“Why are you staring at me?”
“Uh.” She caught him looking down at her as she rested. Guy searched for an excuse and found it. He glanced at her necklace, namely the crystal on it. “Was looking at your necklace.” He lied, but Guy had to cover it up somehow and not come off as a creep. Though, now that he looked at her necklace closer… “Is that a soul crystal?”
Averyl grabbed the crystal on her necklace and brought it up to her face. “It is,” she said after a dramatic pause. “I never knew it was one at first. I was not afflicted when it was first gifted to me.”
“Who gave it to you?” he asked.
“My father, though, Wylume and Serzax gave it to him first.”
Guy sat beside Averyl to inspect the soul crystal around her neck. “May I?” he asked.
She nodded, sat up, and crossed her legs while placing her hands at her side. “You may.”
Guy reached for the crystal, then hesitated. It came to dangle between the gap in her cleavage. It looked like he was trying to grope her. He quickly grabbed the crystal before she thought he was and viewed its information screen.
Nia’s Soul Crystal
The crystallized soul of a land-human named Nia.
Class: Summoner Level: 75 Rank: S
She peered at it too with a raised eyebrow.
“Summoner?” he said. “Never heard of that class.”
“Neither have I,” she said and looked into his eyes.
Guy let go of the crystal and it fell back to dangle between her breasts. “Why do you keep wearing it, now that you know what it is?”
“It feels strange every time I take it off, like a part of me was ripped away. That is why I had worn it while bathing. I cannot bring myself to part with it.”
“The empire wants soul crystals, yet they let you keep that one . . . a soul crystal of a rare class and rank.”
“Why do you care?”
“I know your story,” Guy said and sat crossed-legged ahead of her. “Xanthe and Rachael told it to me. It sucks that you had to endure all that.” Averyl looked to the side with an uneasy glare.
Guy added. “And I get why you hate me.”
She gasped, and her gaze returned to him.
“Wylume is a human who raped you,” Guy continued. “You hired human bandits to take you and Rain away, only to discover they were bad apples. And Rain? Sounds like she ended up on the Gabriel, then got spaced. Star-humans ran that ship. You don’t like humans because of their reputation as of late. But you can trust me, Averyl, since I’m not like those assholes. And if you can’t trust me, then at least trust Henrietta. She’s no threat to you.”
An awkward silence joined them in the tent. Guy wasn’t sure if his words changed her mind or not. Averyl’s belly growled a short time later, breaking the silence.
“Someone’s hungry,” Guy said with a chuckle.
Averyl patted her belly. “With what has happened, I must have forgotten to eat.”
“Here.” Guy opened his Inventory screen and searched it for ingredients.
He found nothing, which made sense as he emptied it to synth apple juice and ham sandwiches earlier. There was no prepared food stashed in his inventory either, except for a single slice of cheesecake. He yanked out the cheesecake from the floating screen and offered it to Averyl. “This is the only thing I have, and it is edible for faes. Eat it, I was saving it for—” Rachael, you fucking idiot. You were supposed to save that for Rachael.
Before Guy could take it back, Averyl bit into it with elegance, holding it in her delicate hands. He found it hard to look away. She looked so cute when eating and so adorable when she pulled a napkin from her Inventory to wipe her fingers, then pat dry her lips. Averyl ate the cheesecake pretty fast. She wasn’t hungry; she was starving.
Well, fuck. I hope Rachael doesn’t ask about that cheesecake because I’m all out of ingredients to synth another.
Averyl discarded the napkin and tilted her head to the side, studying Guy intently. “You made this?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“. . . thank you,” she murmured. “It was quite delicious.”
“No problem.”
Her tense demeanor faded. Averyl relaxed her joints and wings. “That was the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time.”
“Nicer than me saving you from the zombies?” Guy asked.
“Well.” Averyl scratched her chin. “I suppose this makes it the second nicest thing.”
“What about the elves taking you in? I’d say that was a pretty nice thing too.”
“They did it because of the advantages I provided,” Averyl said and stared into his eyes again. “I am a healer, a fae with the mana regeneration trait, and it seems my presence here had only helped spread the corruption further, strengthening the light elves’ power. Had I been normal, the Lumière Kingdom likely would have declined my request.”
“They wanted something in return and got it.”
“And it would seem you want nothing in return for this meal.”
Averyl curled her lips into a smile, a warm and welcoming one. Guy did the same, more so because he was happy his words got through to her. Averyl trusted him more, a lot more than Guy thought she would. The last time he checked, the princess was into girls. The smile she gave him suggested otherwise. It was a smile of fascination.
And her smile and gaze followed Guy as he crawled to the opposite end of the tent.
“Well, I’m going to sleep,” Guy said and curled up on the ground to do so.
“Wait.” She called to him. He heard her crawl on all fours to his side. “Is it true that the stars in the skies are, in reality, just suns for other worlds?”
Guy rolled on his side to face her . . . and confirm that she crawled closer to him. He nodded yes, noticing that she maintained eye contact with him. And there wasn’t an ounce of angst in her gaze.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “I know you land-dwellers believe the stars are lights from star-dweller cities, but that ain’t true. Our cities exist on large spaceships.”
“Can you show me Faeheim’s suns?” she asked, her voice soft and captivating.
“I might.”
He sat up from his brief rest, moved to the tent’s entrance, and slid it open, just enough for the two to look out and up at the star filled night sky and the moon shining white light on their faces. It took Guy a while to find it as he looked at the constellations beyond the leaves of the trees overhead, but he spotted the bright star Faeheim orbited. Guy pointed it out, and Averyl crawled beside him, brushed her arm against his, then followed where his finger pointed.
“The star constellations are different here,” he said. “But I’ve been in the sector before. You see that large star there? Yeah, that one. That’s where Faeheim is.”
She kept her gaze upward, her pale moonlit face dazzled by the stars. “That is where my home is,” she said cheeringly.
“Yeah, everyone you know is there,” he said. “Except Rain, she’s on the fleet.”
“Where is that?”
“Eh, can’t see that from here.”
“Do you think I will ever be able to visit the fleet?” She angled her gaze away from the stars and toward him. “Or return home?”
“Yes,” he said without a second thought, then faced her. “I will make it happen.”
“For me?”
“You’re young, and it’s been tragedy after tragedy for you. That ain’t right. So I’m going to make things right for you and everyone else who suffered because of Wylume and the sentinels.”
Guy moved back to his spot in the tent. She followed and sat on her knees ahead of him. He pulled Asteria’s Sword free and held it out for her to glance at the majestic blue, glowing blade.
“My uncle gave me this for a reason,” he continued. “And the White Dragon keeps guiding me for a reason, too. I think it’s to save people like you from the sentinels and the empires they influence to carry out their plans.”
&nbs
p; “Then when this is over.” Averyl held her left fist to her chest. “Please allow me to accompany you. I want to help you achieve your goals. I want to make sure that no princess endures the things I have. And there are many worlds out there, right?”
“Yeah. Many with land-dweller kingdoms and I’m sure they got a few princesses.” Guy broke out with laughter. “The Princess who wants to rescue princesses!”
She giggled playfully. “It is the easiest way to kiss them all.”
They both erupted with laughter, so much that it left enormous smiles on their faces.
“So, you can laugh too,” Guy said to her, then laid back down.
Averyl laid down on her side to face him, still holding that smile.
“Tell me more about the star-dwellers,” she said. “I want to know what Rain will experience once she recovers.”
Chapter Forty-Four
The birds in trees sang their early morning songs, waking Guy from his sleep. Light from the sun had shone through the opened entrance of the tent and illuminated the sleeping fae beside him… and brought to Guy’s attention that Averyl had used his shoulder as a pillow. He made no attempts at moving. Doing so might wake her. So instead, Guy lay back with Averyl sleeping on his side and waited for her to wake up.
He barely felt the weight of her head and wasn’t sure if it was because of his strength and vitality or the fact fae naturally had lighter bodies. Either way, he liked the look. A fae princess dressed as a Cleric comfortably asleep on his shoulder.
“She’s a cutie, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Guy replied. Wait.
He looked at Averyl. She was asleep and didn’t open her mouth to speak, and Guy was certain he wasn’t talking to himself. There was someone else in the tent with them, someone who sounded like Averyl.
“Other side, Guy, if you were wondering.”
Guy spun on his side to face who was behind him. Thankfully, Averyl didn’t wake during the turn. She moaned a bit and curled up to keep sleeping. Laying on their side next to Guy was none other than . . . Averyl, just wearing a lot of dark makeup.
No, that’s not Averyl.
Averyl wasn’t a Bard.
“Nijana,” Guy grunted to the second woman in the tent.
“Good morning to you too,” Nijana said, her black lipstick-painted lips curved into a wicked grin.
Guy sat up fast—
And Averyl groaned again, turned on her side, and went back to sleep, putting her back and limp fairy wings to the two.
“Shh . . .” Nijana put her index finger to her lips. “Careful. Don’t wake her.”
“What do you want, Nijana?”
“You know my name. I’m impressed. And to answer your question.” Nijana waved her hands about the tent. “You and me, alone and talking, that’s what I want.” Nijana sat up and crawled closer to Guy, close enough for the heat from her breath to warm his lips. Her eyes fixed onto his, and every sense in his head told him it was Averyl staring at him. “Thanks for the compliment, by the way.”
“What compliment?” he asked.
“You agreed when I asked if she’s cute,” Nijana said. “You said yes, that means you find me cute too, as Averyl looks like someone pulled the reflection of me out of a mirror.” Nijana glanced at Averyl over Guy’s shoulder. “Though, in this case, I think I’m the mirror image that stepped through the looking glass and into another dimension.”
“Another dimension,” Guy grumbled to himself, his mind racing back to the previous day when Serzax talked about parallel universes. “Where did you come from?”
“Faeheim,” she replied. “Just . . . a different one.”
“Like another universe?”
“I’m not sure what that means.”
“And I’m not sure if they are real,” Guy said. “But if they are, it’d explain your existence.”
“Where I came from,” Nijana paused and looked at the tent’s ceiling for dramatic effect. “I was a pirate princess.”
Guy snorted. “Now you’re just a petty thief.”
“Soon to be the princess of pirates here.” Nijana faced him again with a half-smile. “Care to join me when you and Xanthe leave the Seraphim for good?”
“Who told you that?”
“My Assassin when she was listening to your chat. Pretty ballsy to join Xanthe in the women’s end of the bathing river, too. Anyhow, whatever you and Xanthe plan on doing when this is over, I want you to know that you two will always have a place on my new ship. I’ll even let you be the first mate.”
Guy pointed at himself and raised an eyebrow. “Me?”
“You put up a hell of a fight there, Paladin,” Nijana said with a hint of allure. “I like your style. I wished you were part of my crew; I’d probably still have my command if you had been with me.”
Nijana crawled for the tent’s exit, putting her back and fairy wings to Guy. She pulled it open to let in the early morning sunshine and the shadows from the tree branches and leaves above. The shape and paleness of Nijana’s back and the autumn color of her wings looked like Averyl’s too. He couldn’t get over how much of an exact copy they were.
“That everything?” Guy said to her.
“Hmm, yeah. I just wanted you to keep that in mind,” Nijana said.
“Tell you what.” His words froze her in place. “Give back Dianna’s Ocarina, Wylume’s soul crystal, and—”
“Now, why would I do that?” Nijana grabbed and held the ocarina up. She angled an exquisite gaze at Guy to ask. “Was Dianna important to you?”
“Dianna was . . . someone who didn’t deserve to die,” he replied. “She was a Bard who discovered a song that could summon the White Dragon.”
Nijana made a long wince. “The White Dragon . . .” she mumbled.
“Sounds like you’ve gotten quests from it.”
She nodded. “I have . . .”
“That song that Dianna discovered? Turns out it was a song her mother had sung when she was younger,” Guy said. “Dianna and I were trying to figure out why until Wylume . . .” He stared at the ground and pushed away the horrific memories of that night. “So yeah.” Guy looked at Nijana. “Dianna was important to me . . . and maybe everything involving the corruption.”
“Ah, so.” Nijana narrowed her eyes at the ocarina. Her black eyeshadow and lipstick said it all. Nijana was Averyl’s evil twin. “This ocarina isn’t a normal Bard instrument. It’s a super rare and powerful one. Thanks for the tip!”
She bid farewell with a flirty wave goodbye and vanished through the tent’s exit without leaving Dianna’s Ocarina behind. Guy left the tent and grabbed Nijana’s arm to pull her back.
“Wait!”
“Ah, how rude of me,” Nijana said. Guy released her from his grip. “Sorry, I forgot something, didn’t I?”
She turned, seized both his shoulders, leaned forward with her eyes shut, and kissed him. Guy didn’t chase her for that. He wanted Dianna’s Ocarina back. But like Xanthe, the high charisma of a Bard made him stop what he was doing. Guy indulged in the kiss and enjoyed her lip’s texture pressing against his. Nijana’s lips tasted like fresh strawberries. She ran her fingers through his hair, and he held onto her waist. Down below, Guy’s dick got hard.
Nijana pulled back from the kiss, leaving Guy in a dreamy state. She broke from his grip on her hips, then put Dianna’s Ocarina to her lips.
“Think of me when you dream,” she said, then played a quick song.
Guy grimaced. “But I just woke up . . .”
Nijana finished the song with a grin. Guy collapsed to the ground where he stood and passed the fuck out.
Nijana had AP and used Lullaby.
The birds in trees sang their early morning songs, waking Guy from his sleep.
Again.
He sat up and sniffed Nijana’s perfume on him, licked his lips, and noted that they tasted like strawberries. It was confirmation that making out with Nijana wasn’t a dream. It was real. Guy flushed when he thought about it m
ore.
Averyl awoke later, looked at how close she had fallen asleep next to Guy, and then her cheeks glowed, just like his.
“Oh my.” She put her hands over her lips.
Guy chuckled and left the tent. Averyl followed him behind. They stood shoulder to shoulder, relishing the morning breezes that swooshed the leaves, their hair, and clothing. He checked the Party screen and saw that the two had full HP, MP, and AP.
The tents were no joke. Sadly, they couldn’t be reused. Moments after Guy and Averyl stepped away from the tent, it turned to vapor and scattered in the winds. He’d need to buy more tents from the trade broker, should they be available. Guy had two spare tents left.
The two explored the woods with the undead gone, searching high and low for the tents of the others. They found nothing, even double-checked the area Averyl had claimed to have seen the tents. Guy and the princess were alone together in a party. The others left to search for them, he assumed.
Left to search in the wrong direction.
“Welp.” Guy shrugged. “Fuck.”
“Perhaps they left for the Sirocco?” Averyl suggested.
“No, not without us,” he said. “Rachael would never have it.”
But time wasn’t on their side. Each hour that passed put Arn and the Seraphim in danger. And each hour they wasted had put the New Svartálfar airship fleet closer to the Lumière Kingdom. Rachael and the others leaving Guy and Averyl behind was a wise choice.
I guess this is karma for when I had left Rachael alone in Muruai.
The two went on a journey to find their missing comrades. They confirmed that they didn’t return to the bathing river, confirmed that there were no tents in the woods, and concluded that they had left to make the trek back to Alita. Guy and Averyl found the path their parties had intended to travel until the undead showed up, continued down it while smacking the odd monster that roared to challenge them. It was a lot easier than backtracking to Alita.
Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2) Page 34