What am I still doing here? Tonight marks the end of the Kromagians’ yearly fast. Outside these walls, under a crescent-waning moon, the world is burning under Nite’s terror behind these protected walls. I’m getting too comfortable with the security of my country. Days here continue like they don’t remember the invasion force Ivaran tried to pull off. The soldiers remain on high alert, but their patrols have dwindled over the days. Groups of five are down to two now. I trust the guardians to hold the line, but seeing fewer soldiers doesn’t make me feel better about everyone’s security. Maybe whoever is giving out the orders knows something about what’s going on out there. Whatever the case is, I eventually need to get my ear outside this safe bubble I live in.
The door to my room opens and closes behind me. I quietly close the drawers in front of me to hide the two of Ulrika’s gifts and check over my shoulder to find her white shirt damped to the point I can see through it somewhat. She plops on the bed and lets out a long-winded sigh before waving hello with her fingers.
“What happened to you?” I ask, moving to the center of the room to look less suspicious but focusing her attention on me to keep her surprise hidden until tomorrow.
“Boys happened,” Ulrika says, sliding her sword against the bed wall. I cast fire orbs to all the candles within the room to take us out of the dark. “They went crazy the moment the sun went down. Drank beer till their heart’s content.”
“Did you have any?”
“Heavens, no. You know I stopped drinking the day I confessed my love to you.”
“Then why are you wet?”
“Because,” she pauses to take her shirt off, including the bandeau. “They slammed their cups together, splashing it mostly on me.” She pulls off her boots, pulls down her pants, then stands close to me. Her body reeks of beer, but I don’t mind the smell since it has a rosy aroma. “How bad is it? I’ve gone mute to the smell.”
“Manageable.”
“Shit,” she says through her teeth, walking off towards the bathroom. “Is there fresh water in the tub?”
“Yup! Here, take this.” I manifest an orb of dancing flame and float it into her palms. “How’s the heat?”
“It feels good. Thank you, Kaio.” She drops it into the water. It slowly ignites as if there’s oil floating on top. The water bubbles for three seconds before becoming still. She sloshes the water around and then says to me while chuckling, “This is perfect.” I avoid watching her strip naked, but I stand in the doorway to take a quick peek to engrave her sacred physique before heading to bed. Her muscular back is facing me, so I settle on that beautiful image to put in my mind to sleep with. “If you’re going to stand there, you might as well come to help me wash.”
Suddenly, I’m not feeling tired. The offer is unnegotiable. I kneel behind Ulrika and take an extra sponge from a stool table to my right. She dumps water on her head to clean her hair first. After that, she lets me do all the cleaning. I start on her back, carefully lathering it with a soft touch.
“Why are you being so gentle?” Ulrika asks.
“Do you want me to be rougher?” I finish coating her back with soap, then she turns around, putting her right leg over the tub.
“No. You’re doing just fine.” I examine her wet body, going beyond the water to see the rest of her. “Mhmm.” She taps my chest with her foot to put me on the right track. I grab her by the ankle and kiss the top of her foot. “Whoa, Kaio. Most men wouldn’t dare lay their lips there.”
“Well, it’s clean. Plus, it’s my wife’s foot.” I kiss the same area a second time.
“I remember you saying you like my feet. I didn’t think you like’em that much.”
“I like them equally as the rest of you. My lips will explore every part of your body.” I slide my free hand down her leg, going beyond the water to stop in on her particular spot in the inner thigh.
“Oof. Don’t rile me up now. I just want a good scrubbing.”
“Forgive me. I couldn’t resist.”
“Well, if you want to do more than appease your burning lust for whatever is going on inside your head.” She puts her other leg out and waves her hands inward. Her offer is tempting, but I don’t hunger that much for her.
“Sorry,” I say, scrubbing her leg. “Maybe tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Are you okay, Kaio?”
“Yeah.” I chuckle a bit at how random that question came out of nowhere. When I glance at her face, I notice she’s not smiling. “I’m fine, Ulrika.” She squints, brings both her legs into the tub, then hurries over to me with her face a foot from mine.
“You’ve been acting off lately.”
“What do you mean by that?” Her eyes break away from my eyes to look down at something on my face, then come back up.
“Kiss me.”
“Okay?” I give her a quick kiss.
“That was kinda shit, Kaio.” I’m confounded about how to respond to that. “You’ve been kinda distant in the way you give me affection. Plus, why were you staring out the window in the dark? Is there something going on?” Now I see the problem I’m creating.
“There is, but let’s talk about it when we’re in bed, okay?”
“Give me a kiss again.” I kiss with more enthusiasm. “Okay. We’ll talk about it later.” She scoots back, putting her legs back out over the tub. “It was still shit, by the way.”
After getting her clean, I wait for her to dry off to come to bed with me. She comes out of the bathroom with the towel over her head, blindly walking to me. She tosses it off her head at the last minute, then crawls on me for a glorious cuddle. Her body is damp, so I use my heat magic to dry her fully. When she realizes what I’m doing, she circulates wind between us.
“Talk to me. What’s up?” Ulrika says with an innocent, sweet, gentle voice while kissing my neck and chest.
“I want to get back out there.”
“Is that what’s been bugging you, my love?” Her voice remains soothing as she teases me with her soft lips. It makes me feel compelled to tell her everything on my mind. Plus, it’s arousing.
“It is. The comforts of our kingdom are making me decile to Nite’s anarchy. It’s time we go on that quest Coretha gave us to do.”
“Oh, Kaio,” she utters with a more gentle voice. “You disappoint me.”
“Forgive me. It’s all I’ve been thinking about for some time.” She leans back to sit on my lap and crosses her arms. “Are you angry?” I lay back on my elbows to await the brunt of her response. She looks at the open space in my room and sighs, putting her arms down.
“I’ll pack my things.”
“Hold on.” I grab her hips before she can hop off. “I don’t plan on leaving tomorrow.”
“You’re not?”
“No.” Her weight shifts back over to me. “I want to get back out there, but I don’t want to take you with me if you don’t want to go. I know you love it here.”
“So, you had thoughts of leaving me here?!” She raises her voice out of the calm tone she has. “Kaioson, we are inseparable. Fuck my feelings. Where ever you go, I’ll follow. If you wanna go out right now, I’ll come.”
“Easy, Ulrika.” She jumps off me, grabs a pillow, and slaps me with it several times. “Whoa! Hey, now! Stop! I get it!”
“Do you?” One slap hits me directly in the face. It’s hard enough to feel like a mild slap.
“Ouch!” She goes for another swing but hesitates after my reaction. When I shield my face, she drops the pillow.
“How could you think such a thing? You know I will go anywhere with you despite how I feel.” I have nothing to rebuttal. Her words are valid, and I’ve forgotten them from past situations like this. “Oh, Kaio,” she whispers, taking my hands away from my face. “Forgive me for hurting you.” She snuggles halfway on me, putting my left leg between her legs. “I’m so sorry, Kaioson. I acted out of line.”
“It’s okay, and before you say it’s not.” I wait until her eyes come up before I make this statement. “It’s okay. You are right to knock me around like that. I was so intent on leaving that I didn’t consider what my wife might think.” I tuck my hand under the curve of her ass, hoping it’ll make her smile. She leans forward to kiss me, then moves back down to snuggle.
“When do you wanna leave?”
“I don’t really know anymore.”
“How about we go see your mother tomorrow? Check out some maps and news of what’s going on.”
“Umm...”
“No?” I have a special surprise gift I plan on giving her tomorrow. I worry it’ll interfere with the glee of joy I predict will come out of her if we do this. “Kaio, if your mind is set on what’s happening, we should ease it sooner rather than later.”
“Yeah,” I slip up, not thinking about my response. Ulrika makes a fair point, but I also want to let the surprise simmer throughout the day. I’m torn on the decision, so I give in to her request.
**
Morning arrives with the sun beaming on my face from the window across my room. I turn to my left to get out of the light but roll into Ulrika’s chest. My nose pokes between her tits, but it is not enough to wake her. I slowly leave the bed and quietly walk to the dresses near the window to check her gifts. Inside the top drawer under my casual shirts, I take out a small green box. I open it to make sure her emerald golden ring gift is there. It’s still resting in the padded slit as the gem glistens in the sun. I look over my shoulder to see if she’s still sleeping. Her left eye is cracked open, gawking me down. I freeze. She yawns and stretches, then slowly sits up, putting the purple blanket on her lap.
“Morning. Did I wake you?” I say.
“Morning, and yes, you did. But at least I can see the beautiful sunrise.” She gets off the bed and walks over to me while wiping her eyes. I fumble on the thought of whether to hide the ring or show it right now. She moves her hands away from her eyes to see me, but they quickly move over to the box in my hand. “What’s that?”
“Well, shit.”
“What?” I open the box to show her the embodiment of my appreciation in the form of something small. Her pupils grow in size each second, which examines what’s in the box. “A ring?”
“Mhm. I bought it for you once we got here.”
“Kaio,” she whispers, grasping the box with her fingers. “Are you... serious?” Her face starts blooming pink. She takes several glances at the ring and me like she’s unsure what to do. I take it out of the holder to place it on her left index finger. The magic within it forms to the circumference of her finger.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“This ring is my gift to you for the love you have for me. You’ve given me so much love these past months that I wanted to give you something special.” I kiss the ring on her finger, then say, “You’re love, warming care, patience with me, and time commitment are why I present you with this token of my undying love for you.”
“Kaio...” she weeps. “Gods, I’m gonna cry.” Her tears come out, but she keeps quiet from making a sound.
“My plan was for you to let this moment soak in for the entire day. But we talked about seeing Thyrna.”
“I don’t mind. Let’s keep on schedule.” When she examines the ring again, she bursts into a joyful cry. “I fucking love you.” We hug it out while she cries. “I’ll never take this ring off!” Hearing that build some tears to my eyes. “I love it!”
“I’m happy to hear it.” She lets me go over to twirl in the center of the room playfully, then gives me a curtsy. “That doesn’t look right when you’re naked.”
“Well then,” she says, walking over to her drawers. She quickly brushes the curls out of her hair until it becomes straight, throws on an ivory-white garment, and gives me another curtsy again. “How was that?”
“I don’t like it. Do it again naked.”
“Kaio,” she says, stretching out my name.
“Just kidding. That was better.”
“Wonderful!
“I still got one more gift for you.” Her eyes and mouth pop open when she gasps. I pull out a custom-made Kromagian shoulder cape. It is the same design I wear, but the lion insignia is a lioness. She stands, eyes fixated on it, as she slowly walks up to me. Tears roll down her face the moment her fingers touch the fabric. “Now we’re matching.” My dumb attempt at a small joke makes her chuckle.
“I don’t know what to say to describe how amazing you are. What word can I use to exalt you to the high heavens?”
“A kiss would suffice.”
“There’s got to be something better than that, Kaio.”
“It’s okay. It’s what I want.” She kisses me so much I have to evade some of her affection. “Okay, I’ve had enough.”
“Are you sure, darling? What else do you wish from me? I’ll give you anything!”
“No need, I’m satisfied.” More tears push out from her eyes, so I dry her face with fire magic. “It was time I spoiled you.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“Don’t say such a stupid thing,” I say, gently pinching her chin. “Get dressed. Let’s see what’s going on so you can enjoy the rest of the day.”
**
As we walk to Thyrna’s military school, Ulrika clings to my arm while holding my hand. I adore this type of attention. It seems like the ring is making her jubilant. She continues to stay on me like that until the moment we enter Thyrna’s school. Shouting voices from the practice room down the hall to our right echo through the hallways. I hear Thyrna chewing out the students, but I can’t fully dissect the words due to the bombing echo.
“Is that your mother’s voice?” Ulrika asks, walking over to the center of the hallway to look into the room. “Holy cow,” she whispers. “She’s commanding a bunch of trainees in there.”
“Stay out of sight,” I say, gently pulling Ulrika back to me so she won’t disturb their activities. “We’ll wait until it’s done.”
“How long will that be?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, I don’t wanna waste our time lollygagging around. We should at least make ourselves known, yeah?” I peek into the room to help evaluate if that’s the best decision. The students practice with wooden swords. Everyone has their own sparring partner. Thyrna judges these novices with finger-pointing and yelling as she meanders through them.
“I guess it’s alright to enter.” Ulrika and I sit on the ground against the wall near the door. Ulrika doesn’t waste a moment snuggling up on me. She tickles me with kisses around my neck. “Ulrika, not here.”
“Is this too awkward for you, Kaio? Can I not give my man affection around these people, hmm?”
“No,” I say as seriously as I can without laughing too much. I send out an invisible heatwave directed at Thyrna once she moves away from her students. She immediately stops yelling at the students and turns to us.
“Kai!” Thyrna yells with a great big smile. Some of the students near her stop to look at her. “Don’t mind me! Keep working,” she commands the students while jogging over here. “What a surprise.” I help Ulrika to her feet before Thyrna wrangles me for a tight hug. “How are you doing, my boy?”
“Easy, mother. You’re squeezing the air out of me.”
“Sorry, but not sorry. Good morning, Ulrika. How are you doing today?”
“Hello,” Ulrika responds, stretching out the o’s. “I’m doing wonderful.”
“What brings you two here? Do you wanna rough up the students?”
“Sounds interesting. Kaio and I haven’t trained in a while, but we came here to find any news on what Nite is doing in the world.”
“Ah,” Thyrna says, nodding with her eyes closed as she pinches the bridge of her nose. “Those fuckers are setting the world ablaze.” She glances over her shoulder, then turns around to command one of her students to fix his swinging form. “We’ll continue this later. Class is almost done anyways.”
“Ulrika and I will wait in your office,” I say, opening my hand out for Ulrika to grab. Instead of taking my hand, she gives me the same arm and hand snuggle. It seems her happiness hasn’t died down yet.
I rush her into Thyrna’s office just in case she wants to get touchy with me. Once I close the door behind me, she wastes no time showing some affection. She holds me from behind, with her arms secured around my lower stomach, while she gives me smooches on my neck.
“Ulrika, come on. Can you at least wait until we are somewhere more private?” I say.
“Fine,” Ulrika says, gently shoving herself off of me. I find her restraint amusing yet sexually attractive. That ring is making her thirst for me increase tenfold. I think she’s aware of how she’s acting, judging by her tight smile and tightly flexed crossed arms and legs. “You’re going to regret this, my love.”
“Settle down, my love. You’ll get what you want in due time. I want it too, but business is first.” She sighs, but it makes her smile more. To drop her arousal levels, I discuss what we should do for our workout plan. It works enough for her to tell me about the regiments she wants to continue perfecting. After conversating for a time, Thyrna walks in, surprising me with Haleema and Lyra following behind her. Everyone is wearing the vibrant colors of the Kromagican garments.
“Kaioson,” Haleema says like she wants to scream my name but doesn’t. She hugs me while resting the side of her face on my chest, then stands on her toes to kiss my cheeks with the side of her lips. Ulrika receives the same greeting but bends down to let Haleema reach her face easily. “I hear you two are getting ready to make a move.”
“Well, more like peaking over the wall to see what’s going on,” I say.
“Ask, and you shall know,” Lyra says as she slings a scroll holder in front of her. She unravels a giant map of the entire Inaubira continent on Thyrna’s table. I glance down towards the southernmost parts where fairies and succubus inhabit. “Shemore has lost half its land to Nite advances. Down south, where the elven Queen Thubet resides, they seem to hold well against Nite.” Under Thubet’s country, it seems like Nite has certain areas where the succubus live. There are spots of purple where they’ve lost control.
“What’s going on with them?” I ask, pointing three fingers down at the map.
“They’re losing control and rapidly. Within weeks, Nite will take it over. The succubus is a neutral nation, but I fear they’ll be used as slaves or worse.”
“We need to send help there immediately,” Haleema says.
“The King is finalizing plans on that subject. We won’t know his decision till tomorrow,” Thyrna says.
“Whatever he picks, that’s where I’m going,” I declare.
“Really?” Haleema says as if she’s extremely surprised. “If you’re going, I’m coming with you. I know someone who lives there. She could help us navigate the city she lives in.” I check Ulrika’s face to see if she approves of my choice.
“We already had this talk, Kaio,” Ulrika says.
“Just making sure.” She rolls her eyes at me with a smirk shifted to the left side of her mouth. “Let’s see what the King says tomorrow; then, we’ll make our move.”
Later in the day, Ulrika and I continue spending time together. Most of our day is used to making one of the most complex yet tasty dinners I have eaten from her. As the day ends and the night rules the sky, I anticipate tonight’s last enjoyment. When she enters my room from the living room, she slips off her shoes and pulls up her dress to flex her muscular legs.
“Don’t tease me,” I say, getting off my bed.
“Greater the tease, the bigger you get, and the greater it feels for the both of us,” she says, sitting me back down with her foot. “Hey, I got a question for you.”
“What is it?” She twirls and slowly dances while getting me off to more of her body. “Ulrika,” I say out of being amused by her randomness. “What are you doing? Tell me your question.”
“Why did you pick to go to the land of the succubus.” She spins again but uses wind magic to catapult her dress above her stomach for a few seconds. I stumble on my response due to how highly I’m getting aroused. “Darling?”
“I chose that because I remembered seeing details of a champion being there. And since the King has plans to help them, we could help out and find our target.”
“Ah, I see.” Her dress flies off her body in a burst of unexpected wind. I get distracted by watching it pass through the room. She slithers into my lap, locking and snuggling her body on me. “You know we are about to trek to the land of sexual deviants, right?” She says softly.
“According to Haleema, not all of them are.”
“Oh really?” She says sarcastically. “I believe it when I see it. I’ve heard it’s hard to resist their desires.”
“What desires?” I lay back once she lets go of me and then crawls on top of me to continue snuggling.
“Have you ever seen one of them, Kaio?” I nod my head saying, no. “Kaio, these creatures will have you emptying your seed until there’s nothing left of you.”
“That sounds a little dramatic, Ulrika,” I chuckle.
“They have all the qualities a man loves. Big tits, curvy bodies, plump ass; beautiful faces.” I can’t believe we’re discussing this instead of having sex. She’s killing the mood.
“I won’t be swayed.”
“Are you sure, Kaio? I won’t be mad at you for finding some attraction to them. They are the literal embodiment of what I lack as a woman.” I can’t believe she said that. Her statement reminds me of when she got upset when I looked at Haleema in the bathrooms, but there’s something new here.
“Ulrika... Are you envious?”
“Hell, no.”
“So, you’re not bothered about how they look compared to you?” She unbuttons my shirt and spreads it apart to expose my chest.
“Nope,” she says, popping the letter P. “Thanks to your unrelenting support, I love the way I look. I love it more when you get aroused by it.” Her two fingers sway back and forth through my chest hair. “I’m concerned that they’ll try to seduce you and suck your balls dry.”
“Okay,” I say, holding in my laugh.
“I’m serious,” she says, suppressing her smile. “I need those to make our daughters.”
“Gosh, you’re so blunt,” I whisper as I get ready to kiss her.
“Should I be more indirect?”
“Never,” I demand before laying my lips on hers for a series of tongue kisses.
**
Early in the morning, Thyrna tells us that the King is sending over two thousand troops to the southern lands. Three hundred of them will be going to the succubuses. Ulrika and I decided to train in Kromagia for a full week. On the eighth day, Haleema teleports us to the Paladin headquarters in Nebulas to shorten the journey from Kromagia. All three of us travel near the southern border, then take a detour down the White River on Shemoreite longships. The ship uses its sails and magic to propel it at a more incredible speed down the river. We make it to our destination within two and a half days.
It’s midnight on a new moon. The only light source on the dock I’m standing on is the guiding torches alongside the boardwalk. At the entrance, I can barely see three Kromagican soldiers standing at the bank of the river. Behind them, someone emerges through a thick wall of trees. I see two floating blue dim lights move away from them. They don’t react to whatever it is, and I’m unsure what it might be. I pull out my sword a quarter of the way before Haleema puts it back into my scabbard.
“She’s not a threat,” Haleema says.
“She?” I say.
“It’s a succubus. Some of them have fluorescent eyes.”
The succubus lights up a torch in her hand, then suddenly, the entire bank illuminates. She hands off the torch to the Kromagian soldier and heads over to us. Her boots clack against the wood. If I have to guess, she must be wearing thick hills. Her chainmail sways and slaps together as she strides over to us. Her skin is lavender purple, and her cheekbones are dotted with white paint or ink. Just like Ulrika’s statement, she is oddly a pretty creature.
“Are you three the last of the reinforcements?” She asks.
“I guess so, unless there are other Kromagians on the route,” I say.
“No, we were the last few. We left late,” Haleema says.
“Well, I’m glad to see there’s more help. My name is Oraya. I’m the General,” she says, holding her hand out for me to shake. I reach for her hand, then Ulrika suddenly pulls me away from her by the loop belt in on my pants.
“Keep your hands away from my husband,” Ulrika says, stepping in front of me.
“Husband?” Oraya examines Ulrika’s face closely. “Are you a woman?”
“Of course I am. Now, step away from him.”
“Oh, I see. You’re one of those that fear we’ll do something with oursexmagic, hmm?”
“Ulrika, they’re not like that. Trust me, I know. I’ve lived here once,” Haleema says.
“Don’t sway me, Haleema,” Ulrika asserts. She stands directly between Oraya and me, resting her backhand against my stomach. “I’ve heard the stories.”
“That’s it. They’re just stories. Stories of fiction.”
“Listen to your friend. The community I represent and defend are not those bad apple deviants that tainted our reputation,” Oraya clears up. “I’m like all the other races. I have a wife, four kids, and a house.”
“Kids?” I say. “There are men here?”
“No.” Haleema starts chuckling lightly. “Succubus can make their own children.”
“How? They’re women... right?”
“Almost,” Oraya says, planting her fist on her hips. “We got the necessary tools that none of the other races carry.”
“The fuck?” Ulrika blurts. I look at Haleema to find her grinning and nodding. “How is that even possible?”
“Let’s not try to wrap our heads around our anatomy. I’ll take you to our library in Galfalian,” Oraya says. Haleema follows her off the boardwalk, but Ulrika and I lag behind.
“Kaio, I’m so confused about how that’s even feasible,” Ulrika says.
“Same,” I respond in a soft voice, glancing at Oraya’s backside. “What does that even look like?”
“Let’s heed her suggestion, Kaio. I don’t want to even try to imagine that.”
**
Oraya debriefs us and both army leaders in a makeshift headquarters inside a library on what has been happening since Nite invaded their town. Going off of her map of Galfalian, with the help of the Kromagians, the city has successfully prevented its demise. Most of the battles are happening up north on hilly fields. The town is surrounded by runes that discourage Nite mages from porting in to take the city in that manner.
Going off by everyone’s attention focusing on Oraya’s military plan on how to proceed for any future battles, it seems our presence is not fully needed, so I take time to read the scroll Coretha gave me thoroughly. Ulrika and I sit at a different table, away from everyone, to read our assignment from any wandering eyes.
“So, who’s the man, woman, whatever we’re looking for?” Ulrika says.
“Let’s see. I haven’t checked this since we got it,” I say, taking the scroller out of its holder. “I didn’t want to sour our break knowing names of people we have to look for.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. That was the best vacation we had.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Now, let’s see who’s here.” I look at the bottom of the list. The first name listed Haleema’s former lover. “Shit.”
“Let me see.” Ulrika pulls the paper to her with her index finger. “Glysith. Is that someone you know?”
“No,” I say, staring at Haleema, who’s staring back at me with wide-open eyes.