In the dining room, finishing up dinner…

“Melio, may I continue looking at your collection of stones?” Mesmerei asked, sitting on the other side of a long table and wiping her mouth.

My ears burned, and a smile crept up on me. “Really? You’re interested?”

“Yes!” she replied, giggling. “I truly enjoyed learning about them after yesterday’s dinner.”

“Oh, uhm, sure!” I pointed at her. “Do I go over there or are you coming over here?”

Mesmerei got up with a chuckle and sauntered over to me. She dragged a chair with her and placed it on my right. She sat down and smiled, waiting for me to start my exhibition.

I hummed a tune as I pulled out my Bag of Holding.

“I like the life your eyes reflect when you talk about your rocks,” she whispered.

I glanced at her and showed a bashful grin. “Sorry. There are little things I discovered that I really enjoyed over the course of my journey. I’m not very used to sharing these newfound delights with people.”

“Am I the first that you’ve shared these with?”

I put my hand on my chin. “I guess so.”

“How lucky.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty lucky such a beautiful woman doesn’t mind listening to me gush about my rocks.”

She chuckled. “I didn’t mean you were the lucky one.”

Well, that comment got my heart pumping… but not as much as my rocks did!

I pulled one gemstone out of my bag and placed it on the table.

“Yesterday, you were telling me how selective you were of the stones and gems you kept… You said you avoided truly priceless gems, yes?”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

Mesmerei leaned in. “I meant to ask you—why be so selective? Would one not want a priceless gem to be the centerpiece of an otherwise noteworthy collection?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. Unique gems and stones are danger magnets. The trouble those stones bring is not worth it. Questing heroes, nefarious villains, ancient evils, ancient divines, good old-fashioned curses, sentient stones—unique treasures will bring all kinds of trouble someone like me might not survive. They aren’t worth it.”

Mesmerei was amused if her chuckle was anything to go by. “And how do you know one of these dangerous stones?”

“I bother Nordeen to check them. Nordeen can identify anything with origins in Human Country on sight. She tells me if an item is Unique. If it is, I back off. But don’t get me wrong, I enjoy collecting rare stones. I just collect the kind of stones that only appear once in a while, but are always forming.”

She pointed at the red gemstone on the table. “And this one… This is a…” she hummed, finishing the tune I had started earlier. “Ahh, yes, I recall, a Sabercat’s Eye?”

“That’s right.”

“How does this one come about?”

I suddenly heard the rustle of feathers and felt her wing across my back. It was like she was wrapping it around me.

She came closer. “Warm?”

“Very,” I replied.

“Please,” she said, gesturing at the gemstone.

“There’s a type of monstrous beast in the jungles far south of here. Those monsters are very violent, and most only live for ten years. If one finds a cat older than fifteen years, then they may have a shot at coming across this jewel. As the cat gets older, their left eye crystalizes until it forms this gemstone.” I picked up the gemstone and used the spell, Prestidigitation, to create some light effects that accentuated the stone’s facets.

“This one—I nicked it from some poachers’ hideout while they were fighting a bunch of heroic adventurers.”

“How daring.”

“Not really.” I winked at her. “I’m so slippery and sneaky that I’m rarely ever in danger.”

“A talent to be sure…”

Mesmerei looked into my eyes as I turned the gemstone in my fingers.

“How much would you pay for this?” I asked, trying to get my mind off her wings.

Mesmerei blushed and bit her lip. She glanced down at the gemstone and then back at me.

“I don’t know… What would you want for it?”

I smiled. “I wouldn’t sell it to you.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s nothing I want from you.”

She tilted her head.

“You’re already giving me what I want,” I said.

“Then why ask how much I would pay?”

I shrugged playfully. “Because I wanted to know how you valued this.”

It happened quickly—that last thing I expected. She leaned in and kissed me on the lips. Her lips were soft and warm.

My heart raced. I couldn’t let myself lose focus. If she started sucking out my vitality—ahh, there it was. She was doing it.

Mesmerei moved away, and she had a satisfied grin on her face. The traces of my life force disappeared into her mouth.

She winked at me and licked her lips. “Sorry, the dessert you put in front of me was too enticing.”

I grinned, a little lightheaded. “Hope you don’t mind if that moment gets turned into a song.”

“I won’t mind if I’m the first to hear it.”

“Deal.”

She shifted her hair out of her eyes and returned to the gemstones. “Tell me about another one, Bard. I like hearing about these rare, but not too rare, stones.”

***

I hummed a tune as I walked to my room, all by myself. Mesmerei and I spoke for an hour or so afterward. Nothing else happened—she didn’t even mention our lip locking moment. Instead, when the hour had passed, she decided to go to bed and set me free.

I touched my lips. “God damn breathtaking, Mesmerei.”

I turned the corner and a bit down the hallway, right in front of my door, was one of the Daughters. I came up to her and looked at her while she was looking down at her feet.

Flora Ross, or I guess as she was now named, Flora De Mesmerei. She was a very attractive woman with delicate features and an hourglass figure. Her dark blond hair that was just past her shoulders, curled in the front. The back was straight, but it gave her an elegant and controlled look. Her skin was a very pale white, and her eyes could take on a deep purple sheen if you looked at them just right. Her full and sensual lips were red. Red as blood. They hadn’t been so vibrant earlier, so she must have slathered something on...

Her dress was black and low cut. It had a slit up the side, from her waist to under her arm. It showed off the sides of those breasts that could suffocate. On her hips was a belt--one with a ruby pendant hanging from it. The belt was adorned with small gold discs and chains too—gifts from Mesmerei.

Her black skirt hugged her curves, leaving nothing to the imagination. Her whole outfit was so tight that If you looked at her, you could seethe groove of her belly button. It looked like she was wearing a garter belt under it all too...

“Flora.”

“Melio…”

“Are you hungry?”

She nodded.

I smiled and grabbed a handful of her ass. She jumped with delight and looked at me.

“Good, I am too.”

I opened my door and pushed her in, closing it behind us.