He regarded the park with real enthusiasm, gawking as only a tourist might, though few tourists could see what he was seeing. Instead of noting the beautiful reds and purples of the crafted scenery, and the subtle scent of moisture and decay heralding winter's embrace, his eyes were locked on the spiritual world.

There, life and death did not merely dance around one another; they waged a war for primacy. Flickers of nature spirits, weakened by age, were swarmed by hungry cold and death spirits and drained of their remaining life. Some months later, the scene would reverse, as the frozen and starving death spirits would be driven out by the next generation of life spirits.

He smirked at the brutal little microcosm, noting a more introspective sort would take some sort of personal lesson from the scene playing out. Instead, he was far more interested in the artificial magic chained through the air; magic meant to protect people from suffering at the hand of spirits and beasts the same horrors they inflicted upon each other.

Magic which redirected human spiritual energy along controlled pathways, like ditches and levies to control the flow of water, and even turned that very same spiritual energy into fuel to continue the magic that made it all possible. In effect, sensory magic was dulled to near blindness for those beings who had not trained specifically to work around it. So long as it remained stable, it would serve as protector and prison for all who embraced 'civilization'.

It was admirable, the lengths to which men would go to ensure the violence of the world could only travel in one direction where they were concerned. Though that was, again, for those more interested in navel-gazing than he.

Right now, he was less interested in men, and more interested in one specific woman which was unique in both layers of reality.

Her soft-yellow hair, natural in spite of the absurdity of such a thing, framed a round, youthful face that looked as if it had never once experienced suffering or difficulty in life. Her soul glowed with even more vigor, possessed of incredible raw potential as a psion that had received little refinement. She smiled and pointed at trees, and even made a timid attempt at touching one of the glowing blue caterpillars which were seeking a spot to cocoon themselves.

The perfect expression of a nobleborn girl who had no experience with the real world, no doubt an avid reader of things that she never experienced, written by people who themselves had never experienced what they wrote of. He was willing to bet this girl had never so much as witnessed a person die with her own eyes. All power, no skill or guile to call her own; the perfect target.

Her two companions were less unusual, but much more dangerous. The one with brown hair was middle-aged; an obvious warrior with more than a little experience perfecting what was a lackluster talent in terramancy. She was alert, capable, and protective of her young charge.

The green-haired woman was around the age of his target, from a strong nature-oriented bloodline which she had leveraged into self-augmentation. With a few more years of experience she would be truly formidable, but for now she was much like her golden-haired mistress; an easy mark. She was, however, shielded only by a passionate love he'd have to struggle to overcome, so he dismissed her as an option.

As he observed them, his mind was running through approaches. He needed a persona dangerous enough to appeal to the blonde's obvious yearning for adventure and experience, while being safe enough to slip by the others' suspicion.

He could almost hear Arishka teasing him. No doubt something about having more pride in his talents and enjoying the challenge. He'd make some snide remark about that being a human way of thinking. She'd retort with a comment about how humans also believed that knowing how prey thinks is a benefit to a hunter.

Chuckling to himself, he chose his approach. He walked through a more secluded and overgrown section of the park, adjusting his skin and flesh to suit his approach. Meanwhile, he named the girls after their hair colors: blonde, green, and brown. Brown being the difficult one; he'd have to find a way to neutralize her without being obvious that she did so.

His toasted-brown skin darkened until it was just shy of the shade of rich soil and an almost opposite color one would expect of the lazy fops of courtly life.. Of the three, two were worldly enough to think little of his coloration, while the one that mattered would find it exotic and thus desirable.

His skin swelled with water, hiding his lean muscle behind a layer of what a human eye would think was fat, while retaining enough shape that he'd appear like a bulky laborer, rather than obese and weak. Appealing to a girl long weary of the opulence of nobility, unimpressive and nonthreatening to a pair of skilled warriors whose magic-enhanced strength went far beyond what flesh alone could ever accomplish.

With his shape decided, he took a moment to reacquaint himself to the lumbering walk of a man who stood tall and confident, but lacked in pride and ego. A simple, happy, gentle giant who had earned his time off and wanted to spend it somewhere quiet and beautiful.

With his best friendly smile, he stepped out from the shadows, moving toward the three girls. He didn't make it far before pretending to blunder into the pair of overprotective guardians.

"Where do you think you're going?" The brown haired woman all but barked at him.

"Ah, apologies are in order." He stepped back, bowed his head. It was a dangerous position to be in, a flick of her wrist and he'd be enjoying the autumn chill where his head used to sit. "I was to be enjoying the trees, but your friend's great beauty was distracting me from trees and you."

A moment of confusion, as they puzzled through his heavy accent, followed by realization. Brown settled on annoyance and suspicion seemed her default state of emotion regardless. The blonde was second, a brief flash of almost bored acceptance of flattery, followed by a tinge of intrigue as she considered he different he seemed. Green was last, annoyance followed by jealous resentment.

Interesting, he thought to himself. That was an exploitable angle.

"She has enough company, as you can now see." Brown kept her eyes cold.

"Yes, you two being greatest of friends to lovely woman." He picked the words to emphasize the situation, and pretend he didn't understand the subtext of servitude while reminding them of it. "But is saying among my people that is not possible to have enough friends. All being different, all being worthy of knowing."

"I think that is a wonderful sentiment," Blonde finally spoke.

In truth, he couldn't even imagine someone believing such tripe, but it resonated with Blonde while annoying Brown; both moved him closer to his goal.

"We've been over this, Nes." Green's voice dripped with a long-growing frustration. "He's trying to worm his way into your bed."

He could sense that part of Green burned that it was never her that was the subject of these sorts of attentions, but she seethed that the one person she yearned for more than anything was out of her reach.

"Come on, Fee," Blonde said with weary sigh. "There's no need to be so suspicious, he's just being friendly."

His fake smile felt a little more genuine for a moment; the wedges had been formed, now he could take advantage of them, but first he had to disavow the target of her developing need to defend him. It had its benefits, but she was the damsel in her fantasies, not the knight.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"I do not wish being contrary, but your protective friend has the truth of it." Stunned silence from the thoughts of the duo, as he settled their argument in a way neither of them could ever have anticipated. It hadn't solved the issue of Brown, but he had determined her default emotion was paranoia, so there was nothing he could do to get through or around her.

"I... did not expect you to say such a thing." Blonde now held a controlled, almost hostile, tone and mindset. More than that, she was now reaching out at him with her natural psychic potential. Perfect.

"I am suspecting they do things differently here, yes?" A moment of hesitation; like all ladies, she must have had diplomatic instructions, enough to accept that other cultures had other methods. He gestured at his skin, and with it invited Blonde to consider his features and how they appealed to him. "I am coming from far away, being unfamiliar with your way of doing."

"Then perhaps you misunderstood what Fee meant?"

"No, I am believing that 'bed' meaning is clear." She had offered an interesting out, and for another girl it might even have been the ideal approach, but this one found being his bold contradiction desirable, even if she wasn't aware of that impulse in herself. "Our way of doing is to speak and learn of the other, then decide if there is liking. With future learning might blossoming romance and marriage, and sharing of bed. Is this not your way?"

It wasn't, not among nobility like Blonde, and they were all pretending they didn't know it. Green crossed her arms. "No, it's about the same. You're just terrible at it."

Perfect. "Thank you."

Irritation bowed to surprise once again. Blonde found her footing faster this time- no doubt her natural mind magic letting her adapt to his tactic. "I admit, not the response I expected."

He gave a happy laugh. "As I am thinking, skill is needing practice." Or the right magic to let you cheat. He had plenty of both on his side. "Lacking practice is being proof of honesty. Is those with skill in twisting words one must watch." Let nobody say I didn't give them fair warning.

The bitterness off of all three was tangible, but Blonde the most. "I must admit, I like your way of thinking."

Of course you do, every word of it is everything you've ever wanted to hear.

"Be that as it may," Brown cut in. "We're leaving. Now."

Blonde opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off by the older woman's glare. "-Very well." She looked at him. "Please, accept my apologies."

"No apologies being necessary." He kept his false cheer up, powerful enough to hide from the immature probing of Blonde's power on his surface emotions. "I am thinking you having good reasons. My people saying all things having good reasons, and if reason being good enough, fate will be finding ways."

"You have a lovely culture," Blonde said as she began walking past, to join her guards. "I'd like to hear more of it some day."

"Yes, some day being... lovely..." he took the opportunity to use a deeper tone with the last word, evoking a more seductive tone than his usual cheerful voice. Just enough to play on that more animal desire this poor, sheltered, child had not yet learned she could be a master of rather than a slave to.

"R-right." She ran off, a whirl of half-comprehended desires.

He sat down under a tree, pretended to watch the skies for a moment, then closed his eyes and began playing with the defensive magical structures. He could siphon a little power off them to bolster his own strength, but doing so came with numerous risks. Not worth taking a chance on if it could be avoided. However, if instead of siphoning, he could imagine a lopsided boost creating a slow collapse...

Several hours later, he pretended a voice shook him from his meditation. "G-greetings."

He smiled up at her. "Ah, I am not expecting seeing your beauty again so soon."

"I wasn't expecting to, either, but," she looked over her shoulder. "I had to get away, if only for a little while."

Stupid, stupid child. "I am thinking everyone is knowing such feelings, from time to time." He climbed to his feet, quite a bit taller than her. "Shall we be talking of culture, now? Perhaps walking to making head clear?"

She swallowed. "Yes, I'd like that."

"For starters, I am being from far in the occident, near a great ocean that I am not seeing on your maps..."

They walked, talked, for an hour, and with every step he led her further from familiarity and safety, while drawing her ever closer to doing what her body was screaming for, rather than listening to her more rational mind. Soon, he had her holding his arm, laughing and smiling just because he looked at her.

Meanwhile, the way her psychic abilities probing at his mind escalated to the point where they would have been considered almost as obscene as what he planned to do to her.

In the end, he managed to lead the naive girl to his temporary abode without her once questioning the path they were on. He leaned in and gave her what he was certain was her first kiss, which she returned it with the wanton abandon that only a young adult with no experience could.

"Would you be liking to come in?" He asked. So close to being able to drop this stupid accent.

She hesitated for one moment, then another. "I... I really shouldn't be..."

He'd have been more worried and less annoyed if this wasn't such a common occurrence with the young ones. "There is being no problem," he lied. "You are being free to making your own choices, I am seeing you tomorrow, and after. You are being ready when time is right, is the nature of things."

Now she hesitated for another reason, thinking about how untrue that statement was, though not in the same way as her tall and dark partner. Her mind cycled back to what would happen when she returned to the estate- sneaking out had been hard enough, there was no chance she could get back in without being caught. If indeed they hadn't already realized she was gone.

She would never see him again no matter the other consequences, though she couldn't bear to tell him such. She also had no way of knowing how to find her way back, so she'd need to ask his help. And she could feel his longing and the disappointment he was trying to hard to hide.

She took a breath, then made herself smile again. "On second thought, I think coming in is sounding nice."

He led her in, closed the door, then began to kiss her neck while leading her further away from the last possibility of salvation. She stopped him one last time. "Sorry, I just realized... I forgot to... My name is Nesare. We almost, without even, how silly would that be?"

"Is not so silly as you are believing." If anything, he found it remarkable how many times names were forgotten entirely, which he preferred if only to help keep things he had to remember to a minimum. "I am being Empel."

"Empel. It's a nice name." She laughed a little as she surrendered herself to his ministrations. So distracted she was by sensation that she didn't even notice when wings unfurled in the darkness of the room.

Her nervousness laughter turned to giggles.

Giggles turned to moans.

Moans to gasps.

Gasps. Screams.

Silence.