Chapter 1

I took a steadying breath as I raised my pistol toward the blackened trees, but my finger just stayed frozen on the trigger. This would be my sixth attempt at wielding the lightning rune, and after electrocuting myself two of those times, I wasn’t feeling too confident about this next trial run. Still, I double checked every elemental line before I left the house, and the rune had to be spot on now.

I was pretty sure the webbing element interrupted the directional degree marker last time, so I’d altered this line once again on the engraving, but it was hard to tell if I had it right. Just when I thought I’d figured the rune out, it would turn out that I accidentally overdid another line by a fraction of a hair, and this was enough to throw everything out of balance again. I was this close to giving up altogether, but I couldn’t forget the sight of the lightning rune’s magic bursting all over the Oculus the day I took Hulsan down, and having a weapon no mage could counter was too tempting to turn my back on.

I really didn’t want to get electrocuted again, though.

My previous trial run left me blacked out in the forest for hours before my women found me and dragged me back to the house, and it took another hour of effort on their parts to wake me up. Needless to say, Shoshanne refused to let me give it a last try, but I finally snuck out tonight while they were all heading upstairs to get ready for another erotic evening. It would be fifteen minutes or so before they noticed I wasn’t finishing up a few things in my shop, but hopefully, I’d be conscious and already back home by then.

Luckily, after our first night with the Baroness, my women had gotten extremely inspired with our bedroom antics, and every night seemed to be more elaborate than the last. I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever have a casual night in again, but I had no complaints. If they wanted to keep cooking up new ways of combining our powers to make our evenings either blind, chain-laden, or up in flames, then I’d gladly oblige their kinky appetites.

Even with all the complex recreational activities, though, I didn’t feel remotely at ease lately. It had been a week since we recaptured the dragons and freed them from the Master’s rune, and I didn’t doubt he knew what we’d done almost immediately.

Which was why this past week only left me more on edge than ever. Not one attack had taken place after that night, and since the Master hadn’t eased up on us in ages, this long pause was less than reassuring.

I honestly would have felt better if he sent out even a few mages to drown and brand some of us. Then I could have used the opportunity to track down this unknown element he was using to transport his troops, but until he made another move, I had no leads to follow.

My women were certainly happy about this, though. They’d treated the past week like a vacation, and after they kept me up half the night making sensual demands, they spent half their waking hours in our new training hall. Sometimes they practiced with their daggers or helped Deya perfect her aim with the 1911, but mostly they took turns “playing” with our new flail and attempting to lift my tungsten axes for longer than a few seconds.

A surprising number of these training sessions took place with little to no clothing required, so I spent a lot of my designing time with my back propped against the wall and half an eye on my women’s flawless bodies while they paired off for combat training. When they finally redressed themselves and headed to the training fields to check on the mages, I’d drag myself back to my workshop and engrave another fifty or so magazines.

Overall, the lack of life-threatening situations had my women convinced the Master was out of ideas and that I was just too good at this, but I knew better. No one with a fortress that big and an agenda like his ever ran out of ideas, which meant something colossal had to be coming. For all I knew, this was it, and the Master was finally prepared to make his big grab and take over the regions once and for all.

So, I tried to embrace this lull as best I could because a break was definitely overdue, but my nerves kept me on my toes regardless. I couldn’t ignore the panic rooted in my stomach over the new elemental line Nulena had taught me about, and while I would have loved to spend my free time coming up with a foolproof means of ensuring none of these portals could show up in or around my town, this was impossible. Without knowing anything about the element, I couldn’t do anything to counter it, and this dead end was primarily what kept me from embracing my brief vacation.

At first, I stayed busy engraving five hundred more fireball magazines and replicating my 1911s so my women, Haragh, and I each had two. Cayla commissioned her favorite leather maker from Serin to create custom holsters and magazine pouches for all of us, too, so now my women could choose whether to wear their diamond studded drop holsters, or opt for a more practical design that hitched to their sword belts.

Beyond this, I’d also come up with twenty different options for how to protect Mors Pass with only one channeling gem left in my stash, and I started some mappings of Falmount in order to decide how to utilize and secure all the land the king gave me. I made sure to visit the Oculus every day to assist with the repairs, too, and I arranged to have most of the metal from my mine sent to the blacksmiths’ quarters so they could get up and running sooner.

In the meantime, though, the dwarven Elders had made good on their word. Four hundred expertly wrought broadswords arrived at the Serin station only yesterday, and the Illarian nobility gladly paid top dollar for the first shipment of freshly mined alexandrite that was sent as well.

Now, only minor repairs were left for the Oculus, along with piecing together the multicolored dome of the Great Library. I’d seen most of the mages already getting back to their studies there, too, but while the Defenders and I worked to rebuild structures and fuse together crumbled pathways, I was constantly expecting an attack. This was mostly why I was in the underground city for hours at a time, especially with Big Red still on duty in Falmount while Big Guy delivered the Osullas to the south.

It was an ideal opportunity for the Master to launch an insurmountable attack, but for some unknown reason, no possessed troops ever arrived.

However, tonight marked exactly one week since Deya and I flew through the foothills and took down one possessed dragon after another, and my gut told me this calm would be coming to an end soon, most likely with a deadly storm.

So, I steadied my stance and took another breath because I really, really needed this lightning rune to be ready for action when that moment came. Then I finally pulled the trigger, and this time, the strength of the lightning rune didn’t misdirect and surge up my arm.

The copper bullet that shot from the barrel of my 1911 was surrounded by a wispy vortex of blue lightning bolts, and I could feel a static energy building in the air around me. Then the tangle of electrical currents collided with the trunk of an old oak tree, and with a loud crack, lightning sprawled out in an intricate web to envelope the entire trunk.

Relief immediately flooded my veins, and I let out the breath I’d been holding while I reveled in the pop of the bolts as a vibrant blue light illuminated the trees around me. After a full minute, the lightning began to die down, and I walked over as the last zap of blue crawled across the charred trunk and faded away.

“Fucking finally,” I muttered to myself as I trailed my fingertips along the heated bark.

Initially, I’d intended to send out an inconspicuous bullet charged with a blast of lightning, much like the fireball rune, but in every trial run, the bullets kept coming out visibly laced with lightning. At least I didn’t get electrocuted, though, and the amount of lightning I sent into the tree was exactly the balance I needed to accomplish my goal. It didn’t branch off uncontrollably to latch onto the surrounding trees, but it managed to envelope the entirety of my target, and that meant I finally did it.

Now, all I had to do was replicate the rune a few hundred more times.

I left myself bask in my glory for a moment as I admired the pistol in my hand and eyed the charred tree, but I didn’t head back to the house just yet. I could hear the distant whir of a pair of treads, and I knew one of my automatons was seeking me out.

What I didn’t expect, though, was the familiar indigo glow that came through the trees a few minutes later, and a huge grin came to my face as I laughed with relief.

“There you are!” I called out as I waved my hand high above my head. “I was beginning to worry you got lost along the way.”

Big Guy came to stop in front of me as he snapped a crisp salute in greeting, but I just threw my arms around his giant metal waist for a hug.

“Man, it’s so good to see you again,” I mumbled against his steel plates before I released the giant sentry with a sturdy pat to his forearm. “So much has happened since you left, I don’t even know where to begin, but you go first. Tell me everything. Did you get the Osullas delivered? Did you have any trouble finding the smoke lands south of Nalnora? Were you able to keep them all sedated for the trip? Are your treads worn out anywhere?”

Big Guy’s blue gaze held mine for a long moment like he was making sure I was done, but then he offered only a single nod, and I could sense he was happy to be home.

“That’s such a relief,” I replied with a grin. “I knew I could trust you with this mission. You’re probably eager to get some rest after that journey, though. Why don’t we head back to the house? I think you’ll approve of the updates I’ve been making, and guess what? We have eels now! They’re so cute, you’re gonna love them.”

I motioned for Big Guy to follow me, and the two of us began making our way through the western woods while I briefed him on the latest developments, including my most recent stint of flying on a dragon without dying. Big Guy nodded here and there, but when I told him about Deya sustaining an injury in battle, his ominous gaze turned to me in a way that showed how concerned he was for my elf.

So, I quickly explained Shoshanne’s ability to heal Deya’s dragon form through her elven one, and this made the big metal man completely stop in his tracks.

“Right?” I chuckled. “It’s pretty incredible and leads to so many questions I have about transmuting, but this does mean the risk of Deya becoming possessed while transmuting is higher than we anticipated. I’ve been working on coming up with a means of protecting all of Mors Pass to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, and I think I’ve almost landed on the right design, but it’s a lot more complex than anything I’ve ever attempted before. I honestly don’t know if I can make it work, but if I can, we shouldn’t have to worry about the dragons’ safety ever again.”

Big Guy’s gem burned brighter at the thought, and having him back in Falmount to discuss my ideas with him was almost exciting enough to distract me from my nerves. He’d always been my right-hand metal man, well, him and Stan, and I was bouncing on my toes with every step now that I had Big Guy back with me. So, I prattled on like a kid after summer vacation while I told Big Guy about everything from Pindor being a noble to the Baroness spending every evening she could with us. I told him about the new fleet of snatchers I’d sent out, my flail lessons with Aurora, and I even dropped a hint or two about my unbridled attempts at getting all of my women pregnant.

Because this had secretly become my number two priority in this realm.

Having an enormous mansion made it that much more difficult to try and catch my women either drinking or not drinking their silly tea, so I gave up trying to scope the situation out. Instead, I’d started willing my semen to develop a superhuman potency that could overpower any magical tea my women did or did not have on hand, and our recent escapades in the bedroom provided me with ample opportunities to fill their wombs until they were dripping with my seed. Then I’d bend each of them over for another round, and another, and I doubted any magical tea in any realm stood a chance against that.

With any luck, I’d be the proud father of a whole slew of murderous mages within the year, but they’d be cute, not like the scary possessed versions. Strictly cute murderers, very much like some of their mamas, and maybe a few of the babies would have silver eyes like me.

Big Guy graciously agreed to help keep my hypothetical kids from falling into my moat, and I was just getting to my concerns about this recent lull in the action when the automaton’s attention suddenly shifted, and I could sense tension building in his gem as the pulse slowed to a heavy thrum. Then I saw a red glow through the trees ahead, and I sighed as I glanced sidelong at Big Guy.

“Yeah … ” I mumbled and cleared my throat. “I had Big Red stand in for your patrol while you took care of the Osulla situation.”

We came to a stop in the clearing beside the infirmary where Big Red was standing at attention, and he must have seen me head into the western woods earlier, because he seemed to be waiting there in case I didn’t get back okay.

“Hey, buddy,” I said, even though Big Red was looking at Big Guy instead of me. “I was just telling your brother what’s been going on lately, and that you were more than willing to step in on short notice to help with his patrol.”

Neither automaton gave any sign they’d heard me, and I shifted my boots as I glanced between the two. Their eerie glowing eyes peered from beneath their steel helms while they considered one another in a weighted silence, and I was a little surprised to sense their rivalry had only grown since the last time they were near each other. I’d kind of hoped absence would make the gems grow fonder, but apparently, they’d spent this time apart making internal lists of the things they hated about each other instead.

“So! Big Guy’s solo mission to the south went off without a hitch,” I proudly told Big Red, but the automaton didn’t move a single metal limb as I turned to his brother. “And Big Red’s been doing a great job keeping a close eye on the town. He’s even started doing some one-on-one training sessions, kind of like us.”

This got Big Guy’s attention, and his indigo eyes snapped furiously to mine.

“Not with me!” I chuckled awkwardly. “Come on, Big Guy, you know you’re my designated training buddy. This is for my squire, Jenik. It’s actually nothing like us, forget I said that. Big Red’s just going over standard swordplay and helping Jenik gain some confidence with a blade.”

The bloody gem in Big Red’s chest pulsed smugly despite the look Big Guy turned his way, and as I crossed my arms, I decided it was time I finally drew the line with these two.

“Look, I don’t want to be that dad, but I’m not above rewiring the two of you,” I informed the automatons, and both of their gems stuttered. “You heard me. I’ll alter your orders from the ground up until you’re holding each other’s hands, and big metal hugs will be a daily thing around here. How does that sound? Because I think I’ve made it pretty clear I’m equally proud of both of you lately, but teamwork is an essential part of this operation. All your other brothers get along just fine. It’s only the two of you who can’t seem to get past this petty rivalry, and if you don’t work it out, it’ll cost us in the long run. So, what’s it gonna be?”

Neither of my machines acknowledged my little speech beyond a barely noticeable flicker in their gems, and I was about to spark my magic to prove I meant business.

Then a blood curdling scream rent the air, and we all whipped around.

We stood there for a moment and stared down the torchlit lane while my pulse pounded in my ears, but then the bells at the top of Magehill began to clang, and more high-pitched screams reached us.

For the first time ever, Falmount Rift was under attack.

Chapter 2

“Son of a bitch!” I growled as I barreled down the lane with my automatons on either side, and I checked to make sure I had a spare fireball magazine stored on my belt.

Mages streamed out their homes and into the streets as panic swept through the village, but I was glad to see them mostly keeping their cool under pressure. The residents of Falmount had their rifles and revolvers cocked and at the ready, and when I ordered them to fall back and conceal their positions, the majority promptly took the cue and crouched behind trees, under awnings, and around the shadowy edges of their homes.

Others just ran in every direction as the bells clanged on, but I shoved through the mayhem and scanned the perimeter with my Terra powers to locate the threat. My legs went numb when I registered the massive footfalls pounding over the tracks, and I already knew what we were up against before the first guttural roar broke out.

Big Red and Big Guy were ready to plow right through the crowd, but I hollered for them to hold back as I tried to decide what the fuck to do about this.

I could see the blood red and bulging eyes of the Master’s ogres now as they tore their way over the tracks and into the streets, and their browned, broken teeth were bared while they foamed at the mouth. Then they used their bare hands and giant clubs to rip through the first homes they came across, and even after Haragh slammed into my side and clutched my shoulder in an iron grip, I still stayed there staring as three possessed ogres beat their way straight through the stone walls.

“Haragh,” I muttered, “these guys are possessed as hell.”

“Yeah, I’d say so,” the half-ogre agreed as an entire wall keeled over and crashed into the street.

“I don’t know if I can save--”

I didn’t get any further because an ogre snatched an Ignis Mage and lifted him over his head, and I could hear bones beginning to snap in the ogre’s grip just before I raised my pistol and pulled the trigger.

I was so caught up in the sudden attack, though, that I forgot I still had the new lightning magazine loaded, and my heart nearly stopped as I noticed the tangled knot of lightning flickering around the bullet.

Then it struck the ogre, and lightning shot from his gaping mouth to curl back on itself and completely engulf his body. The sprawling web of bolts coursed over every inch of him, but I could also see the tendrils burrowing into his green flesh like electric needles as he shook from head to toe.

Luckily, the violent convulsion ripping through the ogre made him drop the mage before the lightning could transfer into his body, too, and I sprinted over to drag the guy out of range as the ogre began to char to his core.

“Get to the infirmary,” I ordered while the mage winced from his effort to stand, and I handed him to a passing Flumen Mage since he clearly couldn’t make it on his own.

The two mages just stared at the electrified ogre for a long moment before they finally turned tail, and Haragh was standing shell shocked when I got back to him.

Then we exchanged a brief glance before he pulled both of his pistols out.

“It’s us or them,” he growled. “Kill ‘em all.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice.

Big Guy and Big Red’s swords unsheathed at the same time as I pulled my second pistol out, and they turned their ominous eyes toward one another above my head.

“I expect you boys to work together on this,” I informed them as the crack of revolvers split the air. “For the good of the town.”

The metal men still turned in opposite directions, though, and I dove behind the edge of a house as Haragh stormed straight into the mayhem.

I swiftly scanned the streets before I fired on the first three ogres I saw, and I managed to catch them just in time to spare a group of mages who’d taken cover in their home.

“Stay in there and fire from the windows!” I ordered as the mages’ eyes went wide, and they gaped at the sight of the massive ogres convulsing in a tangle of electric blue lightning.

The mages snapped out of it when I sprinted past them, though, and they had their revolvers propped on the windowpane within a few seconds before they began firing on all targets in rapid succession.

Still, more and more ogres were trudging over the railway and spilling into Falmount, and the Defenders passed me by with their powers sparked for action. They all reeked of ale, but they didn’t hesitate to throw everything they had at the ogres, and when the green giants crashed down as the Terra mages got to work, Kurna lit the tracks on fire with a fifteen-foot blaze.

This only seemed to piss the ogres off more, though, and they were twice as barbaric after they tore through the flaming wall and lurched at the Defenders.

Two men’s heads were torn from their shoulders before they could do anything to defend themselves, but I swiftly electrocuted both of their attackers and took out another two just behind them. Then the Defenders combined their efforts in circuits, and I was about to holster my pistols and join them when someone screamed my name in a surprisingly pissed off tone.

That’s when I turned to find all of my women with their bows strapped on, gun belts secured, and spare swords in hand. They were in a line with thoroughly icy glares on their faces, but I wasn’t focused on their expressions. Even with gunfire and bellowing roars echoing around me, I could only stare at their bodies.

“What the fuck?” I mumbled as I eyed the thin strips of leather that barely concealed my women’s nipples.

The rest of their ensembles were literally just leather straps scantily placed for my own enjoyment, but luckily, their leather thongs covered enough to keep me from having to send them straight home no matter how well armed they were.

“Why aren’t you in bed?” Cayla demanded as she crossed her arms, and I raised my brows as the leather strap across her nipples shifted a fraction of an inch.

“Me?” I scoffed. “The way you’re dressed, all of you should be in bed! This is an attack, not a--”

“We were in bed,” Aurora cut in, and her fiery gaze silenced me. “We waited thirty minutes for you. Where have you been?”

“Um … ”

An ogre crashed right through the house to my left while I fumbled for a better response, and I leapt at the opportunity.

“There’s definitely more important things going on right now,” I decided.

“You were playing with that lightning rune again!” Shoshanne gasped.

“I was not!” I lied, but I was already turning toward the ogre who was seconds away from tearing one of my mages’ jugulars out with his teeth.

Then I sent a bullet straight into the ogre’s chest before he got a firm hold on the mage, and when he convulsed in a web of lightning, I bit my lip and chanced a glance over my shoulder.

Shoshanne pursed her lips in disapproval, and her cheeks were flushed with rage.

“Okay, I was working on the lightning rune, but don’t look at me like that,” I groaned. “This is such a win, and you know it. Look! I’m totally conscious and kicking ass, right?”

“You’re so incredibly sexy,” Cayla informed me, and I grinned at the hooded cast of her blue eyes while she eyed the pistol in my hand.

“Me or the gun?” I clarified.

“You,” she replied. “Both. All of it, just …” The princess let out an irritated huff as her cheeks turned pink, and she tensely sheathed her sword as she pulled her pistols out instead. “Let’s get these fuckers killed so we can go have sex.”

“Deal,” Aurora said with a smirk, and Deya giggled in approval as she trotted over to give me a kiss on the cheek. Then she flickered out of sight, and Shoshanne turned on her heels to go kill some ogres while she stubbornly avoided my gaze.

Which was fine by me because the view from the back was absolutely fantastic, and the healer always had an extra bit of sass in her step when she was mad at me for risking my own safety.

So, I crinkled my brow as the torchlight glistened on Shoshanne’s perfect caramel ass with every stride, and I could tell she was just as pissed about being so exposed in public as she was about me sneaking out to mess around with lightning.

She raised her pistol toward every mage who had the gall to stare too openly, and they all shrank away and returned to their efforts against the ogres as I chuckled merrily to myself.

“What was that about more important things going on?” Aurora asked in my ear, and she wore a devilish grin on her face when I looked her way.

“Sorry,” I muttered, but I admired the taut leather strapped across her breasts for a second before I fired on three passing ogres.

“Watch your back!” Kurna suddenly bellowed and raised his palms toward us, and we ducked as a jet of flames shot out from both of his hands. The fire billowed out to cover the entire lane, and the five hulking ogres who were about to close in on us were immersed in amber flames.

The bastards kept stumbling forward, though, even as their flesh blistered and split open from Kurna’s wrath, and the mages taking cover between the houses fired their revolvers from either side.

Aurora and I crawled out of range while I watched the ogres finally drop to their knees, but they clawed at the dirt as they fought to get at us until every inch of them was burned away.

Then Kurna finally ceased his flames, and I could see from his eyes that he was just as unnerved as I was by the resilience of the Master’s ogres. The brawny Ignis Mage only nodded in my direction, though, before he sprinted down another lane with his palms raised, and Aurora shot to her feet as she bolted into the fray and fired her pistol toward the deluge spilling over the tracks.

Then I dodged a swinging club as two young mages teamed up to try and drown my attacker, but even combined, their powers were no match for his brute strength. The ogre turned on them before they could summon enough water to fill his enormous lungs, but I had my pistol aimed at the ready, and just as he reached the pair of Flumen mages, I sent a bullet into the back of his head.

Blood and brains sprayed out all over the mages while they screeched at the sight of his violent convulsions, and I moved on to the next ogre.

I brought another four down by the time the first one fell into a charred heap, and then I paused and ducked behind Flynt’s Pub to take stock of the village. We weren’t winning yet by any means, but we were holding out, and flames billowed up the lanes while the ground broke apart all over the place. The crack of revolvers and rifles echoed through the air while mages took turns firing their weapons or summoning their powers, and for a moment, I was floored with the amount of improvement I was seeing amongst the younger mages. There wasn’t a single mage out there who couldn’t wield their element readily, and they were following the Defenders’ lead to combine their strength in circuits, too.

I could tell the ordinary bullets were barely affecting the giant ogres, but the revolvers were holding the possessed creatures at bay long enough for the mages’ combined efforts to overpower them.

So, I emptied the last of my lightning magazine into three more ogres who had a handful of mages cornered across the market, and I made sure to pocket the magazine for later before I loaded my next one. I was just about to fire on an ogre who had a mage’s decapitated head dangling from one hand when a vicious snarl broke out, and I recognized the sound of Taru’s fury.

Then Haragh turned on a pair of mages.

“Shoot my women would ye’?” the half-ogre roared, and I’d never seen so much hatred in his eyes before. “Get over here! I’ll tear your heart right out your assholes!”

The mages who’d mistaken Taru for one of the Master’s ogres scrambled to get away, but Haragh was hot on their tails as Taru took her anger out on a nearby ogre. She split the guy’s face wide open with a single blow from her club, but she still beat him to a pulp while blood trickled from the bullet hole in her arm.

She was vicious enough to tear these guys apart even with the Master’s rune on them, and knowing I had an army of ogres in Jagruel just waiting for my orders eased my mounting concern over how much destruction was being unleashed on Falmount right now.

Grot had told me he was missing forty-eight ogres, but that was weeks ago, and there were nearly as many runed ogres currently spilling into my town. My first thought was that the Master might have found a means of adding to his numbers since we’d left Jagruel, so I decided to contact Grot the moment this was all handled to be sure Max was doing his job out there. If not, we had bigger problems than I’d thought, because a mage across the market just emptied his entire cylinder into the chest of an oncoming ogre, and the fucker was still coming after him when Taru pounced and tore his face off with her teeth.

Ruela was tearing through the flaming market, too, with fresh blood all over her sable fur, and when I saw her take down an ogre in a single bite, I knew she could handle herself out there. She was already eating his guts before he even died, and the resemblance between her and Deya as a dragon was just uncanny.

That’s when I caught sight of Cayla, though, and all of my attention shot to the taut leather straps pinching her porcelain frame as she stalked along the edge of a building with a pistol in each hand. The princess moved as stealthily as a cat, and she kept her icy eyes scanning carefully despite the chaos swarming around us. When I squinted through the smoke and flames, there were so many ogres I couldn’t tell who she had in mind, but then Cayla emerged from her cover to take her stance.

One by one, every ogre in the marketplace began dropping into a fiery chasm while Cayla picked them off like flies, and she didn’t miss a single shot while I fought to keep my blood flowing in the proper direction. It was nearly impossible, though, since her breasts jolted against the thin leather straps with every pull of the trigger, and the moment the marketplace was cleared, Cayla handily ejected both magazines, reloaded while she ducked between two more buildings, and started to stalk silently down the lanes.

“Damn,” I sighed as her porcelain backend disappeared from view, and I finally remembered I was supposed to be kicking ass right now. “Shit.”

I bolted along the back of the buildings until I was near the train station, and since there were no more ogres coming in, I leapt onto the platform before I emptied my magazine on eleven hulking beasts. The shards of stone and torches they held dropped to the ground as they burst into flames, and I wrenched my dwarven sword from its sheath while I jumped down into the streets once more.

Then I hacked at every green limb I could reach, and as whole forearms were severed and guts impaled, I could feel the strength of the mages’ powers surging all around me.

Aurora was close by now as she sent a jet of flames straight into the snarling face of her attacker, and while he flailed and fought to get at her still, she swiftly unsheathed a dagger and buried it in a passing ogre’s neck. Then she stooped and whipped her leg around to knock his legs out from under him, and as both ogres crashed into one another, she pulled out another two daggers and rammed them into their ears.

The fierce half-elf was grinning when she set fire to both of their twitching bodies, and her grin only grew wider when she caught me staring. Then Aurora winked and snapped the leather strap of her thong, and I would have literally lost my head if Cayla hadn’t spotted the ogre coming at me from the sidelines.

The princess buried a bullet right between his eyes before she took another two down, and then she tossed me a spare magazine with a casual smirk.

“Having trouble focusing, baron?” Cayla purred.

I caught the magazine despite my sweaty palms, but Aurora was already gone by the time I got my pistol reloaded and turned to the flaming ogres she’d left behind.

“Godsdamnit,” I muttered, and Cayla chuckled.

“The sooner you kill these guys, the sooner you can join us back in bed,” Cayla reminded me, and she emptied the last of her own magazine before she holstered her pistols.

“I’m working on it,” I growled and dodged a massive club.

“I’ve seen you do better,” the princess teased, and I narrowed my eyes at the challenge in her tone.

Then she pulled her whip from the clasp on her belt, and I had to look away, otherwise I’d never get a damn thing accomplished. I still enjoyed the sound of her leather thrashing the ogres, though, and every furious snarl was met with another sound lashing while Aurora chuckled and paired up with the princess.

One woman whipped them while the other set them on fire, and I was about to tear the ground open for them so they had somewhere to steer their victims, but someone else did it for me.

That’s when I finally saw Pindor through the crowd, and he had a cocky grin on his face that was honestly well earned this time. I watched him fire his revolver with incredible precision while simultaneously burying my women’s attackers with his Terra powers, and Mina sent him a flirty smile from his side.

The two of them worked their way through the streets like this was the best date they’d ever been on, and every time Mina set someone on fire, Pindor was right there to either bury the asshole or blow his brains out.

“Is that what we look like?” I muttered as I nudged Aurora, and the half-elf let Cayla whip her attacker for a bit while she craned her neck to get a good look.

“Not at all,” Aurora chuckled. “I’m mostly naked, and you’re covered in blood again. Totally different.”

I looked down, and she wasn’t wrong. Ogre blood was splattered all over my chest and drenching my sleeves.

“Godsdamnit,” I sighed, “Cayla just got me this shirt yesterday.”

“Then take it off,” Aurora purred before she flipped around and sent a wall of flames over six ogres with a genuinely chilling cackle.

Cayla kept whipping the ogres as the two women drove the herd of brutes into another trench, and I sealed it off until the snarls of the ogres were silenced.

Then I caught sight of Big Red, and he had three growling ogres hanging from his limbs while he spun in circles and tried to shake them off.

The momentum finally shifted one of the beasts down his arm a ways, and the automaton quickly fired his crossbow straight into the ogre’s gut. Then he fired three more arrows as he hurled a second ogre to the ground, and the moment both of them hit the dirt, Big Guy sped over and flattened them under his treads. I furrowed my brow as Big Red chucked the last ogre off his back, and once Big Guy decapitated him with his sword, the two automatons went suddenly stock still as they considered one another.

They were clearly sharing a moment, but I couldn’t tell if this was a bad or good thing. I half expected them to finally turn on one another with those massive swords of theirs, but they didn’t. They turned their backs on each other instead and branched off down two separate streets, and I sighed as I watched them go.

Then I leapt out of the way of a gnarled club before I sent two fireball bullets into another ogre, and I emptied the last of my magazine into the fray as three Defenders ran past with deadly grins on their faces.

Judging by this, I knew the tides had already turned in our favor, but the sound of mages screeching doused my excitement in seconds flat.

“Get out of the way!” a man screamed, and a sea of mages stampeded down the lane looking pale as death.

Beyond them, I could see Big Red’s ominous eyes burning blood red, and for a second, it looked like he was coming after the mages. Then I realized there were ten ogres attempting to make a break for it, but he hounded after them, and he was only a few feet behind when I heard a familiar chink of metal.

That’s when Big Guy’s massive blade shot out from behind a building, and every fleeing ogre met the edge of his sword before their heads went flying in all directions.

Suddenly, my heart began to swell despite my best efforts to not get mushy, but I couldn’t help it. My boys were actually working together, and they fucking obliterated ten ogres in seconds flat. They were like big stubborn babies realizing they could get along for the sake of annoying their parents, except they used their powers for good instead of evil, and now, they rolled their steel treads over the corpses of their victims while I stood there lost in a glory moment.

Then Big Red came to a stop at Big Guy’s side, and the two automatons exchanged a stoic high five that made my heart burst into little metal pieces.

“I’m so fucking proud,” I mumbled, and I tried to swipe the water from my eyes, but I ended up with fresh ogre blood all over my face instead. “Oh, well.”

“Defender Flynt!” Kurna called as he jogged over, and I manfully forced a warrior’s scowl onto my face as I turned his way. “I think we’ve gotten most of them. There’s only a handful left near the market, but they’re trying to make a break for it.”

“Shit,” I cursed as Big Guy and Big Red turned toward the market, and I ran at an all-out sprint to catch them. “Hold on!”

Big Guy already had two ogres impaled on his blade by the time I made it there, though, and Big Red was fixing to slice straight through the last three as he raised his arm high.

“Halt!” I ordered as I burst through the crowd of gaping mages, and Big Red froze in place before he could get a slice in. “No one fire! Let them go!”

“Mason, what are you--” I heard Cayla ask in confusion, but I sprinted past everyone as the last three ogres fled over the tracks and into the woods.

I could hear my women panting while they tried to keep up with us, and I forced my legs to pump faster as the ogres snarled and broke through every branch and bramble in their path. My heightened sight helped me keep track of them despite the endless darkness between us, and I was only yards behind when they abruptly vanished.

“There!” I gasped, and I crashed to my knees as I came to the spot they’d disappeared from.

Then I rifled through the leaves and brambles as I scoured the ground and rocks, and when I found nothing, I clamored toward the trees and began checking every inch of their bark.

“Wh-What are you doing?” Aurora managed when she came to a panting stop.

“Find the mark,” I ordered. “They vanished right here. It has to be somewhere.”

My women immediately began scouring the trees around us as they realized what I was after, and it took us several minutes of frantic searching in the dark before Deya gasped.

“Mason, it’s here!” the beautiful elf called, and we all ran over to crouch near a thorny mess of brambles surrounding two oak trees.

I ripped the brambles apart while their thorns tore into the tender flesh of my arms, but where the two trunks were wedged together at the base, I saw a distinct and freshly carved line. I dropped to my knees as I tried for a closer look, and it was only a single, slender line, but it was too distinct to be accidental. The line laid at a sixty-degree angle that would have been difficult to create in such a small space with all the thorns surrounding it, and it was about four inches long. Then I pressed my fingers against the freshly exposed wood, and I closed my eyes as I tried to focus on a different presence than what I was used to.

I didn’t know the name of this element, so I couldn’t summon its powers, and since it wasn’t made of any material my magery could connect to, I had to rely on my experience with rune magic instead.

Still, after a few minutes, I knew I sensed something in the wood, and while I couldn’t identify what it was, the presence grew heavier in the air around me the longer I focused on the mark.

“This is it,” I muttered under my breath. “This is the mark they used to get here.”

“Should we destroy it?” Shoshanne asked at once.

“Yeah,” I said, but I carefully studied the angle the line was placed at to imprint it in my mind before I nodded.

Then Aurora summoned her flames, and she lit the entire tree on fire as we all stepped back. We were still working to catch our breaths while we watched the enchanted flames build and devour the oak, but I was focused on the elemental line. I could sense its presence more clearly now that I’d familiarized myself with it, and I could feel it fighting against Aurora’s fire.

It was like the element knew it was being destroyed, just like when we removed runes from a person’s flesh, and I wondered if the Master could tell what we were doing. The rune he branded his soldiers with bore the same mark somewhere in the maze of elemental lines, and from my understanding, it functioned as a sort of contact point between them and this portal. If he could connect with the consciousness of those who bore his mark in order to control them, then it seemed logical he could connect with the other end of these elemental portals he was forming.

Part of me hoped he could, just so he knew I was onto his game. Keeping up with his every move seemed to make him act impulsively, and now that the Master had finally made his move, I wanted him to know I hadn’t let that lull distract me. I was still right here, waiting to counter anything he had to throw at me, even if it was an entire army of possessed ogres.

“Let’s go,” I muttered as I turned back toward Falmount, and my women silently followed after.

They could always tell when I was too tense to talk, and I appreciated the moment to collect my thoughts before we got to the village.

Whoever engraved that line strategically concealed it, and it was about sixty feet east of the tracks where none of my mages would tend to travel. More importantly, if there was one portal in my woods, there could be dozens of others, and the next attack would come on just like this one had. Out of the blue, with no warning, and numbers filing in with seemingly no end.

This meant I couldn’t do anything to secure my town now. I could enclose all of my land in a twenty-foot wall if I wanted, but the elemental lines would still be hidden all over the woods, and if something like an Osulla appeared out of one, we’d all be barricaded inside and completely screwed.

“Fuck,” I cursed under my breath as I shoved a branch aside, but then Deya was at my side, and she looped her fingers in mine.

“Did you sense the power of the element?” she asked quietly, and I could tell she was a little nervous to bother me, so I did my best to send her a reassuring grin as I tightened my hold on her hand.

“I did.”

“Dragir told me once this is a calling of the elements,” Deya replied. “I know you cannot wield its power without knowing what it is, but perhaps, since you’ve recognized its presence, you can locate any other marks that might be here?”

I nodded because she had a fair point, but this didn’t ease my concerns. There were miles and miles of forest surrounding Falmount, and I didn’t know how to scan for rune magic. I only sensed the power of the line on the tree because I touched it and was desperately trying to connect with it, but could I even locate a calling like that if I just happened to stroll past it? Maybe if it was engraved in stone or metal, but the Master would probably think of this and deliberately stick to using surfaces I couldn’t magically access.

Still, it was something to consider, and I shifted to pull Deya closer so her hand was looped around my arm.

“Thanks,” I muttered and sent her a grin. “That helps.”

Deya smiled sweetly as her violet eyes shimmered in the dappled moonlight, and I took a few deep breaths to clear my mind while we all crossed the tracks and jumped down to the lanes of Falmount.

Every house in the vicinity had holes torn through them or entire walls crumbled, and the torches the ogres had thrown all over the place destroyed several of the trees lining the lanes. The ground was shaken apart into deep fissures while the mages tentatively made their way through the wreckage, and a crew of Defenders were gathered in a huddle when they saw us coming.

Then Kurna grinned, and he clapped me on the arm as I joined them.

“How many casualties?” I asked, and the man sobered up as he glanced at Defender Urn.

“We’re still working on a count,” Urn replied. “So far, only ten.”

I nodded. “Severe injuries?”

“Thirty-two. The healers are already addressing their wounds.”

“Is Taru okay?” I asked next, and Kurna smirked.

“She’s fine,” he assured me. “A few bullets to extract, but I think Haragh’s made sure the mages won’t be making the same mistake ever again.”

“What a mess,” I muttered as I rifled my hair, but the Defenders chuckled.

“I don’t know,” Urn said with a shrug. “From where I’m standing, we did a hell of a job fending off dozens of crazed beasts twice our size with no warning, and I think you’ll notice, these younger mages aren’t the worse for the wear.”

“He’s right,” Cayla replied as she came to my side. “I was impressed with what I saw out there tonight. Only weeks ago, many of these mages would have been slaughtered within minutes, but they fought admirably and acted well based on their best instincts.”

“Not bad at all,” Kurna chuckled. “Plus, they’re more than willing to clean up the wreckage, too.”

I smirked as Kurna sent me a broad grin, and when I glanced toward the lane at my back, there really was a crowd of mages all covered in soot and blood. Their eyes were alert while they stood ready for my orders, and considering the carnage, I couldn’t deny I was proud of their resilience. Half of them just had their homes brought to the ground while others lost their companions, but they definitely didn’t look shaken. They looked even more united and determined to fix this.

“Awaiting your order, baron,” Urn grunted, and Aurora nudged me forward as she sent me a small smile.

“You fought well tonight,” I told the mages, but then I grinned. “That’s not really fair, though. In all honesty, you completely kicked ass, and I can’t even express how proud I am. This was an attack we couldn’t have anticipated, but not one of you hesitated to do your parts in defending Falmount.”

“But our weapons,” a young mage said uneasily, and he gestured to the revolver still clutched in his hand. “They didn’t kill the ogres.”

“I know,” I admitted. “We’re dealing with a threat that’s gonna take everything we’ve got and more, but I assure you, I’m already on top of the issue. For now, we know the revolvers and rifles will defend us against the Master’s mages so long as we keep our aim on target and don’t hesitate. All the same, without your efforts tonight, magery alone wouldn’t have saved us, so keep training, and know that the next time we face off with an army like this one, we’ll be more than prepared.”

The mages roared with approval as they raised their revolvers high, and four healers calmly made their way through the rowdy crowd to join me and the Defenders.

“Defender Flynt,” Mage Hellia said as she neatly clasped her hands together. Her conservative bun was perfectly arranged with not a hair out of place despite the harried flush of her cheeks, and she bowed in respect while her companions did the same. “We’ve attended to those who were brought to us in critical condition. They’re in bad shape, but they’ll make it through. We’ve only come to seek out any others who require assistance.”

I nodded as I turned to the mages. “Anyone who’s suffered even a minor injury, the healers can tend to you now. Make your way to the infirmary immediately.”

“I’ll help you,” Shoshanne told Mage Hellia, but the kind woman raised a hand.

“Don’t trouble yourself, Mage Shoshanne,” she insisted. “We are more than capable of addressing the situation.”

“If you’re sure,” Shoshanne replied, and she bit her lip anxiously. “I don’t mind at all. I can put something more appropriate on and be ready to help in--”

“Nooo!” someone immediately protested, and several snickers broke out in the crowd.

I narrowed my eyes at the mages as Shoshanne blushed and crossed her arms over her breasts, but then I caught sight of a younger guy brazenly devouring every inch of her while his two friends did the same.

“Actually, I’m not feeling too good, miss,” the guy said with a filthy grin. “Maybe you could--”

The mage paled on the spot when I abruptly made my way over, and I had about ten choice phrases I was ready to lay on him once I finished planting my fist into his face, but Shoshanne flipped around with her palm raised before I could get there.

Then she ruthlessly cinched his lungs in a vise, and when I glanced back, both Aurora and Cayla had bloody daggers drawn to match the deadly cast of their eyes.

Shoshanne calmly strolled forward, though, as the guy collapsed onto his knees and fought for air, and when he finally flattened across the dirt with his eyes bulging, the healer shamelessly splayed her thighs to slowly crouch beside him.

“Do you know who runs the infirmary in this town?” Shoshanne murmured, and the cruelty in her tone made my knees go weak as my jaw dropped.

The poor guy did manage a choking “you” while he spluttered against the dirt.

“That’s right,” the healer purred. “And do you want me to care whether you live or die?”

The man managed another nod, but he was turning blue, and I shifted uneasily while I tried to decide if I should intervene. If it was Aurora, I obviously would have because she’d killed men over less before, but at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to say a damn thing on account of holy hell … Shoshanne’s scary side was way sexier than I had expected.

The cheeks of her ass plumed behind her plush thighs as the flames of the burning trees flickered across her caramel skin, and I wanted to be that leather thong right now. I wanted to both be it and tear it off in one fell swoop while she laid herself out on my flaming bed, and judging by Cayla’s grin, I knew the princess approved.

So, I did absolutely nothing to rein my woman in while she kept the mage on the brink of death for the whole village to see.

“I suggest you do the smart thing,” Shoshanne informed the suffocating mage, and both Cayla and I whimpered at the tone of her voice. “You and your friends are never going to say another word to me, unless you all want to die on my operating table of unknown causes. Understood?”

Shoshanne didn’t bother waiting for another nod since the guy was beginning to lose consciousness, but she did finally release her hold on his lungs, and she rose to her feet to leave him gasping in the dirt behind her heels.

Every mage surrounding us either stared while the healer walked away or desperately tried not to, and I was right there with the former group as Shoshanne strolled past me with my women and a bloody Ruela happily trailing along behind that fine ass of hers.

Then Haragh nudged me hard in my ribs to get my brain churning again.

“Your whole town’s in a shambles, baron,” the half-ogre reminded me.

“Sure.” I nodded. “Umm … three groups, seven Terra Mages each. One crew repairs the houses, another can handle the market, and the rest can do repairs on the streets. Ignis Mages restore the torches and squelch any leftover flames. Flumen and Aer Mages assist at the infirmary. Defenders, lead the crews for the repairs and get an ammunition count so we can restock tomorrow. Everyone reports back to Haragh.”

“Huh?” the half-ogre grunted blankly.

My feet were already taking me down the lane, though, as I kept my eyes glued on the sway of Shoshanne’s hips, and even Haragh dogging after me in protest did nothing to derail me.

“You’ve got this,” I assured him. “It’s not too hard to oversee shit, and I trust you to make sure everything’s handled. I uh … I have some stuff I’ve gotta do.”

“Seriously?” Haragh growled. “Whatever it is can wait ‘til this mess is cleaned up!”

“No, it definitely can’t wait,” I mumbled as I waved him off. “It’s baron stuff. Super important.”

“Sure it is,” Haragh snorted.

“I’ll get you knighted if you do this for me,” I said without a second thought.

“Deal,” Haragh replied, and he promptly turned around as he rubbed his big green hands together.

I could tell from the tone he used on the mages that he was already enjoying the authority, and he had them all organized into three clean up crews with Defenders at the head of each group by the time I caught up to my women.

Then I swiftly hooked Shoshanne by the waist and hoisted her over my shoulder, and she giggled when I pinched the meat of her exposed ass for good measure.

“You’re ridiculously sexy when you wanna kill a man,” I chuckled.

“Yeah, you’re suffocating me tonight,” Cayla informed the healer.

“Not if she suffocates me first,” Aurora cut in, but I shook my head as I shoved the door of our mansion open with my boot.

“Sorry, ladies,” I sighed, “barons first, and I’m gonna be busy with this one for quite a while.”

“Can’t we watch, though?” Deya begged.

I grinned. “Of course, you can.”

“I call first cage!” the elf announced, and she sprinted past us with Aurora in hot pursuit.

Oh, yeah … my women made me hang iron cages from our bedroom ceiling during our week off, too.

It was one hell of a vacation, if I did say so myself.

Chapter 3

“Well, if we’re not sure how to completely secure Falmount, then what do we do next?” Cayla asked as she scooped some more water over her breasts, and the women surrounding her looked at me expectantly.

All four of them were languidly bathing in the enchanted waters of my workshop while I flipped through an endless pile of parchment for a solution, and Stan anxiously paced across the table in front of me.

Even after explaining my concerns about the Master’s unknown element being present all over my land, my women still insisted we weren’t completely fucked yet, and I wanted to believe them. So, I lined up seven potential layouts for Falmount that I’d been working on over the last week, and while Aurora began washing Shoshanne’s hair, I did my best to focus on the paper before me.

Still, my eyes kept wandering toward the fountain, and I couldn’t believe I already wanted to go back to bed. Last night should have more than satiated me, but something about snapping those leather straps against my women’s plush curves while they gasped with pleasure was impossible to forget, and I almost regretted tearing their ensembles to shreds while I pounded into them.

Almost.

“Mason,” Aurora said with a grin, “did you hear Cayla’s question?”

“Yeah!” I hastily replied, and I thoughtfully scruffed my chin while I pretended to study my designs. “There’s just a lot to consider.”

“You’re blushing,” the half-elf informed me, and the other women began giggling.

“The details I’m considering are super complicated,” I mumbled. “It’s a taxing process.”

“Is that why you keep looking at my nipples?” Cayla asked, and I groaned as I gave up trying to seem focused.

“Did I destroy all those little leather things you guys were wearing?” I finally asked as I turned their way. “Can we buy more, or were those like … the only leather strappy things in all of Illaria?”

“Oh, there’s plenty more where those came from,” Cayla assured me. “Hugo never minds shuffling his other clients aside to complete my orders.”

I furrowed my brow. “Hugo?”

“My leather guy,” Cayla explained, and she pulled Deya over so the beautiful elf was snuggled between her porcelain thighs.

“I think Mr. Hugo should make Mason a whip,” Deya decided, and I raised my brows while she traced circles around Cayla’s taut nipple.

“Maybe I should meet this Mr. Hugo guy first,” I muttered as I dragged my eyes back to my work table. “Then I’ll decide if he’s making me anything.”

“But he’s the best leatherworker in Serin,” Cayla insisted, “and he’s so honored to be crafting your holsters. I told him you greatly appreciated his efforts, and he was so flustered, he spilled half a shelf of sheaths on the ground. I helped him clean it all up, though, and then he posted a beautiful, hand-soldered sign in his front window that says ‘Personal Craftsman to the Honorable Baron Flynt.’”

Now, I turned around.

“He’s not my personal craftsman,” I clarified, “he’s yours, and I don’t know that I like--”

“Mason, he’s eighty-three years old and has seventeen great grandchildren running around his shop,” Cayla informed me, and any irritation I had just poofed into dust.

“Oh,” I replied as my women giggled. “Well, then Hugo’s my personal craftsman. But I don’t really think I need a whip.”

“Me neither,” Aurora agreed. “I like it just fine when you spank me. Your hands are so calloused lately, and it turns me on to no end. I feel like I’m being worked over by some gritty blacksmith, and I’m the metal you’re bending to your will. The hotter I get, the harder you hit.”

“Woah,” I muttered, and my women burst out laughing at the glint in Aurora’s eyes.

“It’s good,” the half-elf murmured, but then she screeched and nearly drowned herself as Nulena appeared in the corner of the shop with no warning.

“Stop doing that!” Shoshanne laughed, and she sent a wave of water splashing over the Baroness’ black skirt.

“You scare too easily,” Nulena murmured, but she had her two-toned eyes on mine while she headed straight for me.

“I certainly do not,” Aurora shot back. “You should cough or something before you just pop out of the shadows like that.”

I couldn’t help chuckling because I’d already known Nulena was there, but my women hadn’t learned to recognize the presence of her Tenebrae Magic yet. A few days back, I’d realized it was something I’d gotten familiar with ages ago, probably because the Baroness had been following me around for so long. I used to think I was just feeling cozy all of a sudden, but now I knew anytime the air felt soft around me, Nulena was somewhere close by.

I didn’t explain this to Aurora, though, because it was hilarious watching my fiery half-elf spasm and shriek whenever the Baroness showed up. Cayla occasionally flinched in surprise, but she generally maintained a stoic demeanor, and Deya always lit up like someone set off a confetti cannon. Shoshanne was the wild card when it came to being caught off guard, but after she pulled a pistol on the Baroness two days ago as a reflex, we all decided we shouldn’t keep guns in the bedroom now that the Tenebrae Mage was spending time with us.

“How long have you been in here?” Aurora demanded as Nulena curled against my chest, and the ebony woman let out a soft sigh when I wrapped my arms around her.

“Long enough to know you’re the hot metal and Mason’s the gritty blacksmith,” she mumbled against my shirt, and Aurora rolled her eyes.

“Well, there’s your secret, Baroness,” the half-elf snorted. “Hope it sells well.”

“No one cares about your dirty secrets,” Nulena chuckled. “You’re too pretty to fetch a price in my business.”

“I am not!” Aurora scoffed.

“Sorry … do you want to fetch a price?” I clarified, and the half-elf blushed and looked away.

“Of course, she doesn’t,” Cayla chuckled. “Aurora just wants to know she could if she wanted to, because then she’s just as deadly as you.”

Aurora ground her teeth together as she stubbornly crossed her arms, and I grinned while I tried to process that kind of logic. By all accounts, it was utter nonsense, but I wasn’t about to point that out.

“Well, I think we all know Aurora’s way more deadly than me,” I assured the beautiful half-elf. “You burn people alive like no one I’ve ever met.”

“I do,” she replied haughtily, and she sent me a teasing glance, “but I hate that I can’t sense Nulena’s magic. It’s only magery, I should be able to feel her nearby.”

“With most elements this is true,” the Baroness allowed as she shifted to loop her arm around my waist, “but Tenebrae powers play in a different space. Darkness doesn’t alter the state of its surroundings like fire, stone, water, or air.”

“Air doesn’t alter its surroundings,” Deya mused. “It’s just there.”

“Think of the way the temperature fluctuates,” Shoshanne explained. “Or the way a breeze bends the limb of a tree. It’s a physical alteration.”

“Just because there is a shadow cast across the ground or through the air,” Nulena continued, “it doesn’t mean the air, or the stone has been altered. They only appear different, so my magic is influencing your perceptions more than anything.”

“Is that why you can blind people and take away their ability to hear?” Cayla asked curiously.

“Precisely,” Nulena replied. “I cast shadows within them.”

“Then why can I sense you when you’re near?” I asked, and the Baroness snuggled closer to me.

“I suppose you’re just incredibly in tune with me,” Nulena purred, but Aurora snorted.

“Or because you follow him everywhere … ” The half-elf cocked a brow as her own challenging gaze met Nulena’s, and I held my breath.

I’d started to get a little uneasy the last few days about the way they clashed so suddenly, and even though it always seemed to end good naturedly, part of me worried a bit because they were similar in a few dangerous ways.

The two things the Ignis and Tenebrae Mage had in common were their love for me and their willingness to kill someone with no questions asked, but they came from very different walks of life. Aurora had grown up an orphaned outcast with an erratic disposition, and as the first woman I’d fallen in love with in this realm, we had a connection that couldn’t possibly be compared to the others. Nulena was rich, widely known, and devious, though. She may have been drawn to me for longer than I’d been aware, but she was still the most recent woman to join our inner circle, and it mattered a lot to me that her and Aurora get along.

So far, my other women didn’t seem at all concerned, so I tried to follow their lead, and I hoped I wouldn’t be prying the two women off one another in some fiery battle to the death one day.

Except, that did sound kind of fun and incredibly sexy.

Then Aurora grinned like she always did, and I relaxed a few degrees.

“You look beautiful this morning, by the way,” the half-elf said as she returned to washing Shoshanne’s hair.

“You all look like you were up half the night making love to Mason,” Nulena chuckled.

“Aww!” Deya giggled, and a sweet smile came to her face. “Thank you! We were.”

“I heard there was a violent attack, though,” the Baroness continued, and she eyed me with concern as she pulled away.

“There was, but we handled it.” I shrugged. “Now, we’re trying to decide if anything can be done to prevent the same thing from happening. So far, it’s not looking too promising. We located and destroyed the elemental mark the ogres used to get here, but there could be others. I’m trying to figure out what I can do to get around this dilemma.”

“The solution is simple,” Nulena replied after a moment. “Make the layout of Falmount a strategic battlefield.”

“But I want my mages to live a good life here,” I countered. “How can they do that if they’re living on a battlefield?”

“I think Nulena has a good point,” Cayla said as she furrowed her brow. “There’s no reason you can’t achieve both, Mason. If you can’t prevent more soldiers from arriving right now, be prepared for an attack at all times. Fortify Falmount as if it were a king’s keep rather than an entire village.”

“The mages wouldn’t be living in fear, then,” Aurora mused. “Everything they need would still be here, and they could go about their daily lives, but a protocol would be in place in the event of an attack. All the residents would know what to do, where to take cover, or which posts to report to, and we’d have the upper hand because we’d be fighting on our own ground with ample preparation.”

“Then it wouldn’t matter if an attack did come,” I muttered as I considered this.

“We’d be ready regardless,” Cayla added, and she sent me a deadly grin.

“It would almost be ideal if the Master tried to come after Falmount again,” Aurora said with a shrug. “Think of it. His soldiers would be walking into a trap disguised as a little village in the foothills, and none of them would make it out alive.”

“I just shivered,” Deya giggled. “I like this idea. Mason, you should do this.”

“I agree,” I chuckled, and I pulled three of my designs over as I shifted the others aside. “I had an idea to build upward in the market, kind of like they do where I’m from. If I put battlements at the top of each structure, then Falmount would have a central point of defense, and our mages would have a strategic advantage because all of them could see as far as our lookouts do.”

“Then we could have stores of weaponry and ammunition already waiting on each structure,” Cayla added, and she was so excited she climbed out of the fountain to join me and Nulena at the worktable.

Drops of water began dripping from her breasts onto my drawings while she stooped to get a better look, and the princess clamped her hands over her nipples as she sent me an apologetic look.

“In this sketch on the right,” the princess muttered, “what have you put at the entrance of the marketplace?”

“That’s just a fancy archway,” I mumbled as I rubbed my neck. “I thought it looked kind of official.”

“Could it double as a barbican?” the princess asked, and my brows shot up as I realized the full extent of possibilities.

“Hell yeah, it could.”

“So, if you’re centralizing your defenses in the marketplace,” Nulena reasoned, “why not wall the entire market in as you’ve done with your lands in these drawings?”

“Because I don’t want to lock my mages into one space,” I replied. “With how fast the Master’s soldiers move, and how much destruction they leave behind, we need everything working to our advantage. Walling ourselves in won’t give us that advantage. There’s a reason breaching the gates of a castle almost always means the battle’s won, and that’s not happening on my watch.”

“I never considered that,” Cayla admitted.

“That being said,” I continued and shifted two drawings so the edges of the designs I’d made for the marketplaces overlapped, “we could connect our shops together in two central squares, but leave one side of each square open. This way, we have battlements stretching along the tops of each square.”

“But they don’t connect?” Aurora clarified.

“They’ll actually be misaligned with each other,” I explained. “One line of buildings extends into the other square by about ten feet, and if soldiers filled the whole marketplace, there would always be a clear angle to shoot from above with the ability to maneuver freely. Our soldiers at the top would have a clear shot all around.”

“Would they be able to protect the homes as well?” Shoshanne asked.

“Yeah, if we built high enough,” I replied. “The same design gives our mages access to the surrounding village from the backside of the buildings.”

“And you could use the barbican at the front of the squares as a primary post for your generals,” Aurora suggested. “From there, they could be seen by everyone on the battlements.”

“If only we could secure a space for the children,” Cayla mused, and my head snapped to her so fast, I almost kinked my neck.

“What children?”

“Well, a market of this extent needs to be filled, and the more residents you acquire, the more likely it is they’ll bring their families here to live with them,” the princess muttered as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “There’s the merchants who will want to sell their goods, the farmers who will seek to grow for you on your lands, some of the Defenders may wish to reside here rather than the Oculus … ”

“And don’t forget Sebastian’s baby,” Deya added, and I casually nodded like this was exactly where my head was at.

“Yeah, Sebastian’s kids shouldn’t be on the battlefront,” I agreed.

“Nor should the elderly who are no longer fit to fight,” Shoshanne pointed out.

“But where could we send them as quickly as possible so they couldn’t come to harm no matter what the Master sent into Falmount?” Cayla asked. “This design is ideal for battle, but a slaughterhouse to any innocent bystanders.”

“It has to be quickly accessible from any place in the village,” I mused.

“With a discreet entrance,” the Baroness said with a nod.

“Why not use the barbican?” Aurora asked. “They could hide within the towers on either side.”

“But with our soldiers posted at the top, the barbican will be a prime target to the Master’s forces,” I countered. “You saw how those ogres tore the houses down.”

Aurora furrowed her brows. “That’s true. No one would agree to keep their children in a place like that.”

“What we need is a bomb shelter,” I snorted.

Nulena arched a brow. “What is that?”

“It’s something my people came up with,” I replied, and I tried to be as vague as possible without confusing the woman further since she didn’t know where I was really from. “The basic concept is having a space, usually underground, that has all the provisions you could possibly need in case you needed to hide there long term.”

“Like utilizing the cellars during a siege?” Cayla asked.

“Exactly,” I nodded, “but deep underground, so it’s not easily found. That way, if everything above ground goes south, whoever’s inside the shelter can survive until it’s safe for them to reemerge.”

“So, build one,” the princess urged. “This is precisely what Falmount needs. We could place the entrance within the barbican and extend the steps downward into the shelter. It’s a central point that all the residents can easily access.”

“But didn’t we just decide that’s not--”

“It’s the last place anyone would expect,” Nulena interrupted as realization dawned on her face. “Cayla’s correct, this is perfect. With the commotion taking place within the market while your mages get to their posts, it would be difficult for others to discern what’s going on, and the residents who need to seek shelter wouldn’t be tracked.”

I furrowed my brow as I thought through any pitfalls in the idea, and it only took me a few seconds to land on the biggest one.

“That’s all excellent except any Terra Mage could break through the ground, tear the whole thing down, or crush everyone inside,” I sighed. “The steps could be altered to trap them all down there.”

“Damn,” Cayla cursed. “If only we could construct one of these fallout structures from something none of the elements could influence. Wood?”

“Not sturdy enough,” Aurora muttered. “Maybe--”

“Ohhh, shit,” I cut in as I clutched my hair. “Fucking metal.”

Then I swiped every parchment off the table as I dropped onto my stool.

My hand could hardly keep up with my thoughts as I began sketching out a brand-new design for Falmount that would not only be openly accessible to any of the Master’s minions, but gave us every strategic advantage in battle and was equipped with an all metal, fully stocked, underground shelter for my hypothetical kids.

Or Sebastian’s baby and anyone else who wanted to not die. Maybe Stan, too.

“But Mason, does this mean Falmount must now live in fear of an attack?” Deya asked as she leaned her elbows on the edge of the fountain.

“If we have everything completely prepared, then we don’t have to fear anything,” I replied. “For the time being, this is the best way to spin this new element to our advantage. Any attacks that do occur give us a chance to whittle down the Master’s numbers, and any stragglers can lead me straight to whatever mark they used to get here. I can destroy the engravings one by one if I have to, and in the meantime, I need to come up with a means of countering it entirely.”

“Is that possible?” Cayla asked as she returned to the fountain.

“I have no idea,” I admitted, “but I’ve gotta try. An element like this could be the difference between us having a fighting chance, or the Master having the upper hand at every turn. He could send his troops out all over Illaria in one mass attack.”

“He could go after every region at once,” Deya muttered with an anxious frown. “If your allies are all too busy fighting their own battles to join us in a siege against the Master’s headquarters, then all of your work will be for nothing.”

“I know,” I agreed. “I’m trying not to focus on that, though. All I can do right now is set a trap here and keep trying to track down these marks any way I can.”

“Nulena could help,” Shoshanne pointed out, and she sent the Baroness a hopeful glance.

I smirked as I saw Nulena cringe a little out of the corner of my eye, and she deliberately avoided the healer’s eyes while she toyed with a bit of steel on the table.

“I’m very busy,” the Baroness mumbled.

“Surely, you could find a little time,” Cayla replied, and Nulena sighed in irritation.

“I don’t have any interest in this silly feud amongst the regions,” she shot back.

“It isn’t amongst the regions,” Aurora corrected. “Mason’s actually done everything he can to ensure that isn’t the case. This is about protecting the livelihood of everyone, Nulena.”

“The livelihood of others doesn’t concern me,” the Baroness replied coldly, and as I eyed the murderous cast of her eyes, I could tell she truly meant this. “You all may enjoy running around saving lives, but I am not interested in defending, protecting, or saving anyone.”

“It would help me out a lot,” I cut in, and Nulena’s two-toned eyes immediately softened as she looked at me. “If not for everyone else’s sake, would you do this for mine at least?”

Nulena bit her ebony lip while she warred with the concept, and her cheeks began to shimmer ever so slightly under my direct gaze.

“Fine,” she suddenly relented. “I will look around … if I have the time.”

“Thank you,” I chuckled, and I could practically hear Aurora’s eye roll.

“I may not be as softhearted as Shoshanne,” the half-elf muttered, “but I certainly wouldn’t wish for the death of the innocent.”

“I don’t wish it,” Nulena said with a shrug. “That implies I’m just as invested. I only think it’s more enjoyable when everything exists in a precarious balance between survival and utter ruin. It makes life much more interesting.”

I raised my brows at the sentiment while Stan shook his head, but Cayla had a curious smile on her face.

“You’re deadly in an entirely different way than me,” the princess mused. “It’s off-putting, but I like it.”

“Likewise,” Nulena purred.

“While Nulena helps us locate the marks,” Deya cut in, “perhaps you should speak with my brother, Mason. He may not know about this element, but he understands rune magic and the balance of countering the elemental lines better than anyone.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I muttered as I straightened up from hunching over my drawing.

“No,” Aurora immediately refused. “No Nalnora. Don’t do this to me.”

“I completely understand how you feel,” I allowed, “but we may not have another choice.”

“Mason, after the way you left things there, you’d be at too great a risk to return to the jungles now,” Shoshanne worried. “You said they were throwing daggers at you only last week.”

“Why not summon him here to Falmount?” Deya tried. “Send a letter by raven detailing our predicament, and I’m sure Dragir would come to our aid.”

“If the letter got intercepted, Mason’s precise location would be revealed to the elves,” Cayla countered. “That puts all of us at risk, and you more than anyone, Deya.”

“One of Orion’s giant owls could easily pick off a raven,” I agreed. “He’s the last guy I need knowing what I’m up to, especially if it has to do with Dragir and rune magic. He’d probably abduct Dragir on his way here and help the Master out just by being a dick about it.”

The Baroness let out a low chuckle of agreement, but Stan began urgently shaking my finger, and when I looked down, he gestured to his little metal body. Then he started an elaborate mime that involved raising his arms like he was shooting someone, dueling, and high fiving.

“Big Guy?” I guessed, and Stan nodded vigorously. “You think I should send an automaton to get Dragir?”

Stan nodded once more, and Cayla giggled.

“Well done, Stan,” the princess purred. “That’s a perfect solution. Anyone who comes up against Big Guy would certainly end up running the other direction rather than following him, and Dragir couldn’t possibly mistake him for anything other than one of your creations, Mason. Give him your letter and order him to keep it concealed at all costs, then send him to fetch Dragir. Big Red can continue covering his patrol here while you work on building up Falmount’s defenses.”

“And a defense for Mors Pass,” Deya reminded me.

“And locating this new mark within the foothills,” Aurora added.

“Perhaps you should alert Wyresus to the presence of this new element as well,” Shoshanne mused. “It might help with his translations and assist you in finding a means of countering it sooner in case it takes weeks for Dragir to arrive.”

I was beginning to feel like my brain was being slowly squeezed in a vise, and I rubbed my temples and gave my hair a thorough scruffing to get my thoughts straight.

“One thing at a time,” I decided. “I still have to send word to Grot to make sure he’s not missing any more ogres, and I’m getting a little worried that I haven’t heard a peep from Dorinick.”

“I will go to check on the dwarves for you,” Deya assured me. “This afternoon, if you like. Dorinick knows to watch for me if I use the purple dragon to transmute.”

“That would ease my mind a lot,” I admitted.

“Don’t forget about the other dragons, though,” Aurora quickly added, and when I looked over, her blue brows were knitted with worry. “We can’t continue to use Deya’s power if we can’t ensure they’re protected.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into the dragon issue,” I assured her.

The half-elf’s eyes lit up immediately. “What have you come up with?”

I sighed as I turned on my stool and propped my back against the table, and all of my women clung to the edge of the fountain while they waited to hear my plan.

“The issue is, I only have one channeling gem left,” I explained. “It’s the large amber one I got at Mors Pass, and it’s frequency is incredibly potent, so I think I can count on it to provide the kind of power I’m going to need for this.”

“For a weapon?” Cayla asked eagerly.

“Sort of,” I admitted, and I eyed my elven women warily before I continued. “Okay, don’t get too excited, because I have no idea if I can do this, but I’m thinking the best way to protect the dragons without risking all of them attacking whatever guard I send them is to, uh … ” I cleared my throat as Aurora’s emerald eyes widened with anticipation. “To use a dragon.”

“Not Deya?” Shoshanne exclaimed, and she looked terrified at the idea.

“No, not a real one,” I clarified. “A uh … a metal one.”

Now, Cayla’s blue eyes glinted. “Are you talking about an automaton?”

“Yeah.”

“Will it fly?” Deya asked as her smile spread across her face.

“Ideally? Yes.”

Water surged over the edge of the fountain as Aurora squealed and leapt out, and I stared at her glistening wet curves as she bounded over to me.

Then the drenched half-elf climbed onto my lap and buried her tongue in my mouth.

I guess I had no choice now.

I was going to have to try and build a fucking metal dragon.

Chapter 4

I tried multiple times to clarify that I couldn’t promise the idea would work, but no amount of explanations cooled Aurora down by even a degree. By the time my clothes were all soaked through from the treatment my half-elf gave me, I had a feeling she was certain I’d figure out how to build a larger and more complex automaton than I’d ever attempted, and while I appreciated her enthusiasm, I wasn’t nearly as convinced.

Eventually, Aurora released me, though, and she clutched eagerly at my vest.

“When do we get to start building the dragon?”

“Probably once I finish checking in on Grot, redesigning Falmount, sending Big Guy to get Dragir, and--”

“Then get to work!” Aurora scolded as she climbed off my lap, and she prodded me to turn around and get back to my design.

“I don’t understand how you get anything accomplished,” Nulena sighed.

“It’s a precarious balance,” I chuckled as Stan handed my pen over.

“Then why make these other things your priority at all when you could make love to Aurora and the rest of us instead?” the Baroness countered. “Don’t you think that would be a more enjoyable way to spend your time here?”

“I do,” I admitted, but Cayla clicked her tongue in disapproval.

“Mason is becoming a very powerful man, Nulena,” the princess said. “Don’t act like that isn’t one of the sexiest things about him.”

“Yes, but only one of the things,” the Baroness allowed. “It’s also the most likely thing to get him killed, and for the good of whom? Others.”

“You’re so cold for a beautiful woman,” Deya mused. “I like it, though.”

“I know you do,” Nulena replied, and she sauntered toward the corner. “I should get back to Rajeen,”

“You’re leaving so soon?” Deya asked with a frown. “Don’t you want to bathe with us? Mason loves when we bathe in his shop, it’ll be so much fun if you join us. I can wash you while Mason watches if you like.”

The Baroness smiled softly. “I wish I could accept the offer, but I have a rather busy schedule today.”

“Doing what?” Aurora asked.

“An important client of mine is expecting me in Rajeen to discuss the assassination of his cousin,” Nulena said with a careless shrug. “Then I have to sell this information to two lords in order to instill a little chaos in the circumstances, but this evening, I will be assassinating the cousin myself and then assisting the two lords in plotting their revenge against my other client.”

Stan palmed his metal forehead in disapproval while we all stared for a moment, but before anyone could respond, the Baroness conjured a swarm of shadows in the corner, and she reached into the black mist like she was looking for something.

“That reminds me,” Nulena sighed. “I brought these for you all to use in your training.”

Then the Baroness pulled two flails from the shadows and handed them to Deya and Shoshanne before she grabbed another two for Cayla and Aurora. The weapons weren’t double ended like the one we’d all been sharing lately, and the wooden staves were only two feet long so they could be used more conveniently with one hand. The striker heads still had perilous iron spikes jutting out of them, though, and I noticed each flail bore a slightly different design.

The women gasped with delight as they admired the new weapons, and Nulena brought a fifth flail over to me that had spikes twice as long as the others,

“You … bought us gifts?” I asked as I cocked a brow.

“No, I had them lying around anyway,” the Baroness replied in a monotone. “You might as well put them to good use.”

“Right, lying around,” I mumbled, and Cayla’s eyes glinted with amusement when they met mine.

“Is that why Deya’s is slightly smaller to account for her being less strong?” Cayla clarified.

Then Aurora held her new flail aloft with a cheeky grin. “Double strikers. My specialty.”

“Mine has no studs around the grip,” Shoshanne pointed out. “You remembered the other flail hurts my hand. Thank you, Nulena. That was very thoughtful of you.”

Now, the Baroness’ jaw twitched in irritation as she blushed, and I quickly discarded my flail and caught her by the wrist before she could flee. Nulena groaned as I dragged her into my lap, and she was halfway through insisting she put no thought into any of this when I cut her off with a kiss.

The Baroness immediately melted in my hold as the other women giggled, and I listened to her heartbeat quicken with every second while I kept her firmly locked in place. She was practically panting in her corset when I finally released her lips, but she kept her hold on my shirt as I kneaded her velvet clad hips in my palms.

“Thank you for the flails,” I muttered, and Nulena struggled to keep from smiling when her two-toned eyes met mine.

“I should go,” she replied before she stubbornly wriggled out of my grip and headed toward the corner.

“Have fun destroying people’s lives,” Aurora called after her.

Nulena grinned at the four women in the fountain. “Have fun saving them.”

“Wait … am I supposed to save this guy you’re assassinating?” I clarified.

“I would rather you didn’t,” Nulena replied as she brushed her long black hair back over her shoulder. “It would spoil all of my fun.”

With that, the Baroness faded into her shadows, and when the last of the mist dissipated, she was gone.

“Nulena’s so sweet,” Deya sighed. “It’s nice to see her expressing herself more comfortably.”

“She loves us,” Shoshanne decided.

“Mason’s flail has the biggest spikes,” Aurora pointed out. “Nulena thrives on senseless violence, and since his flail will have the most violent effect, this probably means she loves him most of all.”

Cayla nodded. “I agree.”

“I still wish I could have bathed her for you, Mason,” Deya pouted.

“Next time,” I chuckled.

“I wonder who she’s assassinating tonight,” Cayla pondered aloud, and she and Aurora exchanged calculating looks.

Then the women spent the next half hour trying to decide who the Baroness’ client could be, which two lords she was toying with, and how she would go about murdering the cousin.

Eventually, they gave up bathing, though. Cayla kept insisting a baron shouldn’t be answering his door, and after a third delivery arrived from some of the nobles, the women decided just to get out of the fountain and fawn over a chest of jade amulets and two enormous, decorative urns made from bronze instead.

Stan and I were too caught up in finalizing the layout for Falmount Rift to pay much attention to the women’s conversations, but I nodded in agreement when they offered to start preparing a mid-morning feast for us all. Stan paced around my drawing and mimed suggestions here and there while I worked, and I took his advice about water channels through the streets, a central well in the market, and a few other classy additions he kept coming up with.

Once I was happy with the final product, I grabbed a fresh slip of parchment, and I wrote a quick note to Grot about the attack last night. I made sure to keep it short and to the point with only yes or no questions, and then I wrote a second, similar note to Dorinick so he’d know we just cut down the Master’s ogre numbers considerably. The last note I worked on was a letter to Dragir, and just in case Big Guy did get intercepted, I didn’t include any details of how to get to me. Dragir would have to follow the automaton’s lead, and hopefully, the few sentences I wrote referencing being royally fucked would be enough for him to understand my need for his assistance.

I could hear Jenik just beginning his training outside with Big Red as I finished the last sentence, and I scooped Stan up so he could ride on my shoulder before I headed out to the clearing beside the moat.

My eels snapped viciously at the stone edge while I strolled by, and I wiggled my fingers at the little water spawn as I admired their razor-sharp teeth. They always went apeshit when anything came within a few feet of the moat, but I noticed they went extra apeshit for me, and I was pretty sure this meant we were beginning to bond.

“Lookin’ good, boys,” I cooed, but then Jenik turned around.

“Thank you,” he panted.

“Not you, the eels,” I clarified, “but it looks like you’re making some serious headway out here.”

“I am,” he said as he wiped his sweaty brow on his sleeve, and he sent me an exhausted grin as he flexed his bicep a bit. “Look how big my muscles are getting already.”

I nodded in approval, even though I saw no difference in the lanky mage.

“Damn,” I mumbled. “Impressive. Listen, I need you to get a letter sent out for me once you finish up here. Would you mind?”

“Not at all,” Jenik said with a shrug, and I sifted through my notes to find the one to Grot.

“This needs to get to the leader of Jagruel as quickly as possible,” I told him.

Jenik nodded a bit uneasily. “Are you sure you want to ally with those guys? I mean, that attack last night was … ”

“I’m positive,” I assured him, “especially after what I saw last night. Brutality like theirs when it’s not being used to slaughter my own army is exactly what I need right now.”

“If you’re sure,” the young mage mumbled, and he pocketed the letter as he stretched his sword arm a bit and turned back to Big Red. “I’ll make sure it’s sent the second I’m finished here.”

“I appreciate it,” I said with a grin, and I clapped him on the back before I headed toward the house once more. “Keep up the good work!”

The women were already gathered around our dining table while they arranged an array of platters, and I nudged Deya once I came to join them.

“I have a letter for you to give Dorinick when you fly out there to check on his crew,” I told her. “Do you have a way of carrying it with you?”

“I do,” she assured me, and her smile widened as she took the note. “When I broke my connection after transmuting the other day, I found an animal bone still stuck between my teeth from my hunt, so I think if I hold this in my teeth, I should still have it when I transfer to my dragon form.”

“That’s kind of gross, but helpful,” I admitted.

“I will go right this moment,” the beautiful elf decided.

“You can eat first,” I chuckled, but Deya just waved me off as she made her way toward the hallway.

“I’d rather hunt for something while I’m out,” she called back, and I tried not to picture what my beautiful elf would be mauling this morning while we all enjoyed roasted pheasant and fresh pears.

“Did you finish the design?” Shoshanne asked as she gestured for me to take a seat.

“I did,” I replied. “I just want to get Big Guy sent to Nalnora before I sit down. That way everything is handled, I can get right to rebuilding after breakfast, and I might even have some time to stop by the Oculus and speak with Wyresus.”

The women nodded and began their meal while I jogged back out to my moat, and as I strolled across the bridge, I summoned my Terra powers to scan the perimeter of Falmount for any signs of Big Guy.

He wasn’t too far off, so I connected with his channeling gem directly, and he promptly followed my order to return here to me.

Stan bounced around on my shoulder until I finally let him hold on to the letter for Dragir, and I could tell he was feeling very important as he wrapped his metal arms snug around it.

“Are you looking forward to seeing your old buddy Dragir?” I asked the metal man, but he shrugged and shook his head.

“Well, hopefully he’ll be able to save our asses on this one,” I snorted. “I’m sure he won’t bother you about seeing your rune again, though. We have bigger fish to fry.”

Stan shifted his head a little like he was side eyeing me, and I was chuckling when Big Guy whirred his way up the lane and came to a stop just ahead of me.

“Big Guy, I’ve got a very important mission for you,” I told the automaton, and he saluted. “There’s a man named Dragir who lives at the southwest edge of Nalnora. I’ll instill the directions into your gem in a moment, but I need you to take this letter with you and not let anyone get it from you except Dragir. Then, you’re going to lead him back to us, and make sure absolutely no one follows you. You have my permission to kill any elves you want, unless they’re wearing gold bands around their heads, or if they have all grey gear on. Those are my allies, so don’t harm them. They’ll probably try and get you anyways, but be cool and carry on with your mission, alright?”

Big Guy nodded as he held his hand out, and Stan leapt from my shoulder with the letter still clutched against his chest. Then he jimmied the slip of parchment between two steel plates where Big Guy’s thumb met with his palm, and he gave it a tug to be sure it was secured. Stan and I shared a nod of approval, and I raised my palm to transfer the information of Dragir’s whereabouts into the automaton’s channeling gem, but then Big Red’s treads bumped into my calf.

“Hold on,” I muttered, “I’m giving Big Guy another solo mission.”

Big Red just nudged me again, though, and I sighed as I glanced over my shoulder.

“What’s up?”

The automaton pointed to Big Guy and himself before he saluted, and I furrowed my brows when Big Guy did the same thing and held out the hand he had the letter in.

“You want to go in Big Guy’s place?” I asked, but both automatons shook their heads, and I could tell Stan was just as confused while he prepared to leap onto my shoulder to sort this out.

Then Stan missed his landing for the first time ever, because Big Guy and Big Red raised their giant arms toward each other and bumped fists above our heads.

I yelped and scrambled to catch the little metal man before he could fall into the moat, and the sound of my eels snapping like maniacs was all I registered while I stared between the two automatons.

“Hold up,” I finally muttered. “Is this really happening? You two … want to work together on this one?”

The automatons nodded in the affirmative, and I felt my insides suddenly turn to mush as a lump hitched in my throat. Stan and I held each other while I manfully blinked away a few tears, and I could sense the little metal man was struggling to stay composed, too, while he clutched my hands tightly around himself and leaned his head against my chest.

“That’s … this is … “ I sniffed and shook my head. “I fucking love you guys.”

Big Guy nodded while Big Red clunked his hand on my head like I was a dog, but I knew he was joining in on the moment, too.

“Damn, this is just so nice to see.” I grinned. “I really didn’t want to rewire you guys, and you kicked so much ass together last night. I’ve never been prouder of anything in my life than I was when you two coordinated to decapitate all those ogres. Together, you’re going to be unstoppable. This is a total game changer.”

Stan elbowed me to get my attention, though, and when I looked down, he swept his arm out across Falmount and shook his head.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. “You’re right, I can’t send both of you guys. No one will be here to guard Falmount.”

That’s when both of the giant machine’s channeling gems slowed their pulses, and I could tell they were internally slumping in disappointment. My heart clenched at the sight, and I knew I couldn’t let this moment slip by. It was too important, for all of us.

“Fuck that,” I decided. “I’ll build someone else to guard Falmount, you two just enjoy your brotherly mission to the jungles. This is the perfect opportunity to bond and get used to working together, and with two of you showing up at Dragir’s, he won’t have any choice but to come back with you. You have my permission to drag him if you want. Maybe see if you can’t get a few high-fives out of him.”

Big Guy and Big Red immediately high-fived, and when their palms connected in a loud, metal clank, the pulse of their gems suddenly fell into sync, and I nearly burst into tears right there.

Stan clung to my vest, and I nodded as I patted his head with my finger.

“I know, buddy,” I croaked. “Me, too.”

Then I gruffly cleared my throat, did my best to regroup, and propped Stan up on my shoulder as I raised my palms to summon my powers. The fact that I was finally delivering orders to the twins at the same time put a stupid-happy grin on my face as I closed my eyes, and it was still there when I finished delivering directions to the pair of them so they could find Dragir. I made sure to send them on a route that would avoid running too close to any Elven Houses, and I also kept them far away from the armistice city of Rhoemir so they wouldn’t draw too much attention.

I couldn’t resist infusing a bit of my pride along with the orders, and when I finally broke the connection, I could tell they were honored to know how well they were doing.

“Now, go out there and have fun, guys,” I said. “Give ‘em hell, and don’t kill my allies. Anyone else is fair game, but remember, no one but Dragir can follow you, okay? And if you see a single owl, shoot it down immediately.”

Big Guy and Big Red nodded in unison, and with their gems pulsing in time, they headed across the bridge while Stan and I waved like a pair of sappy dopes.

We watched them whir away, side by side, until they disappeared into the woods, and I sighed happily while a few of my eels thrashed around in the moat.

“Life sure is good, buddy,” I told Stan, and he nodded in agreement. “Let’s go tell the women! They’re going to be so proud.”

I nearly sprinted into the mansion in my excitement, and when I clomped to a stop beside the dining room table, my grin stretched all the way from one ear to the other.

“Guess what?”

“Big Guy and Big Red asked to go on a brother mission together,” Aurora said with a smirk, and my women giggled at the state of me. “Then you cried.”

“I did not cry,” I lied.

“I heard you sniff,” the half-elf informed me as she nibbled on a slice of pear.

“I had dust in my nose, but if I did cry, it would be totally understandable and super manly. Just saying.”

“I agree,” Shoshanne said, and she squeezed my hand to pull me into a seat. “I’m so proud of them. They’re both such wonderful metal men, and I just know they will accomplish so much together.”

“They’re going to change the world,” I assured her, and I shoveled my food into my mouth without noticing much of anything while I considered the possibilities. “I wish you could have seen what their gems did. When I gave them the okay, they high-fived, and it was like they fell into sync with each other all at once. What if they have a direct connection now, and they can coordinate attacks from further distances? What if the power of their gems can combine, and make them twice as fast?”

“But if you sent them both to Nalnora,” Aurora frowned, “who will patrol Falmount and the Oculus? We don’t know how long they’ll be gone, but after the attack last night, this doesn’t seem like a good time to let our best guards go.”

“I know,” I admitted, “but I couldn’t help it. I’ll just have to make two more automatons real quick. The only problem is I only have the one channeling gem left, and I need it for the metal dragon. I think I might send a letter to the Elders of Aurum and see if they wouldn’t mind lending me two channeling gems. I know they have several, and it’s probably a long shot, but it’d be easier than me having to go to Jagruel and get more from Grot while I have so much else to take care of.”

“I’ll write the letter!” Cayla announced, and she shot up from her seat to fetch a fresh sheet of parchment. “This is the most regal correspondence you’ve ever taken part in, and I know exactly how to manage it.”

“Thank you,” I chuckled, “because I have no idea what to say. I’m kind of worried they’ll say no, just because I know how coveted their channeling gems are to them. The dwarves really pride themselves on the risks they took to procure so many, and I don’t want them to think I’m not up to the challenge. I just … ”

“Don’t want to risk all of our lives returning to Mors Pass when all these other threats are closing in?” Shoshanne guessed.

“Exactly.”

“Don’t worry about anything,” Cayla insisted as she shoved her plate away and took a deep breath before placing her pen to the paper. “I have been training my entire life for this.”

Aurora chuckled as she finished the last of her food, and I couldn’t help rubbernecking Cayla’s progress while she bit her lip and filled the entire parchment with the most elegant script I’d ever seen.

“You didn’t write a single ‘please,’” I pointed out. “You have to say please, I don’t want them to think I’m feeling entitled or trying to take advantage of their friendship.”

Cayla nodded and added a single please at the end of the letter, and then she held it up and scrutinized it carefully for several minutes.

“There,” she finally decided. “It’s perfect. Sign your name at the bottom.”

I slid the paper over and did as she said, but I furrowed my brow when I found the princess looking mortified.

“Mason, that doesn’t look at all elegant!” Cayla scoffed.

“It looks like a murderer’s signature,” Aurora agreed.

“That’s how I sign my name,” I said with a shrug, and Shoshanne giggled as she leaned in to take a look.

“I think it’s intimidating,” the healer decided.

“You should have written it in blood,” Aurora muttered, and I sighed as I folded the parchment and stood to head out.

“It’s fine how it is,” I assured them. “I’m gonna get this sent to Aurum right away, and then I’m gonna start on rebuilding Falmount. I think if I don’t take a single break, I could have it completed by nightfall.”

I was halfway to the door when Cayla curtly cleared her throat, and I smirked as I backtracked and turned around.

“Yes, princess?”

“Mason, a baron with as many resources as yourself shouldn’t be building his own town all day,” Cayla informed me. “You have hundreds of mages on hand, and if they intend to live within the bounds of Falmount, they should do their part to contribute to the barony.”

“That’s true,” I allowed and rubbed my chin. “Plus, I’d have time to start on the new automatons sooner if I send crews out to do the rebuilding for me.”

“Why not give your plans to the Defenders?” Aurora suggested. “They’ll have the mages get to work and oversee everything for you. It would be a good opportunity to get a feel for what it might be like serving as head of the Order.”

“I still haven’t decided if I’m gonna do that,” I muttered, “but I see your point. Alright, then. I’ll get the orders squared away, send this letter, and then I’m heading to Serin.”

“I’ll join you, if that’s alright,” Shoshanne replied. “I want to get an idea of how the infirmary there is fairing in case it’s time to send our healers back to the Oculus.”

“Good idea,” I agreed.

“Aurora and I have a few things to attend to around here,” Cayla told me, “but then we’ll stop by the training fields and see that the mages are remaining on task, and whether they’re ready to advance in their training.”

“Thank you,” I said, and I came over to kiss the women goodbye before I left. “You guys are always on top of everything, and I really appreciate it.”

“Sometimes on top,” Aurora murmured as I lingered near her lips. “Sometimes on bottom or hanging in a cage.”

My blood heated as the half-elf’s emerald eyes took on a lusty cast, and I decided to spend another minute kissing her goodbye. My mind was suddenly reliving the sight of her clinging to the bars of her cage last night while she pleasured herself and watched me tear Shoshanne’s leather straps to shreds, but I somehow found the will to leave the three women before I completely rearranged my schedule for the next few hours.

I could still hear them giggling when I grabbed my new designs from the worktable and headed out the door, and once I was in the lanes, I began taking stock of Haragh’s management.

I was glad to see the aftermath from the ogre attack was fully repaired already as I made my way through the village, and the mages weren’t as shaken up as I’d thought they might be. It seemed the extra training helped them all gain some confidence in life and death situations, and most of them looked more focused than ever while they practiced harnessing their elements and pored over books in the marketplace.

I could hear several of the Defenders chuckling to each other and slamming pints down in the pub, and when I came in, Raynor smiled and nodded before he poured me a fresh pint without any prompting.

“Good day, Defender Flynt,” the barkeep rasped.

“How’s it going, Raynor?”

“Not bad, not bad,” he assured me. “Lost the southwest corner of the pub last night, but Defender Urn fixed it right up for us.”

“Glad to hear it,” I replied as I headed for the table of Defenders, and Kurna dragged a spare seat over for me.

“We were just discussing that wolf of yours,” the brawny mage said with a broad grin. “I saw her tear an ogre’s head off last night, and she ate half the brain before she got back to the battle.”

“Yeah, Ruela’s pretty wild,” I chuckled.

“What’s that you’ve got there?” Urn grunted, and he nudged his pint against my roll of parchment.

“This is my solution to defending Falmount,” I told him.

The Defenders shuffled their empty pints aside so I could roll out the papers, and they all stooped in closer to get a look at the finer details.

“So, since we’re not sure what to do about this new element I told you about,” I began, but Kurna glanced over.

“You did locate one last night?” he clarified.

“I did.” I nodded. “When I followed those last few ogres, they disappeared about sixty feet outside the village, and Deya was able to find the mark on a tree. We destroyed it, but I don’t doubt there are others out there, and until I can figure out what to do about locating all of them, we’re taking a different approach to our defenses here.”

“There’s no wall,” one of the Defenders pointed out. “What’s going to keep the Master’s soldiers from storming in again?”

“Nothing,” I admitted. “We actually want them to storm in now. If we’re the bait for the Master’s soldiers, then making Falmount a trap is our best solution.”

Urn grinned beneath his bushy moustache, and Kurna let out one of his disconcerting chuckles that always made him sound like a demon.

“Let’s hear it,” the brawny mage growled, and I grinned as Raynor brought over a fresh round of ale.

An hour later, everything was in order to begin reconstructing Falmount to achieve every possible strategic advantage, and I shook hands with the Defenders before we left the pub to get to it. They immediately began gathering the mages who weren’t already at training in order to form various building crews, and I left my designs with them and my letter for the Elders with Kurna before I made my way back to the mansion. I was more than excited to see what would come of all of this after I discussed every strategic element with the others, and I had to admit, it felt pretty awesome to be able to just hand over my ideas, carry on with my day, and know everything was in good hands.

There were definitely perks to having some authority amongst the Defenders, and Aurora hadn’t been wrong. I could see how accepting the position as head of the Order might be something worth taking on. If anything, it would enable me to deliver orders just as effectively all over Illaria, not only within my own town, which meant I could coordinate our defenses against the Master without risking any missteps.

I was still imagining what kind of leader I’d like to be if I did accept the position when I greeted my water spawn back at the mansion, and I found Shoshanne and Deya practicing with their new flails beside Bobbie.

“How did it go with Dorinick?” I asked immediately.

“Everything is going well in the mountains,” Deya assured me. “I found Dorinick and the dwarf you call Thrungrig, and once the general managed to calm his companion down and explain who I was, I delivered your letter. They asked me to inform you that the Master brought in a whole pack of creatures he couldn’t identify, but they were about the size of myself as the purple dragon, and Dorinick said you were insane to ride into a flock of dragons like that. I believe they witnessed our efforts last week to recapture the dragons.”

“Awesome,” I chuckled. “Thrungrig didn’t try to harm you, did he?”

“No,” Deya giggled. “I was a little bloody when I arrived, and I think he feared I’d slaughtered their troops back at their campsite.”

“Bloody?” Shoshanne asked with concern.

“I took a detour to go for a hunt on my way there.” The elf shrugged lightly. “Are we ready to go to the Oculus? I’d like to join you and see how they’re doing with the Elven Scrolls if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, you can join us,” I replied, and I led the two women to the Mustang as I unsealed the doors. “Everything is in place for the mages to begin rebuilding while we’re gone, Kurna’s gonna get my letter sent to Aurum, and I have to admit, I think being head of the Order might be something I could go for. Not that I have a full scope of what my duties would be, but having the added authority would be helpful in a lot of ways.”

“Really?” Deya asked as she sent me a glittering smile from the passenger seat, but before I could respond, the beautiful elf suddenly lurched toward the window and vomited all over the clearing.

Chapter 5

“I’m perfectly fine, you don’t have to concern yourselves,” Deya sighed, but I shook my head as we turned onto the road to Serin.

“Deya, there were worms in your vomit,” Shoshanne argued.

“Those weren’t worms, it was shredded sinew,” the beautiful elf corrected. “It’s just bits of the creature I hunted earlier.”

“What kind of creature?” I asked, and I struggled to keep my own bile down while I hoped those weren’t worms I just saw strewn all over my clearing.

“I’m not sure,” Deya admitted. “I’ve never seen one before, but it was delicious.”

“You’ve gotta stop eating weird animals while you’re transmuting,” I sighed.

“I agree with Mason.” Shoshanne nodded as she pressed the back of her hand to Deya’s forehead. “Your body isn’t meant to digest bones, fur, or claws. If you’re eating these animals whole, you could be harming your elven form. Look at you, you’re pale, and you have a temperature.”

“I feel fine,” Deya insisted. “I’m only embarrassed that I threw up in front of Mason.”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” I assured her. “I’m just worried about you. I’ve seen you maul a whole sphynx before, and nothing about that looked healthy.”

“Now, you’re becoming ill over it,” Shoshanne persisted, but Deya rolled her violet eyes.

“I can’t help my dragon instincts,” she mumbled, “and I don’t wish to. I enjoy hunting creatures down and tearing them to shreds. It’s one of my favorite things about transmuting. The way their fear smells and the thrill of the chase are so exhilarating, and the satisfaction of killing with my own teeth is almost as pleasurable as sex with Mason.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “I think.”

“Promise me you’ll tell me if you continue to feel unwell,” Shoshanne ordered, but she gently stroked the elf’s arms like a doting mother. “I won’t have you harming your beautiful body over these silly dragons, and Mason certainly agrees with me.”

“I do,” I said with a nod. “If you get any sicker, you’re done hunting. I brought you to Illaria so you could have a better life, not contract a crazy sphynx disease.”

“Fine,” Deya sighed, “but you don’t have to carry on and on about it. Can’t we talk about something else?”

Shoshanne clicked her tongue, and I couldn’t help smirking at the pout Deya had on her face while she crossed her arms.

It wasn’t every day a man had to lecture his woman about devouring raw carcasses, but the fact that she took it so personally was kind of adorable.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” I checked, but the look the elf gave me silenced me on the subject as I pulled up to the gates of Serin.

Even the guards Simun and Goreth seemed to sense there was a bit of a mood in the Mustang, and they scrambled to part the gates while they eyed the irritated elf and disgruntled healer beside me.

“Baron Flynt,” Simun muttered, and he bowed awkwardly.

“Thanks, guys,” I sighed.

Bobbie slowly rolled through the tradesmen’s quarters while the young boys of the capital jogged beside our windows and waved their hearts out, and they seemed to cheer Deya up pretty quickly. Then she gave two of them a pair of Halcyan daggers that made their eyes nearly fall out of their grimy faces, and I could tell Shoshanne was biting her cheek to keep from making any disapproving comments.

“Th-thanks, miss!” one of the boys panted, and Deya was all smiles from there on.

When we got to the castle courtyard, the beautiful elf already had her color back, and even Shoshanne looked less concerned by now. The two women looped their arms in mine while we crossed the enchanted threshold of the Oculus, and when I sparked my Terra powers and parted the stone entrance, the sound of the midday bustle in the underground city sifted over us.

“I think this place is so beautiful,” Deya sighed as she craned her neck back to admire the crater-like ceiling and the buildings crawling up the sides of the cavern. “You must feel so proud to be involved in repairing it.”

“I am,” I said as I eyed the extensive city. “I’ve never been part of something like this before.”

“What do you mean?” Shoshanne asked, and I shrugged.

“It’s just so ancient,” I replied. “My Terra powers tie me to this place in a way that’s always felt strange, but familiar. Now that I’ve gotten to work directly with the stone and read into the schematics the old mages left behind, this sense of connectedness is even stronger. I love it here.”

“Then I love it here, too,” Deya decided, and she wove her fingers in mine as she sent me a sweet smile.

“I’m going to look for the instructors,” Shoshanne told me. “They should be able to give me an idea of what’s needed here, but judging by how many mages have returned, I think we may soon be losing our healers in Falmount.”

“We’ll meet you at the library as soon as we’re done checking in with Barnik and Wyresus,” I assured her, and the healer left a kiss on my cheek before she headed into the belly of the city.

“Just imagine,” Deya mused while I led her along the central waterway. “One day, other Terra Mages will come here for the very first time, and they’ll sense what you yourself have done to maintain this place. It’s a beautiful cycle.”

“I didn’t even think of that,” I admitted, but the notion only heightened my awareness of how much the magical city really meant to me.

I’d repaired over fifty buildings and dozens of pathways here, and after connecting first hand with the mapping that existed miles beneath our feet, my dedication to the Oculus had only grown. I knew every inch of the place like the back of my hand now, and I could point directly to each structure I’d restored regardless of how elaborate the cityscape was.

So, I did, and while we wove through the busy streets and over waterways, I showed Deya what I’d been working on over the last week. The beautiful elf couldn’t decide which structure was her favorite one, but it didn’t make much of a difference to me. She lit up all over again with shock and wonder at each new place I showed her, and I chuckled while she dragged me into every building to see what I’d done with the interior as well.

Mages looked up from their books and pints in confusion every time the beautiful elf barreled through a door and gasped with delight, and when we interrupted a clockmaker who looked like he hadn’t had a customer in ages, Deya proudly informed the man he had the most fantastic shop in the whole city. The old man’s toothy grin wavered when she clarified this was because Mason Flynt built it, but he was flattered all the same.

Eventually, we made it to the great library, and Deya’s voice echoed through the hushed entrance hall while she listed off her favorite details down to the tiniest embellishment.

I’d already been proud of what I accomplished during the rebuilding, but hearing the way my pink-haired elf carried on boosted my ego to an embarrassing degree, and I was definitely strutting by the time we got down into the cellars beneath the library. The way she talked about it, someone would think I’d singlehandedly designed the entire Oculus, and it didn’t matter how many times I reminded her that I followed someone else’s designs, she still insisted I must have improved on it because the buildings next door weren’t even close to comparing.

I was rolling my eyes when we got to the chamber where Barnik guarded Wyresus for me, but I paused at the door in confusion because I’d never heard conversation taking place between the two men before. For a moment, I thought I had the wrong cellar, but Barnik’s gravelly voice was impossible to mistake, and I leaned closer to the wooden panels while I furrowed my brow.

“Nah, find the sideways hat looking one,” Barnik grunted.

“Which one?” Wyresus asked.

“The one on the page with the wonky seven.”

“No, that’s not at all similar,” Wyresus muttered after a minute.

“Like hell it’s not,” Barnik shot back. “Turn it upside down and invert it, and it’s the same damn thing.”

There was a long pause while papers shuffled around, and Deya’s lips curled at the corner in amusement.

“Gods,” Wyresus finally replied. “You’re right. That must mean this symbol and the previous one you noticed with the curl at the end are adjuncts. If that’s the case, it would logically follow that we can omit--”

Now, I had to open the door because I was half certain they were fucking with me, but when I came in, I found both men stooped over the Elven Scrolls while Barnik stood beside Wyresus’ chair with a mug of Rosh.

“There he is!” the Aer Mage boomed, and he drained the last of his mug as he gestured to the table. “Take a look at this bullshit.”

Deya looked scandalized to hear the Elven Scrolls referred to as bullshit, and I squeezed her hand as we headed over to the table. I couldn’t stop staring in disbelief at the two men, though, because Barnik wasn’t taunting or terrorizing the head of the Order for once, and Wyresus appeared to be completely at ease. He wasn’t even cowering.

“We are finally making some headway, Defender Flynt,” Wyresus announced as he slid his glasses from his nose.

“Thanks to me,” Barnik clarified, and my brows shot up when Wyresus nodded in full agreement.

“Wait, you know Elvish?” I asked.

“Nope,” Barnik replied, and he headed to his barrel of Rosh for a refill.

“Then how … ”

“Show him that page with the hat,” Barnik called over his shoulder.

Wyresus propped his glasses on his crooked nose before rifling through the scrolls a bit, and then he slid one of them across the table for me to see while Barnik belched in Deya’s ear.

“Look at this,” the Aer Mage chuckled. “These elves are some tricky bastards. They’ve got all these sideways hats over here, and then when you look at the newer books, you can tell they just flipped the hat over, twisted the bottom line to the side, and used the symbol all over again in the new language. Same with this squiggle here, and that one’s always next to the cross with the dots on top, which is just like the wavy ‘T’ and the fancy ‘K’ in the new books.”

“Ummm,” I managed, but Deya wasn’t nearly as lost as I was.

“How clever,” she mused as she studied the scrolls. “Then this word must be ‘perish.”

“Precisely my estimation,” Wyresus said with pleasant surprise. “And if we apply the same rule to this page over … here, we can assume the translation of these three letters to be--”

“Of course!” Deya’s smile widened. “It says ‘herald.’”

“Very good, Miss Deya,” Wyresus said as he removed his glasses. “That took me ten minutes to translate.”

“I showed him,” Barnik clarified before taking a long swig of Rosh.

“I’m sorry,” I finally cut in. “How is it that you’re translating a language you don’t know from a language no one knows?”

“It’s the Rosh,” the man said as he waggled his bushy black brows. “I always notice shit like this when I’m drinkin’ it. Take a look at the stonework in here.” Barnik turned around and pointed just above the door. “It looks haphazard, but they did it on purpose, see? Blue, blue, grey, black, blue, blue, black, grey, blue, blue, grey, black, blue.”

Deya giggled at the look on my face, but I had to hand it to the guy, he was right about the patterned stonework.

“Huh,” was all I said.

“Then these elves got tricky,” Barnik continued, and he came around the table to join Wyresus with an energy I’d never seen in him.

What really got me, though, was that he smelled like he’d been swimming in Rosh for days, but he was more clear-eyed than anyone I’d ever seen drinking the stuff.

“They took these ‘M’s,” Barnik began, but Wyresus interrupted as he raised a knobby finger.

“I believe that symbol is more accurately comparable to the letter ‘Y’,” he clarified.

“I don’t give a shit,” Barnik snorted. “They took these ‘M’s, and they overlaid them on this thing with all the dashes sticking out of it, but it’s the same as the one with the upside down four, and Wyresus says it’s a direct crossover. So, what the fuck? Were they just drunk off their asses when they came up with the new version? Because it sure looks like these elves were havin’ a hell of a laugh at the time.”

Deya and I just blinked in response, and this time, even the elf looked as lost as me.

Wyresus nodded as he pulled another parchment over, though.

“And because Defender Barnik has discovered this crossover,” the man explained, “I have been able to discern a similar pattern with three symbols that are frequently used together in the ancient texts, and thereby come to the conclusion that when used together along with this last symbol, they translate to the word ‘rune.”

Now, I could get on board with the conversation.

“Oh, thank the gods,” I sighed. “That’s such good news. Anything you find about any rune, I need it translated directly without a single mistake.”

“Yes, well that is what I am endeavoring to do, Defender Flynt,” Wyresus drawled, and I resisted the urge to punch the condescending look off his face.

“How’s things with you, though?” Barnik asked before he drained his mug.

“Lovely,” Deya answered with a happy smile.

“Yeah, I mean … a lot’s happened, but things are going alright,” I told the man.

“Mason is a baron now,” the beautiful elf added.

“No shit?” Barnik snorted as he refilled his mug once more. “Hey! You’re a noble.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled.

“You know a guy named Ralish?” he asked, and I noticed his green eyes were suddenly looking devious at the mention of the baron I’d told to fuck off last week.

“I do, actually. He’s a total prick.”

“Do me a favor,” Barnik grunted, “next time you see him, slit the fucker’s throat, will ye’? I can’t stand that bastard, and I lost ten thousand gold thanks to him.”

I raised my brows. “Noted.”

“Baron Ralish is infinitely superior in both class and reputation than either of you,” Wyresus informed us in a snide tone, but a single look from Barnik sent his eyes back to his work.

“So, did ye’ come here to bring me more Rosh, or are you just checking if I’ve killed him yet?” Barnik asked with a slightly crazed grin, and Deya giggled.

“Actually, we’re here about a development that’s come to light,” I told him. “The Master’s using an element from rune magic that modern elves don’t know anything about, and it enables his soldiers to teleport.”

Barnik furrowed his bushy brows and lowered his mug. “What’s a teleport?”

“It’s basically if I disappeared right now and magically reappeared in Temin’s castle to kill everyone. Then disappeared again and showed up in here without anyone being able to follow me.”

Wyresus slowly removed his glasses while Barnik just stared, and I waited for the two men to process this information.

“What an asshole,” Barnik finally sighed, and he shook his head. “It’s gonna be a real pleasure killing this guy.”

“You’ll have to beat me to it,” I told him. “The Master just used this rune element to send about forty possessed ogres into Falmount, and last week, he almost killed every noble in Illaria, the king, and the dwarven Elders with the same tactic.”

“And Mason could have died,” Deya added like this was somehow the worst part.

“You were there, too,” I muttered. “We all could have died.”

“What the hell is goin’ on out there?” Barnik demanded. “I’ve only been in here a few days, and the whole nation’s going to shit!”

“You’ve been in here for a couple weeks,” I corrected, and the man eyed the mug in his hand.

“That’s likely, too,” he admitted with a shrug. “Either way, what are you plannin’ to do about this element thing?”

“No idea,” I admitted, “but I came down here to find out if you’ve noticed any linework in the scrolls that might resemble specific runes. I’ve looked over them dozens of times without seeing anything like that, but if the elves were discussing rune magic in these documents, they have to have drawn some diagrams or even a couple elemental lines somewhere.”

“What does this elemental line look like?” Wyresus asked, and he quickly pulled a pen out of his robe.

Then I drew a single line at a sixty-degree angle for him and nodded when the two men just looked at me.

“Yeah, I know,” I snorted. “So, we’re kind of fucked, but if you translate anything in here about untraceable transportation, or vanishing, anything like that, get a raven to me in Falmount immediately. We have virtually nothing but this single line to go off of, and if he’s used this in the Oculus, the castle, and Falmount, then he’s damn sure going to use it anywhere you can imagine. I can’t do anything to stop him from unleashing his soldiers on all of us if I can’t figure out how to counter this elemental line.”

Barnik scruffed his black beard as he let out a long sigh.

“I’m gonna need some more Rosh,” he mumbled.

“Barnik, if you two keep making as much progress as you have so far, I’ll make sure you have enough Rosh to last the rest of your life.”

“I’m holding you to that,” the man informed me, and he glanced between Wyresus and Deya. “You all heard him say it. You’re my witnesses on this.”

“I will personally ensure Mason keeps his word,” Deya said with a solemn nod. “The work you have undertaken here is a noble feat, and on behalf of the Elven Houses, I thank you for your dedication.”

Barnik grinned at the praise as his green eyes glinted, and I knew what was coming next before he even took a breath.

“Why don’t ye’ stick around, then?” the man shamelessly requested. “A noble feat like this could use a pretty face to help out, and--”

“Not happening,” I cut in as I slid my arm around Deya’s waist, and she haughtily tipped her nose up while I turned us toward the door.

“Barons,” Barnik snorted with disgust. “It’s not like ye’ don’t have enough women. You could spare one.”

I firmly shut the door rather than bother to respond, but part of me wished the Baroness didn’t lead such a precariously dangerous life. Then I could have enjoyed the look on Barnik’s face when I told him I’d recently added a fifth gorgeous woman to my bed.

It was enough to know he’d spit his Rosh all over the scrolls if I did tell him, though, and I didn’t really mind keeping Nulena as a family secret these days. It was honestly that much sexier this way.

“Once you destroy the Master and save the world, perhaps you should find Defender Barnik a companion,” Deya mused while we headed up the cellar steps. “This would be a generous way to repay him for spending his days in a cellar with that very frail and annoying man.”

“I might have to,” I chuckled. “At least it would distract him from all of you.”

“It must be so difficult to love such beautiful women,” Deya sighed. “You should kill more people over us. That would be very sexy.”

“If I killed every man who looked at the four of you, I’d have no one left to lead or battle against,” I informed her, and Deya sent me a mischievous grin while we left the library.

“Doesn’t that sound like fun, though?”

I shook my head. “You’ve been spending too much time with Nulena.”

This only seemed to please the beautiful elf as she giggled and trotted down the stone steps, and Shoshanne was waiting for us when we got to the cobblestone path that lead to the Great Library.

“I take it things went well?” the healer asked as Deya looped her arm in hers.

“Mason doesn’t think it sounds fun to kill more men over us,” the elf complained. “Don’t you think it would be sexy?”

Shoshanne raised her brows in my direction, but I could only sigh.

“Is this something you’ve been discussing with Nulena?” the healer asked.

“My point exactly,” I muttered, and I headed into the city with the two women just behind. “How did it go with the instructors?”

“It went well,” Shoshanne replied. “They do require some assistance here now that the mages have returned to their dormitories, so I went to the infirmary to see how the supplies are, but I found three healers there who arrived only two days ago. They seemed relieved to meet me. Apparently, they were hoping to begin their work here, and they travelled all the way from the Order of Pallax only to find the infirmary deserted when they got here.”

“You’re certain they’re from the Order of Pallax?” I clarified, and my first thought was that the Master was planting more of his supporters within the Oculus.

“I was concerned at first,” Shoshanne admitted, “and I was going to come find you to see what you wanted me to do, but I figured you have enough to take care of right now. So, I interviewed the three of them myself, and once I was certain they were truly acquainted with the mentors from the Order of Pallax, I ran a series of basic procedural tests to evaluate their abilities and the extent of their knowledge. They did remarkably well, and since we still need assistance in Falmount with the snatchers bringing in so many of the Master’s recruits, I hired them to work here in the Oculus. I should come to check on them every so often to be sure they’re getting on alright, but I feel confident they’ll do just fine. My own mentor trained two of them herself, so I know they can handle this.”

I slowed to a stop as I admired the look of calm authority on Shoshanne’s face, but then she blushed.

“What?” the healer asked uneasily. “Should I have done otherwise? I should have. I’ll come get you right away next time and--”

“No,” I cut in, “you did great. I was just thinking how good you are at this. You did exactly what you should have done and covered all the bases. Now, both Falmount and the Oculus are taken care of.”

“You don’t think I’ve overstepped my bounds?” she checked while we continued toward the stone gates. “I know it’s not my place to appoint healers within the Order, but I didn’t want to endanger anyone, and with so many residents returning to the Oculus, we really should have someone here, just in case.”

“You’re perfect,” I chuckled as I tucked her under my arm. “Thank you for making sure everything was handled properly.”

“You’re such an angel,” Deya sighed. “I wish all the world had a woman like you looking after them. You would make a wonderful goddess.”

I raised my brows as Shoshanne giggled and blushed, but I didn’t say a damned word. Then I cleared my throat and summoned my magic to part the gates of the Oculus, and while we all made our way down the blackened tunnel, I tried to ignore the little voice in my head that kept asking when the fuck I was going to fess up to the fact that I knew way more about Deya’s lineage than I’d ever let on.

Then I thought of Nemris, though, and I knew I could trust a goddess like her to make herself known to Deya when she believed it was time to reveal the beautiful elf’s fate. Still, I felt a little guilty, which was probably why I had my hands on her hips and my mouth on her lips by the time we got to the castle courtyard.

Deya giggled and stumbled backward while she let me do as I pleased, and I had her pinned against Bobbie’s trunk when Shoshanne tapped my shoulder.

“Mason …” the healer warned, and after I pried my lips off Deya, I saw the king descending the steps of the castle with ten guards in tow, and he did not look pleased.

“Defender Flynt,” Temin said as he and his guards came to a clipped stop beside us, “there’s been an attack in Cedis, and over fifty men were killed along with their families.”

Chapter 6

The rattle of armor echoed around the marble halls as the king’s guard led us to the throne room, and my two women hurried along behind me and the king while Temin filled me in.

I’d never seen him look so thin or sallow before, and the bags under his eyes were a pale blue that showed how little he’d been sleeping since I saw him last week.

“King Balmier is unharmed,” Temin assured me. “The attack occurred just east of Eyton. A village was raided late last night. The merchants who managed to flee and alert the king were unable to identify the creatures that came upon them, but by the time the king’s guard arrived, the attackers were gone, and the town was left predominantly in ruins.”

“Did they offer any descriptions we could use?” I asked as we turned into the throne room, and we quickly took our seats across the desk while Temin scanned the letter he had in front of him.

“Only that these creatures appeared to be blue, reptilian, and larger than a horse,” Temin answered. “I’m told the merchants of the villages fought admirably, but after the attack had finally ended, the majority of the injured began suffering some sort of toxic shock. The healers of Eyton have reported the skin around their lips and noses turned purple, and a yellow puss began seeping from their orifices. They all died within a few hours.”

“The Saurbrin,” Deya gasped.

“I was about to say the same thing.” Shoshanne nodded in agreement. “Purple staining around the nose.”

“What’s Saurbrin?” I asked.

“The Saurbrin reside in the southwest jungles,” Deya explained. “Not far from the border of Cedis. Their claws, teeth, and spikes secrete a very potent venom.”

“Even brushing against a Saurbrin can kill you if the skin is broken,” Shoshanne added, “but it’s a delayed death.”

“They’re the size of the purple dragon when they’re fully grown,” the beautiful elf said. “The creatures Dorinick mentioned seeing at the fortress must have been the Saurbrin.”

I furrowed my brow. “Then the Master sent them to Cedis using the new element. If it’s in the south, he’s finally gearing up for a mass attack. This was his first test run.”

“What?” Temin cut-in, and when I looked over, he was even paler than before.

“Yeah … so,” I began, “remember how I told you last week to disperse your guards throughout the castle in groups of ten on every floor?”

Temin nodded.

“That was on account of a rune element we found out the Master is engraving all over the place,” I admitted. “I didn’t want to get into the details until I had a clearer idea of what to do about it, but that’s how he’s accomplishing these attacks.”

“How does this rune element work?” the king asked in a forced calm tone.

He was fidgeting with the hem of his robe in a way that made me realize he was pretty much at the end of his rope, so I tried to speak as calmly as possible without tiptoeing around the important details.

“It’s a single line that corresponds with one of the elements in his rune,” I explained, “and this corresponding line enables his soldiers to travel from his headquarters to any place he wants. The attack on the Oculus was possible because of this element, and the same goes for the attempt to kill us all at your castle last week. If Dorinick saw the Saurbrin at the fortress recently, then it’s most likely the Master has placed this elemental line in Cedis and used it to coordinate the attack last night. The fact that this seems to have happened simultaneously with the attack in Falmount gives me the impression the Master is finally gearing up to unleash his army.”

Temin stared at the desk for a long moment. “What happened in Falmount?”

“A fleet of possessed ogres came after the town,” I told him, “but the mages fought their asses off. There were only ten casualties on our side, which is a miracle considering how brutal those ogres were, and we located the elemental line they used to get there, so we were able to destroy it. In all honesty, I don’t doubt there’s several others surrounding Falmount, but I’m already working on using this to our advantage.”

“Are you alright, Your Highness?” Shoshanne asked when Temin sank a few inches down in his seat. “You don’t look well.”

“Don’t mind me,” Temin muttered, “I haven’t been crushed, poisoned, or torn to shreds yet so … ”

“I know this is getting out of hand,” I tried, “but we’re not giving up, Temin. I’m waiting for an elf I know to arrive and help us figure out how to counter this rune element, I’ve already sent word to Grot in order to make sure my defenses there are still holding, and I’ll be sending another automaton to the Oculus within the next few days.”

“This element is currently engraved within the Oculus?” Temin clarified, and I nodded.

“I have someone looking for it,” I assured him. “That isn’t to say there’s only one mark in the whole city, but anything helps at this point. The good news is Wyresus is making some headway in his translations with the Elven Scrolls, so that could help turn the tides in our favor real soon. In the meantime, my fleet of snatchers are constantly bringing in more of the Master’s recruits.”

“Alright, here’s what I think,” Temin began, and he worked to sit up straighter as he folded his hands. His fingers were still fidgeting anxiously, though, and Shoshanne looked desperate to help ease the man’s nerves in some way. “The new automaton should patrol the Oculus itself rather than guard the door since the greatest threat will come from within the city. My own king’s guard will patrol the streets of Serin day and night, until our armies can be gathered, and--”

“But what about you?” Shoshanne interrupted. “Your own safety is just as important as--”

Temin waved the healer off before she could make her case, though.

“The citizens need the protection more than I do,” he assured the woman, and I eyed the whiteness of Temin’s knuckles. “I’ll get word to King Balmier about the threat of this new element so he may see to the protection of his own subjects, but if attacks of this magnitude continue, we will have no choice but to declare war. My vassals’ armies only number three hundred men in all, which brings me to the fact that we are alarmingly short on Defenders within the Order of the Elementa. Should they be required at their posts throughout the nation, the capital will be grossly under protected. How is your work with the mages going?”

“Excellent,” I answered. “I was impressed with what I saw last night, and not only are they all wielding their elements with precision, but they’re holding their ground and combining their efforts to increase their effectiveness against the strength of the Master’s soldiers.”

“Then I want you to begin assembling a list of all those you believe fit for promotion,” Temin informed me. “You’ll know better than anyone what it takes to fill the role at this time, and I trust your judgement explicitly. Wyresus’ opinion on the matter is frankly useless.”

“I can do that,” I assured him.

“Other than this, we must prepare for the worst,” the king continued as he rubbed at his brow. “I’ll send word to the Order of Pallax and see if they can spare a dozen or so healers. We’ll certainly need more than that, but it’s the best I can manage at this time.”

I glanced at Shoshanne. “Temin, Mage Hellia mentioned that you have yet to appoint anyone to the position of head healer for the Order of the Elementa.”

“Yes, this is the primary issue I need to attend to before we can hope to house and organize any healers the Order of Pallax can send.” Temin sighed. “Wyresus drove the last head of the infirmary away, unfortunately, but the healers of the Order serve more than the mages alone. They’re essential to our citizens and soldiers in times of war, and they’ll require someone to lead them effectively.”

“Shoshanne can do it,” I offered, and I could feel the healer’s wide-eyed gaze on me, but I barreled on. “She’s already running the infirmary in Falmount, and she conducted a thorough screening of a few new healers for the Oculus today to be sure the residents are looked after for the time being. I can personally vouch for her effectiveness as a leader, as well as her ability to remain professional in challenging circumstances. Shoshanne could certainly ensure every healer in the Order is prepared to handle anything the Master might throw at us.”

“Mason!” Shoshanne hissed nervously.

“If you believe she’s suited for the role, then I’ll appoint her right this moment,” the king responded.

“I’m positive she is,” I said with a nod, and I could see Deya nodding as well.

“Then Mage Shoshanne, you are hereby appointed to the post of head healer within the Order of the Elementa,” Temin informed the woman, and she nodded despite the look of blank terror on her face. “Hence forth, the infirmary within the Oculus is under your command. I will contact you directly once the new healers arrive, and you may conduct any screenings you deem necessary to ensure our armies are in good hands. Congratulations.”

Shoshanne made a strange squeaking sound in response, so I shook the king’s hand for her since she didn’t seem to know how to blink anymore.

“Thank you for this opportunity,” I muttered.

“Thank you for the recommendation,” the king said with an amused grin. “Now, shall we all pray for our lives, or simply go our separate ways and hope for the best?”

“Don’t worry, Temin,” I chuckled. “It’s looking bleak, but we’ve got this.”

“I’ll endeavor to believe you,” Temin mumbled as he slumped in his seat.

“Keep me posted if any other attacks occur,” I said, and the king nodded while we rose from our seats.

Temin was still sitting there looking like death when we exited the throne room and headed back to the courtyard, but I couldn’t blame him. All of Illaria looked to him to make the right decisions, and I doubted he’d ever faced a threat as formidable as the Master during his reign. I wished I had the means of easing the king’s anxieties, but for now, I figured the best I could do was hold up my end of the bargain and try to lift some of the load off his shoulders.

Starting with the Order’s infirmary.

“Breathe,” I reminded Shoshanne once we were down the hall a ways, and the healer took a gasping breath as Deya looped her arm around her waist for support.

“Mason, I can’t do this,” she blurted. “The infirmary at the Oculus is five times bigger than the one in Falmount, and if I mess up, the lives of every mage in the Order will be at risk, not to mention the lords’ armies. I don’t have enough experience for the position, and I’ve never been in charge of so many healers. The last head of the infirmary served for over fifty years! Compared to him, I’m--”

“Let me stop you there,” I laughed, and I dropped my arm around Shoshanne’s shoulders. “You know I would never recommend you for the job if I had any doubts about your ability to handle it. I’d love to keep your talents all to myself in Falmount, but the fact is, you’re an incredible healer. Everyone in the Oculus would benefit from having someone as compassionate and dedicated as you in charge of the infirmary.”

“But … ” Shoshanne tried, and I shook my head to silence her.

“You heard what Temin said,'' I continued. “We could be at war within the week if this gets out of hand, and you’re the only healer in the nation whose been with me for every attack the Master’s attempted so far. You helped repair the damage in Orebane, Nalnora, and Illaria. You know better than anyone what we’re up against, and for the sake of everyone who’s joining us in this fight, we need someone like you leading the healers. Our lives could depend on it.”

“Mason’s right,” Deya agreed, and she sent the healer a soft smile. “You can do this.”

“What if I can’t, though?” Shoshanne worried. “What if everything goes horribly wrong, and it’s all my fault?”

I shrugged, and I smirked as I unsealed Bobbie’s doors. “We’ll blame it on the Master.”

“No,” Deya giggled. “We’ll blame it on Wyresus.”

“You two are not helping,” Shoshanne muttered as she slid into the front seat.

“The point is, you’ve got this,” I chuckled. “No matter how worried you are, we’re not gonna let you fuck it all up. Worst-case scenario, Temin tells me I was wrong and gives the post to someone else. Not the end of the world.”

“Well … it could be,” Shoshanne pointed out. “If the Master succeeds.”

The three of us exchanged glances, but then I brought Bobbie to life and drove us through the castle gates.

“It wouldn’t be the end of the world,” I muttered after a minute, but my stomach knotted as I considered the full weight of everything closing in on us. “Every region and race would just be slaughtered or enslaved, and all of my efforts since coming to this realm would amount to nothing. We’d most likely die slow and torturous deaths at the hand of the Master, but … the world itself would still exist.”

“That is not what’s going to happen,” Deya decided.

“Exactly, because Mason is going to fix all of this,” Shoshanne agreed.

I rolled my eyes while the healer snuggled against me, and she leaned her head on my shoulder as she let out a harried sigh.

“Thank you for believing I can do this, though,” Shoshanne murmured.

“Likewise,” I chuckled.

For most of the drive back to Falmount, Deya focused on telling Shoshanne everything about the buildings I’d shown her in the Oculus, and her enthusiasm did seem to distract the healer from her concerns. It did nothing to ease my own worries, though, and I stared at the road without really seeing it while I thought over our discussion with Temin.

I’d been waiting for the Master to make his next move, so I wasn’t as shaken as Temin clearly was, but I hadn’t expected to find out the time to gather our allies was rapidly approaching. I’d hoped that time would come when I was prepared to deliver my own attack against the Master’s headquarters, but it was starting to look like that wasn’t how this would go down.

If we were forced to gather armies for multiple attacks across the regions, our numbers could plummet before we even got the chance to use them to our advantage. This was why I’d leapt at the opportunity to appoint Shoshanne as head of our healers. I knew it would fall to whoever filled that post to save our asses if that were the case, and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to see it was handled as it should be.

Still, there was only one Shoshanne with one healing staff, and those weren’t the kind of odds I wanted to come at the Master with.

If I could figure out this new element, though, I could still catch him before it was too late to do anything about it. With a little luck, we could spare ourselves too many devastating losses, and still have a strong enough force to bring his fortress to the ground.

Until then, Nulena needed to deliver. Even though she was the last person in the realm who wanted to do anything for the greater good, I had a feeling I could trust her to put in the effort and help me locate the Master’s portals.

If only because she could tell herself it was for my good that she was doing it.

As grim as this was, something about the way her energy shifted the moment I asked anything of her was deeply satisfying. The fact that she didn’t try to hinder our efforts made it easier to overlook how fucking cryptic she could be, but most importantly, her willingness to help me out could be the difference between the Master unleashing his soldiers on every village in Illaria, or just a few before I caught up and decimated his troops instead.

So, I ended up brooding over my dwindling options for longer than I could tell while I took my time getting back to Falmount, and when I parked Bobbie beside our moat, I was ten percent less freaked out. Part of this was because I could already see the battlements of the marketplace towering above the trees in the distance, and part of it was Deya’s impression of Barnik raving about sideways hats.

My women never failed to keep my spirits up no matter how ridiculous shit got in this realm, and I couldn’t help chuckling while I followed their laughter into the mansion.

The second the door was closed, though, I realized something was out of the ordinary, and I quickly caught the elf’s arm.

“Do you hear that?” I asked as I furrowed my brow.

Deya nodded thoughtfully. “It sounds like … water.”

The three of us quietly followed the sound through the halls of the mansion while it steadily grew louder, and I listened for any signs of my other two women, but their voices were all the way across Falmount at the training fields.

The sound was becoming distinctly familiar, though, and when we neared the door of a room I hadn’t finished yet, Deya began giggling. I glanced over my shoulder to find both women with giddy expressions, and I was almost afraid to get my hopes up.

It felt too good to be true.

“No fucking way,” I said in disbelief, but Shoshanne just shrugged innocently.

Then I nearly broke the door down from colliding with it so hard, and when I barreled through the doorway, I was suddenly engulfed in a steamy oasis.

The furthest corner of my fantasy bathing room was a cave with ledges I’d already carved out to accommodate all manner of sexual positions, but now, a waterfall fell like a curtain across half the entrance. The bathing pool it spilled into was steaming and bubbling like a whirlpool, and it drained into a stream that curled around the edge of the whole room. Enchanted white flames danced along the surface of the stream and illuminated the foggy atmosphere, but sunlight still poured in through dozens of tiny circular windows lining the upper edges of the lofty room.

“Surprise!” Deya and Shoshanne suddenly announced, and I gaped at the proud little smiles they wore.

“You knew about this?”

“Aurora and Cayla made us promise to keep you away for as long as possible so they could finish the last few details for you,” Shoshanne admitted with a grin. “They talked to four different Flumen Mages to figure out how to get it to work.”

“Where did you get these plants?” I asked as I eyed the moss and foliage that plumed down the walls and dotted the floors.

“I’ve been harvesting them from the jungle every time I transmute,” Deya replied. “Then I flew here to deliver them, let Aurora ride me around the forest for a while, and--”

I cocked a brow, and the elf blushed to her roots.

“Pretend I stopped talking after the harvesting part,” Deya begged. “No one is riding dragons around the foothills because we obviously know you said not to do that, and we listened.”

“I don’t even care,” I chuckled. “This place is above and beyond great. I can’t believe you’ve all been working on this. Odin told me flat out that it was impossible.”

“Perhaps for a mage at his skill level it is,” Shoshanne allowed, “but the others were able to work it out by collaborating, and we wanted to give you a present.”

“You ladies don’t have to give me anything.”

“But you made us our cages even though you prefer it when we’re all in bed together,” Deya said with a shrug.

“Hey, I don’t mind the cages,” I clarified. “Both scenarios are cool with me.”

“And,” Shoshanne continued, “since you’re so accommodating and let us keep you up all night, we thought it was only fair if we gave you what you wanted most.”

“Steamy sex cave with a waterfall!” Deya exclaimed as her eyes glittered. “Although, technically, Shoshanne’s been more excited about this than the cages.”

“Yeah, she’s not a cage girl,” I chuckled.

“I’m not,” the healer sighed. “I just want to be by you.”

“Now, the bathing pool constantly filters but remains the same temperature, and even the waterfall is heated!” Deya gushed. “Plus, we had Pindor add a ledge inside the pool, so whenever you’re tired or almost dead, you can just sit back and enjoy watching us all play in the waterfall.”

“All of the plants are medicinally useful, too,” Shoshanne added, “and two of them are aphrodisiacs. Smell that subtle hint of chocolate? That’s one of them.”

“This is … ” I tried, but I couldn’t even find the words.

The sexiest and sweetest women I’d ever known just gave me my own sex jungle, and the best part was no one would be throwing daggers at me in it.

Anytime I wanted, I could drag one or two or all of my women off for a steamy break from reality, and all of my tension just about vanished while I turned full circle to admire the place. The heavy scent of plant life along with the heat pressing in around me made it feel like I wasn’t in the foothills at all, and as I eyed the heated caves behind the waterfall, that subtle scent of chocolate wafted over me.

“So … I know we have a hundred things to do right now,” I led, “but I’m gonna need both of you to take off your clothes and--”

I turned around to find Deya and Shoshanne already nude and waiting for me, and every inch of them was glistening with a sheen of steam. Then the caramel beauty bit her bottom lip at me, and she slowly trailed her fingers up Deya’s creamy thigh.

“We’re actually gonna need you to take off your clothes,” the beautiful elf purred.

I grinned and was already reaching for my belt. “Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter 7

Deya and Shoshanne sauntered past me as they headed for the pool at my back, and with my eyes glued to their thick glistening ass cheeks, I nearly tripped over my pants trying to follow after them. Then I violently wrenched my boots off, and the two women were already easing themselves into the water by the time I casually straightened up like I hadn’t face planted into a giant fern.

They giggled at the look on my face and lazily splashed water over themselves as they beckoned me over, and when I stepped down onto the bench and into the pool, they made their way over to me.

“Holy shit, this really is the perfect temperature,” I realized, and I was about to launch into a story about almost scalding my balls off in a hot spring once, but Shoshanne and Deya were now flush against me on either side of me.

So, I just grinned as they pressed their steamy breasts against me and started nibbling at my ears, and my palms slid to their backends while the bubbling of the water did outrageous things to my lower half. The two women began taking turns kissing me while they trailed their fingers across my abs, but when Deya pulled away, I turned to watch her wade over to the edge of the pool as Shoshanne’s tongue burned a trail down my neck.

Then Deya hopped up to perch herself on the mossy ledge, and she coyly bit at her lip as she spread her legs for me. My lungs almost stopped working when she slid a finger into her pink entrance, and as she slowly trailed it up to her clit, I could see it was slick from her arousal.

My legs stumbled toward her like they had a mind of their own, and as I knelt on the bench and kneaded her splayed thighs, the beautiful elf let out a silvery giggle. Then she curled her fingers in my hair and forced my head lower.

The moment my lips grazed her skin, the elf let out a shaky sigh, and when I began to suckle lightly at the bead of her clit, she whimpered in approval. I chuckled as she collapsed back onto her elbows, and I was about to delve my tongue in for a taste when I felt Shoshanne’s lips around cock.

I gasped and instinctively grabbed the healer by the hair to pull her back up to the surface, and she had her lips puckered in shock as I gaped down at her.

“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded. “You could drown down there, I read this story once about--”

“Mason, I’m an Aer Mage,” Shoshanne reminded me as she grinned, and when I processed what this meant, my grip on her hair suddenly went limp as my knees went numb.

Then the caramel skinned beauty winked and slipped down beneath the surface, and I could only groan and brace my weight against the ledge as her tongue began to tease the tip of my cock. The combination of the heated water swirling around us and her silky tongue was so overwhelming that my entire body began to twitch uncontrollably, but then Deya cleared her throat, and I chuckled as she wrenched my head down once more.

So, I did my best to focus despite the sensation of Shoshanne’s plush lips slowly taking my length into her, and while Deya’s head dropped back with a lusty moan, I looked up at her heaving breasts and the flecks of steam clinging to her pink nipples. The more I teased her clit, the wetter she got until she was strewn across the moss and clutching her hair, and when her violet eyes looked down at me in desperation, I finally delved my tongue into her slick entrance.

Deya’s back arched as she immediately spasmed against my tongue, but I just kept devouring her pussy while Shoshanne’s nails dug into my thighs. I couldn’t help thrusting myself into the healer’s mouth as Deya’s moans grew louder, but when my seed suddenly gushed from my shaft, I accidentally nipped at Deya’s clit.

What I didn’t expect was for this to send the beautiful elf into an instant orgasm, and as she shrieked with pleasure, I could feel Shoshanne’s throat steadily pulsing around my cock to take in every drop. I’d never been so aroused in my life as I grinned and lightly nipped at Deya once more, and the elf clutched at my hair to pull me more firmly against her.

Deya’s orgasm rolled into another one before I’d even finished my own climax, but when I finally resurfaced, the elf was flushed and gasping as she trembled on the mossy floor in front of me.

“Damn,” I panted, “you’re seriously into that?”

Deya let out a shameless giggle while she nodded, but I still couldn’t help gently stroking her with my fingers in case my teeth had hurt her at all. Then Shoshanne’s lips slowly slid away from my cock, and she emerged from the water looking like a copper haired mermaid as she brushed her curls back from her face.

“My turn,” Shoshanne said huskily, and my brows shot up as the caramel beauty flipped me around and shoved me onto the bench. My legs were wobbly enough that it took pretty much no effort, and Deya’s thighs promptly hitched over my shoulders from behind to keep me there. Then the elf began stroking my hair while Shoshanne straddled me, and the healer braced her knees against the wall at my back as her brown eyes met mine.

She always liked when I controlled how I penetrated her, and it was one of my favorite things about her, so I gladly obliged. With my palms cupping her hips, I guided my shaft into her tight tunnel, and she locked her fingers around my neck to steady herself.

Deya chuckled in approval when Shoshanne’s eyes fluttered shut, and I took my time easing into her one inch at a time. The caramel beauty began to moan through her first orgasm before she even took my full length into her, but I just grinned as she rolled against me for more, and the moment she shrieked at the height of her climax, I forced her hips down onto my lap.

Deya’s nails scratched lightly across my chest while she watched Shoshanne whimper in my hold, and I could feel the elf’s thighs clenching against my shoulders like she wished it was her I had my cock buried in right now.

I focused on the healer, though, while droplets of steam dripped down her slender neck, and as I let her thrust more urgently against me, the heat of the room sent me into an erotic kind of trance.

All I could think of was the steam clinging to all of us, the roar of the water cascading down, and the moans of my women growing louder. The heady scent of the plants filled my lungs while my head dropped back to rest against Deya, and I was lost in the velvety sensation of Shoshanne’s unbelievably tight tunnel.

I locked the healer against me as her breaths started to come faster, and when she began to whimper, I slid one hand between us to tease her clit, too. Then Shoshanne bit down on my collar bone as her body jolted in my hold, and I grinned as the grating moan of her next orgasm filled my ears. I kept teasing her, though, just to prolong her enjoyment a bit, and by the time Shoshanne finally came down from her climax, her legs were trembling against the wall.

Still, I wasn’t even close to done with her.

“Hold her up for me,” I ordered as I glanced over my shoulder, and Deya giggled before she slipped her thighs off my shoulders and slid down into the water.

Then the beautiful elf braced Shoshanne’s back against her breasts, and she sent me a grin just before I felt her pressing the woman more firmly against me.

We kept Shoshanne locked between us as I tightened my hold on the healer’s ass, and she clawed at Deya’s shoulders as I forced myself even deeper.

Shoshanne gasped with every breath until she was quivering with pleasure, and I enjoyed the sight of her breasts jolting from the power of my thrusts while water coursed over her taut nipples. Then Deya began tracing circles around the healer’s deep red buds, and I instantly climaxed at the sound of Shoshanne’s moan of approval. The throbbing of my cock only sent her into another orgasm, though, and as my seed coursed deep into her, I could feel Shoshanne beginning to go limp between us.

We held her steady until the heavy pulse of my cum filling her gradually subsided, and Deya’s cheeks were already flushed in anticipation when my eyes locked onto hers.

“Your turn,” I growled, but then the beautiful elf shook her head coyly and turned away.

I stared at every dripping inch of her while she crawled out of the pool in a way that left her most erotic parts fully exposed to me, and just before she walked through the waterfall, she sent a mischievous grin over her shoulder.

I immediately pulled out of Shoshanne, but when I gently shifted the healer onto the bench beside me, she stroked her fingers along my jaw and to my neck as she pulled me in for a long, lingering kiss.

“Thank you,” Shoshanne purred, and I took a ragged breath as I considered the way her brown eyes bored into mine.

It didn’t matter how domineering I got with Shoshanne, she always looked at me the same way when I was finished with her. Like I was the only man in the world who mattered, and the fact that I actually was the only man she’d known like this made it impossible to loosen my hold on her slender waist. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to hold her close and take my time enjoying her sultry curves, but the healer grinned in a way that showed she sensed my predicament.

Then Shoshanne chuckled and playfully shoved me away, and as another taunting giggle drifted from behind the waterfall, I took one last admiring glance at the caramel beauty’s drenched cleavage.

“Get over there,” Shoshanne murmured. “You know I love watching the way you take Deya.”

This finally sent me vaulting out of the pool, and when I crashed through the waterfall, I found my beautiful elf toying with two stone grips high above her head as she leaned back against the wall of the cave.

“There you are,” Deya pouted, and it took me all of two seconds to close the gap between us.

Then I hitched both of Deya’s legs up as she took hold of the stone above her, and I eased her down onto the tip of my cock by the meat of her ass. She locked her thighs around me while I took hold of the wall as well, and when I pressed my full weight against her hips, the elf let out a trembling sigh.

After the first thrust, though, Deya realized I wasn’t going easy on her this time, and she blushed as pink as her hair while her breath hitched.

“Better hold on, I’m going to fuck your brains out,” I growled.

“Ohh, please,” the beautiful elf gasped, and it wasn’t long before her breathless moans echoed throughout the heated cave.

I made sure to soften the stone at her back a bit so she wouldn’t get too bruised, but my firm grip on the wall let me use all my strength while Deya clung to the ledge, and she jolted against the rock as her moans steadily turned into shrieks of pleasure.

Then Shoshanne’s moans drifted into the cave as well, and I glanced over to see the caramel beauty lounging beneath the waterfall. She had her legs spread toward me as the water coursed over her, and while she watched me pound into Deya, I watched her fingers slip into her tight pussy.

The harder I took the beautiful elf, the more Shoshanne moaned, and the sound of their shared pleasure only spurred me on as every muscle in my body burned from the effort.

I didn’t ease up, though, until Deya began to quake from the force of my cock driving into her, and when I finally let myself release, both women reached simultaneous orgasms the moment I cried out. I kept myself buried as deep as possible in the beautiful elf until I was sure all of my seed had poured into her womb, and even then I gave her a last punishing thrust just to make her gasp once more for me.

Then I released the woman, and while she smirked and slid to the heated floor of the cave, I made my way back to Shoshanne like a man possessed. I didn’t know if it was steamy atmosphere or those plants the healer warned me about, but I felt like an absolute fiend all of a sudden, and I didn’t give a shit about reigning myself in even a little bit right now.

So, I didn’t say a word as I locked my fingers in the caramel beauty’s hair and dragged her to her feet, and Shoshanne’s brown eyes flared with excitement as I grinned and roughly hitched up one of her legs. Then I locked her against me, and with the waterfall coursing over both of us, I forced my full girth into her as she let out a shriek.

It was hours before I finished doing what I pleased with the two women, and even as we all laid in a comatose state beside the waterfall, Deya still kept trailing her fingers lovingly along my shaft. I had both women snuggled under my arms, and while I admired the view of my private oasis, I couldn’t help chuckling.

Even if the Master did capture me and enslave the entire realm, I had to admit, I’d lived a hell of a life here, and no matter how impending the doom got, I definitely didn’t regret taking some time out to enjoy the little things.

Or rather … the unbelievably tight things, or the heaving and moaning things, or the clawing at me for more things. It was all good, but if I wanted to carry on enjoying how awesome I had it here, I knew I needed to keep putting in the hours. So, I finally sighed and sat up, but both of my women grabbed my arms in protest.

“Just one more time?” Deya pleaded, and Shoshanne nodded in agreement.

“You know I love giving you what you want,” I chuckled, “but it’d be a real shame if we all died because I never stopped making love to you long enough to get shit done.”

“Nulena had a good point,” Deya grumbled. “Saving people is incredibly inconvenient.”

“Deya!” Shoshanne scolded. “Don’t talk like that. You know Mason’s right, and I know you care about destroying the Master.”

“I do,” the beautiful elf sighed as I managed to unwind myself from the women and stand up. “I just prefer when Mason’s destroying my--”

Shoshanne smacked Deya’s arm while the elf burst out laughing, and I grinned as I admired the two glistening women lounging in the moss at my feet.

Their cheeks were pink, and their hair was wild like a pair of sexy nymphs, and I took another moment to appreciate my luck as I raked my eyes up their slender legs. I could see a glistening stream of my seed still dripping down Shoshanne’s inner thigh, and when she noticed the direction of my gaze, she grinned and tilted her ass toward me a bit.

“You could always cum in me again before you get to work,” the healer purred, and I locked my jaw as a fresh wave of heat rushed through my veins.

“Don’t tempt me,” I warned. “I’ll end up staying in here all day if you keep this up, and the Oculus isn’t going to guard itself.”

“Will you at least let us wash you off first?” Deya begged, and both women sent me pouts that sliced straight through me and disconnected my brainstem.

“Yeah, alright,” I relented, “but I get free reign while you do that.”

“Obviously,” Shoshanne giggled.

Then the two women dragged me along, and they let me finger them and kiss them anywhere I wanted while they took their time running their soapy hands all over me. I leaned back against the edge of the steaming pool as their soft moans filled my ears, but eventually, I ended up soaping them up, too, and before I knew it, Deya was forcing my cock into her while Shoshanne bit at my neck and began grinding against my fingers.

I didn’t fight it, though, and while I obliged the women a few more times, I made sure to finalize a couple designs in my head just so I wasn’t completely ignoring my other duties. Finally, Deya let out a final shriek against the moss while I held her bent over the edge of the pool, and I smirked at the sight of my cum streaming from her pussy before I gave her a sound slap to the ass.

“That’s all you get,” I chuckled. “Both of you.”

Then I swiftly hopped out of the water before either of the women could object, and I shook my head at the hazy looks on their faces as they sank a few inches down into the water.

“Sorry for keeping you,” Shoshanne mumbled, but I could tell by her grin that she didn’t mean it. “You can go to work now.”

“Thanks,” I laughed as I grabbed my clothes from the mossy floor. “You ladies can stay here and recuperate while I work to save the realm.”

“Then you’ll be back, right?” Deya called after me, and I sent her a wink before I closed the door behind me.

I honestly forgot I was in my mansion after spending so long in our new steamy jungle, and the notion only made me chuckle to myself as I got dressed on my way to the atrium. My legs felt ready to give out with every step, and I let out a merry sigh as I quietly thanked Nemris for tricking me into choosing this realm. It was probably the best thing that had ever happened to me, in any of my past lives.

Then I got to my workshop, though, and my dazed smirk fell at the sight of Stan.

The little metal man had his arms crossed while his foot tapped irritably against my worktable, and he threw his arms up before he pointed at me in accusation.

“You can give me the stink eye all you want,” I muttered while I made my way over. “No regrets. Not a damned one.”

Stan took off on an elaborately mimed rant that clearly had to do with Big Guy and Big Red, and I calmly nodded along as I sensed his mounting panic.

“Come on, you know I’m not gonna drop the ball on this,” I assured him, but when he crossed his arms, I cocked a brow. “Fine. How much you wanna bet I can get a full automaton done by tonight?”

Stan thought about the wager for a moment, and then he turned away to dig through the little stash of scrap metal he’d been hoarding at the corner of my table. I grinned as bits of steel and silver scattered around him, but after a minute, he pulled out a tiny diamond.

I immediately recognized it as the same diamond we used when I taught him how to play hockey, and I knew it was his favorite one. He was always playing around with it these days, and when he bravely plunked it down in front of me and propped his hands on his hips, I nodded in approval.

“Deal,” I replied, “but if I win, I get to spend as much time as I want in my sex jungle without any complaints from you.”

Stan gave a curt nod before he stomped back to his metal stash and began angrily reorganizing it all, and I made sure to hide my grin from his view while I turned toward my own stock of metal. He really was so much like me, and I could understand his concern, but I didn’t see why he had such beef with the jungle. He’d been against my bathing room idea ever since I first sketched the design, but he was probably just worried I’d end up spending way too much time in there.

Which was honestly a well-founded concern.

So, I made up my mind. I wouldn’t set foot in my jungle again until I had both new automatons finished and started on the metal dragon project. Mostly, I really wanted to prove to Stan that I wouldn’t let him down, but I was also thinking more clearly now that I was back to reality, and considering the recent developments, I decided to take my next build up a level.

This time, though, it wasn’t Big Guy I’d be replicating.

Chapter 8

I made sure to not break my connection to my metal magic for even a moment while I moved on forming the treads to the central bearing because there would be no breaks this time. After forming and assembling my last six 1911s using only metal magic, I was determined to change how I did things around here, and when my design for Maximus flashed into my mind, I channeled all of my efforts into replicating him from the treads up as I kept my eyes closed. I’d learned recently that I didn’t have to physically check if my work was correct anymore, because if I aligned the image of my project with the design in my mind, I could track my progress this way.

It was slow going at first since this required three different mental processes at the same time, but once I got back in the swing of things, my metal magic took over at full bore. I ended up starting on the second automaton while also working on the first just because I was so excited, and the sound of metal parts clinking into place filled the atrium while I sat perfectly still with my palms raised.

I felt kind of like a guru sitting in a state of metal meditation, especially since my connection to my element was always a comforting sensation, and I smiled lightly to myself as I picked up the pace. Every perfect alignment only inspired me to work faster as I realized I wasn’t fatigued at all yet, and even the sound of Aurora and Cayla approaching the mansion didn’t stall my efforts.

I kept right on forming steel plates, securing bolts, aligning hinges, and testing the rotation of bearings, but when I realized there were one too many heartbeats in my house, I abruptly opened my eyes.

The massive steel helm I’d been ready to mount clanged to the floor as I quickly scanned the atrium, but Cayla just sent me an amused smirk from the doorway.

“Nice of you to join us,” the princess chuckled.

“Who’s in here?” I asked and furrowed my brow.

“Who cares?” Aurora snorted. “Mason, that was amazing!”

“Thanks,” I snorted, “but I’m still curious as to who is here.”

“It’s a surprise,” Cayla muttered distractedly. “Were you just altering the steel of one automaton while also securing the iron base of the other?”

“I was,” I said with a grin. “I promised Stan I’d have a full automaton done by tonight, but I think I might be able to manage two.”

“Both of these are larger than Big Guy,” the princess pointed out. “Does this mean you’re trying a new design?”

“Actually, I’m replicating Maximus,” I replied, and both women’s eyes brightened at the words.

“With death machetes?” Aurora asked eagerly.

“Yep.”

“And guns?” Cayla murmured, and I chuckled at the longing in her eyes as I nodded. “This day just got so much better.”

“I’ll say,” I said with a grin, and I pulled both women over and onto my lap. “I love you, by the way. Thank you for the jungle, it’s … there are no words to do it justice. It’s fucking perfect.”

“It is,” Cayla agreed. “I knew you would approve.”

“I more than approve,” I assured her. “We all do.”

“Did you get to try out your new sex cave?” Aurora asked.

“Twice. And the waterfall, and the pool, and a fern at one point, because it has a really stout stump.”

The women giggled as they snuggled closer and left kisses on each of my cheeks, and when they shimmied their hips in my lap, I knew what they were hoping for.

“Maybe we should take a break from building and … ” Aurora began, but then scraps of steel scattered across the worktable behind us.

I sighed as I eyed Stan over my shoulder, and he raised his arm in warning.

“What’s wrong with Stan?” Cayla asked with immediate concern.

“Stan’s a little tense,” I admitted. “With good reason, though. I’m trying to ease his mind and focus on work for the rest of the day, and he bet me the diamond over there that I can’t do it.”

“That’s his favorite diamond,” the princess realized, and she raised her brows.

“I know,” I chuckled. “So, the stakes are pretty high in here, and as much as I don’t really want to win his diamond off him, I do want to handle these automatons as quickly as possible because … well … I spoke with Temin while I was in the capital. It turns out there was an attack in Cedis around the same time as the one we experienced here, and I have a feeling this is the start of something bigger.”

“What?” Cayla gasped as she sat up as straight as a rod.

“Don’t worry, your father and all of Eyton are alright,” I quickly assured her. “The attack occurred east of Eyton in a village. Deya and Shoshanne identified the creatures who attacked as something called Saurbrin.”

“In Cedis?” Aurora asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, and we’re pretty sure Dorinick saw the Saurbrin being hauled into the fortress, which means--”

“The new element is in Cedis,” the princess muttered, and I stroked her back as she paled a little at the thought. “W-Were they able to fend off the attack? How many were lost?”

“Temin said they fought admirably, but in the end, around fifty men and their families were killed,” I told her gently. “Some sort of toxic shock brought on by the venom of the Saurbrin.”

“And this happened at the same time as the attack here in Falmount?” Aurora clarified.

“That’s right,” I answered, “and if the Master continues coordinating attacks of this magnitude, Temin says he’ll have no choice but to declare war and send the Defenders to their posts. He wants me to work on a list of mages who are fit for promotion since our numbers are way down right now.”

“We can help you with that,” the half-elf offered. “We were just talking together about all the improvements we saw at the training fields. There’s several I’d recommend for promotion at this point, although they’ll still be undertrained should a full war break out now.”

“Sometimes being in the field is the best way to learn,” I muttered. “They really snapped to when the possessed ogres got here.”

“That’s true,” Aurora agreed. “When I was first promoted to a Defender, I felt unprepared, but I managed to push through my first few assignments, and after that, I felt more confident in my skills.”

I grinned. “You should be the one to let the mages know when it’s time. You’re exactly who they should be talking to.”

“If you want me to,” the half-elf said with a nod. “I’ll gladly help the new Defenders get in the rhythm of things, but what of generals? Whenever the Defenders are sent to their posts, the head of the Order appoints a general to lead each troop. Given that Temin’s entrusted you to oversee promotions, he’ll most likely expect you to handle these sorts of details as well.”

“Damn,” I mumbled. “Alright, I’ll have to think about that.”

“They’ll need more adequate weaponry, too,” Cayla said softly, and I realized the princess looked lost in thought as she stared at one of the half-built automatons in front of us.

I nudged Cayla’s thigh. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure Cedis is protected. I’ll have Temin assign a few troops of mages in the far south, and he’s already sending word to your father to warn him about the presence of this element so he can take measures to arm the nation.”

“Thank you,” Cayla said with a small smile. “I just wish I could do something to assist them.”

“You’re training the mages,” Aurora pointed out, and she squeezed Cayla’s hand for support. “That’s the most important thing you could be doing right now, and more than half of them exhibited excellent aim out there today.”

“But you saw the way those possessed ogres took their bullets,” the princess countered. “What good is their aim going to do them if the weapons they’re using can’t fend off the Master’s forces?”

The two women frowned as they looked at me, but I was already a step ahead of them.

“I’m hoping Dragir can help me solve that problem,” I told them. “If he figured out a rune for the bazookas to ensure they were useless in the wrong hands, then he should be able to do the same for my 1911s.”

“You’re going to arm the mages with the new pistols?” Cayla asked, and I could tell she was already relieved.

“If I can be certain the Master’s forces can’t use them against us, yes,” I clarified. “I’m not making the same mistake twice, and I don’t want his troops bringing anything more effective than a revolver to the field.”

“What about the new automatons?” Aurora asked and hopped up from my lap to get a closer look at their arms. “I see you’ve already assembled the death machetes, but will their magazines be runed?”

“Hell yeah, they will,” I assured her, and this completely turned Cayla’s mood around as the princess clutched my arm in excitement. “One’s going to shoot the lightning laced bullets, and the other will have the fireballs. I think I’ll send the lightning guy to the Oculus, but if the Master does end up taking things up a notch soon, I’m gonna try to make a whole damn fleet of these guys.”

“You could send one to each post,” Aurora suggested.

“Maybe a couple to Cedis,” Cayla added hopefully.

“Absolutely.” I nodded. “The way this build is going, I should finish two in only a few hours, which means if I put in three days worth of work, I could have over a dozen made. The only problem would be the channeling gems, but I may just have to ride Deya to Jagruel and get a whole stash if it comes down to it. I don’t like the idea of leaving you all in Falmount while I’m out there, but if the Elders will spare me even two channeling gems to get these guys up and running, then you’ll be taken care of here in the mansion until I get back.”

Cayla suddenly gasped and shot up from my lap. “I forgot Harold!”

“Who?”

“Harold, dear, please come in,” Cayla called toward the entryway, and a moment later, a somber faced man in a smart suit entered the atrium.

He had impeccably combed gray hair with wiry eyebrows that he must have trimmed regularly to maintain appearances, and he offered a low bow as he came to a stop beside Cayla.

“Mason, this is Harold,” the princess explained. “He was the surprise. I’ve hired him to look after the mansion for us. He’ll be our butler.”

“You got us a butler?” I asked and cocked a brow. So, this was the extra heartbeat I’d heard earlier.

“Of course, I did,” Cayla replied. “A baron should not be sprinting to answer his own door every few minutes, and his ladies shouldn’t have to spend half their day in the kitchen. We’re too busy with training and keeping you sexually satisfied.”

I cleared my throat as I flicked my eyes toward the prim old butler, but the princess just waved off my concerns.

“Harold adheres to the utmost professionalism, Mason, which is precisely why I insisted my father send him here for us. He’s kept my father’s household in order for decades, and I would trust no one less qualified than Harold to keep my baron’s home as orderly.”

“Wait a minute,” I said as I eyed the man in the suit once more, “you’re King Balmier’s personal butler?”

“Yes, sir,” he answered, and his voice was deep and aged, but firm.

I raised my brows. “Then it’s an honor to have you here with us, Harold.”

“The honor is mine, sir.”

“Damn,” I chuckled. “Alright. Well, we don’t have too much going on here, but answering the door would be helpful.”

Cayla sighed and sent me a pointed look, but I honestly didn’t know what to say to the guy. I’d never had a butler before, and now that I did, I had no idea what to do with him.

“What did you do for King Balmier?” I asked so I could hopefully understand his position more.

“At Eyton Castle, I supervised all household staff and personally attended to the king’s needs. My daily duties included surveying the manor, coordinating the service of each meal, managing the wine cellar, maintaining the king’s private quarters, and assisting him in any way he required.”

The man rambled on, but I was only half-listening because it suddenly occurred to me that my childhood dreams had finally come true, and I was actually the Batman of this realm, complete with aged butler who would probably end up more of a confidant and bat cave director.

“I am also accustomed to handling the hiring of any additional household staff,” the butler continued. “I take my tea at one o’clock on the dot each day, and I attend courses with the Order of Pallax each spring in order to ensure I am capable of administering the basic doctoral needs should an emergency arise.”

“It’s true.” Cayla nodded. “I once saw Harold save the life of a maid when she choked on a biscuit in the courtyard. Very heroic.”

“Thank you, my lady,” Harold replied.

Aurora’s eyes gleamed. “Do we all get to be ladies now?”

“Is that how this works?” I asked Harold.

“Mason, this is your household,” Cayla reminded me. “You decide how your servants are to address yourself and your women.”

“Right,” I chuckled. “Well, then--”

“Make him call me Your Highness!” Aurora blurted, and the princess’ eyes flared. “No, Your Excellency! No, Goddess! Wait … that would be in poor taste.”

“Yeah, probably,” I muttered.

“Harold,” Cayla sighed, “you are to address myself and all of Baron Flynt’s women as Lady, if you please.”

“Certainly, Lady Cayla.”

“Ooo, do me next!” Aurora begged.

“Lady Aurora,” Harold promptly replied, and he offered the half-elf a bow that sent her into a tizzy of giggles. “Baron Flynt, if it is of no concern to you, I am accustomed to simply being addressed as Harold.”

“That’s fine, but as a counteroffer … could I call you Alfred?” I tossed back.

“His name is Harold,” Cayla clarified.

“Yeah, but … could I call him Alfred?”

We all looked at the butler, and the man’s solemn expression didn’t waver by even an inch.

“Certainly, sir,” he replied. “Alfred will do.”

“Shit yeah!” I said with a broad grin. “I can’t believe I have my own Alfred. This day just keeps getting better and better.”

“Is Alfred what you call a butler in your realm?” Aurora asked.

“Only the best ones,” I sighed, and I reached around her waist to catch Stan in my palm since he was trying to get our attention by dancing around on the table.

Then I held Stan out to the butler, and I eyed the old man carefully to gauge his reaction, but swear to the gods, he didn’t even flinch.

“Alfred, this is Stan,” I told him.

“Pleasure to meet you, Stan.”

Stan returned the butler’s prim bow, and I furrowed my brows as I considered how completely unruffled he was.

“Stan’s … our little metal man,” I slowly continued. “He’s kind of alive.”

“Yes, sir,” Alfred replied.

“I told you,” Cayla muttered, and she sent me a smug smirk. “The utmost professionalism.”

“Okay, then!” I laughed and shrugged. “Welcome to the family, Alfred. Am I supposed to give you some kind of tour or …?”

“I’ll see that Alfred is settled and understands the way things work around here,” Cayla assured me. “You just focus on getting those automatons completed, and if there is anything at all that you require, Alfred is right here to assist you at any hour of the day.”

“Me, too?” Aurora clarified, and she sent the butler a cheeky grin.

“Certainly, Lady Aurora,” the man answered.

I smirked as my half-elf fell into another fit of giggles, and Cayla rolled her eyes before she motioned for the man to follow her from the atrium.

“Mason, did you hear what he called me?” Aurora squealed as I made my way back to my stool. “I’m a lady now!”

“I can still have him call you Your Highness,” I offered. “I don’t mind in the slightest.”

“No, Lady Aurora sounds perfect,” the half-elf sighed, “and I love the way he calls you sir. You should keep that.”

“Deal,” I chuckled.

I sparked my metal magic and was about to begin my work again, but then I glanced over at Aurora. She was sitting on the work table beside me with Stan perched on her head, and both of them were staring intently at me.

“We just want to watch,” the half-elf said. “I’ve never seen you work at this pace before, and it’s fascinating for me since my element doesn’t work in this way whatsoever.”

“Okay, but I’m not taking any breaks,” I informed her.

“Okay, no breaks,” she snickered.

“I mean it,” I chuckled. “I know how your mind works. You are going to get all hot and bothered and then--”

“Fine,” she sighed. “You just took some of the fun out of it, though.”

“This is a marathon building session, so you’ll have to save any questions until the end.”

“As you wish.” Aurora dutifully pressed her finger to her lips, and Stan saluted before he nestled into her braids to get more comfortable.

I couldn’t help shaking my head at the two of them, but then I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, and the massive helm I’d dropped to the floor rose up to mount itself on the metal giant’s neck.

“Mason,” Aurora suddenly whispered, and I opened my eyes just a sliver. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I whispered back, and then I drifted deep into my metal guru state as I gradually picked up speed.

Within a few minutes, I forgot anyone was in the room with me, and my head was filled with the gleaming outline of two massive automatons currently being built up, while chunks of steel reformed itself into stout plates and was bolted into place. I fused copper wiring throughout each metal frame while I tested the rotation of their joints one by one, and as I summoned a pile of slim copper bullets to load into their left arms, I also sharpened the blade of each death machete.

A dull ache began behind my eyes after a while of multitasking like this, but my metal magic didn’t falter, and I was able to secure every part into place and form two modified pistols to be engraved before I finally broke my connection with my powers.

The room pitched sideways when I opened my eyes, and I had to blink several times because my vision was blurry.

“Ouch,” I muttered, and I rubbed my temples.

“Are you alright?” Aurora asked, and her tone was worried.

“Yeah, just worn out,” I sighed, and that’s when I realized the light in the atrium had faded to dusk. “How long was I working?”

“Hours,” the half-elf informed me, and she pointed to Stan curled up asleep on her head. “That was incredible, though. Mason, do you realize how far you’ve come with your magery? There wasn’t a single moment when something wasn’t being done, and I could see the metal reshaping itself as you worked the ball mounts into their sockets. The blades got shinier as you sharpened them, too! It was all so … mesmerizing. You didn’t move at all, not even once.”

“That explains the stiff muscles,” I chuckled as I cracked my back in a few places and stood to stretch out.

Still, two hulking automatons were now taking up half the atrium floor, and all that was left to do was engrave the runes and mount their pistols.

“I’m so proud of you,” Aurora murmured.

I grinned as I came over to the table, and the half-elf slid her thighs around my hips as I pulled her into my arms.

“At this rate, you’ll be surpassing Abrus in your abilities,” she teased, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not even passing up Hulsan yet,” I corrected.

“What makes you say that?”

“He was expanding the Master’s fortress from across the foothills,” I snorted, “and he did it without anyone being able to sense his magery at work. Remember in Jagruel when he told us about sending our powers outside of ourselves and directing them anywhere we wanted? That’s the level I want to get to.”

“Gods, that would be fun,” Aurora mused as I looped a braid behind her pointed ear. “I could ignite whole forests and barricade whole cities from the Master’s soldiers.”

“I could bring a mountain down on that fortress of his,” I chuckled. “At least I think I could, I’m not entirely sure how thorough his defenses are, but I’d be willing to try.”

Aurora nodded in agreement as I turned toward the cabinet, and I pulled my engraving kit out before I sat at the table and slid the first pistol over. Then I sparked my metal powers to split the barrel down the middle, and I lined the interior wall with a thin layer of copper.

I was just raising my engraving tool to begin on the trigger rune, but Aurora opened her mouth like she was about to say something, and I paused.

Then she closed her mouth again and furrowed her brow instead.

“What is it?” I chuckled.

“Are you … ” she began, and her emerald eyes studied me carefully. “Mason, are you sure you can’t do what Hulsan did with the fortress?”

“I tried to connect with the stonework when I was there with Deya last week,” I said with a shrug. “Something repelled my powers. I couldn’t even alter the surrounding terrain.”

“No, I don’t mean like that,” Aurora clarified. “I’m talking about projecting your powers outside of yourself like Hulsan did to expand the fortress all that time. Are you sure you’ve never done this?”

“I think I’d notice,” I snorted. “Why do you ask?”

“Because the first time we went to Mors Pass, you summoned Bobbie,” the half-elf recalled. “Remember? We were trapped under that ledge, and the black dragon was coming after us, and you summoned Bobbie to bring the bazooka closer for Cayla. She was miles from there.”

I furrowed my brow. “I guess that’s true, but wouldn’t I notice if I separated from my powers?”

“Unless you’d never done it before. Tell me, did you summon Bobbie and then think for a while, or did you only open your eyes after you finished connecting with her?”

“I don’t usually just think with my eyes closed,” I said with a smirk. “If my eyes are closed, I’m always focusing on my powers.”

“Then you must have done it!” Aurora exclaimed, and she clutched my arm. “Mason, I stopped sensing your magery minutes before you reopened your eyes. I remember because you had sweat dripping down your temple, and it made me really, really want to have sex with you. I thought you were waiting for Bobbie to get there since I didn’t sense you magery, and I wanted to have sex with you while we had a spare moment, but then you opened your eyes and looked so serious, so I snapped out of it and focused. Then you jumped Deya, though, and--”

“Hold on,” I cut in. “All sexy rambling aside, are you positive I still had my eyes closed, and you weren’t sensing anything? Not even a flicker or a spark of magery?”

“I’m certain,” she replied. “There was no static presence from your magery, and both waiting for Bobbie and thinking seemed like something you could easily do while also having sex with me.”

“But I don’t think with my eyes closed,” I muttered half to myself, and my heartrate quickened. That first day at Mors Pass really had been the first time I’d utilized my magery from so far a distance, and Aurora had a good point about me not recognizing what I’d done if I’d never tried it before.

“Do it now,” Aurora urged. “Send your powers as far from you as possible, and I’ll tap your arm if I stop sensing the presence of your magery.”

“It’s worth a try,” I agreed, “but I’m using my Terra powers because my metal magic is wearing out after all that building.”

“What’s worth a try?” Shoshanne yawned, and I turned to see her and Deya tucking their sheer robes around their glistening figures.

Their hair was extra wavy after spending half the day in the moist jungle, and they shuffled over like a pair of sleepy sex kittens after a day at the spa.

“So tired,” Deya sighed as she slid her ass onto my lap.

“Have you two been lounging in that pool this whole time?” I chuckled.

“Mm-hmm.” Shoshanne nodded. “Will you come sleep with us? We’re so tired now, and we want to cuddle with you.”

I crinkled my brow at the adorable way the healer’s lips puckered as her eyes slid shut, but Aurora answered for me.

“Mason is testing his Terra skills and building automatons to defend the realm,” she informed the two women. “He can cuddle with you when he’s done.”

“No, now is good,” Deya mumbled, and she slid her arms around my waist as she buried her face against the crook of my neck.

I just grinned and happily rested my hands on the elf’s thighs and ass, and then I closed my eyes again to summon my Terra powers.

“Shoshanne, the moment we can’t sense Mason’s magery, tap his arm,” Aurora instructed.

The healer let out another yawn in response, and I tried to focus on the task at hand despite the two steamy, snuggly women that smelled almost exactly like chocolate cake.

I realized I was salivating after a minute, but I did manage to send my Terra powers through the soil of Falmount and beyond, and once I reached the road to Serin, I followed it east. I didn’t push my magic outward so much as let it travel on a long thin line along the road, but I could still sense every bump, ditch, and pile of horse shit along the way.

I was nearly to the capital with my jaw locked hard in concentration when both Aurora and Shoshanne tapped my arms, and my heart began to pound heavy with excitement. I could hardly believe I’d done it, but part of me realized there was a distinct difference in how my powers felt now, and I tried to memorize that feeling so I would recognize it again.

Then I kept going further, and when I got to the gates of Serin, I decided to test my abilities at this distance as I felt Simun and Goreth’s boots shifting across the dirt. They must have been tired from a long day standing guard, because I could sense they had their weight propped against the gate, and I couldn’t help grinning to myself as I shifted the ground beneath them ever so slightly.

Right away, I knew the strength of my magery was weakened at this distance, but I did manage to throw the two men off balance and send them stumbling.

I was about to break my connection when another thing Hulsan had said came to mind, and I slowly called my powers back to me.

“Can you two do me a favor?” I mumbled.

“Of course,” Aurora replied.

“Both of you summon your powers,” I instructed, and as I eased my connection with my Terra Powers, I shifted back into my metal magic.

Then I focused all of my attention on connecting with the steel of my worktable, and I stayed there without doing anything but embodying the metal for several moments. The longer I stayed there, the more I became the metal itself, and I waited until I felt like there was no divide between myself and the metal.

Once I was sure I was as in tune with my element as possible, I refocused, and I tried to access that part of my consciousness that could sense when an area was charged with magic. At first, I immediately regressed into sensing Aurora and Shoshanne’s presence from the air around me, but as I forced my mind to return to the metal a few times, everything changed. Suddenly, the worktable itself began to connect with their presence, and I could feel Aurora’s static energy reacting with the metal. Then I could sense Shoshanne’s powers as well, and even though my magic was dwindling and my head throbbed, I clung to this recognition for several minutes just to be sure I wouldn’t forget the sensation.

Then I broke my connection, and when I opened my eyes, Aurora looked ready to burst.

“I knew it!” she gushed. “You can already do it! How do you feel? Was it more difficult than scanning the perimeter or about the same?”

“A little more difficult as the distance increased, but it felt different, too,” I mused. “My powers felt lighter once they reached a certain distance, and shortly after you tapped me, they seemed to move away from me at a faster rate, but they weren’t as powerful when I tried to use them to alter the terrain.”

“I’m sure with some practice, you could strengthen your powers from any distance,” Aurora said as she clutched the side of the table in her excitement.

“That seems logical,” I agreed. “Then I switched elements, though, and it took me a little while, but I think I sensed your magery through my element.”

Aurora stared. “Like Hulsan talked about?”

“Yeah,” I said with a grin. “It was a strange balance. At first, I couldn’t stop sensing your presence just from myself being near you two, but when I redirected my focus … I don’t know how to describe it exactly. Your powers felt electric, and my metal was some sort of conduit for them. I found them like a magnet, but through the metal rather than my body.”

“Could you do it again?” the half-elf asked eagerly. “I want to see if I can--”

Aurora froze mid-sentence as the bells of the lookout tower began to clang, and her emerald eyes went wide.

“Godsdamnit!” I growled. “Again?”

“Noooo,” Deya groaned. “No battles, I’m so tired.”

I swiftly hoisted the elf off my lap and propped her against Shoshanne, and both women looked like they couldn’t decide whether to cry or just drop to the ground and refuse to move.

“You two are excused from the battle,” I sighed as I dug two handfuls of magazines out of the ammunition cabinet. “Starting tomorrow, though, the vacation is over. For now, go get in bed. We’ll kill whoever just showed up.”

“And then we get to cuddle?” Deya asked.

“Then I’m repairing the damage and finishing these automatons,” I told her as Aurora tossed me my gun belt.

The half-elf secured two pistols in her own holsters before she ran for the door, and I quickly followed after.

“But then we cuddle?” Shoshanne tried.

“Then we cuddle!” I called over my shoulder.

Cayla got to the door at the same moment I did with her pistols already drawn, and I caught her by the belt to shove two spare magazines into their pouches.

“Ready?” I checked.

The princess sent me a curt nod, and we were sprinting together across the bridge of our moat when the lookout on the infirmary tower suddenly called out.

I flipped around just as they threw four torches over the battlement, and in the flickering light, I realized something was crawling all over the walls of the infirmary. I sparked my Terra powers and immediately sealed off all the windows of both the infirmary and the mansion, and I squinted while I tried to decide if what I was seeing were giant spiders or some other spindly legged insect. They moved so quickly, I could hardly tell one from another, but whatever they were, at least a hundred of them were emerging from the shadowy floor of the western woods.

“Mason, move!” Aurora screeched, and Cayla dragged me backward by my shirt just as something scuttled across the toe of my boot.

Then the creature charged, bared its green fangs at me, and spewed a black tar-like substance from its mouth like a fire hydrant.

Chapter 9

“What the hell?” I yelped as the bridge began to boil and burn away right in front of me. “Whatever tarrish shit this thing’s spitting is acidic!”

“Yes, and it will scald straight through to your bones, so move!” Aurora growled, and she wrenched me aside before lighting the entire bridge up.

The spider shrieked and scampered all over trying to escape the blaze, but when tar began to ooze from its body, it finally collapsed.

I didn’t have any time to ask what these creatures were, because they were already spewing tar all over my infirmary and the lanes of Falmount, and the air smelled like burning tires as the mages who had gathered behind us began slowly backing away.

“Shoot them, what are you waiting for?” Cayla yelled, but when Pindor nodded and pulled the trigger, his target burst open like a tar firework.

The acid almost scalded half the nearby mages, but the hoard of spiders was still swarming in, and as I began to panic, Aurora wrenched Mina from Pindor’s side.

“Burn these fuckers up,” the half-elf growled, and Mina’s sweet smile was suddenly eerie as hell while both women ignited their palms.

Then they sent an inferno out that would have burned my eyebrows right off my face if I hadn’t jumped back in time.

“Aer Mages, form a circuit,” I ordered as I turned to the rest of the mages. “Blow the spiders back from the rest of the village and keep them contained on this side of town! We don’t want any of them hiding around! Ignis Mages, this one’s on you!”

The Ignis Mages all pushed through the crowd as they holstered their guns, and the Aer Mages dropped back to position themselves like a shield across the center of town. Then they summoned their powers as a fierce breeze kicked up, and I squinted through the dust as spiders began tumbling over each other and back toward the infirmary.

The Ignis Mages were already waiting with their palms ignited, and they sent jets of flames over the beasts while the winds built the inferno up to an alarming height.

I eyed the ancient oaks towering above me as the flames flicked higher and higher, and then I jumped up onto a rock to begin organizing the rest of our troops.

“Flumen Mages, douse the trees and any undergrowth!” I bellowed above the shrieking of the spiders. “We have to contain the blaze! The forest is our only cover out here!”

The Flumen Mages promptly took to the edges of the trees, and I cocked a curious brow as I sensed them forming a massive circuit. I had no idea what they planned to do, but drawing water from the trees themselves seemed like a terrible idea given it would only dry the wood out and make it more flammable. Then I heard the sound of rushing water, though, and I turned to see an entire lane flooding as the torrent swelled and came right toward us.

That’s when I realized they were drawing from the new well I’d ordered to be built in the market, and as the river drew closer, it suddenly redirected. The Flumen Mages sent the water blasting through the forest, and it soared straight over our heads to douse the brush and branches.

I grinned and squinted through the water, flames, and dust, and even though tar was currently scalding its way through most of the infirmary walls, I could tell we had this one already handled.

Aurora and Mina were cackling like little demons while they strolled amongst the inferno, and they drove the fire toward the incoming droves of spiders still attempting to swarm the village.

The gust of wind kept the bastards from making it far enough to escape the flames, and while the Flumen Mages sent another wash of water cascading through the trees, I turned to the Terra Mages.

“Repair any damage to the infirmary,” I ordered, “but be careful not to unseal any of the entrances! The healers are still inside!”

A group of young mages knelt to form a circuit, but just as I sensed them summoning their powers, the scuttling of more spindly legs registered above the chaos, and I whipped around.

“Shit!” I growled, and I could see more spiders spilling over the tracks now. “We need two groups! Half of you head for the tracks! Kurna, where the fuck are you?”

“Here!” I heard the brawny mage call back, and I pointed to the tracks as the man nodded diligently.

Then he began organizing the troop of Ignis Mages running that way, and I grabbed Odin because he was the only Flumen Mage I knew at this point.

“Odin, you’re being promoted,” I informed him, and the kid paled. “Lead the efforts on the east side of town, now!”

Odin gave a frantic nod as he turned to the rest of his crew, and he ordered ten mages to follow him before sprinting after Kurna. The attack from the east came on too suddenly, though, and I could see dozens of spiders who’d managed to get at the homes and were heading toward the market as well. They left a tarry path of acidic sludge behind them, and I ground my teeth at the sight of my village being melted away by acid.

“Terra Mages, protect the homes and bury any stray creatures who break through our front!” I ordered. “Aer Mages take it down a notch, we don’t want to send them flying into the woods. They’ll be able to wait us out and attack when our guards are down!”

The wind let up just a bit at my command, and I jumped down from the rock I was on as I grabbed Cayla by the arm.

The princess had been staring wide-eyed at the collective work of the mages, but when she turned to me, she managed a grin.

“Mason, your mages are incredible,” she told me. “They’re all--”

“I know,” I cut her off, “but I was actually wondering how you feel about heights?”

“Fine, why?”

“Because you’re my go-to sniper,” I informed her, and I raised the ground beneath her feet as she yelped and dropped to her knees. “They’re crawling over the roofs! Take ‘em out!”

Cayla nodded as the pillar she clung to finally stopped gaining in height at about twenty feet, and I ordered a nearby Ignis Mage to ignite a ring of fire at the base so no stray spiders could get to her.

When I craned my neck, Cayla was back on her feet with both pistols drawn, and spiders were already bursting into flames all over the village while she shot them down with her fireball bullets.

The defenses at the eastern edge of the village were well underway, too, and I was proud to see Odin was a damned natural at leading his own troops. The Flumen Mages followed his instructions while they worked to avoid dousing the flames by mistake, and Kurna led his Ignis Mages in forming a swirling inferno that undulated along the tracks to swallow up every incoming creature.

With both fronts covered, I sprinted down the lane to join the Terra Mages who were making their way through the market, but as my feet pounded across the dirt, I suddenly tripped over a giant, spindly creature who was clawing his way out of the ground.

“Shit! Terra Mages, stop burying them!” I belted as I swiftly sparked my powers, and I tore a house right off its foundation. “Smash them first!”

Then I hurled the entire structure into a swarm of spiders who were burrowing out of the dirt, and tar splattered everywhere as I hopped to avoid being scalded by five tar-spewing beasts clawing at my feet.

Cayla ignited all five of them in seconds flat, and she sent me a wink when I whipped around and looked up at the pillar she stood on. Then she pointed toward the woods with her pistol, and as she gave a nod, I caught her meaning.

“Good call,” I muttered under my breath, and I turned full circle until I found Pindor smashing a swarm of spiders with a bench he’d uprooted. “Pindor, you’re in charge of the Terra Mages, I’ll be right back!”

“What?” the kid yelped. “Why? Where are you going?”

I was already ducking between a line of Flumen Mages, though, and I drew my pistol as the light of the flames in the village began to fade behind me. I bolted through the dim forest at mach speed while I headed straight north, and then I turned west and slowed my pace to scan the trees of the western woods. At first, I couldn’t see any of the spiders who were filling the village, but then I realized the forest floor in the distance looked like it was rolling, and as I silently came closer, I could make out the spindly legs while hundreds of spiders trampled one another on their way to Falmount.

I steered clear of the swarm as I slowly headed further west, and after jogging for nearly five minutes, I finally found the point they were arriving from.

“Got you,” I growled, and I crouched behind I patch of nettles so I wouldn’t draw any attention from the swarm.

They appeared out of thin air in groups of ten at the base of a gnarled oak, and in the thirty seconds I spent watching them, at least a hundred more showed up. They made their way directly toward the village without pause, and as one batch after another just kept arriving, I realized the Master had an endless supply of these tar-spewing spiders.

“Great,” I mumbled as I crept through the underbrush, and as much as I wanted to kill off his whole cluster tonight, I knew my mages could only keep up their efforts for so long, and it didn’t look like this would be ending anytime soon.

So, I worked my way toward the oak until I had a clear shot, and then I fired five runed bullets in quick succession. The trunk ignited in a fierce blaze of searing white flames, and as they spread over every inch of wood, the creatures finally stopped appearing.

Unfortunately, the blaze caught the attention of the hundreds who hadn’t made it to the village yet, and they let out furious hisses as they turned their green fangs toward the brush I was crouching in.

Then tar spewed out and began eating away at the forest floor, and the entire flock scurried straight for me.

“Fuck!” I yelped, and I shot up to my feet as I pulled my second pistol out.

I fired on the creatures like I was at a rodeo until both magazines were empty, and while I fumbled to reload, I zigzagged through the tarry mess and made a break toward the village.

I said “shit” more times in that three-minute sprint than I’d ever done in my whole life, and I fired blindly behind me as the sound of thousands of spindly legs scurried after me.

The sound sent a chill down my spine as I heard their fangs slicing against each other like scissors, and the gurgling of acid was drawing so close, I was sure my feet would be scalded off any second. I pumped my legs as fast as I could while desperation coursed through my veins, and my rune began to war in my ears as I finally neared the inferno taking place in Falmount.

“Aurora!” I roared at the top of my lungs, but then I saw the back edge of my moat and said a silent prayer.

Every one of my eels leapt and snapped while I took a flying leap over the watery divide, but I crashed down hard just inches beyond the opposite edge, and I rolled several feet as my limbs went numb with relief.

Then I looked up to see droves of spiders tumbling into my moat, and my heart sank.

My water spawn may have been vicious as hell, but they were like family to me now, and the thought of them dying tarry deaths just about did me in.

“No!” I gasped as I scrambled forward on all fours, but when I got to the edge of my moat, my jaw unhinged.

Tar and water splattered all over the place as my eels wriggled with a vengeance, but it was immediately clear they were winning this one. The spiders were shredded and devoured the moment they hit the water, and the tar didn’t seem to bother my eels in the slightest. They thrashed their way through the swarm like I just broke a pinata open for them, and I grinned from ear to ear while I watched them destroy my enemies with violent enthusiasm.

Then Aurora screeched my name, and when I turned my head, she was bolting into the western woods with Mina close behind.

“Aurora, look at this!” I hollered.

Both women stumbled to a stop and whipped around, and my half-elf’s expression went from terror to fury in seconds flat when she saw the grin on my face.

“I thought you were dead!” Aurora spat. “What are you--”

“Hurry, you’re gonna miss it!” I urged. “There’s only a few dozen left!”

Mina and Aurora rushed over to the moat with their palms at the ready, but I waved them off before they could ignite the incoming spiders.

“Look at these guys go!” I laughed. “Have you ever seen such fucking carnage? They’re like a garbage disposal for assholes.”

“Aww,” Mina squealed. “I want eels! They’re so cute!”

“Aren’t they?” I sighed, but my gaping grin dropped when I turned to see Aurora’s jaw twitching as she ground her teeth.

I could tell she was fighting against a smile, though, and I promptly hopped to my feet as I admired the last few spiders being torn to bits.

“So, should I assume every time you scream your head off it’s about eels?” Aurora asked as she crossed her arms.

“No,” I chuckled. “I honestly thought I was about to die, but I handled it. I destroyed one of the portals, too, I just have to go get the other one real quick.”

“I’m coming with you this time,” the half-elf decided. “There’s no moats on that side of town.”

“There should be,” I chuckled, and we ran along opposite sides of my moat before I met her and Mina at the bridge.

“I’ll help!” the Ignis Mage offered with a cheery smile, and the three of us sprinted through the village before ducking behind a row of houses.

The rest of the mages had already joined forces on the east side of Falmount now that the western woods were handled, and Cayla’s shots continued to fire from her perch above the lanes. The tarry beasts had begun to disperse to get around our flame barrier, but as wind funneled past me on both sides, I could tell the Aer Mages were switching up their approach to help contain the spiders.

Pindor was ordering his own troops as what sounded like a volley of boulders crashed down in the lanes, and when we veered south and crept unseen across the tracks, I motioned for Mina and Aurora to move as quietly as possible.

We tracked the hoard of spiders for half a mile before the trail curled northward, but eventually, we located the portal they were transporting through. It must have been concealed somewhere in a knot of brambles, but I didn’t even get close enough for a look before Aurora blasted the whole grove with her flames. The moment the brambles ignited, every spider froze in place and turned, but Mina shoved past me to send a sea of fire out across the forest floor.

The intensity of the heat increased as the spiders squirmed and tried to flee, and I just stepped back and let Mina and Aurora do their thing while I eyed the strange smile on the young mage’s face. She wasn’t as brazenly murderous as Aurora, but I could tell she was enjoying herself as she giggled and nudged the half-elf with her elbow. Then the two Ignis Mages shifted the flames to a deep blue before sending the inferno back toward Falmount, and they forged ahead as casually as ever while the shrieks of the dying beasts echoed throughout the forest.

Finally, their efforts met with Kurna’s in the village, and the two women ceased their flames. They’d left a trail of ashes in their wake, but I noticed they did their best to avoid the trees where possible, and I smirked as I joined the two of them.

“You’ve been practicing,” Aurora acknowledged as she turned to Mina. “I can sense how strong your connection to your element has gotten. You’re making incredible progress.”

Mina shrugged. “Pindor said Mason needs mages as effective as the two of you, so he’s been making me study twice as much. Something about the way he rolls his eyes and shoves a book into my hand just makes me want to tear his clothes off.”

“Then I’m glad you two worked things out,” I chuckled as we headed toward the tracks. “I was a little worried you might kill him when I left him with you at that party.”

“Yeah … I actually tricked him into bed so I could leave him tied up like he did to me,” Mina admitted. “I was planning to light the walls on fire, so he thought he was going to die, but come back the next day and let him go. Then he was shackled, though, and he just looked so sexy and completely at my disposal, so I slept with him instead. That’s how we learned we’re way more into that arrangement. Now, he makes me study, and I make him get in bed whenever I get bored. It’s a nice balance.”

My eyebrows shot up to my hairline while Aurora nodded without surprise, and I just stared as Mina sent us a sweet wave before she hopped down from the tracks. Then she headed into the crowd of mages who were already celebrating their victory, and I shook my head as she trotted over to Pindor and promptly curled up in his arms.

“Interesting,” Aurora mused. “I always thought Pindor was just like you, but it turns out you and Mina have a lot in common. You both like eels and chaining your lovers up.”

“You and Mina have quite a lot in common, too,” I muttered, and the thought of young master Pindor being driven to the bedroom with flames nipping at his heels made me grin.

Then Aurora turned a greedy smirk my way. “Does this mean I get to chain you up sometimes?”

“I’m one thousand percent okay with that,” I said without skipping a beat.

When the two of us jumped from the tracks, Kurna was waiting to give me a firm clap on the shoulder, and I could tell by the energy of the mages that he had good news for me.

“No casualties,” the brawny mage hollered with a broad grin. “Not a damned one, and only three injured. Do you believe those numbers?”

“No,” I laughed, “but I’m relieved to hear it.”

“These young mages are really shaping up,” Kurna admitted as he surveyed the lanes. “Pindor’s already handled the repairs, the Flumen Mages saved the forest, and no one’s pushed their limits too far with their magery.”

“Damn,” I mused, and when I looked out across the town, I didn’t see a single mage who appeared shaken or even concerned that they lived in a town that had been attacked twice in two days. They looked pumped, honestly, and I wondered if all barons felt the way I did about their residents.

Probably not, since they weren’t training them all up to form a magical army to defeat the Master, but knowing my mages were on board with this crazy train made my heart swell with pride. Especially because, once again, I realized I could trust them to handle the details up to standard without me having to undertake every task myself.

They took orders, got shit done, and fixed the mess when it was all over, which was a lot more than I could say for the Master’s forces tonight.

“Hey, Kurna,” I said as I turned to the mage. “How do you feel about being a general?”

For a second, Kurna’s grin fell as he stared at me, and I thought he was going to shoot me down, but then he lurched forward and locked me in a bone crushing hug.

Aurora snorted as I wheezed, but when Kurna released me, he had tears glistening in his eyes as he clutched each of us by the shoulders.

“We’re gonna fucking decimate those bastards,” he decided, and Aurora nodded in agreement as she patted his back.

“Glad to have you on board,” I chuckled. “Now, first task as a general … help me figure out who to promote to Defender. We need to triple our numbers without making the same mistakes Wyresus made.”

“Yes, sir,” Kurna said with a firm nod. “I’ve got about twenty names for the list already, but where’s our metal men? I kept expecting them to show up and do their thing.”

“They’re out on an important mission,” I replied. “We need to counter this new element, and they’re helping me locate someone who can help us. I’m working on building a couple of automatons to stand in their places, but they’ll be a little bigger than the others. I should be done with them soon, as long as that letter you sent to the Elders for me is received alright.”

“Got it sent out the moment you left yesterday,” Kurna assured me. “Bagneera brought it north herself, so I’d say it’s already arrived in Aurum.”

“Excellent,” I sighed. “Hey, would you mind cracking some Rosh open for the mages? They did a hell of a job, but I really do have to get back to work.”

A devilish grin came to Kurna’s face. “Gladly.”

The moment Kurna announced a celebration in light of our victory, the mages erupted with roars of approval, and Aurora and I waded through the crowd on our way back to the mansion. Mages shook my hand and clapped me on the back without me knowing who it was, but eventually, we made it to the flaming pillar I’d left Cayla on. She was smiling proudly down at us as she holstered her pistols, but when I raised my palm to lower the pillar, she immediately protested.

“Wait!” Cayla called. “Can you soften my landing if I jump? I’ve been dying to try that.”

“Sure,” I chuckled. “Just make sure you brace for your landing.”

Cayla nodded diligently as she crouched at the ready, and when I nodded, she launched into the air.

The view looking up between her thigh-high boots was enough to numb my brain, but paired with the icy cast of her eyes looking down at me, it was a miracle I managed to soften her landing in time.

The princess landed in a perfect crouch as the ground bowled out around her, and she had a glittering smile on her face as she rose unscathed.

“I want to do that again,” Cayla informed me.

“Remind me next time I need a sniper,” I said with a grin, and I looped my arms around my women’s waists as we turned toward the bridge. “Aurora, could you check to make sure the healers are all alright?”

The half-elf nodded. “I can do that. Will you be working late?”

“Most likely,” I sighed, and I sparked my Terra powers to unseal the windows and entrances of the infirmary for her. “I want to get some magazines engraved with the lightning rune once I finish the pistols for the automatons.”

“Okay, but don’t forget, Shoshanne and Deya ordered cuddles this evening,” Aurora snorted, and she jogged off to check the status of the healers.

“Right. Can’t forget to fit that in.”

When Cayla and I got inside, Alfred was waiting at the door, and he held an empty silver tray out to us. I furrowed my brow in confusion, but then Cayla piled her pistols and daggers on the tray and thanked the man, and I couldn’t help grinning while I did the same.

“I trust your battle went well, sir?” Alfred asked.

“It went great,” I informed him. “We kicked ass, and the town is unmarred.”

“Very good, sir,” the man said with a nod. “Dinner is prepared, and your other two women have already eaten and retired to the bedchamber. They instructed me to leave your meal in the atrium and asked that I make sure you do not sleep in there this evening.”

“Damn, you’re on top of this,” I chuckled. “That’s perfect. Aurora will be in soon, she’s just seeing to a few details for me. Will you do the bowing and calling her a lady thing when she gets here? She did a hell of a job out there tonight.”

“Certainly, sir.”

Cayla sent the butler an affectionate smile before she left a kiss on my cheek, but I caught her and pulled her in for a more passionate kiss before she could head for the kitchen.

“You did a hell of a job out there, too,” I murmured against her lips.

“I did, didn’t I?” Cayla sighed. “While I was up there, I began to wonder if we could hide little platforms in the trees throughout the town that I could utilize in the same way. Then I could fire from any angle we need during attacks. There was so much magery flying around tonight, I didn’t know how I could contribute, but I enjoyed being your sniper. I’d like to do that more if you don’t mind.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” I admitted. “Where I’m from, what you’re talking about is called a FFP or a final firing position. We can do some scouting of the village to find a handful of areas with an ideal field of fire, but we’ll have to make sure it’s somewhere with enough cover to conceal your access to each of them.”

“Can I store a bazooka up there in case I need it?” she asked, and her lashes fluttered in a way that made me instinctively lean closer to her lips.

“Anything you want,” I assured her.

The princess let out a soft moan as she kissed me once more, and even after she coyly turned away to head for the kitchen, I still stood there admiring those boots of hers until she was out of sight.

Then I sighed and turned for the atrium, and I found Stan jogging laps around my dinner platter. He waved a greeting without stopping, and I grinned as I sat at my stool to admire Alfred’s handiwork.

The butler not only prepared a three-course meal for me, but he also had a polished goblet of wine waiting beside the pistols I was working on, and I noticed he carefully arranged my engraving kit beside it so it looked more orderly. The fact that he did all of this despite the attack raging outside was impressive, and knowing he was so prepared for me to not die in battle instilled a confidence in me I didn’t know I needed.

No wonder Batman was such a self-assured guy.

So, I smiled to myself while I picked away at my dinner and built a couple hurdles for Stan to practice jumping over, and then I turned my attention back to the pistols for the automatons.

I had their engravings finished in record time, and once the pistols were mounted into place and fused to each automaton’s palm, I double checked the alignment of the altered barrel with the magazine wells.

Then I engraved the fireball rune on a slim piece of copper, and I concealed it within the magazine well of one automaton. This way, if the Master somehow captured either of them, he still wouldn’t have access to the secret behind my incredibly effective laced bullets.

Now, all I had to do was engrave the lightning rune on a similar slip of copper for the last automaton, and while I prepared to start this process, I could hear Aurora giggling in the entryway over the butler’s lavish greeting. Then she trotted off to tell Cayla all about it, and I chuckled as Alfred entered the room.

He had all of our weapons neatly arranged on his tray, and it looked like he’d taken care to polish every barrel, grip, and hilt for us, too. Stan paused mid-lap to nod in approval as the man carefully arranged our pistols on one of my racks, and he returned the unused magazines to their proper shelf in the ammunition cabinet as well.

Then Alfred retrieved my empty platter from dinner and offered me a slight bow.

“Lady Cayla and Lady Aurora are retiring for the evening, sir,” the man informed me. “They have expressed that you have one hour to join them.”

“Thank you, Alfred,” I said with a grin. “You’re probably heading to bed, too, huh?”

“No, sir, I retire when the entire household is settled,” Alfred replied. “Should you need me, I will be tending to Lady Ruela. I believe she has a thorn lodged in her left rear paw.”

And with that, he left the atrium.

“What a handy guy,” I sighed, and Stan nodded once more before sprinting toward his next hurdle and clearing it by several inches.

I had a feeling Deya was the reason Ruela was a lady of the house now, but I didn’t mind in the slightest. The idea of Alfred bowing to the wolfish beast only made me like him even more.

I had my work cut out for me, though, if my women really expected me to be in bed within the hour, so I pulled my empty lightning magazine from my pocket and spent a few minutes memorizing the length and width of every elemental line until I was sure I had it right.

Then I sparked my Terra powers to ground me and began summoning each element in turn, and once I’d completed the automaton’s copper insert and implanted it in his magazine well, I moved on to forming a pile of fresh magazine cases.

A little diamond skittered across the table, though, and I glanced up to see Stan shuffling his toes on the worktable.

“Oh, yeah, I won the bet,” I realized as I eyed the two automatons.

Without gems in them, they looked even more intimidating as they stood there taking up half my atrium, and after admiring the full effect for a moment, I turned back to Stan.

“I’ll tell you what, buddy,” I sighed. “Do you feel a little better now that the automatons are built?”

Stan shrugged and nodded at his toes.

“And do you trust me to take care of shit even though I have a new sex jungle, and I might spend a little too much time in there?” I asked, and when the little metal man nodded again, I grinned. “Then how about you keep your diamond, and I’ll keep on doing what I do? We’ll call it even.”

Stan nodded vigorously as he finally looked up at me, and when I held my palm out with the diamond in it, he rushed over and wrapped both arms around it like it was a teddy bear. He nuzzled his cheek against the diamond all the way back to his metal stash, and then he tucked it at the very bottom of the pile of scrap metal for safe keeping.

Stan was so happy after that, he began acting like he was Alfred while I worked on forming new magazine cases, and he focused on arranging them in unnecessary stacks, so they were as orderly as my pistols on the wall. The little metal man even bowed to no one in particular when he finished each stack, and I thanked him without pointing out that he really didn’t need to bother.

I spent the rest of my hour painstakingly engraving the lightning rune over and over again, and I realized I could use my mental mapping to overlap the image of each rune with the original in order to check my accuracy. This meant I wouldn’t have to test every magazine, which was a huge relief, and I was able to power through most of the stacks Stan had arranged before my metal magic was nearly maxed out for the day.

My head was pounding, and my limbs felt jittery when I finally stopped my work, and for a while, I just sat there trying to feel like a human again after tampering with lightning for nearly an hour straight.

Every time I blinked, I could actually hear my eyelids scraping across my eyes, which was a bit unsettling, but after I stripped down and soaked in Nemris’ enchanted waters for a while, I started to feel like myself again.

Alfred must have heard the water sloshing around, because the moment I stood up, he appeared with a towel for me, and then he organized my work table without any prompting.

“I’m gonna go to bed,” I told the man. “You should get some rest. You’ve worked your ass off today.”

“Very well, sir,” the man said with a bow, and he headed for his own chamber without a second glance at the two hulking metal men he passed.

I was chuckling as I shuffled past Stan, who was curled up in a ball on his hoard of metal, and I made my way through the darkened mansion and up my diamond studded stairs.

Two tiny amber flames flickered from our bed posts when I silently crept into the room, and my women were all in a deep and naked sleep while their hearts thudded soft and slow. There was a little gap left between Shoshanne and Deya that I knew was meant for me, and after I blew out the enchanted flames and tossed my towel into the corner, I tried my best not to wake up the others as I climbed in amongst the women.

Shoshanne and Deya let out sleepy sighs as they immediately snuggled against me, and they each hitched their thighs over my legs and wove their arms around me to keep me there. They were silky and warm all over while they wiggled a little so their breasts were firmly nestled against me, and with their cheeks resting on my chest, contentment washed over every inch of me.

I drifted into an almost immediate sleep, but somewhere in the back of my mind, there was a whisper of a thought I was too tired to register the full weight of.

If there was an attack here in Falmount tonight, then where had the other one taken place?

Because if the Master had a new tactic he was trying out, that meant somewhere out there, another portal had been used to unleash his forces while we battled against our own possessed beasts.

Chapter 10

“Good morning, sir,” Alfred said, and my eyes shot open.

My first instinct was to cover my women from view, but there were four of them nakedly tucked around me, and I was only one man with absolutely no means of actually shielding that much flesh.

Then I realized the butler was politely averting his gaze already, and he stood at the base of the bed while he addressed the nearest cage rather than me directly.

“Two letters have arrived for you, and Lady Ruela has just been let out for her morning hunt,” the butler informed me. Then he held a fresh shirt and a pair of pants out in front of him. “Breakfast is prepared and waiting in the dining hall, and the ladies’ garments are all arranged in their dressing room.”

“We have a dressing room?” I mumbled as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

“Yes, sir,” Alfred replied.

“Thank you, Har--Alfred,” Cayla yawned. “We’ll be down shortly. You can leave Mason’s things on the mantle.”

“Very well, my lady,” the butler returned, and he bowed to the cage before dismissing himself.

Deya and Shoshanne sighed as they tangled their legs more tightly around mine, and I let my eyes fall shut again while I enjoyed the heated softness of their curves nestled around me. The lingering scent of chocolate still wafted from their hair, and while I laid there in my early morning bliss, my blood slowly began to heat as every breath the women took made their breasts swell against me.

Then my brain woke up and registered what Alfred said, and I abruptly pried myself up into a sitting position.

“Wait, did he say two letters?”

“Yes,” Aurora mumbled without moving an inch. “Two letters.”

“Shit!” I cursed, and Deya and Shoshanne groaned in protest as I dragged myself out of their holds.

“What’s wrong?” Cayla asked.

“I’m only expecting one letter,” I muttered as I wrestled to get my pants on. “Grot’s the only one who would respond.”

“The Elders could have written back, though,” the princess pointed out.

“Or there was another attack last night, and Temin’s sent me word,” I countered, and I didn’t bother getting my shirt on. I just grabbed it off the mantle and headed for the door.

I took the steps three at a time as I hollered for Alfred, and the man appeared so promptly, I almost flattened him at the base of the stairs.

“The letters you mentioned, where are they?” I asked anxiously.

“Right here, sir,” the butler replied, and he pulled a slip of parchment from his breast pocket before putting on a stark white glove to remove what looked like a moldy bit of tree bark as well.

“That’ll be from Grot,” I muttered, and I scanned the muddled words scratched into the wood. “Looks like our defenses in Jagruel are holding firm, so we could have wiped out the majority of the Master’s ogres the other night.”

Alfred nodded. “Very good, sir.”

“I agree,” I mumbled as I quickly unfolded the second slip of parchment. I could tell from the script that it wasn’t from Temin, but from my scout, Malika, in Serin. “Luckily nothing suspicious is going on at the Oculus, but I better find a way to get my automaton there as soon as possible just in case. Alfred, are you sure there wasn’t another letter? Anything from the king?”

“No, sir,” the butler replied. “Although, a parcel did arrive by train. It’s waiting in your atrium, and the man who delivered it stated there was a train car for you at the station that requires unloading.”

“Perfect,” I sighed, and I took a few deep breaths as my relief numbed my knees.

If no word had arrived from Temin, then maybe the attack last night was just another attempt to take out my town and not a sign of the Master preparing for a mass slaughter. Maybe our efforts in decimating his ogres shook him, and he was already scrambling to rethink his tactics, but if this parcel that arrived had even one channeling gem in it, I could turn this mess around before he figured out his next move.

“I’ll eat in my shop,” I decided as I turned toward the dining room, but Alfred tapped my shoulder before I made it there.

“I believe Lady Cayla would prefer I retrieve your dish for you, sir,” the man remarked.

“Right,” I chuckled, “because that’s what you’re here to do, and I’m supposed to just walk to the atrium, aren’t I?”

“Yes, sir.”

I nodded. “Cool, hey, while we’re on the subject of household rules, I’ve got a huge, ruby statue of myself hiding behind a pile of iron rods in the corner of my shop. Do me a favor and never let the women know it’s there, alright?”

“Certainly, sir,” Alfred agreed. “In the interest of being forthcoming, Lady Cayla has commissioned me to locate it for her. I believe she wishes to have it displayed within the entryway.”

“Don’t do that! Don’t ever locate it. Pretend you never heard of it, and if anyone is snooping around that pile of iron rods, do whatever it takes to keep them from finding it.”

“Yes, sir,” Alfred said with a bow, and we parted ways as he headed for the dining hall.

Stan was awake when I got to the shop, and I found him dangling from the barrel of a new automaton’s pistol while he tried to get enough momentum to spin all the way up and over.

I grinned and gave him a nudge in the back to help him out, and Stan swooped round and round about five times before he came to a swinging stop and sent me a salute.

There was a large satchel made of boiled leather sitting on the worktable, and as I realized it was dwarven leather, my heart began to race. I could hardly get the tethering at the top undone I was so nervous, and when I finally wrenched the leather open, I stared, stopped breathing, and dropped onto my stool.

I asked for two channeling gems, since I hoped the Elders would understand my predicament and be willing to part with even one, but no. They weren’t willing to part with one or two.

Instead, they sent me an entire fucking satchel filled with channeling gems, and as the potency of their power sifted through the air around me, I could only sit there and blink every now and then.

There had to be fifty gems in front of me, and they were all different colors and sizes. They were expertly cut and polished, too, and with this many gems, anything was possible.

Everything was possible, actually, including my long-fantasized army of automatons.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

“Your breakfast, sir,” Alfred announced as he slid my dish across the table, and I turned toward him in a blank state.

“Alfred, we’re gonna fucking destroy the Master,” I informed him. “We’re gonna build so many automatons, it won’t even matter that his troops are possessed. They’ll still run for their lives.”

“Very good, sir,” the butler replied, and I nodded as I reached for a slice of bread. Then I noticed the glass of juice on my tray, and only one thing could have distracted me from my new trove of magical gems.

“Wait!” I hissed as I shot up and ran to catch Alfred at the door, and I lowered my voice in case my elven women were out of bed yet. “Out of curiosity … does Cayla have you serving tea?”

“Pardon me, sir?” the man asked.

“Tea,” I whispered. “Did she say anything about serving tea to the women?”

“I’ve been instructed to rotate the meals and beverages throughout the week, sir,” Alfred told me. “Would you prefer otherwise?”

“No, I just … ” I sighed as I rifled my hair. “I was just curious if you make tea.”

“I can prepare tea for you if you wish, sir,” he offered, and I ground my jaw as I waved him away.

“Never mind. She’s obviously gotten to you first.”

I returned to my table with deeply furrowed brows, and I couldn’t decide if my women were fucking with me right now. So far, Alfred had been crisp and to the point, but just mentioning tea complicated things to enough of a degree that I couldn’t get a simple answer out of him. Unless, he was just that much of a stand-up guy, knew how rude it apparently was to talk about, and was attempting to remain professional.

“Fuck it,” I sighed, and I scruffed my hair as I tried to let it go.

Again.

Then I dumped my entire satchel of gems out, and just the sight of them refocused me in an instant. Suddenly, I had ten automatons in mind, and all of them carried a pistol in each hand. They were guarding my mansion, protecting all of Serin, patrolling Cedis for Cayla, and even tearing through Nalnora just to piss off some elves. I could send five to Temin to guard his castle for him, another five could go north for the dwarves … the possibilities were endless, and I couldn’t even decide how I wanted to approach this much potential.

For right now, though, I had the gems I needed and two fully built automatons waiting to wake up.

So, I sifted through the gems and looked for two that seemed to share a similar frequency because I wanted these guys to be in sync from the beginning. They were identical except for the runes in their magazines, and the last thing I needed was another sibling feud now that things were heating up. These two automatons would be on the same team from the very start if I had anything to say about it, and once I was sure the two gems I held were equal in strength, I rose from my stool and headed for the machines.

“Okay, Stan,” I announced. “It’s go time.”

Stan did a little happy dance on top of the pistol’s barrel before he hopped onto my shoulder, and he clutched my earlobe while I raised the two gems up and summoned my powers.

I slowly fused the gems into the central wiring hubs at the same time, and when I stepped back, each gem pulsed in a steady rhythm for a few seconds. Then the eyes ignited, and I jumped a little at the expressions.

I’d built out the helms on these machines a little just so they looked extra ominous, but the effect was more startling than I’d imagined, and I swallowed hard as both machines turned their gazes to me. The one with the fireball rune had a deep red gem that was a less bloody hue than Big Red’s, but it still gave a creepy enough impression to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. His twin’s gem was icy blue like Cayla’s eyes, and the light was blinding in a way that suited his lightning rune well.

Stan’s legs began to tremble as he looked at his new big brothers, and I cleared my throat to get things going because I was actually scared of my own inventions for once, and that was a feeling I did not want to hang out in.

“First thing’s first,” I told the two. “I’m your leader, and this is Stan. He’s also your leader.”

Stan and I did our best to appear unphased while we waited for a response, and when the automatons slowly nodded, I thought I felt my stomach collapse from the relief.

“Good,” I managed. “We’re gonna get straight to your orders, but then we’ll take you guys out so you can test your treads and such.”

I quickly summoned my powers before the two responded, and as I channeled all of my focus into connecting with their gems, the first intention I embedded in them was unwavering protection of myself, my women, and the mages. I instilled a sense of connection between us all and made sure they understood they were part of a large hub that would be relying on their loyalty, and then I expanded on this to include the Oculus, the capital, and all of Illaria.

I could feel them processing the information as I kept my connection with their gems, and the stronger my resolve was, the more brightly the gems burned. Once I was sure they had absorbed all of this, I shifted my intentions, and I focused on the connection between the two of them, my snatchers, Big Guy, and Big Red. I clarified the ranking order and the need for coordinating efforts first, and then I spent at least five minutes focusing on the need for both of these guys to cooperate and see each other as their partner in the field.

When I finished, I gradually eased my connection, and as I lowered my hand, I felt Stan still trembling on my shoulder.

“Here we go,” I muttered, and I scooped Stan into my palm and held him out. “Stan, tell them what you want to say.”

I shifted uneasily as Stan looked ready to keel over from fear, but he raised his little arms and bumped his hands together with a pathetic clink, and then he shakily held his hands out toward the automatons.

In a blink, both machines extended a finger toward Stan, and when they tapped his outstretched arms, they were so gentle, I knew my women would have melted into a puddle right then.

Stan pretty much did, though, before he began to bounce up and down and rubbed his hands together.

“All good?” I checked, and when he nodded enthusiastically, I finally grinned. “Then let’s fucking do this.”

I had to lower each of the automatons outside the mansion one at a time since they were so huge, but when I ran out to join them, I realized I’d have to lift them to the other side of the moat, as well. They were too wide to use the bridge, but once I got them out there, they tested their treads a little, and I would have grinned at the sight if I wasn’t so floored by their presence. The ground rumbled as they rolled over it, and I could hear the wind whoosh past their arms when they raised and lowered them.

So, I was just standing there in awe of my creations when Haragh lumbered through the trees and waved, and I was about to return the gesture when he noticed what I was staring at.

I’d never seen an ogre go pale before, but the strange citrine color Haragh suddenly had looked a lot like all the blood had drained from his body, and he ducked behind a tree that only barely concealed him.

“Dude!” I called. “What are you doing? Get over here, you’ve gotta see these guys!”

“Fuck that!” he called back. “I saw ‘em. They’re huge. No, thank you.”

“Yeah, but they have guns!” I tried. “Don’t you want to see them in action?”

“Nope. I’ll wait right here.”

I sighed as I realized he really wasn’t going to move, but it was probably for the best because my women were just coming out of the mansion, and they were still salty about the half-ogre ever since the day Venkman brought a dragon into Falmount.

“Mason, they’re beautiful!” Aurora sang as she ran to my side, and to my surprise, all of my women appeared wholly unphased by the hulking machines at my back.

“You’re … not nervous?” I clarified as they piled around me and clutched my arms.

“Why would we be?” Shoshanne laughed. “You made them.”

“And you’ve outdone yourself this time,” Cayla sighed. “Mason, they’re … terrifying. I love them.”

“Can we train with them sometimes?” Deya asked eagerly. “I’ve been practicing with a sword!”

“That’s a death machete,” Cayla clarified as she pointed to the blade sheathed on one of the automaton’s arms.

“Technically, it’s both,” I corrected. “It can function as either a proper sword, or a death machete.”

“So, I can train with him?” Deya asked, and I made sure to answer nice and loud for the ogre in the trees.

“Totally!” I replied. “All of you can train with the giant machines. Why wouldn’t you be able to?”

Aurora squealed and hopped onto my back in her excitement, and Cayla strolled forward to get a closer look at them.

“I wish I could have been there when they woke up,” Aurora moaned in my ear. “I love that first moment when you feel like you might drop dead from the look on their faces.”

“Yeah, it was … it made an impression,” I admitted. “Where were you guys?”

“I’m sorry for the delay,” Cayla sighed. “I had Alfred rearrange our dressing room yesterday, and he mistook all of our clothes for undergarments, so we needed to sort through that, but it’s all settled now. I take it the Elders of Aurum delivered?”

“You could say that,” I chuckled. “Try to guess how many channeling gems we’ve got.”

Aurora slid to the ground as she narrowed her eyes, and all of my women began throwing out numbers that were nowhere close to correct. When I shot down Cayla’s guess of fifteen, all of them fell silent, and a brazen grin was stretched across my whole face when I finally I told them the answer.

Then I waited while they stared at me with slack jaws, and Cayla’s cheeks slowly turned beet red.

“Mason,” she managed in a low, trembling voice. “Are you going to make more automatons like these?”

I nodded.

“With guns and rune magic and anything we want?”

I nodded once more, and I was already prepared to catch the princess when she threw herself at me and latched her legs around my waist. The force of her lunge still knocked me off balance, though, and I crashed onto the ground as she paid attention to nothing except trying to swallow my tongue and grinding against my groin like there weren’t three layers of clothes between us.

The force of her hips had me at full attention in seconds, and I let her do as she damn well pleased while Aurora burst out laughing and began dancing around the new machines with Shoshanne and Deya’s arms looped in hers.

The women spouted off every wild thing they could think of adding to my machines while Cayla’s knees began to scrape across the dirt, but when Aurora ordered one of the automaton’s to fire, all of them suddenly screeched.

I whipped my head to the side as Cayla gasped and sat bolt upright on me, and lightning burst from the bullet as it collided with our bridge. I could hear mages screaming in the lanes as they fled the scene, but I just watched as the web of lightning spread over the whole bridge and began splitting into more sprawling bolts. My hair began to stand on end even though I was a good fifteen feet away, and as a high-pitched hum rang in my ears, the stonework began to vibrate.

Then it blasted apart, and I rolled to shield Cayla under me as the rubble scattered in all directions. As soon as the onslaught ended, I flipped around to see both automatons with my other three women clutched in their massive arms and their backs turned to protect them from the rubble.

“Mason, look!” Shoshanne laughed as she dangled in the automaton’s arm. “These ones hug! Did you do that for us?”

“That’s not a hug,” I chuckled. “It’s a defensive stance to shield you. I may have spent a little extra time embedding their orders. At least they got them, though. At ease, boys.”

Cayla giggled under me as I shook my head, and despite the sudden explosion, I still had my erection firmly rooted against her. The princess seemed more than pleased about this, and the effect of the bullet must have only turned her on more, because she promptly locked her fingers in my hair and forced her tongue back into my mouth.

I could hear the automatons lowering my women back down to the ground while they thanked them sweetly and patted their giant arms, but then Aurora let out an irritated “hmmph” I recognized, and Cayla immediately stopped kissing me.

“What is it?” the princess asked over my shoulder.

I already knew they’d seen Haragh, though, because one by one, my women strutted past and headed toward the moat. Cayla even wriggled out from under me to join them without another word, and when they got to the destroyed bridge, they came to a clipped stop.

“Mason,” Shoshanne said stiffly.

“Yeah,” I sighed and reformed the bridge so they could finish strutting off.

Then I glanced back toward the woods, and Haragh sent me a sheepish wave from behind his tree. So, I willed my dick to throttle down while I cursed at the ground, and as the mansion door slammed shut, I dragged myself to my feet and adjusted my pants a bit.

“Thanks, man,” I mumbled. “Great timing.”

“Sorry,” Haragh snorted. “I was watchin’ the bridge explode, and then Aurora saw me. You think they’ll ever talk to me again?”

“Not if you keep hiding in my trees,” I informed him, and I leveled the man with a pointed look until he finally shuffled out.

The half-ogre kept his eyes on the automatons like they might fire at any second, and when he made it to my side, he was still a sickly pale color.

“They’re good guys,” I assured him. “You saw how they protected my women just now.”

“Yeah, but the same women hate me,” he muttered. “What’s to stop them from usin’ these brutes against me?”

“Alright,” I sighed, and I turned to the machines. “Hey, guys, this is Haragh. He’s a cool guy and my best friend. Never try to kill him, alright?”

“Or maim me,” Haragh quickly added.

“Yeah, no maiming, skinning, slicing off a finger … any of that,” I agreed. “Haragh’s one of us, and so is his woman, Taru. She’s the one with the giant ruby. Be extra nice to Taru, she can probably rip your heads off.”

The automatons nodded diligently, and I clapped Haragh on the shoulder as he nodded in return.

“Better?”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” he chuckled. “You know, they’re pretty scary, but they seem nice.”

“They are,” I said with a shrug. “They have their orders, and they’re clearly taking them seriously. If you connect with their gems, you get a strong sense of protection. I think they’ll do us good.”

“Do ye’ really have fifty channeling gems?” Haragh asked eagerly.

I grinned. “Hell, yeah, I do. This is just the beginning.”

“What are ye’ callin’ ‘em?”

“Well,” I mused, “I figure this design is pretty effective, and I’d like to replicate it without too much confusion as I expand my fleet. So, I’ll probably just call the lightning one Bom One and the other Bom Two. Then I can just keep adding from there.”

“Bom?” Haragh asked as he furrowed his brow.

“It’s short for Big ‘ol Machine. Because, I mean …” I gestured to the giant metal men in front of us, and Haragh nodded as he eyed them from helm to treads.

“Yeah, they’re fuckin’ big machines,” he agreed.

“Yep, Bom One’s going to the Oculus, but Bom Two’s gonna patrol Falmount until Big Guy’s back from Nalnora,” I explained. “I sent him and Big Red to get Dragir for me, so hopefully this new element issue will be squashed real soon.”

“Great,” Haragh mumbled. “Love his company.”

I chuckled as the half-ogre’s expression dimmed, and even though I knew he and Dragir would likely never see eye to eye, I had a feeling things would be different this time. After all, we were in our turf now, and Dragir wasn’t branded with a blood-boiling rune slowly taking over his mind anymore. A lot could improve just based on those two factors alone, but I could tell Haragh wasn’t too confident about this.

“Anyway,” he said as he gruffly cleared his throat, “heard you had a shipment come in. Thought I’d come and see if ye’ need help haulin’ it all.”

“Thanks, that would be great,” I replied. “I don’t know what the shipment is, but if it’s really a train car’s worth, I’ll probably need the help. Let me just get these guys to work.”

I walked over to the automatons who were standing at attention, and when I sent them a salute, they promptly did the same.

“Alright, boys,” I began, “I don’t want you to think this is the last you’ll see of each other, because it’s certainly not. You’re just being assigned to different posts for a little while, and I have complete faith in your abilities. Bom Two, you’ll be patrolling Falmount and doing regular passes around the perimeter at all times. We’ve been experiencing some sudden attacks lately, so be prepared to come to our aid should another one occur, and remember to never, ever harm our mages. Understood?”

Bom Two nodded, and as the pulse of his deep red gem surged, I could tell he was soaking up the sense of duty he had here.

“Bom One,” I continued, “same protocol, but you’ll be guarding the Oculus in Serin. Your job will be patrolling the interior of the city, and an attack can come from anywhere in there, not just the gates. If that happens, do all that you can to protect the mages and destroy our enemies, and if you locate an area the enemy forces are appearing from, destroy it. That’ll keep them from sending more of their troops in. Got it?”

Bom One snapped a salute as his light blue gem burned closer to white, and I raised my palm as I sparked my Terra Magic. Then I transferred instructions to him on how to reach Serin and access the Oculus, and once I broke the connection, I nodded.

“You should be set,” I told the automaton. “Now, I want you guys to know there will be more sentries joining your fleet soon, but you two are the heads of this force, so get a good feel for your weaponry, and make us proud. I’ll refill your magazines regularly, and if you ever run out of bullets in battle, get those machetes swingin’. Other than that, there’s a high likelihood that the people you’re protecting will be terrified of you at first. Don’t take it personally. Give them a few high-fives if you can. That way they know you’re ‘of the people.’ It’s good for morale.”

I was going to give the two automatons a moment to say goodbye, but it only took them a high-five to seal the deal, and then Bom One turned away to head south. The ground rumbled under the weight of his treads as he went, and when I motioned for Bom Two to follow me, Haragh jumped at how quickly he followed the order.

Then the three of us made our way down the lanes of Falmount toward the tracks, and I nodded reassuringly to the mages we passed because I figured by now, they should have been used to some giant death machines in their presence.

Granted, Bom Two was huge and holding a gun, but that was just a part of living in Falmount.

The mages who’d witnessed the accidental destruction of my bridge must have spread the word, though, because the lanes were oddly deserted for this time of day, and I could hear nervous muttering coming from the shadowy windows of the houses.

“It’s good seein’ ye’ outside a battle,” Haragh sighed after a moment. “Feel like I haven’t seen ye’ in ages.”

“That’s because you’re deliberately hiding from my women,” I snorted.

“So?”

“Dude, you’re gonna have to find some way to make it up to them,” I informed him. “You’re my best friend, I can’t have you cowering in fear of my women. They’re around all the time, and they went to Jagruel to help your race out. They care about you, you just kind of … ”

“Insulted and infuriated them,” the half-ogre muttered.

“Yeah, that.”

“Alright, then what would it take to clear this up?” Haragh asked, and he nodded to a mage who looked ready to piss himself at the sight of Bom Two rolling behind us.

“Well, never mentioning hormones again is a good place to start,” I offered. “Maybe you should get them something. They like getting gifts, especially weapons.”

“I could get Aurora a flail,” Haragh realized, but I sent him an apologetic look.

“Someone just got her a flail, actually,” I admitted, “but keep thinking along those lines. You know them all, just be genuine, apologize, admit you were an ass, and give them something they can kill someone with. That would make them happy.”

“What if they kill me with it?”

“Hmm,” I mused. “Maybe don’t give Cayla a weapon.”

“Or Aurora,” Haragh muttered.

“No, give her a weapon,” I countered. “It’ll show you trust her, because she can kill you with her magery anyways. So, don’t be a coward. Give Aurora an awesome weapon that she’ll flip over, and she’ll respect you for it.”

“Yeah, I’m sticking with one woman,” Haragh decided as we climbed up onto the tracks and rounded the train car. “Four is three too many. It all gets confusing when there’s more than one.”

“True, but it also gets really fun,” I chuckled. “Did I tell you they made me build cages in our bedroom?”

“Cages for what?”

I waggled my brows at him before I pulled the door of the train car open, and I was still laughing at the look on his face when I turned to get a look inside.

“Holy shit … that’s a lot of marble,” I mumbled.

Haragh came over to look as well, and he let out a low whistle as he dragged his hand over a solid chunk of deep green marble that was easily five feet thick. There were seven more of these behemoths stacked inside the train car, and how the dwarves had managed to load them all up was beyond me. Just at first glance, though, I knew I’d have more than enough for every floor in my mansion now.

“Gotta love the dwarves,” Haragh chuckled as he climbed in to admire the other slabs, but the sound of horse hooves drew my attention toward the stables, and I saw three king’s guards riding straight for me at breakneck speed.

“Defender Flynt!” one of the guards called before he roughly reigned in his mount.

“What happened?” I demanded.

“Notice from King Temin,” the man replied, and he held out a piece of parchment to me. “There’s been another attack. Last night in Rajeen.”

Chapter 11

I left Haragh and Bom Two at the station as I barreled toward the mansion with Temin’s note clutched in my hand, and when I burst through the door, Alfred was waiting patiently to greet me.

“Where are my women?” I panted.

“The ladies are training with their flails in the--” he began, but I was already running down the hall.

My four women dropped their flails to the training hall floor the moment they saw me, and they rushed over as I tried to catch my breath.

“Has Nulena been here yet?” I demanded, and when they all shook their heads, I had to brace my weight on my knees. “Shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Cayla asked. “What happened?”

“There was an attack in Rajeen,” I managed, and I held out the parchment because my lungs were seizing at the moment.

Aurora gasped as she read through the letter, and Shoshanne worked to help me straighten up while she stroked my arm nervously.

“I can’t believe this,” the half-elf muttered. “More than half of Rajeen’s residents must have been killed with numbers like these.”

“I know,” I panted, “and it was all mages who did it. Imagine what the survivors must be thinking right now.”

“Mages?” Shoshanne asked as she paled.

I nodded. “A whole troop. They invaded Rajeen in the dead of night, and the people didn’t stand a chance. Nothing in that letter says anything about Nulena’s manor, though, and I … ”

I worked to steady my breathing, but it was useless. My heart couldn’t seem to find a steady rhythm, and my legs still hadn’t regained the feeling in them after the king’s guard delivered Temin’s letter.

“Mason, breathe,” Deya urged as she came over to support my weight with Shoshanne. “I’m sure Nulena is okay. She can vanish the same as me. If she was there when this happened, she could easily escape unharmed.”

“Exactly,” Cayla agreed. “She’s also not the type to go charging into battle.”

I nodded as the logic of this steadied my pulse a little.

“True,” I admitted. “She wouldn’t have put herself in harm’s way over the others, but what if they found her in her sleep?”

“Nulena was busy assassinating someone,” Aurora reminded me. “If she had finished her work early in the night, she would have come here to sleep with us. It’s most likely she wasn’t in Rajeen at all when this happened.”

“That’s a good point,” I realized. “She always comes here to sleep if she’s not working.”

“So, breathe,” Deya urged once more.

I did as she instructed while my legs slowly regained feeling, but I was still too on edge to fully relax.

“Godsdamnit,” I sighed. “It’s so inconvenient that she’s impossible to get a hold of.”

“It’s kind of charming, too,” Cayla tried, and I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure she’ll show up sometime soon, so let’s focus on what we can do right now.”

“I agree.” Aurora nodded. “Most importantly, Mason was correct, and the Master is ready to coordinate mass attacks. This is four attacks in only two days.”

“No,” I countered. “Most importantly, he sent a bunch of fucking spiders here while his mages were massacring a village nowhere near us. Not that those creatures couldn’t have killed half my mages, but it wasn’t even close to the kind of stunt he was pulling in Rajeen.”

“Maybe he can’t risk an attack of that magnitude near you,” Shoshanne pointed out. “You’ve been the victor in every encounter so far, and his numbers are deteriorating because of it.”

“Or he’s keeping Mason distracted,” Cayla realized, and we all looked her way. “The Master knows Mason is here, and he knows he’ll stop at nothing to fend off his attacks, but it’s impossible for him to be everywhere at once. If these attacks in Cedis and Rajeen happened alone, Mason would have acted or at least begun securing defenses throughout the kingdom. Instead, we were being attacked at the same time, so the threat is here, with his own mages and all of us in the crosshairs. The Master could be keeping Mason busy and hoping to dilute his numbers while he begins working his way across the regions.”

“That bastard,” I growled. “You’re fucking right.”

“I think so, too,” Deya agreed. “It’s an elven tactic Nalnora thrives on. We launch several miniscule attacks throughout the jungles in order to pick off warriors by the dozens. This pulls the Houses’ armies out, too, which leaves the heads of Houses exposed. It perpetuates a constant battle state and depletes defenses.”

“The same will happen if Temin declares war,” I realized. “We’re down on our numbers already, and if our Defenders are sent out and dispersed, Serin will be more vulnerable. We all will be, and we’ll never catch up.”

“Unless you’re already prepared for that,” Aurora countered. “Mason, your mages are gaining skills every day, and by the time you’re finished promoting those who are ready, we won’t be down on numbers any longer. We can still beat him at his own game.”

“Especially with your automatons,” Cayla added. “This is something the Master won’t be prepared to counter no matter what tactic he tries.”

I nodded and considered all of this for a moment, but too much was on the table now, and with my mind still half focused on my concern for Nulena’s life, I knew I needed longer to regroup.

“Does this mean our defenses here are only wasting Mason’s time?” Shoshanne asked Cayla with concern.

“No,” I answered for her, “we can continue to use this to our advantage, and this is still where the majority of the Order’s mages are residing. If the Master wants to distract us, that’s just more opportunities. Whatever creatures he sends here could end up swarming any area of any region down the line, and now that we know our mages can handle it, it’s killing two birds with one stone.”

“I agree,” Aurora replied. “More opportunities to chip away at his numbers, and the mages are getting their first glimpse at what they’ll be up against soon. It’s a new phase of training for them.”

“This means the attacks here won’t be letting up, though,” I added. “So, I’ll form the underground shelter and check that the rebuilding is well underway right now.”

“Mason, maybe you should take a moment to calm down,” Shoshanne worried. “I can tell you’re wound up, why don’t you--”

“No,” I countered, but I pulled the healer into my arms to reassure her. “I know you’re concerned, but I’ll feel better if I stay busy. I want you all to stay here in case Nulena shows up.”

“Yes, Mason,” Cayla said with a nod.

“Could you and Aurora work on the list of mages for promotion while I’m gone?” I asked the princess, and she nodded once more before I tucked a kiss in Shoshanne’s copper curls and turned for the door.

When I got to the entryway, Alfred was waiting with a small tray that had a glass balanced at the center, and he held it out to me with a solemn bow of his head.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“A bracing glass of spirits, sir,” the man replied. “I anticipated that it might be needed.”

“Alfred, you are an incredible butler,” I informed him, and I downed the glass in two big gulps.

It was indeed a very large and bracing glass of spirits, though, and my knees were already buzzing as I crossed my bridge and headed into Falmount. I took a few steadying breaths as I repeated my women’s logical points about Nulena in my mind, and even though blindly trusting that one of my women was safe went against my nature, I tried to focus on staying busy until I knew she was okay.

Unfortunately, I was becoming aware of how our secretive arrangement might not work well for me, though, because whether or not Nulena could openly admit her feelings for me, I knew mine were growing. The second the king’s guards told me about the attack in Rajeen, I realized how much I’d come to care for her in such a short time, and never knowing if she was alive or dead would probably drive me mad.

Still, I had to smirk at the notion, because it was more likely the Baroness would be off killing others rather than getting killed, and I held onto this thought as I entered the marketplace and surveyed the progress.

Defender Urn caught sight of me the moment I strolled into the clearing, and he dismissed the few mages he was talking with to come over and join me.

“Defender Flynt,” the burly Terra Mage said. “I take it you’ve come to see how the rebuilding is going?”

“I have,” I replied and turned to admire the extensions that were already complete.

To the west, three lines of shops connected and rose three stories up with small windows lining the front, and there were mages strolling along the battlement to make a few final adjustments.

“Are the interiors of all these shops completed as well?” I checked.

“They are,” Urn answered, and he turned toward the east side of the market. “Same goes for this lot. We used Flynt’s Pub as the central point on this side and expanded from there to connect the library at the corner. All of the shops have windows large enough to get a clear shot from, but small enough that most creatures couldn’t make their way in.”

“And the walls are all a foot thick?” I asked.

“They are.”

I nodded as I rounded the edge of a row of buildings, and the central well of the town was located on the other side, with benches and tables made of stone surrounding it like a small courtyard.

“Looks good,” I decided. “I want to get the underground shelter completed today, but I need to stop by the mines to get enough iron for the project.”

“Already done,” Urn informed me, and he motioned for me to follow him. “I had the mages leave a load of iron over here beside the barbican just this morning. If you need more, I can send them back to the mines.”

“Perfect,” I replied as I took stock of the iron. “This should be enough. Have you spoken with the mages regarding their stations and protocol in the event of an attack?”

Defender Urn nodded as he turned to face the buildings of the market, and he pointed out the posts on the battlements.

“Kurna addressed all the details about an hour ago,” he explained. “We organized a decent balance of elements in each crew, like you asked. Over there on the right, there’s three crews for each stretch on the battlements with Pindor and Odin leading two, and an Ignis named Mina leading the last. Pindor recommended her for the post, but if that’s not adequate, I can reassign--”

“No, Mina’s perfect,” I chuckled. “She’ll do good up there, and she and Pindor work well together. What about the west side?”

“We’ve organized the three crews, but haven’t appointed anyone to lead them yet,” Urn answered. “I figure I could take one, maybe Haragh could take the other--”

“Actually,” I cut in, “I intended to have both you and Haragh promoted to generals, along with Kurna.”

“You … ” Urn fidgeted with the edge of his moustache. “You really mean that?”

“Hell yeah,” I replied. “I need guys like you at the head of this operation. You’ll be on the barbican with Kurna and work to coordinate the crews on the battlements, and this way, any attempts to bring the structures down can be countered by yours and Haragh’s powers while the mages finish out the attack.”

“You’ve got all the details covered, then?” Urn chuckled.

“Trying to, anyways,” I muttered. “What’s left to do with the rebuilding?”

“We’ve still got homes to add around the village,” the burly mage replied. “I’m about to get the Flumen Mages started on the waterways, and there’s been a handful of merchants coming through. Words spreading around Serin about that stunt you pulled saving all the nobles at the castle, so we’ll probably see a lot more folks coming in looking for work here. I’ve been sending them all to leave their information with Raynor since he knows more about that sort of thing than me. He said he’d hold onto all of it for you.”

“Excellent,” I said, and I could hardly believe how smoothly everything was being handled.

“If you’re lookin’ for any suggestions, though,” Urn said as he cleared his throat, “there’s a woman who runs a spice shop in Serin that mentioned she’d like to relocate to a smaller area. Real honest woman, too, she’ll be sure to pay her keep regularly and all that. She works hard, keeps her business real tidy. Might be a good situation for her here, is all. I’m sure there’s plenty of other merchants, of course, but she’d certainly … she’d be a good choice.”

I grinned as the burly mage shrugged nonchalantly.

“What’s her name?” I asked.

“Lilith,” Urn mumbled, but then he quickly corrected himself. “Miss Clearidge.”

“Well, if you think Miss Clearidge wouldn’t mind living in a town that’s set to get attacked quite frequently, then I don’t see any reason why she can’t set up shop here,” I replied.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind,” Urn said at once. “There’s plenty of Defenders around these parts. I’m sure she’d be well looked after. Not by me, mind. I’ve got enough to look after, but … might be nice to have a lady of quality about the market. Selling spices.”

“Definitely,” I agreed. “She sounds like a quality spice lady. That’s what Falmount’s missing.”

Urn nodded as he smiled a bit, but when he caught the look on my face, he was suddenly back to his all-business frown.

“Well, I’ve got a crew of Flumen Mages I’d better get back to,” he announced. “Lots to look after already, like I said.”

The burly mage abruptly headed off to coordinate a group of mages in their efforts to run waterways throughout the village, and I chuckled while I scanned the market for a few Terra Mages to give me a hand. There were several working in different sections of the market, but I could hear Pindor’s voice somewhere nearby, and I strolled around a couple corners until I found him instructing a small crew.

They were almost done carving out the channels for the waterways, and when he noticed my shit-eating grin, he eyed me warily before giving his crew a couple more instructions and jogging over.

“So, should I be calling you Lord Pindor now, or … ?”

“Shhh!” Pindor hissed, and I thought his head would spin right off his shoulders from how quickly he checked to make sure no one around us had heard. “Don’t call me that!”

“If you say so,” I chuckled, “but I’ve gotta ask--how is it no one knows you’re an heir to the second largest fief in the kingdom?”

“Largest,” Pindor corrected under his breath.

“Not anymore,” I informed him.

“Are you serious?” He narrowed his eyes

“Yep,” I chuckled. “Sorry about that. Lord Allen doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest, though, so don’t be dick. You’ll still technically be my superior one of these days.”

Pindor’s ears turned pink as he shook his head, and he awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I don’t care about that kind of stuff,” he muttered. “It’s only--”

“An earldom,” I cut in. “You’re right. Nothing special there.”

“Look,” Pindor sighed, and he double checked the clearing before he lowered his voice a bit. “I don’t want anyone to know, okay? I wasn’t even supposed to inherit, it’s only because my parents died, and my uncle doesn’t have his own kids. Otherwise, I’d just be Pindor, so that’s what I’m doing.”

I nodded. “Except your uncle told me you were completely content with loafing around his estate for the rest of your life until a few months ago.”

“Maybe I changed my mind,” Pindor said with a shrug. “When I found out I was a mage, it seemed kind of fun, but being an earl sounded better. Then … I don’t know. I met you and Aurora, and I realized there was a lot I could do. I could change things about the world, help defend the nation, see new places, tear mountains open sometimes. Once I saw how fast you were learning just because you focused and never let up, I guess I thought that might be a better use of my time. I can be an earl whenever, but I can’t just snap my fingers and become a Defender. That takes dedication and skill. It’s more impressive to earn something through perseverance.”

Pindor’s ears were redder than I’d ever seen them now, and I grinned as he kicked a few stones around.

“Well, I’m glad you changed your mind,” I told him. “Being an earl is probably even more fun than being a baron, but defending the realm is pretty fucking awesome.”

“What’s a realm?” the kid asked as he furrowed his brow.

“I meant world,” I corrected. “Either way, I’m glad you’re taking your powers more seriously, and that you’re helping Mina stay focused on improving, too. You’re both some of my top mages right now.”

Suddenly, a familiar smirk came to Pindor’s face. “Yeah, we, uh … we’ve found a decent arrangement.”

“I know,” I mumbled, and I cleared my throat. “The point is, I’m not going to out you about the whole ‘you’re a fucking earl’ thing, but I am promoting you to Defender.”

“What?”

The color drained from Pindor’s face and ears all at once, and he looked like a guppy with his mouth slack.

“You’re being promoted,” I repeated. “So, I guess that makes you Defender Allen now, which might give away your lineage a bit.”

“I-I can’t be a Defender,” he stammered, and his voice cracked under the pressure. “I’m not ready. I don’t know nearly as much as you and--”

“You sound like Shoshanne,” I chuckled, and I clapped a sturdy hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Here’s the deal. You are ready, because I’m your mentor, and I say you’re ready. Deal with it. Now, I’m building an underground shelter near the market entrance, and your crew is helping out, so round ‘em up.”

Pindor nodded blankly as he stumbled toward the clearing, and I couldn’t help grinning my ass off while I headed for the door of the barbican.

I’d known I wanted to promote Pindor from the moment Temin told me to start a list, but I hadn’t expected to take so much pride in the task. Now, I had a weird sense that all was right in the world, and I didn’t mind so much that his hair looked just like mine. I was honestly so proud of the kid’s dedication that even his brief stint as a cocky little shit was fine by me. Things would have turned out a lot worse if he had sat at Lord Allen’s estate like an entitled jerk, and knowing I’d played some part in him choosing a more rewarding path made promoting him an honor to me.

Especially after I got his voice to crack. That’s how I knew he really understood the merit of becoming a full-fledged Defender of the Order.

My chuckles echoed up the stairwell within the tower of the barbican as I studied the layout for a moment, and once I decided on a good spot for a hidden entrance, I summoned up my powers and carved out the beginning of a tunnel at the back side of the spiraled steps.

I’d extended it forty feet down at a fifty-degree angle by the time Pindor returned with five Terra Mages in tow, and the kid still looked like he was on another planet when I came out to join them.

“Okay, guys,” I began. “I’m building an underground shelter from this pile of iron. The floor will be forty feet below the surface at the base of the stairs I’m about to form. This way, any possessed Terra Mages who try to tear the courtyard apart won’t accidentally unearth it. I’m aiming for twenty-five square feet, with a ten-foot ceiling. Until I have the framing in place, you’re all in charge of hollowing out the area and making sure the ceiling doesn’t collapse and crush me to death.”

Pindor’s eyes widened along with all the others, and I nodded.

“Don’t worry,” I chuckled. “I trust you.”

Then I summoned my metal magic as I headed for the barbican and raised a chunk of iron to carry it along with me.

“Uh, Mason?” Pindor muttered while he followed behind me. “Are you sure you want us to do this? Because you’re sort of an important guy and leading the entire fight against the Master.”

“I know.”

“Maybe you should have Haragh handle this one,” Pindor suggested. “Or even yourself? You could probably do that, right?”

“What?” I clarified. “Use my Terra powers and my metal magic at the same time?”

“Yeah,” the kid said hopefully, and I thought about this for a second.

“I could,” I decided, “but having my life slightly threatened is distracting, and I’m looking for some distraction at the moment. I’m trying not to think about something. Besides, you could probably do this by yourself. So, leading a crew should be fine.”

“But they don’t all know how to balance their energy to work in a circuit for long stretches of time, yet,” Pindor muttered.

“Good thing their leader does,” I chuckled. “Go on, then.”

I waved him back toward the others as I began reforming the iron, and while he mumbled under his breath about being a dead man, I started securing one step after another to extend a stairwell into my tunnel. I could hear the others coordinating their circuit and beginning to work on digging out a workspace for me down there, and Pindor joined a separate circuit with one of them to keep the ground firm for forty square feet around the market. The others siphoned the excess dirt through another hole and piled it in the clearing, and after a few minutes, one of the mages pointed out the need for air holes as well.

I began lining the walls and ceiling of my tunnel with a solid, three-inch thick slab of iron while they worked on this, and then I summoned another few chunks of iron before I craned my neck to get a look out the door.

“All good?” I called.

“Hold on!” Pindor called back, and a minute later, Mina jogged into the barbican.

“Here you go, Mason,” she said with a sweet smile, and she sent a ball of flames down the tunnel.

“Thank you,” I chuckled, and the Ignis Mage shrugged before jogging right back to the clearing.

Then I headed down the steps, and as my rune began to chant a little louder, I nodded.

“Perfect,” I muttered to myself.

I could feel the presence of the Terra Mages’ circuit around me as I entered the cavern far below the surface, and Mina’s flames were flickering at the center to illuminate the space. The mages already filled in their excavation tunnel, too, and I eyed the earthen ceiling while I sent my own powers through the soil just to be sure everything was steady. I could feel the strength of Pindor’s connection, though, so I took a deep breath and entered the cavern.

The air holes the mages had dug through the dirt dotted the ceiling every few feet in each direction, and I quickly constructed eight iron support beams to prop them up along the walls and corners. Then I summoned another batch of iron, and I kept a steady supply coming in while I worked to create more beams and secure them against the wall every twelve inches. Once this was done, I propped up a line of beams along the center of the room for extra support, and then I moved on to wedging joists into place from one end of the ceiling to the other.

Dirt crumbled away and dusted my head and shoulders while I dug out grooves to secure the joists above the beams, but I had them all melded to their posts in about twenty minutes. Then I toured the space and checked every joist before I sparked my magic and hauled in enough iron to cover the floor.

While I worked on laying out the iron and then moved on to filling in the walls, I could hear the Terra Mages discussing a few things they’d been trying out lately. Most of them were only lacking confidence in their skills, but had picked up a lot of fundamentals in only a short time of training. From the sound of it, though, Pindor had recently come close to reading through the soil like I’d learned to do in Nalnora, but he assumed his connection was faltering because it felt so alien to him. The other Terra Mages suggested he try something different, and I shook my head as I finished the last wall.

Then I headed back up the stairs, and the Terra Mages took a collective breath of relief when they saw me.

“Not done yet,” I told them. “Do any of you know an Aer Mage? We’re going to need a system for filtering fresh air throughout the shelter that can’t be obstructed if the ground is altered.”

Pindor nodded and sent one of the mages who was supporting the ceiling to get a friend of theirs.

“Hey, while you’re doing this,” I continued, “I want you all to practice something new. It’s basically transferring your consciousness into the soil. Don’t expect to get it right away, but since you’re already decently connected with your element, it’s a good time to start trying.”

I crouched down beside them as I connected my fist with the soil, and I joined with their circuit for the sake of making things a little easier for them than it had been for me my first time.

“When I learned how to do this, I was stuck in the habit of bossing my element around,” I explained, and I smirked at the recollection of Aurora huffily calling me out on this. “I thought I was bending my element to my will, but that was never really the case. Once I understood this, my magery grew stronger more quickly because I realized that if I was my element, then I could embody it.”

“Hold on,” a Terra Mage interrupted. “What do you mean ‘you are your element’? I thought we influence our elements because we’re mages.”

I grinned. “Yeah, that’s exactly where I was at the time, but Defender Solana taught me this was only a rudimentary phase of my education. Right now, you’re all influencing the ground. I can tell by the way your presence in the soil is identical to each other, but I want you to focus for a moment, and see if you can recognize my magic specifically compared to the others.”

“I can,” Pindor replied at once, and I nodded.

“We’ve worked together a lot since I learned this,” I explained. “There’s been several times when I was deeply in tune with our element and joined a circuit with you, which would make my presence more recognizable than if you were working with someone else. You’re very close to accomplishing this exact thing, though. Out of all of the magic in the soil, yours is the most distinct to me, and that’s a good sign. What about the rest of you? Can you notice the difference?”

The mages closed their eyes and focused more intently, and I amplified my own powers to help them out a bit. Then a couple of them nodded.

“I think so?” a Terra Mage muttered. “Something seems off about the circuit.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” I replied, “and the reason you can sense the difference is because right now, I’m not influencing the ground with you guys. I’m connected to your circuit, but my efforts are actually going toward reading the outline of your knees against the dirt. I can sense your weight, and if I closed my eyes, and all of you walked off, I could track each of you anywhere you went.”

The Terra Mages immediately looked over at me, and I couldn’t help chuckling.

“That’s what I want you guys to work toward,” I told them, “and it starts with understanding that the divide between you and your element doesn’t exist. You’re not controlling it. You were born with these powers, and they’re a part of you. Which means you’re a part of your element, too. The longer you spend exploring your element, but not trying to influence it, the clearer this becomes. You can actually feel the difference in your veins first, which is what Pindor was just talking about before I came up here. Easing further into that sensation deepens the connection until it’s ingrained in your mind. This makes it possible to transfer your consciousness into the soil and stone, and then you can read through it.”

“Gods,” a Terra Mage muttered. “That sounds amazing.”

“It is,” I assured him. “So, focus on my presence in the soil for a moment. I’m going to stay connected with your circuit, and I want you to try to follow where I’m going, the same way you can share a collective design and bring it to fruition. Follow the circuit where I go.”

“What about the ceiling?” Pindor reminded me.

“I’ll hold the ceiling up,” I said, “you just focus.”

The mages nodded and closed their eyes, and once I was sure they were all ready, I used my powers to support the ground above the shelter. Then I sent a trickle of my magic beneath the clearing, and while I slowly sifted through the soil, I sensed the other mages following my lead.

I read the footsteps of the residents walking around and the shape of the buildings in the market, and then I followed a group of mages on their way to the library. Once they crossed the threshold, I sent my magic straight into the stone floor of the building instead, and I continued tracking the group up two flights of stairs before I eased back and returned my attention to the clearing.

Then something familiar caught my attention, and as I clung to this sensation with everything I had, I realized I was sensing magery through the ground. It was only my second time testing this ability out, but it was already easier to fall in sync with, and after a moment, I even knew who it was.

Mina had her powers sparked while she left the pub, and I grinned as Pindor’s presence in the circuit heightened the moment I registered this.

“You can tell who it is, can’t you?” I muttered.

“Holy shit,” Pindor managed, and I chuckled as I called my powers back to the soil beneath me.

When I opened my eyes, the crew of Terra Mages were looking at me with dumbstruck expressions, but Pindor’s brow was furrowed.

“How did I know it was her?” he asked. “The others were only footsteps, but I knew it was Mina the second you traced her. I could sense her magic like she was standing right next to me.”

“Because I realized it was Mina,” I replied. “She must have been playing with a few flames. Someone taught me recently that I could use the ability to read through the soil in order to sense the use of magery nearby. The frame of mind is slightly different, because it’s not a direct, physical presence on top of the soil. I’m still getting the hang of it, but Mina’s powers are something I’m familiar with, so when I noticed her magery and tried to attach to its presence, that recognition transferred to you through the circuit.”

Pindor stared. “What … ”

He didn’t develop the thought any further, though. The kid sat there in silence right along with the others, and they kind of looked like they’d decided to take hallucinogens for the first time, and it was just starting to kick in.

“I know,” I chuckled. “It’s been fucking blowing my mind, but I don’t want you to worry about jumping right to that level. I’m explaining this stuff because I’ve gotten the impression things like this are treated like elite knowledge within the Order, and we’re expected to work our way toward these abilities at someone else’s pace, if they even tell us about them. Personally, though, I find nothing helps me learn faster than knowing the extent of the possibilities. So, now that you know, the first step toward reaching this point is just embracing the fact that you can embody your element if you try. Put all of your effort into building that connection until it’s second nature, because after that, everything becomes possible. What I just did, you’ll be able to do any time you want on your own, and it could save lives. I’ve used this hundreds of times to anticipate an incoming attack, track a fleeing enemy, or even to make sure the people I care about are okay. So, while I finish up down there, keep practicing this, alright?”

“But … where do we start?” a Terra Mage asked.

“Just relax,” I replied. “Focus on the makeup of the soil and all of the variances in the substrate that you’re feeling, and then gradually ease your focus deeper into this awareness as you get more comfortable with it. Take your time, because the more in tune you get, the easier you’ll learn to use this to your advantage. And Pindor, do exactly what you were doing the other day. I’m pretty sure you’ll have this down by nightfall.”

“Wait, you want us to try this while we’re also supporting the ground for you?” Pindor clarified, and I could see a sheen of sweat gathering on his forehead.

“It’s doable,” I assured him. “Go for it. I’ll be done with the ceiling soon.”

The crew scrambled to get a hold on the ground with their magic again, and once I separated from their circuit, I returned to the shelter with a batch of iron drifting behind me.

The Terra Mages broke into conversation about the endless possibilities while I started forming the ceiling of the shelter one section at a time, but eventually they fell silent while they focused on their element instead. I shifted the dirt above the joists out of my way as I went, and even though the Terra Mages’ hold on the ground became more tremulous during their attempts to multitask, it felt different now.

I could tell all of them were gaining a clearer understanding of their powers already, and I was honestly impressed they managed to keep everything as steady as they did. Pindor was close to getting it after only twenty minutes or so, and I grinned at the thought of telling Haragh the kid mastered the ability before he did.

I ended up finishing the ceiling before an Aer Mage arrived, and I decided to go ahead with my idea for an air filtration system based on what I knew about Shoshanne’s abilities. I couldn’t do this while Pindor’s crew were still holding the ground steady for me, though, so I headed back to the surface to find the Terra Mages all kneeling in deep concentration with their eyes shut tight.

“How’s it going?” I asked, and two mages cracked the ground beneath them when my words startled them.

Pindor jolted and instantly repaired the damage. “Sorry about that.”

“Not a problem,” I chuckled. “I just came to see how you’re doing, and to let you know the ceiling has been secured, so you can break your circuit now.”

“I don’t think I’m doing this right,” one of the mages admitted. “My veins feel the same no matter how hard I focus.”

“Try again, let me check,” I replied, and I sent my powers through the soil to the point where his fist met with the ground. From there, I could follow the presence of his magic, and I nodded as he did his best to connect more fully with the soil.

“You’re on the right track,” I assured him. “I think multitasking is throwing you off. You’re in a circuit, and influencing the ground, and trying to seep into it all at once. That’s just not an easy place to start. Now that you’re done here, though, find a place where you can focus more directly without any distractions. Do nothing but explore your element, and you’ll get it eventually.”

The mage nodded with relief as he and the others rose to their feet, and Pindor sent a few of them to continue their work on the channels.

I dismissed the guy who needed more time to focus because I could tell he was hooked by the concept, and then I grinned at Pindor.

“You’re already getting the hang of this,” I chuckled.

“Not really,” the kid snorted. “Sitting around leading a circuit doesn’t prove anything about my ability to serve as a Defender.”

“Actually, it does,” I corrected. “It’s leadership and attention to detail while coordinating the efforts of each crew member despite their varying skills.”

Pindor stubbornly rolled his eyes, though, and damn it if he didn’t look just like me when he did it.

“Look, I know this promotion is freaking you out,” I admitted, “but you have to trust in the process, alright? You’re good at this, so don’t overthink it. You’re a natural leader, and you’re improving at three times the rate of the other mages. That alone is enough to make me confident you’ll do fine. At the very least, Mina’s gonna flip when she hears you’re a Defender now. I recommend you coast on her enthusiasm. It’s an instant ego boost and half the reason I get anything accomplished.”

“Hmm,” Pindor mused, and a lopsided grin came to his face. “That actually makes a lot of sense.”

“Yeah, it does,” I chuckled. “Lean into it.”

I clapped the kid on the shoulder before I headed back to the barbican, and when I glanced back, he looked like he was back in a hallucinogenic state as he furrowed his brow and walked at a snail’s pace.

Then I summoned a few more chunks of iron before returning to the shelter, and I carved four five-inch holes in the upper portion of a wall. I began digging out long, slender tunnels that extended from each hole, and I continued them well beyond the boundaries of the marketplace. When I made it to the edge of the training fields, I dug upward until I broke through the surface, and once I cleared a few bits of debris out of each tunnel, I sparked my metal magic instead. Then I fed molten iron into the holes while I lined the tunnels all the way around and solidified the metal once more, and as the minutes ticked by, I inched my way closer to the outlet of the tunnels.

It was slow work because I had to keep summoning my Terra powers in order to remove the bits of soil that came loose during the process, but I was buzzing off my brief training session, too. That might have had something to do with it.

I was a little surprised to find I enjoyed teaching the mages so much, and realizing I had something I could offer them that would improve their abilities tenfold felt pretty good. Not only could I relate to the sheer awesomeness of realizing how many possibilities there were, but the more Terra Mages who reached this level of understanding, the better off we’d all be in this fight.

If the mages did end up being sent out to their posts, then incoming troops would be easier to register ahead of time, and the job of tracking the Master’s minions to their portals wouldn’t fall solely to me anymore. We’d have the tactical advantage, and I was so caught up on this train of thought, I barely noticed I’d reached the other end of the tunnels.

I smirked as I added a small iron grating at the surface where the pipes let out, and I was halfway through the process of replicating this arrangement on the opposite wall when a mage hollered down the stairwell.

Shortly after, a guy who looked around my age popped his head into the room, and he had shaggy red hair to match a scrappy beard as he raised his brows at the sight of the iron chamber.

“They weren’t kidding,” the Aer Mage muttered. “You’re really building a whole room down here.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled, and I headed over to shake the guy’s hand. “I’m Mason Flynt.”

“Toby Keen,” the man replied. “I was told you needed some help.”

“That’s right. Once this place is sealed off, being able to breathe down here will become an issue, so I need an air filtration system. I want to avoid any setup that could be compromised if a Terra Mage altered the terrain but isn’t so obvious the people in here will be easily located. This is going to serve as a shelter for the residents who aren’t able to fight during attacks.”

“An underground shelter made of metal,” Toby muttered to himself, and he looked around the place for a moment. “That’s a new one to me, but I like it. None of the mages would be able to alter it.”

“Exactly,” I said with a grin.

“Well,” the Aer Mage sighed, “I can’t create fresh air down here from nothing if it’s closed off.

“You can instill a constant cross breeze, though,” I pointed out, and I gestured to the eight holes lining the walls. “I’ve used pipes to form inlets and outlets for the air to cycle through. Will that do?”

“Pipes … ” Toby said as he scratched his beard. “Are these pipes for smoking out of? Because I don’t think smoke will help your situation down here.”

“No,” I chuckled. “In this case, the word ‘pipe’ refers to using metal tubes like enclosed channels that run underground. You can use them to transfer water, air, that kind of thing. The other end of each pipe reaches the surface about twenty yards from here in either direction. That way, they don’t draw any suspicion to this particular area.”

“Ah.” Toby nodded. “Then that should work fine, but you might need to find a means of draining water out of this room. If a rain comes, or a Flumen Mage shows up, my air stream won’t prevent these pipe things from filling with water.”

“Good call,” I agreed. “I can fix that. I just need you to make sure the air flow in here will be constant.”

“Yes, sir,” the Aer Mage replied, and he made his way over to the inlets I’d already finished.

While Toby worked on summoning a steady stream of air through each pipe, I finished forming the last four and installing grates at the surface where they let out. Then I drilled six holes in the iron floor, and once I added gratings to these as well, I dug deep wells stretching fifteen feet into the ground beneath each one, so any water that seeped into the shelter would have a place to drain out from.

Next, I lined two walls with benches, and I added countertops, shelving, and cabinets as well. The last detail I installed was a stout iron door at both ends of the stairwell, but the upper door laid flat along the floor of the barbican like a cellar entrance.

Around the time I secured a drop bar beside the entrance so the door could be barricaded from the inside, Toby finished his work, and he shrugged as he came over.

“That should do it,” the Aer Mage said. “I’ll come check on the place later today to make sure the breeze is still holding up, but I instilled circular wind patterns halfway through each of these tunnels on one side to draw the air in, and then reversed the airflow on the opposite side to propel it back out.”

“That’s perfect,” I replied. “If you could check up on the place once in a while, I’d really appreciate it. The likelihood of more attacks taking place here is pretty high at the moment, and with the village expanding, I need this shelter to be constantly accessible when needed.”

“I could do that,” Toby said with a grin. “I’m not assigned to a defense post yet because Defender Kurna said you and the other Defenders were still assessing the mages for promotions, but if you want, I could help with the shelter. I could be a guard or something. Keep the air flow going and kill anyone who tries to come through that door.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I admitted as we headed for the stairs. “I’ll send someone to assess your abilities for the post today. Where can they find you?”

“I’m usually at the library,” Toby said. “Either that or the training fields. I signed up for double sessions, so I spend three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening training.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” I said as we came up into the tower. “I’ll be in touch, and thanks again.”

Toby nodded. “Anytime, sir.”

As I closed off the cellar door, I realized it was too noticeable against the stonework, so I summoned the last of the iron in the clearing. Then I used it to cover the entire floor of the tower entrance, and I did the same with the tower on the opposite side of the archway. Now, both towers looked identical, and the door blended seamlessly in the shadows behind the stairs.

Unfortunately, this meant I was done with my project and out of distractions, so I made up my mind to go to the station next and unload the marble the dwarves had sent me.

I was only a few paces beyond the barbican, though, when I heard Aurora shriek in the distance, and a split second later, I registered a familiar careless chuckle. I froze as I zeroed my attention in on the mansion, and when Nulena asked my women where I was, I decided the marble could fucking wait.

Chapter 12

I forced myself to slow down and appear a little composed before I got to the door. When I came into the entryway, though, I stopped beside Alfred as I registered the conversation taking place in my workshop.

“Not always,” the Baroness was saying. “It’s less satisfying to kill some people if they can’t hear or see what’s coming. Sometimes, incapacitating their senses heightens their terror, and that can be enjoyable, but other times, I prefer for them to see and understand exactly what is about to happen to them. Then their screams are different. Less frantic. They see I have betrayed them, and they experience both fury and terror while knowing there is no escaping their fate now. It’s enjoyable.”

“That’s somewhat disturbing,” Shoshanne muttered.

“Would it make you feel better if I told you the people I kill deserve to die?” Nulena asked as she raised a black eyebrow.

Alfred’s gaze flicked toward mine, but his expression was entirely composed, and I could only sigh while I headed for the atrium.

Cayla noticed me in the doorway first, but when the other women looked over, they sent me cautious glances that confused me.

“Hey,” I murmured.

“We were just discussing Nulena’s evening,” Aurora said with a pointed look. “She was out all night.”

I nodded with relief, but then I realized how tense my women seemed, and when I compared this to Nulena’s careless grin, I caught on to their predicament.

“Um.” I cleared my throat. “Does she not know?”

“We were waiting until you got here,” Cayla replied.

“Know what?” Nulena asked, and a cold mask replaced her grin.

“Did you stop by Rajeen at all last night?” I checked.

“No, I was murdering a cousin and plotting revenge. Why?”

I nodded while I brushed some dirt from my hair and walked over, and I crouched down beside the Baroness as I tried to decide how to break the news to her.

“Nulena … I just received word from Temin,” I said as gently as I could. “There was an attack last night in Rajeen.”

The Baroness nodded. “I know. Over two hundred were killed by possessed mages.”

“Oh, okay,” I muttered and blinked in surprise. “I thought you might be upset.”

“Why should I be upset?” she asked. “These things happen.”

“Uh-huh,” I said as I eyed the other women. “That’s one way to look at it.”

Cayla let out an irritated sigh, though, and she promptly stood up with her hands propped on her hips.

“Nulena, focus,” she ordered. “Mason’s clearly not breathing properly, which means he’s still upset. As a woman wholly invested in his well being, I have to insist you acknowledge that.”

“Cayla, I’m fine,” I chuckled as I straightened up, “but it’s sweet that you notice the way I breathe when I’m tense.”

“Wait.” Nulena furrowed her brows at me. “Were you … worried about me?”

“Well, yeah,” I admitted, and I couldn’t believe how confused she looked. “Most of your town got slaughtered, and I haven’t heard from you since yesterday.”

When Nulena just blinked and looked at all of us, I could tell she was having trouble wrapping her mind around the concept, and Shoshanne must have noticed as well because she casually cleared her throat.

“I think I’ll check in on how things are going at the infirmary,” the healer decided, and the rest of my women quickly dismissed themselves as well.

Nulena bit her lip when she looked up at me, and I couldn’t help chuckling while I gently pulled her to her feet. Then I slid my hands to the cinch of her waist as her two-toned gaze met mine.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “No one ever worries about me.”

“Yeah, I can understand why,” I snorted. “Just a habit of mine, I guess … being concerned whether the women I care about are alive or dead.”

Before I could blink, Nulena’s lips were on mine, and a shiver coursed down her spine as her fingers began to tremble against my cheek. It didn’t matter how many times I touched her, it still caught me off guard when her composure just crumbled in my hold, and I could hardly believe I had such an effect on her.

She kissed me slowly at first while I listened to her heartbeat stutter repeatedly, and she melted against me as her lips began to move more urgently. I could feel how every inch of her wanted me closer, and the longer I held her, the more undone she was until her breasts were heaving against my chest and her legs were slowly giving out.

So, I held her locked against me as she pulled away, and her ghostly white eye searched mine for a long moment while I listened to her heart try to steady itself. Then she forced a composed expression and smirked.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” the Baroness purred. “I have no intention of dying in this silly feud. There’s too much fun to be had in the death of others.”

The mood sort of crashed and burned at her brazen statement, but I nodded.

“You’re a very confusing person,” I informed her.

“Thank you,” Nulena said, and her smile was suddenly genuine. “For caring about me, I mean. No one has ever … I don’t … what I meant to say is I … ”

I could tell the words were on the tip of her tongue, and to see a woman like her struggle so much with only three words was fascinating. She could sit around discussing her favorite ways to ensure her victims died in as torturous a manner as possible, but when it came time to say “I love you,” she blushed, fidgeted with the edge of my vest, looked everywhere but at me, and finally just shook her head.

I grinned. “Say it.”

Nulena only blushed deeper, though, and she fought against her smirk for a moment before she abruptly turned away.

“No,” she said curtly, and she brushed her hair over her shoulder. “I did not come here to make a fool of myself. I only wanted to see you and to let you know that I found three of these portals you are after.”

“Where?” I asked at once.

“Two within the Oculus, and one near the outer gates of Serin,” the Baroness said with a shrug. “I had some free time between killing the cousin and my next appointment, so I took a short look around.”

“Shit,” I gasped. “I need you to show me exactly where they are. They need to be destroyed before--”

“Yes, I know,” Nulena sighed. “We must save the little people from the horrible deaths. I understand, but I already destroyed them for you.”

I furrowed my brow as the Baroness looked briefly disgusted with herself, but then I grinned.

“You prevented the deaths of citizens without me even having to ask?” I clarified.

“Yes,” Nulena mumbled. “So, there. I have helped. Please don’t make me do it again. It felt very unnatural. I almost killed my little helper just to make up for it, but I knew you would disapprove, so I let him go instead.”

“What little helper?”

“I abducted a Terra Mage,” Nulena said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I knew you would end up running around trying to destroy all of these portals anyways, so I dragged him along with me to do the job for you. Now, you have more time for myself and your women.”

“You abducted a mage,” I muttered, and I rifled my hair while I tried to sound calm about this. “You didn’t terrify him, though, right?”

“I thought I was tame,” the Baroness snorted. “I only blinded him and forced him to do my bidding. I didn’t kill him, although his sobbing was extremely irritating. How difficult is it to walk and do as you’re told?”

“Okay … you can’t abduct mages,” I groaned. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m so, so grateful that you helped, but if you could not terrorize my mages, that would be good. I’ve worked hard to ease their concerns as much as possible, and the stakes are high enough lately without them living in fear of being dragged away by some unknown woman and blinded all night.”

Nulena’s two-toned gaze snapped to mine, and it was impossible to read her expression as she stared at me for a long moment. Then her ebony lips curled into a seductive grin.

“I accept your gratitude,” she said in a low tone.

“Okay,” I chuckled, “but you heard the other part, too, right?”

Nulena didn’t reply as she strolled over, and even though I felt like there were still several things that needed clarifying, all of them drifted from my mind as the exotic scent of the Baroness wafted around me. She brushed her lips against my collar bone before slowly making her way up my neck, and my limbs became heavier as her powers sifted through me. Then I was kissing her without knowing which way was up, and everywhere her hands slid, her magic left a trail behind that felt like some painkiller was working its way through my muscles. My tongue was numb within minutes while my blood began to burn, and I had the Baroness pinned against my worktable when Cayla cleared her throat.

Nulena reluctantly turned to eye the princess, and I did my best to regain control of my faculties so I wouldn’t collapse on the spot.

“Huh?” I managed.

“I’m glad to see everything is sorted out,” Cayla said as she came over. “Now, before you let the Baroness seduce you for the rest of the afternoon, I have a few important things to discuss.”

“I’m sure it can wait,” Nulena purred, and she pulled me back into a numbing kiss.

“No, it’s about Mors Pass,” the princess countered.

I somehow managed to refocus enough to look her way, and Cayla smirked at the groggy look in my eyes while Nulena’s teeth lightly nipped at the meat of my neck.

“What about Mors Pass?” I slurred.

“Deya was transmuting while you worked in the market,” Cayla replied. “She found four of the Master’s mages lurking around the entrance of the pass.”

This brought me back from my stupor. “Wait, what happened?”

I unwound Nulena’s arms from me as she rolled her eyes, and I had to lock her wrists together to keep her from pulling me back in. She just smirked and began lightly tracing circles on my hand, though, and I could feel her powers blooming across my skin as my grip went numb.

“Deya made sure the nests were still occupied by their respective breeds,” Cayla assured me. “Then she slaughtered the mages she found there, so for the time being, the dragons are safe.”

I cringed. “She ate them, didn’t she?”

“Yes,” Cayla admitted, “but she said they tasted good.”

“I like her so much.” Nulena let out a low and approving chuckle as she tipped her chin up to get at my neck again, and I let the woman have her way for a moment while I thought about this.

“We need to get a guard out there fast,” I muttered, and Cayla nodded in agreement. “The shelter in the marketplace is completed at least, but I need to have the healers stock it with supplies, and I’ll probably have Raynor put some nonperishables down there, too. There’s also a … fuck.”

My mind derailed as Nulena’s tongue flicked across my earlobe, and I immediately devoured her lips because I honestly couldn’t resist. With her hands still locked together at the wrists, Nulena moaned softly into my mouth as her breaths quickened, and when I tried to resurface again, she left a vengeful bite on my bottom lip that made the base of my spine tingle.

“There’s also a what?” Cayla patiently inquired.

“A, uh … ” I tried as Nulena smirked up at me. “A mage. There’s a mage named Toby who offered to take a post in the shelter during attacks. I was wondering if you could test out his qualifications out.”

“I can do that,” the princess replied. “Would you like me to send Shoshanne to address the provisions in the shelter?”

“Sure,” I said, “that would be helpful. You can find Toby either in the library or at the training fields. He’s an Aer Mage with shaggy red hair and a beard.”

“Ohhh, Toby Keen,” Cayla mused. “I know who you’re talking about. He’s made remarkable progress. Aurora and I put him on our list of recommendations you asked for.”

“Perfect,” I said with a grin. “While you and Shoshanne handle that, I’ll start on the metal dragon I have no idea how to make, but there’s a shipment of--”

The squeals of Aurora and Deya as they sprinted down the hall cut me off, and they burst into the atrium with their eyes sparkling.

“Metal dragon!” the half-elf sang. “Let’s do this, we wanna help!”

“I want to help, too,” Cayla quickly added, and Nulena sighed as I released my hold on her wrists to pull my stack of sketches over.

“Will you at least be using this metal dragon for gruesome means?” the Baroness muttered. “Perhaps to shred your enemies in battle?”

“No!” Deya scoffed, and her violet eyes went wide with alarm. “I am Mason’s battle dragon! Right, Mason? You’re not going to replace me with a big metal creature, are you?”

“Of course not,” I chuckled, and I tucked Deya under my arm. “This automaton might join our ranks once in a while, but you’re the only dragon I ever want to ride into battle. You have my word.”

“Good,” Deya purred, and she hopped up to leave a kiss on my cheek before grabbing my sketches from me. “So, I would like the metal dragon to have serrated claws.”

“I love that idea,” Aurora giggled. “I want him to breathe enchanted flames like the fireball rune.”

“Will he be equipped to fire bullets?” Cayla asked with a greedy smile. “Or a bazooka! We could mount two on his shoulders, and then--”

“No!” Aurora interrupted. “Death machete claws!”

“Death machete tail!” Deya squealed.

“And daggers that fly from his eyes,” Cayla said with a nod.

“Good idea,” Aurora agreed.

“Mason, you can make him do all of that, yes?” Deya asked eagerly, and I blinked.

“Um … I was just gonna have it breathe fire,” I admitted, and my women looked crest-fallen. “He’s already a metal, flying dragon! If that’s even possible to create, it’s a huge leap for me in terms of production, and if he can’t be destroyed by the Master’s mages, he really only needs to be able to do dragon shit. So, I figure a fire breather with sharp claws. Classic dragon.”

“But … ” Aurora mumbled, “daggers flying from the eyes.”

“And death machete tail,” Deya pouted.

Nulena chuckled in approval, and I sent her a wry glance.

“How about this,” I sighed. “Let’s see if I can even do this first. We’ll take it one thing at a time. If I can get a giant metal dragon to fly and spew fire, then we can revisit the topic.”

“That’s fair,” Aurora allowed.

“One thing, though,” Cayla cut in. “Can he spew fire from his eyes, too?”

“And from his nose!” Deya added. “Fire everywhere! It would be very scary that way.”

I considered this, and the imagery was appealing. “Yeah, I could work on that.”

“With serrated claws?” Aurora tried, and she sent me her most beautiful smile for good measure.

“Sure,” I chuckled. “Serrated claws it is.”

I headed over to my shelf to grab a few chunks of steel, and Nulena summoned a swarm of shadows as she headed toward the corner.

“I suppose I should get back to my schedule,” the Baroness sighed.

Aurora smirked and crossed her arms. “Do you spend all of your time killing people?”

“Not all of my time,” the Baroness replied coolly. “Sometimes, I orchestrate elaborate webs of deceit so people begin killing each other under false pretenses. However, half of my village is slaughtered, so in this case, it’s only proper that I lash out at anyone I could pretend to blame it on.”

Then Nulena flashed us a murderous smile and vanished into a wash of blackness.

“She’s lucky she’s so beautiful,” Cayla muttered.

“Yeah, she is,” I sighed.

“She still can’t say ‘I love you,’ can she?” Aurora guessed.

“Nope, but it’s kind of cute,” I chuckled as I cleared a larger space on my worktable. “She almost had it, but then she gave up.”

“You should say it first,” Deya decided, but when I just shrugged, the beautiful elf gasped. “You don’t love her? Why not? Mason, she’s so sexy and falls all to pieces around you.”

“I didn’t say I don’t love her,” I mumbled while I compared a few of my sketches. “I barely know her is all, and if she’s not in a hurry to talk about how she feels, then I’m not going to push the topic.”

“Yes, perhaps you should wait,” Deya sighed as she dropped onto the edge of the fountain. “I’ve told her I love her at least ten times now, but she refuses to say it back.”

“You what?” Aurora laughed.

“I can’t help it!” the elf insisted. “She smiles at me in a way that’s not at all murdery, and the words just come flying out of my mouth. She’s so soft all over with those eyes that seem to drag you into them, and every time she looks at Mason, she is so clearly taken with him. How can I not love her? She has me wrapped around that terrifying little finger of hers.”

I smirked while Aurora giggled, but Cayla nodded thoughtfully.

“You make a lot of good points,” the princess admitted. “Although, if I were Nulena, I certainly wouldn’t--”

Deya’s violent gag had us all whipping around, though, and Aurora lunged to the elf’s side as she began retching all over the atrium floor.

“What the … ?” I yelped. “Is that a fucking bone you just--”

“I’m fine!” Deya gagged. “Don’t worry about me! Really!”

“Deya, you have to stop eating weird shit,” I groaned, but then another bout of vomit cascaded to the floor, and I had to turn away as my own stomach churned.

“Gods,” Cayla muttered as she covered her mouth and nose.

“Okay … Alfred!” I hollered.

The butler came in only a minute later with a damp rag in hand, and he gave a regal bow despite the pukey scene he walked into.

“How are you with vomit?” I asked the man.

“Not a concern,” Alfred assured me. “Perhaps a moist towel would help ease Lady Deya’s discomfort.”

“Thank you, Alfred,” Cayla said as she took the rag, and she tiptoed around a bloody scrap of mages’ robes as she headed for Deya. “Here you are, sweetie. Let’s get you all cleaned up.”

“That’s it, I’m putting my foot down,” I decided. “Deya, no more hunting.”

“But Mason, I wasn’t hunting,” Deya argued as she wiped her mouth. “I was protecting Mors Pass, and you would have done the same thing if you were in my place.”

“You didn’t have to swallow the mages!” I scoffed. “You could have just mauled them and left their remains, but now you’re turning green, you can’t stop shaking, and this is twice as much puke as the last time.”

“But … they tasted good,” the elf tried with an adorable pout. “I couldn’t help it.”

“No hunting,” I ordered as I leveled her with a stern look. “No eating humans, griffins, sphynxes, anything. You eat like an elf from now on. Understood?”

Deya toyed with the edge of the moist rag without meeting my gaze, and I crossed my arms while I waited for her to respond.

She didn’t, though. After a quick and guilty look at me, the elf abruptly vanished, and I shook my head.

“That won’t get you out of this,” I warned the empty air.

“Mason, she’s not going to listen to you,” Cayla informed me.

“I know,” I sighed, and I stepped out of Alfred’s way as he came in fully armed to take on the puddle of gory puke in my workshop. “Thanks, Alfred. Let me give you a hand with those bones.”

“Do not trouble yourself, sir,” the butler replied. “I believe you have a new project you were about to embark on.”

“Right,” I sighed. “Metal dragon.”

“I’ll go get Shoshanne from the infirmary and assess Toby’s abilities,” Cayla decided.

“Will you let her know that Deya’s still sick?” I asked.

“I will,” the princess chuckled, and she grabbed an extra case of cartridges before scooping up Stan and heading for the door.

“Guess this means I’m your building buddy today,” Aurora said with a grin.

“Hell yeah, you are,” I chuckled, and the half-elf’s emerald eyes lit up as she bounced on her toes.

“Metal dragon!” Aurora squealed. “Where do we start?”

“Well, considering Deya’s in hiding now, this might be a bit difficult,” I admitted. “I was hoping she would be able to give me some input on dragon anatomy.”

“Wait!” Aurora gasped. “She has a book about this.”

The half-elf hopped over a splatter of puke on her way to the door, but she was only gone a few seconds before she came back.

“Where did we put the library?” Aurora asked with a frown. “Was it second floor, north wing?”

I furrowed my brow and thought for a moment, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember.

“Maybe the first floor, south wing?” I guessed.

“The library is located on the first floor in the north wing, Lady Aurora,” Alfred announced from the floor.

“Thank you, Alfred,” the half-elf giggled, and then she was gone again.

“Hey, Alfred, do you know much about dragons?” I asked out of curiosity.

“I do not, sir,” the man replied. “However, if you intend to create a winged creature, I recommend you pay particular attention to your body to wingspan ratio. With most birds, the length of the body is the square root of its wingspan. That might be a good place to start.”

I raised my brows. “Damn, Alfred. Are you an animal caretaker, too?”

“No, sir,” Alfred said. “I simply enjoy studying birds. The possibility of flight has always fascinated me.”

“Has it?” I mused. “You know, if I spent enough time on it, I could probably build a machine that would make it possible for you to fly.”

“With all due respect, sir, that is an impossibility, but I admire your imagination.”

I smirked. “Fair enough. I don’t suppose you have any other tips?”

“The mass of a bird is equal to its body length cubed, sir,” the man answered, and I quickly grabbed a pen to write all of this down.

“Alfred, you are the best butler,” I chuckled. “I’m gonna have to pick your brain for this project if that’s alright.”

“Certainly, sir,” Alfred replied. “In the interest of transparency, though, you might wish to know there are partially digested human skulls in this vomit.”

“Yeah … that’s not ideal. Deya uses rune magic to transmute with dragons. Basically, she can embody them, but lately, we’ve been struggling a bit with her hunting habits.”

Alfred paused in his scrubbing for only a few seconds before he nodded and continued.

“Understood, sir.”

“So, back to my predicament,” I continued. “This dragon is going to be way bigger than a bird, and based on these ratios, a dragon thirty feet long would have to have a wingspan of about nine hundred feet, which is just impossibly huge for it to be able to fly.”

“Dragons certainly have stronger muscles than a bird,” Alfred pointed out. “Therefore, they would require a smaller wingspan.”

I nodded as I thought this through. “I saw a green dragon once that must have been about thirty feet long. I was preoccupied at the time, but I would guess his wingspan maxed out around seventy or eighty feet.”

“Then you might be better off basing your design on a two and half times ratio,” Alfred mused.

“That’s a good place to start,” I agreed. “My other issue is that I initially designed this metal dragon without a bone structure. Do you think that’s a bad idea? Because my other machines don’t have the inner constructs of a human even though they have arms and torsos similar to one, so I thought I’d just do the same here, but when I rode a dragon, I could feel how important the whole body structure was for such a large creature to take flight. Now, I can’t decide if I should really build, from the inside out, a literal dragon.”

Alfred sat back on his haunches while he thought about this.

“From my understanding of birds, I would say the mass of your creation is the most likely factor to determine whether or not it can achieve flight,” the butler decided. “If a bone structure made of metal increases the mass of the machine to the point of hindering flight, then it seems logical you might want to avoid this.”

“True,” I agreed, “but the hardware required to hold all the external pieces together without a bone structure might add just as much weight.”

“Indeed, sir,” Alfred muttered as he furrowed his brow. “Might I suggest a trial machine?”

“You read my mind,” I chuckled. “Prototype dragon it is.”

“Very good, sir,” the butler said with a nod, and he returned to swabbing up the last of the mess on the floor while I grabbed a fresh slip of parchment.

My initial sketches were mostly based on my interpretation of the dragons I’d seen in Mors Pass, but I hadn’t paid much attention to ratio. Now, I calculated out a few options based on Alfred’s input, and I tried to decide how large of a prototype I should start with.

Ultimately, it wouldn’t matter so long as I could make it fly, but as I eyed the deserted stash of scrap metal on the corner of my table, I realized I could put this prototype to good use. So, I closed my eyes and searched my mind for the original dimensions I’d used when I first formed Stan, and I was factoring his weight into my calculations when I heard Aurora coming down the hall.

“Finally found the book,” the half-elf announced as Alfred gathered his supplies and dismissed himself with a bow. “I can’t read Elvish, though, so we’re going to be working from diagrams until Deya shows up.”

“That’s fine,” I replied. “Alfred gave me some input that cleared up a lot of my confusion. We do need to decide what the basic structure should be, though, so we’ll start with a prototype. Can you find me a diagram of a standard dragon in that book?”

“Standard?” Aurora snorted. “Mason, dragons are complex creatures with none of the varying breeds being considered a standard, so you’ll have to be more specific.”

I cocked a brow at the half-elf’s know-it-all tone, and I was on the verge of pointing out that she used to know nothing about dragons except how to slay the fuck out of them. Then Aurora blushed and turned back to the book in her hands.

“Give me a second,” the half-elf muttered, and after a minute of flipping back and forth through the pages, she slid the book toward me. “Like that?”

“Yes,” I chuckled. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just excited,” Aurora admitted. “I’ve never seen you build something I recognized before. Can you imagine what you could do next if this works? We could finally have our own flock of dragons!”

“I knew you were going to ask for that,” I told her. “As soon as I came up with the idea, I thought, ‘Now Aurora’s going to ask for a bunch of metal dragon babies.’”

“Aww, I didn’t even think of the babies!” the half-elf moaned. “You could keep building them up as time goes by so it’s like they’re really growing.”

I smirked and looked over. “Or maybe you could go for something that’s already alive … you know, something that grows up on its own?”

Aurora’s emerald eyes darted back to the page of the book, and she just shrugged.

“Metal dragon babies sound cute, though,” the half-elf mumbled.

I sighed as I grabbed a bit of steel, and I was about to begin reforming the metal when Aurora shifted her weight and cleared her throat.

“Hypothetically,” the half-elf began, “and I’m only asking because you brought up the baby dragons … do you ever wonder if having baby dragons around would be a bad idea? Not because they’re dragons but because they’re babies. Like … maybe it would be dangerous for them given the kind of life we lead? What if we couldn’t protect the baby dragons?”

I shrugged as casually as possible while I tried to play it off like my heartrate wasn’t suddenly jacked.

She obviously wasn’t talking about dragons.

“I think baby dragons would be a lot of responsibility,” I admitted, “but hypothetically, if they’re your own baby dragons, it seems feasible that you’d do whatever it took to keep them safe. I mean, any responsible dragon would dedicate themselves to making sure the more dangerous elements were resolved by the time their baby dragons were … hatched.”

“So, what you’re saying is it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have baby dragons,” Aurora clarified, “because you would do whatever it took to keep them safe until they could fend for themselves?”

“Uhhh, yeah?” I mumbled in confusion. “Of course. If they were our baby dragons. I’d do what I needed to do to protect them.”

“That’s good,” Aurora sighed. “I mean… I like dragons a bunch. You know… the babies and all…”

I furrowed my brow at how convoluted the conversation was getting, and I chanced a glimpse at Aurora to try and gauge the situation. I couldn’t tell if she was smiling because it sounded like I was giving the okay on the baby dragon idea, or if she was on the same page as me. Something about the glint in her emerald eyes had me leaning toward the former, though. It was a classic “let me have a dragon” look.

“Um, to be clear, ” I managed. “Don’t bring home a bunch of baby dragons. That’s not what I’m saying.”

Aurora smiled even wider as she leaned over to peck me on the cheek, and then she nudged the open book toward me.

“Prototype,” she reminded me in an unaffected tone.

I quickly summoned my metal magic while I scrambled to get back on track, but I ended up turning the steel into a puddle on the table. Then I cleared my throat, restored the metal, and willed my mind to regroup rather than tailspin over the topic of babies, dragon or not.

My brows were stuck in a deep furrow from the amount of confusion I was warring with, but I managed to muscle through despite Aurora’s suddenly cheery mood. The half-elf hummed to herself while she laid out my various dragon designs side by side, and when she noticed me watching her, she giggled and sent me a wink.

Yeah. I’d have metal dragon babies running around here within the week.

I cursed internally while I took a deep breath, and I decided the next time babies of any species came up, I wouldn’t end up walking on eggshells about it. I was a fucking baron now, and any decent baron would speak up and demand some fucking heirs. Plain and simple.

Although, that probably wasn’t the reasoning I should use with my women, because it would only land me in the same position as Haragh where they were concerned.

So, I nodded to myself as I pulled the book closer, and with my mind made up on the matter, I was finally able to turn my attention to the image of the dragon on the page. I looked closely at every detail while I let the steel in my palm slowly change shape, and as I took note of every miniscule detail, like the precise angle of the dragon’s hock where it met with the knee, I kept true to the scale of the image for now. I would probably have to adjust a few things given the ratios Alfred had recommended, but the detailed drawing was a lot more realistic than my own attempts, so I worked from this until I had a miniature dragon sculpture sitting in my palm.

Then I carefully siphoned the interior metal out so he would be hollow, and I considered the alterations I’d had to make to Stan when I first created him and learned he walked like a stick figure without the proper joints. I began working my way from top to bottom as I altered the neck, shoulders, ankles, and wrists of the dragon, and once this was done, I wrote down his dimensions and made a few calculations.

According to Alfred’s explanation, the wings were disproportionate to his body length, so I altered this issue by cutting down his wings by a few centimeters and lengthening his tail. Once this was done, I compared him to the image to double check the overall shape of his back and the thickness of his legs, and I nodded before turning to Aurora.

“What do you think?” I asked, and the half-elf abandoned the sketches she was studying to come over.

“It’s adorable!” Aurora whimpered as she patted the tiny steel head. “I want twenty just like it.”

“Well, hopefully the end product is closer to terrifying than adorable,” I chuckled, “but I’ll take it. Could you hand me that sack of channeling gems? I need to find one small enough to test him out.”

Aurora dragged the satchel over and dumped it onto the table, and we rifled through the stash while we looked for a gem that wouldn’t add too much weight to the final product. Most of the gems the Elders sent me were on the larger side, but eventually, Aurora found a diamond about the size of my fingernail.

“That’s the smallest one I see here,” the half-elf said.

I nodded. “Then it’ll have to do.”

I summoned my magic to embed the gem at the center of the dragon’s chest, and then I placed it on the table while Aurora and I waited.

I didn’t give the dragon a face, so I couldn’t tell as easily when it was fully awake, but after the gem pulsed for a few seconds, the head tilted up toward me.

“Hey, little guy,” I chuckled, and I tried to sound welcoming so I wouldn’t frighten him. “I’m Mason, and I made you. Do you think you could try to fly for me? I’m still working out how to get you to function properly.”

The dragon crouched just like Deya did whenever she was about to take flight, but when it flapped its wings, the metal just clanged against the table.

“That doesn’t look right,” Aurora muttered. “Wings don’t move like that.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, and I picked up the dragon to get a closer look.

“Are the wings too long?” the half-elf asked.

“They shouldn’t be. I followed Alfred’s ratios, but you’re right, they just don’t move properly. Give it another flap, little guy.”

The dragon did as I asked while I held him in my palm, but the motion looked so unnatural, I was sure I’d gotten something wrong. Then a video I’d seen of an owl flying in slow-motion came to mind, and I remembered replaying it at least a dozen times as I watched the way its wings tipped angularly with every beat. After considering the way Deya’s wings shifted when she flew me over the foothills, I decided to replace the hinged joint with something closer to a condyloid joint instead, and this way, any nuance required to stabilize the dragon’s flight could at least be possible.

Once I made this slight alteration to both points where the wings met with the dragon’s back, I set the dragon down on the table once more.

“Okay, try that,” I suggested.

This time, the wings moved more naturally, but the dragon still didn’t take off. He just hopped up and down and clanged his wingtips against the table, and I furrowed my brow.

“Okay, we’re gonna have to rethink this,” I decided. “Little guy, we’re taking your gem out, but we’ll bring you back to life for round two, alright?”

The dragon nodded, and as I removed the gem from his chest, he suddenly froze and was only a sculpture again.

“I feel like we just killed him,” Aurora whimpered.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be right back,” I assured her. “I felt the same way when I rebuilt Bobbie, but as you saw, she was the same old girl she always had been when I installed her gem into the Mustang.”

This eased Aurora’s concerns as she picked up the gem and cupped it in her palm for safe keeping, and I flipped through the pages of the book until I found an anatomical diagram of a similar dragon.

“I think we should start from the bones,” I decided, and Aurora nodded in agreement as I picked up the metal dragon. Then I repeated my process of studying the image while reforming the metal in my hand, but I had to get creative on a few of them since the wrist and ankle bones were so tiny it was hard to tell how they all connected. I had a pretty decent idea of what I was aiming for, though, based on the designs I’d built so far, but by the time I finished, I was already shaking my head as I considered the skeletal dragon.

“This isn’t going to work,” I sighed. “The bones are too stiff like this. I can’t have the vertebrae all fused into one piece of metal and expect it to fly. Deya’s back rolls when she beats her wings, so it needs more range of motion. Without tendons holding it all together, I can’t connect the bones realistically enough for that to be possible.”

“What if you soften the steel?” Aurora suggested.

“You mean use my malleable steel?” I clarified.

“Yes, it works well for your bearings, doesn’t it? That seems similar.”

“It’s sort of similar,” I allowed. “Worth a try at the very least.”

So, I altered the state of the steel where the bones fused together, and I did this with every joint on the entire dragon before I filled in the webbing of its wings with the same material. Then Aurora handed me the channeling gem.

“Let’s see if that does it,” I muttered as I fused the gem into the dragon’s sternum, and we waited once more for the dragon’s skull to tip up toward me.

“Are you okay?” Aurora cooed, and he nodded once as she gently stroked his wing. “Do you want to try flying for us?”

The dragon shifted its wings as it crouched, and when it leapt and tried to fly, I could tell its body structure was moving much more fluidly now, but he still couldn’t take flight.

“That was so close,” I assured the dragon. “I think it’s just weight that’s throwing you off.”

“There isn’t much you can do about that, though,” Aurora muttered. “He’s only bones. What are you supposed to remove?”

I grinned as her words gave me an idea.

“Oh, there’s plenty to remove,” I chuckled. “Birds have hollow bones.”

“They do?” the half-elf asked, and I nodded.

“I don’t know if it’s the same with dragons, but it’s our best option at this point,” I replied as I turned to the dragon. “Little guy, I’m gonna leave your gem in place while I alter your bones. This might feel strange, but it shouldn’t take long.”

The dragon came over as his little metal claws clicked across the tabletop, and he stood perfectly still while I summoned my metal magic. Then I siphoned slips of metal from the inside of his tiny bones, but I made sure to leave enough behind so the steel wouldn’t be too flimsy. Once I was done, the dragon looked the same, but when I lifted him up, he was half as heavy.

“Alright, try that,” I suggested, and the dragon crouched down again.

This time, the miniature dragon wiggled a little in preparation before he lurched upward, and he flapped wildly while he wavered in the air.

“You’ve got it, keep flapping!” I urged, and Aurora dropped to her knees as she clung to the table’s edge with a huge grin on her face.

“Go, go, go!” the half-elf cheered. “Don’t give up! I believe in you!”

I could tell the dragon was still getting used to its body structure, but he kept at it until his efforts evened out, and he was able to fly in a circle over the table before he coasted for a few feet and came in for a clumsy landing.

Aurora and I both shot to our feet while we cheered for the little guy, and he pranced in a circle just like Deya did when she was dragon happy. Aurora clutched my arm like our kid had just scored his first goal, and I laughed as she yanked me back and forth in her excitement.

“He’s so cute!” Aurora giggled. “I love him, we should keep him just like this forever!”

“I would,” I chuckled, “but this is a prototype, and I need to get it as close to the final product as possible. I planned on adding an exterior to the dragon so it looked more realistic.”

“But it’s so intimidating as a skeleton,” Aurora countered. “Imagine looking up at a giant version of this guy and seeing fire explode right out of his metal skull! You were concerned about extra weight, after all. This would avoid the issue.”

“That does sound pretty scary,” I agreed as I raised my brows, “and it makes my job easier.”

“Good enough for me,” Aurora decided. “Plus, I don’t want to take the poor little guy’s gem out again. He’s happy like this, aren’t you?”

The dragon nodded in response, and he came over to run his metal bones along Aurora’s arm like I’d seen cats do before.

The half-elf giggled and scooped him up to kiss him on the skull, and when she sent me a glittering smile with the dragon nipping at her chin, I knew I couldn’t argue with that.

“Okay, skeletal metal dragon it is,” I chuckled. “This is going to make the mages shit themselves, though.”

“Everyone who sees him will cower in fear,” Aurora said with a devious grin. “We should call him Mason.”

I rolled my eyes as I picked up a fresh chunk of steel. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, what should we name this little guy?” the half-elf asked.

“We should hold off on naming him, since he’s technically a present for Stan,” I admitted. “I thought he might like to have a dragon friend.”

“Gods, he’s going to love it!” Aurora laughed. “Can I take him to the training hall so he has more room to practice flying? I want him all set for when Stan gets back.”

“Sure,” I said with a grin. “I’m going to start building a giant dragon skeleton.”

Aurora was already laying kisses all over the little dragon as she murmured to him about the amazing things he would learn to do, and I had a silly grin on my face as I watched her fawn over him. She blushed when she met my eyes, and then she giggled her way out the door and headed for the training hall.

“Fucking hell,” I sighed to myself. “I know she wants a baby.”

I shook my head while I flipped my parchment over, and I was still grinning over the half-elf as I began a new batch of calculations.

I didn’t want to overcomplicate my design, but I knew it would have to be large enough to intimidate the real dragons. Otherwise, they’d probably end up tearing my automaton to pieces, so I tried to remember how huge the black dragon I’d slain was. That guy didn’t take shit from anyone in Mors Pass, and if I could at least match his size, then there was a good chance my automaton would survive.

After finishing my calculations, I realized there was no way I could build a fifty-foot-long automaton in my workshop, and I wasn’t too eager about tackling over a hundred feet worth of wings. So, I dialed my design back to thirty-five feet from nose to tail, and I’d just have to work on the design one portion at a time and then piece it all together at the end.

So, I started with the vertebrae, and I connected five-foot sections together before piling them in the corner of my shop. As soon as I had the backbone and tail completed, I used the image in the book to gauge the size of its skull, and this time, I added eyes and nostrils since my women really wanted this guy to shoot flames from out of every orifice. I mounted two gnarly looking horns on top, too, just to up the intimidation factor, and I serrated the edges of its teeth because why the hell not?

While I moved on to sculpting the forearms, I scanned the perimeter of Falmount out of habit, but everything was still in order around the village. Bom Two was on patrol, the water channels were already flowing with water, and I could hear Cayla and Shoshanne’s heels scuffing the dirt as they came down the lane.

The fact that they weren’t saying a word to each other was strange, though, and when they came into the house and headed straight to the training hall without stopping by, I furrowed my brow.

Then I heard a knock at the door, and I sighed as Alfred greeted Haragh and welcomed him in.

I shoved my work aside and rose to my feet just as the butler escorted Haragh into the shop, and the half-ogre had a large sack in one hand as he sent me an uneasy smile.

“Thought I’d take your advice,” Haragh muttered, “but I think I better just--”

“No, we’re handling this now,” I interrupted, and I led him and Alfred back through the door and toward the training hall.

When we entered the vaulted chamber, Shoshanne, Aurora, and Cayla were there with Deya, but they went rigid the second they saw my half-ogre friend behind me. Then they promptly made to leave, but I gestured to the butler.

“Alfred, bar the door,” I instructed.

“Yes, sir,” the man replied at once, and he propped himself like a starfish at the entrance as he offered Cayla an apologetic bow.

Chapter 13

“Mason,” Aurora growled. “We do not want to be here.”

“I know you’d rather stalk off than give Haragh the time of day,” I allowed, “but considering he’s my best friend, and he’s saved my life on multiple occasions, you’re gonna stay and hear him out.”

All of the women looked slightly ashamed as I held their gazes, and they turned back around. They still crossed their arms and stood in a line of stern disapproval, but it was better than nothing.

“Thank you,” I muttered, and I nodded at Haragh.

Then the half-ogre cleared his throat. “First of all, I’d just like to say, I’m an ass.”

The women nodded in agreement.

“Secondly, I don’t know what I’m sayin’ half the time,” Haragh confessed. “Words come out, things get said, and it’s all a load of horse shit. So, I apologize. I think we all know I’d never intentionally insult ye’ to your very core, but I’ve never been a smooth man, and I can’t undo what’s been done.”

My women glanced sidelong at Cayla this time, and the princess narrowed her icy eyes before she eventually nodded.

“That being said,” Haragh continued, “I brought ye’ all gifts as a peace offering.”

Aurora snorted as she rolled her eyes, but when he grabbed the ruddy sack from the ground, the half-elf immediately changed her tune.

“Is that a flanged mace?” Aurora gasped.

“It is,” Haragh said, and he pulled the four-foot long weapon out while he forced a casual grin. “It’s for you. Solid iron, seven fins, and there’s even three spikes at the end of the handle in case you wanna flip her around and get creative.”

I smirked as Haragh handed over the mace, and I could tell it took all of Aurora’s will power not to throw her arms around the half-ogre right then and there. Her knuckles were white as she clutched the iron shaft and ground her teeth, and she had to avoid looking up just to keep her pissed off façade in place.

Deya didn’t care in the slightest, though. She was already smiling while she eyed the ruddy sack, and she craned her neck to try and get a glimpse at what else he had to offer.

“Shoshanne,” Haragh continued as he rifled through the sack, “I brought ye’ a set of scalpels made of platinum. Just arrived on the train from Aurum today, and I’m told a set like this is what the farmers of Serin use for castratin’ the livestock. I thought it could be of some use to ye’ now that dragons and shit are showin’ up in Falmount. Might spare ye’ from dullin’ all your equipment.”

“Thank you, Haragh,” Shoshanne replied, and she blushed as she happily accepted the gift. “That’s very considerate of you.”

The half-ogre stood a little taller now that he was making some headway, and the smile on Deya’s face seemed to reassure him before he even handed the beautiful elf her gift. It was carefully wrapped and tethered shut, but Deya eagerly tore the covering off while Aurora leaned over out of curiosity.

“It’s a dagger,” Haragh informed her, “but it’s dwarven made, which is a rare find these days, and I guarantee there’s not an elf in the world that’s got one. I even had a blacksmith engrave your initials on the hilt as is custom amongst the dwarves.”

“There’s only a D,” Aurora pointed out.

“Yeah, I didn’t know all of her initials,” Haragh muttered.

“I love it,” Deya fawned as she studied every inch of the well-wrought dagger. “I have never owned a dwarven blade before. How did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Haragh mumbled, and he quickly pulled out his next gift as the beautiful elf giggled.

Then the half-ogre cleared his throat, and he presented a large bundle of black leather to the princess.

“Cayla … I got ye’ this.”

The princess arched a brow. “What’s in it?”

“Nothing,” Haragh admitted. “It’s just leather, but it’s the best I could find in Serin, and the man assured me it was tanned only a week ago. I didn’t have it made into anything because that seemed inappropriate, but there’s a shit ton of it here, and ye’ can do whatever you want with it.”

Cayla grinned as she took the leather, and I knew from the way she stroked the bundle and clutched it against her breast that Haragh had done well.

“Thank you,” the princess said with a slight nod. “Your offers are acceptable, and your apology is adequate.”

Haragh’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really,” Cayla assured him.

“Well, shit!” Haragh chuckled and slapped his knee. “That’s excellent. Now, since you all don’t want to kill me anymore, I do have a favor to ask.”

Cayla clicked her tongue as she dropped her bundle of leather to the ground, and she propped her hands on her hips.

“Hear me out,” the half-ogre tried. “The thing is, Taru’s, uh … well, she’s in a delicate way.”

“Is it her bullet wounds?” Shoshanne asked. “I’ll take a look right now. I had no idea she wasn’t healing well, or I would have--”

“No, she’s healin’ just fine,” Haragh quickly assured the healer. “She’s just pregnant.”

My women gasped as their jaws dropped, and they burst into applause and giggles before they all threw their arms around the half-ogre. Alfred offered his own polite applause from the doorway, but I just stared at the laughing ogre while I tried to catch up to the conversation.

“Hold on … you’re gonna be a dad?” I asked, and when Haragh nodded proudly, I gently pushed Aurora aside so I could get at the man. Then I locked him in a hug almost as bone crushing as his own while Haragh laughed heartily, and his eyes were a bit misty when I released him and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Dude, that’s fantastic!” I exclaimed.

“It is,” the half-ogre agreed.

“I can’t believe you’re having a kid before I do--um … do … something about this Master issue,” I fumbled. “That’s crazy.”

Haragh smirked. “You’re tellin’ me.”

“Taru must be so happy,” Deya sighed.

“She is,” Haragh chuckled. “Burstin’ with pride, tell ye’ the truth. That’s what I came to talk to you all about. She’s been a bit tense the past few days, feelin’ strong emotions … not that I have any issue with that, she’s fully entitled to it. No judgement here.”

I eyed my women, but they all looked amused as the half-ogre continued.

“I just want her to feel a bit special, ye’ know?” he admitted. “After coming all this way and havin’ the mages take a few shots at her, she’s not too happy, and since she’s got this good news, I thought it might cheer her up some to celebrate with a group of women she doesn’t want to decapitate.”

Aurora looked like her eyes might fall out of their sockets. “Yes! We’ll do it!”

“We could take her out to kill something,” Cayla suggested, and all of my women nodded in agreement.

“Ruela, too!” Deya announced. “Taru would love the way she hunts. They can gut their kills together.”

“That’s perfect,” Haragh agreed.

“We’ll bring a good mix of our weapons so she can try them out as well,” Cayla added.

“This will be so much fun!” Shoshanne giggled “I’ve always wanted to have a nice evening out with a group of likeminded women.”

“We’re gonna kill so much shit!” Aurora squealed. “I’m trying out my new mace.”

Now, I couldn’t help feeling more than intrigued.

“Wait, that does sound fun,” I cut in. “I wanna kill a bunch of shit with Ruela and Taru.”

Aurora bit her lip, though, and the four women exchanged glances.

“Oh,” the half-elf muttered.

“Seriously?” I asked flatly.

“It’s just … this is kind of a girl thing,” Cayla explained. “A ‘you’re having an ogre baby’ celebration. Like Haragh said, Taru needs some supportive women around her right now.”

I nodded despite my disappointment, but when I looked at Haragh, a grin came to my face.

“Yeah, alright,” I agreed. “That’s cool. We’re gonna celebrate in our own way.”

“We are?” Haragh asked.

“Hell yeah, we are,” I chuckled. “You’re having a fucking baby! We’ve gotta mark the occasion, and I know exactly how to do it.”

“Alright,” the half-ogre said with a broad grin, “but what if more of the Master’s soldiers show up in Falmount while we’re all out celebrating?”

“Mason is a baron now, Haragh,” Cayla reminded him. “Barons may come and go as they please, especially those who have whole armies living on their land.”

“I’ll talk to the Defenders before we head out,” I assured the half-ogre. “The rebuilding is finished, and Kurna’s already discussed the new protocol with the mages, so this will be a good chance to see how they do on their own.”

“They did great against those spiders,” Haragh pointed out. “Should be fine.”

“Exactly.” I nodded. “Now, I have a couple things to sort out before we leave, but first, Alfred, I’m gonna need you and Stan to join me in the workshop.”

Alfred abandoned his post at the entrance as I discreetly nudged Aurora, and she giggled before sneaking the metal dragon into my hands behind her back. Stan missed the exchange because he was busy bouncing around on Cayla’s shoulder, and I turned for the door as Alfred offered his palm to the metal man.

“Master Stan,” the butler said with a slight bow.

“Stan’s a master now?” Shoshanne clarified.

Alfred was about to correct himself, but before he could apologize for making presumptions, I quickly whipped around and cut him off.

“Yes, he is a master now,” I said a little too loud. “If Pindor gets to be Master Pindor one day, then Stan should, too. Maybe it’s not exactly conventional, given there’s no blood relation, but I don’t have any heirs, so … ”

My women raised their brows as I made sure to look at each of them in turn, and then I led Alfred, Stan, and Haragh out of the room without another word.

Once we were on the other side of the mansion, though, I paused and glanced at Alfred.

“Do you think they caught my meaning there?” I muttered under my breath.

“I would expect so, sir,” the butler replied. “You were subtle, yet deliberate.”

“I’d say ye’ clocked ‘em over the head with it,” Haragh mumbled.

I shrugged. “Good enough.”

When we entered the atrium, Haragh made a beeline for the giant steel bones littering my worktable, and I briefly filled him in on my latest design while Alfred patiently held Stan aloft. The little metal man nodded along with my explanation, and he was rubbing his hands together by the time I turned to him.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” I told Stan. “You want to ride the metal dragon because he’ll be an automaton, and I always let you ride around on my machines.”

Stan nodded vigorously.

“Well, you’re not going to,” I informed him, and he deflated little, “because …”

I pulled the mini dragon out from behind my back, and when I grinned and held the little guy out for Stan to see, his hands slapped to his cheeks in a way that reminded me a lot of Aurora.

Stan clutched his heart, did a little happy dance, and then carefully approached the metal dragon with a tentative nod, and when the dragon wiggled his haunches and came closer, I knew the two of them were already hitting it off.

“Aww, look at the little tyke,” Haragh chuckled. “He’s so happy.”

“Yeah, so far, he seems like a cheerful dragon,” I agreed, “and I know he’s a bit bony, but that works well in our case because the best part about him is that he can actually fly.”

Stan’s gaze darted to me.

“Go on,” I laughed. “Give it a try. Aurora’s been training him for you.”

I could tell Stan needed a moment, and I waited as he held his head and dabbed at where his eyes would have been. Then he rallied himself and gave a decisive nod before he cautiously hopped onto my hand and came around to the side of the dragon.

Alfred watched intently as Stan climbed up and got a steady hold, and the dragon’s tail flicked back and forth in anticipation.

“Okay, let’s take it nice and slow,” I instructed. “Stan’s never flown before, and you’ve never had a rider, so--”

Stan slapped the dragon’s haunches before I could even finish, and the pair of them launched into the air as he threw one arm up like a bull rider. The little dragon soared straight up toward the sky before he spiraled off to circle the atrium, and Stan egged him on by nudging his heels against the dragon’s sides. They did loop-de-loops and barrel rolls all over the place while we laughed and turned full circle to watch, and I noticed the faintest glimmer of awe on Alfred’s usually dour face.

“Remarkable,” the butler muttered. “You’ve done it, sir.”

“I have,” I said with a grin. “Still think I can’t build you a flying machine?”

“Yes,” Alfred said, “but I commend you all the same.”

I chuckled as Stan circled around my head and waved on his way to the worktable, and once they made a smooth landing, he quickly dismounted and gave the dragon a good scruff on the chin.

“What are you gonna name him?” I asked the metal man, but he shook his head and turned to me.

Then he hopped onto his tippy toes, and he strutted along the table in a way I immediately recognized. I furrowed my brow as I looked at the dragon again, and when I saw the way its haunches shifted from side to side, I knew I’d seen that wiggle before.

“Oh.” I nodded. “It’s a girl.”

Stan nodded, but then he broke into a mime tirade I couldn’t even begin to interpret, and I stared in confusion as he apparently killed some things and threw his hands up a lot. A couple times, he did some fancy flips that sent his leg flying up behind him, and that’s when Haragh chuckled and nudged me in the side.

“He’s doin’ Aurora,” the half-ogre informed me, and when Stan clapped for Haragh, I cocked a brow.

“You want to name your dragon Aurora?” I clarified.

“Nah, Solana,” Haragh guessed.

Stan did a fist pump before he jogged over for a high-five, and the little dragon pranced in a circle to celebrate as well.

“Stan and Solana,” I chuckled. “I like it, and Aurora’s going to be so honored. You should go show the ladies how you do on a dragon. Haragh and I are going out for the night, but while we’re gone, you and your dragon are in charge of holding down the fort. Deal?”

Stan was already mounting up, and as Solana launched into the air, he gave a salute before they soared across the atrium and out the door.

“I assume you would prefer I keep an eye on things as well, sir?” Alfred asked once Stan was out of ear shot.

“Yeah, that’d be good,” I muttered. “I’m sealing off all the windows in case of an attack, though, so have Aurora light the chandeliers for you before the women head out. If they come back early from their party, cook them up anything they want, and if they bring an ogre named Taru with them, treat her like the guest of honor, alright?”

“Certainly, sir,” the butler replied.

“Haragh, we’ve got some arrangements to make, but first we need to get a fresh barrel of Rosh from the pub and load her up in the Mustang.”

“Thank the gods,” the half-ogre sighed. “I was hopin’ Rosh had something to do with your plans. What else are we doin’?”

“You’ll see,” I assured him as we headed for the door. Then I cupped my hands around my lips to holler to my women down the hall. “Have fun killing shit!”

The women burst out of the training hall with Stan and his dragon at the lead, and I raised my brows at the flails, swords, guns, and bows they had strapped all over their scantily clad frames.

Then they covered me in kisses and giggles while they congratulated Haragh again, and as they wished us a fun evening, they casually threw in a few things they absolutely did not want me to do. I smirked when Cayla added brothels to the list, and Haragh winced when Aurora held her mace under his nose and threatened to bludgeon him if he let me get killed tonight.

“You ladies enjoy yourselves,” I chuckled while Shoshanne stole a couple more kisses, but then the women booted us out the door.

I shook my head as they started catcalling me loud enough to draw the stares of a few mages in the lane, and when Deya suggested I bring a new whip home with me, I offered an awkward nod to a passing mage.

“The way they act, ye’d think you were the one celebrating,” Haragh snorted.

“When I finally get all those women pregnant,” I muttered out of the side of my mouth, “I’m lighting the whole fucking town on fire, running around naked, and getting my automatons to stage an epic battle to the death. Winner will guard my women every second of the day until they give birth, and then, I’ll stage another battle to decide which of my machines are assigned to which kid. I’ll probably go kill shit with Taru, too, just because I really want to see how that goes down.”

Haragh nodded. “That’s not what we’re doing tonight, though, right?”

I shrugged in response just to keep the man in suspense, and we wove our way through the lanes until we got to the marketplace. The town was bustling despite the fading light, and Terra Mages walked around mounting stone basins along the walls of the new buildings while Ignis Mages filled them with flames. Mages were carting ammunition and weapons to various posts while others carried provisions from the pub to the barbican, and I could hear a training session currently underway in the training fields.

Despite the recent attacks, laughter and conversation filled the clearing as mages swapped stories and advice about their studies, and I could see a crew of Defenders milling around outside the pub with pints in hand. Kurna turned away from the group now and then to help the mages with organization, and Urn was deep in conversation with Raynor beside the fountain.

I could hear the burly Terra Mage explaining that the barkeep should dismiss any applications for a spice merchant in Falmount, and I smirked as he assured the man the position had already been filled.

“I’m gonna need Defender Flynt to sign off on that,” Raynor rasped as Urn rolled his eyes. “It’s not that I don’t take you for your word, mind, but he’s the baron now, and that’s the kind of decision he’s gotta give the okay on directly.”

“Where do I sign?” I chuckled as I strolled up, and Urn looked relieved to see me.

“Mason, would you clarify for Raynor that you did in fact agree Lili--Miss Clearidge may move her shop from Serin to Falmount?” Urn asked.

“I did approve that, yes,” I assured the barkeep, “and thank you for making sure everything’s up to specification around here.”

“No trouble at all,” Raynor said with a toothy grin. “Town’s movin’ up, and protocol’s gotta be kept with an expansion like this.”

“I agree,” I said with a nod. “How’s the provisions for the shelter going?”

“Finishing up right now,” the barkeep said as he nodded toward the line of mages carrying baskets into the barbican. “Miss Shoshanne had a few healers come by not long ago, too, and Toby Keen says things are shaping up real nice down there with fresh air coming in with no problems.”

“Excellent,” I replied. “Haragh and I are going to be out of town for the evening, and my women are off with Taru, so I need you guys on your toes tonight. Urn, you and Kurna are in charge of leading any defensive measures, and Raynor, if you could just oversee the healers if necessary, Shoshanne would appreciate it. You’ve all seen the new automaton around, right?”

Urn nodded, but he looked uneasy as he shifted on his boots. “Yeah, we saw him. He’s … big. You think he might be too big?”

“Not at all,” I chuckled. “He’s perfect, and he knows what to do to help out in case of an attack, so don’t worry about that. I’ll be back by morning, but I’m grabbing a barrel of Rosh before we head out to celebrate.”

“Celebrate, huh?” Urn said with a grin, and he punched Haragh on the arm. “S’pose you never thought you’d be a general so soon.”

“A what?” the half-ogre asked with a confused look.

“Oh, yeah,” I snorted. “I forgot to tell you, you’re a general now, but we’re actually celebrating because Haragh has a baby on the way.”

“No shit?” Urn laughed, and he throttled the half-ogre a bit while Haragh chuckled merrily.

“Congratulations,” Raynor said in earnest. “That is somethin’ to celebrate, especially in times like these.”

“You sure get right to it, Haragh,” Urn snorted, and he grinned at me. “I thought you’d be the one who would be bringing in a whole slew of babies before anyone else.”

Haragh laughed heartily at the look on my face, and I sighed as I waved the men off and headed for the pub.

“Working on it,” I mumbled under my breath, and as I nodded a greeting to the Defenders outside the pub, I couldn’t help thinking back to the way Shoshanne had kissed me goodbye before we left.

Her cheeks were pinker than usual lately, and her brown eyes had glittered with adoration when she dragged me over for another few kisses. She was warm all over in a way that stoked a burning need in me to hold her close, and after she and Deya had gotten all cuddly the other night, I started to wonder. Or rather, I started to hope, because just the thought of a woman like Shoshanne carrying a baby of mine made my pulse quicken and my blood heat up a few degrees.

I imagined the caramel beauty lounging in the fountain of my shop with a sweet smile on her face, and she’d probably sigh while she lovingly trailed her fingers over her rounded belly. I’d end up getting no work done, of course, but I wouldn’t care. Stripping down and joining her in the fountain would be--

“Shit,” I cursed as I tripped over a table, and I knocked my shin against a stone step before I stumbled and crashed to the floor of the pub.

“Are you alright, Baron Flynt?” a mage asked as he hurried over, and several nearby patrons were on their feet, too.

“Fine,” I wheezed. “Just fine.”

I dragged myself up as I waved a few mages away, and after I fixed the tuck of my shirt and straightened my vest, I nodded like that hadn’t just happened.

Damn. I had baby fever.

“Pardon me,” I muttered, and I quickly ducked around the bar on my way to the cellar.

I cursed a few more times while I used every ounce of strength I had to haul a barrel of Rosh up the back steps, but my mind was determined to offer up one image after another of Shoshanne looking pink cheeked and full of love as she pulled my hand over to feel her belly.

I gritted my teeth while she giggled and whispered unspeakably cute things in my ear about the names she’d been thinking about, and by the time I made it back out into the cool evening air, I was sweating bullets.

“Fucking minutes,” I growled while I worked to catch my breath. “I’ve been gone for minutes, and there’s no way I’m spending the entire night thinking about--”

“Who you talkin’ to?” Haragh grunted as he came around the pub.

“No one,” I quickly replied. “Do me a favor, though. If you catch me staring off into space tonight and looking all loopy or sappy … just punch me, alright?”

“Sure,” the half-ogre agreed with a shrug. “I can do that. Ye’ want a hand with that Rosh?”

“Yes, please,” I sighed as I rifled my hair. “I think it weighs twice as much as me.”

This didn’t stop Haragh from hoisting the barrel up onto his shoulder like it was a sack of flour, though, and I chuckled as he shrugged again for good measure.

“So, where we goin’?”

“The Mustang,” I laughed. “That’s all you need to know.”

Chapter 14

“Ye’ can’t just show up at a castle,” Haragh growled as I headed up the palace steps, and he propped the barrel on his shoulder before he hurried after me.

“Sure, you can,” I chuckled. “I do it all the time, and tonight, we’re drinking like fucking royals. Best for the best, my friend.”

Haragh grinned from ear to ear as I nodded a greeting to the king’s guard, and they opened the doors without question.

“You guys know where I can find Temin?” I asked.

“King Temin is in the great hall addressing the court,” the guard informed me.

“Perfect,” I said as I turned down the hall. “Then we’re right on time.”

“Are ye’ tryin’ to get me hanged?” Haragh hissed. “We can just go to a pub instead, yeah? I doubt the king wants to be celebratin’ more ogres coming into his kingdom, especially when he’s entertaining nobility and the like. I’m only a half-ogre!”

“No,” I countered, “you’re not only a half-ogre, you’re the half-ogre, so a pub’s just not gonna cut it right now. Second of all, Temin will be grateful for the interruption. Trust me. You just wait here and guard the Rosh. Those guards were sniffing around like they knew damn well what was in that barrel.”

I clapped Haragh on the shoulder as we came to the great hall entrance, and he grunted as he dropped the barrel on the ground and gave me a nervous nod.

When I entered the great hall, there were about fifteen members of the royal court gathered in a small cluster of seats. A surly looking lord was making a speech about something, and Temin sat slumped in his throne while he nodded along.

He was even paler than he’d been when he told me about the attack in Cedis, and judging by the way he held his head propped up against his hand, I could tell he was well overdue for a break.

So, I strolled across the hall, and when the king noticed me, he abruptly sat up and motioned for the lord addressing him to be quiet.

“Defender Flynt,” Temin said in surprise, and the court rose to their feet as they turned to offer me a collective bow.

“Sorry for the delay,” I said in my most serious tone. “Your guards informed me of the urgency, so I got here as fast as I could. Shall we adjourn to the throne room?”

Temin blinked like a deer in the headlights, but then he glanced at the nobles and seemed to recover pretty quickly.

“Yes, of course,” Temin replied, and he straightened his crown as he addressed the court. “Forgive me, but we must postpone this discussion. I have matters of the utmost importance to discuss with Defender Flynt. We will meet here again at nine tomorrow.”

The nobles bowed in agreement before they slowly dispersed, but they mulled around and eyed me as Temin approached.

“A thousand apologies,” Temin muttered hastily. “I must have forgotten I summoned you at all. I’m afraid I’m rather out of sorts lately.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said as I herded him toward the doors, and once we were outside and standing beside Haragh, I grinned. “You didn’t summon me. We came to celebrate.”

“We … what?” Temin asked in confusion.

“Celebrate,” I repeated. “Not only has Haragh been made a general of the Order, but he and his woman are having a baby.”

I’d expected the king to offer a polite congratulations of some sort, but Temin’s brow crinkled as he turned to Haragh, and when his eyes brimmed with tears, the half-ogre looked as confused as I was.

“That is such great news,” Temin croaked. “Such positive and uplifting news. Allow me to extend my warmest wishes and hopes for a long and prosperous life for you and your budding family.”

“Uh, thanks,” Haragh managed. “That’s kind of ye’.”

I cleared my throat. “So, you agree this calls for a celebration?”

“Absolutely,” the king said at once, “although I don’t know that I should join. With the state of things, I fear if I turn my eye for even a moment, I’ll find myself--”

“Temin,” I cut-in, “when was the last time you ate?”

The king thought for a moment, and I eyed his sallow cheeks.

“Must have been yesterday,” Temin decided. “Perhaps the day before.”

“Okay,” I said with a nod. “Then we’re feasting and drinking all this Rosh down. Trust me, you need it.”

“Rosh?” the king asked as he perked up. “You have Rosh?”

“Mason’s always got Rosh,” Haragh informed him.

Temin abruptly summoned a nearby servant, and he informed the woman we would be needing a feast in the great hall at once.

“What fare would you prefer this evening, Your Highness?” the woman asked.

“Everything,” I replied before the king could. “Give us your best feast.”

“Yes, and our finest goblets, if you please,” Temin added.

“We need a spout, too,” Haragh grunted as he gestured to the barrel.

The servant curtsied before she hurried away, and Temin returned to the great hall in much higher spirits as he addressed the lingering nobles. I bit my cheek so I wouldn’t laugh as he ordered them all to leave immediately, and he didn’t bother putting up any fronts. He motioned for Haragh to haul in the barrel of Rosh as a swarm of servants rushed by, and before the nobles were gone, their chairs were already removed.

In a matter of minutes, a stately table with ornate dining chairs was arranged at the head of the hall, and Haragh’s eyes went wide at the sight of the adorned cutlery and silver platters being laid out across the burgundy linen.

The king made a few additional orders here and there to make sure every detail was addressed, and it took three male servants to heave our barrel onto a gilded drink cart.

“See that?” I chuckled proudly. “Nothing but the best.”

Haragh flashed a broad grin as he straightened his vest, and he strolled over to the table like it was his own castle tonight. Temin insisted he take the seat at the head of the arrangement, and the servants already had three golden goblets brimming with Rosh when I sat across from the king.

Temin let out a long, harried sigh while he clutched his goblet with two hands, and he looked down into his bubbling Rosh like it was holy water.

“Go on, Temin,” I said with a nod. “It’s past time you relaxed a little. For Haragh.”

The king chuckled before he took a long swig, and Haragh happily downed his entire goblet while I did the same.

Then I casually reached over and tipped the king’s cup so he had to finish the entire goblet, and all of us had five heaping goblets in us by the time the chefs brought out seven covered dishes and arranged them along the table.

“Damn, that smells good,” I hiccupped. “What are we having?”

“The best, of course,” Temin chuckled, and with a wave of his hand, the chefs removed the coverings to reveal heaping, steaming, savory piles of chicken wings.

Temin’s kitchen staff must have taken it up a notch since I’d first introduced the dish, though, because every plate of wings was seasoned differently. Some were glazed in honey or heavily peppered, and I smelled garlic, butter, and ale mingling amongst the many platters. Then I clutched the edge of the table as I took a thorough sniff.

“Is that … ranch?” I asked.

“Yes, sir,” a servant replied. “Tonight, we have prepared an array of dipping options including ranch, lemon zest, hot sauce, duck sauce, beer sauce … ”

Haragh clutched my arm as the servant went on and on, and more dishes kept arriving until the banquet table was covered with every kind of wing and sauce this realm could possibly come up with. Then the servants added plates loaded with mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and what looked like the fanciest version of mac n’ cheese I’d ever seen. There were little green flowers dotting the top and everything.

Haragh unbuttoned his vest to prepare himself while I tried not to salivate all over the table, and eventually, the servant finished explaining the extensive menu.

“Fuuuck, yes!” I groaned.

The servant looked a little taken aback by my sudden outburst, but the king grinned.

“He means thank you,” Temin chuckled. “We’ll take another helping of Rosh, if you please.”

I piled my plate with four different types of wings before I spooned a dollop from every sauce within my reach, and Temin finished his next goblet. He had a silly grin on his face as he loaded his own plate up as well, and I was happy to see him already drunk enough to relax.

I was beyond tipsy by this point, and Haragh seemed pretty close to buzzed for once, but this was probably because he’d been drinking two goblets for every one of mine.

“Gods, it’s been years since I had Rosh,” the king sighed, and his words were slightly slurred. “It seems fitting that we indulge a bit in honor of … well, the only ogre I know.”

“You’ll meet Taru soon enough,” I mumbled through a wing. “She’s a real sweetheart, but she can rip a man’s arms off, too.”

“She sure can,” Haragh chuckled. “And I know it sounds like I’m bein’ biased, when I say she’s the scariest, sweetest, most vicious, and all-around beautiful ogre there is, but I’m not.”

“Hands down,” I agreed. “She puts Grot’s women to shame, man. I mean that.”

Haragh raised his glass to me, and half our drinks ended up on our wings, but it honestly only improved them at this point.

“How did the two of you meet?” Temin slurred.

“It was magical,” the half-ogre informed him.

“Fire everywhere, lava … it was beautiful,” I added. “They killed some shit together, and Temin, he made her a ruby that’s bigger than your head. Twice as big.”

The king lowered his goblet, and he looked deeply impressed.

“That is magical,” he agreed.

“It was,” Haragh snickered. “First night I talked to her, she pulled a wyvern’s brainstem out through his mouth in one pull. That’s when I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.”

I grinned. “You’re a sweet guy, you know that?”

“So sweet,” the king said with a nod. “But I have to ask, while we’re on the subject … Mason, how is it that you have so many women? I’ve always been confused by this. I have no time for any women, but you somehow have time for so many women. You go all over the place, but you have these women. There’s no logic in it. No time.”

“Temin … what?” I demanded as I slammed my goblet down. “You don’t have time for wom--you’re the fucking king! There’s always time for women!”

“Especially when ye’ got four,” Haragh snorted.

“Five,” I snickered, but when the half-ogre’s eyes widened, I just continued. “Temin, you gotta enjoy being king. I’m only a baron, but I’ve embraced the fuck out of my life, and let me tell you … it’s good. Fantastic, actually. I don’t even care that my town keeps getting attacked by possessed assholes. It’s still my town, isn’t it? I’ve still got my women around. Still kicking ass … ”

“And you’ve got a castle,” Haragh reminded Temin.

“A whole castle!” I agreed. “Fill it with women, Temin. What else do you have to do?”

“Declare a war that will inevitably end either my life or my reign,” Temin drawled, and Haragh and I sobered up a bit.

“Dude … no,” I countered, but I took another minute to develop my argument further. “Some wars might go that way, but not this one. This one, we’re gonna fucking win, and you’re gonna be the king who brought Illaria through to the other side."

“I don’t think so,” Temin said with a tired sigh. “I’ve never declared war in my life. Never. In fact, I go to extreme lengths to avoid having to. This is why half the citizens despise me. They say I have no backbone, and to be perfectly frank, I don’t. Wars are expensive. They take money, assets, lives … they’re not a good idea, and I don’t want to have a war in my nation. I want peace. I want people to be happy. That’s all.”

“Sometimes you’ve gotta fight for peace,” I mumbled into my goblet, and I drained it down before I continued. “All the negatives are still there, sure, but what’s your other option? Let the Master be an asshole? Let him round up your citizens and force them into servitude?”

“So, you see my predicament,” Temin snorted. “There are no good options. I must resign myself to my fate, and either I’ll be skewered, and my head will be mounted on the battlements, or I’ll be driven from my kingdom by an angry mob.”

“Or,” I cut-in, and I got up to fill the king’s mug until it was practically overflowing, “you declare war, we kick ass, the Master is destroyed, and your people’s faith in you is restored because now they know that when all hell breaks loose, you’ll do what it takes to make sure your nation survives.”

“It sounds valiant when you say it like that,” the king chuckled.

“He’s a valiant man,” Haragh said with a nod.

“I’m not valiant,” I snorted. “I’m up front. I tell it like it is. That’s honesty.”

“No … you’re valiant,” the king countered, and he waved his goblet drunkenly. “You face death and somehow have time for all of these women. That’s valiant. How do you just face death so often? I can’t fathom it. Do you enjoy risking your life?”

“I don’t enjoy it,” I replied, and I thought on the topic while I gnawed on a chicken wing. “Honestly, I’m only about to die every once in a while. More often than I’d like, but when it does come to that, it’s usually because I’m trying to do the right thing. If no one’s around to get it done, I’ll do it, and then at least if I die, I’ll die knowing I was the guy doing the right thing.”

I shrugged as I finished my Rosh, and when I lowered my goblet, the king was staring hazily at me.

“Valiant,” he slurred after a moment, and he spilled Rosh on Haragh as he nudged his arm. “Am I right? That was valiant.”

“It was,” the half-ogre agreed. Then he took the king’s crown right off his head and tossed it across the table. “Here. Put it on. Ye’ earned it.”

“Dude, I can’t put on the king’s--”

“Do it,” Temin urged. “Let’s see! I bet it looks good on you.”

I let out a long, drunken snort as the two men nodded and drank from their goblets, and then I fumbled to reach the crown before I plopped it down onto my head.

“It’s perfect,” Temin slurred. “Take it. The job’s yours. I am going to find some women instead, and you can be king.”

“No,” I mumbled as I steadied my weight against the table. “No, you’re gonna keep this crown and go find women, because that’s having your cake and eating it, too.”

“What?” Haragh snorted. “That makes no sense.”

“It makes sense sometimes,” I countered. “I don’t know when, but I’ve heard it before, and it made sense then. Maybe it doesn’t make sense now, but the point is … you’re a king, Temin. Be king. Get women. Do both.”

“I need to do both,” Temin chuckled. “I’m about to die in a war, and I have no heirs. Not one.”

“Me neither,” I sighed heavily. “But I’ll tell you what, I’m not giving up, and neither are you. We’re gonna have heirs by the end of the year, or break our dicks trying. That’s a pact right there.”

“Hold on,” Haragh said as he straightened up. “I’m the lucky one right now! That never happens. I’m the one with an heir. Holy shit.”

“Hell yeah, you are,” I chuckled. “You’re gonna be a dad, and that’s what’s up right now. So, Haragh, we salute you, man.”

Temin nodded as he actually saluted the half-ogre, and Haragh saluted him right back.

“I feel as if we were travelling down a darker path just now, though,” the king mumbled, and he stared off across the room while his eyelids drooped. “Something … negative.”

“Right, war,” I reminded him. “Look, I’m gonna serve it up straight, okay? We might go to war, Temin, and that’s more times we might die, but that’s also more times we might not die, and at the end of that … we’re valiant, right?”

“Exactly.” Haragh nodded.

I nodded, too. “Exactly.”

Temin began chuckling, though, and then his chuckles turned into drunken laughter, so we all ended up laughing our asses off while we choked on our Rosh. Eventually, the king’s goblet was empty again, and when I grabbed it to fill it up, he let out a long sigh.

“Alright,” Temin announced. “We might die. That’s less upsetting now, for some reason … probably because Defender Flynt has taken it upon himself to make it so, but I can accept the circumstances.”

“Good,” I said, “because death’s only a maybe right now, Temin.”

“Life’s equally maybe,” Haragh added with a sage nod.

“Extra maybe in your case,” I pointed out. “Because baby.”

Then we all toasted to our very drunken logic as a few guards entered the hall, but I missed whatever it was they talked to Temin about because I was scouring the table for a new sauce to try. I ended up combining two very spicy looking options on one wing, and while the end product scalded its way to my gullet, I noticed the new dwarven swords the guards were wearing.

“Hey, do you guys duel?” I asked out of nowhere, and the nearest guard smirked.

“We’re trained in all manner of combat, sir,” the man replied.

“Temin, we should get these guys dueling,” I decided. “All of them. Pick your fighter. Winner gets Rosh. Loser … keeps trying until he gets Rosh. Wings for everyone. This is happening.”

“Yes,” the king said without skipping a beat. “Sir Marin, gather the men. Dueling in the great hall will commence immediately.”

Soon, the great hall echoed with the clatter of armor as the majority of the castle guard marched in, and Temin drunkenly laid out a few ground rules while clarifying there was Rosh present, and whoever won a duel could have some. Then the first pair of knights came together at the center of the room, and I called dibs on the biggest one before Haragh even opened his mouth.

My fighter obliterated his in about two minutes, and I was so amped I gave the victor three goblets of Rosh just to rub it in Haragh’s face. I didn’t remember many specifics after that except we yelled a lot, goblets were slammed against tables, everyone lost their shit, and within an hour, the guards were all drunk.

Haragh, Temin, and I vehemently egged on our fighters regardless of whether they needed goading or not, but eventually, I ended up paying a couple guards to let us have their chainmail. That’s how I found myself in the middle of a crowd of roaring drunk knights facing off with the half-ogre, and we chortled beneath our helms as we fumbled to unsheathe our swords.

Temin was busy chatting up a pair of servants who were blushing and giggling nonstop, and I was about to clarify I was too drunk for an all-out duel when Haragh took his first swipe.

The steel of his blade clashed so hard with mine that my arm went numb, and I hissed as I stumbled back and tried to sober up enough for this.

“Godsdamnit,” I growled, and Haragh came at me with everything he had as the knights pounded their staves against the marble floors and goaded us on instead.

Thanks to my training regimen with Big Guy, I was actually able to hold my own against my giant green friend, and I even managed to catch him off guard and topple him a few times. It was a sloppy match while we wavered between laughing our asses off and belligerently insulting one another, but when all was said and done, neither of us could beat the other. The knights insisted we could end this outright, but the weight of the chainmail had us panting like dogs while we took our last lazy swipes, and finally, we just gave up altogether.

The hall erupted in raucous cheers as Temin finally noticed we were dueling, and he clapped for no one in particular while the servants giggled and refilled his goblet for him.

Then I collapsed hard into my chair as I tore my helm off, and Haragh was laughing heartily as he did the same.

“I won,” the half-ogre decided, and if I wasn’t already chugging my Rosh, I would have delivered a firm rebuttal.

Instead, I drained my goblet and propped the king’s crown back on my head, and Haragh rolled his eyes as I chuckled shamelessly.

Most of the knights were feasting on wings and Rosh by now with a few belligerent arguments breaking out here and there, but I was surprised to find myself getting a second wind. Then I remembered my healing rune was eternally watching my back, and I grinned as I realized the room wasn’t even spinning anymore.

For once, Haragh was drunker than me, and the king was blitzed as he downed another goblet of Rosh in half the time. He looked more relaxed than he had since we met, and despite how many blushes he got out of those two servants, he was a damned gentleman about it.

He complimented their smiles, remembered things they’d each done around the castle that they never expected he would notice, and he didn’t even drunkenly promote them for laughing at his jokes. He was top-notch all around, and I could hardly believe he never went for women because he thought he didn’t have the time. Hell, half the duchesses I’d met at that meeting last week would have swooned on the spot if they saw him this relaxed, and I chuckled as I refilled my mug and watched the servant girls blush a little more.

The king was a good dude, and I was happy we were friends.

Haragh was working his way through his sixth heaping plate of wings when I rejoined them, and he sent me a broad grin as he raised his goblet.

“Hell of a party,” the half-ogre chuckled. “Thanks for making me show up uninvited at a castle. That’s a definite first for me.”

“Anytime,” I hollered above the noise of the knights. “You’re gonna be a hell of a dad, though.”

“What if I sit on it by accident?” he asked, and I was choking through my laughter when the crowd suddenly quieted down by a degree.

Then I turned around, and a trio of sober guards were escorting a beautiful woman in a long black dress through the hall of knights.

The Baroness drew the eye of every man in the room as she sauntered behind the guards, but when her two-toned eyes found mine at the head table, they stayed there as a coy grin came to her lips.

I flipped back around in my seat to find Haragh draining his glass and eyeing me with a loaded look, and I swiped the sweat from my brow that had been there since our duel.

“Your Highness,” a guard said as he approached the king. “Baroness Batanova has come seeking an audience with you.”

“Baroness Batanova?” Temin asked with alarm, and he frantically dabbed at his brow and smoothed out his robes. “Y-Yes, bring her forward. Shit.”

Both Haragh and I were silently snickering over his reaction, but when the Baroness appeared beside me, we both forced a more appropriate demeanor.

“Your Majesty,” Nulena purred as she dipped into a graceful bow. “I have come to discuss the recent attack in Rajeen, but I see I have chosen an inopportune time.”

“My deepest apologies, my lady,” Temin said, and he bowed so low, his nose almost dived into a dish of ranch. “I in no way intended for you to be subjected to such a drunken display, and I assure you--"

“Temin,” I cut in for the sake of sparing his breath. “Does she look upset?”

The Baroness smirked as the king glanced up and squinted hard.

“She’s not upset,” I clarified.

“Yes, don’t mind me,” Nulena chuckled. “It is, after all, your castle.”

“You’re a gracious woman,” Temin slurred. “Is there anything I can offer you? Anything at all?”

“A drink,” Nulena replied, and when she turned toward me, I immediately shot to my feet and headed for the barrel of Rosh.

Halfway there, I realized the king probably would have sent a servant, but I had a decent buzz, and the look in Nulena’s eyes shot straight through me. So, I got her a goblet myself, and when I returned to the table, the Baroness had taken a seat directly beside mine.

She was calmly listening to the king explain Haragh’s good news and the reason for our celebration, but I could tell the secretive woman knew all of this already.

Then Temin offered his deepest condolences for the violence Rajeen had suffered, and I eyed Nulena to see if she would respond as coarsely as she’d done when me and my women brought it up.

“You’re very kind to be so concerned,” the Baroness murmured as she bowed her head to the king. “The losses have been great, and those who have survived fear another attack may claim their own lives.”

“This will not happen,” Temin assured her. “Mason, tell her. We are not going to allow that to happen, are we?”

Nulena glanced my way, and I did my best to look at her eyes and not her lips.

“We’re not going to let that happen,” I assured her.

The Baroness’ cheeks shimmered the moment the words left my mouth, and she abruptly looked away before she hid her grin behind her goblet.

The king did his best to keep the conversation as professional as possible from there on, but it wasn’t long before he had his chin propped on his palm again, and he mumbled through a large bite of chicken wing while Nulena grinned in amusement.

“That rumor,” Temin mused as he narrowed his eyes. “The one about you being murdered … I’ve always wondered about that.”

I raised my brows as I looked at the Baroness, but she just shrugged.

“I find most people will say anything for the sake of making a scene,” Nulena replied. “But tell me, do I look dead to you?”

“No, you look remarkably alive,” Temin chuckled. “Not dead in the slightest, my lady. In fact, you are more radiant than ever, if I might be so bold. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look as lovely. Have you done something different?”

Haragh choked on a chunk of chicken as we exchanged a glance, and I was a little surprised the Baroness didn’t have any smooth remarks to make this time. She smiled and drank some more, and the king chuckled at her aversion.

“I don’t know if you two are aware,” Temin muttered as he looked conspiratorially between me and Haragh, “but Baroness Batanova has a reputation amongst the nobility of Illaria. She’s infamous, and there isn’t a single member of my court who wouldn’t do her bidding if she asked them.”

“Is that so?” I asked with a smirk.

“It’s true,” Temin assured me. “Ask her anything, and she’ll know the answer. She knows what everyone does, who they consort with, what they strive for. And more than that, she has a clever little way of accomplishing anything. I once asked her to help me with a pesky issue I was having with two lords. For days, I heard from no one. Then, out of the blue, I’m informed the lords have portioned out their land to their nephews, all disputes have been resolved, and I never had the displeasure of hearing from either of them since!”

I couldn’t help eyeing Nulena as the king and Haragh chuckled heartily, and it only took a single glance from the woman for me to realize these lords were definitely dead now.

“Damn,” I muttered. “That is impressive.”

“Isn’t it?” the king laughed. “You could ask her anything, and she’ll know the answer. Watch. Baroness, who is the wealthiest amongst the nobles at this very moment?”

“Lord Allen,” the Baroness chuckled.

“And who is the most well connected?” Temin asked with a drunken grin.

“Myself, of course,” she replied.

“What about the most likely to be killed?” the king chuckled, but the Baroness looked less amused.

“Mason Flynt.”

Everyone sobered a little as they looked my way, but I couldn’t help laughing.

“Damn straight. How about the most likely to be killed by me?”

The Baroness calmly sipped her Rosh, but after a moment, she eyed me with a smirk.

“That is a question I cannot answer,” she admitted. “Your actions are difficult to predict.”

“Are they, though?” I asked with a roguish grin. “I thought I was sooo predictable. I have this annoying habit of protecting civilians at all costs.”

Temin snorted through his chicken wing, and the Baroness blushed under my gaze.

“True,” she allowed, “but your morals are famously partial. Your dedication to protecting others ceases where any danger to the ones you love begins. This complicates matters exceedingly.”

I furrowed my brow as Nulena looked away and finished her drink, but I had too much Rosh in me to try and reason my way through her statement.

“That’s because he’s valiant,” Temin drunkenly informed her, and both him and Haragh burst out laughing.

After that, the king continued asking the Baroness every question that popped into his head, including whether or not he would die soon, whether any of Wyresus’ kin noticed he was M.I.A., and if she could tell him what happened to an old friend of his from when he was ten.

Nulena was surprisingly patient with the king while she answered to the best of her knowledge, and I had a feeling she wouldn’t have been so obliging if I wasn’t there. She probably would have rolled her eyes and left shortly after arriving, but here she was, sipping her Rosh and sending me amused smirks for the rest of the evening.

Haragh thought it was a hilarious game and started asking his own questions, too, and I couldn’t believe Nulena even knew the secrets of the ogres. She had dirt on Grot and most of Haragh’s family members, but when the half-ogre nervously inquired about Taru, I was worried the fun might have ended.

The Baroness assured the man that Taru had no secrets to keep, though, and she calmly listed off the name of every ogre she’d mauled in the last year. It was a very, very long list, but this seemed to make Haragh love his woman all the more.

Unfortunately, the drunken knights were so far gone by this point that they were on the verge of an all-out battle in the great hall, and the king ordered them to take it out to the courtyard when it got too loud for any of us to think.

I chuckled as several of them groped around for a few more wings before they left, but then a shitfaced knight noticed Nulena’s breasts, and I recognized his lewd grin. He was just opening his mouth to say something to her when he caught the warning look on my face, and as I shook my head, two of his buddies promptly grabbed him by the arms and hauled him off.

So far, I’d done my best to pace myself on the Rosh because it was still early in our relationship, and I didn’t think Nulena needed to see me bombed out of my mind and rebuilding everything in sight just yet. Temin and Haragh didn’t bother, though, so they ended up at full throttle. They argued over the emancipation with Jagruel until they were red in the face, and a few minutes later, they cried together about their mothers and decided they were best friends for life.

It only took a subtle hint from me to get Haragh knighted right then and there, but when the two servant girls came in to clear away a few platters, Temin’s attention derailed.

Part of me felt like someone should advise the king against sleeping with his servants, but it wasn’t really my place to tell him what to do. So, we all just chuckled as Temin tarried off with a woman on each arm, and even though he might regret it in the morning, I knew he desperately needed to cut loose.

Haragh ended up passing out shortly after with a fistful of chicken wings clutched against his chest, and as his snores grated loudly in the great hall, I propped my elbow on the table and turned to Nulena. She had a funny smirk on her face as she eyed the crown still perched upon my head, but instead of taking it off, I tilted it a bit to the side to make her chuckle.

“So,” I led, “I had no idea you were this upset about the attack in Rajeen. I mean, coming all the way to Temin’s castle so late and unannounced … you must be frantic.”

“You don’t have to taunt me,” the Baroness chuckled. “You know very well I only came here to be with you.”

I grinned. “Missed you, too.”

The Baroness blushed at my words, but then her expression shifted.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier,” Nulena admitted in a soft tone. “How you worry about the women you care for. I was miserable after I saw you fall from the battlement, and I don’t want to make you worry like that for me.”

I nodded while I tried to figure out where she was going with this, and I eyed the wisp of shadows she was nervously twirling between her fingertips.

“I thought perhaps, if you wanted me to, I could find a means of letting you know I’m alright,” the Baroness mumbled. “Just… something discreet so you would know I was safe, and then you don’t have to be worried. If not, it’s fine, I only thought--”

“I’d appreciate that,” I told her as I took her hand, and her eyes betrayed how relieved she was to hear it. “I honestly wouldn’t be able to keep my head on straight if I never knew whether you were alright or not. I can respect we have different lifestyles, and I don’t want you to change anything for me, but knowing you’re okay in situations like that would help.”

“Understood.” Nulena smiled, and she thought for a moment while she bit her lip. “How about this?”

The Baroness waved her hand over the tablecloth, and a tuft of furling shadows appeared. It looked like a tendril of smoke when a candle goes out, but it was a soft black that undulated in place without fading at all. When I ran my finger through it, I lost feeling where the shadows touched my skin, but the fact that half my finger disappeared from view made me grin in disbelief.

“You can send this anywhere?” I clarified. “Even if you’re far away?”

“Yes,” she said with a nod.

“So, you know how to send your magic outside yourself,” I realized. “I just learned how to do that.”

“I’m not surprised,” Nulena chuckled. “You seem to learn rather quickly, but I am impressed. Very few mages can accomplish this.”

“How long did you study at the Order before you learned?” I asked.

Nulena shrugged and sipped her Rosh. “I didn’t. I taught myself.”

“Wait, everything? No one gave you instructions?”

Nulena nodded, but then she rose to her feet as she finished her drink, and she came closer to trail her fingers along my jaw. I turned in my seat so I could slip my hands between the folds of her dress, and as my palms worked their way up the woman’s thighs, her two-toned gaze made my blood burn almost as much as the feel of her velvety skin did.

“Can I have you all to myself tonight?” she murmured.

I nodded as my fingers found the cleft between her thighs, but my pulse quickened when I realized she was already soaking wet for me. Nulena blushed and turned away with a coy glint in her eyes, and I stared at the veiled outline of her ass while she slowly sauntered across the great hall.

I was in such a hurry to follow her that I almost forgot I was still wearing Temin’s crown, but I swiftly backtracked and propped it on Haragh’s head instead. Then I drained my goblet as Nulena’s chuckles echoed in the hallway, and when I caught up to her, she was untying the back of her corset as she headed up the stairs.

I swallowed hard and checked to make sure no servants or guards were around, but Nulena didn’t bother conjuring any shadows this time. She let her corset fall on the marble steps before she smirked over her shoulder, and I fumbled to grab it as I watched her slowly unwrap her sheer black skirt.

She had nothing but heels on by the time we got to the top of the stairs, and I fiendishly eyed every inch of her ebony body while I trailed behind her in a daze. Then she leaned back against a pair of gilded doors as she curled her finger for me to follow, and I was so distracted by the wanton look in her eye that I stumbled into the room without thinking twice.

I didn’t know if it was her or the alcohol heating up my blood at this point, but the second I had the doors shut behind me, I closed the gap between us in two strides before I devoured her lips. The Baroness clung to me as I pushed her further into the room, and when she reached for my belt, I chuckled and resurfaced to get the job done faster.

That’s when a glint of gold caught my eye, and I froze in place.

“Hoooold up,” I mumbled, and I whipped my head around as I registered the fully gilded four-post bed, the fur-trimmed, velvet robe in the corner, and three polished crowns mounted on the mantelpiece. “Is this Temin’s bedchamber?”

“Mm-hmm,” Nulena giggled against my neck, and I abruptly pulled her off me.

“We can’t fuck in the king’s private quarters,” I hissed.

“Why not?”

I furrowed my brow as she smirked up at me, and maybe it was the Rosh, but I just had no rebuttal to that. I tried my damndest, though, while I considered the plush carpet under my boots and the stained-glass windows, but the bed was twice as big as any I’d ever seen, and the dense black hide draped over the blankets practically begged to have Nulena thrown onto it.

“Yeah, okay,” I decided as I tore the buckle of my belt open, and when the Baroness delved her tongue into my mouth, I caught her by the ass to hoist her up. Then I stumbled over and tossed her onto the bed, and I was about to pull my chainmail off when she grabbed my wrist.

“Don’t,” she ordered in a low voice. “Keep it on.”

I raised my brows at the depraved glint in her eyes, and the woman grinned as she laid herself out on the jet-black fur.

I’d never kicked my pants off so fast in my life.

Chapter 15

Nulena’s long black hair was strewn around her as she waited for me, and when I brought myself between her splayed legs, the cold steel of the chainmail made her gasp. Then I pressed myself more firmly against her as she began to shiver all over.

“This might hurt,” I warned as her nipples met with the steel.

“Good,” Nulena purred, and she let out a sadistic chuckle as she hitched her legs around my waist.

I could tell by the way her breaths trembled in her throat that she’d been craving me for days, and even the slightest touch of my cock against her slick entrance made her whimper. So, I teased her a little by sliding my shaft along her ebony lips, and with my weight pressing down on her, she couldn’t do anything about getting more of what she wanted.

Which was exactly what I had in mind from the moment she asked to have me all to herself.

The last few times we slept together, my other woman had been so into it I was completely unbridled with the Baroness and did anything to her that they wanted to see. Normally, I loved nothing more than obliging my women’s taste, and Nulena had loved every minute of it. Still, I’d noticed early on she wasn’t very good at waiting her turn.

It wasn’t that the Baroness didn’t mesh well with the others, but she was clearly used to getting what she wanted whenever she chose. Any woman who shared a bed with us would have to respect the order of things, though, because I’d learned to recognize what all of my women wanted or needed, and I knew when to deliver so everyone was taken care of.

If a princess and a future goddess could obey that, then so could a baroness.

So, now that I had her to myself, I held her pinned against the fur as she writhed beneath me, and her eyes begged for more while she tore at my chainmail to pull me closer. I kept on teasing her regardless of how bad she needed it, though, and when she clutched her roots and let out a tortured moan, I finally gave her just a couple inches of my cock.

This was enough to make her back arch in pleasure as she let out a feral moan, and she tried desperately to force me in even deeper.

“More,” she begged, and I grinned at the tremor in her voice.

I took my time with her, though, and I only gave her slow and shallow thrusts as I watched her bite down on her lip until a bead of blood appeared. She was shaking all over now from wanting to feel my full length in her, and I let out a shameless chuckle as I brought my lips to her ear instead.

“You need to learn some patience,” I growled.

Nulena met my gaze with a fury that sent a chill down my spine, and then she immediately began taking her frustration out on me. I let her claw at my neck and nip my tongue as much as she wanted, but the angrier her kisses got, the more firmly I held her in place. She was sopping wet with arousal when she finally eased up, and it took ironclad restraint not to let her fury egg me on.

All I wanted to do was flip her over and give her exactly what she wanted until she was limp and kitten like for me, but I forced myself to hold out. The abyss of Nulena’s coal black eye burned through me like she would tear me apart with her teeth if she could, and there was something so incredibly sexy about the control I had over her composure.

One touch from me made her limp, and holding back made her lose her damn mind, and I was beginning to realize how much fun it was to test those extremes.

So, as she glared up at me and stopped her fighting, I gave her one long, deep thrust as a reward, and in an instant, her gaze was pleading again as she gently stroked the scratch marks on my neck. Then she began laying soft kisses along my jaw, and she let her powers seep through me like a tonic as a shaky sigh left her lips.

Her arousal had heated her to a blistering degree, though, and once I was buried inside her, there was no way I could keep up with the lesson. I took a steadying breath as I willed myself to pull out, but Nulena was moaning in my ear now as she rolled her hips against me, and I ended up driving myself deeper instead.

Next thing I knew, I had her leg hitched up and pinned against her shoulder, and when I thrust firmly into her, the woman’s climax overtook her so quickly, she screamed. I could feel the velvety walls of her tunnel quaking around my cock as her scream turned into a wavering moan, and I eyed the deep imprints my chainmail had left all over her while the sound of her pleasure heated my blood to its boiling point. My hands were shaking from needing more of her by the time her orgasm ebbed, and I didn’t waste any time.

Nulena giggled as I roughly flipped her over, and then she dug her nails into the jet-black fur to brace herself. With her perfectly sculpted ass in my palms, there was no chance I could take it easy, so I propped one leg up before I thrust into her with all my strength.

Then I took her as hard as I pleased while the massive bed shook beneath us, and Nulena panted more with every thrust as the force sent a tremor through her. I kept a firm hold on the cinch of her waist as I drove myself into her again and again, but when I could feel her nearing another orgasm, I reached around to tease her clit just so she’d shriek a bit for me.

The sound of her climax shot straight through me as my seed burst from my shaft, and I quickened my thrusts when Nulena pushed her ass into me for more. I could feel her whole body spasming with ecstasy as her taut tunnel clenched around my cock, and I let her milk every drop out of me until my seed was spilling down her ebony thighs.

Then the woman locked her teeth in the fur as her moans echoed around the room, and hearing how much she enjoyed having me fill her like this made something snap in my chest. I kept at her without restraint for longer than I could tell while she started begging me to cum in her again, but I brought her through another orgasm before I let her have what she wanted.

When I rolled her back over, the Baroness had a submissive glint in her ghostly white eye, and I chuckled as I dragged her to the edge of the bed.

Then I tore the chainmail and the rest of my clothes off to get ready for another round, and Nulena curled onto her side with a coy grin. I straddled her bottom leg as she propped the other one up against my shoulder, and as I traced circles across her clit, I admired her ebony breasts and the already starved look in her eye.

“You sure you need more?” I growled just to test the waters, and I couldn’t help grinning when her gaze was suddenly fiery again.

I slowed my fingers as I cocked a brow, though, and the woman immediately softened.

“Please?” she murmured, and I couldn’t believe that was all it took.

So, I gladly relented without toying with her anymore, and I cupped her breast in one hand as I braced my arm around her leg. Whatever she was doing with her powers now made my legs go numb as my dick began to tingle, and I could hardly stay upright as the sensation of her around my shaft brought a grating moan out of me. Nulena whimpered at the sound as I started to curse under my breath, and I could already tell my next climax would fucking destroy me.

Then the gilded doors opened, and I whipped my head around just as Temin pitched forward into the room.

I was frozen in place and balls deep in the Baroness when he got his drowsy eyes open all the way, and he furrowed his brow while he swayed there in the doorway.

“So sorry,” the king slurred after a moment. “Could’ve sworn this was m’room.”

“No, yours is down the hall,” I said out of sheer panic.

Temin gave a drunken nod as he tried for a wave, and after a few missteps, he managed to trip his way back into the hall.

I stared at Nulena as the doors shut behind him, but then her lips curled into a devilish grin, and I went right on pounding into her as her powers began numbing my entire mind.

We ended up feverishly tumbling across Temin’s plush carpet and breaking in his velvet chaise after that, but eventually, I had Nulena pinned against one of the gilded posts of the king’s bed. I was going to soften the gold to spare her back, but the Baroness ordered me not to, so when I finally let her collapse across the black fur again, her back was dotted with deep grooves from the ornate casting of the gold.

I crawled over and trailed my fingers along her spine while I checked to make sure we hadn’t broken the skin, and when I started kissing every divot, the Baroness let out a satiated sigh.

“Are you alright?” I murmured against her back.

Nulena chuckled softly in response, and then she rolled over to pull me down onto the fur.

“I’m more than alright,” she purred.

Then she wrapped herself against me as she kissed me slowly, and since I had nowhere to hurry off to this time, I spent as long as I pleased exploring every plush curve of the woman. We fell asleep tangled together with her cheek curled against my chest, and as I reveled in the feel of her satiny breasts and the dense black fur beneath me, I listened to the heavy thrum of her heartbeat as her breaths gradually slowed.

My last thought before I passed out was there was no way in hell I wasn’t crazy in love with this woman, and Nulena mumbled something as she dozed off, but I didn’t catch what it was.

That night, I had a vivid dream I was floating in the stars, but when I looked around expecting to find Nemris, I found Nulena instead. Her coal black eye burned a fiery amber as I reached out to pull her into my arms, but my hands sifted straight through her like smoke as a sultry moan echoed in my ears.

I wasn’t surprised to find her gone in the morning, because she usually left early to get back to her own devious life, and even though the dream left a strange feeling in my chest, I enjoyed a long and noisy stretch before I stared up at the gilded posts. Complete silence filled the room as green and gold light filtered through the stained-glass windows, and I let myself believe this was my ridiculously huge bed for a minute longer. I’d definitely made some good memories in it, but even if the idea of being a king with a place like this was tempting, I was pretty content with my current position.

Hearing Temin’s concerns last night made me appreciate my own lot in life that much more, and while I was half sure I’d be receiving news of more attacks once I got back to Falmount, I was okay with that. I trusted my mages and the Defenders to handle things, and at least I only had one village of residents in my care instead of an entire kingdom.

The notion made me anxious for Temin, though, and I finally dragged myself out of bed while I scoured the extensive room for my clothes, gun belt, and boots.

That’s when I noticed a tiny wisp of shadows flickering on the desk I’d bent Nulena over last night. I grinned as I came over and wafted them away, and once I straightened the hide on the bed and righted a few lamps we’d knocked over, I stepped back and took a look around. Overall, I couldn’t really tell we’d had sex on every surface in the room.

Then I peeked out into the hall to make sure none of Temin’s staff were around, and I crept out of the king’s bedchamber with no one being the wiser.

I was chuckling to myself as I trotted down the stairs and turned toward the great hall, and when I crossed paths with a servant, I let her know Temin wanted his entire room cleaned before tonight.

Then I heard the disgruntled muttering of nobles up ahead, and I entered the great hall to find about twenty members of the court gathered near the banquet table. It wasn’t the array of left-over chicken wings that had them in a tizzy, though. It was the snoring half-ogre who was drooling onto his chest while Temin’s crown sat lopsided on his big green head.

“Shit,” I snorted as I quickly headed over, and I nodded to a few nobles as I pushed through the crowd.

“Baron Flynt, what in the name of the gods is this about?” a flustered lord demanded.

I mumbled a garbled string of words that meant virtually nothing as I continued on my way, and when I got to Haragh, I gave his shoulder a rough shake.

“Dude, wake up,” I hissed. “Party’s over.”

Haragh grunted and batted me away with a chicken wing, but when I gave him a good shove, he finally opened his eyes and swiped the drool from his chin.

“What’s up?” he yawned.

“These are a few members of the royal court,” I muttered, and I sent an apologetic nod to a nearby duchess. “Now would be a good time for us to get the hell out of here.”

Haragh tossed his fistful of chicken wings on the tablecloth as he gave a groggy nod, and I helped haul him to his feet as he let out a Roshy belch.

A few lords eyed the half-ogre with disdain as we shuffled by, and the muttering of their scandalized wives made it difficult not to smirk a little over the scene.

“The fuck you lookin’ at?” Haragh grumbled.

Then I promptly snatched the crown of his head and herded him past the nobles and out the door.

Temin was just coming down the hall as we burst out laughing, and the king looked thoroughly amused when I handed him back his crown.

“Ah, there it is,” Temin muttered. “I was about to visit the servant’s quarters in case I left it there by mistake. That would have been rather embarrassing to explain to the staff.”

“Did you …” I tried, and I cleared my throat before I lowered my voice. “This is probably none of my business, but did you sleep with those servant girls?”

“Of course not,” Temin snorted, but then he grinned. “I certainly enjoyed myself with the pair of them, but that would have been inappropriate. However, it gave me a chance to really consider what you said, and you’re absolutely right. There is always time for women, especially when death is so impending.”

“Good,” I chuckled. “I’m glad we can see eye to eye on that. Thanks for letting us crash the castle last night, too. You’re a good man.”

“No,” the king said with a solemn shake of his head. “Thank you. Really, I believe I was at my lowest point the last few days, and I appreciate both of you exceedingly. I don’t remember much about last night, but I know I feel infinitely better about the circumstances.”

“There ye’ go,” Haragh chuckled as he clapped Temin on the shoulder. “Shit might be heatin’ up around here, but we need a king who’s ready to do what it takes. You’ve got this, man. I have complete faith in you.”

Temin smiled in earnest as he shook the half-ogre’s hand, but then he furrowed his brow and turned to me.

“Did I imagine it, or were you having sex with Baroness Batanova last night?”

It took me a few beats to respond, but I thought I did a decent job of sounding unconcerned.

“What?” I chuckled. “No. The Baroness left around the same time you did.”

“Of course, she did,” Temin said, and he dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand. “I knew it must have been the Rosh.”

“Fuckin’ Rosh,” Haragh agreed, and a broad grin spread across my face.

The hungover king’s guard were holding their heads and had their weight propped on their staves as we left the castle, and several of them chuckled and shook Haragh’s hand while they offered him their congratulations.

Once the half-ogre and I were in the Mustang and on our way to Falmount, I owned up to my escapade in the king’s bedchamber, and Haragh laughed until he had tears streaming down his face. Then he spent the rest of the drive coming up with a list of things he wanted to do for Taru when we got back. He already had a design in mind for expanding their house, and after he decided he wanted to get a flock of chickens, I agreed to teach him how to make chicken wings for her, too.

When we got to the mansion, Alfred was dutifully waiting at the door for us, and he held out his silver tray for me to deposit my weapons on.

I just stood there, though, because I was more distracted by the full grown, half-skinned stag laying in a pool of its own blood in my entryway.

Chapter 16

Alfred calmly led me along a trail of carcasses to the training hall, and when we got to the arched entrance, I nodded as I crossed my arms.

Taru and my women were passed out in a splayed huddle at the center of the room, and around them, creatures of all shapes and sizes were either dead, skinned, or partially dissected.

“They returned rather close to sunrise, sir,” Alfred informed me. “Then they ate everything we had in the kitchen and talked … a lot … while they attempted to learn about tanning hides from Miss Taru.”

I smirked. “That’s adorable.”

“Aye, she knows her way around a hide,” Haragh said with a nod.

“Out of curiosity, how drunk were they when this all happened?” I checked.

“To the best of my knowledge, they were not inebriated at all, sir. Only enthusiastic.”

“Hmm,” I mused. “Welp … I guess we should drag some of these carcasses out of here and throw them to the eels.”

“Certainly, sir,” Alfred said with a bow. “Allow me.”

“Oh! But could you slice a few femurs off for Ruela?” I added. “Deya says she loves femurs.”

“Very well, sir. Shall I send for a butcher to handle the edible creatures?”

“That would be great,” I chuckled. “He can bring it all to the two Flynt’s Pubs, but were there any more attacks last night?”

“Yes, sir,” Alfred replied.

“What happened?” I asked as my gut dropped into my boots. “Were there any casualties?”

“I’m afraid I know very little about the attack,” the butler answered. “I heard a commotion and barred the door, sir. It could not have lasted any longer than an hour or so, and when your women arrived home, it appeared the town had already been restored.”

I nodded as I relaxed a degree. “Thank you, Alfred.”

Alfred bowed before he headed over to a carcass that was too bloody to identify what it was, and he began dragging it toward the door like it was just another day on the job.

I couldn’t help but admire the way the man took absolutely everything in stride.

“S’pose the mages must have handled it well,” Haragh grunted. “I didn’t notice anything out of sorts when we drove by.”

“Me neither,” I agreed. “Maybe this new setup will actually work.”

“I’ll stop by Kurna’s on my way home and send him your way for an update,” the half-ogre offered.

“That’d be good, thanks,” I said with a nod, and then I raised my fingers to my mouth and gave a sharp whistle that echoed throughout the chamber.

The women jolted like they were rising from the dead, and they groaned as they struggled to get their limbs moving properly. Taru let out a snarl that could have been an ogre yawn, and when she looked over at Ruela snuggled against her arm, a tiny smile came to her face. Then she scruffed the wolfish beast behind the ear as she sat up, and my women lazily mussed their hair while they took stock of the massacre surrounding them.

“Ladies,” I said with a roguish grin.

Deya giggled when she saw me in the doorway, and she reached behind her to grab a dead rabbit by the ears and hold it up for me.

“Look, Mason.” The beautiful elf smiled sleepily. “I killed bunnies, and I didn’t even eat any of them.”

“I’m proud of you,” I chuckled. “Looks like you have some flesh stuck in your hair, though.”

“No, that’s fur,” Aurora yawned. “Deya wore some dead bunnies as hats last night. It’s an elven thing.”

I smirked. “That sounds cute. Did you all remember to clean your weapons?”

“No,” Cayla sighed. “I’ll do it. How was your evening?”

“Where did you go?” Shoshanne asked, and she eyed me cautiously.

“Neither of you are covered in blood,” Aurora pointed out.

“Yeah, we took it easy for once,” I said with a shrug. “We hung out with Temin, dueled a bit, drank our weight in Rosh. You would’ve loved the feast.”

“So many wings,” Haragh sighed.

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves,” Cayla chuckled, and she helped Aurora stand up. “We killed everything we came across for I don’t know how many hours.”

“Plus a few creatures we heard in the distance and wanted to track down,” the half-elf added. “Mason, did you know ogres can skin a whole creature in one swipe if they bite through the hide at a certain point?”

“I did not,” I admitted.

Haragh nodded. “Yeah, that one’s a classic.”

“I tried, but I don’t have sharp enough teeth in my elven form,” Deya sighed.

“Me neither,” Shoshanne said with a shrug.

I raised my eyebrows as I imagined my two women attempting to bite through an animal’s hide to skin it, but Haragh just chuckled in approval.

“Takes a bit of practice, but you’ll get the hang of it,” he assured the women. “Taru’s a natural with this sort of thing, so don’t let her intimidate ye’.”

Taru blushed as she smiled at my half-ogre friend, and my women helped her to her feet and brushed some dirt from her leather vambraces. Then they began rambling on about the things the ogre had taught them, and I could tell they’d all become closer during their girls’ night out.

I was glad to see how at home Taru looked amongst my women, but Haragh looked twice as happy as any of us as he bounced on his toes like he couldn’t wait to have his woman all to himself again.

I cleared my throat once it became clear the women were just going to keep talking Taru’s ear off, and they reluctantly let Haragh come and fetch her so he could escort her toward the door. They still trailed after the pair in a chatty swarm, though, and I smirked at the whole group while I followed close behind them.

“So, how’d the new mace work out?” the half-ogre asked Aurora as he turned to her in the entryway.

“Haragh,” the half-elf sighed, “that mace is my new favorite thing. I took the head off a chimera with one swipe. One! I was only going to bludgeon its skull, but nope. Flew right off its shoulders. I never did find it, either.”

Taru smiled at Aurora and nodded, and my half-elf immediately glowed with pride as she tipped her chin up a bit.

“Damn,” Haragh chuckled. “That’s no easy feat.”

“Gods, we just had such a lovely time,” Cayla giggled, and she curled her arm in Taru’s. “Anytime you ever want to get out of town and kill things, please don’t hesitate to drop by. We’d all be more than happy to put down whatever we’re doing and join you. Truly.”

Taru gave a shy nod as my women nudged Haragh out of the way for a group hug, and they giggled and wished her more congratulations for several minutes longer.

Eventually, Haragh managed to untangle his woman from them and get out the door, but then Ruela shoved past me and trotted after them to offer her own goodbye.

The wolfish beast nuzzled her blood-crusted snout against the back of Taru’s leg before she could get too far, and when the ogre paused to scruff her behind the ear, the softest and sweetest voice I’d ever heard drifted from the ogre’s lips as she praised Ruela for being a good dog.

My jaw dropped while I tried to decide if I’d imagined it, and by all accounts, it couldn’t possibly be Taru’s voice. She’d never spoken a word around me, but somehow this vicious, mauling, downright scary and nine-foot-tall ogre woman had the loveliest voice in the world. It was like a fairy queen mixed with an angel, and I suddenly understood what people meant when they said someone’s voice was as smooth as molasses.

“D-Did you hear that?” I stammered as I turned to my women. “Was that her voice? Have you heard her voice?”

“Of course we’ve heard her voice, Mason,” Deya giggled as she closed the door. “Haven’t you?”

“No,” I scoffed. “I’ve only heard her terrifying war cries and the purring thing she does to Haragh.”

“That’s called murring when an ogre does it,” Deya informed me. “It’s a sign of affection.”

“She’s just shy around men,” Cayla said with a shrug. “You should hear her sing, though.”

“I cried, it was so beautiful,” Shoshanne admitted, and the princess nodded in agreement.

“She sings, too?” I asked as I blinked in shock.

“Mason, she’s your best friend’s lover, how do you not pay attention to these things?” Aurora snorted.

I shook my head in astonishment as I tried to wrap my brain around all of this, and my women giggled while they looped their arms around my waist and turned me toward the atrium.

“So, did anything else exciting happen while you were out?” Deya asked. “I want to hear everything I missed.”

“Um … yeah, actually,” I said with a grin. “I had sex in the king’s bedchamber, which was a first. Nulena showed up at the castle last night with some half-assed excuse about wanting to talk to Temin about the attack in Rajeen.”

“Well, that was clearly nonsense,” Cayla snorted. “I’m glad she found you, though. I was worried she might be concerned if she showed up and no one was at the mansion.”

“I can’t believe you had sex in the king’s quarters without us,” Aurora sulked. “It’s so inappropriate, I would have had so much fun.”

“I’ve never seen a king’s room before,” Deya said thoughtfully as she took a seat on the edge of the fountain. “Did you wear a crown while you had sex?”

“No, I wore chainmail,” I chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong, though, part of me absolutely wishes you all could have been there for the occasion, but I did need some time alone with the Baroness to clarify a few things, so I think it worked out well overall.”

“Is everything alright?” Shoshanne asked with concern.

“Yeah, it wasn’t a big deal,” I assured her. “I just noticed she was a little … selfish in a few situations lately, and I wanted to address the issue personally. It’s kind of difficult to set aside time for that sort of thing when you’re all naked and insisting I do scandalous things to her.”

“Is this about the other night?” Deya asked. “Because I did want to slap her when she didn’t let Shoshanne have her turn after me. Not in a mean way, just to make a point, and because I thought she might enjoy it.”

“I had fun either way,” the healer chuckled. “That thing she did with her hands tied behind her back was impressive. I only wished I could have had Mason in me for my first orgasm. That’s all.”

“I know you did,” I said as I pulled the healer into my arms. “I was right there with you, trust me. Things might get a little convoluted up there sometimes, but as much fun as it is having us all together, I wanted to be sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Aurora let out a devilish chuckle as she caught my meaning, and I sent her a wink.

“I can’t believe you didn’t let me watch,” Cayla groaned. “I love when you get dominating in bed. Did you spank her?”

“No,” I admitted. “Just uh … made sure she understood who was in charge.”

“Please tell me you wouldn’t let her have what she wanted,” Aurora moaned.

I grinned. “Not ‘til she behaved a little better.”

Shoshanne blushed to her roots as Deya bit her bottom lip, and Cayla looked weak in the knees at my words.

“Are you busy right now?” the beautiful elf asked, and I could tell all of my women were thinking the same thing.

“Unfortunately, yes,” I chuckled, “but I have every intention of spending tonight doting on all of you, so don’t worry about that.”

“No cages this time,” Aurora decided. “I want you to pleasure me yourself while you handle the others.”

“Me, too,” Cayla said with a grin.

“Deal,” I agreed. “For now, I need to get some more work done on the dragon for Mors Pass, and engrave another batch of lightning magazines so we’re fully stocked. I’m expecting Kurna to stop by soon and update me about the attack last night, too.”

“It couldn’t have been too bad,” Aurora mused as I headed for my stock of steel. “The town looked the same when we got back to Falmount, and the mages were enjoying themselves in the market.”

“That’s a relief,” I muttered. “I would’ve felt like an asshole if something horrible happened while I was out getting the castle guard drunk and fucking Nulena into submission.”

“What an eventful evening,” Deya sighed happily. “I think we all needed that.”

“Nulena especially,” Cayla murmured, and she sent me a lusty glance. “Next time she acts up, I get to spank her for you.”

“I’m okay with that,” I said with a nod. “I’d watch out, though. She’s a scratcher.”

Aurora moaned as her knees almost gave out, and I shook my head at the women before I turned back to my table.

“I’m going to work on my transmuting,” Deya announced as she stood up.

“No hunting,” I warned.

Deya casually left before responding, though, and I heard her send a half-hearted “huh?” over her shoulder like her excellent elven hearing was somehow failing her at the moment.

“You heard me,” I sighed as I summoned my metal powers.

“We’ll be at the training fields,” Aurora chuckled, and she and Cayla took their time leaving kisses down both sides of my neck before they headed for the door.

I smiled hazily as I watched them go, but before Shoshanne could follow, I caught her by the wrist and pulled her over.

The healer immediately came to me and was about to kiss me, but I lifted her onto the worktable in front of my stool instead.

“What are you doing?” Shoshanne giggled.

“Multi-tasking,” I replied as I parted her thighs. “Lay back.”

“You don’t have to--”

“I know,” I interrupted, and I slid the white silk of her bodice aside before I began gently stroking my fingers along her heated flesh. “I thought you deserved a little special treatment.”

“I don’t mind about the other night,” the healer assured me. “I adore Nulena, I’m just not as dominant as her.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t get what you want,” I countered, and I brought my lips between her thighs before she could argue any further.

The healer gasped as I delved my tongue into her taut tunnel, and I wasted no time showing her exactly what I thought she deserved. A bazooka crashed down from the wall when Shoshanne tried to find something to brace herself on, but after a few scraps of steel skittered to the floor, she just clutched my hair as her pleasure overran her senses.

I had her panting and moaning on my table for three orgasms while I simultaneously let my metal magic work on more pieces for the dragon automaton, and even though it was difficult to balance my attention between both tasks, I managed to find a rhythm so I could do a more than admirable job on the most important of the two.

I didn’t let up until Shoshanne’s legs were trembling against my cheeks, and the healer was flushed and drowsy-eyed when I looked up and began leaving a few kisses along her silky inner thighs.

“Next time, I won’t bother arguing,” she sighed as she sent me a sweet smile.

“Good,” I murmured.

The healer giggled and managed to right herself without sending any more of my work to the floor, but then I pulled her down onto my lap so she was straddling me. When I began kissing her, she wrapped her arms around my neck and let out a soft moan, and I let her kiss me as long as she wanted while I intermittently enjoyed her plush hips and flawless ass.

Eventually, I was questioning my plans for the day as I tried to decide if saving sex for tonight was really necessary, and I was about to suggest she and I take a trip to our jungle when the woman jolted at the sound of metal clattering to the ground.

Shoshanne’s tongue tangling with my own had completely derailed my attention, and I looked over to see the tibia I was trying to build in a heap on the ground. It looked nothing like a dragon’s bone, and the healer giggled at the sight of the gnarled lump of steel.

“You should be focusing better than this,” Shoshanne scolded.

“I don’t want to,” I chuckled as I slid her skirt up her thighs, but the healer sent me a mock stern look as she narrowed her eyes.

“You’ve already spoiled me enough for one day,” she informed me, “and if you expect any spoiling from me tonight, then you’ll have to be productive until then.”

I raised my brows at the healer’s firm tone. “What do I get if I am?”

Shoshanne smirked as she leaned closer to my ear, and while she began whispering incredibly dirty things to me, my heart just about stopped as all of my blood funneled straight to my dick. It never ceased to amaze me how secretly kinky the modest woman was, and my mouth was gaping open by the time she pulled away.

Then Shoshanne giggled and left a light kiss on my cheek, and I was still sitting there dumbfounded when she slid herself off my lap and strolled toward the entryway.

“I’ll be working with the healers if you need me,” she purred.

The tempting wink she sent me before she left made my balls ache so bad, I shot to my feet, and I ended up having to take a few laps around my shop just to throttle down. My mind remained in a state of erotic shock the whole time, and when I came back around to the table, I gave my scalp a thorough scruff to help redirect my blood flow.

“Holy shit,” I sighed.

“Is everything alright, sir?” Alfred asked as he came in with a steaming plate of food for me.

“Yeah,” I snorted. “Just … regrouping. I’m gonna work my ass off for a while, alright? If anyone comes to speak with me, though, send them in.”

“Very well, sir.”

I hardly touched the plate Alfred brought me while I engraved one magazine after another, and with Shoshanne’s filthy words running on a constant loop in my mind, it was surprisingly easy to wrangle the elements. It was like I had a newfound purpose ingrained deep in my groin, and not even the threat of electrocuting myself with pure lightning could counter that.

I engraved two hundred magazines without taking a single break while Stan trained his dragon to hold still during rune work, and then I promptly switched gears to form more pieces for the dragon automaton.

I had two full back legs formed when Kurna showed up, and he chatted with Alfred for a minute before making his way to the atrium.

“Nice guy,” the brawny mage said as he came in and nodded his approval.

“Yeah, Alfred’s great,” I agreed. “He mentioned an attack, though. Did everything hold up alright?”

Kurna let out a long sigh, but he was grinning as he leaned against my shelf of gold.

“Mason … it went beautifully,” he assured me. “You wouldn’t believe it all if I told you, but that market is set up like a dream right now. We were picking those Chupacabra off left and right, and not a single casualty on our side.”

“Really?” I asked in disbelief. “I didn’t even know the Master had Chupacabra. How many showed up?”

“About as many as those damned spiders, but it was perfect,” Kurna chuckled. “The mages were at peak performance, the ammunition was stocked, the bells went off, and just like that, everyone was in position. We were ready before the bastards even filled the streets. Urn was laughing like a madman through most of it, that’s how well it went.”

“Urn was laughing?” I clarified, and Kurna smirked.

“Most of us were,” he admitted. “You have no idea how satisfying it was. This setup you’ve come up with is flawless. Full visuals all the way around, and I tracked the last few Chupacabra myself. I didn’t know what this element looked like, but I destroyed every tree in the vicinity of where they disappeared just to be safe. It really couldn’t have gone better.”

“Damn!” I said as my grin spread from ear to ear. “That’s beyond awesome.”

“We’re gonna get that fucking Master, too,” Kurna said with a deadly glint in his eye. “I’ve got a good feeling about this. If the rest of the Order stays on top of their shit like we are in Falmount, he doesn’t stand a chance. Plus, I added thirty names to my list of recommendations after last night. There’s a good sixty mages in this town who could be promoted right this second and do a damn good job.”

I stared as I tried to process all this good news at once. “You’re sure?”

“No doubt in my mind,” Kurna assured me. “How’d the celebration go?”

I grinned. “Equally satisfying.”

“Impossible,” he countered point blank. “Nothing could have compared to that battle last night.”

I didn’t bother clarifying the kind of night I had even though I was pretty sure I could trump him. Considering he and Urn coordinated a solid defense in my absence, I was more than happy to nod in agreement and let the brawny mage soak in the glory on this one.

“How are the mages doing after everything?” I asked as I returned to my work, and I cleared a larger space on my table so I could start forming a massive scapula.

“They’re feeling pretty proud of themselves,” Kurna snorted. “Half of them are strutting around the market like they own the damn place, but they’ve certainly earned it. Pindor’s crew alone took out nearly a third of the Chupacabra.”

I paused my work and turned. “No shit? How’d they manage that?”

“Those guns of yours,” the brawny mage said with a grin. “They’re almost as proficient as the princess these days. You oughtta promote Pindor first thing, if you want my opinion.”

“I already did,” I told the man, and he furrowed his brow.

“You did?” he asked. “Why didn’t he mention it to me last night? No one’s calling him a Defender.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, he is a Defender, whether or not he’s willing to own up to it.”

“Oh well,” Kurna chuckled. “He’ll come around. In the meantime, he’s doing a hell of a job, and he’s even volunteered to help the new residents settle in today. We’ve got a handful of shopkeepers bringing over their stock from Serin right now, and a decent number of mages from the Oculus are moving in as well. I better get back there and help out. There’s a particularly beautiful spice merchant who I wouldn’t mind lending a hand to.”

“If it’s Miss Clearidge, I’d say you’re too late,” I informed the man with a smirk. “From what I’ve gathered, Urn’s already on a first name basis with her.”

Kurna’s expression sobered into firm resolve. “Like hell he is.”

Then the brawny mage abruptly turned for the door, and I could hear him taking long, deliberate strides all the way down the lane as he beelined for the market.

I wondered if I might end up regretting this new merchant down the line, but I doubted a bit of competition amongst men could do much harm with everything else that had been happening. I still scoped out the situation while I worked, though, and when Kurna made it to the market, I tracked his footfalls while I waited for him to make some brazen introduction.

Judging by the difficulty he had getting a word in, it sounded like about five other Defenders already beat him to the spice shop.

“Okay, so maybe it’ll be an issue,” I muttered as I turned my attention back to my work.

Still, things were looking up, and I could hardly believe the rebuilding had worked out so well. The realization that everything was coming together on our end was just the boost I needed after the sudden change in the tides lately.

If Kurna’s estimation was correct, then Temin having to send our Defenders to their posts would only increase our chances of destroying the Master that much sooner. Which meant I had a lot of work ahead of me in terms of arming them in case that time came sooner rather than later.

So, I finished up the pieces I needed for the shoulders of the metal dragon before I went back to engraving magazines, and while I worked, I kept half my focus on the village.

Cayla and Aurora were discussing the improvement in the mages while they strolled around the training fields, and Shoshanne was speaking with a few healers in the infirmary who offered their congratulations on her recent appointment as head of the Order’s infirmary. I could hear Jenik going at it with Bom Two not far away, and it sounded like he wasn’t nervous anymore, which was impressive considering he was up against a much larger automaton now.

The mages were chatting and practicing all over Falmount while some of them greeted the newcomers and showed them around, and I couldn’t help grinning as I realized how well my town was really coming along. Performance was up, defenses were solid, Shoshanne would be doing crazy hot things to my dick in only a few hours, and life was fucking good.

Even Temin was in better spirits, and at this point, I couldn’t care less what the Master had up his sleeve. Something in my gut told me we could damn sure handle it, whatever it was.

But then I heard Pindor cursing under his breath while he bolted along the lane, and I froze as he drew closer to the mansion.

I was still sitting there with my engraving tool poised in midair when the kid burst into the house, and he toppled over Alfred on his way to the atrium. Sweat was pouring down his temples when he made it to the shop, and he stood there gulping for air as I turned on my stool.

“Mason,” Pindor gasped, “we’ve got a huge fucking problem!”

I nodded. “That sounds about right.”

Chapter 17

“You’re sure that’s what the merchants said?” I clarified as Pindor and I ran to Bobbie, and he nodded vigorously.

“Three of them, bigger than anything they’ve ever seen, and covered in flames,” Pindor repeated.

“Where?” I demanded as I brought Bobbie to life, and I planted my foot through the accelerator before Pindor was even seated.

The kid yelped and almost tumbled over the seatback, but when I took a sharp turn around a few trees, he rolled back into place and caught the grab bar in both hands.

“The merchants saw them in the distance to the west when they were on their way to Falmount with their stock,” Pindor hollered above the noise of Bobbie careening down the hillside. “The things were taller than the mountains!”

I furrowed my brow as I veered southwest to take a shortcut through a ravine, and I thought back to the last time flaming beasts had showed up in Illaria.

“Sounds like there’s another possessed Ignis Mage causing trouble,” I muttered.

“You think one mage could make three giant flaming monsters at once?” Pindor scoffed.

“I have no idea,” I shot back, “but I wouldn’t be surprised by much of anything these days. Shit’s been getting weirder every day.”

“The merchants I talked to said the beasts had a lot of smoke coming from them, too,” the kid continued.

“Then keep an eye on the sky,” I told him as Bobbie swerved at the edge of a steep hillside, and I turned us west before I floored it once more. “We’ll follow the smoke to see if we can spot--”

I hit the brakes so hard, both me and Pindor nearly smashed into the dashboard, but neither of us cared. We were busy gaping across the hills in horror.

Even at this distance, the air and terrain surrounding the flaming giants rippled from the heat they were letting off, but there was a striking difference between these guys and the fire scorpion we’d battled outside Rajeen.

Despite their demonic skulls and hollow eyes, the giants had ash gray sinew for bodies that was chiseled to an alarming degree, and vivid red flames billowed from their frames as they slowly burned a trail over the rolling hills. They carried fiery, coiled whips in their hands, too, and the smoke that plumed at their backs left a dense black cloud over the land.

Initially, I’d hoped Pindor’s informants oversold the ordeal when they said the giants were taller than the mountains, but my palms began to sweat as I realized they hadn’t. These bastards towered over the trees, the foothills, and the peaks of the distant mountains, and I could already feel the tremors of their footfalls shaking the ground from a mile away.

“Gods-fucking-damnit,” I groaned. “Where the hell is he even getting this shit from?”

“They’re heading straight for Serin,” Pindor breathed with his eyes wide in terror. “At this rate, they could be there within a couple hours.”

I nodded as I watched flames spilling from the giants’ limbs, and brush fires started all over the land wherever they fell. Then I swiftly brought Bobbie back around, and Pindor almost bounced right out the window as we bombed down hillsides and along rocky ravines to get back to Falmount.

Normally, I drove around the village so I wouldn’t spook the mages’ horses with the Mustang, but this time, I sped right past Mage Hill as everyone dove out of the lanes. Then I came to a screeching stop in front of the barbican, and Pindor and I leapt from the windows to sprint into the market.

“Find my women at the training fields,” I ordered.

The kid nodded before he branched off.

“Everyone, get your weapons and head for the stables,” I hollered as the mages in the clearing stared in alarm, and they promptly obeyed the order while I scanned for a sign of Kurna.

For once, none of the Defenders were hanging around the pub, though, and I came to a quick stop as I listened carefully. Then I heard Urn and Kurna’s voices coming from one of the shops, and when I stormed in, I found eighteen of my Defenders either shopping for spices or helping set up spice racks.

All of them looked like guilty teenagers when they saw me, but I didn’t bother addressing the fact they were supposed to be working instead of hitting on a spice lady.

“Get the mages ready to move out,” I ordered. “Serin’s about to be under attack.”

Jars and packages hit the ground as the Defenders abruptly cleared out, and Cayla and Aurora were just getting to the clearing with Pindor when we crossed paths.

“Do you know anything about giants made of fire?” I asked Aurora as she fell into step with me.

“Do you mean fire titans?” the half-elf asked in confusion. “I’ve read about giants that spew fire, but I’ve never seen--”

“Huge as fuck with flaming whips,” I cut in, and Aurora’s eyes went wide.

“That sounds accurate.”

“Shit,” I cursed as we got back to Bobbie. “Can your magery counter their magic?”

“I don’t know,” the half-elf admitted. “Mason, what’s going on?”

“Three of them are heading for Serin right now,” I replied, and I turned to the Defenders at my back. “Get the troops armed and mounted. I’ll meet you at the ridge about a mile southwest of here.”

“Yes, sir,” Urn said with a nod, and he and the others spread out to bark orders at the mages gathering in the clearing.

“Pindor,” I said as I caught him by his sleeve. “This is no time to be a shit, you’re a Defender, deal with it.”

The kid blanched as he nodded, and I shook my head while he ran for the stables.

“As soon as we’re home, get the trunk stocked,” I told Cayla as Bobbie roared to life. “Aurora, get Shoshanne from the infirmary and tell the healers to prepare the place for the wounded. I want two healers sent back to the Oculus in case this fight gets too close to Serin.”

“Yes, Mason,” the two women replied in unison, and as soon as we were parked beside the moat, Aurora ran for the infirmary as Cayla and I bolted over our bridge.

“Bazookas?” the princess suggested.

“Stock them in case we need them, but I don’t think more flames will help with these guys,” I replied.

“Then what are we … ”

The princess trailed off when she looked at the pistol on my belt, and I sent her a deadly grin as we pushed through the front door and headed for my shop.

“I’ll get Deya and as many magazines as I can,” I told her. “There’s a good chance we’ll be burning through them before we can make an impact.”

“What?” Cayla gasped as she began raiding my weaponry, and I wrenched the ammunition cabinet open to unearth the magazines I’d finished earlier. “How could lightning not--”

“The bullets are copper,” I interrupted. “They’ll start melting around a thousand degrees, so if these guys are hotter than that, our ammunition will burn up before we hit our mark. Hopefully, we can manage to lower their internal temperature. If not, we’re fucked.”

“Gods,” the princess groaned as she loaded her arms with bazookas, but then Alfred appeared, and she foisted them onto him instead. “Put these in the Mustang.”

“Certainly, my lady,” Alfred replied before he hustled out the door.

Cayla and I mad-dashed around the atrium getting everything we could possibly need, and as I sparked my metal magic to start sending it out to the Mustang, I ran through the halls hollering for Deya.

I found her nakedly transmuting in our sex jungle while she sat on the moss, and no matter how many times I repeated her name, she remained perfectly still with her eyes closed.

So, I dropped to my knees and delved my tongue into her mouth, and I kissed her like my life depended on it until I felt her hands trailing up my arms to pull me closer.

Then I resurfaced to find a lusty cast in her violet eyes.

“I could feel how turned on I was even in my dragon form,” the beautiful elf purred.

“That’s awesome,” I panted. “Get dressed and grab your scales, the troops just left.”

Deya immediately hopped to as I ran back through the jungle and out the door, but then Stan swooped in on Solana like he was ready to join us.

“No way,” I chuckled as I eyed him flying beside me. “You’re guarding the house, buddy.”

Stan brought his dragon around to cut me off, though, and I managed to stop before the wings could take my eyes out. The little metal man had his hands propped stubbornly on his hips while he hovered in the air, and he tilted his head forward like he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“Stan,” I said as I mirrored his stubborn stance. “We’re about to go face off against giant, flaming titans that are about four times taller than this mansion. You really want to get into that?”

Stan was visibly stunned as he processed this, but eventually, he saluted and steered his dragon out of my way.

“That’s what I thought,” I mumbled as I bolted for the door, and Deya was close behind me by the time I crossed my bridge and met the other women at the Mustang.

They were lining their belts with spare magazines, and Alfred offered me a small nod as he stooped behind the trunk. From the look of it, the butler was organizing my arsenal in terms of size from left to right, and I smirked as I came over to reseal the trunk.

“That’s good enough,” I assured the man.

“Very well, sir.”

“Would you mind throwing some femurs around for Ruela while we’re gone?” I asked. “We should be back in a few hours, but she usually goes running with Deya around this time.”

“Certainly, sir,” Alfred said as he helped Cayla into the Mustang. “Will you be eating in this evening?”

“Yeah, we should feast,” I decided.

Cayla smiled and squeezed the butler’s arm. “Thank you, Alfred. I don’t know how we ever got along without you.”

The old man offered a low bow before he stepped back, and as Bobbie roared to life, my women wished him a pleasant afternoon as they hung out the windows.

Then we peeled out, and I filled everyone in on what I’d seen with Pindor while Bobbie tore through the woods as fast as she could. She took us along a different route that I realized must be a short cut, and I let her do her thing while Cayla shoved a few more magazines into my belt just in case.

When we made it to the ridge, my army stood in a heavy silence beside their mounts, and they looked out across the hills at the three titans burning their way toward the capital.

The air felt dense with fear when I pushed through the crowd to join the generals, and Haragh sent me a resolute nod when I came to his side. The titans were steadily making their way toward the capital, and it looked like they’d be at the gates within the hour if we didn’t intercept them. The wildfires they left behind were spreading rapidly across the farmers’ fields and the dirt roads, and by now, the sky in the west was obscured by smoke.

“Aurora, see if your powers can control the blaze,” I said as I eyed the fields smoldering behind the titans.

“It’s no good,” Kurna said before she’d even raised her palms. “I already tried.”

Then I looked at Shoshanne. “Do they have lungs?”

The healer raised her palms forward as she summoned her Aer magic, and she furrowed her brows while she focused her attention on the giants in the distance for a minute. Then she paled a little and shook her head.

“Then we’ll have to get creative with this one,” I muttered. “Starting with finding a means of extinguishing their flames.”

“They have solid forms, though,” Aurora pointed out. “Dousing their flames won’t be enough to end them.”

“I know, but if we can’t get close enough to them, then we can’t stop them.”

The Defenders nodded in agreement as we all eyed the heat lines billowing around the three giants, and Urn nudged me in the side.

“Burying them won’t be enough, either,” the burly Terra Mage grunted. “You got a plan for how to end this? Because there’s no sense riding all our mages out there otherwise.”

I nodded. “I agree. I’m counting on lightning for this one, but my bullets are copper. Unless we cool these guys off, I can’t use them.”

“Those new guns of yours?” Urn clarified.

“That could work,” Haragh said with a nod, and I turned to address the mages at our backs.

“We need to douse those flames and drop these bastards as quickly as possible,” I told the troops. “Aer Mages, you’re in charge of controlling the temperature while the Flumen Mages counter the flames. Terra Mages, try to stall the titans’ progress until we can take them down. Defenders, keep your troops out of the line of fire, and use circuits to conserve your power. Give them everything we’ve got. We can’t let them reach the capital. As soon as we have an opening, my women and I will take them down.”

Then I turned to Kurna and Aurora.

“Is there nothing you can do about the fall out?” I asked as the Defenders began organizing their crews, and the two Ignis Mages thought for a moment before Aurora narrowed her eyes.

“If we can’t counter their own flames, then we need to gain control over the blaze any way we can,” the half-elf decided.

Kurna nodded as they exchanged a weighted look.

“It’s our only chance,” the brawny mage agreed. “Light it up and hope the effect of our magic overpowers theirs.”

“It’ll be a mess, Mason,” Aurora warned, but I turned away to address the Ignis Mages in the crowd.

“Ignis Mages, you’re joining Defenders Solana and Kurna to handle the fall out,” I ordered. “Set everything on fire. If your flames can overpower the titans’, then we can try to control the blaze. Divide into two troops and ride west to handle the destruction they’ve already left behind. Then work your way toward the capital. If this all goes south, get to the gates of Serin and protect the people.”

The horses began stomping anxiously as the mages rushed to ready themselves, and the orders of the Defenders filled the air while they coordinated amongst themselves to get their crews in line.

A mage came over to offer Aurora their horse since they could ride with a friend of theirs, but I caught the half-elf’s wrist before she could mount up.

Then I clutched her to me by the roots of her hair as I pulled her in for a fiery kiss, and her powers collided with mine to make my lips burn while static energy coursed through my veins. She had an eager grin on her face when I released her, and I chuckled at the way her emerald eyes glinted with the excitement she always had before a fight.

“Be careful,” she purred.

“I knew it!” the Baroness suddenly hissed, and Aurora screeched as she toppled into Cayla.

I whipped around as Nulena grabbed my arm, and the amount of rage etched all over her face made every mage around us halt in their tracks.

“The moment I heard of these flaming beasts, I knew you would all be running off to get yourselves killed over it!” the Baroness snapped. “What are you thinking? You can’t really be determined to go into this fiery mess just to protect others!”

I saw Kurna’s brows shoot up out of the corner of my eye as Haragh let out a heavy sigh, but I tried to answer as calmly as possible, despite the three giant fire monsters in the distance.

“We are,” I told the Baroness bluntly, and I gestured to my extensively armed women and the entire army surrounding us. “Obviously.”

“No!” Nulena gasped. “Don’t do that. Come back home instead.”

“Nulena,” I sighed, but the woman was clinging to my vest now, and she didn’t seem to care at all that my whole village could see her acting this way either.

“Mason, you can do anything you want to me if you leave right now,” the Baroness murmured as she pressed herself against me and stroked my neck. “I have nothing on underneath this dress, and I’ll let you tease me, whip me, tie me up, choke me--”

“Nulena, that isn’t how this works,” I groaned, but it was impossible to say it with any conviction. “We have to go take care of this, or Serin will be destroyed.”

Panic took over the Baroness’ features as she eyed my women, and she abruptly released me to grab Deya and drag her over.

“You can’t bring them into this,” Nulena demanded. “Surely, they mean too much to you. I’ll guard them and--”

“Hell, no,” Aurora snorted. “We always join Mason in the fight, it’s one of our favorite things to do together.”

“It’s true,” Cayla said with an apologetic shrug.

“Don’t worry, Nulena,” Shoshanne tried. “We’ll be okay.”

“And we love you, too,” Deya added with a sweet smile, but the Baroness looked equal parts furious and betrayed as her two-toned eyes brimmed with tears.

“This is the worst kind of chaos!” Nulena suddenly spat. Then she pushed through the mages to ditch the scene altogether.

“Mason, go after her,” Deya whimpered, and her violet eyes burned up at me while Kurna cleared his throat.

“Mason, we should really be moving out,” the Ignis Mage mumbled. “Those titans could take a while to subdue, and we’re running out of time.”

“But Mason … ” Shoshanne pleaded.

I rifled my hair as Urn cocked a brow at me, and then I let out a long sigh.

“Just give me one minute.”

I quickly followed the Baroness while several of the mages began debating whether I would abandon the battle over the mysterious woman, and even though a surprising number of them seemed to respect the inclination, I shook my head to their thumbs-ups as I passed.

Nulena was fuming when I caught up and grabbed her elbow, and I half-expected a slap to the face, but she just ground her jaw and swiped the tears from her eyes.

“Look, I know this is hard for you,” I murmured as I held her against me, “but this is what I do. You know that, and I think there’s a part of you that appreciates it, too.”

“Fine!” the Baroness growled. “It’s admirable, and I hate that I like it! But Mason, you’re infinitely superior to these imbeciles, and their lives aren’t worth it. You’re smart enough to see that, so I don’t understand why you go ahead and do it anyways. You could come home and make love to me instead. Please? It’s so much better when we’re naked and not arguing over the lives of peasants. Just come home, and we’ll all strip for you and do anything you like, please?”

I couldn’t help grinning over her rant, but I did my best to respond gently while she clung desperately to my shirt.

“I can’t do that,” I admitted. “This is too important. Illaria relies on the mages for protection at times like this, and I’m leading them. I wouldn’t abandon that for anything.”

“Then I have nothing to say to you,” Nulena scoffed, and she yanked herself out of my hold as she crossed her arms.

“That’s alright, too,” I sighed. “We don’t have to see eye to eye on everything.”

I turned to leave, but as a smirk twitched at the corner of my lips, I couldn’t resist the opportunity, so I ended up backtracking.

“Oh, hey, that reminds me,” I muttered. Then I pulled the Baroness close and brought my lips to her ear, and as she melted against me, I murmured, “I love you, Nulena.”

I could feel the Baroness’ body go rigid the moment the words left my mouth, and her breath caught like she was actually choking on shock. Her entire face and chest were shimmering when I looked at her, and she stubbornly blinked away her tears in a state of furious confusion.

So, I chuckled as I tipped her chin up to me, and I left a light kiss on her ebony lips since she was too flustered to do much of anything.

“I’ll be right back,” I promised her, and then I turned to jog back to the ridge where Kurna and my women were waiting for me.

“Everything sorted out?” the brawny mage asked me with a grin.

I cleared my throat. “How much of that did you all hear?”

“None of it,” Kurna lied. “Although, it’s sweet this new woman of yours thinks so little of us. She’s charming.”

“Hey, she is charming,” Deya informed the man hotly, and she came within an inch of him with a firm scowl on her face. “So what if she’s a murderer and doesn’t understand the value of others’ lives? She likes Mason, and Mason likes her, so that’s all that matters! You would be lucky to gain the affection of a woman as scary as her, and I bet you wouldn’t even know what to do with yourself if you did. You would be confused and turned on all at once, and--”

“Okay, Deya,” Cayla muttered under her breath. “That’s enough of that, I think.”

Deya tipped her nose up in defiance as she let Cayla tug her away from the general, and a few mages snorted at the look the Defenders were sending me.

I just grinned and adjusted my gun belt, though, and I nodded to Kurna without a scrap of remorse.

“We should move out.”

“Yes, sir,” the brawny mage chuckled, and Urn motioned for the troops to mount up as I led my women back to the Mustang.

“You good?” I asked Deya.

“Yes, I’m sorry about that.” Deya blushed. “I don’t know what came over me. I just love Nulena, and all at once, I felt very defensive.”

“Uh-huh,” I chuckled as I unsealed the doors for the women. “Maybe you should avoid mentioning the murder thing, though.”

“Yes, Mason,” the beautiful elf replied. “By the way, I am so happy you told Nulena how you feel just now. I think it will be good for her.”

Shoshanne hid her smile as she looked out the passenger window, but within a few seconds, her giggles escaped, and I nodded as the others began giggling, too. Then Cayla slid across the backseat to loop her arm in Deya’s, and the princess tucked a kiss in the elf’s pink hair while I watched the horses ahead of us pound their way down the hillside and toward the giants.

“Are you ladies ready, or do you need a minute?” I asked with a smirk.

“No, we’re ready,” Cayla laughed. “Let’s do this.”

“Great,” I said as Bobbie gave a low growl of approval. “Deya, you brought those scales, right?”

“I did,” the beautiful elf said with a nod. “Which would you like me to use?”

I grinned in the rearview mirror. “Surprise me.”

Chapter 18

The Defenders reined in their mounts about four hundred yards from the three titans, but the heat was already blistering as the horses nickered anxiously and tried to back away. From this close, the giants looked taller than any skyscraper I’d seen in Chicago, and the masses of flames that billowed at their backs thrummed so loudly, I could feel it deep in my gut like a heavy bass. Their fire was redder than any I’d seen in this realm, and the flames lapped at the air in sheets as thick black smoke funneled into the sky. The ground trembled from the weight of the giants lumbering toward the capital, and with every step, the strange red flames dripped from their limbs to burn their way across the hills.

In the distance to the far west, I could see Aurora and Kurna’s troops galloping into the fiery fray, and their own flames began searing the fields into a raging inferno that made my adrenaline spike just to watch.

“Let’s hope this works,” I muttered as Shoshanne and I climbed out of the Mustang, and Cayla took my place in the driver’s seat.

“Once the flames are extinguished, get out there and start firing,” I told the princess, “but if anything goes wrong with Deya, get her to Shoshanne as fast as you can.”

“I will,” Cayla said with a curt nod.

I paused to give the Mustang the same instructions in case Cayla was preoccupied, and once Bobbie understood how important it was that she kept Deya out of harm’s way, she let out a low growl as I patted her front fender.

The Defenders were spreading the troops out when Shoshanne and I came to join them, and I was already having trouble filling my lungs from how stifling the heat and smoke were. My healing rune was louder than usual, too, but I pushed this notion to the back of my mind as Urn came over with sweat beading on his shaved head.

“This distance isn’t going to work for a lot of these mages,” the Terra Defender informed me. “The closer we are, the better our chances will be of overpowering them.”

“We’ll have to do what we can until it’s safe to get closer,” I replied. “As soon as the heat dies down, keep the mages moving ahead, and try to intercept the titans’ path if you can.”

Urn nodded before he left to lead his troop, and I rolled up my sleeves and undid the top buttons on my shirt as the heat became more oppressive.

“Shoshanne, find Defender Kin,” I ordered. “I want you two coordinating your troops together. With the amount of experience she has, the two of you should be able to get the temperature dropping pretty quickly.”

“Yes, Mason,” the healer said at once, and she hurried off to find the Flumen Mage Kurna had brought into Falmount months ago to help us out.

Within a couple minutes, I could hear the two women coordinating a series of circuits with the mages, and when I caught sight of Shoshanne mounted at the ready on a white mare, I sent her a nod.

“Let’s go!” the Aer Mage hollered above the thrumming of the flames.

Her mages raised their palms at her command as the air surged with energy, and the heat began to ease up within seconds. I could hear Shoshanne guiding the others through their work while the rest of us waited with our tensions mounting, and as soon as the heat was manageable, the troops pressed forward to take their positions.

Then the Flumen Mages joined in a circuit at Kin’s command, and I could tell by the coarseness of her tone that Defender Kin had years of experience in battle. On her signal, the ground began to shake from something other than the giants, and I kept my eyes glued on the hellish skulls of the titans.

“Get ready to shield them!” I ordered the Terra Mages.

Haragh and Pindor quickly came forward with their troops, and I knelt a split second before dozens of geysers broke through the surface of the ground. They sprayed up to a hundred feet around the titans as steam began to plume from the ashen bodies, but I could see the water drying up in the air before it reached the inferno raging on the ground.

Then the Aer Mages increased their powers as the sudden onslaught infuriated the giants.

The titans’ ear-splitting shrieks brought more flames spewing from their mouths, and all at once, they turned to face our army.

“Shhhhit,” I cursed, and the titans’ eyes burned a blinding red as one of them raised a fiery whip. “Shield!”

The Terra Mages connected in a circuit to raise a thirty-foot wall at my command, and it spanned the entire length of our troops within seconds. Then the crack of the fiery whip split the air, and it sliced straight through our wall like butter. The heat it brought with it made my eyes burn as my skin neared the point of blistering, but I hardly had time to register this because the strange red flames were already igniting our wall. The Terra Mages let the shield collapse as the other mages scattered to escape the inferno, but I could feel the temperature dropping once more thanks to the Aer Mages.

Then the giant raised its whip again, and this time, it lashed out at a whole troop of my mages before we could retaliate. My gut dropped as their screams rent the air, and that’s when we all collectively lost our shit.

The Defenders roared their orders while the Aer Mages doubled down, and the troops forged straight ahead as their battle cries rose up in a fury. Geysers broke the ground open all over the place as the titans stumbled and began to smoke even more, and Pindor’s horse came galloping straight for me while the rest of the mages pounded past.

I’d never seen the kid look so fixated as he did in that moment, and for a second, he looked ten years older as sweat poured down his sooty face. Then I caught his outstretched arm to vault myself onto the back of his saddle, and we rode like hell into the fray as circuits connected all around us.

The acrid stench of smoke grated in my lungs while I squinted through the sweat stinging my eyes, and I could sense the mages around me straining to keep their magic directed at the titans despite the heat. Pindor and I formed a ring of perilous spikes to block the giants in, and when Haragh’s crew lifted whole slabs of stone, they sent the rocks flying through the air to collide with the giants’ demonic faces.

Mud and soot sloshed under the horse’s hooves as more red flames spewed from the titans’ mouths, and the smell of sulfur made me gag as the geysers mixed with the ash of the fields.

“Flumen Mages, draw from the Asris River!” I hollered as loud as I could. “We’ve gotta end this, let’s make it rain!”

Clouds began to gather in the smoky sky while the temperature continued to plummet, and just as the first drops began to fall, I heard a deafening roar overhead. Then a green dragon broke through the clouds, and I grabbed the reins from Pindor to steer us away from the titans.

“What are you doing?” the kid yelped.

“Get us out of range, I need to catch that dragon!” I shouted.

“You what?” Pindor screamed, and when he saw the green dragon swooping right at us, he nearly jumped off the horse.

I locked my hand on his shoulder to keep him in place, though, and as his horse began to gallop in wild zigzags through the flames and mud, I struggled to brace my boots on the back of the saddle.

I was barely balanced in a crouch when Deya dove, and Pindor’s next scream was the only thing I heard as I jumped into the air. I caught the crook of the dragon’s wing just before I could drop into the flames, and she rolled through the air to shake me off and send me flying to her shoulder instead. I could see Pindor scrambling to get control of his horse while I clambered up onto Deya’s back, and once I was mounted, I sent the kid a broad grin and a salute to show my thanks.

He definitely looked sixteen again as he gaped up at me, but then Deya brought us around to coast over the fields, and I turned my attention to the west. I could see Kurna and Aurora’s troops in the distance from up here, and my heart leapt as I realized their tactics were working. Amber flames overran the red at the forefront of their line of mages, and behind them, the fields smoldered with ash where the fires had already been doused.

“Find Shoshanne!” I bellowed to Deya as rain pelted my face, and I squinted hard while I scanned the mayhem below.

Beneath the smoke and steam, I could see the mages galloping in every direction, and the sheer chaos of it all made my adrenaline spike. They were coming dangerously close to the titans while they tore the ground apart, flooded the plains, and pulled out every stop, and their horses leapt over trenches and slid through the muddy, ashen fields. The generals barked out orders until they were hoarse to try and coordinate the most effective attack we could manage, but as the circumstances became more hectic, the titans shrieked and spewed more flames at the troops below.

Then one jet of red came within yards of swallowing up a crew of Aer Mages led by Shoshanne.

“There!” I hollered as I kicked Deya’s right side, and she veered off to fly low as a plume of smoke engulfed us.

I was hacking and rubbing my burning eyes when we came out the other side, but we were only a few yards from Shoshanne now, and I raised my voice above the howling wind.

“Freeze them out!” I bellowed. “We need it colder fast!”

Shoshanne immediately relayed the orders to her crew as Defender Kin picked up the command, too, and within seconds, the rain became frigid as it pelted my skin.

“Don’t ease up!” I called out to the Flumen Mages below. “Double down, we’ve almost got them!”

The rains picked up as thunder rumbled through the clouds above us, and I could feel the winds shifting while the Aer Mages worked to direct everything right at the three giants.

Their massive frames were more smoke than flames now, but the dense black in the air only made it more difficult for the mages to navigate. They shrieked as their horses threw them and bolted for the foothills, and I could see their comrades trying to pull them from the muddy trenches as more flames spewed out.

“Shit,” I growled as I pulled out my pistol, and I took aim at one of the titans even though he was still radiating an incredible amount of heat.

Then I sparked my metal magic and pulled the trigger, and I kept my powers locked on the bullet while I tried to gauge how far it got. The damn thing melted within twenty yards of the titan, though, and I ground my jaw as the frigid rain cut at my face and made my head ache with cold.

“We’re on decoy duty for now,” I yelled to Deya. “Do whatever you can to piss those titans off, we can’t let them focus on the mages.”

Deya’s roar vibrated through every inch of me as she swooped back around, and she let out a jet of flames while she coursed straight over a titan’s skull. I coughed and gasped as smoke charred my throat, but the maneuver worked to draw the attention of two titans toward us instead of my army.

Then red flames shot at us from both sides, and Deya rolled to escape the blaze. I clung to her back with all of my strength as a stream of curses flew from my mouth, and the dragon plummeted toward the ground before she narrowly avoided a troop of Terra Mages.

“Too close!” I hollered as I clung to Deya’s spines, but she was already gaining altitude to come at the titans again.

This time, I was ready for the smoky onslaught, but the flaming red eyes of a giant locked onto me as we flew at them, and fear shot through me as I registered something familiar in the hollow gaze.

It was more calculating than the other two, and I was bug-eyed and numb when Deya swooped over the titans, who had their fangs already parted.

My first instinct was to take aim, but I knew they were still too hot for my bullets to reach them, and after seeing the look on the titan’s face, I didn’t want to betray the issue.

So, I let the flames burst over us as Deya rolled and shielded me with her wings, and as we jetted toward the ground once more, I didn’t even register the plummeting of my organs or the howling wind in my ears.

I just tightened my grip and tried to process what had just happened, and when we coasted out over a flaming field, I looked back to see the red eyes still following me.

“Godsdamnit,” I growled. “That was him.”

Deya let out a screech in confusion, and I nudged her with my boot.

“Get us back to that fucker whose tracking us,” I ordered above the pounding of the rain against her scales. “The Master’s watching us through that titan, I can tell by his eyes. I’ve seen it before.”

Deya slowed the beat of her wings like she didn’t want to obey the order, but I patted her shoulder as I kept my sights on the titan.

“Do it!” I shouted. “If he wants to watch me work, I’ll give him a show he’ll never forget.”

Deya reluctantly picked up speed as she soared straight at the giants, but before we made it there, the titan suddenly looked away, and my heart stopped as I saw his fangs part.

Then a torrent of flames spewed out from his mouth, and Deya screeched in fury as a whole slew of mages were engulfed in red.

“You son of a bitch,” I snarled, and as my healing rune roared in my ears, I let it take over and jumped from Deya’s back.

My heart pounded heavy in my ears as screams rose up from below, and the freezing air rushed over me while I dropped into the fiery mayhem. My vision was red, and my jaw ached from how furiously I had it locked, and when I sparked my Terra powers and hit the ground, I channeled the added momentum of my fall.

The ground bowled out for twenty feet around me as a shockwave tore through the soil, and at the center of my tunneled vision, the three titans stumbled from the quaking beneath them. I only increased my power, though, as I kept my fist planted in the mud, and the horses began fleeing as my earthquake gathered in strength.

One titan crashed to its knees while the rain began to pour from the sky in sheets, and when I felt the drops that struck me turning into ice, I let a lethal grin spread across my face.

Then I forced another surge of magic through the ground, and even though my brain felt like it would explode from the effort, my rune and anger spurred me on. I kept my eyes on the titans as the earthquake shook more violently with every second, and before the titans could send out more flames, I rooted my other fist in the mud.

The chasm that broke open beneath them cracked louder than the thunder overhead, and the titans dropped hard as two of their arms broke on impact. Smoking, coal black shards scattered across the ground as their shrieks pierced my ears, and even though I could see them preparing to spew their flames in my direction, I didn’t flinch.

I could feel dozens of mages connecting to my powers now as the Terra Mages formed one massive circuit, and they slammed the earth shut to lock the titans in place up to their ashen ribs.

Pindor’s magic broke off from the circuit a split second later, and before the flames could engulf me, he sent a wall up to shield me.

Then I halted the earthquake, pulled my pistols out, and broke the wall apart as I rose to my feet.

My women and I began firing from all sides while we sent a volley of lightning laced bullets at the trapped giants, and this time, they met their mark without burning up. Dozens of bullets struck the titans in their ashen chests and hollow skulls, and even though bolts of blue began to sprawl across them, I didn’t stop firing until both of my magazines were spent.

The bolts of lightning connected with one another as they gained in intensity, and they began bursting outward and connecting with the clouds overhead to form an electric web throughout the sky. Mages scattered in all directions and urged their horses to pick up speed as the lightning crackled a vibrant blue, and the air around me vibrated from the electricity coursing through the giants.

I slowly holstered my pistols while I held my ground, though, and as the same titan kept his flaming eyes on me, I recognized the calculating look I saw there.

So, yeah, I couldn’t resist.

With lightning flashing all around and rain still pelting down, I flicked the Master off right then with a shit eating grin on my face, and the titan was mid shriek when lightning shot from his eyes. Then a thundering blast reverberated across the lands while the titans exploded in a blaze of blue, and I was thrown into the air as my hearing and vision cut out altogether.

I was flying blind and deaf from the aftermath of the blast, but I sparked my Terra Magic with a vengeance as I tried to soften the ground for as far as my powers could reach. When I did so, I immediately connected with the other Terra Mages working toward the same goal, and I kept all of my focus on this connection until I crashed down and rolled for several feet.

Then I coughed face down and stunned in the mud while my healing rune chanted to restore my senses, and I could feel the rain easing up as the frigid air steadily warmed again. A light tremble shook my limbs from the amount of effort I’d forced out of my magery, and my throat felt scalded raw from the smoke. I didn’t know how long I laid there waiting to recover, but luckily, the other mages hadn’t been nearly so close to the explosion as I was, and I eventually felt myself being dragged to my feet.

I blinked hard through my blurry vision while someone shook me by the shoulder, and I could barely make out Haragh’s voice like he was speaking through water. The red flames were gone from the fields even though there was still blackish smoke in the air, and I could tell the hills were torn apart, burnt, and flooded for who knew how far around.

Then there were others surrounding me, and I recognized Urn’s burly build and Kurna’s muffled voice. They were shouting something at me that I couldn’t understand, but when I saw Bobbie’s headlights approaching, my pulse quickened as I realized something must be wrong.

Chapter 19

“Where are my women?” I demanded, but I could hardly even hear my own voice.

Then Haragh shook me roughly by the shoulder and turned me around to face him, and I squinted as I tried to make out what he was saying. I recognized the irritation in his eyes, which clued me into the fact that my women were probably just fine, but his words were garbled with the chanting of my rune.

“Attack!” I finally heard the half-ogre growl. “We have to go!”

“Who’s under attack?” I hollered as I rubbed my eyes to try and clear them.

“Serin!” Urn bellowed.

I tore Haragh’s hands off my shoulders as I whipped around, and even though I couldn’t see for shit, I could make out blurry plumes of smoke over the capital.

“That mother fucker,” I growled as I stumbled toward Bobbie, and Cayla jumped from the driver’s seat to catch me and help me over. “Get every mage who’s still fit to fight headed toward the capital!”

“You’re not fit to fight!” Haragh called after me, but I waved him off as Cayla shoved me into the passenger seat.

“Bring the Ignis Mages!” I ordered.

The generals ran for their horses as Shoshanne hopped into the back seat, and she pulled her healing staff and bag from the floor while Cayla gunned the engine.

“Mason, hold still,” the healer ordered, and it was easy to follow the command since my limbs were spent anyways.

So, I laid sprawled on the seat as I let my eyes fall shut, and the glow of Shoshanne’s healing staff washed over me while she worked to restore my senses faster than my rune could. Within half a minute, my hearing was fully restored, and shortly after, I opened my eyes to find I could see as good as new. Then Shoshanne forced my mouth open and dropped a handful of Tiorlin berries inside, and I grinned as they burst between my teeth and sent a silvery trickle of energy down my spine.

“Thank you,” I sighed, and I realized my heart rate was finally beginning to even out.

I hadn’t stopped going full bore since the Aer Mages first summoned their powers, and now that my adrenaline was ebbing, I registered how taxed my magery was.

“Mason, why didn’t you flee like all the rest?” the healer groaned.

“I had a message I wanted to get across,” I mumbled as I pulled myself up in the seat, and I swiped some mud and ashes off from my drenched clothes.

“A message for who?” Cayla asked.

“The Master,” Deya answered for me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see her back in her Elven form and looking pissed. “He killed those mages as soon as Mason got close. He knew he would have no way to stop him.”

Shoshanne’s eyes went wide, and Cayla looked over at me in disbelief.

“It was just like in Orebane,” I explained. “When we realized he could see us through the eyes of the ice giants. He was doing the same thing out there, and he saw me fly over on Deya. Then he looked me right in the eye and burnt those mages up, the fucker.”

“Gods,” Cayla breathed. “That explains why you jumped. Does this mean he has more titans that he is controlling like he did with the ice giants?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “but if he does, we’ve got a decent idea of how to handle it next time.”

“Well, next time, please don’t go diving right into their path,” Shoshanne pleaded with me. “I didn’t know what to do with myself when I saw that. He could have killed you, Mason.”

“No, he doesn’t want to kill me just yet,” I countered. “He wants to kill my mages and make me watch, so I made sure he knew damn well that isn’t how this is gonna play out.”

“I couldn’t believe the way you took those titans down,” Deya said with a hint of awe. “You did it on your own and--”

“I didn’t do it on my own,” I clarified as we neared Serin. “None of that would have worked without everyone else pulling together to douse the flames and hold them captive. We all took those titans down. Now, we’re all gonna end whatever bullshit that is going on in the capital.”

“Mason, your magery has to be worn out after that,” Shoshanne warned. “I could sense the fatigue when I used my healing staff, and I can’t reverse something like that.”

“I know, I can feel it,” I allowed, “and I’ll be careful, but at this point, I’m pissed enough to do a hell of a lot of damage, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Good,” Cayla said, and she sent me a deadly grin. “Me, too.”

“Sniper?” I asked as I returned the grin, and the princess nodded before she sped right through the open gates of the capital.

The first thing I saw were dozens of possessed mages hauling ass at mach speed along the streets, and they lashed out at every citizen they came across without pausing for a second.

Cayla veered left to mow down seven of them in a row, and then she came to a screeching stop as we jumped out from the windows.

Petrified screams and the cracking of stone echoed throughout the whole city as a building across the street burst into flames, and I unsealed the trunk while my women ran to join me.

They grabbed spare magazines, daggers, and swords, but when Cayla reached for a bazooka, I stopped her.

“See that tower?” I asked as I pointed to a turret a few streets over, and the princess nodded. “Get over there, and I’ll make sure you have what you need.”

Cayla pulled out her pistols without another word and sprinted down the street, and I saw her pick off six mages before she turned the corner. Then I sparked my metal magic, and while Deya covered me and took out four mages who were closing in, I sent a bazooka, twenty rockets, and a shit ton of magazines to the tower.

“She should be able to do plenty of damage with that,” I muttered as I reloaded my pistols, and Shoshanne did the same while she turned to me.

“Please be careful,” the healer urged with a worried frown.

I grinned. “What’s your limit these days on strangling?”

“Thirty at once when my powers are at full strength,” the healer said with a proud smirk. “Right now, I could probably manage fifteen.”

“Perfect,” I chuckled. “I want you to bring those numbers today, alright? Head deep into the city so we can get a head start before the troops arrive. I’m gonna clear the entrance so they have a better chance of making it to the higher quarters.”

“Yes, my lord,” Shoshanne purred, and my brows shot up as she giggled shamelessly.

Suddenly, all of those filthy things she was whispering in my ear came flooding back into my mind, and as I watched her duck down a side street with that perfect ass of hers, I decided this attack had to be ended real quick.

I had plans I absolutely would not be postponing this evening, no matter what bullshit the Master had in mind.

So, I gave Deya’s ass a sound smack, and the beautiful elf sent me a mischievous grin before she left a kiss on my cheek and vanished.

The three mages who came around the corner shortly after all met a swift end thanks to Deya, and I chuckled as I climbed onto the roof of the Mustang and sparked my Terra powers. They were barely responsive at this point, but I could still seep through the stonework if I was careful about the distance, and as I tracked twenty mages in the vicinity, I took a deep breath and waited with my fingers poised on the triggers.

They were all headed straight for me, and at first, I found myself hesitating at the idea of killing the possessed mages. Then I recalled the numbers that had been lost in Rajeen at the hands of the Master’s mages, and the way that titan stared me down before he killed off my troops.

As I thought back to my conversation with Temin and registered the screams of the citizens of Serin, the realization hit me like a brick that we were already at war.

So, I picked the mages off like I was in an old western as they popped up around the corners, and while each one jolted and dropped into a web of lightning, I tried not to let the shrill screeches of the citizens overwhelm me. I could still hear all of them begging for their lives and trying to save the people who they loved, but their screams were cut off with gurgles and gasps faster than I could take down the attackers.

Fury bloomed in my chest the longer I fought to clear the streets, but then I heard the drumming of hooves nearing the capital, and I clung to that flicker of relief while I finished off another two dozen possessed mages. When my troops stormed through the city gates, they had a clear path straight to the next quarter, and I jumped down from the Mustang while their horses galloped past.

I heard Haragh and Urn belting orders to disperse the mages to every corner of the city while I unsealed the trunk, and I ejected my spent magazines to reload before I holstered my pistols. Then I rifled through my trunk for a minute, but eventually, my hand closed around a hefty, tungsten axe, and I let out an appreciative sigh.

“Hello, beautiful,” I murmured. “What do you say we split some skulls for old time’s sake? I’m kind of in the mood … ”

“Are you trying to make me jealous?” Aurora chuckled as she steered her horse away from the troops still filing in, and she hopped down to throw her arms around my neck.

Then my grin fell at the sight of her singed braids and clothes. Her face and limbs were black with soot except for her emerald eyes, and she had several gashes on her arms and cheeks that made my gut clench.

“Shit, are you alright?” I asked as I gently traced the largest gouge on her jawline.

Aurora rolled her eyes, though. “Of course, I am. Are you ready?”

“Of course, I am,” I chuckled, and the half-elf actually slapped my ass before she sent a jet of flames down the street to engulf four incoming mages.

Then she flipped around, shot down two attackers, saved a group of our mages from a possessed Aer Mage, and still managed to find the time to send me a wink. I was standing there clutching my axe in awe when she turned on a group of mages up the street, but then the ground dropped out from under me, and I came to.

“Shit!” I yelped as I flailed in the air, and the head of my axe caught the edge of the pit before I could drop into the blackness below. I could feel the powers of whatever Terra Mage had caught me closing in, and I summoned my own magic to repel his attempts to crush me.

I was dizzy and nauseous all at once while I clung to the axe handle and tried to pull myself up, but then I just knuckled down and forced my magery to give me whatever I had left.

The edge of the pit bucked as I catapulted into the air, and I was so relieved, I didn’t even care that I was soaring headlong toward a roof. I smashed into the shingles and clawed to get a good grip, and then I hauled myself up onto the ridge of the roof with the axe still in hand.

I knew I was a sitting duck with no cover up here, but since I was already in a decent firing position, I steadied the axe on the roof as I scanned the streets below. Then I grabbed my pistol to take out every soldier I saw before they could get at the citizens, and while revolvers began firing in my direction, I focused on my heightened vision to pick them off faster than they could fire.

From up here, I could see across every rooftop of the tradesmen’s quarters, and our mages were galloping through the streets while they went after the Master’s forces. I could hear the generals helping direct the citizens to safety, and several mages were using tactics from Falmount to gain ground on the attackers. Those who weren’t on horseback took cover in shops and fired their revolvers from the windows, and while they did, they used their powers to counter the possessed mages. Buildings were caught mid collapse and restored a minute later, and the fires that had already been lit throughout the quarters were going out just as quickly while our troops spread across Serin.

Then I caught a couple glimpses of green, though, and I narrowed my eyes as I realized there were more ogres out there than just Haragh. There must have been more than a dozen possessed ogres tearing through the streets, but then I saw a few spindly legs as a bout of tar boiled its way down the edge of a building.

I fired two more shots as I whipped around to scan the other side of the city, and even though I’d never personally seen a Chupacabra in this realm, the creature prowling along the southern streets certainly resembled my idea of one.

All throughout the city, all manner of dangerous beasts attempted to destroy the place along with the possessed mages, and the mayhem was enough to send the citizens into a frenzy as they struggled to find any safe place to hide in.

Still, I had to chuckle a little, because as I watched all these crazy creatures spilling into the streets, I kind of got the impression that final “fuck you” with the fire titans might have gotten under the Master’s skin. Clearly, he had his own message he was trying to get across.

So, I was grinning as I emptied the last of my magazine on three Chupacabra, two tarry spiders, and one ravenous ogre, but then the building beneath me began to tremble, and I realized I had no means of summoning my Terra powers at this point.

“Godsdamnit,” I growled as the roof dropped out from underneath me, and I lurched toward the street before I lost my footing.

Then I gritted my teeth and prepared for a bone-crunching fall, but luckily, another possessed ogre intercepted my landing, and I only shattered my knee and maybe a couple of ribs.

I wheezed as I rolled off the unconscious ogre and reloaded my pistols, and I gritted my teeth while my rune worked to heal my injuries. Then I flipped over and sent a bullet into the ogre’s head before he could wake up again, and as soon as the pain subsided enough for me to stand, I hauled myself up despite my shaky limbs.

When I looked around, though, I found seven possessed mages with blank eyes and eerie grins blocking me in. They looked half alive with yellowing skin and gaunt frames, and their limbs twitched periodically as the spark of their magery surged erratically in the air around me. I could tell they’d been in the Master’s ranks long enough that they’d begun to deteriorate, and even though part of me wished I could save them, I knew they were too far gone now.

This realization sent a fresh wave of fury through my veins, and I hesitated just long enough that I’d only raised my pistol when my lungs suddenly collapsed. A second later, all of my trepidation was gone as water choked me out and filled my lungs instead, and I doubled over while I heaved to empty them. I managed to spew some of the water out as pain stabbed into my chest, but before I could take a gasping breath, I felt my lungs collapsing once more, and I knew an Aer Mage had gotten a hold of them this time.

The pistols dropped from my hands as flames flew at me, and I rolled to dodge the onslaught as my vision began to ripple. The stabbing pain in my chest was crippling me now while I struggled to gain control of my lungs, but it didn’t matter how much my rune chanted, there was nothing I could do. I saw one of my attackers lunge for a pistol I’d dropped, but I couldn’t even summon the strength to reach him or use my metal magic.

Then the man screamed and clawed at his eyes, though, and as my lungs were abruptly released, every mage surrounding me went into sheer panic mode. They ran into the walls, gouged their eyes, and sent their powers out with a vengeance as the street ignited, and I gasped in confusion while I crawled over to the discarded pistols.

That’s when I saw Nulena with her palms raised, and as I realized she’d incapacitated my attackers for me, I grinned. Then I shot the mages down in quick succession before their blind attempts to retaliate could harm either one of us, and when the last one dropped, the Baroness was at my side helping me back up onto my feet.

I coughed more water up from my lungs before I could take a decent breath again, but after the smoke I’d been inhaling for the last hour, I wasn’t sure my esophagus could take much more abuse. My runes refused to quiet down, too, and I staggered while my head spun and my vision warped.

“Thank you,” I finally croaked, and I willed my magery to restore itself just enough so I could function again.

The sounds of the battle taking place in Serin pressed in on me as the screams continued to rise up, but a barrage of rapid fire echoed through the streets as well while our mages fought like hell to end this. My faculties were slowly regrouping as I held my head and listened to my rune warring in my mind, but when my gaze landed on Nulena, her expression struck me as so odd, it drew my focus to her like a magnet.

“I love you,” the Baroness blurted out, and she looked like I would if someone had just told me my entire family had been cooked up in a barbeque.

Still, I could tell she was being genuine, and the fact that she chose the worst time to tell me made it hard not to burst out laughing. Especially because I should have expected she’d finally come to her senses in the midst of utter chaos.

So, I managed to grin rather than laugh, and a soft smile came to her face while she fidgeted with the singed cuff of my shirt.

“That doesn’t have to be a scary thing,” I told the woman.

“I know,” she admitted, “but it is.”

Nulena shrugged as her cheeks began to shimmer, and I took a quick look around before I caught her by the waist and pulled us both into an alcove.

Then I holstered my pistols and pinned her against the bricks, and I let the Baroness’ touch ease my mental state while she kissed me so fervently, I almost forgot there was a battle raging around us. She ran her fingers through my grimy hair and clutched me against her as a wall beside us crumbled into pieces, and once I resurfaced to shoot down the possessed mage who’d done it, I found Nulena eyeing me closely.

“Hold still,” she murmured in a low voice, and I did as she said while she pressed her fingers to my temple.

Within seconds, the endless chanting of my runes disappeared, and that strange tonic-like power of hers seeped through my mind instead. At first, this disoriented me, but then I remembered what she’d told us about her powers influencing perception, and even though I could still sense my fatigue, my perception of it gradually numbed. I wasn’t overwhelmed anymore now that my mind was quiet and steady despite the actual state of me, and I let out a ragged sigh as I collapsed against the woman.

“Gods, I love you,” I chuckled in her ear. “That’s exactly what I needed.”

“I love you, too,” Nulena said more easily this time, “but be careful. This is only magic, and you’re not as restored as you might feel. You need to end this quickly before you wear yourself out. What can I do?”

I nodded as I pulled away to look her in the eyes, and she seemed much less hostile about the idea of helping people out than she usually did.

“Find the portals,” I ordered, and Nulena gave a diligent nod. Then she immediately turned into an undulating mass of shadows, and I was standing alone in the alcove with my focus fully restored.

I quickly shot down a possessed ogre who had his hands poised to tear a man’s head off, and as his victim frantically scrambled away, I scanned the area to find from which direction the most screams were coming from. Then I grabbed the tungsten axe from the rubble of the building, and I cautiously made my way up the street while I tested out how steady I actually was on my feet.

Nulena’s powers were holding strong, and I could run again without stumbling, but I made sure to take it easy while I worked through a few steadying breaths. I came out into a courtyard that was riddled with spiders and possessed mages, and I swiftly shot down seven of them before I hurled my axe at an incoming ogre. As the blade split his skull right down the middle, I emptied my magazine on the last few mages, but more came running in by the time I’d finished.

The spiders were scurrying down the walls of the buildings now with tar pouring from their fangs, and I ducked beneath a ledge to reload as I summoned my axe back to me. When I jumped out into the open to take my aim, though, Aurora was at the center of the courtyard with a pistol in one hand and flames in the other, and I took down seven of the mages surrounding her while she grinned and finished off the other two.

Then a spider spewed tar in her direction, and the half-elf hissed and dropped her pistol as a splatter of acid scalded her leg. Before I could react, Aurora let out a furious screech, and she ignited the entire courtyard as I lunged for cover. Her blue braids whipped around her sooty face as her arms burst into flames in her rage, and she sent her Ignis Magic up the walls of every building to devour the spiders pouring in. Somehow, she managed to spare the citizens cowering in the alcoves and watching in terror, and I was right there with them because my half-elf suddenly looked like she’d appeared here from the depths of hell to destroy us all.

Then Aurora summoned every flame back to her with a wave of her arm, and the courtyard was deserted as she stood there with her breasts heaving and her teeth barred.

“Damn,” I sighed as a lopsided grin came to my face.

“You should be safe here,” Aurora panted to the citizens.

I stared as she grabbed her pistol and calmly motioned for me to follow after her, and I hurried to join her as I nodded to the quivering citizens.

“Urn said the majority of the Master’s forces are heading into the heights of the city now,” the half-elf said while she worked to catch her breath. “Cayla cleared out the southern quarters, and the mages finished the east side, but the rest are trying to get to the castle.”

“Nulena’s locating the portals to stop more soldiers from coming in,” I told her as we broke into a run again, and the half-elf looked like I was speaking in tongues.

“Nulena’s helping us?” Aurora clarified, but I didn’t have any time to respond before I took down two ogres and a couple of Flumen Mages.

Then we were back in the thick of it with mages galloping by and revolvers firing all over the place, and I dodged a jet of flames before I sent my axe into a passing Chupacabra. Four more possessed mages met an electrifying end before I ducked back and scanned the area, and then I summoned my metal magic. I could make out the difference between the Master’s revolvers and my own based on the quality of the metal he’d used, and after I zeroed in on all of the shitty revolvers in the vicinity, I melted their cylinders down so they wouldn’t be able to function.

That cut the firing down significantly, and the tides abruptly turned.

Our troops pushed themselves harder as the Master’s forces began to scatter, but we didn’t let up. I chased three fleeing ogres through the streets until they came to a decimated brick wall, and I couldn’t help grinning when they froze in confusion. Then I shot them down, took a post behind the rubble, and fired on the Master’s soldiers as they attempted to locate the destroyed portal.

As soon as his forces stopped coming this way, I ran back toward the castle, and I sent my axe into two more ogres as a few Ignis Mages flushed out a cluster of spiders and burnt them to a crisp.

Then, all of the sudden, silence fell in the city as the gunfire faded, and when no screams echoed in the quarters of Serin, cheers rose up instead with the pounding of hooves.

We’d done it.

The battle was over.

The capital was safe.

Chapter 20

I braced my back against a wall while I worked to catch my breath, and even though I felt unnervingly disconnected from my body, I couldn’t muster any concern about this. Three fire titans and hundreds of the Master’s soldiers had met a grizzly end today thanks to my army, and as I looked up at the castle battlements, I could see Temin and a few of his guards surveying the capital.

He had grave lines creasing his face while he took in the full extent of the damage, and I realized he must have seen the whole battle against the titans from up there. I just hoped his concerns were slightly eased after seeing that we could handle the Master’s forces, but regardless, I knew he had no choice now.

Everything in his expression betrayed the gravity of the situation he was faced with, and I figured it wouldn’t be long before I was summoned to discuss our next moves.

So, I dragged myself off the wall and shuffled up the street, and the Defenders clapped me on the back and shook my hand while I did my best not to keel over. Urn and Kurna were waiting with Haragh beside the castle gates, and the half-ogre hurried over when he saw me coming.

“Ye’ look like death,” he hollered above the cheers of the mages.

“Feel like death, too,” I chuckled. “Did they breach the castle?”

“Hell, no,” Haragh said with a broad grin. “Me and Pindor made sure of that. What the fuck was that stunt with the titans, though? I’ve never seen anyone keep up a quake like that while tearin’ the place up, too.”

“I don’t recommend it,” I assured the half-ogre. “I think my brain split in half.”

“Shit,” Haragh muttered. “That healer of yours just ran by on her way to the Oculus. I can go get her--”

“No, she’s working,” I cut in. “I’ll be fine. Have the troops help the injured get to the infirmary, and the rest can start on repairing the city. We need to do a thorough sweep to find any injured citizens and get the dead out of the streets.”

“Aye,” Haragh said with a nod, and he was about to head off when Shoshanne emerged from the tunnel across the courtyard.

“Mason,” she called, and I could tell she’d already caught on to how worn out I was. “You look--”

“I know,” I said with a smirk. “Is the infirmary ready?”

“Yes, and I’ve arranged for beds to be made up in the dormitories for anyone too injured to make it back to Falmount,” Shoshanne replied. “We have room for two hundred here, and I sent for carriages to transport any others to the infirmary in Falmount. Anyone who can make the journey there should, though. We need to search the city for any others, too.”

“Haragh’s on it,” I assured her. “He’ll sweep the streets and get the troops working to assist anyone in need.”

“Thank you, Haragh,” Shoshanne said with a grateful smile, and the half-ogre nodded before he headed to get the mages working.

“You didn’t get hurt, did you?” I checked as I eyed her up and down, but damn it if she didn’t look sexy as hell and completely unscathed.

“I’m alright, but you shouldn’t be standing,” Shoshanne informed me.

“I’ll sit down soon,” I said as a group of guards descended the palace steps. “We need to find the others. Temin wants a word.”

“We’re here,” I heard Cayla call, and she came jogging into the courtyard with Aurora, Deya, and Nulena close behind.

I couldn’t help chuckling at the way their expressions all shifted into identical frowns when I turned around, but I was too exhausted to lie about feeling fine anymore. So, I just let them cluster around me and fuss over how much I needed to rest, but I honestly felt better already after all of their kisses, hugs, and fawning.

Deya was determined to get me home and feed me all night, while Aurora and Cayla decided I needed my jungle now more than ever, and the Baroness bit her lip nervously as she curled herself under my arm to help support my weight.

Then Shoshanne suddenly announced I wasn’t well enough for the plans she’d had for this evening, and I was midway through a firm counter argument when the castle guard reached us.

“Defender Flynt, the king--”

“Yeah, I know, Temin wants to see me in the throne room,” I interrupted while I kept my focus on Shoshanne. “We’re not done discussing this. I am perfectly capable of participating.”

“Mason, you can hardly stand,” the healer pointed out while the women helped me toward the castle.

“Nothing you mentioned earlier requires me to stand,” I argued.

Shoshanne huffed as she rolled her eyes, but I could tell she was half-convinced already, and I sent her my most charming grin for good measure.

“I’ll beg,” I warned her. “I’m not above it.”

“Mason,” the healer sighed, and my women giggled as Shoshanne failed to keep from blushing.

I pestered her all the way down the marble halls of the castle while Cayla joined in, and by the time I was seated in the throne room, we almost had the healer convinced that the majority of her concerns for my health could be addressed in the bedroom.

Then Temin arrived looking so worn through that we all sobered up immediately, and he came around the desk to take a seat while he finished dishing out a few orders to the guards in the doorway.

“It’s time,” Temin informed me. “If an attack of this--Baroness Batanova? What are you doing here?”

The Baroness just stared as we all looked over, but then Cayla grabbed her arm and looped it with her own.

“Moral support,” the princess answered. “For me.”

“I didn’t realize the two of you were friends,” the king admitted.

“We’re incredibly close,” the Baroness said in a monotone. “You were saying?”

“Yes,” Temin said as he regrouped, and he furrowed his brow as he folded his hands on the desk. “Mason, we can’t avoid a declaration any longer. If an attack of this magnitude befalls a less armed city, we’ll lose thousands to the Master within a matter of hours. I can’t allow my people to suffer like this, especially if he possesses any more creatures like the giants I witnessed earlier.”

“I agree,” I replied.

“I’ll make the proclamation within the hour, and the Defenders must be prepared to report to their posts in the next three days.”

I nodded. “My generals have already gotten a list of names prepared for promotion and--”

“Mason, you’re appointed as head of the Order starting today,” Temin interrupted, and I felt all of my women’s eyes turn to me. “The fate of Illaria depends on the Order of the Elementa, and you’re the only man I’d trust with the responsibility of leading our defenses.”

I blinked as the king leveled me with a look that showed he was resigned to his decision, and I realized I was being cornered into the job whether I wanted it or not.

Then I glanced at Aurora.

Her emerald eyes held my gaze with fierce determination, and as I recognized that same unwavering faith she always had in me, I knew exactly what my opinion on the matter was.

“I have one condition,” I said as I turned to the king.

“Name it.”

“Aurora and I are both to be appointed as the heads of the Order,” I said without skipping a beat. “If you want me leading this, I’ll need her with me on it.”

The king furrowed his brow as he looked at Aurora, but I barreled on before he could respond.

“She’s more dedicated to her work than anyone I know,” I informed Temin, “and she knows more about the inner workings of the Order than I do. She’s the only reason I signed on as a Defender in the first place, and her insight has been invaluable to me and everyone she teaches. She’s been overseeing training while I address defense measures, and together, we could ensure your people’s faith in the Order of the Elementa is fully restored.”

“Two heads of the Order,” the king muttered to himself as he tapped his chin, and I could hear Aurora’s heart racing while he considered this. “Very well, I can allow that. Not for just anyone, mind you, the Order of the Elementa has operated under the same protocol for hundreds of years, but Defender Solana has never faltered in her service, and if her input is as critical as you say it is, then it seems I would be remiss to oppose your request.”

Shoshanne and Deya squealed as they grabbed Aurora from behind, and the half-elf just sat there grinning in shock.

“Now, as heads of the Order of the Elementa, you will both be in charge of the primary legion of protection within the Illarian nation,” Temin informed us. “You hold the power to alter the laws of defense and the exclusive authority to both promote and demote any and all mages within the Order. Furthermore, you will oversee all admissions, training procedures and development, armed forces, and public relations.”

“Damn, that’s a lot,” I muttered, but the king continued.

“Hence forth, you will bear the titles of Head Mage Flynt and--”

“Woooah, wait a second,” I cut-in as I held up my hand.

“Yeah, no,” the half-elf said sternly. “Mason and I are still Defenders, otherwise, no deal.”

“That’s just not gonna work for us,” I agreed as the king raised his eyebrows.

“Mason, it’s too great of a risk for the head of the Order to be out at the forefront of our defenses,” Temin argued. “That would be like myself marching into every minor battle. One wrong move, and --”

“Then find someone else,” Aurora snorted. “Mason’s the best Defender you have, and without him marching into your battles, you’re not going to come out the victor against the Master. Not to mention, I’m probably even better than that.”

I burst out laughing as Aurora cracked a cocky grin, and my women began merrily backing our terms with a list of reasons we were clearly better than his other Defenders. Even the Baroness calmly put in her two cents on the matter, and Temin rubbed his temples as his brow crinkled.

“Fine, anything you want,” the king groaned above the ruckus. “I don’t care what your terms are. Just lead my Order, for the love of the gods.”

“I’d advise against saying things like that, Your Highness,” the Baroness murmured, and a devious glint flashed in her two-toned eyes.

“These are our only terms,” I chuckled, “I promise. Just the both of us as head of the Order, and we’re still Defenders.”

“And Mason still resides in Falmount,” Cayla added.

“Me, too,” Shoshanne clarified. “I know the heads of the infirmary usually reside within the Oculus, but I stay with Mason.”

“And he gets to put big metal machines anywhere he wants!” Deya decided. “Also, does Mason get a crown?”

The king eyed me with a pointed look, and I cleared my throat.

“I don’t want a crown,” I assured Temin. “Just the other terms.”

Then I strained to stand as I offered him my hand, and the king chuckled and shook it heartily. He shook Aurora’s hand as well while she nearly crushed his with her grip, and while Temin kneaded his palm, the half-elf squealed and leapt into my arms. I collapsed backward into my seat as she devoured my tongue for me, and after my women began egging her on, the king cleared his throat.

“You will be required to maintain a certain level of professionalism if the two of you intend to work together,” Temin informed us as he headed for the door.

“We’ll be way more professional tomorrow,” the half-elf assured him as she sent me a hungry grin.

“Excellent,” the king sighed. “Now, I have a war to declare and a wealth of distraught citizens to attend to.”

“Hold on a second,” I mumbled against Aurora’s lips, and I managed to pull her off me before I followed the king into the hall.

“You ready for this?” I asked as I eyed the frown on his face.

“No,” he admitted, “but it’s time. Truthfully, I feel more confident about the ordeal now that you’ve taken control of the Order, so I’ll focus on that rather than the idea of my head mounted on a spike. The news will likely soften the blow for the citizens as well, given they already admire your abilities.”

“Good call,” I agreed. “Just remember, death’s only a maybe.”

“An extra maybe, in your case,” Temin said with a smirk. “You look like you’ve risen from the dead yet again.”

“Always do,” I chuckled, and when I clapped the man on the shoulder, he stood a little taller and gave a firm nod.

“Rest up and get ready to deliver the Defenders,” the king told me. “Now that the train is in place, it shouldn’t take long to get them to their posts, but I’m counting on you to arm them well and ensure they’re prepared to coordinate their own efforts without you there. I was extremely impressed with your army today, and you may still be a Defender, but you can’t be everywhere at once.”

“I’ll make sure it’s done,” I assured him, and the king grinned before he headed off down the hall with a few guards in tow.

“Mason!” I heard Deya whisper from inside the doorway, and I furrowed my brow as I came over. “Nulena says she knows where there’s plenty of crowns. Can I steal one?”

“No,” I whispered back. “Get out of this castle.”

My women carted me back through the halls while they gushed over both my and Aurora’s promotions, and the half-elf couldn’t do much more than giggle uncontrollably. I chuckled as I jostled her under my arm just to make her blush, and every time she tried to form a sentence for the next few minutes, it was completely incoherent.

Eventually, she was able to stammer her way through a “What just happened?,” and when Cayla explained that she was the first half-elf in history to be made head of the Order, Aurora fell into giggles all over again.

“This is becoming the best day ever,” Deya sighed as she pranced down the castle steps.

“Except for all of the terrible things that have happened,” Shoshanne mumbled.

“We won in the end, though,” I told her as I nudged her arm. “That’s what we need to focus on now.”

“Thanks to Nulena,” Aurora added, and my women all looked at the Baroness in confusion.

“What?” Cayla snorted.

“Nothing,” Nulena replied and staunchly avoided making eye contact with anyone.

“Nulena destroyed the portals to keep the Master’s soldiers from coming in,” the half-elf loudly announced.

“Shhh! I did nothing!” the Baroness hissed, and she looked anxiously around the courtyard to make sure no one could hear.

Deya gasped so loudly half the Defenders looked over, though, and she ran back up the steps to force Nulena into a hug.

“You’re such a wonderful person!” the beautiful elf giggled. “I knew you couldn’t let us all risk our lives without contributing. We mean far too much to you, and you have the sweetest soul under all of that angst.”

“I do not,” Nulena growled, “and lower your voice.”

I chuckled heartily as Deya refused to release the woman, and I couldn’t help but notice the Baroness was struggling to maintain her scowl. The beautiful elf stayed locked against Nulena all the way to the Mustang while she showered her with adoration, and eventually, the Baroness mumbled a disgruntled “you’re welcome” that made Cayla do a double take.

My women were all in higher spirits as I unsealed the doors so we could pile in, but Aurora paused in front of me, and when she turned around, her emerald eyes were glittering with tears. Her lips kept moving, but no sounds were coming out, and I got the feeling she was trying to find a way to express her appreciation.

I was about to clarify that she didn’t need to say anything, but then Deya hurled all over the courtyard.

Everyone yelped and leapt back to avoid getting splattered, and my jaw dropped when a bone sloshed against the toe of my boot.

“Deya!” I gasped.

“I know!” she wailed, and she dove into the car.

Then the beautiful elf crawled her way over to the passenger window and threw up some more, and I ground my jaw while Shoshanne and I exchanged a look to a chorus of gags.

“I’ll take a look at her as soon as we get back,” the healer assured me.

“You hear that?” I called to the puking elf. “Straight to the infirmary!”

“I swear, I’m fine,” Deya moaned as she laid draped out the window, and Cayla hurried over to help clean the puke off her face.

The princess ended up jumping several feet back, though, as another bout of vomit splashed to the ground, and that’s about the time we realized we’d be here for a while.

The elf looked closer to death than I did by the time she finished spewing chunks all over the courtyard, but she seemed more upset about the crowd of Defenders watching. Kurna started puking behind a statue after a few minutes, and Urn looked deeply disturbed by the multitude of bones and fur coming out of the woman.

Nulena dutifully patted Deya’s back to soothe her throughout all of this, and I was impressed she had the stomach for it, because I was suddenly feeling ten times worse than I had been. I did my best to try and divert the crowd’s attention elsewhere, but in all fairness, I’d never seen anyone puke so much in my life either.

It was hard to look away.

Once Deya was purple and shaking from head to toe, she mumbled something about being done, and we all did our best to find a route to the car that wasn’t overflowing with puke. The beautiful elf laid curled up on Nulena’s lap the whole ride back while the Baroness dabbed the sweat from her brow, and this combined with the breeze coming through the window seemed to improve things.

I was holding my head with my elbow propped on the back door while I wondered if Dragir would murder me for letting his sister catch a life-threatening disease, but as I sighed and looked beside me, I found Aurora bouncing in her seat.

The half-elf was biting her lip with bright eyes and a light blush on her cheeks, and when she met my gaze, I could tell even Deya’s vomit riot hadn’t doused her excitement.

Then a familiar grin curled at the corners of Aurora’s mouth, and I’d only just furrowed my brow when she suddenly pounced on me.

Chapter 21

My women chuckled in approval as Aurora tore my shirt open, and I would have returned the favor if she hadn’t beat me to it. In seconds flat, the half-elf was naked and tearing my pants open, too, but her hands were shaking so badly by now that she had to stop and clutch at her hair.

“Are you okay?” I checked, and I could feel her shaking from head to toe on my lap while she began to hyperventilate.

If it had been Deya or Nulena, I wouldn’t have been so concerned, but this usually wasn’t Aurora’s style, and I stayed frozen and half dressed in case something was genuinely wrong.

“Aurora?” I tried again.

“I-I’m fine,” the half-elf gasped, and she braced her hands on my shoulder while she took quick and shallow breaths. “I can’t even breathe I love you so much. Shit.”

“Aww,” I heard Deya moan.

I waited while Aurora worked to catch her breath, and I was already kind of melting inside from watching how much this affected her, but when she sent me an embarrassed look, I bit my cheek and rolled my eyes.

“Yeah … I love you way more than that,” I informed the woman with a cocky grin, and the second her emerald eyes narrowed, I knew I’d hit the right button.

Now, I may have participated in a lot of debauchery since coming to this realm, but up until this moment, I’d never had a woman fuck my brains out like Aurora did on that drive home. At one point, I really thought she would burst into flames as her body heated to a scorching degree, and the effect this had on my dick was truly inexplicable. The way Aurora grinded against me, I had no choice but to sit there and let her do what she damn well pleased, and it was just as well because the feel of her paralyzed me, anyways.

The heady scent of smoke and pine radiated from the half-elf while she did everything she wanted to me, and I was lost in a blur of blue braids and emerald eyes while her moans filled my mind. I lost track of how many times she climaxed by the time we got to the mansion, but she forced me through three orgasms of my own without me putting in an ounce of effort.

I’d never felt so lazily satiated as I did when Aurora finally eased up, and when she began laying kisses all over my chest and thanking me, I decided Deya was right, and this was actually the best day ever.

Then I realized the car was stopped, and all of my women had their chins propped up in their palms for the show.

“That was incredible,” Nulena murmured.

“Truly,” Cayla agreed, and when they all chose to applaud, I buried my face in Aurora’s tits as she burst out laughing.

“Thank you, thank you,” the half-elf giggled. “I try.”

“You should do that again,” Deya suggested, “I missed the first part, but it sounded really good.”

Then I pried myself out of the bed of Aurora’s cleavage to send the elf a stern look, and she tried to hide behind Nulena.

“Infirmary,” I ordered. “Now.”

“But I’m--”

“Don’t say fine,” I cut in. “Shoshanne … ”

“Yes, Mason,” the healer chuckled as she grabbed Deya’s hand, and Nulena helped her haul the elf out from the car and lead her to the infirmary.

I let out a long sigh as I watched Deya’s wobbly legs and how pale she still was, but Cayla noticed my concern and slid across the seat to curl up against me.

“You should be resting,” the princess told me as she trailed her fingers across my chest.

“We’ll take care of you in here if you want,” Aurora offered. “You don’t have to move at all until you’re feeling better. We’ll just ease your mind for a while.”

I grinned as I slid my palms along the half-elf’s toned thighs, and Cayla began lightly nibbling at my ear.

“As tempting as that offer is,” I muttered, “I have to get up. Shoshanne’s not going to let me do anything for at least a day once she gets back, and I absolutely need to get that metal dragon finished.”

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Cayla purred in my ear, and the heat of her breath sent a chill down my spine as my head dropped back against the seat.

“I don’t know if it can wait, that’s the problem,” I admitted.

“What do you mean?” Aurora asked, and both of my women looked at me with concern.

“I mean the Master saw me flying on a fucking dragon today,” I sighed. “Whether or not he knows a woman I love was transmuting with the dragon, I have no idea, but either way, the risk of Deya using those scales just quadrupled. There’s no chance the Master won’t try and use this development to fuck me over, so I need to get Mors Pass locked down as soon as possible. Otherwise--”

“Don’t say it,” Aurora whimpered as she pressed her palms to her cheeks, and she shook her head like she couldn’t stand the thought. “Just fix this! We need to make the metal dragon right now.”

Cayla nodded. “I agree. Shoshanne is thorough with her check ups, so we should have at least half an hour. Mason, you can do a lot in that amount of time, can’t you?”

“Hell, yeah, I can,” I said with a grin.

“Then it’s settled,” Aurora decided as she snatched up her clothes from around the car. “Dragon now, spoiling Mason later.”

“Plus, Alfred’s preparing a lovely feast,” Cayla reminded us, and I snorted as Aurora tumbled out the door ahead of me.

I’d hoped the lavish treatment my half-elf had shown my dick would somehow heal me, but despite how fantastic that region of my body felt, I still needed my women to help me limp across the bridge.

Nulena’s powers had almost worn off, and I was painfully aware of how much I felt like a spent rag. Still, I knew my metal magic was good to go, so I shuffled over to a log in the clearing as I sparked my powers, and I summoned the steel bones I’d completed from the atrium to pile them in the clearing.

Aurora left to retrieve the book I’d been studying while I summoned a few spare chunks of steel as well, and Cayla joined her only to return with a generous glass of bourbon I knew was from Alfred.

“That guy,” I chuckled before I gladly downed the whole glass. “You’re right. I don’t know how we ever got along without him.”

“The house smells delicious, too,” Aurora chuckled as she traded the book for my empty glass.

“Of course it does,” I sighed.

“So, where do we start?” Cayla asked.

“I’m gonna finish forming the first portions of the wings real quick since the shoulders are ready,” I told the women as I worked to memorize the image on the page. “If you two could use this book to arrange the bones in their proper places, then fusing them all together will go faster once I’m done.”

“I can certainly do that,” Cayla said with an eager grin, and as soon as I handed the book over to Aurora, the princess snatched it from her hands and strolled toward the bones.

So, while the two women worked to arrange the huge metal bones as quickly as they could, I closed my eyes, and I was grateful I’d been practicing a less hands on approach to my work lately. Despite my throbbing head and spent muscles, I could sit comfortably and still get shit done, and I shifted into my metal guru frame of mind as I began forming a wing humerus. Then I duplicated the giant bone before I carefully hollowed each of them out, and I moved on to the wing radiuses these would attach to.

I was finished in only ten minutes, and I decided to hold off on the rest of the wings until I was sure the primary bones could support the weight of the webbing once they were mounted in the scapulas.

Then I opened my eyes, and I jumped as I saw how big the skeleton really was. When I’d assembled only portions of the spine in my shop, it had seemed big, but now that the whole vertebra were lined up with the skull at one end, and the legs arranged at the sides, my chest swelled with pride.

I’d never built anything this big from metal before, and the fact it would be as independently functional as my automatons was unfathomable. It stretched the full length of my clearing, and the tail had to curl off to the side just to avoid the moat. The skull looked twice as intimidating now that it had a body to go along with it, and I was glad Aurora suggested the skeletal design, because to say it made an impression was a fucking understatement.

“Damn,” I chuckled as I strained to stand up, and my women both nodded in agreement.

“He’s beautiful,” Aurora sighed. “Isn’t he exactly how you imagined?”

“No,” I admitted. “He’s way better. If I hadn’t built him myself, I’d probably pass out the second he flew up on me. Which is saying a lot, because I don’t pass out often.”

“Unless Rosh is involved,” Cayla chuckled.

“He’s not quite as scary as the fire titans,” Aurora allowed, “but once he had got his serrated claws and the fire runes, I bet he’ll put them to shame.”

“Oh, he will,” I assured the half-elf as I walked around the bones to make sure everything was in the proper places.

“I want this to be my battle dragon,” Cayla decided. “I would ride him with my whip in one hand, and a bazooka in the other.”

“I would ride him naked,” Aurora said with a grin, “and I’d learn how to make every inch of my body ignite so people would shriek and run in terror as I flew through the night.”

“I’m willing to make both of those situations happen,” I muttered, and I eyed the weird layout of the hindquarters. “Can I see that book?”

Aurora handed it over while she smirked at Cayla. “The two of us could ride on it at once, and we can use Mason’s chains to thrash our foes from above.”

“You could heat the metal of the chains, too,” the princess mused. “Twice the pain. Hmm … I’m getting really turned on by this whole idea.”

“Me, too,” Aurora snickered. “We’d be feared from one coast to the other, and Mason would be revered as the man who managed to tame the women with the molten chains.”

Cayla moaned in approval, and I cocked a brow at the two women as I looked up from the book.

“I hate to interrupt this, but something over here is off,” I chuckled.

My women and I huddled around the book while we squinted at the tiny diagram, and I couldn’t decide if they’d inverted the placement, or if I’d formed the pelvic socket wrong.

“Maybe these two should be switched?” Aurora guessed, and we began shuffling the bones around to give it a try.

“Is it possible to heat only a portion of the chains without the part we’re holding getting hot?” the princess asked while we worked. “That would be important.”

“Sure.” Aurora shrugged. “I don’t know much about metal, but--”

Shoshanne suddenly cleared her throat, and all of us dropped our metallic dragon bones and whipped around in a panic. I felt myself blush from the guilt of being caught by the healer, and I was ready to make some solid points about metal work not affecting my current physical state.

Then I noticed the tense looks on Nulena and Shoshanne’s faces, though, and they supported Deya between them while the elf avoided my gaze.

“Is she okay?” I asked as my pulse quickened.

“She’s perfectly fine,” Shoshanne replied, but her voice came out so odd, she had to clear her throat before she continued.

“Don’t say fine,” I croaked. “That never means fine. What’s wrong?”

“Gods,” Aurora whimpered, and she clutched my hand like a vise. “What happened in there?”

“Well, I checked her vitals and did … all of the healer stuff,” Shoshanne said as she shifted her weight. “Umm. So, yeah. She’s not sick or anything, she’s just sort of … pregnant?”

“Look Mason, I have a little bump,” Deya murmured as her eyes glittered, and she turned to the side to show off the tiniest bit of a pooch on her belly. “Shoshanne says the baby’s very tiny, but it’s in there, so you don’t have to worry about me hunting anymore. I’m only throwing up because I’m pregnant.”

I knew I was supposed to respond to that, but my tongue had lost its ability to function, so I just stared at the unbelievably gorgeous, pink-haired elf in the lacy white bodice telling me she was going to have my baby. I stared at her glowing, violet eyes and her creamy cleavage, and I stared at the tiny bump she kept running her fingers over while her nervous smile nearly blinded me from how cute it was.

No one moved or spoke a word as the sounds of Falmount faded from my register, and I remained in a catatonic state like this for longer than I could tell.

“But … ” Aurora finally managed as she furrowed her brow. “How are you pregnant so … soon?”

I was catching up to reality now, though, and I was about to say the most stupidly redundant thing when someone else said it for me.

“You’re what?”

My blood turned to ice as I recognized the ominously low tone, and I cringed as I turned to see Dragir standing on the other side of my bridge.

The silver-haired elf was covered in both new and old blood, but what stuck out most about him was the collection of severed elven ears he had strung around his neck like war medals. Big Guy and Big Red flanked him on either side with at least a dozen daggers stuck in their frames, and not only were they just as bloody as Dragir, but they had matching elven ear necklaces, too.

“Oh, hey, man,” I tried in an unnaturally high voice. “Glad you got my note.”

“Fuck your note,” the elf growled, and he pulled a serrated Halcyan sword from his sheath. “We’re going to have a talk.”

I fumbled to unsheathe my sword, but just as quickly, Big Red and Big Guy unsheathed their swords, and they crossed Dragir’s path with their massive blades to block him. Then Cayla and Aurora flanked me with their pistols cocked and loaded, and as Bom Two burst through the western woods with his death machete swinging, my moat of eels went apeshit.

The snapping of their teeth was only slightly quieter than the shrieks of the mages in the lanes, and as my neighbors fled the scene like their asses were on fire, Dragir narrowed his pink, serpentine eyes on me.

“I asked you to do one thing,” the man growled.

“Technically, you asked me to do two things,” I countered. “Not get Deya pregnant, and not let her die. I’m doing really great with one of those things.”

“You son of a--”

“No, it’s not your turn!” Aurora snapped as she raised a hand at Dragir, and the elf flinched like he thought she was about to light him on fire.

Then the half-elf looked at the healer, though.

“Shoshanne, what the hell?” Aurora demanded. “Why does Deya have a cute little bump when none of us have one yet?”

Time slowed down as every cell in my brain popped into a cloud of dust, and I felt my consciousness drift out of my body and hover over the clearing instead.

“Wait,” I mumbled. “Did you say yet?”

Then Shoshanne blushed, and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was the sweet smile on her lips.

End of book 11

End Notes

Thank you for reading Metal Mage 11. Once I hit 100 reviews I’ll start working on the next book! Please leave your reviews here! Thank you!

Amazon doesn’t update readers when an author comes out with a new book unless you follow that author on the store. Make sure you click this link and then click on the follow button. Then Amazon will update you a few weeks after my next book comes out.

If you want to get notified of my books the day that they come out, make sure you follow my Facebook author page and join my Facebook fan group. If you don’t follow me on Amazon or join my Facebook page, you’ll never get alerted that the next Metal Mage is out.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2019 by Eric Vall