I stay with the elven soldiers, breaking down all that I heard between Veronna and Ayla. The squad leader orders his soldiers to publicly set Veronaa’s corpse on fire for her treachery against her people. For Ayla, he wants to give her a proper burial in full military honors. I bet it’ll be a grand spectacle to witness, but I don’t know if I want to attend something that’ll depress me.

Meaningless death. Such a sad time I’m living in.

I slither away from soldiers to look for Ulrika in the woods.

“Ulrika! Ulrika, where are you!” I shout, using my hands to increase my voice.

“Kaioson,” Ulrika responds, stretching out the O letter in my name. She emerges from behind a thick tree covered in moss. I jog over to her and into her embracing hug. “Are you okay? You’ve got blood on your hands.”

“I’m fine. It’s not mine.” Out of nowhere, Jesse’s gargling-like snore breaks the happy reunion moment with her. “He’s still out cold?”

“Such a fragile man. Don’t mind him, what happened back there?”

“Ayla succumbed to her wound right before taking Veronna’s life.”

“What was her reason for all this mess?”

“Him,” I answer, pointing to the side of my head. “She was madly in love with Jesse. She made a deal with the devil to ensure they’d live in solitude together while the world burns.”

“Unbelievable.” She crosses her arms, giving Jesse a stern stare.

“I’ve seen desire make a person do crazy things, but this is insane.”

“Let’s,” she pauses, lifting Jesse over her shoulder, “go turn this asshole in. I’m pissed right now.”

We hike back to our horses then Ulrika uses the ring to open a portal back to the Agency building. Vaeril comes down the steps to handle our horses.

“Take them to the stables,” Ulrika says.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replies. I follow behind her while looking at the blood on my hands. My mind starts drawing parallels to the little boy’s blood from Thaa Alora. I shake my head and blink hard to try to wipe that memory from my mind.

“Haleema,” Ulrika shouts.

“Greetings, Ulrika. Who’s that behind you?” Haleema says.

“Huh?” I look up to see who she’s seeing, but I’m the only one behind Ulrika. I wave hello. Her eyes bulge, then she comes down to me in a hurry.

“Oh my goodness! Your hands!”

“This isn’t mine,” I say.

“Who is it?”

“A guardswoman of Thaa Alora named Ayla. She died by betrayal, right before killing the person who did it.” Ulrika scrunches up her face while shaking her head left to right. I sigh and look down at my bloody hands. Once again, my mind reminds me of the little boy.

“Hey,” Ulrika says in a quiet voice, gently holding me by my forearms. “Are you okay?”

“I need to get this off of me and go relax.”

“We have bathhouses here you can be at peace in and showers to wash the blood away. I’ll show you where they are after I process Jesse.”

“Great,” I say with some excitement.

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

Before I can enter the room to the bathhouse, I clean off the blood from my hands. There’s an isolated shower room before entering the central area. Just by the volume of voices, there must be lots of people bathing here. When I open the shower door, a naked woman walks by me.

Wait? Did Haleema put me in the female rooms?

When I peek out to see where that woman went, another woman accompanied by a man walks past me. Then another woman comes but pauses to look at me. She puts her right hand on her hip and examines my body.

“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen muscle like that on a man. Wanna accompany me to the pools, my lord?”

“Back off from my husband,” Ulrika says, shoving her forward. “And keep your eyes off of him.” Ulrika’s naked too.

“You’re bathing too?” I say.

“We all are.”

“We?” I step out of the shower to see what she’s talking about. “Haleema?”

“I’ve been dying for some relaxation too,” Haleema says. My face warms up when I glance at her body and the size of her breasts.

Hayden was right. They’re truly big.

Haleema is a shapely chubby woman with a round stomach with small love handles. Her stomach barely bulges from her body. The uppermost part of her thighs rests against each other. She’s clean from having any type of hair on her arms, legs, or even pubic hair. When I take a second glance at the stomach region, I notice that the scar on the side of her abdomen is gone.

“When did you get that removed?” I say, rubbing two fingers on where the mark used to be. Her skin is damp yet smooth to the touch. I can feel there’s a layer of fat missing under the small divot my middle finger is going over.

“Yesterday I visited Ulrika’s brother, Kendrik,” Haleema says.

“The plant worked?”

“Yeah!” She pushes her left breast out of the way and pinches her waist to get a good look at it. “I’m so happy to see it gone.” Her hand drops away from holding her breast. It jiggles, but at that moment, I’m hypnotized by it.

“Kaio,” Ulrika whispers. She’s facing forward, but her eyes are locked on me. Her cheeks are blushing a faded pink.

“I’m sorry,” Haleema says, hiding her breasts with her arms.

“It’s not your fault that you look so alluring. I don’t want my husband’s eyes to wander at every woman in this room.” I chuckle at how enforceable Ulrika is right now.

“I’ll try not to,” I jest, pushing Ulrika forward by her ass. She whips around, pointing at my chest. Her face is even redder than before.

“Eyes on me.”

“You’re so cute when you blush.” She squints, tightening her lips, but I can see it breaking into a smile.

“Guys, I know a good spot I go to where people usually don’t sit in,” Haleema says.

I follow her to the middle of the bathhouse. It’s split into three rectangular pools with several circular mini-pools. The room is foggy and humid, and most of the architecture is made of polished light-colored infused stones. Above us, the window ceiling lets the sunlight in to illuminate the whole room.

“Over here,” Haleema says. She sits in one of the circular pools that’s within the rectangle, then rests her arms on the rim. “The Paladins here typically hang around the far side where there are more pools.”

“How’s the water?” Ulrika says.

“Cozy, you could sleep in it.” Ulrika jumps in, splashing water on Haleema’s face and my legs. Haleema bursts out laughing, and so does Ulrika. I join in, sitting away from them.

“This feels great,” I say, resting my arms on the rim and leaning my head back with my eyes closed. I immerse myself in the calm warmth of the water.

“So, Haleema,” Ulrika says.

“Hmm?” Haleema responds.

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

“I want to apologize for my behavior when we worked together and saying goodbye.”

“It’s okay. You’re in the right to have such disgust and avoidance towards me.”

“No. It’s not right. I didn’t realize the problems you had to deal with because of your passion for ending this problem. If I’d known, I wouldn’t act so negatively at you.”

“What’s done is done. I’ve accepted what I’ve done to you two, and I’ll try to limit myself from the both of you.” They go silent. I peek one eye to see what they’re doing. They’re frowning. Haleema looks down through the water at her feet while Ulrika looks at her.

“Ladies,” I say.

“Yes?” They say together.

“Let’s not dwell in silence and enjoy this relaxing water together.” To initiate some fun, I splash water on Haleema’s face.

“Kaioson,” Haleema gasps. She splashes water at me, but I blast it back at her by flicking my finger. Ulrika explodes with laughter while holding her stomach. I throw enough water in her face that it soaks her hair.

“Ah,” Ulrika yells in a gasp that’s backed with laughter. We all splash so much water at each other that the water in the pool starts waving out.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I say, sitting near Haleema. Ulrika looks like she’s about to throw water on me again by pushing waves at me. I wag my finger then suddenly, the water in the center of the pool jumps into my face. Haleema giggles in a snickering muffle.

“Gotcha,” Haleema says. I open my eyes to look at her. She grins and continues to giggle. She swirls up a sphere of water from the middle of the pool, then splashes it in her face with her left hand.

“Why’d you do that?” I ask, laughing.

“So you won’t seek revenge on me,” she answers, laughing with me. “Are you satisfied?”

“I am.”

“I’m not!” Ulrika says, throwing a massive amount of water at me. In the cover of the attack, she sits on my right thigh and whispers, “Now I am.” She kisses me a few times, then holds me with her face snuggled on my neck.

“Uhh, There’s a secluded spot over there you guys can spend some time in,” Haleema says, pointing at an opening towards the right corner of the rectangular pool. Most of the bathers are in small pools or hanging around the walls.

“Oh...so,” I say, looking at Ulrika.

“Yes,” Ulrika says, heading over to the spot. I stare at her backside, admiring the shape of her body, muscles, and shapely ass.

“She’s a beautiful woman,” Haleema says. Ulrika glances over her right shoulder, smiling, waving for me to come.

“By the almighty heavens above, yes,” I reply, sitting up out of the pool.

“Um, Kaio.”

“Yes?” I quickly turn my head to Haleema. She slightly moves her head back as if something surprised her.

“Uh...um. Have fun, but don’t take it far, if you know what I mean. We got rules here.” She bites the corner of her lip and nudges my upper arm with her elbow. “See you around?”

“I think I’ll linger here for a time before taking another contract. Are you staying here?”

“For a bit, then I’ll go check on Jesse and see why he was with Nite.”

“I want to know that too.”

“Come find me later before you leave.”

“Alright. See you later.”

“Later, Kaioson.” I chase after Ulrika, excited to start some intimate time with her. She’s giving me a pouty look with her fists resting on her hips.

“Why are you giving me that look?”

“Did you have your fill of examining her body?” She says, standing close to me. I scoff, thinking she’s joking, then she gets in my face. Her nose rests on my nose as she puts her forehead on mine. “Is that a no?”

Oh wow. She’s serious.

“Settle down, Ulrika.” She backs away from my face yet remains close to intimidate me. “When did I look? I thought I stopped after you told me.”

“When you were talking after I left. You glanced several times.” I go through my memory, trying to recall every detail of where I looked when I was talking to Haleema. There are a few instances I did look at, but they are not driven by lewdful desires.

“Ulrika.” She pushes her mouth forward and tightens it. Her eyebrows come down into her eyes, then she softly growls. “You’re right. I did, but it wasn’t because I wanted to look. I don’t stare at people when I talk. My eyes move around... Do you stare the whole time when we talk?”

“No,” she responds, glancing at the water between us. “But, try not to peek at the women around you.” I chuckle at the order yet love the discreteness she’s asking of me.

“Well then. I must do better and show my wife more respect.”

I bring her left knee near my waist to entice her to wrap her legs around my lower back. She does just that and puts her arms behind my neck as I squat in the water. I look up at her, but she’s looking off to her right. Her mild frown and soft eyes tell me she’s thinking of something that could be troublesome.

“I know that face. What is on your mind?” I say.

“Gods, did I just act clingy?”

“Not at all. If there’s something you don’t like, call me out on it.”

“Kaioson, I don’t want to become a bitchy asshole to you. I’ve done this before in my past relationships.” She air quotes the word relationships.

“It’s fine.” She puckers her lips while shaking her head. “What?” Her arms move off from my shoulders, then she gently cups my cheeks. I stare into her eyes as they dart all over my face.

“You’re so adorable, but you need to correct me when I go off. Kaio, I’m a jealous, overprotective, insecure, and demanding woman. These are my terrible qualities that need to be in check.” I acknowledge her statement by nodding my head. “I aspire to be your perfect wife during this horrific time, but now I’m thinking about it, I’m failing at it.”

“No... no...” She slaps her forehead with her palm, ducking her head down.

“Fuck! After what I almost did to the last cultist in the forest and nagging you not to look at Haleema or other women, I must be pissing you off.”

“Ulrika, look at me.” She looks through the slits of her hands. I move her hand away from her face, then kiss her on the lips. “You’re not. What happened in the forest, I understand. There’ll be times when I’m enraged, and I’ll need you to settle me down. Lastly, with the naked women roundabout...”

“Yeah..?”

“It won’t make me mad or annoy me if you’re telling me not to look. I shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Her mouth opens slightly with a hint of a smile behind it. “I aspire to be your perfect husband too, so if I need to change, I’ll change.” She grins, shaking her head again with little giggling, then comes to my lips for slow kissing. I match her libido, not giving a single damn if anyone is looking at us. She puts her tongue in my mouth, massages it on my tongue for a few seconds as we kiss, then breaks away from my face with her tongue sticking out.

“Whoa,” I say, stunned by what just happened.

“Kaioson... you’re a godsend.” I’m surprised, speechless, yet beyond happy hearing her see me as one. “Let’s hang around here for a time, yeah? I’m not too eager to head back hunting Nite or bounties at the moment.”

“Me neither,” I respond,” holding her tight.

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

After spending some quality time with Ulrika, I walk back to my dressing room. Our intimate yet heavily controlled time lingers as we walk holding hands. She’s leading me back while giving every woman who walks by us a deep look. I love witnessing her so protective of me. Her loyalty is perfect.

She lets go of my hand to open the door for me. I walk past her, then immediately head over to the magically sealed chest where my clothes are.

“I’m going to see if Haleema got any information out of Jesse,” I say, picking up my underwear. Ulrika’s wet hands come crawling around my lower stomach and chest.

“Back to business, eh?” Ulrika says, slowly moving her right hand down to my crotch.

“Yup.” Her hand comes back up.

She nibbles on my shoulder and says in a body-chilling whisper, “Damn. I was so ready for a quickie.” I respect her for maintaining my job rule, but I’m kinda tempted to do it right here.

“Uh, maybe.”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to peer pressure you into breaking the rule.” I’m glad she’s choosing to uphold my decree. “Hey, I wonder if Jesse sought the same goal as his lover.”

“Deranged lover.”

“Love is powerful, my love.” As I’m clothing myself, I hear her faintly laugh.

“What’s funny?”

“I was thinking about the stupid stuff I would do for you in the name of love.” I freeze in mid-buttoning my shirt. She continues to quietly laugh then lets out a long-winded sigh.

“How far will you go for me?”

“Do you wish to know the lines I’d cross for you?” Just by the seriousness in her voice, I’m concerned they might be too far.

“I’m kinda afraid to know them.”

“Don’t be afraid,” she says in a lighter voice. “I’m...I... I’m gonna put my clothes on. I’ll find you later.”

“Wait.” I make her freeze in mid-turn to the door. “I wanna continue walking with you.” Once I fully dress, we extend our stroll out of the bathrooms. After letting her go, I set out to find Haleema. To avoid wasting time, I ask random people where the interrogation rooms are.

“Right of the entrance,” a man says. I scan over the crowd and spot Haleema’s red hair. I lock onto it as I walk through the people over to her. She doesn’t see me coming, so I use it to my advantage for a surprise.

“Boo!” She looks up at me without even flinching or jumping.

“Was that supposed to scare me?” She says with a smile. “Where’s Ulrika?”

“Getting dressed. She’ll join us later. So, have you talked to him?”

“Mhmm,” she hums, crossing her arms. “He just dropped the motherload of information we needed.”

“What did he say?”

“There was a man that you spared from the botched attack. Jesse said that guy wanted out and blurted to the cultist, saying he couldn’t force himself to be a part of the worldwide attack in three days.”

“Three days?”

“That’s correct. Jesse said the man went into a panic, mouthing the time, places of attack, his morals, before getting decapitated.”

“I guess there might be a shred of hope for some of these people. What was Jesse’s purpose in this?” She rolls her eyes then scoffs.

“He joined them to find an opportunity to break out. His lover knew he would be on the run, so she thought siding with Nite would make it where he wouldn’t have to run anymore.” I gasp when I immediately see the full picture of their plan.

“If the world fell into their hands, he’d be free from all the things he’s done.”

“Mhmm! Great job in stopping Nite. That town can finally heal, knowing Nite is gone.” One detail that my mind is still lingering on is Jesse’s relationship with Veronna.

“How’s he holding up with the death of his lover?”

“You won’t believe this. He said that he doesn’t care.” I’m loss for words, yet not surprised. According to the previous and recent bounty description, one trait of Jesse is that he is very manipulative.

“Tisk, tisk. Well, I’m glad that’s over with.”

“Again, nice work, Kaioson!” Haleema interlocks her fingers together over her chest. “I’m so happy I could kiss you! This is a huge win for us!” Her excitement slowly dies down as her smile droops a bit. “Um, would you like a kiss?” I don’t want to say no to a kind gesture, but this would be the second time she’s kissed me.

“I’ll take a hug,” I say, opening my arms out.

“Sure! I don’t know why I asked that. We’re partners. Partners don’t kiss each other.” She hugs me tight, rubbing my back.

“You must be thrilled.”

“Yeah... yeah, that’s exactly it,” she says in a tender voice. “I’m gonna take Jesse back to Thaa Alora.” She slowly walks backward down the hallway. “See you around, Kaio.” As soon as she turns around, Ulrika shouts my name from afar. She jogs over to me, dodging people and telling them to move out of her way.

“What timing,” I murmur to myself.

“What did you say?” Ulrika asks.

“Just talking to myself.” I look back down the hallway thinking about Haleema’s interrogation success and the window we all have before Nite’s attack. “It’s time to go hard on our training.”

“Oh?”

“We have three days before the attack.”