Cinder returned to Zagreus’ room to find Rezu standing outside it. “Hi Rezu.”

“Long time no see Cindy.” He said.

“Yea. No one has called me that in forever. Why are you standing out here?”

“Because I need to talk to you and you need to listen.”

“Ok, talk.”

“Can you stop being so hard on him?”

“I can’t change how I feel.”

“You can change going full Goddess of Skulls and threatening a man that cares about you with a fucking power sword.”

“You saw that?”

“Yes. You shook the whole lab.”

“I have a right to be upset. He rejected me.”

“You expect to go from barely speaking to marriage in a day? For someone millennia old, you have the patience of a toddler.”

“It’s complicated.”

“No its not. Be together and be happy for the time you have together. It won’t always be here.”

“How do you know that he cares about me?”

“The fact that he gave you the clothes off his back. The way he touched you. Hell, the fact that he touched you at all. You are my oldest friend and there are still moments where you are freakishly scary. I have seen grown men, who had fought a hundred battles, ball up and cry at the sight of you. Entire armies, entire countries, are afraid of you.”

“They are scared, because I want them to be scared.”

“You put that man in a healing tank the first time he saw you. Yet Zagreus bathed you and dressed you because he was so pissed that you were being humiliated. Your state of mind was more important than his own safety. If you can’t see that he has a right to reject you.”

She shook her head. “I still don’t know how I feel about him. It’s so confusing.”

“You want to marry him or rejection would not upset you so much.”

“I…well…”

“If you are that worried about rejection then sleep with him.”

“What?”

“Remnants have those slime warriors that travel around from village to village hunting slimes. Single women flock to them. So the remnants have a tradition that if a man sleeps with a virgin he must marry her. It keeps the young women from getting used by a man who is just going to leave. I think Zagreus would stubbornly honor such a tradition.” He raised an eyebrow at her.  “You are still a virgin right?”

She nodded sheepishly then said. “I couldn’t trick him like that.”

“Then tell him the truth.”

“I have to, soon. It’s part of the punishment.”

He shook his head. “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. That’s not getting any better soon. And the worst is yet to come.”

“I know. It hurts so much.”

“It hurts, because you care.” Rezu leaned in close. “Zagreus is hurting because of this too. He is suffering to try to ease your burden. Do not get angry at him. He needs you to be there for him.”

“He is suffering? Has something happened?” She looked desperately towards the door, “Why are you standing outside our room?” ‘our’?

“I will tell you. But you have to promise me you won’t get mad. Promise me you will go inside and take care of him.”

She took a moment and a few deep breathes. “Ok. I promise.”

“He broke the second rule. Karimere is in a healing tank now. Multiple broken bones. He is battered, but mostly exhausted. He is inside, resting.”

“I…oh…wow.”

“He is in your care now. You have to tend to him until he is back on his feet. Those are orders from on high. I am just a messenger.”

Cinder stood in the hall and stared at the door. Her stomach was in knots. Karimere’s command was absolute. If Karimere willed it, Cinder would obey. Cinder would sit and watch the two of them mate, if ordered. She would protest and make arguments, but in the end, she knew, she would obey. But the thought of seeing Zagreus hurt held embers dangerously close to a fire she was not sure she could contain. Karimere or not, she might burn it all down. She trembled.

Inside she found Zagreus asleep in bed. There were scratches on his face and bandages on his hands and arms. Jade sat at the table.

Cinder stood near the bed desperately looking. “How is he?”

“Rezu told me to wait for you. I need your approval to use a healing unit on him. I know you have some love marks on him.”

“Yes. Yes. Go ahead. Fix him, I will give him more.” ‘I will give him more’ What am I saying?

Jade came over with the healing unit.

A sharp pain shot through Cinder’s chest. She winced as Jade pinched her nipple, hard. The shirt was thin, the target had been easy to find. She pulled back but Jade squeezed harder.

“Did you forget your orders?”

Cinder held out a hand for the healing unit. “I have to tend to him.”

Jade twisted. “You don’t need clothes to do that.”

She winced, “Sorry Mistress.”

Jade released her and she undressed. They treated him. His hands were rough and swollen with teeth marks. There were scratch marks everywhere but mostly on his chest, arms and back. Nothing looked serious but it still pained her to see it. It took a couple hours and they had most of the wounds gone. A few would take time or more treatments to heal. Jade left Cinder’s bite mark alone. It was one of the few places without any fresh wounds. Karimere had shown that tiny bit of respect for their relationship.

The love bite was out on the curve of his shoulder. It was rough and jagged. Cinder’s stomach knotted. A confident mate who was comfortable with her partner would bite cleanly, near the throat. More intimate. More dangerous. Nearly five millennia of waiting and she had made the worst love bite she had ever seen. And she had been too panicked to finish it right.

They activated a ball of silence sat over Zagreus so he could rest. It was set to be clear so they could still see him. They sat at the table drinking strong rum. Jade’s had hotspice added.

Cinder said. “Thank you for helping.”

Jade said. “I did it for him, not for you. It’s your fault he is hurt right now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Get it over with. Choose. I mean you were here naked when he returned last night. All you had to do was have the note and collar in hand.”

“It’s not that simple, it never was. It won’t end until I have suffered enough to satisfy the others.”

“Maybe you can get the Karimere treatment. There was plenty of suffering there. That woman is insane. She made me watch vid feed. I thought I had been being pretty rough with her before, but no. This was a whole other planet of agony. And she enjoyed it.” Jade shook her head. “I threw up. Twice.”

“If that would work I would let it happen. But Zagreus would never do that to me and they would insist it be him.”

Jade drank deeply. “I know. I am bitching because I need to. When you have a bunch of immortal-super-beings who answer to no one, it’s bound to get weird. We got princess agony, princess rage, and princes bi-polar. I’m the only sane one.”

Cinder laughed. “You have come a long way since we first found you.”

“You mean, since I was sacrificed to the gods. I remember those assholes stabbing me on that Altar of yours.”

“We treated your injuries.”

“I was lucky. You liked my arcane.”

“Most people that young would be untestable. You developed your powers early and you have only gotten stronger.”

Jade smiled, “Damn straight. I am the Second. Zaggy gets the Cradle. Then I use my Super-Corrosive-Cat-Girl powers to save the planet with sparkles and rainbows.”

Cinder sighed. “A free Endrala, I hope I am there to see it.” She finished her glass then Jade poured both of them another.

“I want to call a truce with you.” Jade said. “I don’t care if you are punished anymore. I want Zaggy out of this mess. I can’t watch him do something like that again.”

“I would like that. Truce.” Cinder held her out glass and Jade clinked hers to it.

“Good.” Jade eyed her up and down. “Sitting here looking at you, I don’t feel so bad getting rejected by Zaggy. If I didn’t know it was pointless, I would consider putting a collar on you myself. How did he turn you down after getting wrapped in your wings?”

Cinder blushed. “It was close, for both of us.”

Jade leaned in, “It looked really close. Are you sure you didn’t do anything?”

Cinder laughed. “You are getting bad as Karimere with the cameras.”

“I think she might have broken me of that bad habit today.” She winked. “But I doubt it.”

Cinder laughed harder.

“Rezu is making a wedding dress for Zaggy. I helped pick the design.”

Cinder felt rage boil in her but kept her outward cool. “Who nominated you my wedding planner?”

“I did. I gave you orders that have you otherwise occupied, so it is my responsibility to take care of the things you can’t do.”

Her answer and intent seemed honest. Cinder nodded and accepted the help. “Then, thank you. I trust Rezu to guide you to sensible choices.”

“He is so adorable. I see why you kept him hidden all this time.”

“He was busy with other work. This is the first time he has been in the lab in probably a century.” Cinder sighed. “Before I forget, I wanted to ask for your help tomorrow. Its field work. I know you have been asking to get out.”

“What is it?”

“There are some old sensors that need checking. It will take a couple days to complete so we get to camp. It’s in an isolated mountain range with virtually no people. But, as usual, we will go armed for war.”

“Sounds fun. Count me in.”

“There could be some swarm creatures in the area. You will need to keep your eyes open. But don’t do anything without my say so. I will give you a full brief before we leave.”

Jade grinned wide. “I finally get to go to the surface!”

“And we should stop drinking. You don’t want to go on your first mission with a hangover.”

Jade downed the little bit left in her glass and put the top on her bottle.

Cinder did the same.

Jade looked Cinder in the eyes. “There is something I need to tell you. I am not trying to make this part of your punishment. I think you really need to know.”

“What?”

“Karimere proposed to Zaggy. I mean, twitching and sweating, after she got hit with whatever nonsense power he threw at her. ‘Marry me.’ Not even a question.  Hell, she offered to marry you and the rest of us as part of the deal. I think she was completely serious. He said no, a firm no. But, I felt, I needed to tell you.”

“Um…Thank you.” Marriage? Karimere? What did he do to her?

Jade shook her head. “The shit Karimere asks is crazy but there is some feral part of me that loves it. I think Zagreus is the same way. There were moments where I could see it, hear it, feel it, from him. If you want him, you need to claim him now. If you give him space Rimmer is going to go after him, hard. Just like she did me.”

Cinder nodded and took the convenient topic change. “How did you become her Mistress?”

“I chose it. Rimmer locked me in a room, and gave me no way out, but I still chose it. All in all, it’s been fun. ” Jade shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like I had a lot of options anyway. I didn’t want sloppy seconds by trying Lili. I hate you. And I didn’t want to kidnap some poor mortal. Rimmer deserves the abuse and asks for it.”

“Karimere does what is necessary for the mission, but she is not as heartless as she pretends to be. I hope she has treated you well.”

“Rimmer is… complicated.” Jade leaned back in her chair and sighed.

Cinder shook her head and looked over at Zagreus’ resting form. “I have no room to talk about other’s relationships. Look how I handled my own. I am the Queen of Skulls. I have laughed in the face of countless foes but I couldn’t bring myself to sit across a table to play a simple game with that man. Now I am ordered to live naked in his room and share his bed. Not exactly how I pictured things happening.”

“At least they didn’t make you watch.” Jade laughed to herself. There was pain in that sound.

Cinder made it a point to not use her mental powers on anyone she would have extended contact. Prying around in people’s heads is a quick way to make everyone around you paranoid and angry. The fact that she got to watch every detail of their downward spiral, only made it more disturbing. But she didn’t need mental powers to see Jade was hurting. She made a mental note to speak with Karimere, once things had settled down again.

Jade stood and stretched. “It’s late. And I’m tired. I’m sure Lilithana is still monitoring. Play nice, and all that.” She stared over at Zagreus for a minute, shook her head, then left.

Cinder showered then went to bed. She could feel all of Zagreus’ pain as she curled up next to him. She pulled him close. Sleep was not going to be found tonight.