Once Sigmir and I were in our room, the door closed by a conjured sheet of Ice, I stopped, considering. Part of me wanted to resume what I had started a few days ago, before we met the wolves, but there was something I wanted to clear up before it festered within her. While I wasn’t sure if she perceived it as a problem, she might and it might cause her pain, something I was not willing to risk.

Some more hand-waving by me and I was pouring power into a magical formation that grew a larger boulder of ice, shaped like a very wide loveseat or maybe calling it a throne might be more accurate. After heaping furs onto it, creating a thick cushion over the cold ice, I gently pushed Sigmir over to it.

“Sit, Love. I want to talk to you and I want to snuggle up to you. But if we lie down together, I’m afraid I’ll be a lot more interested to do other things than talking.” I grinned, thinking of the things I wanted to do later. Sigmir nodded, mirroring my grin, but adding a charming blush to it.

Once she was on the throne, I climbed into her lap, making myself comfortable and pulling her arms around me.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” Sigmir asked and I thought there was a trace amount of tension contained in her voice.

“Nothing bad, I promise.” I assured her, adding a kiss to her cheek to press the point home.

“I just wanted to make sure you understand why I discarded the potential of a life-debt from Swiftstride, that it was not to make light of you and your traditions, or even the oath you gave me after we met.” I started, trying to get a read on her face. There was a small reaction, but too small and gone too quickly for me to fully comprehend. But it was quite obvious that she had noticed and I was relatively sure it had bothered her.

“For one thing, I hardly care about Swiftstride. When I saw you, it was as if someone or something drove me to save you.” I began, remembering seeing her between the wolves that had been hunting her for the Jonari and how extreme I had reacted. In hindsight, I was glad that I had, even if I didn’t why and it still eluded me.

Sigmir looked pensive at that, as if trying to figure something out and I continued, wanting her to come to the right conclusion.

“What I’m trying to say is that, debt or no debt, you are part of my life and I want to keep it that way. And I think, or maybe hope, that you feel the same about me, that even without swearing your oath back then, you would be with me and continue to me at my side, as my mate. For that is what you are, love, I wouldn’t want to be in this world without you.” I admitted, just as much to her as to myself. Being on Mundus was exhilarating, I was feeling emotions that I had never felt before, a lot of them focused on Sigmir. If she were to leave me, I was not sure what I’d do. I might just never return to this world, going back to my old existence with bittersweet memories to remind me of this world I had started to love. Maybe that sentiment was not the most healthy one, but the difference between worlds was like seeing an old movie in black and white compared to a new one, in high definition, digital colour.

As I had talked, my eyes had strayed from her face and I had simply placed my head on her chest, my eyes staring past her, unfocused as memories played in my mind’s eye. I felt a hand on my chin, gently turning it to Sigmir and tilting it upwards and then, my lips were covered in a fiery kiss. As the passion flowed from her, into me, I knew her answer, she had understood what I had wanted to convey. There was no mistaken her passion. And for the next few hours, we both were gripped by it.

In the next morning, we met Aida and Rai for breakfast, both of them looking rather amused, maybe because both Sigmir and I were walking a little gingerly, after getting carried away in our passion the night before. I would have been able to heal the soreness and slight bruising, but that would also have gotten rid of that deliciously naughty feeling I was still having which was well worth the slight discomfort.

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“Rai, did you hear the wolves howling last night?” Aida asked, smirking widely.

“I’m not sure what kind of animal was howling, but I’m not sure what they wanted to convey, it didn’t sound like they were howls of communication or pain.” he answered, keeping a straight face, but there was a bit of an amused sparkle in his eyes.

“Yes, yes, you comedians. But, if we are on the topic of nightly activities, what is going on with the two of you? I noticed that you roomed together, even in a place where there are plenty chambers for us to use.” I asked, delighted in their shared blushes. “Adra, remember, his mother gave him into my care, if you corrupt him, I might have to say something, as his Master. Or is that Mistress?” I continued, causing their blushes to deepen.

“Love, don’t tease.” Sigmir gently rebuked me, before continuing, “At least not too much.”

When I looked over to her, she had a happy smile on her face, watching the two of them squirm.

“So?” I prodded and Adra finally started talking.

“It’s not like that.” she promised, her voice soft. “At first, I grabbed him for shared warmth, the two of you were always so cozy but there was no way I could get into your bed, even if just for warmth.” she began, her eyes looking a little distant but also haunted.

“You remember that experiment you tried with the first nymphs from Tegi we captured?” she asked, seemingly in a nonsequiteur, to which I just nodded. It had been an experiment I wasn’t proud of. If I understood the result right, I had slowly drained their essence, their very life itself, letting the energy seep into the realm of Nethersprites, like a fishing lure. Finally, that lure had attracted something and just remembering it was making me shudder, I had been incredibly lucky that Sigmir had reacted fast enough and that destroying the anchor had caused that thing to lose grip on its connection.

Adra must have seen my shudder and interpreted it correctly, because she continued in her tale. “It reminded me how close I had gotten to a similar fate. Only a short time earlier, just ten days or something like that, I had been in a cage, waiting for another dryad to drain my blood…” she stopped and Rai put his arm around her, giving her a comforting hug.

“After seeing that thing, after feeling its aura, I was having nightmares, dreams of tentacle monsters trying to invade my mind, to make me their puppet.” she admitted, her voice now even softer. It was a far cry from the normally confident and often teasing Adra I had gotten to know.

“But when I grabbed Rai for warmth, the nightmares went away” she continued and I felt bad for her. I hadn’t noticed her distress at all, even if she had been a close companion and friend during that time. Sure, she had been a little disturbed by my actions in the beginning, maybe she still was, but was I so bad that she wouldn’t tell me something like that?

Thinking back, I realised that she might have been afraid, I had used the dryad and the nymphs, beings rather similar to her, in deadly experiments, not even hesitating. So, she might have thought that I would do the same to her, use her and discard her, if she showed any weakness. It was a horrible feeling; the idea that I would sacrifice my friends like that was unthinkable.

“I’m sorry for that, Adra. Just know, I see you as a friend and if you have problems or concerns, I’ll have an open ear for you.” I told her, trying to convey sincerity, before focusing on Rai.

“Rai, please, be good to her.” I told him, hopefully in a voice that made it clear I was asking as a friend, not ordering as his Master.

Both of them looked a little taken aback, maybe because of the emotion in my voice, and it seemed as if they were lost for words. But that was just fine with me, I wouldn’t want to explain what was going on in my mind anyway. Luckily, I didn’t have to, as Fresh Snow padded into our room, a wolfish grin on her face.

“Good morning, everyone.” she greeted us, before focusing on me, “Morgana, Swiftstride asked me to introduce you to Master …” she said, using the same description Swiftstride had used the night before. I felt myself perk up at the thought of new magical knowledge, for once, acquired without risking life and limb, at least I hoped so.