Silence drifted between them until he said, “But that won’t happen to us, I swear.” She didn’t answer and he said with conviction, “I swear it. I swear it by The Living Goddess. On my life. On the life of my mother. That won’t happen.”

Vadde stared at the curtain. He waited for her to answer but was she worth all that? Worth his life? Worth his mother’s?

“Wife?”

“I’m here,” Vadde choked out. “I’m just a little nervous.” She was quick to add, “But I believe you.”

Heightened smell. Eating people. She cleared her throat and tried to sound casual.

“I—I hadn’t known werewolves existed.”

“Werewolves?” Wyrn scoffed. “Of course. But we ~~ are never to interact with them. Despite looking like dogs, they are incredibly disloyal.”

Teeth gritted, Vadde bit back a scream.

Wyrn started moving around again but not for long.

“I’m ready,” his voice said.

Vadde froze then turned to stare at the curtain.

Despite Wyrn’s words, he did not reveal himself.

It was almost dark when a low sigh came and then he pulled one end of the curtain aside.

Vadde’s lips parted at the sight of him.

She could understand him far better now. From the front, he looked like any man, every muscle on him well-defined. One could easily see that he was a laborer. His height matched her own, but his body was slightly slenderer.

The only thing strange were the two straps around each shoulder which held the shield steady.

Her focus prompted him to explain, “It doesn’t move while I’m in motion. Magic keeps it on me, but these belts lock the magic.”

Vadde wasn’t sure if she could—or should—but she stepped to the right and looked behind him.

It was true. He wore a shield. All the ones she’d ever seen were shallow, but this one was deep to accommodate the hump. Perhaps that was what gave him support enough to strengthen his back so that he could carry heavy loads, or even her.

And he was also right about the metal being unmoving. There was no indication it wasn’t a part of his skin at this point, it was so close.

Several black words scrawled on the shield made her curious.

“What are these markings?”

He cleared his throat and coughed out an answer. “A spell.”

It was the most unsure he’d ever sounded.

Once she faced him again, she wrestled with what to do. His hands ran up her naked body and she hugged him in kind, savoring the warm flesh against her own. The muscles of his chest and arms alone made her feel the safest she’d ever been.

And it came to her.

She’d run. She’d take a donkey and some food and, in the morning, she’d leave.

All she needed was time to make peace with it. He wouldn’t chase her—only think that she ran at the sight of him. That was enough, she decided.

It wasn’t true and she’d have no way to take it back but that was the best thing for them both. Maybe he could hate her for it. He needed his family. He needed to stay with them. They could care for him if necessary. They’d already given him an amazing gift with this shield alone. A shield that provided him support in a back that otherwise shouldn’t have any.

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Night had come by the time they parted.

Tonight, too, he had his hair in a single braid in the middle, shaved at the sides.

He was a vision.

And when his hands tightened on her waist, she knew he was ready to do what he’d set out to this night.

“Could you—could you remove the shield? I don’t think I have it in me.”

But Vadde couldn’t either.

His form didn’t matter. Not beyond the oath. So why was this man being forced to suffer such humiliation for something she no longer cared about?

So instead, she kissed him and maneuvered him to the bed where he sat and tried to pull her atop him. She resisted, kneeling as she held his knees.

“The shield—”

“To hell with the shield.” After kissing his mouth, she ran her lips to his throat past his chest and down to his throbbing member which she took into her mouth.

“Princess!”

In the last few days alone, she’d witnessed the fairies in various intimate acts; she decided to put that knowledge to good use.

At first unsteady, she found a good rhythm, going so far as to help guide his hands to her shoulders and face because he was so petrified.

He finally twitched and she took him all the way to the back of her throat one last time and stood to mount his lap.

Two strong arms gripped her waist but held her up rather than push her back.

Once she guided his wet rod to her wet slit, he pulled her to meet him.

Today felt the best yet.

And she was more active—not stiff—as she rolled her hips, which he liked especially.

His eyes closed and she felt sorry…for herself and for him.

If he hadn’t met her. If he’d perhaps visited the tournament his parents had arranged with a neighboring village official looking to marry off his daughter to their leader, he would have been happier.

Wyrn was easy to love. He was steadfast and trustworthy. And no matter his ‘true form,’ he had the biggest heart.

He would have been better off without her and she him, because then she’d have nothing to compare love to.

Their pace quickened but rather than Wyrn, it was Vadde losing herself. She shuddered once then twice before he held her firm, yanking her down onto him over and over then stopped. His hands gripped her thighs, and he reached his climax and shot into her with no end.

Even after he was spent, they made love again at her urging. When they fell into bed together side by side, she kissed him to stop any utterances that might shake her resolve.

“Princess—”

Kiss.

“Why—won’t—you—let—me—talk?”

The final kiss shut him up and, much like the fairies, Vadde allowed their foreheads to touch.

And there they remained. He finally fell asleep in time, but Vadde could find no rest.

She’d leave. It wasn’t hard. And she had some skill now. Not much know-how beyond how to kill and prepare a chicken, but that was far better than before her arrival here.

Perhaps she could find a farm somewhere.

Perhaps…she could find a new husband. A human one with no obligations. One who wouldn’t mind a cursed wife.

Perhaps she…could risk it and just die.

But why hadn’t she let him show her?

She puzzled over that for ages before finally admitting it to herself—because she was afraid.

He didn’t turn to stone in the day so that meant he was no troll but what if she couldn’t stomach it? What if she’d reject him anyway and end up without even these lovely memories?

And they were lovely.

He slept facing her, right hand lax on her waist.

In the dim candlelight, she watched his face.

But what was he?

The belt of his right shoulder drew her focus and she trembled as she traced it. Should she do this now? Without him knowing? He’d said just a moment wouldn’t hurt.

By the time she’d decided against it, she’d already loosened the buckle. Maybe one strap wouldn’t even be enough.

With the belt completely undone, it started to glow blue.

Vadde’s heavy breathing grew.

“Owww. She’s doing it,” Matax marveled, eager and thrilled. “She’s doing it! She’s actually doing it!”

And she was.

Jeze said, “That’s a shame. It was lovely watching them in the throes. I suppose that’s gone now.”

“Only if she finds a ~~! Who knows what it’ll be. Look. He shimmers.”

Jeze flew closer for a better look. “Oh?”

Vadde stilled her hands before pushing the shield back. A light filled the room, but she waited. It was still too bright, so she decided to feel inside. That would be enough.

She reached in and found…nothing.

That alarming discovery forced her eyes open. She stared against the light until she could confirm her find. There was no hump.

Something flicked her hands and she dragged it back, shuddering.

There was something inside.

Jeze floated closer. “What is this?”

“Jeze! You yavalt! Get away from there!”

“But what is it?”

She wasn’t the only one curious. The bed started to shake but Vadde ignored it and risked peering within the light.

Jeze vanished.

Matax let out a gasp. “Jeze?”

A red hand emerged from the light again, along with a scream, “Close it! You fool. What have you done! Close it!”

Her blue lover shouted, “Hang on!”

“No. It’s too late.”

The shield closed on its own and Vadde pulled her hand back when the buckle redid itself.