Each punch to the back of Cassandra's head had her seeing stars. "Get! Off! Me!"

Working completely off his reflexes, Stanton dodged and wove attacks coming at him before the dragon under him even began the attacks. "No! Stop fighting and we can talk!"

"You nobles always want to talk, then you can ignore everything said!" Trying to toss Super Lupine Girl up into the air, Cassandra used her wing to encourage the motion.

It was always a problem for Stanton's style of evading hits. He could read one attack ahead, but beyond that he had to rely on his own skill to pick up if something was a good or bad idea. Choosing to jump to avoid the wing strike was an obvious way to avoid it, and he couldn't see anything better to do.

Once her target was in the air, Cassandra employed a classic trick of dragons and spun around. The thwack as her tail made contact filled her with glee, and she beat her wings to chase after Super Lupine Girl as she flew across the room and into a wall.

Pushing himself slowly to his hands and knees, Stanton's awareness of danger ramped up without him having much he could do about it—then the dragon's talons closed around his body. Hefted into the air, he had a far-too-close look at the dragon's muzzle, teeth, and angry eyes.

For Cassandra, it was her most victorious and confusing moment. She'd finally captured the fuzzy annoyance and now her instincts screamed at her to finish Super Lupine Girl off. It would be easy to crush or bite. "You damn nobles! I wish— I wish there wasn't any need for people to have power over others!"

"Me too…" The words slipped out of Stanton's mouth before he realized he'd gotten his wish—they weren't technically fighting right now, and they were talking. "I wish this world let everyone become everything they strove to be. I'd love it if our leaders were normal people who were the best at it." He slumped in her grip, unable and unwilling to go on. "It would be nice, for a start, if you didn't try to take over."

The words echoed to Cassandra in another voice, blunting her anger. "I don't want to take over, but if I don't—who will?"

Shaking his head, Stanton said, "You sound just like a friend of mine. She's saying all the same things—well, except that last one—and I wish I had all the answers for her too. It's not easy to change things. Are you so sure you'd be a better ruler than the Emperor?"

"Of course I would!" It was obvious and right, to Cassandra.

"You just tried to kill all my mom's guests." He was relieved to see her turn her attention to the room where Catherine was still pulling half-drowned werewolves out of the empty pool. "You know, if you knock people out underwater, they die, right?"

"I— They are— I mean, they're okay now." A horrid taste grew in Cassandra's throat. "Wait, 'your mom's'?" Cassandra's attention snapped back to the heroine in her talons. Things started to become more clear as snippets of information came together and—finally—she whispered, "Stanton?"

The gig, Stanton realized, was up. Not that the worst hadn't happened. He'd been keeping his alias separate to protect his friends and his family, but still all the fighting had come to them. "Not that it matters anymore. Yes, I am Stanton Raveel-Sharptooth. Thank you for ruining my engagement party and trying to kill my mother, my aunt, and all my peers and friends. Good job. A for effort and a gold star."

With the dragon stunned, Stanton continued. "What's next? You're going to track my father down and try to kill him too? I don't have any siblings, but plenty of cousins. Go on. I don't care anymore, because you did the one thing I was terrified you'd do—you came after my family. Now that you've done that, I won't stop fighting you until you kill me!"

The words rang in Cassandra's head. She stared at Stanton, studying his face, and shivered a little at the raw anger showing through those now-familiar features. "This is all wrong." Letting go, she turned and started to walk away, only to get checked by a huge impact in her side. Knocked over, she turned—mouth open ready to attack—and saw Stanton facing her. The background, though, was what had her attention.

Mayhem and destruction was a good pair of words to describe the scene. The Evil Pig of Evil, now the Brutal Boar of Badness, was running amok. There were bodies still scattered around the room, but most had been gathered in the far corner from where she and Stanton were. Then it hit her that he hadn't recognized her yet.

"You were so talkative before. Why have you shut up now?" Stanton could feel magic boiling through him. In his werewolf form, slim as it was, he was buzzing with the potential to change the world. "No words? Why not I give up or I'm sorry?"

It was so stupid, Cassandra thought, sorry was never big enough to make up for everything she'd done. Her mind flicked back over it all, and even the more recent stuff. "I banished you to the Abyss."

"Yeah."

"I tried to kill you and hurt all our friends." That hit home even harder for Cassandra. Now she recognized Stanton, she could see the way Lorissa moved in Stanton's sidekick. Triana she knew, but had figured she'd only gotten involved because Super Lupine Girl was a werewolf noble.

"Yea—" Stanton jolted. There was a word in there that stood out as being wrong coming from the dragon. "'Our'?"

It was all over anyway. Cassandra slumped to the ground bonelessly, surrendering even what dignity she had after Stanton had knocked her over. "You weren't the only one keeping a secret, Stanton."

The jolt now persisted into a frozen sense of shock as he started putting things together—but it didn't fit. "What do you mean?"

"Stanton, of all your friends, who have you never seen when I'm around?" When he still looked confused, Cassandra closed her eyes. "I can't believe this. Who is the only lightning mage you know?"

"Uh, I mean, Cass is pretty good with lightning, but I know I've seen her around when you're doing something." He paused a moment, trying to think back on that. "Haven't I?"

"Stanton," Cassandra said. "I'm Cassandra. Ugh! I was fighting you all along so I could protect you, then I chained you up so you could be free. I'm the worst friend ever!"

"Oh." The information hit Stanton hard enough that he sat down on the ground in shock. "Huh."

"I even figured out that stupid alias you used, Louise Silverclaw, was your cousin. Wait, is there a Louise Silverclaw?" Cassandra opened her eyes when no reply came, and saw Stanton just staring into nothingness. "Stanton?"

"You did all this for me?" Stanton asked.

"Tried to, though it was kinda hard to figure out what I was doing for you and what I was doing because this stupid dragon brain wants me to take over the world." Closing her eyes again, Cassandra had only a moment before someone thumped into her side.

Turning her head to see what had hit her, and spotted Lorissa slumped there with the Brutal Boar of Badness charging for her. "You know what, I'm sick of all this. I don't want to hurt Stanton, or my friends, and I don't want to put up with you anymore!"

With the Brutal Boar of Badness bearing down on her, and with the dragon behind her, Lorissa didn't hold much hope for getting out of her situation. But something swung and hit the impending porcine projectile, sending it across the room and into the wall. "What—?"

Climbing to her feet, Cassandra locked her eyes on the Brutal Boar of Badness, opened her mouth, and sent an arc of lightning from her throat that—a moment later—filled the air with the unmistakable scent of bacon cooking.

"You. Would. Dare?!" The Brutal Boar of Badness wasted no time getting back to its feet and rounding on Cassandra. "Betrayer!"

"So what? You've done nothing to help me change the world for the better! You promised I could protect my friends and fix things—but all you've done is use me!" It felt different to stand up and speak for her friends. Now realizing how she'd been used, it was like a bright light blowing away the half-truths she'd been given to color her views. Opening her maw, she prepared a huge lightning blast.

"What gifts are given, can also be rescinded!" The Brutal Boar of Badness began the process of drawing the magic and power that had been invested in Cassandra back out. The first gift he stole was her size.

Shrinking in stature shocked Cassandra enough that her breath came out and arced down to the ground instead of hitting her target. Shrugging out of the huge form, she took her bipedal dragon shape and formed a lightning spell, rather than rely on her breath.

Reaching for Cassandra's power next, the Brutal Boar of Badness tried to grab hold of the excess power she contained, only to have his draining ability blocked. "What are you doing?"

Gisse glared at the huge pig and kept his power from reaching Cassandra. "What I should have when I first arrived here." She didn't risk a glance back at Cassandra or Stanton for fear it would break her focus. "She might be angry, she might have done some bad things, but she's a friend and I won't let you take something from her unless she wishes it."

That made Stanton look at Cassandra. He couldn't help but see the lines of her face, her strong shoulders, and— He tried to avoid staring at her breasts. "Do you want this?"

The room went still and quiet. Sure, Gisse was magically fighting with the Brutal Boar of Badness, and there were countless werewolves starting to rouse from the earlier attack, but Stanton and Cassandra had a moment to talk.

Cassandra turned to look at Stanton. What annoyed her was he still had the handsome lines. She cursed herself silently for liking him, but not being that into girls. "I've been like this for—for over a year now. I…" She didn't know how to say it was comfortable, that it felt right. Stanton moved fast, though, advancing on her and taking a firm grip on her chin to tilt it up. "Wha—?"

"In that year you've been more confident and sure of yourself than I've ever seen before. I thought it was your mastery over your magic, but if this is you, and you want to stay this, then I'll support you."

He looked so sincere and honest that it pained Cassandra to even think of lying to him, so she closed her eyes and focused on herself and, further, on her sense of who and what she was. "You really mean that? You'll still be my friend?"

"Best friend, Cass. I'll be your best friend. You, uh, will stop trying to kill me, right?" He only had eyes for her face, lest he make a mistake and admire her other features. Stanton was trying his best to ignore what Cassandra was, and focus only on who his friend was.

"I think I can manage that. Uh, I think I need to get mad at the pig, though." When she brought it up, though, Stanton shook his head. "Huh?"

It was Angel who arrived and cut in, though, with the answer. "You're the beautiful, corrupted minion. If you gave into your anger now, it might consume you."

"Besides," Stanton said, giving Angel a high-five, "I'm the magic werewolf who defeats evil. This is my job."

Her tail wagging, Angel wiped a little tear from her eye. It wasn't that Stanton hadn't been doing his duty as a magical girl defending the universe, but now he took to it like it was his life. "You can do it!"

At some point Battlemaid had started assisting Gisse. She was even now firing missiles at the Brutal Boar of Badness to distract it from fighting against Gisse. Now she had to cut off her fire as Stanton got far too close to her target.

"Alright, Bacon Breath, I'm through playing games. You've messed with my friends, you've caused mayhem and destruction, and now you've attacked my engagement party. I don't want to have to deal with you again, and Kat was telling me about a recipe called char siu that I'd really think you'd be a great help with." Stanton dodged tusks and a nasty attempt at a kick to drive his fist into the side of the pig's head.

Its bell rung, the Brutal Boar of badness backed off from the fight a little and reached around, grasping at reality itself to stretch the hole that let it into the world a little wider.

When the Evil Pig of Evil had grown to the Brutal Boar of Badness, it was always going to be a problem for Stanton. Seeing it double in size again, fire now trailing down its back as it let out an impressive squeal of fury, he knew he'd need help dealing with it. "Uh, little help?"

"Now I, the Hateful Hog of Horror will stomp you out and smash this entire reality!" Actually stomping someone who could sense attacks coming before they hit—and had honed that ability by sparring regularly with a dragon—wasn't proving to be easy. "Hold still!"

"Don't think I will. Would you mind growing bigger? It's just, you're slower like this, so it's way easier to dodge, and I think we could feed a lot more people the bigger you get." Huge trotters seemed to come at Stanton from everywhere, but he danced around, avoiding them with all the ease he had insinuated. The only downside was he barely had a chance to strike back.

Stanton didn't have any attack opportunities, that is, until Lorissa joined the fight. Her blade flashing as she sliced and cut at the giant pig, she performed a series of acrobatic jumps and landed on its back.

Ever the heroic gun-bunny, Battlemaid discarded her rocket pods and rifle for a pair of pistols she'd made. Leaping into close quarters, she now had no chance of missing and hitting her friends as she took her cues from Stanton, dodging attacks as he did—dancing with him—and firing the big pistols into the big pig every chance she got.

"They're fighting… for me?" Cassandra asked softly.

"Yeah, they are." Triana Eyesbright, on her engagement night, was standing beside a dragon and watching her intended wrestling with a primordial evil pig. "Come on. I think this is going to take all of us." She reached out a hand to Cassandra.

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Staring at the huge paw, Cassandra wondered if she could manage to do it. The pig had been in control since she'd started becoming a dragon. Reaching out, she closed her own scaled hand around Triana's paw and moved with her, rushing forward with a torrent of speed and viciousness that she didn't realize was in her.

With the Hateful Hog of Horror now fully engaged, thanks to a werewolf and a dragon now clawing and biting at it when they could, Gisse could free up her magic to try something else. The spell wasn't unlike what Cassandra had used to banish her, but Gisse needed to narrow it down far more, and redirect the target away from its home plane.

The Hateful Hog of Horror could feel the pulling of the spell, but it was nowhere near powerful enough to affect it. Lowering its head, it glared at the demoness and charged her.

The sight of a pig bigger than the dragon had been bearing down on her made Gisse panic. She almost dropped her magic completely before a pair of strong, fuzzy arms curled around her and a female form pressed to her back. "Stanton?"

"Ignore the damn hog. Focus on your spell and let me help." While Stanton had done the usual practice at the academe with assisted spell casting, he wasn't sure if his magic would be compatible with demonic magic. With caution tossed liberally to the wind, however, he silently begged the universe to make the good things work as they should—and pushed everything he had into Gisse's spell.

Eyes widening, Gisse barely had control of her spell anymore. It was a live thing; vast and growing larger still. All it seemed to want from her was to aim it at the right target. Letting out a soft sigh and relaxing in Stanton's grip, she focused her attention entirely on the Hateful Hog of Horror and whispered, "Take that away from here."

The universe liked the plan. It reached out to the evil with Stanton's magic and got a good grip on hock—and pulled. Hateful Hog of Horror not only stopped all forward movement, but was dragged back a little.

Then the universe, now having a good grip on the primordial evilness, pulled hard.

It wasn't backwards. It wasn't downwards. It wasn't any direction human senses could detect. The universe was pulling the Hateful Hog of Horror out of the current plane, which involved pulling its power back through the hole it had created.

Shrinking, the once more Brutal Boar of Badness was squealing in panic. "No! It's not fair! You can't defeat me! I'll be back! You'll see!" And then smaller still, until it was once more the Evil Pig of Evil. "I'll wait until you and all your children are dead! There will be no one to stop m—"

"Yes there will!" As Gisse stomped forward, she had Stanton on one side, a dragoness on the other, and further allies she couldn't begin to believe were really her friends arrayed beside them. "A thousand years. A million years! I will wait for you, you horrid porker, and when you return—I will have an army of good to fight you!"

Finally regaining her wits, Forthright Sharptooth lifted her head and stared at the group fighting what she could feel in her bones was a primordial evil even greater the greatest demon she knew of. Rising to her feet, she watched as the pig, along with the darkness it represented, was ripped from the current plane of existence. Reaching down a huge furry hand, she helped her sister rise. "That son of yours is better at selecting his allies than I'd thought, Clara."

"Told you." Looking down, she realized the next nearest being to herself was Catherine Glow. "Thank you, Lady Catherine."

Catherine couldn't think of what to say, but fell back to her oath she took when made baroness. "Protecting the Emperor and his agents is every noble's duty."

Taking note of the words, Forthright nodded. "Your loyalty is noted, Baroness." She walked across the battleground the evening's venue had become, and sighed at the destruction. "Nephew!"

The shout stole Stanton's attention from the smoking former singularity the primordial evil had been sucked back through. "Aunt Forthright!" Not knowing if he should run over to her or stay with his friends, he had the question resolved when she walked closer and waved him to stay where he was. "Sorry about that. I think we have everything under control now."

"You have a dragon under control?" At this point, Forthright was more curious than cautious. The fight she'd witnessed the end of had been against nation-destroying enemies, and now he was standing there with what looked a lot like a half-human version of the dragon right behind him.

"She's sorry for what she did. That damn evil porker made her like she was and turned her against all of us. It's been a whole ordeal, but she has herself under control." Turning his head, Stanton looked back at Cassandra. "Right, Cass?"

Everything in Forthright's experience told her she should try her hardest to kill the being before her—and even give her own life in the attempt—but she hadn't the desire to spill more blood, not knowing even a dragon could be made a pawn by that evil power. "You don't want to take over the kingdom?"

"I—" There were a lot of things Cassandra wanted to say. She wanted to rant about the Emperor, rights of commoners, and the privilege of the aristocracy but she realized she didn't have it in her to make that a sticking point now. What she wanted, more than anything else, was to relax and spend a whole day talking with Stanton about what had happened. "No. That pig had me tied up in knots. I almost killed my best friend."

Stretching his arm out, Stanton pulled Cassandra against him. It wasn't as easy as when he'd been an ordinary werewolf guy and she was a normal half-elf girl, but she slumped into him just like old times when she was so completely done with school. "We need to talk more about that, but I won't hold it against you so long as I get to tell Professor Celia I'm best buds with a dragon."

Watching a dragon cry was not on Clarissa's scorecard for the day, but then nothing that had happened had been planned for or expected. "There are still matters you need to attend to, Stanton Raveel-Sharptooth."

"Mom," Stanton said, surprising himself that he used the shortest version of the familiar noun for the first time in his life, "I'm done with the games and bull crap. Elspeth was and still is a mad wolf that might need to spend some time having her head removed from her butt. None of the other choices made much of an attempt to court me except for a few letters—except Lady Triana Eyesbright. If you try to pick anyone but her, I'll challenge Auntie for leadership of the Sharptooths and then either pick my own partner or die in the attempt."

Looking past Stanton at Triana, Clarissa shrugged her big shoulders. "She was my first pick too. Consider yourselves betrothed so long as she will still take you?" The last was more a question in Clarissa's direction than to her son.

Pointing at Stanton, Triana said, "He'll do."

It was settled with a nod from Clarissa. "Good. Now, both of you, I will be presenting you to the Emperor tomorrow. The rest here, if you want to return to Conjur tonight, I can issue you passes for transport, otherwise you can assist in cleaning up this mess."

With a room full of were-creatures, a few demons, a dragon, and a maid who was built to clean up war zones, the work was accomplished quickly. Stanton and Cassandra worked together to fix the roof with some damage-reversal spells, and soon the pool was filling back up with water.

----------------------------------------

"Pretty sure Aunt Forthright said you had to come too. Something about reaffirming your dedication to the Emperor. Also, Gisse is going to be there to do the same, but she doesn't really have to go into all that detail—because she's not a noble." Stanton looked at himself in the mirror. "Angel, these skirts are too long."

"That's the new style. A style you introduced. Deal with it." Angel was in the process of arranging Catherine's hair. "Ankles are so last year."

Without any hope of escape, Catherine sat still to let Angel work on her hair. Looking in the mirror, she had to admit the tiny wolf knew what she was doing. "So, uh, what now?"

"I just told you, we see the Empero—"

"No," Catherine said, cutting off Stanton. "I mean, weren't you fighting the big evil pig thing?"

"The Evil Pig of Evil," Angel said, clarifying the name.

"Right, that. What will you do now that's been gotten rid of?" Tilting her head—and getting literally growled at by Angel—Catherine sighed. "I'm grateful, really I am, but do I need all this makeup?"

"I'm almost done and…" Angel got the last locks of hair pinned perfectly to show off Catherine's horns. "You're a sworn servant of the kingdom's latest guardian. When Gisse swore her oath, that wasn't done lightly. She wove her own fate to this whole plane's. That's why your duty to her won't interfere with your duty to the kingdom. Right, Stanton?"

"Right, and even if there was some ambiguity there, you have Aunt Forthright to back you up now. You remember who she is, right?"

"Commander of the Emperor's guard and one of three generals of the army. Everyone knows who your family are, Stanton." Catherine tried to keep her voice from wavering by using sarcasm. It didn't work. "Can I stand up now?"

"Yes, yes. Go on. Everyone is waiting in the ballroom." Angel whooshed over to Stanton and looked critically at his hair. "Your wand is too good at this. Perfection!"

"My wand is the best, most amazing wand in all existence, right?" Holding out his wand, Stanton gave it a kiss for its assistance. "As for what Catherine asked, I don't know, Angel. Where do I go from here?"

"In a year you marry Triana, I get to be the flower-wolf, and we all live happily ever after—until another primordial evil arrives." Shrugging, Angel took up a seat on Stanton's shoulder. "And don't sweat it, there will be one. Probably not the pig again—you and Gisse kicked his butt."

Freezing, Stanton stared at Angel in the mirror. "Wait, there'll be more? But—" He halted that line of panic, closed his eyes, and counted slowly. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five… Okay, I was asking for that, and now you mention it, I am looking forward to it, but I think we need to recover after all this first."

"And figure out how many women you're going to have claiming you as theirs," Angel whispered.

"That's hardly my fault!" Stanton stood up and made his way to the door, intending to set the record straight. Then it hit him. Waiting in the ballroom, Triana, Lorissa, Catherine, Gisse, Battlemaid, Cleverclaws, and Cassandra stood—all looking at him. "Well, it wasn't entirely my fault."

Rushing over first, Triana claimed Stanton's arm and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm not going to let go unless ordered, and even then I might put up a fight. Come on, we have to go tell the Emperor why our friends are awesome."

It made Stanton giddy to hear her say it. She was, without a doubt, perfect. But he wanted a little more clarification on some things. "Our friends are awesome, but what are we going to do when we're married? They'll have their own lives and—" He cut off as her eyes flickered with shadows of the moon. It made his heart flutter.

"I have already discussed this with everyone. Did you think I would pluck strangers up off the street to fill our home? I wouldn't dream of having anyone as our head cook except Battlemaid. And if you think I could have survived this long without Lore and Gisse's support, you have something else coming. Lore is your mistress—and probably mine, too—and Gisse is welcome to a similar role if I can find her at a time she's not blushing when I bring it up." Pulling at Stanton's arm, Triana guided him to the end of the ballroom where his mother was waiting. "And even if Cass takes some getting used to, she is welcome to be friends and perhaps more if she petitions for it."

"You've really got it all planned out, huh?" Stanton wasn't sure if he liked that his wife-to-be was so forward-thinking, or if it was a little weird. He considered if she would try to arrange his whole life, but then remembered he was likely going to have another evil something turn up.

"I try to, but you don't make it easy. Before you kiss the next girl you see, perhaps think twice about it?"

Making a point of tapping his chin, Stanton nodded. "I'll ask my fiancée and, soon, my wife—first."

"That's an excellent answer." Triana stole a kiss on Stanton's cheek. She was so happy that, if she were big and fuzzy, she'd be wagging her tail uncontrollably. "I'm no fool, Stanton. Trying to separate you from your friends would be madness. We might have started as friends, but you won my heart in the same way you win over everyone's, by being a nice and fun person. Come on, before your mom or aunt get upset with us taking so long."

The ride to the palace was only a block, but Stanton knew that it was important that they arrive by coach and not on foot—it was all about appearances though. Climbing out, he was well aware of the Emperor's guards at the front gate. Four huge werewolves stood with the most heavily enchanted armor and weapons he'd ever seen, backed by several magic users he knew would be hiding out of sight.

As they entered the outer wall of the palace, Triana felt Stanton's arm stiffen a little on hers. She was halfway through suggesting he relax when she felt some of the hairs at the back of her neck stand up. "Something's wrong." It wasn't a question.

Stanton nodded and focused himself on keeping aware of everything; every bug that buzzed past and every stone knocked aside by a shoe. "Mom?" When he looked to his right, to where his mother was walking with them, he saw her nod back. "Is Aunt Forthright in there?"

"She was advising the Emperor on our situation. If we hurry, the guards won't let us in. Try to keep moving steadily, but don't delay." Clarissa urged them up and through the large outer doors of the inner keep. She saw reason to throw her advice out the portcullis, though—all the guards were slumped and motionless on the floor. "Ware! Ware! Guards! Form on me!"

Summoning his wand out of thin air, Stanton executed a transformation that managed to keep his dress in one piece and give him all the advantages of his werewolf form—and he did it between steps as they charged into the throne room.

Within was chaos. Or, Stanton realized, Chaos. His aunt was wrestling with a group of scaled men with tails and pitchforks, and beyond those was a tall being that had tentacles hanging from its face. It gestured at Forthright and she froze in place, straining against magical bonds that seemed to coil from the floor and wrap her arms and ankles. She was still fighting, though, and bit through one of the magic tentacles with her fearsome jaws.

Stanton charged into action as, on either side of him, a pair of much larger werewolves charged into the fray. His mother and fiancée were both fast on their feet, but Stanton in his Super Lupine Girl form was far faster still. He dodged around the fishmen coming toward him, ducking under and around tridents with his ability to sense attacks coming, and circled to right behind his Aunt.

"Get the Emperor to safety!" Forthright shouted between bites. The tentacles were winning the fight with her jaws only by having never-ending reserves.

Between the command and his own sense that Emperor Daryan Justrule was indeed the least powerful person in the room, Stanton turned and grabbed at the younger man. "Excuse me, Your Imperial Majesty."

Daryan hadn't been manhandled many times in his conscious memory. He knew, distantly, that as a child he'd been tended to as children are, but when the young woman picked him up so easily into a princess carry, he felt his heart skip a beat. The fear of being attacked in his own throne room was banished and he only had eyes for the amazing, slim werewolf that even now ducked and dodged around tentacles and thrust forks. When she did a back-flip and landed perfectly, as if Daryan weighed no more than a feather, he couldn't stop himself from leaning up.

Ducking and weaving for all he was worth, Stanton stopped dead and leaned back, hauling the Emperor tight against him as he did. The beam of coherent emptiness passed through the space they'd both been a moment earlier and, with Daryan looking up at him, Stanton asked him, "Are you okay, Sire?"

Daryan was about to answer, and thank the brave Valkyrie who saved him, when he spied a second blast coming their way. Fear rose again, and he felt like fate itself was reaching out a hand to claim him—early—from his throne.

Freed from her bonds by the enemy mage focusing on Stanton and Daryan, Forthright turned to find the shortest path to the target—only to see it lining up a perfect shot on her frozen nephew. She could neither shout a warning nor reach the target in time to intercept the shot.

The room, formerly huge and vaulted, with decorated murals and painting adorning it from floor to the peak of the ceiling, was becoming a little claustrophobic. Cassandra hated having to destroy her dress, but she hoped that Stanton would feel it justified under the circumstances.

She'd gained a little of her former size back overnight, but still lacked the huge demeanor she'd had at Stanton's engagement party. Opening her mouth as the black-on-black beam of magic hurled across the room, Cassandra stretched her jaws wide and inhaled.

The laws of magic fought against Cassandra, but she held firm that she was in charge of the universe in the room and bending a beam of pure energy was not merely possible, but was absolutely the only outcome. She swallowed the magic, her form growing as the power poured into her—filling her out past the size of her previous form until she dwarfed even Clarissa, Triana, and Forthright.

"I'll be back, Super Lupine Gi—" The abhorrent mage's voice cut off when a dragon ripped it in half.

"It should be safe now, Si—" Stanton turned his head as he straightened again, looking down into Emperor Daryan Justrule's deep blue eyes for a fraction of a moment before their lips touched. He couldn't do anything but widen his own eyes in shock, unable to comprehend the social etiquette involved in telling an emperor that he was already spoken for.

The kiss was a little odd. Daryan had never contemplated the logistics of kissing a werewolf before. Stanton was a little fuzzy, but there was something special about giving his savior a kiss as a reward. When they broke apart, Daryan found himself smiling. "My lady, I must have the name of my savior."

Straightening the Emperor up and setting him on his feet, Stanton tried to think of what to say, what to do, or even how he was meant to survive the next minute. "Your Imperial Majesty Emperor Daryan Justrule," Stanton said, lowering down to do his best kneel in a dress that almost resulted in him falling flat on his face, "I am Stanton Raveel-Sharptooth."

Stanton's name triggered Daryan's recollection of events that should have been happening instead of his almost-kidnapping. Stanton, he realized, was the son of the Sharptooth werewolves and the Raveel mages, two of the most important noble families in his empire, and had been scheduled to arrive and present his fiancée, an Eyesbright scion, before the throne.

Daryan's mind wandered back to his secret paramour, Courtney Eyesbright, and without another word he reached up and thumped himself in the forehead. "Crap."

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.