“Back so soon?” I quipped, letting Jax slide away with a degree of understandable remorse; I had really been looking forward to that before-and-after idea of hers. If only I had a camera! But with the Demon Queen watching? The goddess and I had reached something of an accord during our last little chat—by which I mean I had convinced her not to rip my soul out—but we had not exactly reached that point in our relationship.
However, my First did not seem able to find her feet.
“Master?” Jax wheezed breathlessly before she collapsed in a heap beside me. “What be… How…?”
Xhinn let out a snort of amusement, staring down at her. “Gracious, child. I am barely even here. Have some self-respect.”
My eyes flicked over our divine interloper’s shoulder for an instant to where I spied Arx and Lynnria huddled together in terror. Arx looked well enough, for all that her breathing was a little strained, but Lynnria’s normally tanned skin had gone so pale, you might have thought she was about to be sick. Neither were on their feet.
“She’s barely past the first Boundary, Xh—” I cut myself off from saying Her name aloud while I was still standing in the hallway. I did not know how common knowledge a thing like that might be around here, but I certainly did not want to risk it getting out that I was associating with the entity responsible for slaughtering half the town’s population. Willingly or otherwise. So, with a hasty glance up and down the corridor, I took Jax by the shoulders and dragged her into the room.
Xhinn did not lift a finger to help, but she did at least stand aside with a casual sort of ease to let us pass. Safely inside, I allowed Jax to slump to the ground and quickly skipped to the door, easing it shut with a click.
All seemed quiet nearby, and the gentle murmuring from the bar had begun to again filter through the floorboards, so I turned to the goddess once more. “None of them are. And they’re mostly working on physical Classes. Why would they have bothered investing in Wisdom?”
She looked at me as though my words had cut her. “Besides having the ability to stand in their own Mother’s Presence?”
There might have been a few gasps of shock interspersed with all the wheezing coming from my girls, but it was hard to tell. I deliberated a moment on whether to explain why the Demon Queen would call herself such a thing, but they already knew about the soul thing. From that, it was easy enough to extrapolate a kind of familial relationship, even if it was stretching the concept to its limits. So, I let the comment pass.
“Yes. Besides that. It’s not like they have a need for it otherwise.”
“Oh, but they do.” She fluttered past me in a rush to squat beside Lynnria, whom she yanked from Arx’s arms, then delivered what might have been a motherly kiss had it not involved a noticeable hint of tongue. “This one knows all about that, don’t you, sweetheart?”
Lynnria could only reply by retching.
Mewling with concern, Xhinn clutched the girl so tightly to her, they were practically cheek-to-cheek. “Just look at her, my gift! She is on the verge of death! Why haven’t you started with that…” her hand lifted to flutter at me, “…thing you do yet? Help them.”
I was not buying the sudden show of concern for an instant. But even had she been serious, it was not like I could just switch it on and have them be okay. The ability combo she was referring to had a lot of nuts and bolts to it before I could make it work.
“It takes a minute to get the Wisdom stack going. Lynnria doesn’t have any way of discharging the Lust buildup yet, so she would have to suffer while I transformed your Presence into Lust. The other two would have to process that Lust into Energy, feed it to me until I’m totally full—which I’m nowhere close to being—and then I could start buffing everyone’s Wisdom, one point at a time. But none of that matters, because you’re putting out so little Presence, I can barely detect it. So stop pretending and let them up.”
“Aww…” She made a show of pouting that would have been more convincing had she kept the smile from her lips. “Don’t be like that. I was only pressing on them a little. Besides, they were being disrespectful.”
She did not move, but somehow, her motherly embrace shifted into one with a far more sensuous quality. Even for me, that was not a thing I was prepared to handle for long. Xhinn might have been in a reduced form, stuffing herself into Xyn’s body like she had, but She was still a goddess. If she truly wanted to seduce me, there was not much I could do to prevent it.
She kissed Lynnria’s cheek, this time following the move by allowing her tongue and lower lip to trace the girl’s jaw and up to her pointed ear. Lynnria shivered, but if it was from the weight of the Queen’s Presence or simply because she was getting into it, I could not say. It might have even been some unholy matrimony of the two.
“They’re so much more pleasant when they are quiet and on their knees, aren’t they?” the Queen mused, nuzzling the wisps of purple hair by the girl’s ear.
“Xhinn…” I jerked my eyes away quickly. I could already feel myself throbbing from the display. If this carried on much longer… well, I was not about to agree to an out-and-out orgy up here. That might have been agreeable under other circumstances—and the part of my brain dedicated to appreciating the glory of divine woman-flesh was practically gibbering with excitement at the prospect—but there was already one pissed-off bartender downstairs. And if my other matron-goddess, Ahnbe, got wind of it, she was likely to serve us our collective asses on a platter. “Please. What are you even doing here? Didn’t you have responsibilities to get back to?”
I thought I detected a slight wince mar her perfect features. “No?” she answered evasively. “Why would you think that? The Dungeon can run well enough without me to guide it for… at least a little while. Long enough for us to have a bit of fun, anyway. You’d like having a bit of fun… wouldn’t you?”
A detectable pulse rippled through the floorboards at Her words, traveling up my legs and practically wrapping itself unseen around my already engorged flesh. I almost doubled over from the sensation of it, like she was tasting me from afar. Watcher’s black eye… is this what She’s like?
A throaty sort of giggle rumbled out of her chest, drawing my eyes to where Xhinn’s manifestation had amplified her lilim’s already impressive attributes. “Oh, my Gift…” she purred, doubtlessly having read my thoughts. “You tempt me so with your innocence. But that was nothing like the pleasure of my caress. My actual kiss. My true body’s embrace. Your Will has grown strong of late… but not so strong as to survive that. I would break your mind just as my thieving sister once did. But perhaps in this form… perhaps…”
She drew herself to her feet like a pool of water through a straw, her eyes dancing over my enrobed form with wanton abandon. We stood across from each other for seeming eons, neither moving. Not forward, at least. Her body never quite held still. Her hips would shift, her waist would tilt, her hands would trace their way up and down her skin, just feeling about and wandering where they might. Yet no movement of hers showed a hint of the unconscious twitches or jerks you might see in a similarly standing mortal. She had the poise and grace of a machine given flesh.
I will admit, I may have panicked a bit to be so centered within Her attention. It probably would have been fine to let her get on with whatever it was she was planning—or so the smooth-brained part of me argued. Literally mind-blowing, even. And there were decent odds of my getting away with it without Ahnbe finding out. Yet I could tell somehow that Xhinn was only doing this as a pretext. She was trying too hard. It was all too fast and too sudden.
“Okay, what are you hiding?” I demanded, doing my level best to keep my eyes affixed to the safest parts of her anatomy.
“Hiding?” she lilted. Her hands spread wide, elbows bent at an angle that was absolutely perfect for drawing my gaze exactly where I was struggling not to let it go; right where their lines met at her exquisite bosom. Somehow, she even twisted her torso just enough to force them to noticeably shift without it being obvious what she was doing. “Why, whatever do you mean? What could I possibly be hiding?”
“You tell me.”
I started to take an unconscious step back, but her mismatched eyes hardened so fast my foot had scarcely touched the floor before it had reversed course. Fortunately, the move forward seemed to please her enough to allow the anger to vanish as quickly as it had come.
Okay. Courage over cowardice. Noted.
And with that in mind, I firmed my lip. “All I know is, you were here just a couple of hours ago, ‘things to do, ominous portents, go… spread your seed. Oh, and by the way, enjoy your new lilim, toodles!’ Now, suddenly, you’re back? Why?”
“Be that… be that why… Xyn?” Jax attempted to interject from the floor.
Xhinn ignored her. “Maybe I was summoned? Did you never think of that? Our children were having quite the scuffle before you got here. Perhaps the eyepatch was displaced in the mayhem, and I was forced to hurry back before they could destroy more of this… quaint villa you’ve occupied.”
Now that she mentioned it, I noticed Xyn’s patch was more than displaced. It was not even on Xhinn’s head. But a quick glance around was enough to spy the thing hanging from one of the many links of chain her last visit had embedded into the walls. We had been using them to bind her lilim and then-captive to the bed, a choice my pocketbook was still weeping over, but the Demon Queen had made short and rather violent work of them.
“L-Lies,” Arx panted. “She… She took it—ut!”
Xhinn turned only just enough to glance down at her. “Do not gainsay me, child. Now, be silent. Both of you. Your father and I are trying to enjoy a conversation.”
I could feel no tangible difference in the Pressure she was giving off, but it was clear Xhinn had done something. All three of my girls looked like they had just been tossed into a high-g centrifuge.
“Xhinn, please,” I tried again. “You’re hurting them.”
“Only physically,” she argued.
I gaped at her.
“Oh, very well,” she relented with a roll of her eyes. “Since it bothers you so much.”
With a few Words and a wave of her hand, my Dolilim were plucked from their spots on the floor, swept through the air, and landed in a tight huddle over in one corner of the room. An additional handful of Words summoned a transparent bubble around them, trapping the three inside. They seemed to recover quickly with the wall in place, but from the way their mouths were moving, it appeared the bubble was doing more than simply blocking Her Presence.
“There,” Xhinn said, pleased. “Now we can talk in peace.”
“Was that really necessary?” I complained. It was better than watching them being slowly squished to death, but that did not mean I enjoyed watching them being gathered up like herd animals. “I could have just politely asked them not to interfere.”
She made a thoughtful noise in her throat and began to idly pace in circles around me. “For one whose Words have tickled my ears, you do much to underestimate yourself, my Donum. You may have surmised correctly that I was pressing on them less gently than I otherwise might, but my nature does not allow me to lift my finger completely, even in this reduced form. They must shoulder some measure of that burden themselves, just as you are doing now. That you can barely feel it is only because your Will is so strong.”
Her every word was a dulcet cadence of velvet upon my ears, and I found myself struggling not to grin like an idiot over the mild flattery, Will or not. It was incredible how much difference it made to have a conversation with one of these goddesses while I was not huddled in a scrabbling puddle of terror. Without that fear to shield me, it was woefully easy to let myself fall into the swirling pools of her eyes, to nod along with whatever it was she was saying. A man could find himself agreeing to practically anything that way.
“And anyway, they would not have listened,” she continued. “They are what you have made them, after all.”
I had to practically force my expression into a frown. “What is that supposed to mean?”
She chuckled, but instead of answering immediately, she pirouetted over to the destroyed bed. This she surveyed for a moment before tutting with dissatisfaction, then Spoke a chair into existence from the scraps of wood lying about. The result was low-backed and wide, with a large hole whose purpose remained obscure until she turned, fitted her reptilian tail through it, and sat.
She had crossed her legs demurely at the knee, so I could see nothing as she settled. But it hardly mattered. Just as her representative had been, she was pretty much naked save for the rows of scales strategically covering her most private areas. These she had not adjusted despite her flirtations, so I knew her sudden interest could not have been more than a passing whim, possibly meant to throw me off the scent of her true intentions.
The part of my brain that was rolling around and tossing leaves in the air like a chimp demanded I call her bluff—just in case—but my higher-order thinking was quick to remind it that there was a danger not just from her Sister. As much effort as it was taking to listen to her with a clear head, looking at her was far worse. Attempting to actually satisfy her was a path to madness.
But all of that was old news. What really drew my attention were the locks of dark hair slowly yet visibly receding into her scalp, allowing some of the blonde to show through again. It was as though Her manifestation was on a timer… until it just stopped. The only explanation I could think of was that her spells had drained her somehow.
Now settled, she glanced up at me, drawing my attention back. “It means that your influence, also, is more far-reaching than you might have realized. Again and again, you complain when they fixate too greatly upon you. You demand they have wants and desires above and beyond just your affections, that they challenge you when their needs are not met or when they see you acting the fool. You cannot say such things to an impressionable young lilim and not have them take it to heart.”
“What are you trying to tell me, Xhinn? That I’m somehow molding their personalities? Not just their bodies?”
She rolled her eyes, gracing me with an indulgent smile. “It’s the other way around, my lovely buffoon. You know what they are. Lilim mold their own bodies and personalities—really everything about themselves—to ever more completely subsume the desires of their conquests. If becoming an empty-headed love-slave would have allowed them to feed from you the better, then that is precisely what they would have become. You reject such traits. And so they are as compliant as they are biddable… which is to say, they are neither. Your influence is simply… the force that guides them.”
“So… what? I like challenging women?”
That throaty chuckle came again. “You have yet to produce a submissive type.”
“Arx is submissive,” I argued doggedly.
“Is she? Curious. I have never witnessed her waiting like a docile puppet for the grace of your attentions. To my eyes, it is she who demands you take possession of her. Aggressively so.”
There was some truth to that. I had just assumed that was some artifact of Arx’s messed-up personality creating a volatile mixture with her Dolilim instincts. And maybe it was. Maybe Arx would have been a natural submissive—at least in the bedroom—had my influence not been a factor, but she had somehow figured out that she needed to be more than that in order to hold my interest.
And she had succeeded. Crafted or not, Arx’s bedroom persona was one I was not likely to forget.
Still, there was one facet of this argument that was not holding water. “You didn’t change your form. Back when you ripped your solarium in half. I saw you. It was… y-you were…”
I cleared my throat and looked away, trying to dispel the mental image I had unwittingly summoned. There were levels of beauty that the unbuffed human mind was not equipped to handle.
“Why, you incorrigible flirt!” Xhinn was beaming. “I thought I was being so intimidating, too. But not to you. Not to my Gift, no.” Her satisfied laughter resounded through my bones.
“Oh… you were being plenty of that,” I assured her.
She waved a hand lazily through the air. “You raise an interesting point, though. Why would I, in my truest form, be so perfectly aligned to your taste?” Her eyes wandered to my Dolilim for a moment. Perhaps… critically? “Hmm… Very close. Close enough not to matter. What a strange thing… Yet, I am not they. And it does nothing to change what they are. My lilim have taken on thousands of forms over the years and assumed as many personalities, many of which you would have found beyond repulsive.”
“But you said they were taking their forms because of my influence,” I persisted. “I thought that was one of my Class features, not just something everyone has.”
“I said they were using it to guide them. I did not imply that was the beginning or the end of its function.” Her eyes flickered toward the corner again. “And I think you would be hard-pressed to find another capable of influencing someone, not of my children, to join their ranks.”
I threw my hands into the air. “Alright, fine. Forget all that. You’re going to give me a complex.”
Xhinn favored me with a breathtaking smile. “It isn’t easy to be responsible for so much, is it?”
Its ease was immaterial; I had never asked for that kind of responsibility. But bemoaning my situation while grinning like an idiot would have made me look like a lunatic, and the effort not to return her smile was monumental.
“Whatever.” I flopped face-first into the nearby feather mattress. I doubted I was fooling her, but it made me feel better to smother my pounding heart within its downy lumps. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here. And don’t tell me it’s just because you wanted to flirt or chat. I’m not a complete buffoon.”
“Is it so offensive for a goddess to crave such things?” she asked, obviously continuing to deflect. “You wanted to get to know me, did you not?”
“Yes…” I allowed cautiously. Though ‘wanted’ was a bit of a stretch.
She tutted. “Fine. It’s clear you’ll never believe me, so let’s see…” I could hear her hands pat against the armrests of her chair in an alternating rhythm, like she was genuinely thinking the matter over. “Perhaps I’m here to grant you a Quest,” she said finally.
I rolled to one side. That had my attention. “Quest?”
She nodded once to herself. “Yes. That would be a likely excuse for a goddess like myself to show up unannounced.”
“Okay.” I sat up, still suspicious as ever. Something was off about this, but I could not put my finger on why. “I’ll bite. What Quest?”
“Oh, I don’t know. What do you want to do?”
“That’s—” I blinked. “What?”
“Well, it isn’t as though I had something planned out.”
“The hell you didn’t!”
“Oh, unruffle your robe.” She sniffed. “Fine. I understand you were having some…” a claw twirled idly through the air, as though she were struggling to put words to the concept, “…financial difficulty?”
“Yeah.” I gestured around us. “The tavernkeep took one look at the mess you made of his room and emptied my purse of every coin it had. And apparently, I owe the Lawmaiden a shit ton of money, too.”
She had sat blithely uninterested in my complaints about the damages she had caused, but at the mention of her Sister, she sat up and guffawed. “Ha! You’re kidding? She’s still on about that? What a cow!”
“You knew?”
“Oh, she won’t shut up about it!” She leaned over the arm of her chair, for all the world, nothing more than one of the gals sharing the latest gab. The move had caused a certain part of her to distort in a wondrously eye-catching way over her wrist… but I would not be able to describe that, because I was not staring at it at all! “She was absolutely incensed when you claimed Jax for yourself instead of killing her. ‘Like you were supposed to.’” That last had been in an obnoxiously pinched voice. “Redeemed, destroyed, ugh… As if it didn’t amount to the same thing. And somehow, it was all my fault. As usual. Why, to hear them talk, you would think every ill that ever befell the world was a direct result of my creation.”
“Them?” I shook my head. “H-Hold on, you’re saying that because Jax was a Bandit—”
But she ignored the question.
“Yes, them. The lot of them have been—” There was a brief hesitation, then with a groan, she slumped into her chair. “—have been at me for hours now. It wasn’t something I wanted to discuss… as you can no doubt imagine. Being scolded like a schoolgirl by one’s own Siblings is not a thing one’s subordinates need be apprised of. It does not reflect well. Still!” She sat forward angrily. “You Swallow one insignificant town, and it’s nothing but complaints. ‘My shrine! All those people! But my shrine! Power imbalances. The expense of sanctified stone imports!’ Ugh! Bunch of ninnies. No one here ever built a shrine to me. Why should I care if a couple of trifling huts get knocked over? And what about my Purpose? Did no one ever think of that?”
There was… kind of a lot heaped into that pile of a diatribe. It was difficult to know where to even start.
“They’re at you? You mean, like… currently? What, did you escape or something? Are you hiding?” If that were true, her abrupt appearance here would make an awful lot more sense, and it would go a long way toward explaining the evasiveness I had noticed. But then another thought popped into my head, and my eyes widened in horror. “Are they chasing you?!”
Oh, no… oh, no no no! They can’t come here!
She actually tittered at me. “Them here? Don’t be absurd. No…” Massaging her temples, she slouched back into the chair with a long-suffering groan. “They’re still yelling away, and I’m still ‘listening,’ playing the part of the repentant little sister. I’m just… allowing my mind to wander a bit.”
“Allowing your…” My mouth worked for a moment. “You’re still there? And here? At the same time?”
A bit of a smirk cracked her lips, and her hand lifted from its boneless slump to ruffle my hair. I will admit, even so brief a contact with Her sent thrills racing up and down my spine, like I was a damned puppy. “We are as we are, my Donum. Do not make the mistake of assuming mortal limitations.”
I had to give her that one.
“So… what? You’re just daydreaming?” About me?
I almost winced at how enthusiastic the unspoken thought had been, but there was no point. I had already admitted to how unimaginably attractive I found her. She would know how little resistance against her I truly had. All it would take were a few whispered words, and I would be at Her feet, worshiping Her every inch. Yet she had restrained herself from pushing me over that edge. Oh, she was enjoying herself aplenty with her teasing, but she was being careful not to break her precious toy.
I had to suppose I should be grateful for that, but one of the myriad drawbacks of having a conversation with a powerful mind-reader was the absolute lack of mental privacy. Intrusive thoughts were not meant for an audience, damn it!
But to my immense relief, she ignored my discomfort in favor of what I had actually chosen to share.
“Day… dream?” She looked at me strangely. “By my Father, you have some of the most unusual ideas. I do not sleep, Gift. And even if I had the need, what about our surroundings gives you the impression of the fabric?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but it was a solid beat before words came out. “O-Okay, there’s a lot to unpack there.”
It was a pattern I had often noticed when dealing with these goddesses.
“Is there?” She plopped her chin into her hand, losing interest. “Well, no matter. Your Bline fragment can doubtlessly clear up whatever misapprehensions you might have. Now, about this Quest—”
“Hold on.” My mind had still been grinding away at the differences between the goddess-to-human experience, but the mention of Mia had thrown a pebble into the mortar. “Weren’t you saying something earlier about power imbalances? Does that mean the Lady of Power is there? On the… the other side or whatever? I thought She had disappeared.”
“Ah… I was wondering if you would catch that.” She sat forward again, eyes reigniting with intrigue. “She is indeed. And with some very interesting things to say. Even more interesting, what she has not. She seems so… uncharacteristically curious. Yet evasive. She won’t come out and say whatever could be bothering her, of course. Never that. But I don’t think she even knows what she wants to ask. I’ve been positively aching to get her alone for a moment, but…” She spread her hands.
“Huh…” I thought back to my own experience with the goddess. Most of the time, she had been so stoic, it was easy to doubt she even had emotions—unless you asked her too many questions. Then things could get a little spicy. “How could you tell?”
“Oh, please. Her? With those grimaces and twitches of hers, you’d almost think she was about to choke on her every question.”
“I do not grimace!” Mia shouted abruptly, her voice echoing through my skull. “You know the reason for our suffering, Xhinn. Do not make light of it.”
Xhinn chuckled. “I thought that would drive you out of hiding. Hello, fragment of my Sister. Are you keeping well within the abode you absconded with?”
“It was never yours to begin with, rutting—” Mia pulled away before whatever foulness was about to cross her lips could be fully transmitted, but not quite fast enough to prevent my heart from leaping into my esophagus.
Some of the amusement drained from Xhinn’s expression. “Hmm. I really ought to rip you out of there. I do so wonder what your greater part would think of you, given some of the… comments she’s been making.”
“You would only injure your ‘gift,’” Mia shot back. “I am he now. She made sure of that.”
“What comments?” I asked quickly. Take it easy, Mia. Make good with the nice Demon Queen.
Fortunately, Xhinn was not in the mood to argue, likely owing to the barrage she was already suffering from the other side. “Oh, it’s mainly a lot of subtle inflections, pointed innuendos, and the like. If I’m reading her correctly, she is under the impression that she has… misplaced something. I haven’t the foggiest why she thinks I might know something about it, but it’s driving her to distraction.”
“Misplaced?” That was an odd. How could a goddess lose a thing?
Xhinn just looked at me. Or perhaps inside of me. “Indeed. I can only wonder what it might be…”
Mia took the hint at the same moment I did. “If that is the case, it would seem my creation was… more total than we had anticipated. She does not remember what she has done. Or why. She only knows she is now missing a not-insignificant portion of herself—some ten thousand iterations, at a guess. Such a loss would have left her with several holes in her memory, likely everything related to recent events.”
Xhinn straightened in her chair. I could almost see the thoughts whirling through her mind, but all she said was, “I see.”
“Well, I certainly don’t,” I grumbled. “Not that I expect anyone to actually explain anything for once.”
The Lady of the Dungeon sighed, seeming tired. “I feel your frustration, and I am sorry for it, Gift. If it were up to me, I would tell you everything and let things play out as they might, but that is very much against the rules. The most I can convey now is that your presence has… altered the shape of things. Those of us who deal in chaos will not have minded so much, but others? Well. By the Faen’s own words, you now harbor an entity my Sister had once used to tend thousands of individuals—not so great a number when compared to the whole, but enough for her to have noticed. You can imagine what someone like that might do in this situation.”
“Great…” My head sank into my hands. Her explanation had only spawned about a hundred additional questions, chief among them why Bline had felt the need to do this to me in the first place, but one thing was clear enough. “So, I’ve got another goddess out to kill me?”
Xhinn made a sound in her throat. “That is one of many potential outcomes. At a minimum, I would prepare myself for… complications. But she won’t act against you directly. I will not allow it. Nor would…” she pulled a face, “…the Fourth, come to think of it.”
I did not know how to feel about having the two ‘evil’ goddesses of this realm as the only ones officially in my corner, even if they were at odds with one another over it. Did that make me the bad guy? Was I some… prophesied destroyer of worlds? The Demon King to the Queen who now sat beside me? I was already having issues with transforming every other person I ran across into my devoted follower—as Xhinn had so graciously reminded me. But if that was what destiny had in store for me, I had no intention of playing ball. Hurting people was the last thing I wanted.
That was all speculation, of course. But, as my fate was apparently not a topic allowed on the table, I turned to other matters.
“Is Ahnbe there, too? Yelling with the rest, I mean?”
Xhinn huffed dismissively. “No. She did all her talking with her fists. I haven’t seen her since, but I would expect a visit from my ever-brutish elder in your near future. I can’t imagine she will be happy to discover my Faen in your company after our altercation.”
“Yeah… I was afraid of that.” With everything this goddess was heaping onto my shoulders, I could actually feel the life beginning to drain out of me.
But she only shrugged. “Forewarned is forearmed. You know what will be coming. Prepare yourself for it. And with that in mind, to your Quest.”
She put on a show of letting her eyes wander about the room for a moment, as though searching for ideas, before reciting what could only have been a prepared verse.
“The deities are hard to please,
They push and prod to Gift’s unease.
Yet foes above do not englove,
The total of his sweet, sweet hand.
Caress ye now the lesser’s brow,
Lest they maraud and shun kowtow.
The vengeance eats, the fear repeats,
See this completes ‘fore peace remand.”
At the mention of ‘the lesser’s brow,’ I cast a quick glance toward the subject Xhinn was almost certainly referencing. Lynnria was rocking herself in a huddled daze near the corner, apparently more than a little traumatized yet by her intimate brush with divinity. I felt for the girl. Still, Xhinn’s message was clear enough for all that it was couched in her ever-present need for riddles: do something about the girl’s family.
That was easier said than done. For one, I did not even know who they were. They had done heinous things to someone I had grown to care about a great deal, and for that, they deserved retribution. But what had been their motivation? What kind of politics would I be diving into? What would I have to do to actually punish them? How much would be justified? I just did not know.
It was not a thing I could simply snap my fingers to accomplish, either. This was a project that might take months or even years to realize, especially with a bevy of goddesses hounding my ass.
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Of course, all of that was assuming it was even the right thing to do. And it was totally setting aside why someone like the Demon Queen might give a rat’s fart about it.
Having looked that direction, it was inevitable that my gaze would sweep over Jax and Arx, as well. Both had pressed themselves against Xhinn’s imprisoning bubble, and were staring at me with a kind of unnerving intensity, like they were performing a pop-up reenactment of the Children of the Corn.
I’m okay, I mouthed.
It was a mild exaggeration, but it seemed to settle them somewhat—even if neither so much as blinked. It was then I realized I could not feel them through our mutual connection. Xhinn had cut us off. Again. They hated that.
Xhinn thumped my ear. “I wasn’t finished.”
“Sorry,” I muttered. But then I had a thought. “Actually, while we’re on the subject, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Lynnria’s grandfather.”
The Demon Queen pulled a face, clearly annoyed by the diversion, but willing to go along with it for now. “Stanel? What about him?”
“She’s been worried sick!”
“For that old fool?” She snorted. “He’s still alive, if that’s what you’re asking. He’s been wandering a cleared Dungeon for over a week now, demanding to know why his Quest was canceled.”
“What Quest?”
“Why, to find his granddaughter, of course!” she exclaimed. “It’s the standard arrangement. We cannot very well keep a host of unsupervised children about. The little brats would go feral! So whenever I accidentally sweep a bunch of them up, I hand out a few Quests to whatever family or sympathetic bumpkin happens to be nearby, dole out some appropriate rewards, and everyone’s happy… Happy?”
“Oh.” Actually, that did make me feel better. I had been worrying about that for a while now. It was not ideal, of course, but considering who I was talking to, it could have been a lot worse. “So… why did his Quest get canceled?”
She looked at me like she could not believe we were having this conversation. “Because, nitwit, she’s not his granddaughter anymore. You claimed her. She belongs to you.”
“That’s not how that works!”
“I assure you it is. And even if it was not, the girl is no longer in my domain. There is no Quest for him to complete. Now, may I finish?”
“You could at least tell him that!” I argued.
“Oh~?” She planted an elbow onto the arm of her chair and rested her chin in her upraised palm again, her lips forming into a devious smile. She almost looked like she was wriggling with the potential for intrigue. “I suppose I could. As a favor. But are you certain I should? He has another Quest on his plate, you know. One much more pertinent to his own insignificant existence. He has three days left. After that?” She chuckled knowingly.
I just stared at her, lost. “After that, what?”
“Well.” Her grin faded ever-so-slightly, and she shook her head with apparent confusion, her jape spoiled. “He dies, of course.”
“He has a Quest with a death timer?!”
“Yes?” If anything, she looked even more confused. “Everyone does.”
“I don’t!” I exclaimed.
“Well—mmm…” She winced, her expression working its way through several emotions at once. It was the first time I had ever seen her look flustered. “I suppose, given your origin—but surely you’re aware of the concept? All mortals run out of time eventually, my Gift.”
“Yeah…” I had to concede that much. “When we get old. Your body wears out, and you… you die of a heart attack or something. Not because of any timer.”
“Your body wears out?” She said the words like she had never once had to assemble them in that order. “What are you on about, Donum?”
So, I told her. Gray hairs, wrinkles, muscle deterioration, organ failure, anecdotes about elderly people randomly falling over and breaking a hip, hair loss, hair growing out of places it should never exist, sagging skin, age spots, liver spots, bad knees. The whole thing. And through all of it, Xhinn stared at me like I was the Crypt Keeper describing some horrific nightmare from the tenth dimension.
“Is that seriously not how it works here?” I asked finally.
“No!” she shouted, surging to her feet. “What sort of demented hellscape do you come from, anyway? I’ve never even heard of half of those Status Effects, and you just expect to suffer them all at once?! Madness! What possible need could there be to force a person’s ears to grow?” She paused to reconsider. “Actually, that one might be amusing.”
“Uh…” Great. I’m giving her ideas. “You didn’t hear that one from me.”
“Naturally,” she agreed with a dismissive wave. “So, when does all of this begin to happen? You said it takes a while.”
“I dunno, it varies. Most start seeing the symptoms somewhere in their forties, I guess.”
“Their forties?! Do you mean to tell me you have less that fifteen years before—” She paused abruptly. “Oh, now wait a moment. You’ve traversed your first Boundary. That should have added another hundred to your timer, at the least.”
“A hundred?” I stared up at her. “Years?”
“That is how it civilized realms handle such things,” she informed me, beginning to pace in her distraction. “Each Boundary represents another stage of life. Mortals spend the duration more-or-less healthy, barring the odd Status Effect or Illness, and then, if they fail to cross it in time, poof. They fall over, never to rise again.”
“But that’s so exploitable!” I countered. “Boundary Trials only happen if you attempt to improve your Class, so if you’re wealthy enough, you could live forever.”
A little chuff of laughter escaped her lips. “Don’t argue the flaws in the system with me, boy. I know them well. But forever? Relying only on the strength of others? Ha! There are limits to wealth. Pushing a mortal beyond a measly thousand years would bankrupt even the most affluent of Clans. And it only gets worse.”
Abruptly, she whirled on a foot to glare down at me. “I refuse to allow this. Faen! Have you been paying attention?”
“I… have,” Mia returned in a strangled tone, doubtlessly wrestling with the urge to color her reply with expletives. “I will need to investigate further, but his internal systems should report any such deteriorations as a normal Status Impairment. There have been none thus far.”
Xhinn nodded along. “That is something, at least. We shall have to monitor this closely. I expect a full report should you discover any. With counter-solutions!”
“Should my lord so wish…” I could almost hear Mia’s smirk.
The Demon Queen’s eyes sparking into miniature bonfires were much more obvious.
“Yes!” I agreed hastily. “That’s fine. You really don’t have to get so worked up about it, though. I mean, aging sucks—everyone knows that… every human, anyway—but we don’t dwell on it. You’d go crazy that way. And it comes on so slowly that you just kind of get used to the symptoms as they come.”
Or so I had been told. From my experience, however, the ‘symptoms’ were a favored topic amongst my older relatives.
“Well, you, my Gift, will not be getting used to even so much as one. No scion of mine will spend half his days suffering under such conditions.” She pointed an imperious finger down at me. “You will live as the very picture of health. Forever! I demand it!”
I blinked. “Uh?”
She swept her hand through the air. “Forget all that other nonsense. Your Quest, starting today, is thus:
“Infinity, if lived in half,
Is yet infinity again.
Ever withering ages pass,
Begging for death, thine heart in pain.
To suffer that as if a gaff?
Nay, Gift. Patience, I shall not feign.”
Her hand flew toward me, and before I knew what was happening, I had been hauled effortlessly into the air, her face held inches from mine. The sparkling eyes before me bore an intensity that would not be brooked, yet the instinctual fear a being like this could engender was nothing next to the hammered spikes of desire her nearness sent coursing through my body.
She almost certainly sensed it too, and for a moment, her breath hitched, as if I had stolen it. The idiotic madman inside me prayed she might act on it, that she might press her lips to mine, but then she began to speak once more. Her words came in a whisper, their every syllable beating across my consciousness as though carved into my soul.
“For when this Queen unwraps her prize,
It shall not be a wilted man,
A hollowed shell to meet Her eyes,
Nor mere shadow to spoil the plan.
When blessed time doth make thee wise,
What good but hale, oh, Head of Clan?”
Her next gasp caught in her throat as well, expanding her already glorious bosom to new heights. In that brief moment of stillness, her eyes danced over my face, as though to memorize my every feature. Her lips drew still closer to mine, questing.
Seeking.
For one glorious moment, my heart surged… but then she forced her gaze away, allowing her breath to escape again. The simple heat of it caressing my skin was almost enough to make me lose control. It was a near miss. But my next thought was not one of regret. The faintest whiff of cinnamon rolls… mixed with the wondrous tang of black holes curled into my nose.
I recognize the list of people who could make sense of an observation like that to be vanishingly small, but I can assure you it was quite unmistakable.
Holy shit! She is turned on!
The corner of her lip quirked into the barest inkling of a smile… yet her next words were anything but hints.
“Ahh… how I ache to touch thee true,
To lap mine tongue upon thy brow,
To suck every note of thy roux.
I admit, you guessed right somehow,
How exquisite the scent of you…
To then be robbed by nature’s vow?
Nay! And nay again. Vows, I break!
Ne’er more shalt thou be beholden,
To chains of a strange world’s mistake.
You know what prizes are sold in,
Places with mold in. Why not take?
Need I entice to embolden?”
I do not know how I managed to find my voice. My mind had sort of whited out after that line about sucking roux. This whole situation was getting dangerously out of hand, so I focused on the parts that would not get me erased from existence. Or not instantly, anyway.
“Prizes?” I croaked. “En-entice?”
“Yes…” she breathed absently. Her nose was so close to my cheek, I almost thought she meant to caress me with it.
“You shall seek an Elixir of—”
She blinked uncertainly before setting me on my feet again. My heart sank with my altitude, to my chagrin. “What do you call this stage of your life, anyway? When you’re…” Her hand waved over my body. “…still like this?”
I was quick to fill in the blank. “An Elixir of Youth?”
Her lips twisted with consternation. “Youth? I would have thought… handsome or good-looking? Noble, even.”
“Uh…”
“No matter. I suppose youth would be a fitting description, given your perspective, but… Oh, drat. What rhymes with it?” She turned away slightly to think, the separation doing wonders for my clarity of mind. “Tooth? Forsooth? Ugh… it’s very close to Mouth. That would have been perfect!”
“How can you have an Elixir of Youth? You’d didn’t even have a name for it until a second ago.”
She scoffed dismissively. “Oh, don’t you worry your pretty head about that. It’ll take you some time to muddle your way through the Dungeon I’ll set up… Dungeons? Ooh… Maybe three Dungeons? Yes, three! That’s a nice round number. By then, I’ll have it all worked out, and you shall have your Elixir of Eternal Youth! Let’s see… you’ll need to assemble some sort of key first…”
“Three?! You’re not going to summon them here, are you?”
“Don’t be absurd.” She tittered. “Even if I were not amidst a thorough scolding for that very thing, there are limits to my generosity. No, you shall have to seek my lovely Mouths for yourself. This shall be a proper Quest—with sparkly baubles scattered along your path. You do yet need to pay off my Sister, and this will prove an excellent opportunity to do so. But what shall be your end reward…?”
She turned to resume her pacing.
“The Elixir isn’t the reward?”
“No, no. Your preservation is what I want. How can it be a reward?”
“Well… I mean…” My head bobbed to one side, not at all sure how I should take that information.
She had made her intentions abundantly clear with body language alone—amongst other things. She wanted me. Maybe even as much as I wanted her.
Yes, I admit it. It was idiotic, nonsensical, and toxic as all hell, but I really could not help it. A few smiles and kind words had been all she needed to erase whatever pains she had caused. And likely would cause. I held no illusions about the sorts of obstacles she would throw into my path during this Quest of hers. But just the idea of eventually crossing lips with this creature… and remembering it afterward was all the enticement I needed.
Then again, my heart was still thundering away in my chest—just from some of those verses she had carelessly tossed my way—so I was not exactly thinking with a full deck of cards.
But anyone could see the appeal of avoiding old age. People around here could live a long time, and if my ripening continued the way it was supposed to, fully half of that would be in a slow, increasingly annoying decay. Somewhere along that journey, I might even lose interest in the kinky misadventures Xhinn had in mind. For an immortal like her, I could understand why she would want to prevent such a thing. It did not sound all that enjoyable to me, either.
So, what do I want? Knowledge? To understand the Words better? To use them without half killing myself? That’d be nice…
“No,” she said quickly, cutting into my thoughts. And obviously, reading them. “This is an official Quest, my Donum, and thus far, only the Fourth and I know of your… interest. A reward like that would raise queries I do not want pursued.”
“Uh… Okay, lots of follow-up questions to that one…”
“Perhaps,” she suggested, ignoring me, “you might instead enjoy a gift for our children? That, I feel, might go far with soothing their hackles.”
I glanced at Jax and Arx once more. Arx was still staring at me with that unnerving intensity, but Jax was now glaring with obvious hatred at Xhinn, likely because of the recent manhandling. Or because of its seductive overtones. Jax might have been cut off from me, but it was not like I could hide my… excitement. Even under the tent I was wearing.
There was no way Xhinn would be soothing those hackles.
“Like what?”
That throaty chuckle drew my eyes back to her. “I wonder…”
She had paced over to the window, where she stood gazing out into the ruined town below. The setting sun cast her body into silhouette, highlighting her every curve. From the sweep of her back, to her glorious backside, to her perfect legs, she was everything any man could ever dream of in a woman. Naturally, she just had to position herself with her legs ever-so-slightly parted, giving me a tantalizing view of what laid between. There was nothing I could do to stop myself from letting my eyes dance over her every—er… no. No, I was not looking at that. What are we even talking about?
Damn it… stop! If I was not allowed to relieve myself soon, I might just pass out.
“Do you know why our Jax despises me so?” she asked abruptly, snapping my attention away. “Or rather, this body. My eldest? My Xyn?”
That was easy. “Because she tried to kill me. And so did you.”
She turned her head just enough to glance at me from the corner of her eye. The knowing look I found there was telling. “Ah, but your influence crawls within my representative’s veins. I can feel it… Not to fear, I do not mind. It is quite a delicious thing to experience, to inhabit a body, even temporarily, that is so susceptible. Yet her loyalty to me remains strong. She would never disobey my commands. Our young First can sense these things. They speak to her far more than any… prior misunderstandings. And she does not approve. Yet what galls her most is in how much my Xyn draws your attention.”
That was true. It was not fair, but the truth never cared much for that. “Only because you made her that way.”
She pouted slightly, turning to face me again. “Donum… that you would say such things in her hearing. You’ll make my Xyn cry.” She began swaying forward, dangerous by simple nature, yet oh-so-seductive for it. “But you are quite correct. I made her your exact match, a perfect reflection of your own beauty. Something, I feel, our Jax very much covets.”
I licked my lips to work some moisture back into them. This really was not fair. Her flirting was absolutely relentless! I could see where her ‘children’ got it from.
“Okay. And what are you offering?”
“A simple boon. Complete my Quest, drink my Elixir, and I will grant you an… upgrade to the First’s Presence. Instead of simply exerting your influence upon those under your command, she will also stand as the most beautiful flower within your garden. Her Charisma will rise above all who follow you. Bound or not. Equal to your own… at a minimum.”
“That…” I swallowed.
I did not doubt for a moment that Jax would be frothing at the mouth over such an offer and imagining what she might look like with that much Charisma dumped on her all at once was… was…
Gah… stop thinking with your dick, you moron! This is three Dungeons in a row, not a picnic! I can get something actually useful for once.
“Ah, but I so adore it when you are thinking with your…” she paused as if to savor the word, “…dick. Especially when it thinks… of me…” She began to slink closer. “I do so wish my Sister had never come between us. That you would not now mistrust me so. I would still challenge you. Perhaps even slay you… one day. I admit that because I must. It is my nature. But I will root for you, hope for your success, cheer for every trap of mine you outwit or creature you slay. I want you to visit me as often as you may. I want to look upon you again and again with my true eyes. To ever drip my need for you ahead of your path, that you might scent my presence. My true Presence… not this paltry, obscured facsimile.”
Her words had come faster and faster as she advanced on me until she had again backed me into the wall. There was no defending myself. Or even replying. My throat had gone so dry it was all I could do to manage a rasping wheeze.
“You want that too, don’t you?” she persisted. “To see me again. Feel me again. To one day… taste me?”
Yes.
My eyes closed at the unbidden thought. It had been as immediate as it was suicidal. But there was no denying it.
But why? I forced myself to ask, continuing to speak with my mind, since my throat would not. Why do you want me?
“Because it is my destiny,” she replied, her voice gone as suddenly quiet as it was intense. “Because that is your nature. Is it so hard to believe that one such as I might be attracted to you? Is it so hard to understand why I might wish to curry favor with my own children? Accept this Quest, my Donum. My Gift. Accept this chance at everlasting… youth, just as you accept my boon for your own most-favored child. There will be opportunities for greater things one day. Greater power. Swords of might. Chariots of woe. For now… simply allow me to dote on you.”
Again, I did not reply. All of my focus was directed toward the simple task of keeping my hands to my sides, my eyes safely diverted, and my thoughts quiet. I did not know what to think or what to do. Xhinn on the warpath, I could kind of handle. I could understand it, even fight against it, if only somewhat. But this?
Even with so little of her Presence weighing on me, the simple force of her debauched personality washing over me again and again was wearing away at my resistance. I having trouble remembering why I even was resisting. Could I take her at her word? Was she even now burying mines for me to step on? The power balance between us was so great that I could not trust my own mind not to hurl me over a cliff at her merest suggestion.
“Still you pull away? Oh, Donum…” She shook her head sadly. “Perhaps you feel there should be an additional layer of connection between us first? Something to settle your heart? To assure you that my soul will remain safely ensconced within your breast, no matter your choice… Would you like to influence me?”
My gaze snapped to hers. What?
“Often have I observed the simple pleasure of your touch. Each have I wondered how it might feel. Let me feel.” She was growling now, her eyes wide and flashing at her own suggestion. Her claws were clutching at her thighs, eager to wander, but like myself, restrained by the gap in our power. “Let me feel your Glory. Break me if you can. Bend me if you cannot, but let me feel.”
Her next words were so deep, I could feel them vibrating through my entire body.
“Make me moan… like a whore… right… in front… of my Sisters!”
From the depths of my subconscious, one of the conversations Jax and I had shared filtered out. She had described this being as ‘the greatest whore who ever did walk.’ I was beginning to see it.
“Is that… Is that possible?” I rasped, my voice finally returning in my shock.
Some of the light dimmed from her eyes and she tilted her head slightly to one side, sending her blonde-black hair swaying with the move. “Unlikely,” she admitted. “But I would like to see you try. And if you succeed, even if you come close, well… There’s nothing to say what else you might find during your Quest.”
Make the Lady of the Dungeon feel something in exchange for sweetening the pot? Maybe if I was thinking clearly, I could have seen a downside. It might even persuade her to go easy on us. But I should not need to mention the backflips my inner orangutan was performing right then, the damned fool. I could feel its eager little feet thumping against my chest, egging me on. And my twitching manhood had been edging me toward damnation since Xhinn had opened the door.
“Alright,” I agreed, rolling up my sleeves. I did not need to, but it was a symbol to show I was going to put some serious effort into this. And she appreciated a courageous heart. “Where do you, uh…” I cleared my throat gruffly. “Where do you want it?”
She sauntered back a step and spread her arms, giving me complete access. “Wherever you dare.”
That list was short. Oh, there were quite a few places I wanted to dare, but… Baby steps, Donum. Baby steps.
Her hands ought to be fine. She had grabbed me with them a few times already and even ruffled my hair. But those had been too brief to count or through my thick robe, never prolonged skin-to-skin contact. That was necessary for the skill to work. And the more intimate the touch, the more intense the sensation. Technically, that applied to me as well. The skill was called the Hammer of Glory, not the Hands. But there was no way in hell I would be touching any part of her with that.
My eyes swept over her perfect body with no little trepidation. It needed to be somewhere innocent… but not too innocent. Have courage! Have courage!
The elbow? No, I can do better.
The waist? Holy shit, no! That smooth expanse was so exquisite I could scarcely look at it for longer than three seconds at a stretch, scales or no.
Maybe… the shoulder, then? I nodded slowly. It was a familiar sort of place without being too intimate. Should be doable. Right then. As close as I can to the neck.
I raised my hand and took a breath, steeling my nerves. For a moment, our eyes met. Stars almost seemed to gleam out of the midnight hues of her left, the one normally concealed by her patch, while her right was as clear as the cerulean sky. Both danced with gleeful anticipation, eager for my success… or my failure.
My hand trembled as it began its descent. I could not believe I was doing this. A tiny voice in my head kept screaming that even if I somehow kept my head through it, all I was accomplishing was my own destruction. I was tempting her, signaling my own eagerness. The last thing I needed was another divine entity attempting to satisfy herself with me, like Ahnbe had done.
Xhinn’s scales rippled away just as my palm alighted upon her flesh, and my breath caught at the enormity of the sensation. Even muted through this construct she had fostered upon me, I could feel the raw Power throbbing through her skin. She was a live wire. Death molded into scintillating womanhood.
Her lips parted with satisfaction. Or perhaps victory. But she made no other move beyond her continued, unflinching stare. “Your hand remains. Well done, my Gift. But will you advance? Or flinch away?”
I could only groan in reply. The effort to contain myself while feeling Her beneath my palm was stealing what little breath I had. The things she was doing to me just by standing there! Who was influencing who here? But to actually achieve anything, I had to focus beyond that. I had to at least show her I was capable of making the attempt.
And so I pushed. As hard as I could. Harder than I ever had.
The effect was not as immediate as I might have hoped. She did not suddenly buck with unrestrained pleasure nor moan as she had suggested. It was idiotic to think that was even possible. Her Will was mountainous next to mine.
Instead, her eyes gradually drooped closed, like she was savoring the flavor of a delicate burgundy. Her lips might have gaped by the barest of fractions. Her eyebrows might have even bunched together with some measure of delight.
“Hah~” The sound was less than a whisper. “Sublime. You are making my Xyn… howl within me.”
My eyes widened. Of course! I had forgotten. She had even made certain to remind me, and still I had forgotten. Xyn was conscious under there. Hearing our every word. Feeling everything her Mother directed her body to feel.
My hand started to jerk away, but Xhinn caught my wrist before I even saw it move; her trap closed.
“More,” she commanded.
But when I attempted to stem the flow, her eyes hardened.
“***!”
The Word lanced through my control like tissue paper. The Hammer of Glory raced within me, a stallion given free rein. I tried pulling away, but her hand may as well have been wrought from iron. I could no more have moved her than the mountain I sensed beneath her skin.
“Oh… my Gift,” she breathed, heedless of my struggle. “I, myself, almost feel a stirring within. Almost. Perhaps… perhaps if we were to try… a little lower?”
Her hand began guiding mine southward. Toward warmer… and softer climes.
I saw it coming before I ever felt it. The blackened scales that had been concealing them peeled away in anticipation of my touch. Her unbound Glory made my own seem paltry by comparison, but her Will could not be brooked. She was determined to match my full prowess with some semblance of what I was courting.
And then I felt it. Her breast. Palm against that sweetest symbol of femininity. The Power I met there. The wild, overwhelming pleasure…
I am… not exactly certain what happened next. I have a vague memory of clenched teeth and muscles seizing up, but things went dark after that. The next thing I knew, I had collapsed to the floor. Xhinn and the Hammer both had released their hold on me.
Once my vision cleared, I found her squatted just in front of me, sporting an impish grin. She held up a claw by her face, and just over it, there hovered a smallish ball of cloudy liquid. It looked… disturbingly familiar—so familiar that no man above a certain age could possibly mistake it for anything else.
“I thank you for this gift… my Gift,” she said, almost preening with joy. “I shall treasure it.”
I paled. “Uh… Xhinn? Is that—”
Her grin broadened. “Indeed.”
A silent few Words crossed her lips, and the liquid abruptly crystallized into an equally familiar-looking trilliant-cut gemstone—this one just as cloudy and white as the liquid had been.
“I have heard some mothers enjoy keepsakes from their children. Baby teeth… their first lock of hair. I shall keep this from you. Perhaps as a necklace. I will wear it… every time… I see my thieving Sister.” Her teeth parted just enough to expose her fangs, and her tongue roved about them, savoring my building terror. “You will remember that the next time you think to call Her name in fear, yes? I know She will.”
I was panting now. This was it. This was what she had been after the entire time: to cut off my support. “Are you trying to get me killed?”
“I told you, Donum. I don’t like to share. I am your goddess, not she,” she replied.
“And all the rest? The Quest. The Elixir? All that stuff about you getting scolded?”
She clucked at me disapprovingly, then with a flick of her finger, vanished my shame into who-knew-where. “Plans within plans, my Donum. I can have more that one aim at once. Take your goddess’s advice: always hide your agenda… with… the truth. I, and the Elixir I have promised, eagerly await your visit.” Her eyes traced their way over me for a moment in thought before brightening. “Ah, but however shall you find me? You need the scent of your prize.”
Her hand dipped between her legs with a startling nonchalance, given how tantalizingly seductive she had been. And when it came up again, it was coated with yet another liquid, this one perfectly clear—all performed without the slightest hint of shame. “You see? I did not lie. You did stir me, you absolute beast of a man. Now… open your mouth.”
My eyes widened, and I pressed myself as deeply into the wall as I could. After what had happened just from touching her… her… “You’re not serious?!”
She edged closer. “Perfectly serious.”
My gaze flicked from finger to her, then back. “But… but…”
“I wasn’t asking, Donum.” Her hand clamped over my shoulder. “Be a good boy… and take… your… medicine.”
All I could do was watch as that glistening digit approached my face. There was no escaping. My Dolilim were imprisoned. I could not call on Ahnbe without her discovering what I had done. I was trapped.
Helpless as a babe, my jaw opened. Her finger touched my tongue. She tasted like…
Like…