“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Trajan asked as he looked Leon in the eyes.

“I am,” Leon said without hesitation. The two were in Trajan’s office the day after Leon’s villa was attacked discussing what could be done to keep Leon safe. Their conclusion was that there wasn’t much of substance they could do, and Leon had no interest in security theater, so it was simply decided that he would spend more time in the Royal Palace while also being given time to devise his own security measures.

Trajan simply didn’t want Leon attacked again. Given they had no idea how the vampires had made it past what few defenses the city had—there were no walls around the city and the only defenses of any meaning were around the Royal Palace and individual estates—about the only thing they could come up with was a greater response time from the Legion, even though it wouldn’t have helped much during the vampiric attack given the power of the vampire leaders.

For all their discussion, though, as Trajan wasn’t in charge of the local Legions, this topic was little more than idle speculation that neither believed would lead anywhere meaningful. Neither could do much in practice that required them to discuss with the other.

“Very well,” Trajan said with a sigh. “I fully reinstate you in the Legion. I grant you the rank of Legate, as befits your sixth-tier power, and charge you to defend this Kingdom from all threats, internal and external.”

Leon gave Trajan a strange look but carefully nodded anyway. It hardly mattered, though—he believed in always following through on promises, but he also wasn’t about to hold himself to things he said in the moment when they became untenable. He wanted to live his life by ear, and not to tie himself down to a Kingdom he cared little for, even if there were those whom he respected that cared for it a great deal.

He needed to be flexible and adaptable, and he wanted to eventually look for his mother. He couldn’t live the way he wanted to from under the thumb of an absent King.

Or maybe he just felt that way now because his words had backed him into a corner with Naiad, he couldn’t say.

All of these things crossed his mind as he slowly nodded to Trajan. Leon said no more, and Trajan, realizing that that was as good a pledge of loyalty as he was going to get from Leon, sighed again.

“All right, boy, I’m sure you have a lot to do after your house was wrecked, go take care of it. I’ll deal with the political horse** that’s going to come of it, don’t worry about any of that.”

“Thank you, Trajan,” Leon whispered, and he departed from the office, sparing only the time to give the Prince one short bow after reaching the door. He considered himself lucky that Trajan hadn’t asked much about Naiad. The only information that Trajan knew about her was that she was an incredibly powerful ‘mage’ who was now in Leon’s corner, and Leon had expected some kind of interrogation on Trajan’s part into who Naiad was. But the Prince reigned his curiosity, trusting in Leon’s judgment and feeling some comfort in knowing that someone of Naiad’s power was near the younger man and that she was clearly willing to use that power in his defense.

Of course, the Prince fully expected more information on her in time, but for now, with all the political instability in the capital that demanded his attention, he was willing to indulge Leon’s natural tendency towards secrecy for a little while.

With that over, there was nothing more that Leon wanted to do than to go back to Emilie’s estate and get to the real work he wanted to do. Just the day before, he had been planning on meeting with Anzu’s Heaven’s Eye beastmaster and begin Anzu’s war beast training. Now that his home had been attacked, though, he had other priorities.

Heaven’s Eye was going to have the villa completely rebuilt in a week, and probably more than that besides, so Leon had seven days to come up with the defensive wards he wanted. Already, he knew that there would be walls put around the entire villa and its property, so Leon wanted mostly the same enchantments within them that prevented people from jumping over them, plus more than a few earth enchantments to prevent any future attackers from simply knocking the walls down or tunneling beneath. There were also alarms, weak magic fields to disrupt invisibility, and a whole host of others, besides.

Those, he could let the Heaven’s Eye people handle; his concern was the gate and the villa itself. While studying the magical arts of House Raime, he’d come across quite a few intriguing wards that he wanted to try, such as a series of lightning rods spread across the property that could strike interlopers with enough lightning to render them into a charred skeleton. He also knew of one that would do a similar thing to anyone trying to break down a door that he planned to put on the main gate. There was even one tantalizing enchantment with more offensive capabilities, that could hit someone from more than a hundred feet off the property with a bolt of lightning.

He didn’t think Elise would go for most of the enchantments he had in mind given the infrastructure requirements would cut into her garden, but after being attacked in his new home, he still planned to transform the place into a fortress that could hold off an entire Legion if need be. No one else save for him and Elise would have such unfettered access to his property after he was done.

The more he thought about what he wanted, the more his mind turned to his and Artorias’ compound in the Northern Vales and the obelisk that had stood in their courtyard. In that compound, he and Artorias had been surrounded by ice wraiths, banshees, and other creatures of the forest that would’ve loved to turn them into a tasty meal. Leon had begun to have similar feelings of being surrounded by enemies, and he wanted his home complete as soon as possible.

In the time it took Leon to think of all this, he had left the Royal Palace and returned to the streets of the capital. He didn’t notice anything strange during the walk through the noble district—probably since there were so few people living within—but once he returned to the more populated western districts, he started to feel countless eyes upon him.

As he glanced around, wondering just who it was that was staring at him with such intensity that he could feel it, he found that nearly half of the throngs of people in the streets around him were staring. These were relatively crowded streets, but not so much that Leon was lost in the crowd; he could easily be seen, and after his performance in the triumphal games, just about everyone in the city knew his name, and a great many even knew his face. Since he had barely left Emilie’s estate in the two months, and when he had he had taken a Heaven’s Eye carriage, so he hadn’t realized just how famous he was in the city. Along the entire walk back to the estate, he attracted stares and left excited whispering in his wake.

By the time he made it back to Emilie’s estate, his heart was pounding from the anxiety of having just about every step he took observed by hundreds of people at a time. After Emilie’s servant let him in, he had to take a few seconds by the door to catch his breath and calm himself down.

Unfortunately, at this moment, Naiad came strolling out from a nearby room.

You’re back, she said into his mind with a wide smile on her face.

“I am,” Leon acknowledged as he did his best to spare Naiad only as much of his attention as was absolutely required.

Disregarding Leon’s curt attitude, Naiad approached him and said, We should talk.

“Yes, we should, but I’m not in a talking mood right now,” Leon stated as he pushed past her to walk further into the estate.

I’m in a talking mood, Naiad said as she grabbed Leon’s arm with a grip like steel. We need to talk, she repeated.

Leon fought the urge to glare and gave Naiad a proper look for the first time that day. Emilie had a tailor stop by in the night with some clothes for the river nymph, so Naiad wasn’t continuing to wear Emilie’s clothes. She was dressed in a simple outfit, a long-sleeved cotton shirt and leather pants, both monochrome blue with no embellishments. Leon guessed Naiad must have set aside her demands not to wear dead plants since he remembered her turning down the linen curtain the previous night. Though to be fair, it was a curtain, and he could understand her reluctance to wear it.

Naiad’s face was serious, no playfulness could be seen in her at all. Her lake-blue eyes were narrow, and her mouth was turned into a slight frown. Gone from her bronze face was the hungry look that Leon had come to expect from his short encounters with her, and that unnerved him a little.

‘What could be such an issue that someone as powerful as her is so solemn?’ Leon wondered, and he decided to take a chance and relax, allowing Naiad to steer him toward her guest rooms and away from the estate’s servants.

Once the door to her sitting room was closed and they were alone, Leon braced himself for whatever would come, expecting her to try and push him down, but instead, she carefully sat down in a nearby chair and said, I killed a man last night. He infiltrated this estate, I found him and killed him. I guessed he was after you.

Leon’s eyes went wide with her first statement, and he only grew more agitated with the two following it.

“WHAT?!” he almost shouted, barely managing to contain his voice. He wasn’t sure if there were noise-canceling enchantments around guest rooms, but regardless, he felt it would still be a bit inappropriate. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about this?! Have you told this to anyone else? Elise? Emilie? Do they know that you killed someone in their home?”

You’re the first I’ve told, Naiad said, her serious expression finally dropping into a more normal smile. I owe those other two nothing. You’re the only person I have any obligation toward.

“Emilie has given you clothes and a roof to sleep under,” Leon said, his expression darkening.

More like clothes that I’ve been forced to wear and a bed I’ve been forced to sleep in, Naiad said. I’m perfectly fine without either, there is a very nice-looking pond that I would’ve preferred to sleep in.

“Whatever, sleep in the pond if you want,” Leon said, resolving to speak with Elise and Emilie about the intruder immediately after this conversation was over. “Who was this person you killed?”

I don’t know, nor do I care, Naiad replied. He had powerful darkness magic, though. He was hiding in a shadow when I saw him.

“If he was hiding in a shadow, how did you kill him? Darkness mages are supposed to be intangible when in their shadows…”

Channel enough magic into your fingers and your fingers will reach them, Naiad said as she closed her eyes and smiled in pride, causing Leon to stare at her for a moment as he contemplated the simplicity of her answer and the experience of fighting the vampire Bran, who had seemed so untouchable in his shadows.

“Nothing else you can tell me about this guy?” Leon asked, deciding moving was better for his sanity in the short run, though he was going to see if he could find a way to practice this ‘shadow grabbing’ technique.

He was a seventh-tier mage, Naiad said as she scrunched up her face in thought.

“Was he a vampire?” Leon asked, his mind turning back to Bran, the last darkness mage he’d fought.

No, he was human through and through, Naiad said. I obliterated him completely, his body burst when I invaded it with my water magic. There’s nothing left to examine, I’m afraid…

“Wonderful,” Leon sarcastically said. “I’ve had three different sets of people so far attempt to kill me in my life, and now I don’t know if this guy is from one of those groups, was acting on behalf of another, or was on his own…”

Tell me about these people who’ve tried to kill you… Naiad demanded, her gaze turning vicious.

“Why do you want to know?” Leon inquired. He could feel a few ripples of killing intent emanating from Naiad, a tiny amount, but still enough to cause his legs to feel weaker than he’d ever care to admit.

If they attack my chosen mate, then they will die, Naiad stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Leon stared at her, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of some kind of response. He was flattered and insulted at the same time, happy that someone like Naiad was willing to employ violence on his behalf, but also angry because she was giving him no choice in the matter. Given what he knew about Justin Isynos, House Decimius, and Amon, he knew that having Naiad’s help would be an incredible boon.

All he would need to provide in return was sex, at least according to his own understanding of their situation. Trying to look at it divorced from his feelings, Leon had to admit that it was a damn fine deal, especially given that, physically speaking, there wasn’t a cell in his body that wasn’t attracted to Naiad on a physical level.

It was just that absolute domineering nature of hers that put him off. She didn’t ask, she demanded as if she were entitled to take what she wanted from him.

She had also saved his life, the life of his lover, and his lover’s family and friends when the vampires attacked, not to mention how relatively reasonable she had been when they had made their first contract, at least from the perspective of a wild river nymph. She demanded, but she also relented when push came to shove, and that confused Leon to no end; he had no idea how to deal with her.

Looking at Naiad, dressed in her loose-fitting low-cut shirt and tight blue pants, Leon had to admit that if he didn’t have Elise, he’d have probably already slept with Naiad, regardless of the consequences.

But he did have Elise, and though she gave him permission to seek other women—even insisting that he do so—he didn’t get the impression from her that she wanted him to be with Naiad. A sentiment he could understand, to be fair. And Leon cared far more about Elise than he did for Naiad, no matter how many lives the river nymph Queen had saved.

“Look, Naiad…” Leon began before pausing from hesitation. “I… suppose that I’m… willing to fulfill our contract under specific circumstances…”

Whatever those circumstances are, they don’t matter in the light of our contract, Naiad said. She was a patient woman, for what a civilized human would call a ‘monster’, but Leon’s constant refusal was trying that patience. In the wild, her kind would just take what they wanted and treated mating much less seriously than many humans did; in her mind, she had been nothing but reasonable with Leon. Now, the time to pay that debt had come due, he had sworn to give her a child at the moment of her choosing, and she had planted her magic upon his Mana Glyph as a result. There was no getting out of this, or at least, none that either knew of.

“I get that you have the power to take what you want,” Leon said as he slowly slid away from Naiad. He was sitting on a sofa, though, and there wasn’t much room he could maneuver to without being obvious. However, it didn’t matter how far away from Naiad he slid; if she wanted to assault him, then he was still perfectly within her range.

In fact, the predatory look in Naiad’s face had come back, and Leon felt certain that she was only seconds away from launching herself at him.

“I have Elise, and I don’t want to do anything that will harm her,” Leon said, trying to continue, but he was interrupted by Naiad.

It’s just mating, your other mate isn’t even here, there’s no way this would harm her!

“It would if we’re not upfront with her!” Leon said, calling upon his magic power as he felt the air around Naiad start to churn and writhe with magic power. “I love her, and I can’t betray her by having sex with someone without her!”

This gave Naiad some pause. She had started to lean forward, her hungry gaze slowly morphing into one of thought and contemplation.

So… she quietly said within Leon’s mind, you will stop resisting if your other mate participates?

“I… uh, I, yeah, that would be fine,” Leon sputtered in surprise as he tried not to cringe his bones into dust from her phrasing. If he were to be honest, he didn’t think he could handle Elise and Naiad at the same time—not that he had been intending to try, he just wanted this whole thing over and done with while incurring as little pain and mess as he could manage. And he hated with every fiber of his being that this was something that Elise now had to endure, as it was his mistake that brought this on.

Hmph, Naiad said as she straightened up. Then I will speak with your first mate. Regardless of how this turns out, I will take my due. If I don’t, then a Gorgon I will become, and that will not happen!