Chapter Forty-Three: Insecurities

Over two hours and countless orgasms later, Tiana’s mana was two-thirds full. I judged that good enough, if only because I wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle much more than that. As it was, she lay limply in my lap, her head resting on my shoulder and her arms limply draped over me, for another fifteen minutes before she was coherent enough to let me help her redress. Turns out her skill was capable of making her sensitive enough to experience consecutive orgasms rather easily. Getting her shaking legs into her pants proved tricky, but working together we eventually managed it.

She sat on a box not covered in her juices while I used towels and the cleaning spell to clean up as best I could. When she tried to get to her feet, she was able to do little more than fall in my direction. I caught her with a laugh and she buried her blushing face in the crook of my neck.

“Next time I vote we do that where there’s a bed nearby,” she groaned.

I kissed the side of her head, using my fingers to try and get her hair as presentable as I could manage. She made a very pleased sound in her throat at the feeling. There would be no hiding what we’d been up to, but we didn’t have to broadcast it so fully. “Next time, huh?”

She swatted my chest, though there was no force behind it. “Yes, next time. You can’t just fuck me like that and not expect me to want more. Although,” she added uncertainly. She pulled away so she could look me in the eye. “I hope we can find time for things other than sex. I want us to be more than pleasure.”

I put a hand under her chin and pulled her in for a slow, deep kiss. “Absolutely. You’re the only one in my group who has experience with the guild, and that’ll be invaluable. Besides, once we fully catch you up on things, something tells me I’m going to need your input greatly. And…” I brushed the hair from her face, “I want us to be more than just pleasure, too. Whatever that is exactly, we’ll find out at a pace comfortable to us. Both of us. Sound good?”

The relief was evident on her face. She leaned her head against mine and closed her eyes, sighing contentedly. We stayed like that for several minutes before she cleared her throat. “Um, you won’t laugh if I tell you I’m not sure I can walk right now, will you?”

It was difficult, but I managed to restrain myself. “Don’t tell me such a short session was too much for you.” I shook my head. “What will Rhallani say?”

She arched an amused brow. “Short? That was more action I’ve seen down there than the last six months combined.” She bit her lip. “Last night notwithstanding, of course.”

I hooked an arm around her back and she did the same in return. I half-carried-half-walked her back to where the wagons were parked. I didn’t see Garm under the awning, but a quick look around showed him, Vaze, Jezal, and Mai all locked in a very enthusiastic conversation with Elisa and the twins. The ones who were under the awning made a warmth bloom in me that I was starting to very much appreciate.

Serena, Noelle, and Rhallani had apparently finished their shopping. Serena sat on the ground with Noelle snoozing in her lap, focused intently on a book I couldn’t make out from this distance. Rhallani was reading a book as well, but she seemed distracted. Even while I watched, she glanced at the group all talking excitedly, then out of the corner of her eye to where Noelle and Serena sat. She frowned, then went back to reading her book.

Or she would have, if she hadn’t caught sight of me practically carrying Tiana towards them. Her face lit up with a wide grin. “There you are! Garm said not to worry, and now I understand why,” she said, her eyes flicking towards Tiana. Her features tightened so quickly I’d have missed it when if I’d blinked. I worried it might be jealousy, but my instincts told me my guess was off the mark.

Tiana sank gratefully down in one of the folding chairs and leaned back with her eyes closed. I looked over Rhallani, who had apparently made a new addition to her wardrobe. A sleeveless coat with a hood currently holding the bulk of a napping Festus. A single tie kept it almost closed, and underneath she wore little more than a strip of fabric that showed off plenty of cleavage and ended just under her breasts.

“What’s all the hubbub?” I asked, pointing a thumb at the group behind me.

A carefully neutral expression flashed across her face. “Vaze and Jezal saw Elisa experimenting with her spinners. Jezal and Mai want to know everything about them, Vaze wants to know if Elisa would be willing to let her sell them. Garm and Tsuki are mediating.”

“In that case, I’ll let those two handle things.”

Her gaze flicked down to my arm. “How’s the Essence looking?”

[Soul Essence: 50/100]

I frowned. “Still not sure what the regen is, but at least it’s healing.”

Already, I could see her mind churning over the puzzle. I assumed she’d come up with at least a dozen possibilities, but it was still far too early to find any kind of pattern. We’d certainly have to keep an eye on it and see, but she didn’t react how I thought she might. There was no vibrating Arelim, and the gold in her eyes looked darker than it normally did. I took a step closer and brushed a strand of loose hair out of her face.

She smiled warmly at me, and something in my gut twisted. I’d seen a lot of people in a lot of bad situations. There were certain thresholds of panic that I’d come to consider proper in given situations, and I knew from experience that I had to be on the lookout for the ones not freaking out enough just as the ones freaking out too much. Rhallani was handling all this incredibly well, which meant she was even better adjusted than I could have ever anticipated or she was bottling everything up. The former would suggest something in her past she hadn’t told me of yet, which I felt unlikely. The latter…

As the king of bottling everything up until it all came up in a single violent burst, I knew I had to do something. I’d had some one-on-one time with everyone else in the harem, it seemed it was Rhallani’s turn. I held a hand out. “Come on.”

She frowned. “Where are we going?”

“The guild. I’ll explain on the way.”

That only served to make her more confused, but she took my hand and allowed me to pull her to her feet. She didn’t stop there, though. She kept going until she was pushing into my front with her forehead on my shoulder. I put a hand at the small of her back and she wrapped her arms around me. I felt her tremble once, then she sniffled and pulled away.

Oh yeah. She was definitely trying to push everything down. “We should get going then. Serena, will you and Tiana take care of things here?”

Serena jerked. “Hm? Oh, Zaren! Where did you come from?”

I chuckled. “Good book?”

She blushed, which made me want to know exactly what she was reading, but I’d pester her later. “You’re going somewhere?”

“Yes, me and Rhallani.”

“Oh.” She moved to stand, then seemed to remember Noelle snoring softly in her lap. “Right. Ryoko made something for Noelle and she passed out minutes after she drank it.” She saw the alarm on my face, because she quickly added, “on purpose! It was meant to make her sleep. Ryoko added some effect to the draft that neither would tell us, but Ryoko said she’d only sleep for a few hours and be fine.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was purposely hiding the spine of the book from me. Now I had to know what she was reading. Had Rhallani infected her with the erotica bug? Or was it something else? Curiosity burned at me, but I had an Arelim to squeeze first. In more ways than one, if I knew Rhallani. “Right. Well, as frightening as that is, I’ll put my trust in them. You’re alright with hanging here until we get back?”

She waved a hand at us a little too quickly. “Go, go. We won’t be here for much longer, so we’ll meet you back at the inn.”

I held a hand out to Rhallani and she took it with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. She interlaced her fingers with mine, then wrapped her other arm around my own and held it to her chest. Once again, it lacked the Rhallani enthusiasm I’d come to know and love.

But before we fully left, I took one last look at Tiana, who looked like she was on the brink of falling asleep herself. “You’re alright to stay, Tiana?”

Her lips curved in a very satisfied smile. “I’m wonderfully alright, thank you for asking. Go on, I’ve monopolized you enough for today.”

I thought Rhallani’s grip might have tightened for half a second. I jerked my head in the vague direction of the guild and she nodded. “How are things with Festus?” I asked her after we’d left the warehouse behind.This time her expression softened. “It still doesn’t feel real. And knowing he won’t be the only thing I can summon…” She shook her head. “You picked well. I can’t wait to see where the class goes.”

I resisted the urge to sigh. A painfully tame reaction as far as Rhallani’s usually went. “When we start traveling, we’ll want to have him scouting ahead at all times. Does he have to report in person?”

“No. We can communicate telepathically, but it does cost mana. He has his own pool.”

“Good to know.”

The closer we got to the guild, the tighter she held onto my arm. “We aren’t going to try and powerlevel me or anything, right? You’re still healing.”

“No, no,” I said with a chuckle. “I’d at least bring Serena if that were the case.” She relaxed a fraction, but still looked up at me questioningly. “Something Tiana said yesterday got me thinking.”

I paused, seeing if she’d take the bait. She didn’t. Instead of throwing a pervy jab, she just looked away. “It was what she said about the death notification, wasn’t it?”

Sometimes she was a little too smart. I couldn’t tell if she’d reached that conclusion because she’d thought her way to it or because it had already been on her mind. “I didn’t realize the guild had instant communications.”She sucked in her breath. “Yes. Communication crystals. They became popular in the last decade or so.”

“So your family has known about you being indebted since it happened, then?”

Her face turned away from me. “My father would have received the notification, yes. Whether Xara did, I don’t know. There’s every possibility she’s on duty or otherwise indisposed. She might not know.”

“Do you want to contact them? Tell them you’re alright?”

Her fingers dug into my arm. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it nonstop since we got to Anford.” I made a gesture for her to go on. “I didn’t mention it in Listone because we didn’t have the money for anything that would get to the capital before we did.”

“We have the money now,” I told her softly.

“I know, but…” I recognized this particular flavor of hesitance. She was afraid whatever she had to say was going to upset me.

“Go on,” I urged.

Rhallani took a breath. “It’s not unheard of for Patrons to force their servants to write letters back to the family claiming they’re nice or kind or otherwise. I knew a girl—a Nereid—one of her sisters got indebted. Then her Patron forced her to write letters talking about how wonderful he was, and he ended up luring another of the sisters into his household. My father was able to pull some strings and get it resolved, but not before they went through awful things.”

I patted her hand with the one she wasn’t wrapped around. “We’re going to change all that if it’s the last thing we do.” She shot me a grateful look, but I got the sense that she wasn’t done. “What else?”

Her expression twisted into a scowl. “You turned in monsters that nobody’s ever seen before. Now you’ve killed a Valax queen. If and when people start to realize your stance on demi-humans…”

I felt like a moron for not putting it together sooner. “You’re afraid someone might go after your sister to get to me through you.”

She looked like she was about to vomit, but she nodded. “Not all families are as close as mine. There’s no way for them to know just how much me and Xara mean to one another, but if I send her a letter through you reassuring her about how much you care about me…”

I pulled her into a gap between buildings where nobody was watching and wrapped my arms around her. She tried to protest, but I just shushed her and cupped the back of her head, pressing her face into my shoulder. She gave up quickly, sliding her arms around my waist and holding me with an iron grip. Not long after, quite sobs started to shake her body.

I stroked her hair and held her against me until she got it all out of her system. Once she’d started to calm down, picking my words carefully, I said, “if you’d like, I have a suggestion.”

She pulled back, wiping her red-rimmed eyes. “Yeah?”

“You don’t have to send a message, but I could.”

“That would look even worse. Xara would never believe anything you had to say.”

“That isn’t necessarily true. For instance, if I said something she’d expect a Patron to say, she wouldn’t doubt it.” Her eyes went wide, and her lips turned to a thin line. “I could send a letter that says I want to meet, and that I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want until after we’ve had a sitdown.”

“You can’t! That makes it sound like—” she cut off.

“Like I plan to offer her a deal? Let her serve out your sentence?” She nodded. I trailed a thumb down her cheek. “I know. That’s the point. She won’t be spending her time worrying about what I’m doing to you.”“She still might not believe you, though. And even if she did…I don’t know…”

“If the situation were flipped, which would you prefer? Besides, unless you’ve been less than truthful during our intimate times, it won’t even be a lie.”

Her bottom lip trembled. “She’ll hate you for it.”

“For now, sure, but I can’t imagine she doesn’t already hate me. If she knows, of course. Then, when we get to the capital, you can sit with her one on one and explain things. This way she gets at least a little peace of mind and anyone reading my mail won’t see anything other than another Patron trying to abuse the system.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. “Only if you want me to, though.”

She pressed her forehead against my chest. “Getting stuck in that tower really was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

I laughed. “I’ll have to do my utmost to change that.”

“I—” Her tone was the one she used whenever she told me she loved me, but the words died in her throat. “After the guild, can we talk?”

“Of course. We can always talk, Angel.” A breath escaped her. “I want to know what’s going on in that big brain of yours, especially when it’s bothering you like now. You never have to hold anything back from me. Never.”

She shot me a tearful smirk. “Even if what I have to say is stupid and insecure and makes me look like a complete lovestruck idiot?”

I cupped her cheek and gave her a deep kiss. “Especially then.”

We hadn’t stopped far from the guild. Once it came in view, she took up her standard servant persona. I still was hardly a fan, but I understood necessity. Compared to the concessions I’d had to make in the past, this one was a small price to pay to keep the people I cared about even a little safer.

I had Rhallani help me write the message to make it vague enough to recover from but worded just right to make the implications we were looking for. After, I spent a bit of extra coin to expedite Tiana’s message to her own family. It felt the least I could do.

Once the messages were taken care of, I enlisted Rhallani’s help looking through missing persons postings going back about twenty years. When I told her about Noelle’s request to find her mother, she was more than happy to help. Nothing popped out at either of us, and with Noelle’s unique appearance we figured it wouldn’t be difficult to recognize it. It had been a long shot anyways.

Once that was finished, it was a quick jaunt back to the Swallow’s Tail. Thanks to our late start, the sun was getting low by the time we got back. But the universe was nothing if not consistent. Rather than being able to simply go up to the room and talk about whatever Rhallani wanted to talk about, we ran into a familiar face.Korey was just turning away from the innkeeper when he spotted us. “Ren. Just who I wanted to see.” He did a double take when he noticed the snoring silver dragon draped over Rhallani’s shoulder, but he didn’t comment.

I put on my most professional smile. “Korey. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

He gestured to a nearby empty table and we all took a seat. Rhallani kept a polite distance, but I just pulled her chair closer to mine, then put my hand on her thigh. She smiled at me softly and put her hand on mine, entwining our fingers.

Korey raised a brow, but didn’t comment. “I wanted to see how things stood with all of you. I understand if you might need a few extra days to recover.”

“I was thinking the opposite, actually.” His brow furrowed, so I told him the basics of what Sola told me. “Not sure hanging around town too long is a good idea.”

He grimaced. “I regret hiring him. He’s not a good enemy to have.” He held a hand up to forestall my next words. “No, I don’t want to cancel our contract. But you’re right. I’ve done some digging after how we parted and I’ve heard some…unsettling rumors about his family. Getting out of town is probably the best move. When can you be ready to leave?”

“First light would be best. If Fel’s after me, he’ll be expecting me to rest and recover as well. The sooner we leave, the better.”

“And that’s…” his eyes drifted to my injured arm, “doable for you?”

“I’ve traveled with worse, trust me.” Rhallani’s hand tightened on mine, but her face didn’t change. I was beginning to realize just how good she was at containing complete control over her expression.

He nodded. “First light it is, then.”

“See you at the south gate.”

He rapped his knuckles twice on the table and stood. He said a brief goodbye and left to tell the rest of the caravan the new plan. I slid a hand across Rhallani’s shoulders and rubbed her opposite arm. “Is Festus ready for a mission?”

She perked up, and Festus raised his head lazily. I told him to find Elisa and wait with her until she went back to Cynthia. He agreed to tell them both the new plan, and that if the two of them weren’t ready to leave town just yet then I’d pay for them to follow us at a later date. He took the message and flew out the door, drawing more than a few stares.

“That will never get old,” Rhallani said, a hint of her normal self showing through whatever plagued her.

“I agree. Now, why don’t we go upstairs?”

Her expression sobered, but she let me lead her to our room by the hand. We’d beaten the others back, so it was just us. I closed the door and turned to her. She stood in the middle of the room with her arms folded over her stomach, uncertainty sprawled across her face.

I walked close enough that we were only inches apart, but I didn’t touch her. “Talk to me, Angel. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“It’s stupid.”

“All the same. Was it something that happened in the caverns?”

She shuddered, then shook her head. “No. Well, yes, but no.”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “That’s a supremely unhelpful answer.”

“All the same,” She parroted with a small smile. “I’ve just…I’ve been thinking. A lot. About you and Serena and Tiana and…and me.”

“I see.” I slid my hands to her hips and pulled her into me. She wrapped her arms around my neck, her face just below mine. “It’s alright to have doubts. All I ask is that you come to me when you do so we can talk things out.” Her cobalt blue eyes were striking as usual. The gold circle wrapped around her pupil still looked dimmer than normal, though. “I’ve lost too much in my life to lose what I’ve got now to a lack of communication.”

“Well, as you know, I don’t exactly have a lot of experience with relationships.” Her cheeks darkened a little, but she just cleared her throat and forged on. “Pretty much everything I know, especially when it comes to humans, comes from…y’know…”

“Erotica?”

Her blush deepened, but she nodded. “Yes. But when I see the others…Serena still hasn’t said…the L word…and she’s been with you longer than I was when I said it.”

“It’s still been less than a week since we became anything official,” I pointed out.”

She screwed her face up. “Really? It feels like so much longer.”

“Tell me about it.”

An uncertain sound came from her throat. “Even still, my point stands. And Tiana is all worried about moving too fast, and I just can’t help but wonder…”

I pressed my palm to the side of her face and ran a thumb over her cheek. “You’re worried that because you’ve lived a life rather deprived of affection, you jumped at the first person to show you any,” I guessed. I’d have been lying if I said I hadn’t wondered the same thing once or twice.

Her head thumped forward onto my shoulder. “Got it in one. And, the more I learn about you, the more I wonder if it wasn’t a little mutual. You lived a life in wartime full of pain and suffering and loss and the first girl you come across is basically throwing herself at you.”

I got the feeling she wasn’t done, so I let her continue. “And now you’ve got so much more than just me. Serena and Tiana and now even Noelle. Serena is so good for being there for you when you need her most. It’s like she’s got this sixth sense for when you’re struggling but hiding it from the rest of us. It feels like she always knows exactly what to say to make things better.”

I started stroking her hair. “She doesn’t, trust me. She’s just as uncertain as you, but she’s got great instincts when it comes to that kind of thing.”

Her grip tightened for a second, then she continued. “Then there’s Tiana. She’s got more boobs, more butt, legs for days, that ridiculously full hair…” she sniffled. “She’s even got a class built around sex. There’s nothing I could ever offer in the bedroom that she couldn’t.”

I pressed her into me. “You really think something like that matters so much? Rhallani, Tiana might be more well endowed, but that brilliant mind of yours isn’t just good at researching.” She tensed, and her fingers curled into my shirt. “If you really put your mind to it, when it comes to the bedroom, I’m fairly certain the other three combined couldn’t keep up with you.” She relaxed, and I pressed my cheek to her forehead. “What else?”

“I—well, you like—” She nuzzled deeper into me. “You like helping people. You can’t stop yourself. I understand why, and I love that about you. I just—” She gulped. “Noelle’s life has been so much worse than mine in every way. I wish to the gods it hadn’t been, and seeing how happy she is now compared to when we first found her is just…amazing.”

“But?”

Her grip tightened again. “It’s going to sound horrible.”

“So say it anyways.”

“I know it’s stupid, and I know it isn’t true,” she said in a rush, as if afraid I might stop her, “but there’s a voice in my head that keeps suggesting you’re with me to…fix me. That your need to help people is the reason you’re with me. That, since Noelle’s been through so much more, that she sort of…fills that role for you.” She buried her face in my chest. “See? Horrible. I’m a horrible, terrible, awful person.”

I didn’t answer right away. “You’re half right, and half wrong,” I said finally. She drew back with red-rimmed eyes to look at me. “Yes, your past and me wanting to give you a better future is a part of why we got together in the first place. But,” I wiped the wetness from her cheeks, “I didn’t do everything I’ve done for you just because I was trying to ‘fix’ you. I did it because the world wronged someone I care about very deeply, and I learned long ago that I can’t rely on the gods to fix such injustices.”

“And now,” I continued, “I’m not keeping you around as some kind of project or to fill some role. I want you in my life because you make me happy. I don’t just want to give you the life you deserve, I want to be there to watch you living it. To be a part of it.”

She sniffled. “And what if it isn’t love? What if it’s just the first affection I’ve ever really felt and I’m latching onto it like it is?”

I let out a breath. “Are you happy?”

“What?”

“With me. With the others. Are. You. Happy?”

She withdrew one hand to press it into my cheek, and I put one of mine on top of it. “Deliriously happy. To the point where I’m terrified of losing you. All of you. I—I have nightmares sometimes. Of waking up all alone. Of knowing you were gone forever. That I was going to be all alone again. I don’t want to go back to that. I can’t. Not knowing what it’s like to have you in my life.”

“Rhallani,” I said slowly, “the only reason under the sun I’d ever leave your life is if I was absolutely certain it was what you wanted. Unless that day comes to pass, you aren’t getting rid of me that easily.”

She bit her lip. “And if something happens to you? What then?”

I wanted so badly to promise her that nothing would, but I knew better than that. “If that came to pass, do you really think the others would just leave you? The only reason I agreed to this whole harem business is because you all seem to care about one another as much as you care about me.”

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. “Well, almost as much.”

I smiled. “Almost, then.” I slid my hand to cup the back of her head and angled her face upwards towards mine. Her lips parted with a soft gasp, her eyes locked on mine. “And when we get to the city, I’m going to sit down with Cynthia and have a will put together to make sure all of you are taken care of in the highly unlikely event that I go and get myself killed.”

Her eyes widened, but before she could protest I said, “Then that will is going to sit on a shelf, untouched and unread, for decades. How does that sound?”

I felt her fingers on the nape of my neck, pressing into my flesh and pulling me down towards her. “Good. That sounds good.”

The pressure increased, and I finally relented and lowered my lips to hers. It was far from the scorching, needy kisses I’d come to expect from Rhallani. It was slow. Hungry. She pulled herself into me, and I did the same in return. Her feet left the ground from how tightly we held one another, her lips devouring mine. Her hand twisted in my hair while the other pulled against my shirt so tight I could hear the seams straining.

We finally broke the kiss, both of us breathing hard. She looked up at me, the glow back in her eyes. “Can we have sex now please?” she asked breathlessly.

I chuckled and crushed her against me, brushing my lips against her ear, and whispering, “tell me what you want, Angel.”

She writhed in my grip. “You. I just want you.”

I slid my hands down her back and hooked a hand around the inside of either thigh. She leapt eagerly, wrapping her legs around my waist, and I walked her to the desk in the corner. “And you’ll have me.” I set her down, capturing her lips again. Then I trailed my fingertips along her arm until I got to the gem at the inside of her wrist. I touched it, summoning the armor underneath the clothes she wore.

She gasped, then shot me a heated look when I summoned a tendril to banish the clothes she’d been wearing a moment ago one article at a time. The only part of her outfit I didn’t manifest were the panties. “You could do that all this time?” she demanded, a smile on her face.

I silenced her with another kiss and used the tendril to banish my own clothes. Her hands roamed every inch of me she could reach, but her ankles locked behind me pushed my hips ever closer to hers. “Please, Zaren,” she whimpered.

I slid a hand between us and found her completely soaked under the skirt of her “armor.” I guided myself to her core and slid in. She groaned into my mouth while I kissed her, then I slammed our hips together and her head shot back. My lips found her neck, trailing kisses up the underside of her jaw until they were pressed just under her ear.

“I love you, Rhallani,” I said.

Her silken walls clenched around me. She pressed the side of her head into mine with her eyes closed and whispered, “more.”

I started thrusting. The fingernails of one of her hands dragged across my back while the fingers of the other twisted in my hair, pushing me deeper into her neck. “I love you,” I said again. She moaned, rocking her hips to meet mine as much as she could. “I love seeing you light up the second you smell a mystery. I love the way your eyes glow when you put the pieces of a puzzle together.”

I wrapped one hand around the nape of her neck while the other dug into the soft flesh of her thigh. I kept talking, my lips pressed to her ear, my hips working my cock in and out of her. “I love watching you enjoy yourself when we share the others. I love seeing how excited you get when something really catches your interest. I love listening to you gush over those things just as much.”

“Zaren,” she gasped. “Harder. Right there.”

I angled her hips up a little so I could thrust deeper into her and she cried out. Her lips sucked on mine greedily. Her tongue traced the outline of my mouth before sliding past my lips, writhing against mine. I relished in her taste, cool and sweet and perfect, while climax overtook her. She whimpered, tucking her chin and pressing her cheek to mine.

“Keep—keep going!” she cried, her lips attacking my neck.

I had to put my hand out to the wall behind her to keep us upright. “Seeing you happy is one of the greatest feelings in my life. Having you in my arms, warm and content, is something I will never get tired of. The only thing that comes close is seeing you with the others. Seeing how happy they make you. How happy you make them. Seeing you thrive in our little family.”

I was getting close, and I could tell she was, too. She’d gone silent, her mouth open in a silent cry of pleasure, and her legs pressed against my backside with all the strength she could muster. “You’re mine, Rhallani, and I’m yours. For a long, long time. As long as I draw breath, you’ll never feel alone.”

Release ripped through her. She buried her face in my neck and I did the same in hers as I followed her lead, unleashing myself inside her. Somehow she clung to me even tighter through my orgasm, her limbs trembling and her breaths coming in ragged gasps. She didn’t let me go, even long after we’d both finished cumming.“Feel better?” I asked once she’d started to relax in my arms.

She giggled into my shoulder, her hands running along my back. “Very much so. Zaren…”

“Yes?”

“I love sex with you, especially now that we’re getting into the kinky stuff, but…I still want this sometimes. No crazy stuff, just you and me, face to face.”

She was still buried in my shoulder, so I gave her neck a kiss. “Done.” Then I chuckled. “Rhallani asking me for vanilla sex? Next thing I know she’ll be wanting to do missionary.”

With a laugh, she finally released her legs and let me slide out of her. We kissed some more, this time a much more tame affair. When she pulled back, she trailed her hand down my cheek. “Soul Essence?” she asked.I shook my head. “You are a dog with a bone sometimes, you know that?”

Her fingers wrapped around my softening length, still soaked in her juices. “I sure do.”I chuckled, then checked my status. The laugh died in my throat when I saw the numbers.

[Soul Essence: 57/100]

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I said.

Her eyes went wide. The glow had returned in force. “Tell me.”

I told her how the Essence had risen seven points since the warehouse. “I swear, if this is some kind of ‘recovers through sex’ resource, I’m going to have to have a long word with Allura on exactly why everyone thinks she’s a sex goddess.”

Rhallani’s face lit up with clear excitement, then died down just as fast. “No, it can’t be.”

I raised a brow at the disappointment in her tone. “Care to share?”

She bit her lip, then swatted my chest. “Back up and let me down.” I did and she darted to her bag, fishing out her notebook. She set it down on the desk (next to where her juices were still pooled, of course) and got out a charcoal pencil. She glanced back at me with a feral grin. “Tell me everything you and Tiana did.”

I sputtered. “Everything?”

“Everything. What you did, what you said, what you thought. As much of the same about her as you can remember, too.” She brandished the pencil at me. “For science, Zaren!”

I shook my head and leaned against the desk next to her. For the next thirty minutes, I told her in as much detail as I could muster about my time with Tiana. I glossed over some of the more intimate things she’d said, but I gave Rhallani an idea of their nature.

About fifteen minutes in, I heard the sound of something dripping onto the floor. When I leaned forward and saw the puddle growing between Rhallani’s legs, I realized it was a mixture of her juices and my cum dribbling out of her. When I looked up and saw how flushed her face was, still focused intensely on her notes, I stood.

I kept talking while I stepped behind her, then I slid the tail of her coat aside to reveal her perfect, peach shaped ass. She gasped when I ran a hand over the light gray flesh, looking back at me with heated eyes. She arched her back and spread her legs, and I stepped forward and slid my length in with a single motion. Considering what we were talking about, I was more than ready.

I started slowly sliding fucking her, then went back to telling her what I’d been doing with Tiana. Her eyes flashed, and she went back to writing in her book. We kept going, her asking questions and me answering while I slowly and carefully fucked her softly enough to make sure she could keep writing.

Any worry I’d had about distracting her went right out the window. If anything, she was more focused with me inside of her than normal. I finally finished, but her pencil kept scribbling furiously. I let her work through the problem and closed my eyes, just enjoying the feeling of being inside her. Of her fluttering walls gripping me and pulling me back in every time I dragged my length out. How her hips were slowly pushing back against me with each thrust, but in a way that made me think she wasn’t doing it at all consciously.

She finally finished what she was doing and closed the book, then slid off my length and turned to pull me down into a fiery kiss. This was the scorching, devouring, aggressive embrace I’d come to expect from her. “I fucking love you.”

“Figure out anything interesting?” I asked her.

“I’ve got some ideas, but first things first…” She slipped around me, trailing a finger along my shaft, and backed towards the bed. She touched the gem at her wrist and her clothes melted away, leaving her in only the collar and the band at her wrist. She slid onto the bed, crawling backwards with her legs spread wide and her pussy on full display. “You’ve got to finish what you started.”

I followed, falling over her on hands and knees. She kept wiggling back with a giggle and led me back until she ran out of bed, then she pulled me down and our lips met. She deftly lined me up and I sank into her again. With how long we’d been slowly fucking a moment ago, it wasn’t long before I was burying myself in her a final time and shooting my second load deep inside her.

After, I laid down and she nestled happily into my side. “So, my adorable little scholar, spill.”

She looked up at me with her lips pursed. “Well, for starters, I don’t think it’s as simple as sex. You and Tiana did way more for way longer than we did, but we had the bigger gains. I’ve got a number of ideas as to why, but I’m not going to tell you any of them, and you aren’t allowed to guess.”

I raised a brow, trailing my fingertips along her stomach. “And why is that?”

She hummed. “Because if you know what I’m trying to test, then you might skew the results.”

“So I’m your experiment now?”

Her expression faltered, and I saw panic in her eyes. “Wait, that’s not what I—”

I kissed her forehead. “I trust you implicitly. Just try not to take things too far. And,” I tapped her nose, “the experiments had better actually pertain to what you’re trying to test. No kinky stuff just to scratch those itches of yours.”

She blew a raspberry at me. “You’re no fun.”

“Is that so?” I asked, sliding my finger inside her, drawing a surprised moan from her, and coming out with a dollop of cum. “This begs to differ.”

With a glare, she grabbed my hand and pulled it close enough to lick the cum off, then she nestled into my side. “Can we stay like this till the others get back?” she asked softly.

I wrapped my arms around her. “Of course we can.” She made a happy sound and closed her eyes. “And Rhallani?”

“Hm?”

“If you have any more of those nightmares, I want you to tell me, alright?”

She looked up at me for a long time, then trailed a hand along my chest. “Alright, but one of these days you’re going to have to return the favor.”

Before I could answer, she was buried in the crook of my arm with her eyes closed. It wasn’t long before she was snoring softly.

I let her words ruminate for a bit. I’d practically spent the day running around trying to take care of the women I’d come to care about. I’d pushed them all to share what was bothering them, yet I was still being relatively close lipped on my own issues. Even what I’d told them was only scratching the surface. I brushed Rhallani’s hair from her forehead and placed a kiss on her forehead.

“Alright, Angel. You win.”