Aidan and Dawn returned to the dorm after a long afternoon of training. He used the showers at the weapons training grounds before changing back to his uniform and he was almost asleep when they finished crossing the entire academy campus. Dawn considered helping him walk, but it would be unfitting for a princess. So bothersome. They went straight for his bedroom and Dawn sighed in relief once Aidan hit the pillows, without even taking his uniform off.

"It has been a long time since I've seen him so tired from training," Sora commented. Dawn hadn't even noticed her in the room, the weariness emanating from Aidan's mind affecting her. Now that he fell asleep, she was feeling only a little better as her body was also in need of rest. She perked up at the sight of the one she loved.

"Hi, Sora. How was your afternoon?" Sora frowned and crossed her arms, causing Dawn to blink in disbelief. She had her 'you are in big trouble' face on. Dawn reached with a hand to touch her but Sora just changed her gaze to track her hand. She retracted her hand immediately as if Sora had slapped it. Dawn's next line had very little confidence behind it, "Not very good, I guess. Something about what happened this morning, I'm sure."

Sora looked away and back. She always did that when she was about to say something that she knew would be unpleasant. "Are you out of your mind?" She narrowed her eyes without breaking contact. Dawn felt her heart squeeze.

She looked down and fidgeted with her fingers a little before answering. "Maybe I am. What should I do, Sora? You saw how Lumina reacted. And when I think of that piece of shit touching me, lusting after me —" The mere thought of being violated by that piece fo trash made Dawn shut up, hold her arms, and shiver, instinctively clenching her thighs and remembering that the bothersome towel was there. Worse yet, she had to change it. "I finally found something I hate more than corsets," Dawn grumbled.

She excused herself to go behind the folding screen and returned after some ruffling of cloth and the good old combo of Incinerate and Ash Suppression. She met her beastkin mate with a raised eyebrow.

"You know you can send them to be washed and reused, don't you?" Sora was suppressing a laugh. She bobbed to a side and dodged the compressed ash pellet thrown her way by a pouting princess.

Dawn rolled her eyes, "Yes, I do. It is not like I am incinerating every single one. Just most of them. And they cost less than a silver."

Sora walked around the room before settling on the bed, sitting next to the sleeping Aidan. "Can we get back to the main subject?" She asked.

Dawn stood up where she was, watching Sora caress Aidan's head, "Can we not? That guy doesn't deserve our time."

"You want to murder a Crown Prince! How do you think I am feeling right now?"

"No. Not murder. We will set a trap for him and once he is in we will make him forfeit his life. Big difference."

Sora held her head between her hands. Her tail was swaying, a sign she was sensing danger, "Please tell me it doesn't involve food or theatrical duets this time. Neither singing."

"No. No food or acting at all. Or singing. Seriously, in what deranged mind would singing princesses solve anything other than an utter lack of entertainment?"

Sora extended an arm and tapped the comforter, inviting Dawn to sit on the bed. She held the other girl's hand and locked her gaze on the princess' eyes, "Go ahead, I'm listening. What is your plan?"

Dawn explained her plan to Sora as the beastkin listened attentively, her ears twitching back and forth as the sounds of people walking in the corridor filtered into the room. While she was explaining, she kept searching Sora's eyes for any sign of approval. She finished and sighed, trying to control her nerves.

"That might work," Sora answered after thinking for a moment. She was still loathing this entire situation. "Might. Are you sure he will agree to these terms?"

"Yes, if I can bait him. I'll need your help for that," Dawn squeezed Sora's hands, and a wave of realization washed over the squirrel-kin as she heard what Dawn said next, "I need to prepare the best bait I can."

The beast-kin frown increased, "And you want me to pose as bait." Sora's statement was made with a bitter voice.

"Us. He thinks I am already his so I cannot wager myself alone. I need you. Maybe Cythrel too. I bet that pervert has a thing for young-looking girls."

Sora tapped her chest to help fight the heartburn she was feeling, "What if you lose?"

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Then I'll take the poison vial in Lumina's diary. Maybe there's enough for all of us, if not I bet I can get more. Sora, I am sure that guy will betray Yutis after he gets what he wants. Heath wants to annex the entire valley."

Sora lowered her head and closed her eyes for some moments. Her mind wandered around her knowledge of the geopolitics and economics of Heath and Yutis. When she returned, she had a wry smile, "You are right. the soil in Heath is a piece of crap. If they weren't in such a good position in the middle of the main trade route between the neighboring countries, they would be nothing. I'm in."

"That is my ambassador." Dawn reached for Sora's ears without a second thought. She leaned forward and found purchase on the other girl's lips. Just a brief peck.

"Even you, my love? I'm no ambassador, my tribe is not a country. This is just something the King invented to give me some status before these pesky nobles. Anyway, don't derail me. I find extremely aggravating how you go from a murder plot to a death pact and keep that clean face."

Sora's innocent statement forced Dawn to think. The face was not hers. It was Lumina's. Dawn looked at Aidan's sleeping figure and felt his state through their shared soul. There was zero chance of waking him up now unless she figuratively screamed through their tether. Her mind drifted around, her head suddenly hung from tiredness. She startled back awake and spoke the first thing that came to mind.

"Lumina's face is so fair it is unfair. And I'll have to see her in a mirror forever. Worse yet, Dawn is Aidan's imagination of how the Lumina he knew in his early childhood would behave if she kept that way. That is me, Sora. I'm a boy's fantasy. I'm glad I chose you though. Part of the reason I never did anything with this body was that. Deep in my mind, I reject the thought of being with Lumina. I haven't remembered what happened yet, but I know it was bad."

Dawn inched next to Sora, their faces almost touching. A sultry and mischievous grin wrapped her face and she proposed with a slurry voice, "Say, Sora. Do you still want to hear the princess beg? Because I feel like begging right now." Dawn giggled on her own.

Sora placed a finger in Dawn's forehead and pushed her away, "Stop spouting nonsense. The moon-blood is making you crazy. And you are too tired, go to sleep."

Dawn crashed on Sora's lap. "Cuddle me. Please, Ambassador Sora, I beseech you. Please cuddle and lull me to sleep."

She ran her hand through the hair of the princess, singing her to sleep.

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Dawn woke up in pain. Something was hitting her stomach.  "Wake up, sleepyhead, you'll be tardy!" Cythrel's voice rung in her ear. She opened her eyes and saw the little elf in her nightgown, straddled over her hips.

"Cythrel? It is still night. Let me sleep a little longer." Dawn mumbled and closed her eyes.

The elf pinched her head with the elbows and shook. "You have staff practice, dummy. Be glad I checked your schedule. Now wake up or I'll pound your boobs."

Dawn opened her eyes again, but was still groggy, "How did you enter my room?"

"This be not ye royal bedchambers, o vagrant princess. To think ye would shamelessly sneak into my husband's sheets during the night, such brashness."

"Since when are you married?" Dawn asked with a yawn.

Cythrel sighed but opened a broad, lovingly smile. "I might not be your wife in mind, heart or deed yet, but you are my husband only not in deed."

"Oh, really?" Dawn held the elf and was about to lift her away to make room to move into a sitting position, but she stopped as she brushed a fluffy tail.

Sora elbowed her. "Shut up and get off the bed the three of you. It is too cramped in here. I don't have any classes this morning, I'm going to sleep until lunch. Off with you."

It was the incentive to shake Dawn awake. She looked around, Sora was lying on her side. She looked on the other side, Aidan was sleeping the same way he was when he crashed yesterday. "Oh, crap."

Cythrel chortled, "Speaking of which, I was really hoping you could lend me a hand." She waved her arms around. "Or two."

"Yes, right away. Let me wake Aidan up, I'll take you there while he gets ready to go."

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 "The quarterstaff has reach, flow, adaptability. You can react faster than with a sword, hit further and feint easier. Observe. Gentlemen, if you will. Come at me."

Jameson brought three other cadets with him. All of them with training swords, they harried the old instructor as he skillfully parried and threatened to strike the three. Dawn and Aidan watched carefully as his hands adjusted themselves. The tip of the quarterstaff always a blur.

"Give me a frontal slash, slowly, " Jameson asked one of the cadets. "When you parry with your staff, only a fool would keep it still. Always think of connecting the next blow." He parried the sword and with a flick of his offhand at the lower end the staff extended forward and hit the cadet on the head.

"The quarterstaff has its disadvantages as do any weapon. First, your hands are exposed. An enemy may attack them. Second, a blunt blow won't pierce the skin. And third, you need a little more space to maneuver. If you are boxed in, let's say in a narrow dungeon corridor, you won't be able to fight properly with your staff. However, with enough room and against adversaries of a skill level inferior to yours, you can wreak havoc."

He proceeded to spar with the three cadets and bash all three students on the head in the span of seconds. Only the whirling sound of wood being swung and hitting the swords aside over the pained grunts of the cadets. Dawn stood up, gave the cadets a Healing Light spell and some words of thanks. You could see in their faces the silly smile saying 'the princess healed me,  9/10 would get another concussion'

"Thank you, gentlemen. Remember to not get into silly fights again or next time I'll treat you myself, and my healing spell is medicinal wood," The three were quick to disappear after saluting the teacher and Jameson called Aidan in. "Now, cadet Aidan, you are all mine for the next hour and a half. Stay there, your Highness. He'll need you sooner than you think."

"I'm ready, instructor Jameson." Aidan bowed and readied his own ash quarterstaff after a few warm-up moves.

Jameson had an evil grin plastered on his face, "Good, good. This is the quarterstaff. Ages ago, it was a nobleman's weapon of choice. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age. Attack me."