“Seraph, huh?”
“Both her and Narime can become trigems. I’m being cautious with Narime, as I need to be sure her mind is stable after the Messenger news,” he explained.
“She talks up a storm about her ‘beloved mate,’” Sunstorm mocked, rolling her eyes. “Stop hesitating and stick it in her.”
“I already do that. I’m talking about a gem, not my dick.”
“Stick that in her as well, then.” Sunstorm grinned at him, then looked away. “Look, I’m fine. I told Sen this the other day. I love you. Not getting a second gem isn’t going to change that. If I get the chance to see you chop Tharban’s head off, I want to be around for it. I’m pissed that I didn’t see Astra pop that Bastion’s head. Fei made it sound awesome.”
“Did she tell you what happened afterward?”
“Yup. Told me she used what I taught her.” Sunstorm mimed snapping someone’s neck.
So that’s where Fei learned that.
Nathan suddenly realized the time, then cursed. He tried to think of an excuse.
“Uh, do you have somewhere to be?” he fumbled.
Sunstorm looked at him. “I know you have gemming ceremonies to do, Nathan. Go on.”
He winced. “That’s… Who told you?”
“Fei. She’s curled up in your bed, by the way. Threw a tantrum this morning over something.” Sunstorm shrugged. “She was talking to that lieutenant of hers—the one that has even bigger tits than Fei—and then got really grumpy afterward.”
“And nobody mentioned this to me because…?” Nathan glared at Sunstorm.
“I’m mentioning it to you now. I thought you would know. People tell you when Fei whines about her food being cold. I figured they told you about her locking herself in your room.”
Fucking hell. Nathan had a bad feeling about what this was.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Kara hovering by the castle’s exit. While she spoke confidently, the knights and officers she ordered around kept throwing Nathan nervous glances.
“I’ll see you… maybe tomorrow. I might need you to switch with Fei for tonight,” he told Sunstorm.
“We could do the foursome,” Sunstorm called after him.
Her voice caused Kara and the knights to jump. They stared at him with wide eyes as he stomped over.
“Kara, I’d like to talk to you alone. Before the gemming ceremony,” he told her politely.
The knights got the message and scurried off.
“Lord Nathan—”
“I think that’s the first time you’ve called me ‘Lord’ in months, Kara.” He crossed his arms. “What happened between you and Fei? And why are you covering it up?”
She winced, her dog ears and tail drooping. “I… I don’t know. I thought maybe she was scared about the gemming ceremony, as they told us about how dangerous it was in the academy. She seemed off the moment I told her about the amethyst I had chosen, then the guards at your room told me she had started throwing things around in there and—”
“Stop. You’re rambling. I get the picture.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Things go wrong, Kara. Your mistake here is not telling me. I’m your Bastion. You’re my Champion. Neither of us are perfect. We rely on each other, just like you’ve been relying on Fei and the others. Don’t keep me in the dark in the future, no matter how much you might care about Fei. She’s a big girl and can handle being yelled at if she’s doing something stupid.”
Kara nodded, and Nathan sent her on her way.
Part of him wanted to deal with Fei right away, but he knew that was a mistake. After all, her reaction was for a rather silly reason. The longer she moped, the easier she would be to handle. While his Fei was different to the Jafeila he knew in his world, he knew both of them very well.
Instead, he followed Kara and gemmed her and the wolf Champion with her. Both were receiving amethysts. Next week, he planned to give a sapphire gem to the mage Champion that Sen had chosen.
Ciana watched as he gemmed them. After they left, she moved behind him and began to massage his shoulders.
“You realize you’re my Champion, not my maid, right?” he asked.
“I like doing this,” she said. “I’m limiting myself in other ways, but being close to you like this, inhaling your scent, feeling your warmth, and just knowing that you’re next to me is bliss.”
Her head nestled against his neck, and she blew on his ear.
She whispered, “And once my rutting is over, we can do much more. I’ll feel your warmth, skin-on-skin, with you inside me.”
A hiss escaped his lips and she giggled. She couldn’t do this to him. His pants hurt him right now.
“You’re evil,” he told her. “If you’re not going to indulge, you’re not allowed to tease me.”
“It gets me, too,” she said, her eyes glazed. “I… I might have made a mistake.”
He pulled her into his lap for the next hour, and gently calmed her down. His instincts told him to undress her and bounce her up and down on his cock, but his mind said otherwise. He could wait a few months and let Ciana enjoy her first time with him.
His fingers tickled her horn, which he had found worked wonders on her. She let out soft moans in response. Unicorn horns only reacted to the touch of a lover, and the reaction was more intense the stronger their feelings.
Nathan felt pretty chuffed as he listened to Ciana gasp and moan in his lap.
Slowly, they resumed relaxing. At some point, he probed her mind. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“I’m still not ready?” she asked him.
“It’s not a mental thing,” he said. “I’m assessing how the binding stone’s power has taken to you. Unfortunately, you haven’t used your gem enough.”
“It’s hard,” she said. “The invasions aren’t that often, and my ability isn’t suited for offense. If you went—”
“Last time you suggested that, Narime wanted to ban you from the portals for a year,” Nathan chided her. “I like how earnest you are, but putting me in harm’s way so you can use your gem didn’t go down well.”
Ciana pouted. “You’d be fine. That’s what my gem does.”
He fiddled with her ears, making her squeak and squeal. Her dirty look only caused him to raise an eyebrow.
“If you’re that interested, I do have an idea,” he said, unsure if this was wise.
“Anything.”
“I haven’t told you what it is.”
“It’s your idea, Nathan. I trust you.” She smiled at him.
Despite his misgivings, he accepted her word. But he didn’t explain the process. They decided on her gem ability, then moved on.
He worried that explaining what he was going to do would make things worse.
Instead, he removed the second diamond from the velvet case that Leopold had provided and inserted it into her collarbone. Like with Fei, the process went far smoother this time.
Then he used prepared mental magic before diving into her mind. The process was swift, almost surgical. Rather than rely entirely on his original connection, he provided additional binding stone magic through a separate tether while forging her memories into the gem.
He had realized this in his previous dives, and especially after Nurevia and Astra. The method that Bastions were taught was incredibly clumsy. Astra proved that Champions could sustain extra tethers.
Bastions didn’t know mental magic. They fumbled their way through the gemming ceremony, and often killed the Champion. The process required years of preparation by the Champions, and then years or decades between additional gems. Nathan skipped some of this not because his Champions were fantastic—which they were—but because he gemmed countless Champions.
But he could improve the process. So he did.
The results spoke for themselves when he retreated from Ciana’s mind. She smiled at him, after only a minute had passed in reality.
Then she raised her hand and summoned a wall of silver light across the entire
courtyard. Everyone nearby stopped and stared. The horsegirl blushed. The barrier vanished.
“Wow. I can’t believe how this feels,” Ciana said, flexing her fingers. “I feel… stronger.”
“That’s just the increased power. You’re a duogem Champion, which means you’re stronger. Don’t pick fights with anyone using a strength enhancement,” he warned. “But that barrier is something else. I think you’re too defensively focused, but you could protect an entire army with that.”
The magic that had exuded off the barrier felt as strong as anything Nathan had felt from a city. That didn’t make Ciana invulnerable, particularly given she would consume magic at an obscene rate, but Nathan didn’t remember many Champions capable of casting a barrier like that.
If she had been this powerful in his world, could she have survived the collapse of the castle?
The dark thought came and went as he stared down at this younger Ciana, who beamed at Nathan and waited for his attention and praise. After a moment, her expression shifted.
Before she said anything, Nathan stepped up and ruffled her hair, “I’m glad it went well. You deserve this.”
She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Her grip tightened to the point he worried she wouldn’t let him go, and she nuzzled her head against his chest. Her horn scraped against him, and he winced but said nothing.
“I, uh, need to talk to Fei,” Nathan said.
“I know,” Ciana said. “Take care of her.”
Nathan walked with his blonde Champion until his bedroom. There, he found a few guards, and Kara, standing outside. Their tails and ears shot up when they saw him, and Kara looked guilty.
“You’re off-duty, aren’t you?” he asked Kara.
“Yes, but…”
“Then don’t worry about it. Leave Fei to me.” He walked up to his door.
Ciana chose now to pipe up with a grin, “You’re not going to give Kara her personal reward for becoming a monogem Champion?”
Kara turned white as a sheet, then ran off. Nathan shooed the others away, ignoring their giggles as they followed Kara.
He tried the knob. It was locked, naturally. While he trusted Kara, she wasn’t that close to him, so he didn’t give her the same key he gave his closest Champions. The key she and the others had allowed them into the basement, but not his room or other secrets he might want to keep.
Nathan pulsed magic into the door. It opened with a click and he stepped in. The lights were off.
“Fei?” he called out.
“Mmmrmmm,” came the plaintive whine.
He flicked the light switch as he closed the door behind him. Not all the lights came on. Frowning, Nathan put the binding stone to work repairing the damage to the room.
There was, it turned out, a lot of damage.
His desk was untouched, but that was about it. Pillows had been shredded, clothes thrown around, sex toys that he pretty sure belonged to Nurevia had been snapped, and shards of glass and wood littered the room from the damaged furnishings.
On top of his bed lay a bundle of blankets. The bed was otherwise bare. A bushy black tail quivered beside the bundle.
Nathan took a few moments to compose himself. Fei had never done anything like this before, even in his old world.
Not that he was a stranger to finding his room torn apart. Wolf beastkin went into ferocious rutting cycles and were possessive to a fault. None of the beastkin in the castle felt they were close enough to Nathan that he was theirs, but this was a natural result of a rutting wolfgirl who wanted attention she hadn’t gotten.
Nathan reminded himself to check on the wolf beastkin Champions he was raising. If they formed ideas about him, he’d prefer to handle them early, before they kicked down his door and got into a fight with Fei.
This had nothing to do with rutting, however.
Nathan sat on the edge of the bed. Fei’s tail shot up, then down. Its tip wiggled back and forth.
A moan escaped Fei as he ran a hand through her tail.
“Fei, come out from under the blankets and talk with me,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” she moaned.
“You’re still under the blankets, Fei.”
Slowly—very slowly—she poked her head out from under her cocoon. Nathan placed a hand on her head and scratched behind her ears.
Once Fei realized she wasn’t going to be immediately punished, she crept out and into his lap. Nathan suspected she wanted to curl up on top of him, but he rejected her gentle attempt to push him onto the bed. It felt a little silly to have her on his lap, given she was a fully grown woman, but he did far sillier things with beastkin in general.
To say nothing of what dumb things he let Nurevia convince him to do to her.
“I’m sorry,” Fei repeated.
“Let’s talk about this,” he said. “I have a pretty good idea of what happened.”
She stared at him with wide green eyes. Her tail and ears drooped. The veil of innocence and the attempt to win his affection over vanished. Her expression turned sour as her fingers dug into his chest.
“She has the amethyst,” Fei mumbled. “My amethyst.”
Nathan remained silent for several seconds, as he tried to judge her mood. His suspicion had been right, but her reaction was different to his expectations. Fei continued to surprise him.
“No. Kara has her own amethyst. I told you before we took Tartus. You are your own person. Your sapphires are your gems. You own them. Nothing else matters,” he told her.
She refused to look at him, so he gripped her chin in one hand and forced her to.
“Fei, you know the truth now. Why I’m here, what I’m trying to do, how everything went wrong. You’re not the Jafeila I first met some fifteen years ago in the ruins of the Anfang Empire. You’re my cute little Fei who barges into my room every morning and night to be groomed and to shower, and who insists on spending as much time as possible curled up against me.”
A sniffle escaped her. “Really?”
“Yes. I called you a silly kitten last time. I really do mean it this time. Are you setting an example for Ciana like this?”
Fei snapped straight like he had just let go of a bow. Her expression stiffened, and Nathan caught the flash of hurt on it, before she covered it up.
“She knows?” Fei asked, voice dark.
“A lot of people know, Fei. You’re one of the most important people in the duchy. If you vanish for half a day, people will notice. Your friends—the other Champions—will find out what’s wrong. Sunstorm knew something was up, and let me know. Ciana knew as well. If I asked, I’d probably find out that Narime already reorganized your shifts so you have time to recover.”
“That’s not…” Fei mumbled, becoming inaudible. “You look like I feel when you talk about Ciana.”
Ah.
He pulled Fei against him and pressed his lips against her head. She squawked, then chose to settle against him.
“We all have our issues, Fei,” he said. “I’m sorry I burdened you with this one.”
“Don’t apologize,” she mumbled. “I’d say sorry for ruining your room, but you already fixed it.”
“I am a Bastion. Let’s get some food. I know you skipped lunch, and I feel your tummy rumbling.”
He poked her in the belly and she giggled. They enjoyed a pleasant meal, and Fei’s was more extravagant than usual. Her personal chef had clearly gotten word of what happened and ensured the catgirl had plenty of comfort food and a hefty pile of meat.
Fall came. The harvest season was upon them. Peace held, despite Nathan’s fears.
Then, as the trees dropped their leaves and the farmers loaded up the crops into the town granaries after processing, news arrived.
Anna contacted him over the wireless first, but by the time he answered her, he knew things were wrong. A dozen people ran toward his office from the hall. Sen stood up, looking between him and the open door.
“Nathan, they’ve made their move. Uprisings are sprin
ging up across the Empire. The other archdukes have declared Emperor Gorthal illegitimate. They made an attempt on Milgar last night, but he barely managed to escape,” Anna said, her voice shaking.
“The Empire is in civil war.”
Chapter 33
“Why the hell are they moving now?” Nathan groused. “Winter is only weeks away. Are they crazy enough to think they can take control of the entire Empire that fast? We’re talking about half of Doumahr!”
“They’ve been mobilizing their soldiers for months. We expected this,” Seraph said as she organized reports on the table.
Everyone else sat around them, their expressions grim.
Once the news had been confirmed, Anna had ended the call. She had dozens of nobles to contact, plus all the other Amica dukes.
Alice took her place using the mirror, which was propped up on a chair. The visuals were undoubtedly poor for her, but she could hear everything being discussed.
The room itself was one of the larger halls next to Nathan’s office. His office was too small for this. Seraph had pushed tables together in the center, and she setup a wireless call to the other fortresses. Her role was to manage the constant flow of reports. Whispered conversations fluttered about the room.
All of his closest Champions were here, plus Kara. Fyre was in Tartus, with Anna. His newer ones remained at the portals, just in case. The entire reason he gemmed them was to protect his fortresses when war broke out.
“No, we expected them to do something earlier, or wait until after winter.” Nathan ran a hand through his hair. “Alice, what is Aleich like?”
“Not as bad as it looked at first,” she answered, voice surprisingly calm given the situation. “Maylis has been expecting this, so the Army was prepared.”
“So she is supporting us?”
“She’s backing Grandpa. He’s furious, but Maylis and Uncle Leopold won’t let him leave the palace. The fact the Nationalists are trying to oust him helps us,” Alice said.
“How’s Milgar?” Nathan asked.
A hush fell over the room.
“He’s hurt, but nothing that can’t be healed. Grandpa—um, the Emperor has issued a declaration of treason toward the other archdukes for what they tried to do,” she said. “His Bastions will keep him safe.”
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