Cinder groaned to herself as her severed head rested in the grass. It had all been a setup and she had been too blinded by her jealousy to see it.

Rezu appeared and smiled down at them. “I am glad to see you two kiss and make up.”

“What happened?” Gwenyr’s head said, with a trembling voice.

“God magic.” Rezu said. “Don’t worry. You will be returned to normal before you go home.”

There was a sudden rush of energy and movement as Cinder’s head was pulled back on her body. She blinked as strange hands grabbed her head. She screamed and so did Gwenyr.

Karimere laughed. “Ah the sound of a head swap, I haven’t heard that in ages.”

Cinder was still controlling her own body; her head was just stuck on another. She had luckily managed to never get this punishment before.

Gwenyr was gasping for air and looked on the verge of a panic attack.

Rezu held Gwenyr’s body’s shoulders so she didn’t bolt.

Cinder realized that no one else was making an effort to actually help Gwenyr. Cinder moved her own body so Gwenyr was facing her and spoke calmly. “It will be ok. Take slow, deep breaths.”

Gwenyr tried and with soft words from Cinder she was eventually able to get herself somewhat under control.

Cinder looked around. Only Rezu remained with them.

“What…? Why…? How…?” Gwenyr couldn’t form a whole question yet.

“This is a punishment.” Cinder sighed. “Mortal mates wouldn’t normally be brought here. But it seems Karimere has decided to treat you like one of us, so you are getting to share in my punishment.”

“How long will I be like this?” Gwenyr asked.

“I don’t know.” Cinder shrugged and it was strange watching her body do that with a different head. She had seen others but the stark difference in green and red skin made the sight even more disturbing than normal. Or maybe it was because that was her body.

Rezu said, “Once I am satisfied that you two will play nice, Karimere will end this.” He pulled out the cage-box, from a strap over his shoulder. “Then you two can go back to Gwenyr’s palace and spend time getting to know each other, until your Life Eternal wakes up.”

“You want me to let a mortal carry me around in a box?!” Cinder growled.

“I see this is going to take a while.” He spawned a blanket and stretched it out. Then he spawned a large tray of raw meat and vegetables, chopped into small pieces, along with a small arcane grill. “Eat.”

“What?” Gwenyr said gesturing towards the food. But her body was backwards so it pointed the wrong way.

Rezu went to respond but Cinder cut in, “I thought you didn’t involve yourself with Mecromancer relationships! You seem pretty damned involved to me!”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Everybody is busy or recovering. Since Zagreus is out again, I have decided to help you two work your differences out. Also, Karimere ordered me. On top of that, there are some serious diplomatic issues that I need to attend to as soon as I am done with you two.” He stared her in the eyes and ordered. “So stop acting like a spoiled child, and learn to get along with your wife.”

Cinder was taken aback. He had never spoken to her like that before. She looked him over for the first time since she woke. He was hiding it well, but he looked drained. “What diplomatic issues? What happened?”

“It’s none of your concern.” He rubbed his forehead, covering his face.

“Come on Reese. You look like shit. What the hell happened?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Maybe I can help.”

He sighed and looked between her and Gwenyr, “If you want to help, then finish this. I have a million other things I have to do.”

“Ok.” Cinder nodded then turned to Gwenyr. “We can do this.”

Rezu said. “Gwenyr, close your eyes and focus on holding still while Cinder gets her body to where she wants it to sit.”

“Ok.” Gwenyr nodded.

Cinder moved her body, slowly getting the hang of it. Once she had her body on one side of the grill she closed her eyes and said, “Ok, you go.” It was hard not to react with her head telling her everything was moving but the motions eventually stopped.

“Ok.” Rezu said. “Now both of you close your eyes and slowly sit.”

There was a strange delay and echo with each movement but it almost felt like normal.

“Thank you Rezu.” Gwenyr said, “How did you know what to do?”

“I… Um…”

Cinder smiled. “Rezu and a Goddess got into a big fight. Karimere punished them by swapping their heads.”

“It wasn’t just our heads.” Rezu groaned, “It was everything. Once a week Karimere would take and swap out different parts. Arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, torso’s, whatever. Any pattern you can think of, she probably did it to us. We would have to constantly work together to relearn how to take care of each other. When Karimere got bored with that she started put things in wrong places. Swapping ‘hands and feet’ or ‘left and right’ was common. She got pretty inventive by the end. One time she even cut us in half, vertically, down the middle, that was a horrible day.”

“How long did the punishment last?” Gwenyr said.

“Twelve years.” Rezu said.

All the color drained from Gwenyr’s face.

“Just get along and that won’t happen to you. You two are confined to the challenge field and the wash rooms. I will check on you later.” He disappeared.

Cinder sat there in silence, with Gwenyr and the smell of food. The people walking by would glance over, but no one entered the field or spoke to them. A hooded figure was being escorted past them by Chosen guards when Gwenyr spoke.

“I’ve never seen so many infernals.” Gwenyr said, “And there are amazing things here I can’t even pretend to understand.”

“I’m sorry.” Cinder said.

“What?”

“I’m sorry. You are being put through this because of me. You accepted me. I could not stand the idea of you being my equal.”

“We are infernals.” Gwen shrugged, which Cinder felt.

“How can you forgive me so easily?” Cinder said,

“I saw it.” Gwenyr stared off into the distance. “I thought we were dead. I saw the column flying at me. I saw that… monster attacking Zagreus.” Gwenyr looked her in the eyes, “You faced it. You fought it. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but this god business is far beyond me. I will not yield, but I could never treat you like a second.”

Cinder didn’t know what to say. So she asked. “Why did they give us clothes?”

Gwenyr smiled. “I thought the gods knew everything.”

“I can find out just about anything but I don’t know this right now. Do you?”

“Family rules. The clothes are a sign of respect, so the fight does not leave hard feelings in a family. But if you really want to shame your opponent you can tear them off. Or at least that is what my escort explained to me.”

“Family…” Cinder said. “Are we family now?”

“It looks like it.” Gwenyr smiled. “How does this work now? I know how to be a sex slave. I know nothing of relationships, especially not whatever we have. Who else in involved?”

“Lilithana has a claim on him. She said she will split the week in half, but that was before you. Now maybe it will be two days each. We will have to talk with Lilithana.”

“Does he have any time to himself?”

Cinder felt a stab of guilt that she had not thought of that. She said. “We, um, never got that far.”

“Maybe we should wait until he is awake. It is his time too.”

“That is probably best.” Cinder nodded.

“Whatever happens I am willing to share my time with you.” Gwenyr said.

“What do you mean ‘share’?”

Gwenyr smiled. “Exactly what you think it means. I like girls too. You are cute. Since we are basically married, I would be willing to exchange marks as well.”

Cinder nodded and quickly said, “That was a good move, hitting me with your wing. Where did you learn that?”

Gwenyr took the hint graciously, “The Goddess of Death visited me soon after you put me in power. Some of your Chosen showed up and trained me in many things. That is why I was so surprised when Zagreus showed up wanting lessons from me.”

“The Chosen revere us and tend to give young gods a big head. We often have the young ones train with mortals. Though I think we skipped a few steps when we sent Zagreus directly into a queen’s quarters on his first mission.”

“It was his first mission?” Gwenyr smiled. “Another first for me.”

“I think it would be best if we tried to get past such thinking.”

“Yes. Sorry. I…” Gwenyr seemed lost for words. She looked down, “I’m getting hungry. Do you want to try to do this… um … what is this?”

“This is an arcane grill and raw food but I’ve never seen it prepared like this. Rezu is always finding strange, new customs or he could have invented this himself. I’m going to move my body now. Are you ready?”

“Ok.” Gwenyr said.

Cinder soon managed to turn the grill on. An arcane flame burned bright.

“Wow. That is amazing.” Gwenyr said.

“It’s a simple firestone and a battery crystal.”

“The ovens at the palace use fire crystals, but they are huge. Can I try cooking the food first?”

There was an urge to be first but Cinder nodded. “Yes.” Cinder focused on staying still while Gwenyr worked.

With some trial and error, along with many pieces dropped into the grill, and onto the ground, they learned that quick claws worked better than the utensils. They ate then lay down on the blanket. The warm ground felt good in the cool air.