Shadowborn

Chapter Sixty-Six: Chance Encounters

Fel really wanted to kill something. Every step of this godforsaken job had been one pile of shit after another. It was just supposed to be an easy job he’d managed to secure too much pay for. Throw around his lord status, spend a few weeks with some beautiful women warming his bedroll, and enjoy the little vacation from the city. See some sights. Fuck some girls.

No. Instead, the first half of the trip had been mind numbingly boring. Sola had made up for a good chunk of it, but she’d been following him around for far too long. Things had gotten stale, and while Rastra’s inexperience had been novel at first, it had gotten old quick. Then she’d gone and gotten her face six kinds of fucked up and scarred that body of hers to boot.

Serena had been the silver lining of the whole fucking trip. An absolute gem hidden in the back ass end of Listone. Not only had the girl simply radiated the innocence only a virgin could have, but she’d been so eager to prove herself he hadn’t even had to work very hard to get her to sign such an obviously loaded contract.

And then that dark haired, creepy ass, shadow-wielding fuck had ruined everything. He’d managed to scoop that busty blonde right out from under Fel. She’d gone from eager to please to downright hero worship, and everyone in the goddamn caravan jumped right on the wagon. When it came down to spending two more weeks chugging along with a bunch of idiots and fools with only Sola to keep him occupied and cutting his losses and heading back alone, it wasn’t exactly a hard choice.

And if he could use his family’s influence to get a little revenge, he wasn’t going to complain.

And then the fucking gnolls happened. It must’ve been damn near twenty of them, appearing out of thin air in the middle of the night. He’d had to leave most of his supplies behind, barely even managing to get to his horse, but even that hadn’t been enough. No, the furry little bastards had boxed them in, and since he’d decided to camp a bit inside the forest, the horses didn’t have the room to outrun them. Slipping a knife through one of the straps on Sola’s saddle had been the only real option, and he’d still barely escaped with his life.

Now here he was. Alone in the middle of nowhere. Without even a tent. Horny enough that even Rastra seemed like a solid prospect. The night sky was cloudy, which meant anything not illuminated by his campfire might as well have been invisible. A part of him hoped Feng held up his end of the bargain, but another part of him almost wished he wouldn’t. Fel shouldn’t have contracted out his revenge. He wanted to wring Ren’s neck with his own hands.

A tingle at the back of his neck warned him he wasn’t alone. He leapt to his feet, brandishing his rapier.

“Who’s there?” he demanded.

He heard the sound of rustling grass, and someone rose from the darkness. Fel spun towards the man as he stepped into the firelight. He had sandy blond hair that was greasy and matted and clothes that looked like they had seen some serious wear since the last time they’d been cleaned. Fel’s eyes skipped briefly over the man’s crooked, slightly off grin, straight to his dark, beady eyes. Fel prided himself on his ability to read people, and he knew in an instant that this man was exactly the kind of unhinged that his family loved to work with.

But that was when he wasn’t alone and in the middle of nowhere. “Who the fuck are you?” Fel demanded.

Rather than answering, the man cocked his head with a curious expression. “Hm, that’s interesting.” He pulled out some kind of compass and held it up, rattling it. “I see.”

Fel raised his weapon. “I asked you a question, stranger.”

“Oh me?” the man asked, looking around as if there was anyone else Fel could have been talking to.

“Apologies, my friend.” He mimed lifting a hat. “I’m looking for someone, you see, and it seems they’ve got some kind of protection. I seem to have found you by mistake.”

Well, it was clear the compass was some kind of magical artifact. “In that case, you can fuck right off.”

He chuckled. “Oh, no I can’t. See, there’s only a few reasons my compass would have led to you, and I’ll need to investigate one way or the other.” He jiggled it again and frowned. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me everything you know about one Zaren Nocht, would you?”

Fel frowned, lowering his blade. “Tall, decently muscular, really dark hair, blue eyes? Couple small scars on his face?”

He brightened. “That’s the one!” Then he frowned. “I think. Anyways, what else?”

“Doesn’t really matter, I had a friend take care of him. He should be dead.”

“A friend?”

“Eike Feng,” Fel said before he could stop himself, then frowned. The man had some kind of skill to loosen his tongue, and he hadn’t even realized it.

That just made the man laugh. “No, unfortunately, our friend Zaren wiped out Feng’s camp down to a man and then some. It’s why I’m here. Now, what else?”

Fel’s blood ran cold. He wouldn’t have been surprised if the fuck had somehow slipped free, but killing them all? Who the fuck was this guy? “Has some kind of darkness magic,” Fel said with a shrug. “Good with most weapons, but seems partial to a sword. Quiet guy, but carries a real ‘fuck you’ air when he feels like it. Pretty sure his newest girlfriend is a priestess, and he always has an Arelim and some kind of gray-skinned Seraphim sharing his tent at night.”

The man nodded, pulling out a strange pen and writing on his forearm. “A priestess, you say? Yes, divinity could easily explain the interference keeping my tracking from working. And a gray-skinned Seraphim? Black feathered wings?” Fel nodded. “So that’s where our lost little Malachai ended up! Good to know, good to know. What else?”

Fel didn’t like how easily the words were being dragged out of him. He also didn’t like how at ease the man was. There was no telling how strong the guy was, and suddenly Fel wasn’t liking his odds so much. “That’s pretty much the gist of it. Barely more than a kid, but he’s more capable than he seems.”

That made him frown in clear disappointment. “Well, that’s unfortunate. I was hoping to avoid this, since it’s exhausting, but beggars can’t be choosers.” He pulled out a knife with a green crystal blade, and Fel reacted.

He dashed forward before the knife was even fully drawn, his skills and agility more than enough to close the short distance in the blink of an eye. He swiped his rapier across the man’s chest, leaving a long red gash, then plunged it through his torso before yanking it free and leaping back to watch the man bleed out.

The man looked down at his bloody chest with clear confusion on his face. “Well that was rude,” he remarked, unworried.

Fel’s triumphant smirk faded as he watched the blood slowly reverse direction, seeping back into the wounds before latching onto the flesh and pulling the cuts closed until nothing but angry red lines remained. Then he flicked a hand out and three sickly golden bolts of energy shot out from his fingers.

Fel dodged the first two, but the third caught his leg. When he went to take a step, he felt slower. No, not slower, heavier. Heavy enough that when the next bolts came, he was caught by two of them. Fel lunged again, and the man didn’t even bother to dodge. Fel’s rapier sunk all the way to the hilt in his gut, but he just winced and shook his head. “Always the same with you fighter types.”

Fel tried to pull his blade free, but the blood from the wound had wrapped around the blade to hold it in place. He knew letting go was his only option, but his attempt to rip the blade out cost him. The man put a hand on Fel’s shoulder and there was another pulse of corrupted gold light.

The bolts had made Fel feel like he was moving around with a pack of rocks on his back. The pulse made him feel like his entire body had turned to lead. The ground rushed up, and Fel ended up looking at the dark clouds above. The man stood over him, calmly pulling the blade out just for his blood to seal the wound closed. Fel struggled against whatever magic was holding him down, but it was no use.

“Gravithurge and Sanguithurge,” the man said, brushing himself off and tossing Fel’s rapier aside. “A deadly combination if I do say so myself, but I always was partial to the corrupted magic trees.” He grinned, then kneeled over Fel and started cutting his shirt away.

“Stop!” Fel cried. “I’ve told you everything I know! Torture won’t magically give you more information!”
The man chuckled. “Sure it will.” He dragged the crystal knife across Fel’s chest and pain like nothing he’d ever felt before erupted through his entire being. Like he was being burned from the inside out. He screamed and begged, but the man didn’t react past a euphoric sigh.

“Did you know?” the man asked, dragging the blade through flesh again while Fel screamed, just under the first cut, “that souls are a malleable thing? They’re heavily influenced by the souls around them. The more powerful the soul, the more it leaves its marks on others. Love is a good way for souls to rub off on one another, but so is hate.”

He dug the blade in deeper and Fel screamed. The man’s dark eyes seemed to glow faintly and he smiled. “As I thought, our friend Zaren has a powerful soul.” Then those eyes widened. “A very powerful soul. And…oh…oh my.” He kept rooting around with the blade a bit longer, the pain growing worse and worse until Fel could taste the blood from his throat torn from screaming.

He sat back on his haunches, his face a little pale. “The master is going to want to know this sooner than later,” he said to himself while Fel begged wordlessly. “This is going to change some things. Sorry, friend, but I’m going to need every scrap of information I can. I’d say this is going to hurt me more than it’ll hurt you, but that would be a lie. Try to endure it as best you can, though.”

Tears ran down Fel’s face as the man lowered the knife again. This expedition really had been shit from the start.

# # #

When I woke the next morning, I had two problems. The first was my full bladder, which was a pretty common thing when waking. The second was the real conundrum, and it was because of that second problem that the first problem was an issue.

Noelle hadn’t been kidding about bringing friends to the tent, and I was currently buried under bodies. I was laying on my back with both my arms pinned. Noelle had claimed my chest with one leg hiked over my waist and her arms tucked adorably beneath her.

On one side, Serena used my bicep as a pillow, and somehow Nariko had wiggled underneath Noelle and between Serena and I to curl into Serena’s chest in a position that couldn’t have possibly been comfortable, despite the contented snores coming from her. On the other, the twins had fallen asleep in their standard position: wrapped around one another. That wouldn’t have been an issue if my arm wasn’t trapped between them.

Tsuki really seemed to be settling in, as she’d decided to go to sleep as naked as my harem sans Serena. Ryoko wore nothing but one of my shirts, and I knew she really was wearing nothing else because the shirt had ridden up past her waist, leaving her lower half exposed. Tsuki was on the outside, which meant Ryoko was tucked into my side. That wouldn’t have been something I minded normally, but thanks to her state of dress and the way she was wrapped around both her sister and my arm, my hand was in a…precarious position.

As my brain woke up, it started to realize exactly what the warm, soft flesh surrounding my hand was. Thanks to the natural curve of my hand, my fingers were sandwiched between her plump thighs and dangerously close to the apex of her legs. It wasn’t until that moment I really began to realize how much the twins had filled out since we’d met them in Anford.

Between the silky softness of her thighs, her breasts pushing against my arm through the shirt, and Tsuki’s naked breasts practically enveloping my limb, alongside the nakedness of three of the other girls in the tent, blood was rapidly flowing southward at a rate I had little to no control over.

I tried to extract the arm the twins had taken hostage as carefully as possible, but the moment I so much as twitched my fingers Ryoko moaned softly. It was a soft, barely noticeable sound, muffled by sleep, but it still made me freeze. Any chances of me not getting fully erect went out the window as she shifted, pulling my arm tighter to her and shifting my hand even closer to lower lips.

Well, this certainly isn’t a problem I ever thought I’d have. Serena was sleeping so softly on my other side that I was loathe to wake her, but it might be my only option. I wasn’t sure how intentionally Ryoko had placed my arm, and if it was something she’d done in her sleep I didn’t want her freaking out about it. I also wanted to avoid getting stabbed by Tsuki, but for now that was secondary.

That thought went out the window too when Noelle shifted on my chest and her leg brushed against my cock. I fought a groan from the feeling of her skin on mine, and foolishly I figured that would be the end of it. Then her leg pushed against my cock a second time and she hummed.

She pushed off my chest to sit up, sliding back until my length was sandwiched between her cheeks. She looked over her shoulder at it, then grinned at me. “Good morning,” she said softly.

“Good morning to you, too,” I said, arching a brow. I’d be lying if I wasn’t a little entranced at the shadows that her breasts cast over her flat stomach in the faint light of the early morning. The twins weren’t the only ones who had filled out since we’d met. Noelle looked like a completely different person. Her breasts had grown enough to fit snugly in my palms and her stomach was no longer concave. Her cheeks were fuller, and her thighs had enough definition that I could no longer see between them when she stood. She still had a petite build, but it was much more natural than her malnourished body had been.

Her cheeks darkened under my inspection, but her back arched and her chest pushed out. There was pride in her eyes, and her happy hum never wavered. Then she looked over the bodies surrounding us, her smile never wavering. “Family,” she whispered to herself, slowly dragging her palms down my chest. “When we have a home, I want it to be like this. A place where we can all just be.”

“I couldn’t agree more. We’ll have to tell Rhallani.”

“Mmm,” she hummed. She reached back to cup my shaft with her small, callused hands, rubbing it and pushing it against her ass at the same time. “Your hands seem occupied,” she noted.

I glanced at the twins with some worry, since she’d become rather protective of them, but she smiled like the sight of them wrapped around my arm made her happy. She rubbed my length a bit longer, just looking from one person to the next, then she made a content sound in her throat. Then, to my shock, she shifted so her legs were spread and her pussy was bared to me.

A quiet moan slipped past her lips when she took two fingers and slid them up and down her slit before stopping at the hood of her sex and rubbing the nub there. This time a whimper tumbled from her mouth and she shuddered, a sight that had me even harder than I had been a moment ago. Then her head fell back when she slid a single finger inside.

“You’ve been spending time with Rhallani, haven’t you?” I asked, my voice low.

Her head fell forward and she slid a second finger in, barely muffling the gasp of pleasure. “I—I asked her to teach me how to prepare myself.” A third finger joined and her hips bucked. “She s-said that I should do it in front of you, because men like to watch us do it.”

Another shudder passed through her, making her breasts jiggle in a mouth watering fashion. “She was right about that,” I admitted. Noelle flashed her incisors at me in a grin, then removed her hand. She lifted her fingers to her mouth, licking her juices off with her long tongue. “I’m not sure whether to yell at Rhallani or thank her.”

Her grin widened and she shifted again, this time to give herself the leverage to lift up without disturbing the women on either side of me. “You and Serena were out so late that Rhallani and Tiana both taught me lots of things.” Then she lowered, sinking onto me inch by torturous inch. I wanted to buck my hips, but there was no real way to do so without waking Ryoko, Nariko, or both. She was still unbelievably tight, but she’d done more than enough work to make the fit manageable. She bit her lip hard to stifle the long whine when our hips met, her tiny chest heaving and a blissful look in her eyes.

I was left with no option but to lay there and allow her to have her way with me. A situation that I was reasonably certain neither of us minded one bit from the expression on her face. She leaned back, supporting herself on my thighs, and started to rock and gyrate her hips in a way that was so radically different than the near-feral rutting our sex usually ended up in.

“You were right,” she gasped, struggling to keep her voice low. “I confided in the others, and they helped me feel better.” She twisted her hips just right and my cock scraped against a spot that made her eyes go wide. She started gyrating so that I was hitting that spot over and over again and release ripped through her quickly.

It was at that moment, while she orgasmed as quietly as she could, that Ryoko shifted. It was a slight shift that I might have missed had Noelle not been still for a moment, but then I felt the unmistakable wetness on my fingertips as I brushed against her slit. She whimpered, then her hips rocked a second time to rub against my hand.

Then Noelle leaned forward, determination in her eyes, and kissed and bit my chest as she started riding me again. Ryoko grew bolder, pulling my arm tighter and rubbing herself against my hand as quickly as she dared. I was tempted to just let her continue unnoticed, but then she whimpered in frustration and all but forced my hand. No pun intended.

I gently brushed against her pussy, dragging my middle finger up the length of her lips a single time to give her the opportunity to pull away. But when her body shuddered and she only pressed my hand to her pelvis harder, I got the gist.

Noelle sunk her teeth into my shoulder hard enough to draw blood at the same time I caressed Ryoko’s folds with my fingers while pressing my thumb to her clit. She gasped, her fingernails digging into my bicep, but she just rocked her hips against my hand even harder.

Noelle’s walls started to flutter around my shaft, but between her and Ryoko I was getting close. Likewise, Ryoko had buried her face in my bicep and begun to tremble from head to toe. I sped my fingers up, rubbing my thumb in circles around her clit, and her body clenched. The only question was who would finish first.

It turned out to be Ryoko. With a cry muffled by my arm, she came. I felt the wave of wetness on my fingers, and her climax triggered my own. I grunted and exploded inside Noelle, filling her tunnel with my seed. Her teeth sunk into my neck to stifle her own cries as she came as well, leaving all three of us a panting mess.

“You four are going to be the death of me,” I said finally.

Noelle just smiled. “Just four?”

I laughed softly. “For now.”

That was right around the time I remembered my full bladder, and whether it was because of what I'd said or because everything was starting to catch up to her, Ryoko locked up. Slowly, she turned her head up to look at me with a pale expression on her face and fear in her eyes. “It’s alright,” I said softly. “I’m not upset. Far from it.” She relaxed, and I leaned close enough to press a kiss between her ears. “I will need my arm back though.”

She nodded, smiling softly, then moved to extract herself. Not only that, but she gently pried Tsuki’s arms from around mine as well. She crawled over Tsuki to lay on her other side, the end of her tail flicking while she watched my every move.

Noelle moaned softly when I used my newly freed arm to lift her off my length and set her to the side, but not before she grabbed the back of my hair and pulled my lips down to hers. I could taste faint traces of my own blood on her lips from where she’d bit me, and something about that spurred her on even more. She trapped my bottom lip between her teeth, biting down with just enough force not to break the skin, then her tongue lapped at the part she’d bit and she hummed with satisfaction.

After she released me I managed to free my arm from under Serena without waking her, though I did kiss her forehead before I left. She looked utterly adorable with Nariko napping happily in her arms, and just on the other side of her Tiana was wrapped around Rhallani’s sleeping form. My mage’s gaze was locked on me with a heated promise in her eyes. I winked at her, and her lips spread in a smile.

But, as badly as I wanted to sate that hunger I could see on her face, my bladder was not happy about being ignored for so long. I managed to find some pants and slip them on before ducking out into the crisp morning air. I took off towards the treeline to find some privacy, shirtless and shoeless.

I went just deep enough to be hidden from view. I finished relieving myself, but I hadn’t even tucked my cock away when I heard the sound of someone approaching me. The promise in Tiana’s gaze was the first thing to pop in my head, and the thought of what had preceded that look had me half-hard already. I turned, not bothering to finish putting myself away. “You just couldn’t wait until I got back to camp, could—” I started.

Then I froze as I met the eyes of a very surprised Vivian.

It wasn’t the Vivian I was used to, either. Her normally full, flowing hair was pulled into a haphazard tail with strands sticking out in all directions. Her sleeping clothes were wrinkled and carelessly thrown on, though they still covered nearly every inch of her, and there were clear bags under her eyes. Eyes that widened as they traveled from my face down my chest, stopping at the bite marks that were certainly still on display, across my torso and the scars that peppered it, stopping at my half-erect dick still grasped in my hand.

And they stayed there. Something about her demeanor told me that I wasn’t looking at the mask Vivian had so carefully constructed, but at whoever existed below it. Something about the real Vivian staring at my cock, combined with how my morning had gone so far, meant that all the blood in my body was heading the wrong way. Away from my brain.

Which is why I just stood there like a moron, hand on my hardening dick, waiting for the inevitable shouting that could only come from a situation like this. Instead, as I reached full hardness, her only reaction was a slow raising of her brows.

I was more than a little caught off guard, and my brain was not helping at all. I was afraid any move I made might set her off, so I stayed stock still and waited to see what her reaction was going to be. The silence seemed to stretch on for an eternity, neither of us willing to break whatever moment was currently happening.

Then, just because the situation wasn’t fucking weird enough, Tiana came strutting into the trees from behind Vivian without an ounce of surprise on her face. Not only that, but she was wearing my shadow armor, which meant her back and the sides of her legs all the way above her waist were bare, her breasts looked like they were about to pop out at any moment, and her gorgeous, long legs were on display. I felt a little justified seeing as my instincts were right and Tiana had actually followed me out, but that still did nothing to change my current situation. Dick in hand. Vivian staring at my junk.

Tiana, however, held no reservations whatsoever. “And here I was thinking I was the only one to follow him out here,” she said, slinking to me and pressing a kiss to my cheek. Then, to both my horror and my pleasure, I felt her fingers wrap around the base of my cock. She pressed into my side, her fingers running through the back of my hair, while her other hand pumped me slowly, making it impossible for me to simply pull my pants up at this point.

“Well, Vivian? Care to join us?” she asked demurely.

Vivian, whose eyebrows had all but disappeared into her hairline, had turned a distinct shade of crimson. Her sleeping clothes were thin enough that I could see exactly how hard her nipples were, and in a strange moment of clarity I realized only one of her nipples had a piercing in it. Unfortunately, my observation of her very nice breasts made my cock jump.

Then Tiana’s words finally broke through the fog in Vivian’s mind. She went ramrod stiff, finally tearing her gaze from where Tiana was still slowly stroking me, and flicked between us. “I wasn’t—I mean, I didn’t—you weren’t supposed to be—” Then her mouth clamped shut and she spun on a heel and stalked back towards camp.

It was as far from the Vivian she’d been showing everyone as I’d seen so far, and I would have appreciated it much more if it weren’t for the entire situation around it. I slid a hand under her armor, grabbing a handful of ass and pulling her into me, drawing a surprised but pleased gasp from her. “Was that really necessary?”

“I wanted to see how she’d react,” Tiana admitted shamelessly. “She spends so much time watching you, I wanted to know if it was because she wants this,” she squeezed my cock, “or if there’s another reason. Judging by how she was drooling, I’m thinking it was the former.”

I just shook my head, kneading her ass. “That could have gone so poorly.”

“Which is why I came out. I saw her headed this way, and I wanted to make sure you weren’t out here all alone with her,” she said, sliding her hand deeper to cup my balls, earning a groan out of me. “And because I’m feeling neglected,” she finished with a pout.

I pulled her around to face me, one hand on her ass and the other in her hair to tilt her head back. I kissed her, and her lips opened immediately to admit my tongue. “Pretty sure I offered to take care of you yesterday, and you were asleep when I got back.”

She bit my bottom lip exactly where Noelle had, mischief in her eyes. “I know, but then you went and fucked Serena so hard she’s walking around bowlegged and gave Noelle the most delicious sounding orgasms. Even Ryoko’s gotten more than me.”

“If you think I believe for even one second that you and Rhallani didn’t have at least a few orgasms while you were ‘teaching’ Noelle then I might just go back to our tent and get some more sleep.”

Her pout turned into a grin. “I love how well you know me.” Then we were kissing again. Somehow she managed to get my cock between her thighs and was rocking back and forth, her wetness dripping down and making my length slick. “Does that mean I can’t convince you to throw me against a tree and fuck me so hard you have to help me back to camp?”

My answer was to spin her around and push her towards the nearest tree. She squealed in delight, bending at the waist and bracing against the trunk and pushing her ass out at me. I flipped the trail of cloth on my armor aside, revealing she wasn’t wearing anything underneath as usual. I plunged my length into her in a single thrust and she cried out in both pleasure and pain.

I set the pace fast right out the gate, grabbing her hip with one hand while I wrapped her hair around the other and pulled her head back enough to lean forward and kiss her. The sound that fell from her throat was somewhere between a laugh and a moan, hiking in pitch when I slammed into her even harder.

I pulled on her hair even harder and she clenched around me, her walls clutching me and trying to pull me in deeper, but I didn’t slow down. She took one hand off the tree to reach down and finger her clit, and in no time she was already cumming all over my cock. I didn’t let up, reaching down to soak my thumb in her juices while I continued to ram into her depths.

She moaned, clearly anticipating exactly what was about to happen. Not wanting to disappoint, I pressed my thumb past the rim of her ass. She clenched around the invading digit and I pulled her hair again, nibbling on her neck where it met her shoulder, and her walls started fluttering around me again. I traded my thumb out for two fingers, plunging them into her ass mercilessly, and she made a delightful sound.

I slid in a third finger, pulling her head back so I could whisper in her ear. “You wanted to have trouble walking?”

“Uh huh,” she moaned, trying to nod while I fucked her into the tree.

I let go of her hair and her head fell forward. I slid out of her pussy, earning a disappointed whimper at her sudden emptiness, but that disappointment didn’t last long. I pressed the tip of my cock to the bud of her asshole and she bucked, trying to sink down onto my length. Considering she owned buttplugs I had to assume she wasn’t completely inexperienced, but I didn’t want to actually hurt her. I pressed my hips forward and felt her forcing her muscles to relax while a low, throaty moan slipped from her mouth.

I pushed forward until I was fully seated in her tight hole. I pulled her body up so that it was flush against mine and wrapped my hand around her neck while I reached around to slowly finger her pussy. “Do you want to Forge your Link now?” I whispered in her ear.

She clenched around my shaft. “Here? Now? With your cock in my ass?” she breathed.

“Seems fitting,” I said with a smile.

She laughed. “Yes. Fuck yes. Gods you’re fucking perfect, Zaren.” While her ass got used to my size, I checked my Essence pool.

[Soul Essence: 70/140]

Spending so much time with my harem now that three of them were boosting my regeneration heavily had my pool refilling quicker than ever. I wasn’t certain, but I was pretty sure leveling Serena’s link had given me some kind of boost as well. Whether the cost was twenty or thirty, I was more than willing to spend the points right now. Tiana was long overdue in my opinion.

I closed my eyes and started dragging my hips back. I searched out her soul with mine, and it wasn’t hard to find it. It was strong, like I knew it would be. I could see the frayed edges where she’d done what she had to for survival, but was ashamed of it. I could read the marks where she’d allowed adventurers to do as they pleased to her and how much she’d hated every second, even when she occasionally found physical pleasure in their touch. I could also see the old scars of loss from the disappearance of the father she’d idolized.

But I could also see the determination she held. The will. She didn’t have quit in her. It was only matched by a battered kindness that had been nurtured as much as it had been knocked around, but she still cared so deeply about those around her it almost brought tears to my eyes. I was vaguely aware of my lips brushing against her throat while I slowly fucked her ass, but just before I activated my skill I saw it.

The shimmer. The same one I’d felt in Rhallani’s soul. One that was more difficult to see the harder I looked at it. I knew that the shimmer was important somehow, but until we got to the capital I had no clue how we’d even go about understanding it.

I activated [Forge Link] and Tiana shuddered, her ass clenching around my shaft. I kissed her neck again, conjuring a tendril in a spur-of-the-moment decision and sending it between her breasts to tease her slit. She moaned, and when she accepted the Link I felt the happiness radiating from her soul as it slid into place.

I felt the pull again, just as I had with Rhallani. There was hardly any pain this time, though with the pleasure I felt while her asshole squeezed my cock it was hard to tell. Especially when I felt that same relief as if something that had been previously missing slid into place, making me feel more complete than I had a moment ago. It fell into place almost without any input from me, as if it had just been waiting for me to give the go ahead.

Tiana cried out as orgasm crashed through her, and I was gripped by the need to feel as much of her as I could. I picked up the pace, grabbing her by the elbows and slamming into her ass as hard as I could. Through the link, I knew she could handle it. Her cries turned to a scream when I directed my tendril to thicken and fuck her pussy. I could feel it shoving inside through her thin, inner walls and climax ripped through her again.

Magical energy sparked between her bare back and my naked chest. I let go of one elbow to grab her leg behind the knee and lifted it up, forcing her back to fall against my chest fully. My lips latched onto her neck and her now freed arm reached back to wrap around my neck, pulling my head down. I knew exactly what she wanted and bit, sending another wave of release rushing through her.

It was that final climax that pushed me over the edge. I gave her a few more thrusts before slamming into her one last time and painting the inside of her ass white. She came again, clutching me tightly and crying out my name. She babbled something unintelligible and I realized I needed to give the tendril a command if I wanted it to stop fucking her. I let it go a little longer before I allowed it to dissipate, letting my cock slide free from her ass and holding her against my chest.

“Sweet fucking gods Zaren,” she panted. “If we ever end up not working out, just kill me. I don’t think I can live without this.”

I chuckled, my lips still trailing kisses up her neck and behind her ear. She made a delighted sound and let her head loll back onto my shoulder. “Sorry, but that link means you’re stuck with me.”

She groaned. “Thank fuck.” I lifted her head enough to kiss her, only my arms keeping her standing. “Why did the Link feel so…”

“Right?” I offered. She nodded. “I’m not sure. It felt like that with Rhallani, too. Hopefully, once my pool gets closer to full, we can do a little more experimenting.”

“Mmmm,” she hummed, letting her eyes fall closed. “You know, I just wanted you to fuck me to the point I had to lean on you a little, but I’m not sure I can walk at all right now.”

“You’re saying you regret it?” I asked, smiling.

“Fuck no. You’d best be careful, or I’ll start expecting you to fuck me like that much more often.”

I kissed her again. “Anything to keep my sorceress happy.”

“Don’t go making promises your cock can’t keep, love,” she warned.

“We’ll see.”

“Damn right we will.” She kissed me again. “But for now, carry me back. It’s not often someone as gangly as me gets to feel like a princess.”

“Gangly definitely isn’t the word I’d use,” I said, sliding my hands below her knees and lifting her long, lithe legs up off the ground while the other held up her shoulders, “and we’ll have to see what we can do about that.”

She just threw her arms around my neck and smiled, kissing me before leaning her forehead against my cheek. With the Link in place and Tiana in my arms, I felt like I was where I was supposed to be. Now I just had to hope Vivian didn’t want to kill me.