Mordai pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He does his best to fight off the impending stress headache, but it is a futile struggle. He heaves a heavy sigh and opens his eyes. Time to try and reason with the stubborn beastkin who played a major part in starting this drama, again.

“Honey, you need to apologize for taking advantage of Snowflake during his Source withdrawal,” he says, doing his best to be patient and diplomatic. Despite being a perverted former urchin, Mordai is still the chosen vessel of the god of Justice. When presented with an unjust situation, he cannot help but try to remedy it, even though his god doesn’t exist in this world.

“I know taking that Greater Lion as your familiar was very important to you, but the way you went about it is not fair to Snowflake. Especially because it made Quinn mad at him. The poor bastard keeps making it worse, but right now I think you can help turn the situation around.” Mordai continues to reason with the badger who lays sprawled against her ill-gotten goods.

‘At least she has the decency to look guilty about it,’ Mordai thinks, as he observes her changes in expressions.

“I am not an object for you to discuss who I belong to,” the lion states, its tone haughty and proud.

“Shut up,” Honey and Mordai respond in sync.

The lion looks shocked that anyone would speak to him like that, but a sharp elbow in the ribs from Honey keeps him from protesting. He lays his head down on his paws, looking deflated. Even his mane seems to droop.

“Look,” Honey begins. “I don’t think I did anything wrong. Snowflake owes me! I’ve done so much to get him up to speed, despite him being useless when he got here. I deserve this.”

‘I’m not arguing that!” Mordai says, his frustration catching up with him. “I just… Okay. Let me put it this way. What’s done is done, but you need to at least clear things up with Quinn. I know you like to watch Snowflake flounder, but Quinn might be the only person who can save him from her husband. Do you want your stubbornness to be the reason your supposed ‘friend’ gets tortured to death?”

“That’s not fair!” Honey exclaims. “You can’t put that on me! I warned him to not get involved with her. It isn’t my fault!”

“Fault isn’t the issue here,” Mordai rubs his temples, trying to relieve some of the pressure. “It’s about doing the right thing, you know? I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal out of it. It’s just an apology. A string of words. Hell, there is even a formula for it.”

“I don’t like to apologize if I’m not wrong,” Honey protests.

“You are wrong!” Mordai growls. “You know what, fine. I’m going to go talk to Snowflake. You just stay here and be a selfish piece of shit.”

“Wait,” Honey holds up a hand as Mordai turns to leave. “I’ll go talk to Quinn, but not because of what you said. I’m doing it because as the leader of this party I need to make sure everyone gets along.”

“You know what Honey? Do whatever makes you feel better, for whatever reason you think is best,” Mordai turns on his heel and storms off toward Snowflake.

Mordai knows, deep down, that Honey means well. They’ve known each other for a long time, and they’ve gotten into these kinds of fights before. In a day or two, once she cools down, Honey will apologize for being a dick. Honey is just the type who always pushes back, even when she is wrong. Mordai, finds his to be 'fucking annoying.'

Mordai sidles up next to Snowflake, who is watching his new familiar devour corpses. He lays a friendly hand on the pointy eared man's shoulder. They stand there, watching the fascinating feedings. The slime-thing's rib cage splits apart to swallow corpses whole. It is like watching them being thrown into acid, the way they desolve from the outside in. However, Mordai's mind is not on the feeding.

‘This poor naïve bastard will keep making things worse unless someone tells him how to understand upset women,’ Mordai thinks, trying to arrange his thoughts.

***

“Hey, we need to talk,” Mordai says after standing next to me for a while.

“Sure, what’s up,” I respond, pushing down the irritation I feel at being told I NEED to do anything.

“Well, it’s about Quinn,” Mordai says, trailing off. I wait for him to continue. He approached me, so obviously, he something to say.

“Well,” he says after a pause. “Um, do you understand why she is upset?”

I think about it for a minute, recalling my previous conversation with her.

“She said it was because of my new familiar and Honey’s new familiar,” I reply.

“But do you know WHY that upsets her?” Mordai continues to push.

That’s a good question, actually. My new racial ability allows me to manipulate emotions, but it would be better if I knew what caused the emotions. I mean, I can literally see that Quinn is angry, but I have no idea why beyond what she told me. Let's see… She called Kandra a slut and is mad that I gave Honey a gift. Factoring that in, I would say jealousy.

“Is it because she is jealous?” I ask Mordai.

“That could be part of it, but why would she be jealous?” He continues to pester me with questions. I feel like he is trying to lead me to a specific answer. I don’t like it.

“Spit it out,” I growl. “I don’t have the inclination to play guessing games with you.”

“Hey, no need to get worked up,” he says in soothing tones. “She is probably upset because she is afraid of losing you. She needs to know she is special to you, you know? You have a sexy new familiar, and it seems like you gave a gift to Honey, who is a very attractive and capable woman. She is probably worried you are going to replace her, or something.”

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“Hmmm,” the logic makes sense to me. Honestly, it is so simple I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. I guess I’ve never had this problem before? All my previous relationships were purely physical and casual. 

“Actually, I have a question," I say. "I don’t really remember gifting that Floor Master to Honey. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was planning on using it as a foundation to build an army. What happened?”

“Yeah, um, I think you should talk to Honey about that,” Mordai glances off to the side, a guilty look on his face. I raise his openness by the smallest of margins and ask again.

“Are you sure you can’t tell me?” I ask, watching the struggle on his face. From the way the lime green of acceptance stays combined with the other colors of his emotions, I deuce he didn’t feel me play with his emotions. Less is more, I guess.

“Honey, uh. Well, she asked you to give the lion to her when you were in a state of Source withdrawal,” he says sheepishly. “You were pretty out of it and... Yeah. I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm. She was just really excited about having a worthy opponent as a familiar, you know? I’m not sure how much you know about Honey’s history, but she has looked out for herself in a cruel situation her whole life. I think that having a completely loyal and dependable companion is something she has craved for a long time.”

“I see, I see,” I tap my claws against my chin. “After all she has done for me, I suppose that would make us even. No debt in either direction.”

I breathe a heavy sigh. Relationships are complicated.

Was it fair of Honey to take advantage of me like that? No.

Do I understand why she did it? Yes.

Do I forgive her? Maybe.

I mean, I just manipulated Mordai’s emotions for my own personal gain. Honey didn’t do anything different. But, I suppose I should consider putting a limit on who I am willing to manipulate. I need to surround myself with a core group of people who are loyal to me. If I’m ever not around to keep their emotions in check, they should still not want to betray me.

I think Mordai and Quinn fit the mold. Mordai because he wants to do the right thing and Quinn because I think she loves me. Hell, I think I might even love her. But what about Honey? I think… Hmmm. Honey has done a lot for me. Honey has put in blood, sweat, and tears to make me strong enough to survive.

I’ll chalk this up as a momentary lapse in judgement. I believe Honey values her relationship with me, but perhaps she is afraid of that? Like Quinn is supposedly afraid of losing me, maybe Honey is as well?

“Mordai,” I ask. “Do you think Honey acts out because she is afraid of getting close to people and then losing them?”

A large streak of light blue springs to life around him, indicating surprise. The blue darkens and shifts into the green of admiration. Without him even speaking, I’ve learned all I need to know.

***

I sneak up behind Quinn who is furiously practicing her sword forms. Her defined midriff glistens with sweat as she hacks and slashes as invisible enemies. No… wait… Yup, she is generating illusions of me and then killing them. That’s one way to vent, I guess.

Like Nevasca stalking her prey, I creep up behind Quinn. Crouching low, I stay in her blind spot. I freeze the ground in the area, then melt it, causing a mist to rise in the area. The mist muffles the sound of my movements and provides me cover. It takes Quinn a few seconds to notice the mist, but by then it is too late. I surge forward, wrapping my arms around her waist. My teeth grasp the base of neck and nibble, but not hard enough to break skin.

She struggles to free herself from my grasp, but I hold tightly to my own wrists. She squirms, her firm but elastic butt rubbing against me in a very suggestive way.

“Stop! Stop!” She shouts, between helpless laughter. “I’m mad at you! You’re not allowed to tickle me!”

I stop nibbling at her sensitive neck, but I don’t let go of her. She continues to struggle as I lay my chin on her shoulder and talk into her ear.

“Quinn, I’m sorry that I upset you,” I say in a serious and contrite voice. “Mordai helped me understand what I did wrong, and I see it now. You know I love you, right? I took a while to see it, but I believe I love you. We’ve been through a lot together and I would never trade you for anyone else.”

Her struggles come to a stop as she listens to what I am saying.

“I can’t promise that something like this will never happen again,” I admit. “I’m not the most thoughtful guy around, and I make a lot of mistakes. All I can promise is that I love you and every time I mess up, I’ll try to make things right.”

Her sword clatters to the ground and her hand comes up to caress my face.

“Let me go,” she says. Reluctantly, I loosen my grasp. She spins in my arms, hitting me in the face with her wings. I reel from the blow off balance, but she catches me by grabbing my face in both her hands. She pushes her lips against mine, kissing me with a hungry vigor.

I wrap my arms around her again, getting her as close to me as possible. Our bodies meld and twine in a passionate embrace, our lips and tongues dance together. I want to pull her even closer. If it was possible, I would pull her body all the way in to mine. The desire to do so burns an itching desire up and down my body.

“Honey came and talked to me,” she says breathlessly, pulling her lips away from mine. She darts back in to plant a few more kisses on my face. “And I forgive you. I’m sorry for getting so worked up about it.”

Her lips move down from mine, to tickle the underside of my jaw. Her hands wander my body in a more than suggestive fashion.

“Can you make us an igloo or something?” She pants. “I don’t mind being a bit of an exhibitionist, but this is an important moment.”

“Mmmm,” I moan, my hand gripping her ass and pulling up, manipulating her delicious body. “For you, anything.”

A dome of ice forms around us. I draw in energy from the outside to keep the inside a comfortable temperature. Comfortable enough that neither of us need clothes to feel warm.

Her hand slides into my pants, stroking me up and down rhythmically with a twisting motion. Her top unravels in my hands, releasing her perky breasts from their suffocating cage. My hands tease and pull at her pink nipples, eliciting moans from her plump lips.

“I want you to show me how sorry you are,” she breathes as she pushes down on the top of my head. My hands slide down her long, shapely legs, relieving her of her pants.

I smile up at her mischievously and grab on to her wrists. From underneath my hands, shackles of ice form. With a thought, I attack them to chains I create from the ceiling of the dome. Her hands suspended above her head, I spread her ankles and show her how sorry I am.

***

“You can either sign this contract, or I can keep you as a mindless slave,” I tell the hobgoblin Floor Master, holding out the soul contract Quinn helped me write up.

“I’d rather die than to serve you!” The hobgoblin spits.

“I mean, yeah. That’s why it isn’t an option? Sign the damn thing. You’ll be able to be here in the Dungeon like you were. The only difference is that you’ll be focusing on training your horde into an army,” I try to explain, but it is like talking to a brick wall. “You know what, I’m just going to make you do it.”

I pull at the two different shades of green that indicate trust and fear in the hobgoblin. The combination forces him into an emotional state of submission.

“Sign it,” I growl. Helpless against the suddenness of my mental attack, he does as he is told.

“How about you, big guy?” I address the re spawned chimera. Dying had washed away Legion’s influence, but we kept it distracted and off balance long enough for Legion to repossess it.

“We will sign it,” the goat-head spokesperson tells me. “Your only wish is that we raise a powerful army devoted to you, correct?”

“Correct,” I grin. “I will get ahold of some books on training and tactics for you two, but until then I want you to focus on raising the combat potential of each individual in your care.”

With the contracts signed, ensuring their loyalty, we leave the conquered Floor masters to do my bidding. At the end of the tenth floor there are two staircases. One leads up, to the next level of the Dungeon. The other leads out.

After a chaotic first adventure in this Dungeon, I am excited to relax with a book. I need to unwind before I get into my next life and death situation.