen was sure to have put me on Bennet’s radar. His information network wasn’t quite as thorough as Sandrel’s, but he still managed to snare the big bugs in his web.

Talking to them would mean I could finally go with Serena to the temple district as well. I hadn’t so far for fear of my presence getting back to Iliri. I needed to know if I still had Rolar’s backing before she realized I was back seeing as he was the only reason she never tried to kill me back then. She always had taken it personally that I’d killed Askendar. She’d had the great misfortune of falling in love with him before he became a Chosen and turned into a monster, and she’d called me a lying bastard more than once when he was involved.

I also needed to figure out how the hell things had turned out so shit in the first place. How the others had let the Adventurers Guild become so corrupt. How they could have ever thought the Accords were at all an acceptable set of laws to be put in place. A part of me worried that I’d be walking into a room with enemies tomorrow, but Rolar had had faith in me when nobody else had. Not even me. The least I could do was give him the benefit of the doubt, even if I did want to see if his jaw could handle a punch as well now as it could thirty years ago.

A hand on my shoulder drew me from my thoughts, though I didn’t open my eyes. A brief brush against my Links told me it was Serena who was climbing into the basin, straddling me while she sank into my lap. She raked her fingers through my hair just before her lips found my throat, and the feeling of her breasts against my chest under the still-scalding water was enough to make arousal surge straight into my cock.

“I figured you might want some company,” she said softly, her lips trailing along the underside of my jaw.

“How are you? After Kat, I mean.”

My hands trailed down her sides before squeezing her ass. One of her hands wrapped around my cock, guiding me into her slick folds. She sighed in satisfaction while she sank down on my length, then moaned when I started using my hold on her to slowly guide her up and down on my cock.

I finally opened my eyes so I could look at her. “Better than expected, if I’m being honest. Kat’s as much a victim of Tydarr as she is an extension of his will.” I sank my fingers into her wonderfully soft golden hair and tilted her head to the side so I could nibble at her neck. A delighted sound slipped from her throat and her walls clenched around me.

“Why do you think he chose her?” Serena breathed, wrapping her arms around my neck, pressing my head deeper into the crook between her head and shoulder. “If she’s so different than the normal Chosen?”

My fingers dug into the toned flesh of her ass, drawing another sweet moan out of her. “Hard to say. Could be he learned his lesson that rich, spoiled children make for poor heroes.”

“Or?” she panted, picking up speed enough that water was starting to slosh over the edges.

“Or maybe he wants someone he can control. Someone who knows what it is to be nothing. Who understands that there’s a life much worse than the one she now leads to go back to if he abandons her.”

Another moan, this time one with a need in it I was happy to fulfill. I slid a hand between us and started gently fingering her clit. “We won’t let that happen, will we?”

“No,” I promised, my lips brushing her ear, “no, we won’t. I won’t stand by and let the gods turn anyone else into a victim so they can play their fucked up games. Not if I can do something about it.”

I could feel her orgasm approaching, so I put more pressure on her clit and she pressed against me, arching her back enough that I could catch one of her nipples in my mouth. Her moan turned into a cry when I bit down on the nub and release ripped through her.

She slumped against me, shivers passing through the length of her body while she caught her breath. I chuckled, running my fingers down her spine. “You’d think we haven’t spent the last few nights sharing a bed with Rhallani and Tiana,” I whispered.

“Don’t forget Noelle every other night,” she said, nuzzling my neck with her nose. “But that isn’t one-on-one, and I like when it’s just us every once in a while.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Don’t forget, I still owe you all dates once things are less insane.”

She hummed. “So, Rolar? Tomorrow?”

I nodded. “As my priestess, you’re coming with.” I groaned in surprise when her walls fluttered around my cock still buried in her, seeking release. “And after, we’ll stop by Allura’s temple together. See if we can’t get her attention that way.”

Her lips found mine, and suddenly I was having to fend her tongue off with my own. “I love you,” she breathed against my mouth.

“I love you, too.”

She started rocking her hips against mine, only to freeze with a hitch in her breathing. Frowning, I checked my Links again, surprised to find that the woman who’d just entered was none other than Jack. Jack, who had been avoiding me since we Forged our Link. Since she’d damn near pinned me to the wall and stuck her tongue down my throat, setting me aflame in more ways than one.

My cock jerked inside of Serena and she gasped, then smiled at me with a knowing look. Then her eyes went back to peering over my shoulder, following Jack as she walked around the basin. She had her towel over her shoulder, completely nude otherwise. Seeing every muscle shifting under her skin, her chest bouncing with every step while she watched us, her entire body on display, was hard to look away from. The red gem piercings in her nipples and belly button were eye catching, especially when she gave me a good show of her completely bare pussy and the slightest twinkle of something red and shiny between her cheeks when she threw her legs over the opposite wall of the basin and sank into the water.

The water had been cooling a moment ago, but I could already feel it starting to warm again. “I guess we should talk, huh?” she said, throwing her arms over the edge of the basin behind her, baring her chest in a way that had to be intentional.

“I guess so,” I said carefully.

Serena started to stand. “I’ll give you two some time—”

My hand on her hip trapped her in place. “Stay,” Jack and I both said at the same time.

Jack arched a brow at me, though her lip twitched upwards. “Hang around, blondie. You’re part of the harem, so you might as well be around.”

Serena looked at Jack over her shoulder for a few seconds, then nodded. She lifted herself up enough to turn around, then navigated my cock back inside her when she sat back down. She was subtle about it, but Jack read the breath that slipped out of me easily and smirked.

“So,” Jack started, “am I right in assuming your girls know all about our…moment?”

I wrapped my arms around Serena, lightly playing with her clit. “I don’t hide anything from them, especially when it comes to other women.”

Jack nodded. “Saves us time, then.” She took a breath. “I’ve spent a week trying to think of what to say, and I’m still…” She ran a hand through her hair. “Look, I’ll be blunt, alright? Because of my class, I run hot. Not just temperature-wise, but…y’know.”

Serena laughed softly behind her hand and I had to fight to keep my eyes from rolling back into my head at how her walls fluttered around me when she did. “Tiana has a similar issue, so we won’t judge, Jack.”

The sound that came out of Jack’s throat was dangerously close to a growl, and once again the look Serena gave me said she didn’t miss the way my cock twitched. “Fine, yeah, I’m horny. But I’ve never been horny for anyone, so it was always manageable. When I’m around you, it’s…”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think I understand.”

She shook her head and leaned forward in the water, her hands falling to her lap. “It sucked, but it wasn’t horrible when I was Vivian. At least then, I knew you didn’t want me.”

“I didn’t want Vivian,” I corrected. “But I was enthralled by the glimpses of Jack that seeped through.”
Serena reached behind her to slide her fingers into my hair, pulling me forward enough to press a kiss to my cheek. Jack watched us hungrily, then looked away. “Yeah, I was afraid you’d say some sappy shit like that. Now, though? When it’s clear you want me almost as much as I want you?” She sighed, her eyes flicking to where Serena and I were connected, even if she couldn’t see us through the water. “I’m not sure if I can handle having you, but not being able to have you.”

“It doesn’t have to be that black and white,” Serena offered before I could. “You already know Zaren’s shadows aren’t bothered by your flames.”

Jack’s arm shifted towards her center in a way that made me wonder just where her fingers were. “Trust me, I’ve already considered a shadow condom. Not worth the risk if you ask me.”

Using the hand on the back of my neck, Serena adjusted herself so she could start gyrating her hips. “It might not be like this forever,” she said. “Who knows if you’ll get a skill that’ll let you touch people again? Or if Rhallani can use some of those new runes she’s been playing with to find a way to help? And until then…” She lifted herself all the way up so that I was nearly free from her folds then let herself sink back down with a moan.

Then she moved my hand to one of her breasts. “Did you know Zaren can feel what his shadows feel when he controls them directly?”

Jack’s nostrils flared. “He neglected to mention that,” she said, her tone low.

“I can only do it on shadows I’m touching or shadows touching my armor,” I reassured her. “I haven’t intruded on your privacy, you have my word.”

Her arm shifted and I knew exactly what her hand was up to under the water. “Not really what I give a shit about right now, Z.”

A throaty gasp slipped out of Serena as the head of my cock scraped along one of her sweet spots. “Just because you can’t have sex doesn’t mean you can’t be involved. At least until we figure something out.” She shifted and, even though I couldn’t see her face, I could perfectly picture the expression she was wearing. “And, if you let us, we will help you figure something out.”

“Fuck,” Jack said under her breath. “And if we wanted to do this?”

Serena shuddered. “Hands above the water,” she ordered breathlessly.

Jack raised a brow, but she complied. Then Serena pulled my head forward enough to capture my lips.

“Conjure some shadows,” she said, her lips still close enough to brush mine. I did as she asked, grinning, and two tendrils slid into existence from the collar on Jack’s throat. Her eyes didn’t leave mine, not even when I commanded one to play with her breasts. It split in two, circling around the fleshy globes and squeezing them before wrapping around her nipples, tugging at the piercings there.

She gasped, gripping the basin so hard her knuckles whitened, but she didn’t so much as blink. Serena started rocking her hips back and forth just enough to provide friction. “Get her ready.”

I took control of the other tendril and slid down Jack’s body. I could feel the heat even through the tendril’s altered senses, just as I could feel every ridge and plane of her muscular form. She groaned while it snaked down her belly, and a sound dangerously close to a whimper slipped out when I brushed over her swollen clit and slid between her slick folds.

I sucked in a breath in spite of myself. “Trust me, she’s plenty ready.”

“Fuck me, you really can feel that, huh?” Jack panted, her chest heaving.

I teased her outer lips, making sure not to touch her clit while I did, until she was squirming in the water across from me. Serena started bouncing on my lap in full and let her head fall back on my shoulder. “Then what are you waiting for?”

Jack looked at me like she was waiting for my answer too, but I just grinned. “I think she knows.”

Jack’s eyes widened, especially when I slid between her folds and pressed against the enchanted plug in her ass. “Fuck you,” she breathed, her hips twisting, trying to slip me inside her.

I rubbed Serena’s clit and squeezed her breast, pinching her nipple and drawing a cry out of her, shifting underneath her form so I could thrust up into her. “Better hurry, Jack. Serena’s getting me closer by the thrust.”

Serena let out a sound somewhere between a moan and a laugh, but Jack just grit her teeth so hard I could practically hear it. She made to move her hands under the water, but I summoned two more tendrils and wrapped them around her arms to pin them to the side of the bath. Jack shot me a glare and her form flickered with fire, sending waves of heat through the water and steam into the air, but she remained silent. At least until I pulled back from her pussy completely, rubbing against the sensitive skin on the inside of her thighs.

Jack growled again, her hips bucking. I knew she was strong enough to break free of my impromptu restraints, but she didn’t. Instead she just kept glaring like she wanted to take a swing out of me before her head finally fell forward. “Fuck! Fine, you win! Fuck me, Zaren, for the love of the fucking gods!”

She’d barely finished speaking before I shifted the tendril I was controlling into a more cock-shaped form and plunged it into her. Even drenched, she was unbelievably tight and so hot I felt like I was melting even through the tendril’s connection. She cried out and came on the spot, clenching so tightly around the tendril that I could barely move it.

While she came, I realized my direct control over my shadows had increased somewhere along the way, whether thanks to my Primal or otherwise. I made a smaller tendril split from the main one still buried in her and latched onto her clit, sending her crashing into a second orgasm.

Serena started bouncing on my lap in earnest. “Match my movements,” she panted.

I did, plunging the tendril into Jack in time with each of Serena’s bounces. Jack moaned, gripping the side of the tub so hard it was starting to bend between her strength and the heat coming from her flames. She looked up at the same time Serena grabbed my chin and pointed it towards Jack.

“Look at her,” my priestess commanded. “Let her watch you cum.”

Through her pleasure-filled cries, Jack forced her eyes up to meet mine. The amber had brightened to the same gold and crimson as her flame, but the heat in her gaze had nothing to do with her class.

Serena came hard, but her legs never stopped pumping her hips up and down. I gripped her tightly, shifting my hand from her clit to her hips so I could guide her movements along the final stretch. Then, as Jack’s walls started convulsing around my tendril, I let myself go. I never once took my eyes away from her, even as I pumped Serena full of my seed.

Jack came as well, this orgasm burning even brighter than the last. “Fuck, Zaren!” she screamed, her body convulsing as bliss tore through her. Flames sparked off her shoulders and the water around her boiled. The gems around the bath glowed as they sucked away the excess heat, but even they weren’t enough to keep me from feeling like I was being cooked.

All three of us panted as we came down from our climaxes. Serena groaned softly when I slid myself free of her folds, turning to nestle into my neck. “Rhallani is going to be so upset she missed this,” she said with a smile.

Jack made a grunting sound. “Tell her she can take your place next time I feel like getting my ass railed and she’ll get over it.”

I laughed, blood already starting to head southward again. “I’m sure she will.”

Serena kissed me, then stood and climbed out of the bath on unsteady legs. “I’ll see you back in the room.”

I nodded, standing myself. Jack’s eyes were glued to my body, especially what I had dangling between my legs, but whether because I was getting better at reading her or because of our Link I was certain she was more wistful of the intimacy me and Serena had shared outside of sex than actually being able to fuck.

I stood there, letting the water drip down my body, meeting her irritated gaze for a few extra beats before I finally relented and dismissed the tendrils still holding her in place. She shot up like a dart and the next thing I knew her lips were pressing into mine with a bruising strength. She pulled away before things could get as heated as last time, but there was still plenty of heat in her gaze.

“I don’t care if I’ve gotta lather you up in fireproof lotion, one day you are going to fuck me ‘till I can’t walk straight,” she said, jamming a finger into my chest.

I chuckled. “Sounds like a plan. Be sure to let me know if you need any more…help.”

She scoffed and climbed out of the basin, stalking off. She paused once to make sure I was watching her fucking amazing ass—I was, since the red gem peeking from between her cheeks was making my mouth water slightly—and grinned. “I’m not sure I’ve ever cum that hard in my life, so you’re off the hook. For tonight, at least.”

“Until next time, then,” I said.

Jack raked one last scathing look over my body and licked her lips. “Yeah. Next time. You’d better fucking believe it.” Then she grabbed a towel and stalked out of the chamber.

I shook my head. Did this mean she was officially a member of the harem? I had to think so, but I figured it was a question best posed to my girls. I dried off and got dressed, and it wasn’t until I was heading back through the manor towards my girls that I realized I was still smiling. Despite everything with Kat, I was still in a disturbingly good mood.

Which could only mean tomorrow was going to suck.

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