Helena, Selena, and the maids spent the entire morning shopping. I spent the entire time letting them, right up until we were about to leave the shopping district.

“Helena.” I said, my voice stern. I had learned the tone from her father and it showed, because Helena and Selena jumped slightly.

“David! What...” Helena started to say and then she remembered that I wanted to shop, too. “Yes, all right. Selena, go with the maids and take the packages to the coach. David and I have a couple of places left to go...”

“I'm coming, too.” Selena said, quite adamantly.

Helena sighed. “You're going to be bored.”

“I don't care.” Selena looked at me and held her ground. “Go ahead and tell me that I'm not allowed to go with you.”

I glanced at Helena and she shrugged. “Helena's right. You won't enjoy it.”

“How do you know that?” Selena asked.

“We're visiting a tool maker and blacksmith.” I said. “It's smelly and dirty there.”

“I'm not a child. I can take a little dirt.” Selena said and handed the bag she was carrying to her maid. “Put this in the coach with the others.”

“Yes, my lady.” Her maid said and the other maids took that as the cue to leave. Hope gave me a warning look, nodded at Selena, and followed the other maids.

“Come on.” Helena said and took Selena's hand. “We're going into the worker district.”

“What? I thought... well... the blacksmith shop is...” Selena stopped talking because she was countering her own argument.

“That's just the posh storefront they use for rich clients and that's not what David wants.” Helena said and took my hand as well to lead us where I wanted to go. “David needs fine carving tools to be made and those you can't buy anywhere.”

“Why does he need them?”

“To make better enchantments.” Helena said. “It would have been so much easier to make kracken tube projectiles if we had real tools and not the ones David had to cobble together.”

I turned my head to look at her and she met my gaze.

“You had a hard time using those half-blades with full handles, even if you did make them to be held easily.” Helena said. “They worked and that's fine. That isn't how you're supposed to work, however.”

“Gary said...”

“Gary is an army officer and he has frugality burned into his brain. He's always doing the most he can with the least he has, conserving resources and making things last much longer than intended.”

I couldn't argue that because Gary did all of those things. That was why he was the head of the maintenance department, actually.

“You're not restricted by army rules anymore, David. For that matter, you're not restricted by the rules you had with living in the marsh, either.” Helena said as she stopped walking in front of a blacksmith's shop. “You are your own man, dearest.”

I considered what she said about the rules not really applying to me. “Does that mean I can have sex with your mother if she approaches me?”

“WHAAAAAAAT???!!!???” Helena and Selena yelled at the same time and every single person on the street stopped what they were doing to look over at us. Both women blushed from embarrassment, then Helena dragged us around the shop to the small alley.

“David, I need you to tell me exactly what happened between you and my mother.” Helena said, her voice as stern as her father's. The expression on her face was nearly the same as it had been when she stood in defiance against the dragon.

I told her everything that happened in the vault room and Helena looked shocked.

“Mom would never...” Selena whispered. “...she wouldn't...”

Helena's face became a blank mask, as if she was Mage Henrietta and was ordering the mages under her command. “David, I absolutely forbid you from doing anything with my mother. You are to be my husband, not hers. You are not to kiss, hug, pet, touch, lick, or fondle her. In fact, I don't even want you to look at her if she tries to show you her breasts again.”

“I didn't see all of them.” I clarified.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Please, promise me that even if she struts around naked, you won't look at her or let her do anything to you.” Helena said as her professional mask slipped and her face became sad. “If father ever found out what happened...”

“Nothing happened.” I said.

“David, you just told me that...”

“All she said was that an entrepreneurial man would be able to find the crystal.” I said. “I'm not an entrepreneurial man.”

“You've made a lot of gold hunting pelts.” Helena said.

“That's not running a business, if I remember the definition properly.”

Helena blinked her eyes for several seconds. “You understood that much?”

“I'm not stupid. I just don't know a lot.” I responded. “She wants me to compete in business with your father. That's never going to happen and I'm never going to look for that crystal.”

Helena took in a deep breath and sighed. “That's such a relief.”

“I also won't have sex with your sister, even though she's in love with me, too.”

“WHAAAAAAAT???!!!???” Helena and Selena yelled at the same time, then Selena blushed deeply and Helena glared at her.

“Selena! What have you been doing behind my back?!?” Helena asked.

“N-nothing! I swear!” Selena said and held her hands up in surrender. “I don't know why he's saying such things!”

“She's acting exactly like Stanley's girlfriend did at first and she loves him.” I said.

“Who's Stanley?” Heather asked.

“He's the stockade guard.” I said. “I've spent a lot of time there and we talked sometimes.”

“David, I don't think...” Helena started to say and saw that Selena's blush hadn't lessened or disappeared. “Selena, you can't really...”

“I expected him to be ugly from the way you described him.” Selena said. “You kept praising him and his accomplishments, so I started thinking it would be nice to meet him, even if he was disfigured and had parts missing.”

Helena sighed. “Selena.”

“I can't help it! Not only is he a great fighter and a military hero, he's handsome, too!” Selena exclaimed. “He's also nice, stood up to father like no one else ever has, and he made our brother Marcus look like a fool!” She said and took several breaths. “He's awesome and you know he is.”

“Selena, he's my fiance. I'm going to marry him.” Helena said in an attempt to cut the argument short.

“I'm a lot closer to his age than you are.” Selena said with satisfaction and Helena took in a sharp breath.

That made me remember that I didn't know how old she was. “How old are you, Helena?”

“Not now.” Helena and Selena said with deadly voices without looking at me.

“Father and mother approved.” Helena said.

“Ha!” Selena barked the laugh. “Father just wanted to divert attention from David challenging Marcus to a personal honor duel!” She said. “As for mother, well, she was apparently fishing for something new to play with.”

Helena gasped. “Selena!”

“I know. I can't believe it either. Mother's always been with father and she's never entertained a gentleman caller. Although, there have been a few that have tried to approach her over the years.” Selena glanced at me. “To their regret.”

“Did your father kill them?” I asked.

“Wh-what? No, he... ruined them.” Selena said.

“Have they taken revenge yet?” I asked and both women fell silent. “He should have killed them. They can't plot revenge if they're dead.”

“Their families can.” Helena said.

“If it was an honor duel, no one could object to the outcome.” I said.

“They would have refused if he did challenge them.” Selena said. “He's a member of the Grand Mages Council. No one would be dumb enough to accept his challenge.”

I opened my mouth to say that I would, because I could probably kill him before he could cast a spell.

Helena put her hand over my mouth. “No, David. I love you and I love my father. I don't want to lose either of you to something so stupid as a duel.” She moved her hand and stepped close to kiss me. “If Marcus challenges you, I want you to refuse on the grounds that he can't legally challenge you.”

“Why can't he?” I asked.

“Mages Guild rules.” Helena said. “Only mages are allowed to issue and accept duels of honor.”

“Are there mages that aren't a member of the guild?” I asked.

“Yes, but...” Helena sighed. “They are ostracized and treated badly by guild mages, even if they have a practising license in the Gulf Kingdom.”

“What is the license for?” I asked.

“You need a license to do any kind of magic inside the Gulf Kingdom.”

“It's a good thing I don't really know any magic.” I said.

“Um... infusing potions and enchantments count, too.” Helena said. “Both involve the use of magic.”

“But...”

“You were in the army when you did all that.”

“I wasn't at first.” I said and thought about what she said. “I can break the law as long as it benefits the citizens of the kingdom?”

“...and don't get caught.” Selena said.

“Selena!” Helena gasped.

“You told me David and the Hag worked for years selling potions. No one ever said anything to them.”

“The villagers needed those potions to live because living beside the marsh is almost as hard as living inside it.” I said.

“Aww.” Helena and Selena said at the same time and reached for my hand. They touched each other's hands before touching mine, then both of them hissed under their breath and glared at each other.

“He's my fiance.” Helena said.

“He's going to be my schoolmate.” Selena responded. “I'm going to woo him away from you and we're going to live happily ever after with ten kids and two houses. One for us and one for the kids.”

Helena looked surprised for several seconds, then she laughed. “David, I'm going to hold you to your word, since you are doing your best to uphold our agreement. You are not to have sex with my sister, and that includes anything you may or may not have done with your new maid. Or mine.”

“Wh-wh-WHAT?!?” Selena yelled and looked scandalized.

“What is it, dear sister? Can't you handle the competition?” Helena said. “How will you ever woo my fiance away if you can't tempt him with your body like you do to your school friends, hmm?”

Selena's face flushed red, only it was anger this time and not embarrassment. “That's a cheap shot.”

“So is threatening to steal my fiance right in front of me.” Helena said, smugly. “Like you told mother, you don't have enough experience to be a proper lady yet.” Her voice dropped low as she growled. “Don't you ever try to take what's mine.”

Selena took an involuntary step back as she felt Helena's magic flare.

“David, let's go inside. I'm sure the blacksmith will have what you need and can also recommend a great tool maker.” Helena said and took my hand, then led me out of the alley.

Selena looked like she was going to say something, then she sighed and followed us.