The Mages’ Guild’s rules were a curious thing. It was quite obvious that with power came privilege, but there seemed to be more to it. While I sat on Sigmir’s lap, there were a couple of curious beings who couldn’t help but take a glance, either from outside the reference room or coming inside, using the pretext of looking for specific texts.

None of the beings was daring enough to actually interrupt me, but it quickly became apparent that they were interested in who I was, judging by the glances given and the slowly changing frequency of those visits.

At first, there was a slew of people, almost a dozen beings of various races and power levels in the first few minutes, all unable to help themselves but to sneak a peek. Only one of those, the most powerful by my reckoning, was brave enough to actually venture into the reference room, all the others remained outside, glancing in. My assumption was that they had been in the Guild before I got there, likely working in other rooms and my appearance was a curiosity they just had to check out. I certainly would feel a need to check out some strange and powerful visitor to my institution, if I were in their shoes.

Once that initial wave had come and gone, the frequency of those visitors dove off a cliff, with only a handful stopping by over the next couple of hours. But as if to make up for the lower number, their power levels were much higher, each of them at a level where I would have to take them seriously. They refrained from using Observe on me, a courtesy I reciprocated, but just the feeling I got raised my vigilance.

By the end of the day, I had read a few of the texts in the reference room and while they were raising interesting questions, I wasn’t certain how much I could gain without in-depth study and experimentation. It just added new observations and ideas to the ever-growing stack of things I was interested in. I doubted I would ever manage to chew through all of those, certainly not before the end of the beta.

“We should head to the inn,” I suggested to Sigmir, pushing myself up from her lap. She had been incredibly patient with me, happily acting as my seat for most of the day, holding me and, at times, looking over my shoulder as I was reading. In turn, I had made sure to gently rub against her, especially against her chest, trying to keep her at a low level of arousal the whole time. From the look on her face each time I stood up, the lightly glazed eyes and the delicious scent permeating the room, I had been quite successful.

“Mhm?” she mumbled, her eyes blinking a few times, as she focused on me. “What?”

“The inn…” I repeated, poking her chest and just coincidentally hitting the centre of it, causing a shiver to shake her body.

“Oh, yes,” she agreed, instantly standing up with enough force to almost topple the chair. Giving her a grin, I held a hand against her, not quite pushing her back but clearly acting as restraint. That my hand just happened to land on her chest, well, that was another of those pesky coincidences.

“We should get some food first,” I told her, the smile never leaving my face, even as my restraining hand gave a slight squeeze, causing her to shudder, “We wouldn’t want to run out of stamina during the night, would we?”

“No, we wouldn’t,” she replied, her voice full of lust. The look on her face made me swallow hard, a barely restrained expression that made me shiver, both in expectation and a little in worry. Regardless, I had coiled her up to this point, I would have to take the release later - and enjoy it.

We gave the receptionist a nod as we left and I continued to brush the divination magic around the Guild aside, the reasonably difficult magical task forcing my focus away from the planned festivities of the night. It helped to let me cool down a little even as the introspection made me aware of the connection to Sigmir - and the sheer lust and excitement radiating across it.

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The realisation brought a smile to my face and I began considering if I could actually use it. There were some interesting ideas, especially as I remembered that magic moment in the forest when we had stumbled about the emphatic link and the emotions and sensations that could flow across it. We had never actively tried to use it, but maybe this would be a good time to see what was possible.

As I began to consider it, Lenore squawked in my mind, protesting that such actions would doubtlessly have some bleed-over to Ylva and herself. The idea was a little awkward, while I loved Lenore, it was a familiar love, the love I imagined for a sister, similar to the love directed at a parent but without the inherent submissiveness of that relationship. Having her be part of a sexual encounter between Sigmir and myself, even if only peripherally, was almost enough to extinguish any lust I felt.

“You think we could set up a small magic circle for the two of you, so you can shield yourself from the effect? Some sort of Darkness-Magic, maybe some Ice to cool the emotions and some runes of Torpor to keep the two of you a little sedated?” I asked, ideas spinning up in my mind.

“It could work,” she agreed, her mind following mine, as we continued towards the inn.

“Anything wrong?” Sigmir quietly asked from behind me, likely having noticed the sudden shift in my mood.

“A small matter,” I shook my head, before looking up at her, “Nothing to worry about, I promise,” I assured her, reasonably certain that the magic circle would work. And if not, I was certain that Lenore and Ylva would survive, it would be awkward as hell in the morning, but if what I had in mind worked, I doubted we’d notice it in the moment.

When we got to the inn, Sigmir was somewhat calm again, as I had no opportunity to tease her during the walk. The innkeeper looked at me a little confused, having seen me enter a few days ago but never leave. Regardless, Sigmir was with me and quite obviously possessive, so he didn’t question my presence, merely looked at the two of us with a raised eyebrow.

“Dinner, now,” Sigmir ordered, her voice almost a growl. Maybe I had underestimated the effect an afternoon of teasing had on her. She seemed to still be quite wound-up, her intensity bringing a smile to my face.

Looking into the taproom, I realised it was almost full making me reconsider. I wanted to tease Sigmir during dinner but I had no desire to make a spectacle of our intimacy. I enjoyed seeing her that way, not having others see her that way.

“We shall eat in our room. Something simple, if you would.” I told the innkeeper. He gave me a questioning glance but nodded.

“Certainly, I can do that,” he replied, calling our order into the back.

It didn’t take long and in the meantime, I amused myself by leaning against Sigmir, gently and covertly rubbing against the insides of her thigs, my hands wandering across her body. Sadly, before I could achieve any real results, we received a simple meal of bread, fruit and fish. Sigmir happily paid for it, not even bothering to ask for change and grabbed it in one hand, putting the other hand on me and dragging me along. Maybe I had achieved something after all.

I let myself get dragged and she didn’t even glance at Olivia when we passed her in the hallway, determined to get to our room as quickly as possible. When we got there, she had to let go of me, in order to open the door. Inside, I stepped away from her.

“Eat, you must be hungry, love,” I told her, before giving Lenore a gentle push to make her leave her Hallow, “And ask Ylva to leave her Hallow. I believe she should be with Lenore.” I added, before focusing on the magical circle I had in mind.

“You keep the magic active, I believe you can manage. If nothing else, it’ll give you something to focus on,” I told Lenore, as I was weaving my Darkness-Magic into a cocoon that should isolate the inside from the outside, hopefully even blocking the connection between our souls. When she understood my intent, I felt a trickle of her own magic, flowing in an unfocused state from her, allowing me to take hold and add it to the working. It wouldn’t allow her to control the magic, merely supply it with power, but that would hopefully be enough.

With the magic circle spun up, Lenore and Ylva hiding within, I looked at Sigmir, who looked at me with hunger in her eyes, even after quickly devouring the food.

“Now, love, where were we?” I asked, slowly walking towards her sitting form, letting my cloak drop from my shoulders.

Tonight would be a good night.