“Let’s never do that again.” Eli groaned as soon as they were on solid ground once more.

“Agreed.” Nyxie nodded, slumping onto her back.

Eli allowed himself to transform back into his human form as he took in their surroundings. All around them were tall pine trees, their needles blending with the grasses underneath them to form a surprisingly soft bed – one that he was sorely tempted to flop into. The skies above them were a cloudy grey, and the only sound he could hear was that of birds and insects.

Knowing they should get back to work, Eli reluctantly reached into his bandolier and pulled out a mana potion. He knocked it back with a frown before slotting the empty metal bottle back into its spot, making a mental note to refill it when he got home. When he tried to stand his aching muscles protested, causing him to summon his mana and cast a spell.

“Guérir Patientia!”

The magic soothed his aching muscles, energizing him to the point where he couldn’t sit still anymore. He stood and moved towards Nyxie, preparing to cast the spell on her as well. To his surprise her eyes were glued to a specific spot on a tree behind him, causing him to pause and turn.

“What is it?”

“We didn’t exit into the realm I was planning for.” She replied.

“That’s fine. I’ll open up a portal back to Earth and we can be on our way.” He said, summoning his mana.

“Wait.” She said, holding up a hand as she stood. “Before we left you mentioned that you wanted to secure some durosine. There happens to be an enormous cache on this realm. We should take it with us.”

He furrowed his brow. “Hang on. You said this wasn’t the realm you were planning to exit to.”

“Yes.” She nodded, not meeting his gaze.

“If that’s the case, how do you suddenly know where we are? And how do you know that there’s durosine here?”

She sighed softly before looking up at him. “This is my home realm. I was born here. My family lived here. I know it well.”

He arched one eyebrow in surprise. “How can you be so sure? There’s nothing around here but trees.”

Rather than responding with her words she lifted one hand and pointed. He followed her gaze to a nearby tree where he found a faded carving in the bark. Moving closer, he realized the design was a pair of crossed flowers laying on top of a leaf.

“This is your landmark?” Eli asked dubiously.

She rolled her eyes before hastily unbuttoning her armour and pulling her shirt up to expose an identical tattoo on the side of her stomach. The movement had an unexpectedly strong effect on him, causing his cock to harden in his pants. She appeared not to notice as she began to button her armour back together, speaking as she did.

“I carved it in the tree after my parents were killed. I later had the design tattooed on me.”

“Shit. I’m sorry Nyxie. I didn’t-” He started as his excitement instantly faded.

She waved her hand. “It’s fine.”

They went silent for another moment before Eli spoke again. “How far are we from these durosine reserves?”

“Not far.” She replied before pointing away from them. “About an hour’s walk that way.”

“And how well-defended are they?”

“They’re not defended at all. They’re a waste byproduct from some of the larger manufacturing plants – one of which is here. Blacksmiths will use them if there’s absolutely nothing else available, but the majority of the time it just gets tossed into a giant heap and left there.”

“I can work with that.” Eli nodded, summoning his mana. “Come here. I’ve got a spell that’ll keep you energized. It’s even better than coffee.”

A quizzical look crossed her face as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “What’s coffee?”

“Guérir Patientia!”

The bolt of mana caused her eyes to go wide. She started to squirm with energy before pulling away, her arms and legs shaking for a moment until she started to do jumping jacks. The movement seemed to help her burn off some of the excess energy coursing through her.

“Sorry about that.” Eli said sheepishly as she slowed down and stopped.

“It’s…fine. That was an interesting spell. What do you use it for?”

“I use it to restore my stamina when I’m tired. Truth be told I haven’t used it in battle for awhile – it’s easier to just shift into one of my other forms that doesn’t tire very easily, like my orc form.” He chuckled softly to himself. “And for sex.”

She blinked in surprise. “What?”

“Sex. You know, when two people love each other very much…” He trailed off.

“I know what sex is.” She said with a huff, her cheeks going red. “I was trying to figure out how you could use that spell to…”

He raised one eyebrow and glanced downwards at his crotch. “Sometimes after the 4^th or 5^th round I use it so we can keep going. I’ll use it on my bond mates too, if they want. Freya loves it when I give her enough energy to ride me for-” Seeing her blush further he stopped. “I’m sorry. I’ve made you uncomfortable.”

“No, no.” She insisted. “It’s just that your entanglement with so many women is a foreign concept to me.”

“It is to most humans too.” He revealed. “I’m just special.”

“Because you’re a Royal Blood.”

“Well, I’d like to think it’s because of my rapier wit and good looks, but… yes.” He grinned, offering her a wink.
She blushed further at his words, but the ghost of a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. He didn’t have a chance to comment though, as she covered it up quickly and began walking in the direction they needed to go. Falling into step behind her, the pair walked in silence for a few more minutes before she spoke up again.

“So how does it…work?” She asked finally.

“How does what work?” Eli asked in response.

“Your relationships. Are you all in romantic relationships with one another? Or is it purely one-way?”

“It’s…complicated.” He considered her question for a moment. “Romantically, I’m in a relationship with each of my bond mates. I’d go so far as to call it love for many of them.”

“But not all of them.” She clarified.

“Maybe not yet, but it’s trending that way.” He answered truthfully before continuing his explanation. “Each of my bond mates love and support each other as well, but it’s not a romantic sort of love.”

“Ah. More like the affection one would hold for a sibling?” She asked.

“Sort of?” Eli shrugged. “Except that sometimes my bond mates are also physically intimate with one another.”

“So not like a familial kind of love then.”

He scratched the back of his head as he looked for an explanation. “Like I said – it’s complicated.”

“Is being physically intimate with your other bond mates a requirement for joining your harem?” She asked pointedly.

“No.” Eli shook his head. “I’ll respect each woman’s wishes and won’t pressure them.” A grin crept across his face. “Why, Nyxie? Are you interested?”

“The point is moot.” She said firmly.

“I…what?” Eli responded, confused.

“The point is moot.” She repeated. “Your group is full, and your bond mate is with child. You would not have time to add another to your group. You will be busy with child-rearing – that is, if we don’t all die first.”

“Not necessarily.” Eli said before jogging towards the mousekin so he could place a hand on her shoulder. “Nyxie, stop.”

“What is it?” She said, turning around.

He saw her blushing face as he locked eyes with her. “I’d like a straight answer. Are you interested in being in a relationship with me?”

She met his gaze for a moment. “Are you?”

He looked her 4-foot tall frame up and down for a moment, his eyes tracing the leather-covered curves of her body as he recalled the tattoos she had underneath. They followed the gentle waves of her brown hair around her mouselike ears across her chin to her soft, pink lips. Finally, they moved up her cute button nose to lock on her piercing brown eyes.

I had no idea I had a thing for short girls. He thought as the appendage in his pants made itself known again.

Putting aside his physical attraction to her for a moment, he focused on his feelings about her. While he had tremendous respect for the fact that she commanded a resistance against the Titans, he quickly realized that he knew next to nothing about her beyond that. The few glimpses he’d received when she let down her emotional walls were tantalizing, but not enough for him to form an opinion on her as a lifelong mate.

“Tentatively yes.” Eli replied finally.

“Tentatively?” She questioned, tilting her head.

“Tentatively.” Eli nodded. “You’re beautiful, but that can’t be the basis for a strong relationship. I’d want to know more about you as a person before I say yes.”

“I see. A wise choice.” She nodded.

“You didn’t answer my question though.” He insisted, bringing them back to the original conversation. “Are you interested in a relationship with me?”

She closed her eyes for a long moment before allowing her shoulders to slump. “Yes. I am.”

With a soft smile he reached down and intertwined his fingers with hers. “Then why don’t we use this time to get to know one another?”

She opened her eyes and looked down at their joined hands before looking back at him and smiling genuinely. “I’d like that very much.”

“Let’s start with why you’re so cagey about this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Normally women try to flirt at least a little to show they’re interested.” Eli started as they resumed their walk together. “Now, maybe I’m just oblivious – and feel free to tell me if I am – but I get the sense that you didn’t want to do that. To me it feels like you were trying to keep me at arm’s length.” He glanced at her. “Am I wrong? Is it a cultural mousekin thing? Or am I misreading the whole situation?”

They took a few more steps in silence before she replied. “No, you are not misreading it. I have hidden my attraction to you.”

“Why?”

She looked up at him. “You asked me before what my post-victory plans were. Do you remember what I said?”

“You basically said you had none.” He recalled.

“Exactly. I have been solely focused on my mission – defeating the Titans – since I was a child. There has never been anything except for the war for me.” She paused for a moment, furrowing her brow. “You’ve brought up many feelings I thought I had buried.”

He met her stare, suddenly understanding her much more than he did before. “You’re scared.”

“I am.” She replied softly. “Things are simpler when there are no emotional connections. Sex becomes physical relief, nothing more. If we die tomorrow, nobody has to live with the pain of loss.”

“That’s a bleak outlook.”

“Then you come along.” She added, pouring her heart out now. “With your nobility and your power. You offer a chance at victory – true victory – and treat me with kindness and respect. Then I learn you’re marrying a princess while having sex with a dragon, an angel, a demon, and several others besides.”

“And a queen too.” Eli added, causing her to look at him with wide eyes. “Aratessa’s technically a queen.”

In a surprisingly human motion she covered her face with one hand and shook her head slowly. “That’s exactly my point, Eli.” She huffed, bringing a smile to Eli’s face. “How am I supposed to compete with that? How am I supposed to win the affection of the man who might win the war? How am I…why are you smiling?”

“Because you’re cute.” He shrugged. “As for the rest of it – you’re not in competition with the others. I have enough room in my heart for all of you. It’s up to us to decide whether we let one another in.” He shook his head. “And don’t get hung up on me being the hero or whatever. I’m just me. For a good chunk of my adult life I didn’t even know magic existed. I was a consultant, for crying out loud.”

She tilted her head in confusion. “What is a ‘consultant’?”

“See? Now we’re having a real conversation.” He smiled.

They continued to walk together, trading stories back and forth for the next half hour. The landscape around them gradually transitioned from one of sparse pine forests to green grasses taller than Eli’s head. Nyxie never let go of his hand, leading him onwards while he slowly got a better sense for who she was as a person.

“Hey, I’ve got another question for you.” He asked as they emerged from the grasses into a field filled with wildflowers. “How did you wind up leading the resistance?”

“I only lead a resistance cell.” She corrected him. “There are many such cells across the realms, or so I am told.”

“You’ve never met them?”

“No. We do not communicate. That is on purpose – so that if one cell falls, they cannot compromise others.” She said as she tucked a stray hand behind her mousey ear. “To answer your original question, my uncle was the one who introduced me to this life. He took me in after the Titans killed my parents and raised me to be a warrior. Unfortunately for him, I showed signs of magical ability far beyond my peers and attracted the attention of the local garrison.”

“Shit.” Eli swore. “Nyxie, if this is too painful a memory we can talk about something else.”

“No. You should know my story.” She insisted. “Spellcasters are rare on Titan controlled worlds, so the garrison decided they needed to make use of me. They took my uncle prisoner and threatened to kill him if I didn’t enlist in their army and fight for them.”

“You were a soldier in their army?” Eli asked incredulously.

“For a short time – a few years. They allowed me to return to this realm every few months, if only to show me that my uncle was still alive.” She paused for a moment and looked at him. “I want you to know I never killed any Royal Blooded forces while I was enlisted. As a spellcaster I was considered too valuable to be placed on the front lines. Instead, I mostly helped with opening portals and investigating magical anomalies.”

“Then what happened?”

“On my last visit to my uncle he told me that I needed to break free of their control, and that I wouldn’t need to worry about him anymore.”

“That’s…heartbreaking. I’m so sorry, Nyxie.”

“Events like that can destroy someone or fuel them. I channeled my anger. When I returned to my post I was sent on a scouting mission to a recently-conquered realm that was still being consolidated by Titan forces. We were attacked by elves, and in the chaos I killed my ratkin handlers and escaped with this glove.” She finished, holding up the magical artifact she used to make portals.

“That doesn’t explain how you became a resistance leader though.” He countered.

“I was getting to that.” She nodded. “I used the Underpath to come back here and infiltrate the garrison. I arrived just in time to see them execute my uncle. I made note of everyone involved – the Orryx commander, the ratkin who carried out the execution itself, and the mousekin co-conspirators – and hunted them down, one-by-one.”

Eli arched one eyebrow in surprise. “What did you do to them when you found them?”

“I killed them in their sleep. I poisoned them. I stabbed them in dark alleys as they walked home. One by one, I made them pay. My uncle would have been proud.” She grinned slightly at the memory before continuing. “My actions attracted the attention of the local resistance cell – of which he was a member. They saw my skills and recruited me. I became a leader soon after due to my knowledge of Titan army tactics and magical abilities.”

He was about to ask a follow-up question, but stopped when they crested a hill to see a small city spread out beneath them next to an enormous lake. It was different than the ratkin city he’d seen before – wood and stone buildings were arranged in orderly rows, and aqueducts carried water from a nearby river to every home. A brick wall surrounded the town, with only a few buildings outside it: a large concrete-looking structure sitting right on the waterfront, and a stone keep guarding the only entrance.

“We need to go over there.” Nyxie pointed to the concrete building as she let go of his hand. “That’s the factory. They dump the durosine into the water to cool.”

“I should fly us there. We’ll get there faster.”

“We would, but that would also announce our presence rather loudly. As much as there aren’t any defenses around the durosine itself, the city does have a small garrison in that building.” She said, pointing to the keep. “In this case I’d rather approach quietly. It will minimize the risk of mousekin in the city being injured or killed in the fighting.”

“If we’re going to take the quiet approach, we should wait for nightfall.” He said, glancing upwards at the cloudy sky.

“Agreed. There should only be a few more hours of daylight.” She nodded towards a nearby copse of trees. “Come. Let’s continue our conversation there.”