Milly POV.

it had been three days since Marlin had left for his parents. She had mostly calmed down. she was getting frustrated, she was very frisky.

“Stupid marlin, making me feel this way” Milly thought grumpily “four more days of this? I can’t go to his place like this right? How weak and pathetic would that look”?

Bron had calmed down too. Kotak made them promise they would apologize for real this time.

They had grumbled at first but once Kotak reminded them that Bron had tried to kill Marlin twice now, Well even the hot headed Canta’s saw reason. They agreed.

The three of them were walking early Morning to town. Their funds were low. They always were. Kotak, as reasonable as he was had a love for fine drinks, the stronger the better. Said it helped him loosen the migraine’s, she idly wondered what could be causing Kotak those migraines, the way he looked at her and Bron, gave her a bit of an idea.

“Ive been thinking” Bron spoke.

Milly and Kotak almost did a double take hearing him say that, they didn’t want to lose the spell Bron was under so they kept walking.

”Marlin talks a lot about wars doesn’t he”?

Kotak nods and says: “yes he told me about ‘bows’ that could shoot arrowheads. And about 4 to 6 per second during the 2nd world war”.

Milly shocked by the sheer number doing some quick math. “That must have been a priceless artifact, Marlin had always grown quiet about the subject with her, she had the feeling he had seen it, the haunted look she saw om him was similar to the old T’jut that had lived through the Kalta wars.

“He said during that particular war most soldiers had a bow similar to that. He spoke of unbelievable numbers, it had lasted for 5 years”. Kotak answered.

Milly couldn’t comprehend, that sounded much like the calamity wars from the legends and he did talk about the two world wars with her here and there. It had happened before he was born but he knew people who had lived through it.

”The more i hear about this earth, the more i think it is a complete shit hole” Bron said. “How on earth did those people think that two wars on the scale of thousands of tribes twice within a span of only 50 years was a good idea”.

Milly shivered, after she had gotten marlin to talk with a drink or two, had used the word Million’s a word she wasn’t familiar with. She felt cold as ice when he said a thousand tribes multiplied by a thousand, is a million. If what he said was true in those 2 wars roughly 30 of their kingdoms in people had died.

“nobody wins in war”.

how this ‘earth’ had survived such devastation was beyond her understanding.

Their last calamity war, almost a thousand years ago had nearly wiped all races of the map. The celestines were gone now, including their floating cities. And the Dangir as well their great tunnel cities caved in.

“Hey isn’t that the goat Marlin always rides”? Bron asks.

“The fact you saw that before me, worries me. ‘Dragon’s fire ale’ might be a bit too potent for me afterall” Kotak answered.

Milly’s heart jumped into her throat and she kept walking, Billy saw her and greeted her like a knight would greet a princess.

“That is one weird goat”. Bron deadpanned.

“This is Billy, Bron and Billy is a knight” Milly responded. Billy preened at this and bleated at Bron making a scoffing sound and turned his head.

”That’s just an attitude Milly”. Bron smirked more amused by the antics of the goat then offended.

”He has the code of honor as a discipline” Milly smirked at the revelation.

”shut the fuck up, no way”. Is that why they are all so damn good at what they do? They get classes”? Bron was getting intrigued and so was Kotak.

”No, all his minions have their racial stuff and attributes but they have 1 discipline of a class, and billy here has code of honor”

“I guess that means Marlin is back” Kotak stated. They saw him sitting at the counter writing a statement, Kotak held them off “let’s observe for now i want to see how they treat him”.

Milly felt like she was walking into the bears den all over again, she and Marlin had rushed into things, both about as horny as they could be but she never regretted it,

Marlin was when all was said and done a good guy, she loved how much he wanted her, how much it made her want him.

What ensued next was quite the spectacle Marlin really didn’t know what backing down meant, the moment The receptionist made the insinuating remark she saw Kotak jump in front of Bron. It wasn’t Necessary, the thing about Marlin was that his anger always oozed out and everyone present, her, Bron, Kotak, the bitch and everyone watching felt the intense desire from Marlin to hurt that woman.

Milly went pale as she saw the blade of the Guild master on his neck, The boss was one of the fastest people she knew. Marlin was finished she saw the way his minions jumped into the fray.

Yet somehow, Marlin that absolutely moron, diffused the situation with dialing up the crazy even more and for some reason it worked.

Bron’s POV.

As Marlin came face to face with them three it infuriated him how Marlin had no hint of anger or judgment in his eyes. Those frightening red eyes of him faded to that all too familiar azure blue they had when looking at Milly, but this time it kept flickering between azure and dark blue. He never saw that color before.

No his tribe had accepted this Kin. He was Utt now, by fate and by bond and it was high time he started treating him as such.

He acted before Milly could, he knew if he didn’t do it now, his own Pride would prevent him.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He stepped forward and spoke: “As a brother, i failed you. The lesson you taught me was probably the most painful to date, and i besmirched that”

”You nearly killed me Bron” Mark spoke Matter of factly.

Bron was fuming on the inside he hated how lacking his control felt in this man’s presence. How it always pissed him off. But he had the pride of his tribe to consider. “I did and i have no excuse”. He ground his teeth.

“What i said, went too far for a lesson, and as a friend i should have known better” Marlin held out his hand, a gesture that was common in Marlin’s old world, you were supposed to shake it, for greeting, agreement or moving on from what Bron understood

”even”? Marlin asked.

Bron could live with that and clasped the man’s hand, squeezed it for good measure, he got a small smirk from Marlin. “Even” he grinned.

It would be a while for Bron to accept the man. Marlin still pissed him off to no end. But he couldn’t help but respect him, he distinctly remembered how little Marlin had been offended, by the shattering of his arm.

His lack of fear, wasn’t really a lack. Bron could tell, from warrior to warrior Marlin had come to accept his fate and had made peace with it much better than Bron cared to give him Credit for.

Bron would most likely always beat him in a fight. The essence of Marlin as a warrior however felt more refined. And Bron could respect that at least.

”alright now that, that’s settled you and me are going training with these four” Kotak motioned for Bron to follow him and they dragged Marlin’s minions with them.

Marlin’s POV

Alone with Milly he felt anxiety beyond belief, he wasn’t sure where they stood. Milly looked at him with pained eyes making his indecisiveness worse. Milly walked up to him silently and hugged him.

”you hurt me deeply Marlin” she said softly into his shoulder. “But please don’t look at me the way you do now, that uncertainty looks ugly on you”.

Marlin had hugged her back, the moment she hugged him he knew, they got hurt, they might have stumbled with their face into the dirt but they both got back up and kept walking. “I don’t feel like i deserve you”

She looked at him and marlin was confused ar how insulting she looked. “That’s complete bullshit, you totally deserve me. And i deserve you, did your brain get rattled again? That’s it! we are buying you a helmet right now”. She pulled him along out of the guild and started walking towards the blacksmith.

“You don’t want to talk”? Marlin was getting more confused by the minute.

”you already said what needed to be said to Bron, unless you think we aren’t even”? She looked at him daring him to disagree.

This was not exactly what Marlin had in mind, it wasn’t handled perfectly. But the desire to move on, he wholeheartedly agreed with. They had hurt each other one way or another and both had to digest that. To talk about it now would inevitably lead to more fighting, accusations and more drama. The apologies had been made days ago it was up to them both, to accept those apologies.

”you know what? No as a matter of fact we aren’t even and i tell you why” he bent over to whisper into her ear.

Milly POV

Milly was offended at what Marlin said, how could he not see she was trying to move on!? He wanted to move on it was written all over him. “What could he possibly say to get himself out off…”. marlin whispered into her ear for almost a minute, he was very detailed, descriptive. And with each word she felt her heart pound a little harder, her mind grow a little hotter, her ache for him got a little worse. He was certainly a creative man.

Guild masters POV

She looked out of the window and saw with her lip reading skills what the man, Marlin was saying to his T’jut sweetheart. Whispering in her ear, she was making a quite a few mental notes for herself.

”my my what a naughty boy” she purred, but it did put a question in her mind to rest.

The written statement was a blatant accusation against multiple people in this town. Gossip and omissions were one thing.

Outright lies like that against Marlin were practically unheard of. He had worked hard to build a reputation of reliability, Many had secretly been using some of his milder tactics, increasing the efficiency of the guild members. Some had even offered to help him gain levels, just to see how he would fare against higher level threats.

The drip of blood on his statement was unorthodox but the message was clear. “My life is nothing, without my word”. She muttered.

“Just like your father. You raised a good son Bradford, scariest motherfucker ive ever seen” she chuckled.

It hadn’t been his paltry attributes, no those where laughable, no it was how his eyes told you, “go ahead, see what happens when I’m the one using those attributes”. Those minions had responded much quicker then she would give them credit for

She sighed, she had work to do, outright lies like this meant they had been infiltrated, either by the honorless or a neighboring country. Neither was good news. It was time to take miss receptionist and Tarrani discreetly under observation.

”Tarrani has been rather loose with what is socially acceptable”, she thought to herself.

Daini POV

As soon as she had a moment, she slipped out of the guild building. She traced Tarrani to a bar, known to be frequented by people not on the up and up, right in the middle of flirting up some pig.

She hated Tarrani her former Lover, from the get go, she took to her Role as ‘connoisseur of the casual’ , with too much eagerness. All of it made Daini wonder how it all started.

Tarrani had betrayed her not that long ago. Daini had overheard Tarrani sleeping with some dude, she heard the genuine moans she made, how much Tarrani had enjoyed it. Which had confirmed her suspicions. She had cried alone every night since, she couldn’t talk with anyone, she was a spy. Who could understand? The love between women like this was already such a rare occurrence and although accepted, never really seen as real love.

Daini, felt cold fury as she looked at Tarrani, By the looks of it, she would enjoy this dude as well.

curse of lust it was called. It could infect anyone that betrayed loved ones, the chance wasn’t exactly known but even 1 in a hundred, was too often.

People with it or even a hint of it, were expelled for a reason.

It wasn’t clear if it could spread but those who got it, often debased themselves further and further, she had read a book on curses that went into detail exactly why inquisitors existed. Some of the images she had seen still made her retch from time to time.

Daini was quite sure Tarrani had it. Her eyes had changed, she no longer looked at Daini with that beautiful tender gaze that had kept Daini up for hours, pleasuring herself whenever they were apart. That memory was tainted and corrupted.

”Tarrani we need to talk, you received a letter from your uncle once removed about a small portion of an inheritance”. This was code for “we have a problem”.

It pained Daini to see how apt the description was of that troublesome man, their source of their troubles. It was like he had recognized her, one darkness to another.

Daini and Tarrani were both compromised now.

Tarrani got up leisurely, saying she would catch up to the man and smooched him with far too much lust which he obviously mistook for passion. He was left in a daze as Tarrani walked with Daini. Swaying her hips winking at a couple of men. Daini icily walked out of the bar in front of Tarrani.

”we are compromised my love” Daini began she could barely keep the venom out of her voice. “That rumor has backfired an official investigation is going to be launched soon we have little time, we must get out”.

”ow shush im sure it will be fine. Just make that piece of paper go away”. Tarrani playfully traces her fingers accross Daini’s chest “it has been too long daini, i crave~~ you”.

Daini felt tears come up, that she masked quickly. “I can’t, we picked the wrong man to start a rumor with, he is the son of Bradford the betrayer! And he is every bit as honorable, as the word goes in town, plus the fucking guild master that drunk bitch always had a soft spot for Bradford. That bloodhound is properly awake now”.

Tarrani tsked, and looked back to the bar and Daini knew, she wanted to fuck that guy.

“we have to go tonight Tarrani” otherwise we will never shake them from our trail”.

Tarrani sighed and looked at Daini. Daini could see the gears in Tarrani’s mind switch her lust for a good fuck turning to her,

Daini was disgusted, disappointed and utterly hurt by how little Tarrani cared for her feelings.

”you think we have time for some ‘us time’ before we go~~”? She purred and her hand went between Daini’s legs. Daini was ashamed of how much she wanted it.

A dark thought entered her mind. She looked at Tarrani and cooed. “Of course, lets make it wild, i want to tie you up like we used to”.

Tarrani was chuckling mouth open, “ow my~~ Daini my love, you finally opened your eyes to the bliss of that play? it has been far too long hasn’t it”?

”not long enough” Daini thought as she walked Tarrani to a discreet location.