Leon and Naiad walked back inside the villa. Leon was done with training for the rest of the day, not that he much wanted to anyway after Naiad indicated she wanted to sleep with him again.

The memory of their first time together was still quite potent. Leon wasn’t sure why, but when he, Elise, and Naiad all lay together that time, it had been one of the most intense and passionate experiences of his short life. As a result, while his brain was telling him to not go too far, to keep in mind exactly what Naiad was and what she wanted, his body was screaming at him to go all in, to drag Naiad straight to the bedroom and get to work making babies.

But Leon was quite in control of himself; there would be no dragging of Naiad to bed in his future. Or at least, in his near future.

‘Or maybe just my immediate future… At least not until Elise gets home…’ Leon couldn’t help but think as he followed Naiad back inside, his eyes drifting downward in appreciation for the tailor who made Naiad’s pants so tight.

[Hesitating to take this woman?] came a scornful voice from Leon’s soul realm.

[Shut up, demon,] Leon venomously replied. [How I conduct myself in regard to the women I am involved with is not your concern!]

[All right, no need to be so prickly…] Xaphan said, his amusement plain for Leon to hear.

‘There is a need to be prickly, if I’m not, you’ll never shut up!’ Leon silently bellowed at Xaphan, but he made sure not to share it with the demon. It was fortunate that only the thoughts that he specifically directed at the demon and willed for Xaphan to hear reached the demon’s ears. He oftentimes enjoyed bantering with Xaphan, but when it came to more serious things like his and Naiad’s relationship, Leon didn’t want to hear any sarcastic quips from the demon; he just wanted to focus on the task at hand.

Leon and Naiad sat down in the living room, Leon in an armchair and Naiad on the couch. Leon sat in silence while Naiad stared at him, her deep blue eyes never wavering from his. This led Leon to feel more than a little awkward, and after just a few minutes of silence, he was all-but begging in his mind for an end to it.

“… Soooo,” Leon said, drawing the word out because he didn’t have anything to say, he was just making noise to try and alleviate his awkwardness and get Naiad to stop staring so intently at him. She hadn’t stared at him like this before, and he very much wished that she would go back to that habit, though it seemed like his wish was in vain. “… I have to ask, what’s bringing this on?”

[What do you mean?] Naiad asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

“We’ve been living together for weeks, and yet you’re only now coming to me with this now… I can’t help but wonder why.”

[I see…] Naiad whispered, and her eyes mercifully slid from Leon as she leaned back on the couch to think. [Given how much you resisted fulfilling our contract, I figured you would need some time to adjust to our new circumstances. It helped, I think, that first time, but it wasn’t enough. But we’ve still been wasting time and I don’t know how much time I have or how much time that first mating might buy me. I felt so much better afterward, but I have a dreadful feeling that that relief’s only going to be temporary. Whether it’s weeks or months or years, I don’t know, but I do know that I shouldn’t wait now that I have a mate. I’ve already waited too long, we should be doing this a lot more than we have been… I’ve given you time, and I think we should get back to it.]

Leon pursed his lips a bit and he nodded in understanding. He knew why she was doing this, and he had long since stopped hating her for it. She didn’t want to essentially die, to lose her mind to gorgonism. If he were in her shoes, he couldn’t honestly say that he would be doing anything differently. In fact, he couldn’t even rule out the possibility that he’d be far more aggressive once he found a willing partner.

That Naiad was being so accommodating and willing to wait was far more than Leon could ever hope for.

Of course, there was a growing part of him that didn’t mind Naiad being around. The longer she stayed, the more Leon grew used to her presence, even if all she did was stay in the guest rooms, only leaving to get herself food from the kitchen.

[There is… something I’d like to ask,] Naiad began, and she began to look everywhere but at Leon, which the latter noticed. [I have seen many mating pairs of humans since leaving my territory, and I would like to ask about some of these customs I’ve seen…]

“Is that what you’ve been doing all this time?” Leon asked. “Whenever you’re alone in your rooms, you’ve been using your magic senses to watch the people of this city?”

[Yes,] Naiad shamelessly and unhesitatingly answered. Most of the villas and government buildings in the city were warded to prevent such espionage, but the homes of commoners weren’t so protected; if Naiad wanted to, she could watch a commoner family every moment of every day.

“If you’d indulge one question before we get into more… involved subjects, how far can you see with your magic senses?” Leon asked.

[After reaching the… ‘sixth-tier’, I think you call it?] Naiad asked, continuing after Leon nodded in confirmation, [After ascending to the sixth-tier, a mage’s magic senses have the range of their soul realm. I am what you might call an eighth-tier, so my magic senses can almost stretch across this entire Kingdom.]

“That far?” Leon incredulously asked. He couldn’t even begin to fathom how much information that was. He could already see almost an entire mile from himself, but ‘just’ that much was already far more than he could ever hope to handle. He could basically only focus on one thing, like Tiberias’ carriage, for instance, in that radius. Seeing everything within range was effectively impossible for him to do, the sheer volume of information overwhelmed even his magic-enhanced brain.

[That’s my range, I obviously can’t see and process everything in that range,] Naiad honestly answered, calming Leon’s shock a bit.

“That’s still a terrifyingly long way,” Leon said, wondering if he had ever been out of her sight after leaving her cave back in the Talfar Kingdom’s western borderlands.

[Anyway,] Naiad said, steering the conversation back toward what she wanted to discuss, [I was hoping you could answer a few things for me…]

“I don’t pretend to be an expert on human love, but I’ll answer what I can,” Leon said as he braced himself for whatever questions Naiad wanted to ask.

[Why do humans kiss each other?] Naiad asked, her eyes turning back toward Leon and her expression one of utter seriousness. [What purpose does it serve? Is it just an expression of affection?]

Leon blinked in surprise. A question about kissing was certainly not on the list of things he was expecting to hear from Naiad, but he was certainly grateful it wasn’t something more in-depth that she wanted to know about. Of course, that question could always come later, but Leon was grateful anyway.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Leon honestly said. “I can say it’s certainly an instinctual thing, and I like kissing Elise, that’s for sure… I’m not sure about practical reason, though. Perhaps it has to do with how our bodies get used to each other? Like we pass on diseases and what not between us, not that disease is really an issue for mages… But it’s absolutely an expression of affection. I can’t speak too authoritatively on exactly why, but it feels good to kiss someone you love.”

[I see…] Naiad whispered. [Would you kiss me, then?]

Leon frowned a bit. Perhaps stemming from his borderline wild upbringing, he wasn’t the most physically intimate person around. Physical contact with people he wasn’t familiar with was something he found quite uncomfortable. He had no problems kissing Elise, but she was his lover and he was comfortable around her. Naiad, on the other hand, he wasn’t so close to, and he hesitated to fulfill her request.

Given how reticent he usually was to fulfill her requests, though, Naiad wasn’t too surprised when Leon took an unusual amount of time to respond.

“I’m not… entirely opposed to the idea,” Leon said, measuring his words as carefully as he was able to with his heart hammering his ribs, “but…”

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[You want to wait for Elise?] Naiad asked.

Leon nodded.

[It’s a good thing that Elise has come home, then,] Naiad said, turning her head towards the front door.

Leon immediately projected his magic senses and saw what Naiad had already seen: Elise had just walked through the front gate.

When Elise walked inside, she found both Leon and Naiad staring at her as they sat in the living room.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her tone one of both worry and playful teasing. “This isn’t an intervention, is it? You’re both making me feel a little self-conscious here…”

[I would like to mate again,] Naiad bluntly replied.

Elise blinked in surprise, and she glanced at Leon.

“I wanted to wait for you,” he replied with an almost apologetic smile directed at both her and Naiad, implying he had already agreed but wanted to be courteous to her.

For that courtesy, she was grateful, but she was still a little surprised and shocked at how… unromantic it was for Naiad to simply state her desires so plainly.

“… ok,” Elise quietly responded, but the more she thought about it and the more she remembered how surprisingly incredible the last time they had lain together had been, the more into it she started to be. “Ok,” she said again, this time with much more enthusiasm. “Let me take a few minutes to settle in and get ready…”

Naiad smiled in happiness and almost jumped to her feet. She managed to fight off the urge to drag both Leon and Elise to her bedroom; she was getting better at dealing with Leon and Elise’s preferences, and she knew that she was still considered a guest in their home. It was better not to get too forceful.

As Elise took off her shoes and grabbed a snack, she and Leon made small talk about her day. She seemed to move slowly, but Leon could see a few jerky motions here and there that betrayed her rush; she was pretending to not be too interested in sleeping with Leon and Naiad again. Leon felt like he could read a lot into why she was acting like this, but he didn’t, counting himself lucky that she was allowing this at all.

She had told him months ago that she wanted him to start a harem, since in the Bull Kingdom it was a social expectation that a noble of their respective ranks would have one, thus practically requiring one of them to have one to not embarrass themselves, but the issue of Naiad was one that he and Elise really needed to talk more about. After spending weeks with her in his and Elise’s house, Leon was coming around to the idea of adding Naiad to the family, but as an equal part of the family, he needed to know Elise’s thoughts on the matter. For all he knew, she was only willing to indulge the river nymph because she thought their relationship was temporary, and if he and Elise each made contradicting assumptions about Naiad’s place in their lives and never reconciled them, then it would only lead to pain.

Of course, it would all be meaningless if he got Naiad pregnant and she immediately bolted, but at the very least he and Elise would need to talk about what they would do if Naiad stuck around.

‘After this…’ Leon thought with some hesitation. The longer Naiad stayed, the more permanent her presence would be, and the less they had sex, the longer she’d stay. It was best to definitively work out just where the river nymph stood with them and what their relationship would be with her once Naiad had what she wanted.

At some point. He was also quite fine with letting things play out naturally for a while longer before making any demands that would permanently change all of their lives.

With Naiad waiting on them, they couldn’t stall forever. Once Elise made it clear to Leon that she was ready, Leon rose from his seat, Naiad’s expectant gaze locked on him the entire time.

First, Leon went over to Elise, taking her by the hand and pulling her out of her seat. The two lovers wrapped their arms around each other in a tight embrace and kissed. After several long seconds, they then parted and looked to Naiad. They walked over to the river nymph hand-in-hand, and Leon held out his free hand to her just as he had for Elise.

Naiad cocked an eyebrow, but smiled and took it, letting Leon pull her off the couch. She expected that he would then take the two to his bedroom, but instead, Leon took a step forward and softly pressed his lips against Naiad’s.

The river nymph was so surprised that she froze for a moment, her mind going blank. She’d asked for a kiss earlier, but after Leon’s subsequent response, she had thought it would take more pushing on her part to get one.

The kiss didn’t last long. Leon didn’t do much more than press his lips against Naiad’s, but when he pulled away, he stared into her eyes and gave her a wily smile. That smile lit something in Naiad, and she decided that she wasn’t going to wait any longer.

However, Leon moved first. Holding both Elise’s and Naiad’s hand, he steered them both towards the bedroom, all three with bashful but eager smiles on their faces.

As soon as they were in the bedroom and the curtains were drawn, it was like an explosion of clothes; all three were more than ready, and they wanted to get down to business. Unlike last time, though, Naiad wasn’t going to be an idle participant.

She didn’t wait for Leon to go to Elise first, instead she practically charged at Leon, tackling him into the bed and pressing her lips against his—though she accidentally bumped her nose against his as she went in. With a few minutes to think about it, she’d decided that she had liked it when he’d kissed her, and now she wanted to do it more. It felt similar to when she and Leon first had sex; their magic power was intertwining and connecting them on more than a physical level, and her magic power started to go wild in her body in response.

When Leon kissed her, he hadn’t exerted too much pressure; he was relatively tender and gave Naiad plenty of room to pull back if she had wanted to. Naiad, however, was far more intense, pressing her lips against Leon’s like she was trying to fuse them into a single set. It was clumsy, but electric for her.

Elise wasn’t going to stand there and wait her turn. Once Naiad and Leon were on the bed, she swiftly joined them, crawling over and pressing her face into Leon’s neck. Naiad didn’t seem to notice and didn’t let up on Leon for what seemed like an eternity.

When Naiad finally did become aware of Elise’s movements a few moments later, the two women locked eyes for a brief moment, Naiad’s seeming to glitter in triumph at Elise for moving first. Elise smiled back, accepting the river nymph’s challenge, and brought one of Leon’s hands to her ample chest as she let one of hers slowly trace his chiseled abdomen underneath Naiad.

Not to be outdone, Naiad broke the kiss and leaned back, staring directly into Leon’s eyes. Leon was already set to go, so she positioned herself directly over his hips and angled him into place. Before she could drop her own hips, though, Leon wrapped his hands around her waist and tossed her down onto the bed beside him, opposite to Elise. He then rolled over on top of Naiad.

A quick glance and a smile to Elise was all his fire-haired lover needed to know what he wanted, and she scooted a bit closer as well, taking a position beside the two.

Leon kissed Naiad once more, teasing her lips with his tongue a bit before moving down to her neck. After snaking a hand beneath Naiad’s back, Leon slightly lifted her and pressed their chests together.

With Naiad’s mouth now free and Leon holding her in place, Elise slid even closer, until her own face was mere inches from Naiad’s. The river nymph’s eyes seemed almost glazed over at this point despite Leon not even entering her yet, and for all her power, she could barely muster the strength to turn her head to see what Elise was doing. The first indication she got that Elise wasn’t hovering near their faces for Leon, though, was when Elise leaned over and gently kissed her, doing little more than tenderly brushing her lips against Naiad’s.

Naiad had never looked at Elise as a potential sex partner. Her ideas of sex were purely for the purposes of mating, the indescribably pleasurable experience that was her first time notwithstanding. She couldn’t make a child with Elise, and so Naiad had never truly considered the two of them doing something like this.

However, with Elise’s lips against hers and with Leon’s lips against her neck and his arms around her, Naiad’s body seemed to almost vibrate in joy. Her magic power blossomed within her, driving away any concerns that she may have had that her body was beginning to gorgonize again. Her brain went into overdrive trying to deal with so much pleasure, and she barely noticed Leon and Elise’s hands running up and down her body. She didn’t notice Leon holding her even tighter and raising her further, allowing Elise’s fit form to snake in beneath her. She didn’t notice Leon gently setting her back down in Elise’s arms, nor did she notice Leon’s lips moving downward.

Leon kissed his way down from her neck to her—in Leon’s opinion, at least—delightfully large chest, pausing for a moment to lavish some attention upon her there. At the same time, with one hand on Naiad’s chin, Elise turned the river nymphs head to the side where they could continue to kiss, while her other hand wrapped around Naiad’s ribs just below her breasts and held her in place. Leon then raised his free hand and lightly grasped Naiad’s other breast, drawing a light circle with his thumb around her nipple.

After a few blissful seconds, Leon moved on from Naiad’s breasts and continued his expedition south. He gave his red-haired lover’s pale arm, tightly wrapped around Naiad’s lower ribs, a few quick nibbles, then moved on down to Naiad’s tight bronze abs.

With his lips and tongue, Leon traced the river nymph’s toned waist, while Elise moved both of her hands to take advantage of Naiad’s recently-freed breasts. So much stimulation finally began to elicit a few moans of pleasure out of the river nymph that were muffled a bit by Elise’s own lips, and that was enough for Leon and Elise to pause for a moment. But only a moment.

After giving Naiad’s abs plenty of affection, Leon kept moving downward, his hand drifting down from her lower back to her butt as he did so. Upon reaching Naiad’s hairless lower lips, Leon gave the tanned river nymph a few more kisses; though not the type that Naiad had earlier demanded of him, she savored them all the same, especially when he focused on the aroused nub at the top of her slit.

Naiad was already quite wet and ready down there, but Leon spent plenty of time making sure of that fact, gently biting, sucking, and licking her lips until he was beyond any doubt, reasonable or not, that she was ready for the main event.

It was only then that he straightened up and let Naiad back down onto the bed, fully entrusting the river nymph to Elise. For a moment, though, he and Elise’s eyes met each other. Elise was still busy kissing Naiad, but she still gave Leon a smoldering look; it was just enough for Leon to know that this was all right to her, that there was no more reason for him to hesitate.

Leon took ahold of Naiad’s legs and raised them up a bit, setting them upon his hips. He then positioned himself at Naiad’s entrance and slowly thrust into the river nymph.

Naiad screamed into Elise’s mouth from the pleasure and her body began to twitch. Her legs instinctively tightened and wrapped around Leon’s waist, preventing him from leaving her. Any semblance of awareness that Naiad had left was obliterated, and everything that happened next was a blur of pleasure and rapturous fulfillment.