Leon sighed as he left the small group of messengers in his suite’s main room. They’d just arrived to escort him and his retainers down to dinner with the Grand Druid, Sacred Golden Empress, Princess Cassandra, and the Princess’s elder sister, who Leon had last heard had been serving as a druid, or both a religious figure and governor, of the most important northern province in the Sacred Golden Empire. It seemed she was back in Evergold, though why, Leon wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of the ark discovered near Evergold.

These wonderings ceased as he walked into Maia’s room. Nestor was squirreled away in the suite’s conference room doing whatever it was he did—likely drawing up more designs or editing finished designs for golems—and Valeria was with Maia as far as he knew.

As he walked in, he was confronted by the sight of two of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen in varying states of undress. Maia was almost completely naked, dressed only in plain golden bracelets and a thick golden necklace. Valeria, on the other hand, was almost completely dressed save for her footwear and sitting on the bed while Maia stared at herself in a full-length mirror.

That Maia was effectively naked drew Leon’s attention first, for obvious reasons, but his surprise was saved for Valeria, who, in contrast to her usual attitude, had chosen an actual dress to wear to dinner. Furthering Leon’s surprise was that it was cut in a fairly Evergolden style, with a plunging neckline, long slits along her legs almost up to her hips, and no back. The dress itself was otherwise decorated fairly simply, being several complementing shades of blue with a few silver trimmings. Adding to the effect were a few pieces of silver jewelry that Leon knew he’d never seen Valeria wear before.

Leon almost froze at the sight, his instincts the only thing allowing him to stay mobile enough to close the door behind him.

“I think he likes it,” Valeria said, a wide smile on her face as she sent a smug smile Maia’s way.

Maia audibly scoffed, a scowl quickly etching itself deeper and deeper into her features.

“You look fantastic,” Leon said to Valeria. Turning to Maia, he quickly added, “While you also look incredible the way you are, I hope you’re not planning on attending a meeting like this?”

“I’d rather not go at all,” she said aloud, the sound of her voice resounding like the most pleasant music in Leon’s ears despite the venom she spat them with.

Still, their meaning wasn’t lost on him, and he said, “You don’t have to, you can stay here if you like.”

Her scowl lessened slightly, but she responded, “No, I’ll go. It’s… expected of me, isn’t it?”

Leon’s smile twitched downward for a moment. “Been speaking much to Elise? She making progress in integrating you with the upper echelons of human society?”

Maia sighed, and in a flash of light, was clothed in a manner much akin to Valeria. However, where Valeria’s dress was blue, Maia’s was sea green and trimmed in gold, matching her necklace and bracelets.

“To be your mate requires me to keep these things in mind,” Maia mechanically stated, as if reciting something she didn’t fully endorse.

“The only things you need to keep in mind are… well, I can’t think of any,” Leon playfully replied as he took her in his arms and spent a moment admiring her. “All you have to be is Maia, I won’t love you any less for that.”

Maia shuddered as Leon spoke her name and, with her bronze cheeks a little redder than they were a moment before, said, “It’s fine. People have been staring at me ever since I left my grotto and joined you, expecting things of me. I will give them nothing, but I will not let them think for a moment that I’m unworthy of being with you.”

“If anyone thinks that, they can eat lightning,” Leon said as he emanated a spike of killing intent.

Maia just smiled and sent feelings of love and understanding through their connection, and Leon knew that she was set on making an appearance, as much as she wasn’t enthusiastic about it. And since she was appearing, then she was going to put in more effort than she was otherwise inclined to at least look like she belonged in such august company, even if Leon didn’t care if she wore a cloth sack or a ten-million-silver dress.

But with that mental message, Leon gave Maia a quick kiss and turned his attention to Valeria, who was also clearly wearing a different style than usual. Unlike Maia, however, who was more comfortable wearing nothing but her skin more often than not, Valeria had a simple and functional sense of style, preferring plain tunics and long, tight pants that were easy to move in. To see her in a dress, especially one so revealing, was rare.

“You look great,” he said, not hiding it at all as his eyes wandered up and down her body. Elise might’ve preened with such attention, but Valeria just smiled at him and shifted slightly to put herself just a little more on display.

“Wanted to look my best. We’re practically marching to war, aren’t we?”

“War would involve more armor and just a little less frustration. But if we are going to war, then no one’s told me; who are we to fight, then?”

Valeria chuckled. “Cassandra.”

With that one name, much of Leon’s cheer evaporated. Valeria certainly noticed if her sudden look of confusion and then apology was anything to go by.

“Is everything all right, Leon?” she asked, and Leon felt a pulse of concern from Maia.

“With you two here, how can anything not be all right?” he quipped. But after a moment of staring at Val, he added, “It’s just… All right, look. I like Cassandra. I like Cassandra. I’m not going to dispute that. But I made the choice not to pursue her, and for a number of reasons that I don’t feel like going into now, as I’m sure those bootlickers outside are still waiting to take us down to wherever.”

Leon sighed and sat down on the bed next to Valeria, who scooted a little bit closer.

“I’m… growing less happy with people constantly throwing both my attraction to her and my decision not to go after her back in my face.”

“I wasn’t—” Valeria began, but Leon held up his hand and she cut herself off.

“It’s not your fault. We all have our own wants and desires. But I’m not looking for a massive harem. I don’t want to have a hundred wives and a thousand concubines—or more, as seems to be almost expected for men of great stature in the Nexus, if Nestor can be taken at his word. I just want the women I love with me, and that amounts to you two and Elise. You three make me happy. That’s enough.

“But… it seems that everyone but me wants me to go after Cassandra. And even that’s not true, since I won’t deny that a part of me wants to go after her, too. The greedy part, the part that wants a hundred wives and a thousand concubines, even though I know that that won’t make me happy, and likely won’t make anyone else happy, either.”

“I think if you try for a harem that large, Elise might just come at you with a gelding knife,” Valeria said, her voice quivering despite it being a joke.

Leon smiled. “She’s made it clear enough that she wants me to go after Cassandra, and though she’s also told me before that she doesn’t want me going around **ing everyone that I can get my cock into, if she’s on the side of having me go after Cassandra, then what about the future? While there’s a greedy part of me that might want a large harem, there’s no Ancestors-damned way I’m doing it. Three’s enough. Four’s pushing it.”

With some concerned hesitance, Valeria, clearly measuring her words carefully, said, “You… don’t have to start anything with Cassandra…”

Leon shrugged. “Maybe I don’t. Maybe I will. Maybe I do and she cuts me down. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe.” He turned to seriously regard Valeria. “I’m going to tell you this…” He glanced then at Maia. “And I’m going to tell you this. And I’ll tell Elise this once we get back home after this religious festival they want us to attend and we get done checking out this ark of theirs.

“Whether or not Cassandra and I start a romantic relationship, there will be no more after her. None. I don’t care about the political benefits. I don’t care about potential power. There will be no more. Cassandra would be it, should it come to pass. And should it not, then my ‘harem’ will grow no more. Do either of you find this disagreeable?”

“No,” Maia said without hesitation. “Fewer mates to compete with.”

Valeria took a second to take one of Leon’s hands, but her answer came with the same level of certainty as Maia’s had. “I want you to be happy. I want to be happy, too. And I don’t want you to have a hundred wives. I wouldn’t be happy if you did, and if you don’t think you’d be happy if you did either, then don’t have a hundred wives.”

Leon chuckled. “You’re all right with a thousand concubines then? I’ll keep that in mind…”

Valeria playfully slapped his arm while Maia practically growled.

“I don’t want you to have any more women,” she clarified. After a moment, she decided that wasn’t enough and added, “Or any other lovers, for that matter.”

Leon gave her an amused look.

“Just being thorough,” she said, laughing. “Who knows where we’ll be in ten thousand years? But, to stay on track, I’m making one exception for Cassandra. One. And I’m only speaking for myself.” Her eyes landed on Maia, and the river nymph just glared back at her.

With a frown, Maia said, “The arrogant Princess is fine. As for others…”

Her glare turned to Leon and without warning, she lightly grabbed Leon between the legs. Her touch was gentle, yet firm, but Leon still had to fight the urge to catapult upward and defend his most sensitive bits.

Mine, the river nymph whispered mentally. Not theirs. Mine. Elise’s. Val’s. Maybe Cassandra’s. No one else’s.

Leon grinned as she removed her hand. “Glad we’re all on the same page, then. So long as Elise meets us here, too.”

“She will,” Valeria said as she stood up. “She doesn’t push that hard for you to expand your pool of available women, does she?”

Leon lightly grimaced. “No, not really.”

“Then it won’t be a problem.”

Leon heard some shuffling outside of the bedroom door and was made very aware of just how long he and his ladies had been in the room, leaving their escorts waiting on them to head to the Imperial dinner.

‘I guess we’ll be fashionably late,’ Leon thought as he rose and let his ladies take one of his arms each. ‘At least we got all of that clarified. I guess I just… have to decide on what to do about that damn Princess, don’t I?’

—

Leon, his ladies, and his retainers arrived in the dining hall where their Imperial hosts were already waiting—or at least, Cassandra was, the Empress and the Grand Druid were nowhere to be seen. There were about a hundred other people in the hall, as well, but Leon didn’t think his people were too late given the lack of any substantial food on the many long tables around.

In truth, calling this space a ‘hall’ wasn’t precisely accurate. They were up in the cavernous gap amongst the branches of the main palace-tree, in something that was more pavilion than hall. The paving beneath their feet wasn’t made of elegantly carved stone, but rather seemed to be natural stones painstakingly assembled like puzzle pieces, and mortared together with concrete or some similar substance. Still, the effect of such irregular stones forming the floor was surprisingly pleasant, Leon found.

Meanwhile, the walls of the ‘hall’ were formed by enchanted hedges, and the decorative columns were actually branches of the palace-tree sticking out of the ‘ground’ in regular intervals like tree trunks unto themselves. The leaves that sprouted from these branches formed the ceiling of the ‘hall’.

As soon as they arrived, Leon’s retainers were directed to one of the tables close to, but not directly adjacent to the one where Cassandra now sat. Leon, Maia, and Valeria, meanwhile, were all ushered up to sit at that long table at the place of highest honor in the hall. Cassandra was nibbling on some finger food, seemingly completely alone at her table. Leon could see her guards not doing a good job of concealing themselves amongst all the other guards around the hall’s perimeter, and none of the other invitees were approaching her, though given how little she seemed to notice Leon’s arrival, he had to wonder if he was just missing something that they’d all noticed or were otherwise aware of.

After a moment, he decided to just break the ice first as Valeria and Maia certainly won’t going to be the ones to speak first—especially since Leon was sitting directly on Cassandra’s left, and they were sitting on his left in turn.

“Apologies for not saying this when we met earlier, Your Imperial Highness,” he said, quietly reveling in the way she finally looked at him with some disdain when he used her style, “but I have to offer my congratulations and joy at seeing you fully re-armed.”

She turned to face him a little more, and her gaze turned a little more imperious. “It was nothing our healers couldn’t see to.” She flexed her right arm, the one she’d lost in the lab in the Prota Forest. “Good as new. It was still an uncomfortable few weeks before I could get it back, though.”

Leon winced and his left arm began to throb. “Sorry it took so long.”

Cassandra shrugged. “For the perspective it gave me, a few weeks wasn’t that much to pay. The pain was a little easier to bear when my mother and grandmother finally allowed me to leave the borders of our Empire, though.”

“Right, the Grand Druid’s told me rather often that you’ve been running around all over the plane, finding and exploring all kinds of lost ruins. How’s it be—”

As Leon was finishing his question, a man with an eighth-tier aura and an expensive suit of white and gold approached their table and interrupted, though he had eyes only for Cassandra. It seemed he’d only just arrived after Leon, he thought he would’ve seen the man otherwise as most of the guests in the hall were women, and those who weren’t tended to be dressed a little more simply, implying lower standing.

“Your Imperial Highness!” he exclaimed. “What a radiant sight you are! Your power and vigor are an inspiration for the ages!”

“Stephanos,” the Princess drily responded. “Bold as ever.”

“Bah!” Stephanos loudly barked. “What is etiquette before the one who holds my heart!”

“’Everything’, some might say,” the Princess growled. Stephanos waved his hand as if to literally brush away her concerns, but as he was about to say something else, Cassandra said in a tone that brooked no argument, “There’ll be time enough later for us to talk. For now, I’m with some important guests and I would dearly like to catch up with them.”

Stephanos appeared a little taken aback, and his eyes landed on Leon for what seemed like the first time since he’d come over. But his smile didn’t waver for a single second, and he graciously bowed and said, “Of course, Your Imperial Highness! I shall not intrude any longer!” With that, he turned and left, though not before letting his eyes scan Leon once more.

It was faint enough that he thought he might be mistaken, but Leon thought that there was a trace of killing intent in the man’s aura as he walked away.

‘Damnit,’ he thought.

Continuing like they hadn’t been interrupted at all, however, he asked, “How’s the archaeology been going? Find anything interesting?”

Cassandra immediately brightened up, the dark cloud that had settled over her expression upon Stephanos’ interruption clearing up immediately. “Oh yes! A few traces of those who lived here before the Sky Devils descended! Nothing practical yet, but it’s only a matter of time!”

Leon gave her a questioning look, his brow creasing slightly in confusion. “That’s still interesting. I mean, I’m assuming ‘nothing practical’ means ‘nothing magical’, and it’s hard to imagine anything nonmagical to have survived so much time…”

“It’s possible under certain circumstances,” the Princess replied. “In a lot of cases, other archaeologists have already done a lot of work for me, and I just had to continue following the clues they couldn’t—usually due to financing difficulties. Starting with those most promising and working out way back. We’ve found what we guess are monuments and religious buildings, some even with completely unrecognizable script! In one case, we found buried more than a hundred feet under the earth and entombed in volcanic ash a city of decent size—big enough for twenty or thirty thousand people! The ash had kept everything so well preserved that the frescoes and graffiti on the walls were still vivid enough to be easily identified! We can’t read any of the graffiti, but the fact that we’ve found anything so old at all is just… amazing!”

Leon smiled as he leaned back in his chair, the Princess going into greater detail about the kinds of sites she’d investigated and excavated, her joy and energy growing with every word. But it wasn’t just her demeanor that he paid attention to, he started growing more concerned when she brought up seeing reptilian—and serpentine in particular—imagery present in many of these sites, but her stories were soon interrupted by the arrival of their hosts. The Empress, Grand Druid, and First Princess of the Sacred Golden Empire all arrived and kicked off all the pomp and ceremony of an Imperial feast, silencing Cassandra and leaving Leon to wonder how much the people Cassandra was finding records of had in common with those that had once lived in the Serpentine Isles…