The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Bryana closed the last book just as there was a knock on the door to break the silence. She was almost glad of it as it cut off the impending sigh of frustration. “Come.”

Deres entered with Elan just behind and he looked upon her with sympathy. He knew that look, and he let her have a bit of silence to continue to work through her frustrations before offering, “You look annoyed.”

“Very observant, love.” She took a moment to escape her frustration, “You look...rested.” her eyes darted between the two. She liked that Elan, shy as she was in most cases, did not shy away from that.

“We simply took your advice,” he deadpanned. “A meal and a bath worked wonders.” He walked behind her to press his fingers in slow circles to her shoulders and her long neck, the tension pushing back against his fingers as her golden blonde curls caressed his fingers in return.

Her breath caught for an instant as she began to let the tension go, if but for a moment. Her loves were her peace and she let herself feel that before bringing her hand up to caress the back of his, “Actually I did find something that we need.” As she spoke, she opened the ledger to the weathered yellow page held by the black ribbon. Deres peered over her shoulder while Elan walked to her right to examine the book. It wasn’t language as she understood it. It was more a seemingly random collection of symbols and freehand writing that Bryana had once explained were cobbled pieces of long dead languages used to create a coded shorthand to hide their dealings should anyone find the guild mage strongholds.

“I am willing to bet that this is her.” She pointed to a specific reference near the middle of the page. “A nameless woman came here for healing within hours of the attack.”

“She would have had to,” Deres said plainly. “Even the darkest avenues of the southern quarter wouldn’t hide her for long once news got out, even if just to sell her out in the hopes of a bounty.” He knelt down next to her. “Why is this not good news? We have a place to go.”

“If it were simply that, I would rejoice.” To punctuate her dismay, she flipped through to several pages of the ledger and pointed to what she needed them to see, “See these marks? They are the names we give to those without names. Lian has met with this person and more than once for ‘consultations.’”

“So, this Lian has done work for Wyrnn, or put her in touch with people who have,” Elan concluded, her mind reflexively studying the code, looking for common symbols, as she had always had an affinity for puzzles. They were quiet ways to spend the day as a girl. She and her siblings could wile away a snowy day with them. She could already see links between bits and where the common vowels might be, but the texts looped back upon themselves sometimes and it was complicated indeed. In fact, she knew enough to know those commonalities could easily be false keys. She bowed to those who had developed it over, quite probably, generations.

Bryana nodded. “Add to that there is no reference to what the consultation entailed and it...is a cause for concern. There would be...something, if even vague. That there is nothing beyond the most base references suggests that he didn’t want it seen.”

“Why then enter it at all?”

She looked to Elan, “Because inexplicable disappearances would invite talk or investigation from the Guild Master or from those seeking opportunities over rivals. It’s less conspicuous to simply jot down vagaries. All guild mages take jobs like that from time to time, but, obviously, these circumstances are different from most.”

She shook her head before closing the book yet again. “He has always been impetuous and arrogant.”

“Arrogance comes with ‘mage’ in this part of the world,” Deres said.

Bryana sighed. It was closer to truth than not. Deres having been found as an orphan in the southern quarter of Erette, but raised in Adar, a city of near-literal myth deep in the wastes beyond the mountains. Driven out of the known lands because they freely practiced magic and explored all the ways they could mingle it with science they used both to make lives where no human was meant to live. Stories of a gleaming city with spires that touched the sky returned with some of those few that sought it out or sought simply to survive the wastes. Few believed the stories, but they took on a life of their own until they were fairy tales to be read or as a punishment to be doled out to disobedient to children to be sent away to Adar never to be seen again.

With mages in the known kingdoms, arrogance was indeed a component of things and not entirely without cause. Many acted as though others were beneath them because they could see and interact with the world in ways no one else could even though at least the latter was true. For Adaran mages, it was just a tool. Certainly there was pride amongst those who could master it, but all tried not to allow that to lead them to darker places, as magic was not to be trifled with and could corrupt just by being used, as all great power could.

“It does,” she said with some resignation, “but there are limits.” She rose to pace the room. I’ve been content to have his little side projects as others do, but other Guild Masters have hinted to me over months that I should keep him close. He has attempted to recruit others from other guilds to start his own without sanction. Perhaps if I had leashed him more and let him know it, this might not have happened.”

“Or you could have just taught him to hide himself better and leave us with no one to look to,” Deres told her to console her, even as it was the truth.

“Do you know where he is now? Shouldn’t we go get him?” Elan sounded reserved, but her hand went to one of her daggers to feel the security of it. As much as she prided herself on her control, she wanted to act.

Bryana glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the ledger. “His last entry states that he went to Honn village to attempt to collect a debt for a client. “I expect that, without incident, he should return soon. I think we should wait a reasonable time for him to do so before we attempt to hunt him.” She looked to Deres, trying not to react to his lopsided grin. “What?”

“The queen dare not show weakness by chasing after him.”

Her eyes showed rare uncertainty, “I object to ‘queen,’ but that is my thinking, and not without cause. Do you think differently?”

He noticed the tension in Elan’s body and understood it as he drew closer to Bryana. “I would like to say yes. I would like to act quickly, but it would arouse his suspicions if we gave chase, so...a reasonable time to wait for his return seems wise.”

“And if the entry is fake? If he simply fled or fled with her?”

“Then we chase them down,” Bryana assured Elan. “But my instinct says it’s not fake. I’ve met the man from Honn. He runs a gambling den and uses the guilds frequently, and Lian often. Aside from that, we’re guild mages, everything we do is done in shadow and is perceived as evil. Mages simply don’t often see as vile the things that others do. That doesn’t mean we are all amoral, it’s just that, as we live with shades of gray, our morality also tends to be less rigid as well. There is likely no reason to flee because, in his mind, he has done nothing wrong.”

Elan shook her head slowly, but didn’t comment beyond that.

“I had done many such things before that one drew me into his snare,” she said, tilting her head to Deres. She stiffened, decision made. “I have rounds to make, so I’ll do that and perhaps find some of that stew I smelled coming in.”

“It has kick, you’ll like it.” Deres assured, watching her go.

“You know me so well.” Her voice carried the smile even if he couldn’t see it.

The remainder of the day passed and the night as well. Morning came, though it was impossible to tell through the underground bunker that was the guild sanctuary. Many of the sanctuaries were similarly situated, so in her years, as she’d moved from one to another to take work or to learn, she had developed a nearly uncanny sense of time. She simply woke up when she needed to more often than not. Maneuvering carefully by feel and memory she lit the small lamp anchored into the wall which gave enough flickering light to make out the furnishings in the room without details . She wanted to wake and adjust her eyes without disturbing her bedmates overmuch. Also, she simply didn’t want to leave them.

As soon as she settled back into the fur blankets, she felt his strong arm wrap her tightly, seemingly just as unwilling to let her go and she was content in that. She didn’t need to look to know that Elan was on the other side of him.

That reminded her of home and it pleased her. It wasn’t uncommon for her to bookend a coupling such as this with him and it gave her comfort even though it also served to remind her of how much she missed Neral. Ordinarily it was she who preferred the middle and Bryana took pleasure in being able to turn to touch that strong but feminine frame and look into those dark pools. She worried for the situation back home even knowing that Neral would have contacted them had it turned for the worse. Bryana knew the game was still being played and anything could happen, and, as much as all that concerned her, she knew that Neral was clever off the battlefield as much as on it. She would handle things with all the skill of a Jaye, which was considerable.

Still…

Rather than dwell on things she could not control, she decided to act on the things that she could, she turned to kiss Deres on the cheek while letting her hand slide down the back of his head. “I’m just getting up, no worries.”

He let her go, his eyes closed, but his voice sounding fully awake. “Right behind you.”

“Take your time, love.”

She padded to the door, opening it to find their freshly laundered clothes neatly folded into bundles and tied together. Bringing them in to set them in her place on the bed, she opened the closet to find her formal outfit; an all black affair, layered so the creases in the material conveyed a sense of velvet softness. When she put the heavy cowl over her she looked like she’d been swallowed by the night. She put on the thin silver belt, the buckle of which was a sigil of her guild: a rather demonic looking feline. She placed around her neck a pendant of the same, relishing its weight.

It was in these moments when she felt what it must feel like to actually be Neral. Responsibility had weight and she felt it here of all places. In ways though, her burdens were greater. She had to protect the guild and its members from being rooted out and literally put to death for practicing their craft. She had to sometimes protect the individual mages from themselves. And she had to do what she could for all the guilds in using what influence she had to keep them from the darker paths.

Bryana started her day with a quick breakfast before meeting with other mages regarding their own tasks and primarily making sure nothing had slipped by her. It was something of a balancing act to walk the line between here and home and Lian served as a warning to her to make certain she knew everything that she thought she did. Seeing her in full dress had the desired effect. She carried herself in a more imposing manner and projected that power.

In return, she saw deference and respect. She had oftentimes led them unconventionally over the years, but she led well and profitably with this guild being one of the safer ones to be part of since it, like some others shunned factions and backbiting. One of the parts she most enjoyed were the lessons, passing knowledge from one generation to the next. Having been under the instruction of Deres for a number of years, she was nearly his match, which meant her skill far exceeded theirs. As such, she was careful in what she taught so as to maintain balance amongst the guilds, usually preferring simply to help perfect what they were already doing.

Morning spread into mid-afternoon and she was in the midst of one such lesson, helping Vale, a pudgy, yet attractive enough young mage learn to modulate her use of magic in levitation. Bryana’s hand was outstretched and feet before them a chair hovered, being spun in a slow circle. “Do you see the lines of force, Vale? Do you see how I move them into an ever more fine point until the whole of the weight rests on that point?”

She stared intently. “Yes, Mistress.”

“This magic is powerful. It is so when it is a club, but arguably more so when it is a dagger. Match me.”

“Yes, Mistress,” she said with more conviction than she felt as as she stretched out her hand and called upon the energy around her.

“Good. Bend it gently now. It’s not natural for it to do as you are asking it to.” Her eyes traced the lines that no layman could see. “Better. I am going to give you control now. Ready?”

She wasn’t sure of her confidence in that either, but she nodded anyway.

Bryana pulled her will from the object and watched the strain on Vale’s face as she sought to keep it spinning as deftly as Bryana had, and, for an eye blink or two it had worked before Vale’s jaw tightened in frustration an instant before the chair crashed into the wall, sending the larger pieces to the floor and splinters everywhere else.

Vale stared down at the floor, not daring to look up to see the disappointment that she was certain was there. “Apologies, Mistress. It’s just...difficult for me. I try, but, as you say, the energy does not wish to bend to the will.”

“It will bend. It’s that you get frustrated, dear, and then you overcompensate, which far amplifies the force used.” She put her hand tenderly on the smaller ones shoulder. “But you did manage it. You need to learn control and patience, and you will.”

Her dark green eyes finally looked up and hopeful. Some of her other instructors at other guilds were not nearly so forgiving. Indeed, this was the first one she ever experienced where the guild master ever took an interest in anyone other than the most supremely gifted. “I will.”

Bryana’s lips parted for a soft smile. “We just have to see to it that you learn before we run out of chairs.”

The embarrassed blush was sweet, but she didn’t look upon it long, seeing Trace move hurriedly into the room. She didn’t need magic to know what he was about to tell her. “Lian has returned, Mistress.”

Bryana gathered herself before nodding. “Thank you, Trace. Find something to do for a few minutes, then tell him I wish to see him immediately in my office.”

He gave her a quick snap of his head as a nod, “Yes, Mistress.”

She patted Vale’s shoulder. “Practice, girl.” She gestured her hand towards the remains of the chair, “Spend the next hour trying to lift the smaller pieces individually.”

Vale looked at the task before her and responded firmly even though it seemed beyond daunting. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Even if you fail, you will start to see better what you need to do.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Bryana spoke as she walked away. “Your best is all the guild demands.”

Elan eyed Deres critically as they sat together in one of the many small alcoves that served as libraries in the guild. It was a small room, well lit by lamps with a single circular table with five chairs, one occupied by Elan, now in her full leathers as Deres tried to busy himself looking at the books. “You know she must do this alone.”

“I do.”

She heard the trepidation in his voice and she shared his worry on more than one level. She liked Bryana and that friendship was reciprocated. “There is likely to be no more than discussion. Having us over their shoulder undermines her position.”

He tilted one book forward towards him as though he might pull it out before putting it back. “I know. I get to worry anyway.”

“Just trying to keep you in touch with the truth of things.”

“And I appreciate it.” He looked to her to make sure she could see the truth in his eyes. “I do. You have a love of practicality and I like that.”

“You honor me,” she told him. “My parents wanted us to focus on reality and all the things that were actually achievable for us in life rather than dream our lives away hoping for things that will never happen.” She crossed her arms, “Practically speaking, they are likely to simply talk. If that changes, she can take care of herself.”

He knew it was true.

He worried anyway.

She sat at her desk, updating her own records, not bothering to look up at him and not doing anything to hurry herself. He could wait and she would make him. He wasn’t the mage she was even without the expanded knowledge that Deres brought with him and shared with her. She had no illusion that he’d taught her everything he knew and she would never have expected him to, but she liked the extra security that came with knowing that in virtually any gathering of her kind, she was the most powerful in the room.

His own dark brown and cream cloak hid his thin, but well-proportioned frame. His cowl pulled away to let his brown hair accent his boyish looks. Lian enjoyed letting assumptions that came with those looks and the shy charm he cultivated with it help him along in whatever the task was at hand. It aided him in such ways that often he didn’t need magic to get some of his tasks done, and it caused his enemies to underestimate him, sometimes fatally.

Bryana finished her last entry with a flourish, closing the book and looking up at Lian as though seeing him was nothing but a pleasant surprise. “How are you, Lian? I trust your trip to Honn was without incident?”

He dipped his head in acknowledgment before returning the pleasantries. “I am well, Mistress. I trust the same can be said for you?”

“It can, thank you.”

“My trip went well and as expected. Several debtors needed to be convinced to pay what was owed.” Lian enjoyed the memories of the convincing. Usually indirect displays were enough. A nearly inborn fear of mages made that all that was necessary...usually. Those that required more convincing were their own pleasure. “You asked to see me, Mistress.”

She rose casually, not wanting to give him the passive dominance of forcing her to look up at him. “I should like to discuss some of your more...informal dealings?”

He didn’t hide his puzzlement, “Mistress?”

She kept her tone deliberately non-confrontational. “You know I don’t begrudge anyone side work. It helps one pay their guild tributes, and, more importantly to me, it helps a mage hone their various skills, which benefits all. I have asked you here because I wish to talk about one of yours.”

“Which?”

“The person you have served as a consultant for in recent weeks. The one you have last marked as anonymous in the ledger.”

He took a breath to compose his thoughts. He’d learned long ago how to properly mollify a guild master. That Mistress Bryana generally didn’t take to it didn’t mean that it was a complete waste of time. He bowed slightly again and met her eyes with a soft grin that came easily. “I, for one, am truly grateful, Mistress, for the freedom that you offer those in your guild, not to mention the fact that your required tributes are more than reasonable. Those are just two of the reasons that I consider myself fortunate to be able to be associated with this guild.”

“However, and with all due respect, I am completely within my rights to not divulge that information. My client wishes to maintain their anonymity and they have paid well to maintain it.”

She approached the front of the desk as she spoke. “I understand that, and, ordinarily that would be enough. But extraordinary events are happening around us. A direct attempt was made on the life of Queen Evaline of Erette.”

“Indeed.” His face betrayed nothing that might hint at his true feelings either way. “That is most distressing.”

She examined him in all the ways she could see. Any person, when confronted with the uncomfortable or threatened reacted physically. Their heart began to race, their pupils dilated, and muscles as they prepared to fight or flee. Mages could use their mastery of themselves and their environment to silence those obvious tells to a layman’s eye, but not to a mage with enough skill. Bryana could see the energy that bound all things ripple around him as though she had caught a glimpse of the last of the ripples caused by a stone being thrown in the water. He was good already and had more potential to tap yet, but she knew he had what she wanted, and she would get it. What it was specifically and how valuable it’d be were questions, but those couldn’t be answered until she knew what he did. “It is to me to protect my guild and, to a lesser extent, all guilds from the threat of mass exposure and the carnage that would surely follow. There are reasons we do not act directly against those in power.”

“And I can assure you that I have not,” Lian said firmly. “That much is in the ledger as it should be. I made certain introductions.”

“And healed this woman shortly after the assassination attempt.”

“My client, yes.” He didn’t hide amusement at standing his ground firmly against his guild mistress. “Whether she was involved with that specifically, I do not know and did not ask.”

She was just as resolute. “To determine if that is true, I need to know what you do.”

He breathed deeply, seeming to count and compose himself before speaking. “I would not betray that trust in any event. Besides that, that you would not take me at my word is something of an insult and continues to be telling regarding where your loyalties really lie.”

Bryana bristled at the barb. “Meaning?”

“You have a very comfortable life there, Mistress. You have...deep ties to House Jaye and, therefore, to the queen. I understand that. You could see this as an opportunity for yourself, and for the mages. Evaline has no heirs and the family no spares of full bloodline to have claim enough that Court would unify behind. There would be a fight for power. With House Jaye being what it is in terms of its own power and the fact that Court and the people would know they would have the queen’s posthumous blessing, it’s likely that a Jaye would find the throne.”

He clasped his hands in front of himself. “And you would be there and so would, by extension, the mages.”

She tilted her head. She had thought as he did once and didn’t forget how to do it. “And you would be there, too. I would be be grateful, is that it? You would see your own power rise, whether by becoming my right hand or,” she sighed as it dawned on her, “I would perhaps endorse you to hold this guild.”

“But that is not to be,” he said firmly and as though there was something bitter in his mouth. “You would rather have your comfortable life there while you pretend to lead this guild and pretend any allegiance to the mages.”

She sounded a bit like a teacher quizzing a student. “Tell me, Lian. Evaline dies, and then what? Do I proudly stand before the city throngs and proclaim my power? Do you think they let me? We are a handful compared to them. We couldn’t burn them quickly enough or in number enough to stop our extermination. And all because the whelp wants some power himself.”

“Don’t we all want power, Mistress? A mage is power. Some of us want to seize it while some of us seem to simply want to hide from it and lead a quiet life while they are free to dabble between worlds as they will. That’s your weakness. Do you think other guilds don’t know? Do you think they don’t see it and talk about it? There is an opportunity here, Mistress. Seize it. Seize it with me and allow me to thrive in your shadow. I would be content in that because you are at least fair.”

Until you decide my shadow is oppressive. Bryana’s blue eyes narrowed at the rest that remained unspoken. “Or?”

“Or get out of the way,” he told her, threat in the firmness of his tone. “Many of us feel shackled by the old ways. We are sick of hiding. Many apprentices feel so.”

He was dangerous. She knew that now, and not just because he had power. He had power enough to mix with ambition and a young man’s mind that still didn’t fully grasp consequence. What had to be done would be, not just for Neral, or Erette, but for all the guilds as well. She prepared to draw the magic to her to take the next steps, but as she could see the magic to be tapped around her, she knew he could see the same, so his mind had to be elsewhere before he saw the need to strike back.

“The guild masters are very aware, Lian.” She began to move smoothly back and forth, pacing before him “Few of us are so old that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to be young. We thought we knew best and we had grand plans. Reality tends to slap those ideas out of your head. We could afford them because we had not a tenth of the responsibility of the masters. Ours were to do our jobs well, pay our tributes and navigate the politics within our own walls. Those responsibilities have not changed just because you think you are special.”

He pursed his lips in an attempt to remain composed as he weighed his words. “And the guild masters like it that way. We do the work and take the risks, while the masters get rich and issue orders.”

“Apprentices have a say here. Indeed, they do in most guilds,” Bryana countered, focusing on her words as much as she used them and their intonation to begin to weave. “That you don’t always get your way, child, is not a sign that you have not been heard. It is a sign that there are concerns around you that you get to continue to be truly unaware of because of the very safety net provided by the guild you decry.”

His dark eyes seemed to darken further. “Child?”

Her tone turned dismissive as she became more aggressive with her weaving. Energy followed her command and bent and twisted into a web of power. “Or, perhaps, simply, a proposed idea is stupid and we should be thanked for entertaining it at the expense of how ever many minutes of life we sacrificed listening to it. I do not wonder why some masters are far more strict. I know children that are easier to deal with and more open to reason than some apprentices.”

She smiled at him as she began to circle him, letting her spell do the same, but it was a mirthless and disdainful smile. For his part, he tracked her, waiting for her to strike. It was all over her face and in the way she moved. He could see the faint traces of power pull and ripple. He wouldn’t underestimate her, but it amused him that her demeanor showed clearly that she underestimated him.

You’ll learn.

“But you Lian, you and your ilk are so special. We are old and blind and it is to you to show us the way. But it is you with your attitudes that are the greatest danger to us all. Life has yet to temper you, so we add babysitter to the role of leader and teacher until learn some wisdom.”

“We know, Lian.” Her voice found an almost sultry tone with the anger. “Do you think the masters don’t talk? In the conclave we don’t toy with one another, because at the end of the day, we all need one another.” Her eyes narrowed as continued her orbit of him. “I was warned about you, Lian. I was warned by the other masters to simply end you. I had to stop Master Sius from ending you for attempting to poach his apprentices to your own ends. I defended you. I defended you and what I get for my trouble is ‘get out of the way.’”

She stopped in front of him. He was half a head taller than she, but she managed to look down on him as one would a bug. “We laughed, Lian. We laughed at your ridiculousness, your arrogance, and your posturing. We wiled away the evening, in part, imagining scenarios where we would face off with you and the ungrateful like you. We picked apart your weaknesses and ended you all in spectacular fashion. It was a joyful evening, whelp.”

“You have no grasp of true power, Mistress.” He hissed the word, nearly shaking in rage. He pulled power to him. He would show her. He may not win, but she would see. He would teach her to respect him.

She watched him pull the magic she had weaved about him into himself as he prepared to strike.

“I know power, little man,” she tormented. “I have witnessed it and wielded it. I wield it still. You have skill but you don’t have the mind to hone it. Drive it. Command it. I would trust the likes of Artis and Vale over you any day; because they know they don’t know everything and know they never will.

“You like them because they will be happy lackeys.”

She laughed. “I like them because they know,” she thought of Vale, “or are at least learning that the greatest of force is often the most subtle. Man enough and mage enough to teach me different, pouting whelp?”

Power coursed through him and he coalesced it within himself as a coming burst of fire. He raised his hand to give her her first lesson in respect. His hand rose, palm beginning to glow red like the rage inside him, power highlighting the fine lines in his skin.

Bryana responded by letting three fingertips touch his flesh, bringing them up to his fingertips with an almost frightened gentleness, as though he might shatter if she applied too much pressure. The power about to be loosed faded away. Lian froze, save his eyes that widened and pupils that dilated as though they sought to absorb all light everywhere. “There, Lian. Isn’t that better? We don’t have to fight. We can talk. All I wanted to do was talk.”

Her voice sounded like a sultry purr to his ear. It sounded like the deepest love in the greatest romance novels. It sounded like love and passion hot enough to make the world turn. It sounded like sex. It sounded like fucking. It sounded like the hottest, most wicked fucking felt. It sounded like the fucking where he had to stop thrusting like a mad dog just because he didn’t want the sex to end.

Anyone else might have had to ask what was happening. He knew, but it didn’t matter. He only knew that he had to flee until the spell faded on its own or he could find a way to dispel it. Where to go. He looked around, using all of his will to focus on where he was. His eyes latched onto his salvation. Door. There’s the door.

He turned, rushing towards it in his own mind, but in reality it was more of a stagger because already his body didn’t want to leave the effects of that voice that just kept making love to him just by being carried on the air.

She followed behind him casually, “Don’t leave. We’re just starting to get closer.” One foot in front of the other until she saw him reach the door and fumble for the knob. The Guild Mistress breathed in, then blew delicately into his ear.

Lian doubled forward as though he’d been punched. His left arm pressed hard into the thick wooden door. He scrunched his eyes shut several times in an effort to maintain himself. “How?” His voice scraped against his throat in a harsh rasp as though he was trying to regain himself after a long, hard run.”

Her voice carried an edge as her head tilted to the right and down ward to examine him “How, Lian? How did this happen to you? Because I am a Guild Mistress. While I am still magic’s loyal student, you think you know every fucking thing and, like any young man who has reached maturity in years before his emotions have caught up, you have no interest in being told that you don’t, hence the need for your lesson.”

She touched her hand to his cheek, caressing. With each pet of her thumb on her flesh he shuddered and a little more control slipped to it and that sweet voice, even as it dressed him down. “The sad part is that you were actually skilled enough to see the spell but you weren’t calm enough to see it. Rage blinded you. Ignorance blinded you. The spell was in the air all around you and you pulled it into yourself without a second thought.” She allowed herself a snicker, “Or a first, eh, Lian.”

His body felt alive in a way he didn’t think was possible. Everything was brutally sensitive, but it wasn’t painful. Her voice was a tidal wave of pleasure. Her touch brought another. “I’ll...tell you...what you wish to know.”

She moved to the other side of him as she spoke, a trace of genuine sadness in her voice, for him and for the memory of the time in her life when she would have had none for what was about to happen. “It’s too late for that, Lian. Trying to reason with you here was the first and last chance. You are a danger to me, to the guild, and to all the guilds. What you know is almost secondary at this point.”

She took his hand and he moaned. He resisted with all the force of a feather on the wind as she turned him and pressed him to the door. He slid down slowly as his legs were overwhelmed by the task of supporting his weight. Now she towered over him and it was an effort to hold onto his rage. She was beautiful in a way he’d never noticed before. Oh, certainly, as a virile young man he’d noticed with those sparkling blue eyes and that golden hair, and that long, lithe body when she revealed it in even small ways invited the occasional lewd thought, but never had he found her so simply captivating as he did now.

She stood over him for a moment, sad that it had come to this, but still just a little proud that all went as she had hoped. “Almost.”

Bryana dropped to her knees just above his, straddling him and began to unbuckle the thin, black, leather belt. “Are you going to try to claim me?”

“I will claim you and rebuild you as I see fit.” Her tone was almost clinical as her delicate fingers clawed his pants down. Her fingers against his thighs made him buck upward, which only helped her expose him. “You won’t be a threat to me or the guild anymore, you get to live, which is more than some of the other masters wanted for you, and we might be able to have fun now and again. It won’t be so terrible for you, I assure you.” She looked at him. It was up and proud and twitching to the beat of his heart. What it lacked in superior length, it made up for in girth with balls already full and drawn close to his body, prepared to unleash his seed. There would be fun to be had for herself soon, but first things first.

He wanted to kill her then and there almost as much as he wanted her to touch it. “I will fight you.”

Those eyes grabbed him again. “Not for long, I think. My voice staggered you to the point where you couldn’t turn a knob. I speak to you now and I know it sings to your mind... and your cock from the way it shivers listening to it. I take your hand and walking is beyond you.” She gave him a dirty smile. “And all of this before I have even touched that key to the male mind.”

“Not to my mind,” he hissed.

He watched her churn her jaw left and right, over and over before positioning her mouth just over his cock while still keeping her distance from it so he could watch a waterfall of saliva fall and drench his cock in a bubbling white foam of slick. The light caught his now glistening cock and rivers of spit rolled over his balls and down the insides of his thighs. His heart raced. He told himself that it did so in rage, but for his cock there was pure anticipation.

Her fingertip played with his cock, circling the head and mixing the pre-cum with the saliva before sliding down the shaft and doing figure eights at his testicles. His cock demanded that he give voice to its pleasure and he obeyed.

“Hmmmmmmmmm,” she purred, “your body seems ready and anxious. Let’s see if your mind is in the same place.” She put her hand around it with a gentle firmness as though she were milking a dairy animal. Bringing her hand up his body lifted lifted only in the smallest way that he could manage as he convulsed against the pleasure. He groaned and for those moments his hatred was subsumed to the point where he had to grab the memory of it for those fractions of a second before her hand moved again.

“See, Lian? You are all emotion; all need. You are an easily distracted bull. You are all power and ache, but you need that tempered. I will temper that in you. I will mold you as I need and you will thank me for it. You will love me for it.”

“Stop. Please,” he panted. He wanted to close his eyes against what was happening to him, but he couldn’t tear himself from that wicked smile, those almost sapphire eyes, and the way she was, quite literally, single-handedly controlling him. More saliva dropped from her mouth to drench him and he grunted in anticipation of the increased slickness. He formed more words even as the sensation was everything his cock dreamed. “You’ve prove...proven your power, Mistress.” The title already began to take on a new meaning in his mind, filling him with dread and excitement. “I yield. I yieeeeeeeeeeeeld.”

It came out as a wail of pained ecstasy. It was so beautiful in that it was pleasure like he had never known, but was nearly overshadowed by the pain as his muscles locked throughout the wash of pleasure keeping him the satisfaction of unleashing his seed. As the orgasm faded, leaving him hovering near the edge of another, he whimpered with each pant, leaving Bryana concerned, “What’s wrong, Lian?”

He looked down at her hand working vigorously from base to tip with a wet squick as she added more saliva to her play. Biting his lower lip he tried to flex those muscles and will it to happen. “Can’t...can’t cum.”

“Of course not, and you won’t be able to until you surrender. It does add to the experience, doesn’t it? From those extra spikes of pleasure adding to the experience, to that fountain of seed proving your virility, not having that final expression of lust sort of ruins it for you men, no?.” Her voice was sugary sweet and sultry all at once, “I’m so sorry that I have to prevent that, but that can end quickly. It’s up to you, Lian.”

She saw the look of desperation and frustration cross his features and decided to stop her ministrations long enough to come to his right to bring herself nearly nose to nose with him as he turned his gaze upon her. She spoke softly to let her voice have its sway. “You are a pragmatic young man, Lian. You know there is no way out. You cannot escape me and you know that I will not release you until what needs to happen does.”

He tried to think of something to say to sway her. He tried to think of a spell that might buy him a moment even if he could distract her enough to cast it, but he felt her magic all through him, wrapping him more and more tightly in warmth and desire. She weaved the spell around me with little more than her mind and weaves it still. He pondered how until he accepted the truth: She was right. She is my better. The realization was a bitter one, though he had to admit it was tempered by that fact she was better and he hadn’t simply slipped at a critical moment.

And, if he had to belong to someone, she was at least beautiful...which led to other thoughts. Resignation and lust mingled into a single word: “Fuck.”

Bryana grinned at him, bringing her lips closer to his. “There will be time for that once I’ve made you more...reliable and pleasant to deal with. But I need you to give me your will. Your will is,” she urged as she put tiny kisses on his cheeks, “what you will release for me from your cock. Your manhood...the very core of your being; you want to release it to me. Then we can fuck as you wish.”

“Hard.”

“Yes, Lian. Hard. You may have my body. Tell me to suck your thick cock and I will. Bend me over the desk, lift my robes and have your way. Release your will. Let it erupt from you in great bursts, then fall cold and useless against your body.”

“Mistress, Bryana.”

“I was before, and always shall be. Only more so now, but you know that already. Tell me what you need to sate yourself and I will obey.” Her hand continued at pace as she considered the immediate future not unpleasantly, “I suspect it will prove fun for us both. And while you satisfy your body’s needs I will have my way with your mind.”

“Give me your will. Give it to me. Release it.”

With a moan, his head came forward the fraction of an inch needed to meet her lips. Her tongue darted in and with that, everything but his own tongue and cock went limp. His balls churned and he could not resist.

His cock began to buck against that firm, milking hand that was moving faster now and he did not resist.

His throat burned as he screamed his surrender into Bryana’s mouth and he no longer wanted

to resist.

She was his better. It was her right to do what she did. He challenged and lost and the terms were hers to dictate.

Lian, eyes closed, focused on the kiss, saw nothing, but he felt his will shoot from his cock with ferocity, again and again. Stream after stream never ending as though he would be a husk by the end.

And he was happy to let it go.

In Erette, as in much the rest of the world, appearance mattered and Neral had hoped her appearance today in full dress uniform would impress upon him how seriously she took this meeting. The black, double-breasted coat felt stiff against her in away that wasn’t foreign to a woman who lived in armor. It was decorated with pins marking her campaigns in service on the right and pins marking the many instances of valor fate and the needs of the moment led her to. The gold buttons caught the light in a way that could blind a soul if one caught the reflection just so. She usually gave up on wearing the black gloves that came with because it felt to her that she was keeping herself above and detached from reality and her soldiers.

Today though, she wore them because they did indeed help her appear imposing. Her pony tail was perfect and the gold barrette that held it in place matched the buttons and the lampasses that drew a perfect line from shoulder to ankle. Finally, a blood red cape flowed smoothly to her knees and she admitted that in full dress as much as in full armor she felt powerful and she liked that feeling. She, in a way, liked the burden that came with both, too. It made her proud that both the queen and her soldiers trusted her.

Today, as with every day, she would work to see that that trust was not misplaced as she srood in a windowless room with Bae, in her own most formal attire, opposite Salish Kon, third assisstant to the House Mistress of the Royal House of Erette, a man of middle age,eyes in a perpetual squint, and with a thin frame that hovered around gaunt. He wore a simple white tunic with dark woolen pants and boots of a dark brown soft leather. In every way he had appeared as the middle-class soul he was, He looked upon Bae with composure, fingers laced together. That he rubbed the thumb of his right hand on his left was the only sign that pointed to tension. Leaving him to stew in the room for several hours before beginning seemed to have put him on the desired edge.

“I really don’t know why you’re questioning me about anything at all,” he began smoothly. “What happened to the queen is terrible. Vile. Reprehensible. But it’s nothing I had anything to do with.”

“That may well be true,” Bae began in her most diplomatic tone, “but you must understand that we are speaking to everyone who was in a position to place the assassin so close to the queen.”

“And you think I was?” His tone was slightly incredulous. “I’m nothing but a link in a chain. I move paper and deal with resource allocation.”

“Which includes personnel,” Neral said flatly.

“They are resources,” he agreed. “But there are people below me as well as above that handle those matters, too.”

Bae opened her mouth to speak, closed it to choose her words, then began again. “There are. And they have been spoken to and some are even as I speak to you. It is a matter of trust in that chain as well, no? As things go up the chain investigation doesn’t start simply start anew. “If General Jaye came to me to say that something is so, I would accept it as fact because it came from her.”

“By the same token, should you slide a name into consideration, few would question it. And the farther that name made it, the fewer questions would be asked until none at all.”

“All applicants are thoroughly investigated,” Kon said, by matter of rote. “Themselves. Their families. I have done my job and have never knowingly placed a threat before the queen.”

Neral’s eyes met Bae’s and she knew they exchanged the same thought: his word choice was quite particular. Neither said anything about that. Instead Neral decided to play her own game with words, “And there were suspects more interesting than you as the investigation has proceeded. You cannot expect to be skipped over simply because you’re offended.”

“Are you ransacking their homes, too?” Anger from him seemed to be not much more than a slightly raised voice. “Three times and do tell me what you found? Nothing is what. You’ve found nothing because there is nothing. Since there is nothing, I would like to leave.”

Bae leaned back in her chair, enjoying the moment.“Since we do have something I would like you to stay.”

He turned both curious and pensive as Bae looked to Neral, “I give you the honor of proceeding.”

“Thank you.” She leaned against the table. “We searched many homes seeking evidence of complicity. You were not singled out because of that. You did indeed speak the truth in that nothing was found at your home that might bring our attention to you. Beyond your household though was another matter. As you might be aware, this attack upon the queen is of particular interest to me. What you may not be aware of is the fact that I have taken it upon myself to investigate matters personally.”

“Pardon my interruption, General,” Bae began with some enthusiasm, feeling positively about things for the first time in what seemed like forever, “but I see you in parades in full, complete with honor guard and standard-bearer and it is most impressive. I imagine it is more so to see the sight closing in on you on the street before your little shop or your modest farm.”

The looks never failed to amuse. “It did tend to impress upon those I questioned the gravity of the situation. Turning back to Kon, she continued. “Bae’s staff, mine, and that of the White Guard cast our nets wide. One would have to be a fool, after all, to hide their traitor’s gold under their own beds, so we looked at family members. We looked for conspicuous spending.”

“My salary is what it is. I live well, but there is not much left to be...conspicuous with.” His voice betrayed nothing, but he did lean back in his own chair, easing himself away from his accusers.

“And your brother lives more modestly than you as a records clerk for his village and his relatively small farm, Neral pressed, “yet a search of his farm yielded two new workhorses and equipment.”

Those eyes widened a touch that, on him, looked as though they bulged to the point of caricature. “He has long spoken of attempting to open more acreage at his farm and his been saving to do so.”

“He must have been saving for a long time to afford from a breeder that generally only caters to the grand Houses.” Neral concluded.

“And six children is no small expense, even if they were helping tend the farm,” Bae added, her voice becoming harsh. “He tells an interesting story, Salish Kon. He tells the General after she rides out to his farm...complete with standard-bearer and a bit of evasion until he finds out where your treasure came from.”

“He simply assumed that it was the product of a lifetime of quiet embezzlement,” Neral filled in as she weaved her own net. “Not unheard of in procurement; a few extra blankets here, rations or a master-crafted sword there. Sell it, and if it’s done sporadically enough, it sometimes isn’t even noticed for years. You are good at your job, and the Royal House is allowed a few additional excesses, so there’s no reason for him to think beyond that.”

She straightened herself, walked carefully behind him, then bent to his ear, her gloved hand pressing firmly at the juncture of shoulder and neck, feeling his body tense at the discomfort. “Fortunately, he has more loyalty to his queen than you do, it seems. Once he realized where it came from he was anxious to be truthful. You promised him a share if he’d hold it, so he spent what he thought was his share of your untraceable lifetime of pilfering. He had no interest in blood money.”

“How did it begin, Kon?” Bae demanded to know. “The usual passing around of bits of information for gossip or sale?” It was frowned upon, of course, and prosecuted when need be, but mortal men were flawed, and, truth be told, that sort of soft espionage created deeper connections between kingdoms, painted pictures of the real goings on there, and, in its own way, helped keep the peace. “Bits of this and bits of that leaked out over years until a fat payment to slide a name into consideration. How far did it go? Did you help falsify her records? Did actively help to kill your queen or did you just turn your head the other way, so your conscience could be clear?”

He came forward in his chair again, his voice almost mechanically even, though he laced his fingers together above the desk and gripped himself tightly. “I did nothing to the queen and I know nothing of what you’re talking about. Perhaps he told you what you wanted to hear. Perhaps he told you what you wanted to hear to cover his own theft? So, what? You jail me for nothing? Torture me until I tell you what you want to hear?”

“Torture?” Bae played at being aghast at the idea even though she was by no stretch above it as a matter of vengeance. “You’re right, it wouldn’t work at all. You would tell me what I wished to hear until I confirmed your lies as lies and we had at it again. Aside from that, it really would be a waste of personnel, when, by all accounts, you are an exemplary resource clerk.”

“I could use a resource clerk,” Neral said casually, reaching into her uniform to withdraw a neatly folded paper. Unfolding it and placing before him, she let him begin to read it.

His eyes scanned the paper, “Conscription?”

“Permanent and immediate,” Bae told him with no small bit of glee.

“And I will need you on the front lines of any engagement. Only by being there will you truly understand the needs of the men and women you will serve.” She squeezed his shoulder more firmly, making him lean into the pressure. “Of course, you will train as any soldier does: full pack and as prepared for any conditions as I can make anyone under my command. My regimens are harsh because battle is even more so.”

Neral’s tone turned deadly, “You played a role in an attempt to murder the queen that the people cherish, that I cherish. I will oversee your training personally, Kon. You will be broken or you will be ready. Even if you are broken you will go where I send you. You will go to places where you will bake in the sun or places you will never be warm or dry.”

“And, while I will do all I can to keep the why of your conscription from my soldiers, you surely know how fleeting secrets are, don’t you?”

Bae turned and twisted her head to get a good look at the man who now seemed to have shrunk and focused his eyes on the table, “I believe he sees the levels of misery in his future, General Jaye. Physically pushed to points that have broken far better men. Living with men and women who will openly revile him. All while he waits for the spear, arrow or sword that releases him.”

“Whenever that might be. I have the best healers in the world among my troops. How much suffering as death might you endure, Salish, before you come to pain that they cannot undo? How many years? How much torment will you endure?”

He swallowed hard as he imagined how bad it could all be from stories he’d heard from soldiers who had seen battle and realized that words probably paled against the reality. Some didn’t come back mentally whole. He wasn’t fit for that. He just wasn’t, and Neral Jaye would make it last so that one lifetime felt like fifty. “I...don’t know how much help I can be. He is...was a longtime contact.” His head snapped up, eyes fearful as he sought mercy from Bae. “If I tell you what there is, will I not be conscripted?”

Bae shrugged, “Conscription in this case is completely the purview of General Jaye. She could even take me if she saw the need. I cannot undo it and the one person that could...” She sighed with a smirk, “Let’s just say I wouldn’t believe her to be inclined to aid you.”

“Nothing will keep you from prison, Kon,” Neral told him. “You are only talking your way out of a noose or a lifetime at my mercy.” Every word dripped venom. “How ever many years your tongue buys you in a cell, you will look upon them as paradise compared to what I would offer. I wear my uniform gloves today that I never wear because the idea of touching you makes me sick. I hate the sight of you.”

He didn’t look upon those years long before he began to speak.

Neral was glad for something that could be called a positive resolution of the matter that was Salish Kon as she left the interrogation room for her offices. He was talkative and held nothing back, having no idea the true intentions of a contact he’d dealt with for decades. He gave them more of the puzzle and she’d hoped that Neral and Bryana were piecing things together from their end and a permanent cure for the queen could be found quickly.

And justice dispensed to those responsible in the manner that they had earned with their treachery.

Seeing Nelina turn the corner and nearly march to meet her was warning enough even without the tension on her face that somehow didn’t fit on one so young. Neral stopped, keeping her own bearing more or less official until Nelina stopped before her and offered a quick salute.

The General braced herself. “Report.”

“Rangers have just arrived from the border post near Nelos. “They report the village attacked and destroyed with few survivors.”

“And the attackers?”

Nelina used her focus on discipline to cover her anger, though not with perfect success. The fire in her eyes hinted at the one in her belly. She wanted to be pointed toward them and loosed without limit. The witnesses that remain say bandits by all appearance, but two elderly veterans mentioned that they recognized military training.”

It wasn’t uncommon for outlying villages to be hit by bandits or slavers. There was money to be made and there could be quick strikes without fear of massive reprisal. It also wasn’t necessarily unusual for military training to be evident. Some outlaws in the making enlisted simply to get that training, then leave. Those that would be otherwise retired or drummed out for a lack of fitness in body or mind simply switched careers. Thinking of the Draleth, the other ready option occurred to her: a test of defenses that, under cover of the lawless, gave the culprits plausible deniability.

No matter the reason, it demanded a response and Neral was honestly grateful that she had something against which she could act. “Inform Colonel Dion of this and ask her to ready a company that we will lead. We depart at first light.”

“Yes, sir.” She turned, heading back the way she came.

“That includes you,” Neral called after.

“Yes, sir.” Nelina’s voice carried the edge that Neral now felt in her belly. There would be many things to take care of before morning and she now had that much more reason to take care one of the most important ones immediately.

Neral closed the door to her inner offices and threw both bolts to secure it. Once done, both hands went to her neck to unclasp her robe, having done it often enough in her life that she didn’t have to give it much thought. Holding it so that it didn’t fall, she whipped it forward and draped it on the back of the chair nearest her moving behind the desk to the mantle above the small fireplace that wasn’t alive at the moment since her schedule didn’t set her there for any length of time. Given that, she was somewhat happy for the thick fabric of her uniform.

She opened a small box made of a pale wood, varnished clear and took the palm-sized orange crystal from within and gazed upon it in her palm. She had to admit that even after all of these years with mages as her mates the magics still made her a bit nervous. It wasn’t just that the magics they practiced were forbidden by law going back centuries upon centuries. It was that she only understood the very basic tenants of how it operated and what it could do. There was also the truth that she knew that Bryana and Deres both held back even talking about their skills to her. Suggestions of their scope were often done in a dismissive, joking tone, so she too could dismiss it.

But she never fully did. Glimpses of that power told the military mind of hers that she couldn’t. With the mage guilds largely unknown to the greater world, but now reasonably frequently interfering in its affairs required that she not.

She had never used this bit of magic before as the three had rarely been so separated and the need just didn’t exist, though Deres made sure she never forgot how. Closing her hand around the communing crystal firmly she felt the edges and the weight. To anyone else it would be nothing but a curious bauble, but as a tool and gift from Deres and a product of the mix of technology and science that his adopted home lived with, it was much more. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind of everything, focusing her will as the tip of a sword and projected that will, piercing the center of the crystal.

An instant later she couldn’t recall ever seeing the sky so blue. It was cloudless and the sun was high. There were beaches in Erette, of course. There were more temperate climes if one chose to go and could afford to travel, but she had never seen anything like this. The gentle hiss of the waves was soothing to her soul and the foam of those waves churning forward before caressing the white sand as the ocean pulled away bits of this place only to build a beach someplace far away looked like divine artistry. The water seemed to stretch back to eternity. And she was warm. She was beautifully warm. It looked and felt like a place some priestesses described as where one went after death to rest with the Goddess.

After taking stock of the world around her, she took stock of herself and wasn’t surprised, nor displeased. Her usual pony tail was gone, letting her dark hair flow just past his shoulders and she looked down to find herself in a sunset red, almost too small top and with a matching wrap around her waist that left her right leg exposed. She wiggled her toes in the almost too hot sand and could feel the grains make their way between them.

“Does this place please you, my love?”

She looked up towards the familiar voice to see Deres walking towards her, barefoot himself with white pants with a simple yellowing rope to tie it. Those eyes reminded her of the sky above him and she smiled. Sometimes she smiled for him when only moments before it would be the last thing that she wanted to do because it was him and her love for the man could overrule the darkest mood. She started walking towards him, choosing to put a bit of sway into her hips as she made her way. “It does. The question is, is it even real?”

There was that roguish grin that could pull a smile from the depths or make her want to melt her body to his. “Define ‘real.’ That’s a bit more fluid for Adarans than outlanders.”

“You’re adopted,” she quipped.

“Even so.” He looked around. “It is real in that where we are is a representation of a real place in the world that I’ve been. Would you like to visit someday?”

She drank it in again, “I would. Are we actually there?”

His brow knotted in contemplation. “In a sense,” he called out. “A piece of us is. Reality, at the end of the day, is just perception.”

“Like waking from a vivid dream or nightmare and having to anchor yourself in your bed again.”

He nodded. “Much like that, yes. And here you act like you don’t understand the broader concepts of magic.”

“I don’t pretend to, Husband.” She looked down at her attire before looking back and noticing how his eyes wandered. Gesturing to the wrap with both hands. “And this?”

“That’s for me,” he said without shame.

“Then I won’t ask you to cover me up.”

“You could do that anytime you wanted, just so you’re aware.” He liked the way the sun warmed his skin. “But I thank you for not. You could even cover me if you chose.”

She took a moment to examine him as any hot-blooded woman. “No need. It’s warm.”

Then there was peace. His arms wrapped around her waist and she felt it his strength pull him to her. She could feel her nails touch the small of his back and his quiver against it. She could feel his lips tenderly kiss the arrow scars on each side of her neck. And when they kissed less tenderly, she could taste him. Their lips parted and she touched his cheek, feeling the freshly shaved smoothness that she liked best as she saw love mirrored in her eyes. “Bryana and Elan are safe?”

“They are.”

“Send my family my love.”

“I will. The queen?”

Neral was happy to be able to say, “The same as when you left her.” A piece of Neral would stay on this beach forever, but the world made demands. “What have you found?”

He pondered the events of days as he held her hand, the two making their way down the beach. “A mage not only treated Wyrnn’s wounds after the attack and the same mage put him in contact with and information broker in Nelos. It’s said that he has connections throughout all the kingdoms.”

She nodded. “Not directly at this point, but I think we can link this broker to a personnel officer within the Royal House. He dropped her name into consideration and pushed it as much as he was able. He only knew his contact as Nes’ka.”

Deres continued, wishing there was more to say.“The mage also introduced her to people that could put her in touch with people he’d done work for in the past. There’s nothing remarkable about them in and of themselves from what we can glean from our source, just merchants and the like, but no one with real power or money. She may have just been laying the groundwork for future jobs in and around Erette or to plot an escape.”

“Or both. Your source is reliable?”

His eyes told stories. “He is now.”

She nodded knowingly and with a grin, “Ah. I see.”

He did what he could to defend his love. “She did try just asking first.”

“Oh, I’m sure she did.” She couldn’t quell her disappointment. “So all we’re left to do is follow more bread crumbs.”

“Yes,” he agreed, but didn’t seem quite so dejected as she. “The guild was a reasonable place to start and could have shortened our quest had the coins fallen right. But, the fact that Wrynn didn’t leave a trail that we have the time or the men to follow doesn’t exactly hurt us at this point. Our hope was that if there was a link here they could name the alchemist and save us steps. If our guild contact didn’t have the answer, we are still left with the fact that all of the greatest crafters go through Idros at some point. Either they are there, or they have a lead on the person.”

He took her hands in his and brought them together between them. “Worry not. The queen will be well and our family whole again before you know it.” Thought of her was like the sun against his skin, warm and reassuring. “How is Khylen?”

“Also well and misses her parents.” She let the next words go after a sharp intake of breath, “I will have to leave her for a time.” She spent the next words describing to him what she knew of the plundered villages and what her response would have to be. She dreaded a moment like this to the point where she convinced herself that, between the three of them, Kylen would never be alone that way. But here the moment was. She clung to him “It could just be bandits.”

“It could,” he agreed. “But there is the matter of Queen Evaline and the Draleth too. It’s all too close in timing to be….usual, for lack of a better term. Treat is as though it’s not until you know if it is. And if you thought that it was usual, you would send another.”

She turned away from him, “It still might just be. Part of me wants you to tell me that that’s all it is and that I should. Part of me wants you to insist that I stay to tend to your daughter.”

He placed his hands on her shoulder. “Our daughter. You wish me to rage, is that it? So you can acquiesce and then hate me for making you stay?”

“Better than myself for leaving.”

“I won’t be doing that.” He turned her back to him. “She will be well cared for and loved in your absence. Even Cassea is fond of her.”

Neral parroted her, “She’s nowhere near as annoying as most children.”

He chuckled. “High praise from Cassea Voss.” His features turned more serious as did his tone. “I’m not going to rage because the three of us away from her at once will be a rarity, and then only in the most dire of circumstance. I won’t rage and demand that you be some woman other than who you are. You lead the combined forces of Erette. If duty calls, then it calls. Shirk it because of your feelings and you become someone else, and that I will not have. Understand?”

She was thankful for him in so many ways and it was in moments like this she felt the love overwhelm her as it did the moment his spell that bound him her to him took her. “Yes, Husband.” She put a submissive lilt to it and the way his body responded to the tone amused her. “I’m going to miss this place,” she said, giving it all one last look to commit it to memory.

“Until I take us for real.”

“A reason to get home...for all three of us. Until that moment, my love.”

With another nudge of her will, her eyes opened and she found herself back in her chair in her office, letting her eyes adjust to the room far darker than the beach. Duty called. But, for now, others could and would tend to it, giving her time to go home and break the news to Khylen that duty called.