Less than a month had passed since I’d fled Vorsalos, the crazy-cult capital of the Shattered Coast, but it felt like a completely different lifetime. Over the last few weeks I had been magically bonded to an amazon warrior (and fucked her), rescued my old lover (and fucked her), entered into a business arrangement with the Headmistress of the Highwind Academy (and fucked her), and learned that an otherwise unassuming half-elf whore was apparently the city’s underworld crime boss. Oh, and naturally I had fucked her once, too.

I couldn’t have concocted a more ludicrously implausible scenario if I had been a lonely sixteen-year-old boy stroking himself into his bedsheets. And yet here I was, surrounded by beautiful women who couldn’t get enough of my cock. It wasn’t a lotus-induced hallucination; it wasn’t a hastily scribbled fantasy penned by a bard desperate for sales. It was my life now, and it was pretty fucking wonderful.

Well, other than the fact that almost everyone we met these days wanted to kill me.

“I do not understand how you could have possibly built of all of this in just over a year,” Kaseya commented as Silhouette escorted us through her underground city, dubbed “Darkwind” by the people who lived here.

“I didn’t have to build much of anything,” the silver-haired half-elf explained. “Nearly all of these caverns were here before I arrived. I just encouraged a different group of people to move in.”

I grunted softly. “In other words, you drove out the thugs and replaced them with refugees.”

“Something like that, yes.”

I shook my head in disbelief. Even though I had solved the mystery myself, I was still a bit flustered by the fact that Silhouette was the Black Mistress. Judging the age of elves—full-blooded or half—was notoriously difficult, but she only looked a year or two older than the rest of us. And while I had seen the power of her enchantment and illusion magic firsthand, it was still difficult to accept the scope of the underworld empire she had created in such a short period of time.

Then again, the Inquisitrix had all but conquered Vorsalos in just a few years, too. The comparison did not make me feel better. 

“They say you butchered half the Grim Fangs in one night, then finished the job a week later,” Valuri put in. Of the three of us, she was definitely the least enamored—and the most suspicious—of everything we had seen so far.

“I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but suffice to say that’s not a particularly accurate portrayal of what happened here,” Silhouette replied mildly. “I am not the leader of a lotus cartel. I do not have an army of goons at my command.”

“So then how did you wipe out your competition so quickly?”

“The Fangs weren’t my competition—they were my enemies. And for the most part, I didn’t need to take direct action at all. I merely helped the ‘proper’ authorities in their search. The Silver Fist and the Highwind Guard deserve much of the credit.”

“I’ll bet,” I murmured, studying our surroundings again. I had spent most of my youth eking out a meager existence in the warrens of Vorsalos, so I was no stranger to life in the proverbial cistern. The people down here—probably several thousand of them, at a quick glance—weren’t exactly living it up, but the conditions were far better than anything I had experienced. Darkwind wasn’t just a big cave with rocks and alcoves; there were actual houses and roads down here, almost like someone had teleported a random Highwind neighborhood underground.

“I’m serious,” Silhouette insisted. “Ask any knight on the street—they’ll gladly take credit for destroying the Grim Fangs and the Lecasi Brotherhood and every other gang that used to plague the city. It took the better part of a year, but I provided the Silver Fist with all the information they needed to win their little crime war.”

“At which point you moved in,” Valuri reasoned. “And thanks to your magic, they can’t find their way back down here.”

“Not just my magic, but yes. The Highwind Council is convinced that I’ve merely consolidated the gangs into a new, more powerful group of slavers and smugglers, but they couldn’t be more mistaken. Darkwind is a safe haven for those who have nowhere else to go—and for those who will one day save this city from itself.”

“Meaning what, exactly?” I asked.

Silhouette smiled. “All in due time. First, I have a few allies I’d like you to meet.”

She escorted us past the residential area toward a large, palatial structure that had obviously been shaped by magic. Faint trails of Aetheric energy still clung to the purplish stones, and when I stretched out, I could sense the presence of much more powerful enchantments lurking within. Something about the design of this building and many of the others struck me as familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why or how. Perhaps they reminded me of a painting or illustration I had seen somewhere…?

Two impressively large men—a half-orc and a human who was every bit as ugly as a full orc—guarded the entrance, but they calmly stepped aside when we approached. Neither of them were wearing armor or carrying weapons, but I could sense the Aether swirling around them. I wondered idly if they were Academy drop-outs or exiled sorcerers. Either way, Silhouette obviously had plenty of protection if she needed it. 

The sweet scent of bath oils greeted my nose inside, and I whistled softly as my eyes drank in the sights and sounds. The chamber was essentially one big circle with numerous cubbies evenly spaced along the walls. The ceiling was quite high despite the fact the spire had several floors—probably six or seven at least—all of which were connected by a winding staircase near the back wall. This particular level appeared to be something of a public bathhouse.

To my left, crystal blue water drizzled down from a natural fountain into a central basin that fed eight other distinct pools. Dozens of people—at least half of whom were stark naked—were currently bathing or swimming or otherwise relaxing in the water. To my right, dozens of other folks were enjoying baths of pure steam from the eruptions of magically enhanced geysers.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, genuinely impressed. “And not at all what I expected to find in an underworld lair.”

Silhouette grinned. “The dark places of the world are often the most beautiful, so long as you know where to look.”

“What does that mean?” Kaseya asked.

“It means she spent time with the drow,” Valuri said, her eyes narrowing as she examined the fountains. I followed her gaze to an elven man with gray skin, white hair, and smoldering red eyes sitting near the side of one of the pools.

I gasped as I belatedly solved my own mystery. About a year ago, Valuri and I had hidden in a network of caves beneath Vorsalos. We had later learned that the passageways had been built by the drow—that was where I had seen this type of architecture before. The dark elves had abandoned the caves a long time ago, but many of the structures remained intact, including a spire magically sculpted from this same purplish rock. 

“You are very perceptive,” Silhouette said, one of her silver eyebrows arching in surprise. “I would not have expected a Senosi Huntress to know much about the drow.”

“I don’t, but I’ve seen this type of architecture before,” Valuri said. “And everyone in the Northern Reaches has heard stories of raiders from the Underworld kidnapping surfacers and taking them as slaves.”

Kaseya’s brow creased with concern. “You were a slave?”

“Yes,” Silhouette confirmed. “I was captured by a dark elf raiding party just outside Riverbend a few years ago. Not long afterward, a priestess of the Spider Queen claimed me as her personal pet.”

“Gods have mercy,” the amazon breathed. “I am sorry.”

Silhouette touched her arm. “It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. My mistress was harsh, but I learned a great deal about myself down there. My strengths, my weaknesses…my true desires.”

I raised an eyebrow and shared a glance with Valuri. We had fled to Highwind in search of some kind of normalcy, but the people here were proving to be anything but. The Archmage was a cuckold, the Headmistress had a rape fetish, and apparently the city’s most powerful crime boss had enjoyed being a drow slave. Perhaps there was something in the water here…

Then again, Valuri was basically a semen-sucking vampire, and I routinely let her treat my cock like candy, so none of us really had any room to judge.

“I also had the opportunity to study magic without the same cultural taboos and restraints as people here on the surface,” Silhouette went on. “I was a fledgling channeler when I was captured, but thanks to the drow, I learned I could be much more. They nurtured my natural abilities, and I eventually grew powerful enough to escape.”

“You’re incredibly fortunate,” Valuri said. “I’ve never heard of someone escaping the Underworld before.”

“I had help, of course. And many of those same allies still serve me now.” She paused at the center of the chamber, and a brief, wistful smile touched her lips. “Unfortunately, things in Riverbend weren’t the same when I returned. My family and friends barely recognized the woman I had become, so I quickly moved to the city. And it didn’t take me long to realize that Highwind had changed as well…and not for the better.”

“Is that your goal here?” I asked. “To make things better?”

“It wasn’t…at least not at first,” Silhouette conceded. “But when I saw how our fellow sorcerers are treated, I wanted to establish a haven for them. And then once I learned about the Inquisitrix…well, it became obvious that a simple haven wasn’t enough. The Highwind Council, the Silver Fist, the Mage’s Guild…none of them are prepared for the war that is to come. They may shun people like us, but ultimately we are the only ones capable of saving them.”

I glanced back over my shoulder to the “city” outside. “Do you consider these people your soldiers? Are you building an army?”

Silhouette shook her head. “Highwind has an army. What it lacks are leaders willing to see the situation for what it is. Archmage Beloran and his wife understand the gravity of the threat better than most, and Ranger-General Serrane is cunning and competent. But defeating the Inquisitrix will require more than a few brave souls willing to stand against the Council.”

Valuri eyed the other woman pointedly. “So what is it going to require?”

“Powerful allies, for one,” Silhouette said. “Allies like a former Senosi Huntress with intimate knowledge of the Inquisitrix and her servants. Allies like an amazon warrior whose sister sits at the enemy’s right hand.”

Kaseya’s mouth opened. “How do you…?”

“Information is my profession, honey,” Silhouette said. “I know all about Ayrael’s rebellion against her people, and I know that so far you have been unable to stop her.”

I glanced between the two women for a moment. “Okay, so that’s why you need Kaseya and Valuri. What about me?”

Silhouette smiled and patted my cheek. “You’re the pretty face, of course. We can always use another one of those around here.”

Valuri chortled. “I changed my mind—I like this place after all.”

“This is a haven for sorcerers,” Silhouette went on. “You have a strong connection to the Aether—one of the strongest of anyone here, I think. And your bond to Kaseya is…well, it is unlike anything I have encountered before.”

“Still, you just said that a few brave souls weren’t going to be enough,” I pressed. “So what’s the rest of your plan?”

“I’m afraid we’re at a point where the only way to save this city’s institutions is to destroy them. Hopefully, whatever arises from the ashes will be strong enough to save us.”

“That sounds like one hell of a gamble,” Valuri said, her laughter fading and her eyes narrowing.

“Doing nothing is a far greater risk,” Silhouette said. “You understand better than anyone how ill-equipped we are to deal with an army of mage-slayers.”

“Sure, but that doesn’t mean—”

Silhouette held up a hand. “We have many, many more things to discuss, but for now you should all get some rest. Your travels have no doubt been draining, and Jorem’s wounds need time to heal.”

I paused for a moment, recognizing a polite dismissal when I heard one. I briefly considered pressing the issue but decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. It was late, we were tired, and at least for the moment we were probably safe.

“It’s not that bad,” I said, touching my side. “I just need a few days to relax.”

“Then that’s exactly what you will receive.” Silhouette touched my arm again before she beckoned toward the public baths. “My assistants will ensure you are well-fed and comfortable. I am needed elsewhere at the moment, but I promise I will return soon. Please, enjoy yourselves.”

She smiled at each of us in turn, then promptly turned and strode away while her servants—one male and one female—took her place. The man was tall, muscular, and so objectively handsome that just looking at him made me question my own masculinity. The woman, perhaps even more surprisingly, was a drow.

“This way, please,” she said in a thickly accented voice. “The steam baths will wash away your troubles.”

“I bet they will,” I murmured, eyeing her up and down. She was naked, just like many of the others currently enjoying the baths, and I couldn’t help but marvel at her slender elven frame, glistening gray skin, and bright blue eyes. She had a spider-shaped gemstone in her navel, and when she turned to escort us, I noticed the similarly designed spider tattoo between her shoulder blades. I assumed they were religious symbols. Had this woman been a prisoner along with Silhouette? I didn’t know enough about dark elf culture to speculate.

“Just try and stay focused for once,” Valuri said into my ear as we walked. “I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

“You have a bad feeling about most things,” I countered.

“I’m serious. Something’s not right here. We need to be cautious.”

“Don’t worry,” I soothed, placing my arm over her shoulder even as my eyes remained glued on the mesmerizing sway of the dark elf’s hips. “I know what I’m doing.”

***

“You can thank me later for not returning to Telanya,” I said, leaning back against the edge of the pool. “Forget living in a mansion—this is the life.”

“Gods, you really are pathetic sometimes,” Valuri muttered. “This isn’t a bloody brothel.”

I glanced back over my shoulder and scowled at her. She was still sitting up on the ledge above the pool, fully clothed and alert. She had spent the past twenty minutes glaring at everyone who walked by like a bitter old miser guarding his last coin.

“No, it’s even better,” I said. “It’s free!”

She rolled her green eyes and continued idly tapping her fingers against the handle of her crossbow. Most of the people down here were already giving her a wide berth thanks to her Senosi powers, and she seemed determined to drive them even further away.

“There is nothing wrong with being cautious,” Kaseya said. She was wading in the pool next to me, though she hadn’t allowed herself to fully relax, either. “I appreciate your vigilance.”

“Thanks, Red,” Valuri said. “I appreciate being able to see your tits, so I guess in the end we’re all even.”

I sighed and leaned back even further. The nameless dark elf servant was busy bathing me with a cloth while the towering human man was doing the same with Kaseya. I had paid for a similar service at a brothel once. When I closed my eyes, I could hear the whore’s soft little whimpers when I fucked the living hell out of her afterward. I had paid her double for her enthusiasm.

This drow was more skilled and more attractive, though, and her exotic nature certainly didn’t hurt. When she eventually set aside her towel and snuggled up next to me, I wasn’t the least bit surprised to feel her fingers curl around the shaft of my cock.

“You have an impressive stem for a rivvil,” she said. “Would you like to spill inside me?”

Before I could do anything besides babble incoherently, I heard a loud smack and yelp beside me. I turned to see Kaseya twisting the male servant’s arm with one hand and grabbing him by the throat with the other.

“What do you think you are doing?” she growled.

“I was…just trying to…please you…” he stammered.

“You are not my Maskari. I did not give you permission to touch me there.”

“I am…sorry…please!”

She released her grip. “Your services are no longer required. Leave us.”

For a moment, I thought he might actually argue the point, and he tossed a quizzical glance to Valuri. She grinned and shook her head.

“You’re cute, honey, but you should probably go before Red here really gets mad,” Valuri said. “Maybe I’ll come and see you later.”

The servant nodded and hoisted himself out of the pool. The moment he was gone, Kaseya nestled in next to me and placed her hand upon my chest. I smiled and turned toward the drow.

“You should probably go, too,” I said.

“She can stay,” Kaseya said, shifting her eyes to the other woman. “Jorem was enjoying your attention. Please, continue. I may be able to learn something from your technique.”

The dark elf smiled—a wide, wicked grin that suddenly made me fear for the safety of my stem—before she began stroking me again. She was unmistakably talented. Her long gray fingers would constantly change their speed and pressure, and her thumb could occasionally rub across the swollen tip. I had a feeling that she had used this particular skillset to great effect in the Underworld…

She expertly delayed my climax over and over again, and Kaseya watched the whole thing as intently as if she were learning a new dueling technique. As my arousal rippled through her collar, she began slowly grinding her quim against my leg. When she abruptly moaned in release, wracked by the waves of her own climax, I felt a sudden rush in my cock and threw my head back—

The dark elf seemed content to watch me erupt straight up into the air like the geysers on the other side of the cavern, but Kaseya had other plans. She dunked her head beneath the waterline and clasped her lips over my cock the instant I burst. As usual, I grabbed a clump of her red hair and held her in place as I painted the back of her throat with my burning seed.

“You really are something else, Red,” Valuri commented from above us.

Kaseya swallowed and swung her legs onto my lap as she locked eyes with the drow. “Thank you for the lesson. You may leave us now.”

“As you wish, abbil,” the dark elf replied, an amused glimmer in her eye.

After the three of us were finally alone, Kaseya swung her leg over mine and straddled me beneath the water. “This is not so different from when you claimed me for the first time. Do you remember?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll never forget,” I whispered, leaning forward to kiss her.

“If you two are going to fuck, the least you can do is save some of the good stuff for me this time,” Valuri muttered. “If I’m taking first watch tonight, I’ll need the extra energy.”

I reclined my head back on the edge of the pool so I could see her. “You’re really that paranoid?”

“You’ll forgive me for not trusting the master illusionist who surrounds herself with local sycophants.”

I grunted softly. “I never said we should trust her. We shouldn’t trust anyone in this city, given what we’ve learned. But I don’t honestly believe that Silhouette is interested in harming us.”

“Interests change.” Valuri sighed and crossed her arms. “Look, aside from the fact that her ‘escape from the drow’ story is almost certainly bullshit, I don’t particularly care for her little spiel on how she’s planning on saving Highwind from itself.”

I remembered her strong reaction earlier, but I had completely forgotten to mention it—probably because I’d had an attractive dark elf giving me a massage and a handjob.

“The city needs saving, or at least protecting,” I pointed out. “I mean, isn’t that half the reason we’re here? We want to stop the Inquisitrix, and this is the best place to find allies.”

“That’s all well and good, but it’s not what I’m talking about,” Valuri said, lowering her voice. “None of that struck you as odd? Not even the part where she said she needs to ‘destroy the city’s institutions in order to save them?’”

I opened my mouth to reply but stopped mid-word when I belatedly realized what she meant. “You’re talking about Vorsalos.”

“The Inquisitrix used almost those exact same words for years,” Valuri said. “When I was growing up in the Senosi learning how to fight and kill channelers, the instructors would constantly talk about the ‘revolution’ and how the city needed to be burned to the ground before it could be rebuilt. Look where that led.”

“Just because the words are the same does not mean the intentions are as well,” Kaseya pointed out.

“I know that,” Valuri said. “I still find the similarities…unsettling.”

“It’s a fair point, but I think we’re getting ourselves,” I told her. “We haven’t signed up for anyone’s ‘revolution’ just yet. For now, Silhouette seems able and willing to help us. Given our shocking lack of alternatives at the moment, I think we should let this play out for a while.”

“You just want to fuck her again.”

“It’s a potential bonus, I’ll admit, but it’s not the reason I think we should stay.”

“Uh-huh,” Valuri murmured, glancing back out into the commons. “You two have fun. I’m going to poke around and see what else I can learn around here.”

I nodded. “Just try not to get under anyone’s skin yet. I’d rather not have to fight our way out of here, too.”

“No promises.”

Valuri slipped away into the shadows, and I was once again reminded just how silently she could move when she wanted to. I didn’t even hear a single click of her heeled boots on the stone outside.

“I cannot fault her for being suspicious,” Kaseya said after a moment. “We are surrounded by liars and thieves.”

“We’re surrounded by refugees who’ve had to rely upon lies and theft to survive,” I countered. “It’s not the same thing.”

“Perhaps not,” she conceded. “Still, I appreciate Valuri’s vigilance. She is far more complex than I originally thought.”

I grinned. “You’ve no idea how happy I am that the two of you can get along.”

“I have never met another woman like her.”

“Nor have I,” I said, studying the amazon. Her blue eyes twinkled with concern for an ally, but I could also see the unmistakable glimmer of lust. I probably should have been at least a little bit jealous, but instead my cock throbbed at the thought of watching the two of them eat other again. I was a man of simple tastes.

“For now, let’s just give Val some space,” I said, reaching up and brushing several wet locks of red hair from Kaseya’s eyes. “It was a long day, and we almost got ourselves killed trying to protect nonexistent cargo. I’d say that calls for a few hours of relaxation.”

I lifted one of her ample breasts to my mouth and sucked her nipple between my lips. My cock had already sprung back to life, and I used my free hand to guide the tip inside her. I fit so snugly, so perfectly, that I wondered why in the bloody void I even bothered fucking other women.

“I want you to spill inside me,” Kaseya breathed into my ear. “But I am concerned about leaving Valuri without sustenance.”

I licked her other nipple and chuckled. It really was adorable how quickly she had taken to Val. We were like a pack now, and Kaseya was worried about protecting—and serving—both of us.

“She’ll be fine,” I said. “Val always has a way of extracting whatever she needs.”

I left out the part where she was able to feed off of Kaseya now, too. The amazon still wasn’t comfortable with that reality, and this wasn’t the time to press her on it.

“She is quite resourceful,” Kaseya said, smirking as she began grinding her hips against me. The walls of her molten hot quim cradled my cock so tightly I probably would have spilled if I hadn’t already done so a few minutes ago. “And I enjoy helping you feed her.”

“Good,” I managed between increasingly rapid breaths.

“But right now, I want to enjoy a moment alone with my Maskari,” she cooed into my ear. “Assuming he doesn’t mind.”

I grinned as I hoisted one of her nipples back to my lips. “Not in the slightest.”

--

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