The castle was buzzing with nervous energy as advisors, nobles, and representatives of all kinds dashed through the halls; reports changing hands at blinding speed as frantic voices filled the air. It wasn’t surprising really, after all this is the first time in the empire’s history that the nation of Felnnor has entered any kind of negotiations with a human nation; not even during the st war with a demon lord had the elves entertained an alliance. But now in a few short hours the Queen herself will meet with the council of Felnnor, and the nation was in a frenzy.

  Saffron was sure there was a good reason Irithal had decided to make the meeting a “public” event, allowing a select few nobles and the like to attend… as for why the queen had done that, she didn’t know. And frankly at this point she couldn’t find the will to care.

  All Saffron knew was the normally spacious castle was suddenly crowded with people; people who all looked at her with disgust. She may be a “protector of crown”, but in the end she was still a succubus, a demon lord and people always cowered away from her or gred with open disdain. She could disguise herself as a human again, it wasn’t even that hard of an illusion, but it just felt… wrong now.

  Her mistress had looked at her with such adoration and to hide her true self when she had been so openly accepted… it made her skin crawl just thinking about it. Not to mention everyone recognized her now, she was Saffron Lapidary to the world; a protector of this nation by name and if she were to hide her horns and wings, she would be… no one. The thought sent a chill down her spine as her shoulders sagged, her wings dragging on the floor behind her as she crossed her room to gaze out the window overlooking the gates to the castle.

  Maybe being no one again wouldn’t be that bad. After all she was feared because of what she was and respected for her name alone, the name granted to her by her mistress who… left. Hecatolite had left and even found a far more suitable lover.

  Saffron wasn’t dumb, she could piece together what Eryl was. Years of hearing her mistress utter the name while compiling a list of questions in Babylon had been more than enough for Saffron to figure it out.

  Eryl is this world’s system admin. She didn’t even need to guess, as a demon whose sole existence before coming to this world was to be summoned to other worlds she had met admins; even made deals with a few of them in the past. But that was the past, before she was Saffron, before her mistress had saved her and filled her world completely. She knew Hecatolite would find other lovers, it was in her very nature; she is the goddess of lust, of desire itself, and the devil of gluttony, insatiable primal hunger. She would never have been satisfied by a single person, and Saffron understood that but… maybe it was greedy that she had hoped her mistress wouldn’t find someone so... much better than I am.

  Eryl was an admin, she controlled this world's very system and Saffron was… a fake demon lord. A succubus summoned here to be a scapegoat in a war, how could she ever compare to an admin.

  Even before Saffron had only been a lowly succubus, one of the weakest of her sisters who was just in the wrong pce at the wrong time. She had only been the one summoned because her more capable sisters weren’t there, and the ones that had been were too powerful for the contract offered; she had just been the only person avaible and even then, Lilith had been hesitant to send her.

  If not for her previous mistress’s hesitance and paranoia Saffron would have died. If not from the torture, then definitely from Hecatolite flooding her with power to heal her. It was blind luck she had survived this long, stumbling her way on borrowed power from those she was sworn to. Turned into a seed by her previous goddess only to be forcefully evolved into a demon lord by Hecatolite… I don’t deserve any of this. Her eyes scanned the vish room she had been granted in the castle.

  She knew she was spiraling, having not left her room since her tearful meeting with the queen… there had to be things she could be doing but… why? She wasn’t needed anymore. She could deliver messages for the queen, but there were others who could do that; sure, she was likely the fastest flyer in the empire, but she was far from the only one. She should just go home and… do what? Resume being a maid for her mistresses’ family.

  The family had made their opinions of that idea very clear already; she was a Lapidary, and they would be damned if they were going to let her scrub the outhouse. Alistair had taken to sterilizing it every time he used it when they found out she had been cleaning it, the ughing man just saying it would be shameful for him to let his daughter in w do such things and something about his pride as a man. How his pride equated to him bsting the toilets with fire periodically through the day, she didn’t know but she couldn’t argue. The other maids loved it, and she could admit it wasn’t bad to walk into a clean room with a toasty seat in the morning even if it did smell a bit smokey afterwards.

  No, if she went home now, she would likely end up as Taaffeites secretary again, which wasn’t a horrible idea. Her mistress had asked her to “watch the house” after all; Saffron had just taken that to the extreme, but she was hardly needed to protect the nation. With Alexa and the princess in the castle, along with the guest terminal, she couldn’t even be useful as a messenger between the family; Hecatolite had driven that point home when she insisted Taaffeite cast the mirror link spell.

  Saffron could have casted that spell easily, she had looked it over a dozen times and the only conclusion she could come up with was Hecatolite simply didn’t want her to…

  She clutched her chest, the dull pain that started yesterday still radiating from just below her blessing mark; her bond with her mistress that was etched into her very being above her heart.

  She doesn’t need me… she’s never “needed” me… I was just convenient, in the wrong pce at the wrong time… not for the first time Saffron considered calling out to Lillith. She was the mother of all succubi, older than anyone in this world; surely her old mistress would have some kind of advice for her… but even if her prayers could be answered she couldn’t bring herself to utter the words.

  She knew that even if she did call to Lillith, her old goddess was lost to her while she was in this world; she hadn’t answered when Saffron was being tortured, she hadn’t come… But Hecatolite had, and on that day, she became Saffron’s mistress, her only one. And now Saffron would never bow her head to anyone but her, and she couldn’t bring herself to utter the words she had once held so dear.

  My mistress, great mother Lillith, I beseech you for your wisdom… it was ingrained in her from birth, the start of every prayer; it was her title in Saffron’s old system, “great mother Lillith, mistress of the succubi race”…

  but she left me… she will forget me… tears burned her eyes as she sank back into a chair. Her mind spiraling as she again reminded herself of how stupid she was for falling for a goddess; for clinging to a title like “first wife”. It had been too good to be true, she was just a succubus; how could she have let herself even believe she would be worthy of such a thing.

  Saffron let her head fall into her hands, wiping her eyes as the tears refused to stop; only to nearly poke her own eye out as the air before her exploded in a thundercp.

  “Message from Hecatolite Lapidary. Touch me.” Below the words was a complex magic circle, one Saffron recognized.

  Its… the mirror link spell? She thought as she tentatively ran a finger along the lines, her hands trembling slightly as she contempted not activating the spell. Hecatolite clearly didn’t understand that one needed to “cast” the spell, it wasn’t an enchantment that could be activated by simply touching it… even still, she is still my mistress, the one i… she let the thought trail off as she took a deep breath.

  Taking but a moment to compose herself and hide her disheveled face behind an illusion Saffron took another centering breath before casting the spell. Her mistress was calling her, and no matter what Saffron would answer even if she didn’t want to hear what would be said…

  The terminal before her warped as a thin haze covered the surface, the terminal itself not being needed for the spell other than it was a rge smooth surface that matched the other side. Saffron could feel her power flowing into the spell, her magic being stretched thin across the world as it searched for the other half of the spell, for Hecatolite, her mistress…

  She could feel it, the moment her magic met Hecatolite’s. The cool almost euphoric power caressing hers before the rippling surface before her snapped into pce before it flickered, and Saffron could see.

  The image before her showed an open field, the sun barely peeking around the mountains in the distance despite it nearly being noon in Crown. But something was odd, there… wasn’t anyone there, it was just a ndscape.

  “Hello?” The voice was familiar, it’s her. Saffron didn’t know why she thought Hecatolite would sound different; but there it was clear as day her voice. “Did it work?” There was a flicker of movement in the bottom of the image, a fsh of snow white as a small head peeked just over the edge of the screen. Bright red eyes locked with hers before the head vanished again, ducking out of view.

  “Mis… Mistress?” Saffron struggled to keep her voice from wavering as she called out though the spell. Even if she wasn’t the first wife, even if she would be forgotten, Hecatolite had summoned her, and she would answer.

  She could hear shuffling on the other side as hushed whispers came through. “She’s really there,” Hecatolite’s excited voice filled her with warmth. “Do I look ok? I want to make a good impression…”

  Saffron’s heart sank as she heard another voice, a woman’s voice that sounded strange. It was almost musical, yet it had nearly no inflection to it. “That is how the spell works, Hecatolite. And you look… fine, at least we got all the blood off of you.”

  “Only fine?” Hecatolite hissed in what was clearly meant to be a whisper, “fine isn’t good enough… Give me your shirt.”

  “No,” the other voice huffed, “I’m not giving you my shirt. You wanted to cast it out here, I told you we should go back to the inn...”

  “I would have forgotten, that’s why I set the arm…” there was a loud scuffling sound, “just your vest then? It looks fancy and it matches my hat.”

  “You took the hat off…” the other voice protested before there was a loud thud, “and now you're covered in dirt again. Don’t look at me like that, of course I would move if you lunged at me like that… don’t pout…” there was a defeated sigh before it finished. “Fine, I'll give you, my vest.”

  If Saffron had any doubt that it was Hecatolite on the other side before, the rambling that followed would have cleared it right up. Only Hecatolite could open a viewing portal across the entire world only to be distracted by her clothing. “Mistress,” Saffron tried again, calling out a little louder.

  “One second.” Hecatolite called back as Saffron could hear the rustling of fabric. There was a slight argument about whether she should keep her own shirt on under the vest before someone cleared their throat. “Ok! Without further ado, I present myself!” Hecatolite yelled through the screen before with a flourish she dove into view and Saffron’s breath caught.

  This was the first time she was seeing her in her new body… her own body, and it was everything Saffron had imagined as she watched her spin with her arms outstretched.

  Smooth pale skin danced in the morning sunlight as her snow while hair flowed around her. it was hard to tell how big she was though the image, but it felt right to think of her as… small. something about how she moved; her bare feet kicking up dirt as she spun, and her long tail wrapped around her toned bare legs before flicking out around her. Her almost childish giggles filled the air as she danced, and Saffron felt her heart thumping in her chest.

  Hecatolite looked every bit like the goddess she had imagined, the spitting image of the statue Saffron prayed at every chance she got. This was her; my mistress… it took Saffron breath away, she was really there. More cute than beautiful; but it was still mesmerizing the way she moved so fluidly in the rising sun, her tail nguidly dancing around her as she spun and kicked out her feet. Carefree as she danced and ughed, clearly lost in the moment as she spun faster; kicking up small puffs of dirt as she swung her arms, and her tail sliced through the air.

  And then her tail snapped out, splitting the air with a loud crack as she froze; like a statue she stood completely still, frozen in a deep bow with her head down, her long messy hair covering her face as she faced Saffron in a fine leather vest that hung loosely over a stained and torn shirt. The rge metal bands on her arms shifted colors as she bowed, And Saffron couldn’t find the words. She… she should say… something, anything but she couldn’t.

  Slowly Hecatolite raised her head, her wild hair parting to show her face… It was the same. It was the same adorable face Saffron had stared at for years. When their eyes met Saffron sucked in an involuntary breath as she saw the rge hazy red eyes focus on her. The deep blood red pools fshing inky bck as dark tendrils writhed under her porcein white skin and Hecatolite stared into her very being. The moment stretched on for what felt like forever before her eyes fshed and once again Saffron was staring into blood red eyes once more as Hecatolite’s face split into a wide inhuman smile.

  Her dagger-like teeth showing as they slowly opened and Hecatolite muttered two words that stuck Saffron’s very soul. “My Saffron.” Her voice was low and melodic as it carried through the image and rang in Saffron’s ears. Those simple two words stilled Saffron’s mind as Hecatolite’s entire body rexed, her small shoulders slumping slightly as her tail dropped with a thud.

  Hecatolite gazed at Saffron, her wife, her lover and no one in the world could deny the look of pure adoration in her eyes as she grinned. “I missed you.”

  “i… miss you too.” Saffron’s voice wavered and she could see Hecatolite’s face fall, the wide innocent grin vanishing as she stepped towards the screen.

  “Why do you look so sad?” The question shouldn’t have caused Saffron’s chest to tighten as Hecatolite cocked her head to the side.

  Saffron didn’t answer right away, clearing her throat as she shook her head. Hecatolite couldn’t see her puffy eyes or tear-stained cheeks; she was certain of that. She had been sure to cover them with an illusion… “I… don’t know what you mean?” Saffron lied, and it was clear Hecatolite didn’t believe her.

  “Is… is it my body? Do you not like it?” there was a fsh of concern in Hecatoltie’s eyes as she looked down at herself, “I mean… it has a tail, and… I know it's small, but it's not a bad body… stupid fisheggs, she messed it up, didn’t she?”

  “No…” Saffron nearly jumped from her seat, “it's… perfect, Mistress. It’s exactly how I always envisioned you…”

  Hecatolite winced, as if she had been hurt and Saffron froze. Had she said something wrong? Why did Hecatolite look so… dejected all of a sudden? This was… Saffron needed to say something to reassure her, “Mistress…”

  Hecatolite looked at her and… she had done something wrong, but what? Why is she looking at me like that? Saffron’s mind was filled with static as she desperately tried to figure out why her mistress looked so upset.

  “Saffron,” Hecatolite’s voice was quiet as she stepped closer to the terminal, her rge red eyes locked on Saffron’s and for a moment she could feel… something there.

  Hecatolite’s eyes shifted. They didn’t turn inky bck like Saffron was used to, but instead they seemed to focus slightly; her red irises clearing as if she were actually looking through Saffron… no, looking at me… it was like she was truly looking at her for the first time and Saffron couldn’t look away, mesmerized by Heactolite’s eye as they changed. Her eyes cleared, no longer a hazy red but a vibrant ruby, blood red that seemed to glow and shift as Saffron felt that uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. The same one she had felt the night she had made love with Hecatolite; as if she was looking at… something she shouldn’t be, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

  Hecatolite voice seemed to echo as she spoke, her words traveling through the spell carrying with them… something else. Something that echoed silently in the background, like whispers in a vacuum; so quiet Saffron wondered if they were truly there as the echoes of voices filled the air around the terminal only to be drowned out as Hecatolite words finally reached her. “What’s wrong my…” the sounds stopped abruptly as Hecatolite blinked and her words trailed off, her eyes losing their vibrance as they darkened, gzing over once more and the feeling in Saffron’s gut vanished.

  As if whatever spell had locked her in pce was broken, Saffron was finally able to avert her eyes, shaking her head as she tried to figure out just what had happened. Had Hecatolite tried to do… something to her? She is a soul sorcerer after all, was it some kind of manipution?

  No, Hecatolite would never do that… but if it wasn’t that, then what was it? And why had she stopped mid-sentence like that? it was almost as if Hecatolite was about to say something… important, but stopped herself…

  “Hecatolite,” the voice was sharp as a tall elven woman stepped into frame, gring down at Hecatolite as she held a glowing red terminal in her hands. “What was that? you cannot do… whatever that was again. not in the mortal world… or anywhere.” Saffron couldn’t tell that Eryl was pale, having never seen the woman before she didn’t notice her tan cheeks were ashen as her hand trembled slightly while she waved a terminal at Hecatolite; illegible words in countless nguages covering the screen as they fshed by and changed with every passing moment with a single word fshed in the middle “oops”.

  Saffron didn’t pay attention to what, who she assumed was, Eryl was saying; barely even registering the terminal in the other woman's hands. No for a moment all she could see was… her.

  Eryl was… gorgeous, there was no other way to put it. She was tall with lightly tanned skin, moving with an easy grace as she strode over to Hecatolite, looming over the tiny woman as she ran a hand through her shoulder length blond hair tucking it behind one of her long ears. Saffron felt a ping of jealousy as she stared at Eryl’s smooth features, her… voluptuous curves were accentuated by her form fitting shirt and a pair of shorts that showed off her long-toned legs…

  Saffron suddenly felt… inadequate comparing herself to Eryl. She knew the other woman was intelligent, suspecting she was this world's admin was bad enough; but did she really have to be so… stunning? Saffron was confident in her appearance, she was a succubus after all, and though she wasn’t particurly curvy herself she was proud of her looks… but compared to “that”, it was unfair. Did this woman have to be better than her in every way?

  The bubbling feelings inside of her nearly boiled out as she remembered the “description” she had been given after the twins vanished. “a very tall elven woman with blond hair and blue eyes…” even the more descriptive reports simply noted her as “attractive”, like that did any justice to the woman before her now… The only thing that matched was likely her height. They had described her as being nearly as tall as Alistar and most people dismissed that as an inaccurate cim given he would look over most elves' heads; she suspected the man was reted to actual giants if they existed in this world.

  But if that was true, then it did give Saffron a bit more to go off of pertaining to her mistress' new body; mainly just how small she was. Her head only came up to Eryl’s stomach, maybe the other woman's ribs. She briefly wondered if Amethyst was as small as Hecatolite.

  Their entire family was… rge, Alistar taller than most elves and Taaffeite stood just a few inches over six feet; so, it was no surprise that their children had inherited their height… yet Hecatolite was tiny, at least a head shorter than Saffron herself.

  Before she could muse on that any longer Eryl stepped closer to Hecatolite, the other woman’s chest nearly resting on her mistress’s head as she whispered something down at her. Hecatolite shifted on her feet as she looked nervously up at the other woman, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hecatolite “whispered” up at Eryl.

  Saffron nearly snapped at the woman as she said something to Hecatolite in a different nguage, likely Elven if she were to guess. She may not understand the words but the tone and the way Hecatolite flinched back as Eryl gestured to the terminal in her hands made it clear she was scolding the small woman.

  Saffron opened her mouth, about to defend her mistress when a thought floated through her mind; a whisper of uncertainty… it's not my pce.

  Eryl was better in every aspect, gorgeous, intelligent… and important. There was no doubt in Saffron’s mind that “she” would be the first wife. The one who would head the household… in her mind she was already beneath Eryl, as it should be. She was a demon, they adhered to a strict clear hierarchy.

  It wasn’t uncommon for demons to have several mates, the most powerful of her kind would have entire harems but there was a hierarchy that needed to be followed. The powerful ruled and took the most suitable mate to stand beside them; everyone else bowed their heads unless they pnned on challenging the others for their position. The “primary mate” was in charge of the entire cn; they would keep the secondary mates in line while the head of the cn defended and provided for them. The entire cn would support each other, but in the end, it was the head of the cn and their primary mate that ruled.

  Here in this much more docile world things might be a little different but in Saffron’s mind she was… secondary to Eryl now. Eryl would be the most suitable mate for Hecatolite, and as such would be the “first wife” in charge of their family. It wasn’t her pce to challenge Eryl… even if it did grate on her the way she was speaking to Hecatolite!

  We are supposed to support and care for her, not berate her for… whatever seems to have angered the elven woman. Maybe… maybe Saffron could gently remind Eryl that Hecatolite was in fact a goddess; whatever Eryl was ciming she had done couldn’t be that big of a deal after all, the spell hadn’t ended, and the world didn’t shake again so how bad could it actually have been?

  Eryl didn’t know exactly what Hecatolite had done, but she had a guess, and it was… bad, worse than punching a hole in the divine barrier.

  Hecatolite had a habit of flexing her true power; not her Divine domains or whatever she was masquerading as, but her true nature as the primordial of Thought.

  It just so happened that this was the first time she had been focusing on a scrying spell while she called on whatever power she had as Me. It could also be the fact that Overseer was part of Hecatolite, and the terminals are linked directly to her very existence… Either way there had been some bleed through into Hecatolite’s mind, or her “void space” as she calls it.

  Regardless of if it was the spell, or the fact she was focusing on a terminal when it happened, somehow there was a brief moment when Hecatolite’s void was visible to the mortal world.

  Now, looking into another realm is retively “safe”, if it’s only a viewing scry. Interacting between the mortal realm and a divine realm, dangerous but manageable if done properly. Staring into Hecatolite’s void however… Eryl couldn’t see any way that could be good for anyone. Those “whispers” as she calls them had just killed everything within a hundred feet of them… well not killed, but the rabbit frothing at the mouth and twitching… it might as well as be dead.

  Babylon had kindly informed her that it had gone insane. Apparently hearing just, a part of all of the thoughts of the universe had overloaded its mind. Now it was just a rabbit, it was hardly a feat to shatter the mind of a simple creature, Eryl could probably shatter a rabbit’s existence by shouting loud enough at it… But the problem was the whispers had been getting louder the longer Hecatolite had been… doing whatever she was doing; likely attempting to peer into Saffron’s mind to see what was bothering the other woman.

  It had only taken less than half a minute for them to grow to the point Babylon, her world’s system, to notice and immediately beled it as an “Error threat” and failed to do anything to stop it. Then Overseer popped up and had warned Eryl that she might want to “bop Hecatolite on the head” to make her stop before she started, as it kindly stated, “warping reality”. Why Overseer hadn’t just… done something itself? Eryl didn’t know, it was likely a broken part of its system she should really look into fixing sooner rather than ter. But the fact remains that Hecatolite had started to warp the world around her, that rabbit’s soul was now kicking out errors that Eryl didn’t know how to correct.

  Once it was insane she should be able to throw it into the halls of reincarnation and it… should sort itself out in an incarnation or two. But its soul just registered as, “yummy bunny” … nothing else, its soul page was now just a jumbled mess that had a suggestion on how to cook it tacked to the end. she didn’t know if its soul had been warped, or just its page overwritten but she couldn’t just let it be reincarnated until she was certain it was…

  A bird flew down snatching the defenseless rabbit before flying off and Eryl just managed to grab Hecatolite before she gave chase while yelling about stolen prey. “You have done enough for one day.” Eryl tried not to yell as she held Hecatolite by the scruff of her neck.

  Summoning a terminal with her free hand she quickly marked the rabbit’s soul for quarantine. She wasn’t looking forward to having the bunny floating around in her realm until she could figure out what to do with it, but it was better than letting it get into the halls of reincarnation if it was dangerous.

  “Lady Eryl,” the stern voice from behind her caused Eryl to pause. One hand holding an excited Hecatolite who was now crawling up Eryl’s arm, while the other operated the terminal floating before her.

  Turning slowly Eryl locked eyes with the red skinned woman on the other side of the mirror link spell. I thought for sure that spell would have broken… Eryl thought idly before it registered that Saffron was gring daggers at her.

  “You should treat our mistress with more respect.” Saffron hissed through gritted teeth, clearly struggling to keep her voice down as well as Eryl blinked at her.

  Looking down at Hecatolite, who was hanging from her arm, Eryl frowned. “More respect?” she asked dumbly, what was she talking about? I had just been expining to Hecatolite what happened…

  “Yes,” Saffron clicked her tongue, “I don’t…” she took a deep breath before starting again in a calmer tone. “I don’t think restraining our mistress while yelling at her is the proper way to conduct yourself.” Saffron stated and Eryl… didn’t know what to say.

  She hadn’t been yelling at Hecatolite, and she surely wasn’t restraining her… she did grab her but in reality, that would only stop Hecatolite if she let it. Eryl had no delusions that if she decided to run after that bird then she would have; Eryl’s hand on the back of her neck be damned. Hecatolite could have, and did, break free the moment she wanted to.

  If anything, Hecatolite was now holding Eryl in pce as she swung from her arm.

  To iterate that point Eryl opened her hand, showing her palm to Saffron as Hecatolite hung from her arm. Saffron rolled her eyes and Eryl felt annoyed, “Saffron,” Eryl said slowly, “I assure you I am not “yelling” at her, nor am I restraining her…” Eryl shook her arm only for Hecatolite to giggle as if pying a game while holding on to her only for Saffron to scoff.

  The succubus clenched her jaw as she spoke, “Lady Eryl, with all due respect I think you should reevaluate how you treat our mistress…”

  What is with this woman, Eryl ground her teeth as Saffron… “respectfully” berated her. First of all, she was not yelling, and even if she was, that was between her and Hecatolite; and why does she keep calling me “dy” Eryl. Something about the way she said it was not at all how one would address a “dy”.

  Eryl knew that it was a form of respect in human nds to address someone as dy or sir, but Eryl didn’t hold any titles that would deem such a thing. it was like when Cemi had insisted on calling her “sister Eryl”. It was a respect, but one she did not earn and, as she’s finding out, doesn’t much care for.

  Before Eryl could retort, Hecatolite cut in; releasing Eryl’s arm she fell to the ground with a thud before she faced Saffron. Clearing her throat Hecatolite asked a simple question. “Saffron, did you learn Elvish?”

  Eryl could see Saffron’s face contort as she blinked, “Mistress… I…” she stammered and Eryl could have kicked herself.

  Elvish was a musical nguage, one that relied heavily on tone and inflection to convey meaning and emotion. Eryl hadn’t been yelling at Hecatolite, but she was annoyed and was stating that very fact to Hecatolite. If she only knows Solresol then of course it sounded like I was yelling.

  Hecatolite beamed at the other woman, her face splitting into a smile that showed all her teeth as she easily addressed the problem… in demonic. A nguage that Eryl didn’t speak… no one in my world speaks it… Eryl didn’t know why it bothered her, but as the two exchanged words in demonic a small part of her really wanted to cut in as she finally looked at the woman on the other side of the spell.

  Saffron was… a demon, a race not native to her world and one she hadn’t interacted with much at all. She knew of demons and even how to summon them, much like one summons a hero, but it’s just not something that came up in her world.

  Eryl scanned the woman whose cheeks were turning a much brighter shade of red as she bowed her head. Her rge bck ram-like horns curled though her deep red hair as they parted the loose curls, a single cream white tip adorning one of her horns as a stark contrast to the rest of her.

  She sat with her legs crossed, her toned legs peeking out from under a slit in the long bck dress she wore. A very low-cut neckline accentuating her modest breast and drawing the eyes as it framed the bck mark in the center of her chest. Her defined shoulders and colrbone were exposed as the sagged slightly forward, rge bck wings curled behind her as she sat. the leathery skin draping over the sides of the chair in such a way that… likely wouldn’t be comfortable if the chair still had a back and arm rests; the parts in question having been removed and are now ying in a heap in Saffron’s closet.

  Saffron was, if Eryl had to describe her, lithe. A small athletic woman that Eryl could admit was, objectively, attractive. She had angur features highlighting her deep bck eyes and horns well, with a… certain air to her that drew the eye. She was exotic, so that may be part of it, but not all of it. She exuded a power that Eryl couldn’t put her finger on. Maybe magic is intrinsic to a succubus? Or a result of Hecatolite turning her into a demon lord? Or is it something else… She pondered as she thought of everything she knew about the other woman.

  A succubus summoned by the church of Valor in secret. She had been… tortured before Hecatolite rescued her… and then she had just existed. Devoted to Hecatolite, and with the way the small woman spoke of her that devotion was not a one-way exchange. Hecatolite always praises her wife any chance she gets, always talking about how amazing and compassionate Saffron is while regaling people of all her skills… mostly of how great a cook she is while bragging about her beauty.

  How Saffron had gotten to this world was abnormal to say the least and… Eryl was understandably unhappy about it. Valor and Takia had masked the summoning by Eryl’s own entrance to the mortal world, using her descending as the sage to mask the mana spike from a summoning spell knowing Eryl would be too preoccupied with getting to the heroes to investigate what appeared to be a simple aftershock.

  She can admit she might have just gzed over it, after all she did have to trek though the northern wilderness in an attempt to get to the Heroes… she had been pyed. By the time she was made aware of the demoness… well Saffron was a demon lord, there was a hole in the moon, and Eryl was busy falling into yet another trap she didn’t see coming.

  Since being freed… Eryl had been busy. Not only that but, Hecatolite adores her. She was Hecatolite’s wife, a member of the Lapidary family… She could just unsummon Saffron, but the woman wasn’t causing any harm. If anything, she was doing more good for the world than anyone else by keeping the rest of the family from scattering to the winds to find the twins.

  It was, if someone asked Eryl, one of Saffron’s greatest achievements in this world.

  The st thing this world needs is a bunch of seeds running around on a warpath. Alistar Lapidary was hands down the singur most powerful mortal in this world, keeping him in Crown was tantamount to stopping a war in and of itself. Not to mention if he steps foot out of Crown the entire dragon race would descend on him now that he is marked as a “dragon syer”, the only thing keeping that at bay right now was an old treaty that, the dragon Devil of wrath, Karath himself had signed. Eryl doubted anyone alive even knew why Dragons didn’t come down from their peaks and invade Crown; it was just blind luck that a young dragon had crossed Alistar, and it paid dearly for a blood feud as old as the oldest Devil. A walking camity waiting to happen.

  And Taaffeite was not far behind her husband. She could, with preparation, stand on even footing with the man. The two of them running rampant through the world was a concern, and Saffron had managed to stop that cold.

  If anything, Eryl owed the woman, her thanks. If not for Saffron, the two of them would have ventured out to find the twins themselves and likely brought Alexa and a small force with them on the task. It could have been catastrophic… dragons, summoned heroes, and a single family of seeds… Eryl shuddered to think of damage that could have happened.

  No, Saffron, the demon lord of excess, had single handedly kept this war from becoming a true blood bath by stopping the Lapidarys from leaving Crown. keeping the twins under control was hard enough, and Eryl could just blink the two of them into the divine realms if things truly got out of hand; the others though… she had no defense against a mad titan, an invisible trickster, and an archmage…

  Hold on… I’m missing one… oh yea, the ashen sage, the suicidal psychopath. How could she have forgotten about him? Why a chosen of Ashmit of all people would think it was a good idea to go to the holy capital of Agimar, walk into the church of Valor and decre himself the world sage… she was only slightly insulted that it worked. She “is” the world sage, and she had been branded a heretic the moment she arrived; but he waltzed in, snapped his fingers and did the exact thing they accused her of doing… and walked out! He just walked out, jumped out the window and skipped out of the city. She wasn’t bitter, not at all…

  “Lady Eryl,” Saffron’s voice caused Eryl to jump, blinking as she realized she had been staring at the other woman while lost in thought.

  Damn it, I got distracted again… she chastised herself as Saffron… bowed her head? Something is… something is off here.

  “I apologize… I overstepped.” Saffron said quietly and even Hecatolite knew something was strange.

  “Saffron,” Hecatolite’s voice was soft as she approached the terminal, “it's ok, you just didn’t know…” she hummed softly as she gnced back at Eryl as if asking for help.

  Something wasn’t right. Hecatolite had always described Saffron as proud and supportive, but she was bowing her head like a child expecting to be scolded? What would make an actual demon, someone who is a demon lord, bow their head like that?

  There has to be something else going on… Eryl wrestled herself back onto task, only slightly concerned about her newfound propensity to get distracted. Summoning a terminal, she pulled up information she knew about Saffron, quickly skimming the other woman’s soul page. Saffron Lapidary, Demon lord of Excess… race, succubus… age… oh, wow… younger than I thought, her soul isn’t even that far in its incarnation... titles; Demon lord of excess, summoned demon, first wife of the mad Devour, high Saintes's of X47, guild master of the church of X47… there was nothing strange about her page.

  It wouldn’t surprise Eryl if she knew who she was, being a demon Saffron likely knew more about the system than most people in this world. Could that be it? Was she acknowledging Eryl as the Admin? Or afraid Eryl would unsummon her…

  Then she saw something in her log that caught her eye. Normally Eryl wouldn’t even have noticed, after all she would hardly be the first person to obsess over their soul page, but something about it struck her as odd... Saffron checked her soul page every day since Hecatolite left, for months; yet she didn’t st night, or today… it stuck out to Eryl as she skimmed the log for anything else. Nothing on her soul page has changed in all that time so why did she not check it?

  Then it hit her. Last night I “bonded” with Hecatolite… the entire world knew something happened, but anyone with the Babylon bloodline ability could see the family registry… and every member of the family but Saffron had checked it.

  With a flick of her finger, she pulled up the family registry and sure enough Eryl Lapidary was listed at the bottom, right below Saffron…

  “You… are the admin of this world…” Saffron didn’t ask, she simply stated it like a fact. But her voice stuck Eryl as she looked up from her terminal, only then realizing she had three others floating around her as she kept just dropping them out of habit and summoning a new one.

  Eryl sighed as she waved her hand, causing the terminals to vanish. They used to just disappear when I let them go, why do they insist on lingering now? She would need to look into that as well.

  But before that, she looked to Saffron who… looked defeated as she slumped in her chair, her wings sagging behind her as she let out a heavy sigh. “I really didn’t stand a chance…” the words were soft, a thought that she likely didn’t pn on sharing, but it was out there now and Hecatolite had heard it.

  “A chance at what?” She looked between the two women, just as lost as Eryl as her tail whipped around agitatedly. “Saffron,” she snapped her eyes to the demoness who wasn’t even looking at the terminal anymore. “Saffron.” She said again trying to get the other woman to look up. Clearing her throat, Eryl thought for a moment Hecatolite was going to yell to try and make the other woman look up. Instead, she lowered her voice to barely a whisper, her voice resonating with a low hum as she called once more. “My Saffron,”

  Even Eryl reacted to the strange tone, her eyes snapping to Hecatolite who was staring at Saffron with such a soft caring expression. Part of Eryl felt like… she should be jealous of the way Hecatolite was looking at the other woman; it was the same way she had looked at Eryl after all. Such a gentle, caring look; even her dagger-like teeth seemed to soften as she smiled warmly at Saffron.

  “Please, tell me what’s wrong?” Hecatolite asked, pcing her hand on the mirror link spell causing the image to ripple as she pleaded with Saffron. Saffron immediately went to shake her head, but Hecatolite cut her off, “Don’t say nothing, please. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine, but don’t say it's nothing.” Hecatolite shook her head, “You look so sad, and… and you haven’t said my name once since we started talking… if I did something wrong, please tell me.”

  Saffron looked up at Hacatolite, her face morphing as the illusion slid away to reveal deep bags under the other woman’s eyes; her almond shaped bck eyes downcast as tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “You… found someone better…” Saffron wiped her eyes, “I knew… I knew you would, but I just… I didn’t think it would hurt.” Once the dam had broken there was no stopping it. “I never knew how much I wanted it, to be the first wife, to be the primary mate… but I can’t compete with… her.”

  Hecatolite looked lost, her eyes wide as she clearly struggled to understand what Saffron was saying; and Eryl was still trying to connect the dots in her mind.

  Saffron didn’t seem angry that Hecatolite had consummated with another, she even said she expected it… but, what was she going on about? First wife? Primary mate…

  Hecatolite, unable to think quietly, just asked. “What?” She shook her head, and for her credit managed to reward her question. “Saffron… What do you mean, compete? You’re not competing with Eryl…” she looked back at Eryl, “Are you?”

  Eryl shook her head, “I… don’t think so?”

  “Of course you wouldn’t.” Saffron all but snapped at Eryl before hanging her head again, “You’re… perfect, everything our mistress will ever need… and you're there with her. I’m…” Saffron took a deep breath, straightening in her seat as if struggling to compose herself. “I’m just a secondary wife, I shouldn’t be…”

  The growl that came from Hecatolite was unexpected and terrifying as the air around her shook. “What.” It was not a question as she narrowed her eyes, scanning the room behind Saffron as if looking for a target for her sudden anger. “Who is telling you such… stupid things? I swear I'll find them and eat them.”

  A chill ran down Eryl’s spine, and if she had to guess by the way Saffron’s eyes went wide, she felt it too. “Mistress…”

  “Stop calling me that.” Hecatolite snapped before realizing who she was talking to. “Saffron,” she said with a huff as she straightened to her full height. “You are my wife. You’re not “just” anything, and if something is bothering you… you told me that if I had a problem, I needed to come to you, remember? it was like our vows to always come to each other… sure it was… unconventional, but that was like our wedding so I’m counting it as a vow.” Hecatolite was losing herself as she stared into Saffron’s eyes. “So, I need… you to expin it… slowly, because I don’t understand why you would say something like that.” Hecatolite whimpered as she shrank, hunching over like normal as she shook her head. “Why would you think you're "just a secondary” wife? You’re my… Saffron.”

  Saffron took a deep breath, smiling softly as Hecatolite clearly lost herself for a moment. Eryl however stared bnkly at Hecatolite, that had been unexpected and… rather sweet. Hecatolite had instantly jumped to Saffron’s defense, the instant anger was… unproductive but sweet, and it seemed to be exactly what Saffron needed as she carefully expined it.

  “Hecatolite,” the way Saffron said her name caused Hecatolite to shudder, her face splitting into a wide grin as she looked up at her. “That is how these things work. I knew you would find other lovers, and I wouldn’t be your only or even the “first”. I am ju…” she wisely stopped herself as Hecatolite narrowed her eyes again, apparently something about that statement bothered the small primordial and Eryl was thankful that Saffron had caught on. “I am a succubus, a demon who was brought here and… got lucky.” She paused to sigh, “Eryl is an admin, she controls this world's system, she’s stunning and smart… she is much more suited to be your first wife than I am…”

  “That's dumb.” Saffron had clearly not expected the ft retort as Hecatolite rolled her eyes. “You are my wife. Eryl is… also my wife now. I…” Hecatolite winced as she bowed her head, “I am sorry I didn’t talk to you first. I should have asked you before Eryl and I… did what we did.” Hecatolite blushed as she stammered over admitting to having sex, like that was going to bother a succubus. “But that doesn’t make you any less than her. It’s not a competition, and I definitely am not leaving you for her…” she looked back at Eryl as she quickly added, “and I’m not leaving you either.”

  “Hecatolite…”

  “Saffron, do you think I love you any less because of Eryl?” Hecatolite asked and Saffron froze, her eyes wide as she stared at Hecatolite.

  Love… she’s never said that before… a tremor ran through her body as she stared at Hecatolite… her mistress, a goddess… a goddess… loves me. Saffron, a lowly demon married to a goddess, bonded to her. She shouldn’t be greedy; she should be happy with it; a secondary wife was more than she deserved but… “say… say it again.” her voice was so weak she wasn’t even sure she had said it but…

  Hecatolite’s expression softened. Saffron had expected her to get confused again, her mistress was never good at keeping track of things after all but without missing a beat Hecatolite smiled, “Saffron, I love you. I’m so sorry it took me so long to tell you, and… I didn’t want to do it like this. I wanted to be there with you when I said it but… it can't wait, and I will say it as much as you need. I'll scream it from the top of a mountain,” Hecatolite looked around before saying, “or the world tree, it's closer than those mountains and I don’t want you to wait any longer.”

  Saffron could feel her entire body tremble, it was… it was too good to be true. To hear her, Hecatolite, the tiny goddess who shook the entire world for her, who pulled her from the brink of death and scarred the sky itself for her, to say that…

  Saffron blinked and she heard Hecatolite gasp, “oh, no no no, don't cry.” Hecatolite cooed as she let out a reverberating hum. One that even though the mirror link spell resonated in Saffron’s chest as it filled her with warmth, as everything suddenly felt… better. The clouds of doubt that had pgued her cleared as she watched Hecatolite sway in pce, her eyes closed as she hummed soothingly in an inhuman tone, one that caused Saffron's entire body to rex as she and Eryl watched in silence.

  She had heard Hecatolite hum before, that low inhuman rumble that would calm people… but this was different somehow. Almost as if this was what it really was supposed to sound like, the sound before merely being an imitation that didn’t do it justice.

  it sounded like a memory, one long forgotten as it danced in the air. it was… haunting how soothing it was, the vibrations that shook one’s very core as a small… content smile pyed on the corners of Hecatolite’s lips. she looks so serene… was the only thought Saffron could manage before just as abruptly as it started the humming stopped and Hecatolite opened her eyes; the deep red pools that captivated Saffron as she spoke. “Better?”

  Saffron nodded. she didn't know what just happened but… she was better, as she took a deep breath and smiled at her mistress. “I am, thank you.” She said softly, as if her own voice would ruin this moment.

  Hecatolite nodded, “Good.” She said with a slight sigh as she seemed to defte. “I… think I understand what is happening now.” She said slowly much to the surprise of both Eryl and Saffron, “Inutil,” with a wave of her arm another terminal appeared, a list beled happy wife pn dispyed with a single point crudely scratched out. Tapping on the terminal with a cwed finger Hecatolite sighed, “I did it all wrong, I should have… messaged you more Saffron, and for that I am sorry. I am… A really a bad wife.” she chuckled as she shook her head to stop Saffron from replying. “I am. I spoke to some Elves today; Did you know that Elves practice polygamy? and I didn't actually listen to what they said, that was wrong of me. The one with red hair kept telling me to communicate, to talk with my partners, and I… didn't do that.” She swiped her cw through the list, tearing through one of the points as if erasing it. “Saffron, can you tell me about… how demons do marriage?” She turned to her and smiled, “Because when I get home, I want to do it right.”

  Saffron was stunned as she read over the short list, she was going to summon a demon to ask how to… marry me properly? The notion seemed absurd, and if the look on Eryl’s face was any indication that pn was never going to happen.

  Then she noticed the… notes. There it was, pin as day. Not just once either, it was on her part of the list and Eryl’s… Ask Saffron first… she wanted me to be first… Something about it caused her chest to swell with pride. She may not be an Admin, or a powerful god or devil, but Hecatolite wanted her… loved her. “Of course I can, Mist…” She bit back the title, Hecatolite was her mistress and always will be. but she is so much more… “Hecatolite.” The name felt sweet, like honey as she spoke it.

  It… didn't take her long to expin demon culture to the two, though she was surprised that Eryl also seemed keenly interested; though she did seem… kind of surprised about it as she hummed and added a note to her system about the “barbaric mating rituals” of demon kind.

  Saffron wanted to be offended… but it wasn't wrong. Demons live by a strict hierarchy of power; and as such… there wasn't really a “marriage” ritual, the strong selected a mate and either that mate was strong enough to oppose that or accepted it. Now there was a nuance of cn and race, such as no one “took” a succubus as a mate, less they decred war on the entire race and though succubi might not be the most powerful demons, Lilith did not take kindly to those who abused her daughters and sons.

  Most weaker demons are protected by their cn and family, so it’s a little more of a… strongly worded question when one tries to y cim to a mate. It normally works, or the demon in question decides that the mate isn't worth it before a fight breaks out. Now that Saffron really thought about it, it wasn't so much barbaric as a very delicate bancing act of power. If one is strong most demons would willingly go with them, if they aren't powerful individually the cns will size each other up before one side concedes or all hell breaks loose. Two equally powerful demons might just duke it out to find out who would be dominant in the cn.

  After Saffron expined it Eryl nodded, “That's why you kept saying things like first wife, and primary mate.” She said, inspecting Saffron in a way that caused her to puff out her wings, fpping them behind her as she took in the other woman’s rexed posture and almost emotionless face.

  She… wouldn't be able to match Eryl, not in wits or might if it came down to it. She had access to an entire world's knowledge at her fingertips; she could read soul pages, and call on any magic used in her system. No, Eryl was her better in every way.

  But she also wouldn't cower before her anymore. Now that Saffron’s anxiety has been… pushed back by whatever Hecatolite had done she… she had to hold her head high. Eryl may be better suited to be the primary mate, but Saffron had forgotten who she was.

  I am Saffron Lapidary, the demon lord of Excess, and wife of Hecatolite. She set her jaw as she prepared for whatever the other woman had to say. I will not bow. Not to the rulers of nations, not to the divine of this world, and not to her. Saffron swore as she met Eryl’s eyes.

  “I need to make one thing perfectly clear here, to both you and Hecatolite.” The elven woman said, dismissing the terminals floating around her. During the expnation she had summoned more than one and seemed to just let them go when she was done with them; they would then casually float behind her before bumping into one another as if they were wrestling to get closer to her. “I… don't want that position.”

  Saffron’s wings slumped as she stared at the woman. She had been preparing for a… she wasn't sure what she was posturing for actually. She had expected Eryl to react, well, like a demon would; to try and assert her authority or solidify her position. not…

  Wait… What does she mean she doesn't want it? Why in all the hells would someone not want to be the… “What?” Saffron could feel her fingers digging into the chair as she hissed out the question. It would be an honor to be the primary mate, to be the first wife and she doesn't want it?

  She was only partly aware of Hecatolite promptly retreating as she gred at Eryl. Hecatolite had a strong feeling that she shouldn't get in the middle of… whatever was about to happen here. She was pretty sure she had left a half-eaten deer somewhere that was… not here. Saffron and Eryl are both smart, they can figure this out without me, right? She thought, knowing somehow if she stayed, she would be pulled into a trap that didn't have a “good” answer. quietly…

  They both watched as Hecatolite slowly turned around and started tiptoeing away… neither woman saying anything as they watched her “creep” to the tree line before bodily throwing herself into the brush, vanishing from their sight.

  “What do you mean, you don't want it?” Saffron asked again, her eyes never leaving the other woman as she tried to make sense of what Eryl just said. Who wouldn't want to be at the head of their cn?

  She watched as Eryl sighed, “Saffron, I am an administrator, and as such my first priority is, and always will be, my system. Please don’t misunderstand, I have every intention of supporting Hecatolite in any way I can but in reality… my hands are tied.” Eryl shrugged, “There will be times where I simply won’t be able to act.”

  Saffron blinked, she didn’t know a whole lot about admins; much like hero’s, Lilith had advised simply avoiding them. She knew a few things, they controlled the system giving them access to all the world’s knowledge, both magical and nonmagical, they are powerful but typically neutral in a world.

  Lilith had always warned to be weary of admins, they can after all just abruptly end a summoning if it’s deemed too dangerous for the world; so of course, that lead to no shortage of rumors about them among her sisters.

  She had been terrified the first time she met one face to face only to learn they weren’t in fact uncaring monsters; not to say they aren’t terrifying. There are several worlds that her race is banned from entirely because of administrative intervention after all.

  But Eryl was the first admin she had heard of… taking an interest in something other than their system, even the most outndish rumors about them never mentioned them… bonding with anyone. And now that her mind was somewhat cleared Saffron realized there were… a lot of oddities about the woman before her.

  But if all of that was true that left her with a lot more questions than answers, mainly… What now? If Eryl didn’t want, or couldn’t be, the primary mate that only left Saffron. But Saffron was… inferior to Eryl in every way, that’s not how these things work…

  “Saffron,” Eryl said slowly, “I think you might be overthinking all of this.” She said and Saffron chewed her lip.

  “You’re the better option, even if what you said is true i… she left me here because I am weaker than you...”

  Much to Saffron annoyance Eryl giggled, partly she was mad that the other woman was clearly ughing at her, and another part at just how damn nice her ugh sounded.

  “Is that what you really think? She left you because you're weak?” Eryl was unfazed by Saffron’s gre, though she stopped abruptly as what looked like an acorn bounced off her head. “Really?” She huffed turning to face the bushes and this time Saffron giggled as another acorn bounced harmlessly off Eryls head, “We are not pying this game again.” She huffed as she stomped her foot and a wall of dirt erupted around her.

  Turning back to Saffron, Eryl took a deep breath. “I suppose I should apologize; I wasn’t ughing at you.” She conceded, “Just… you're missing some very important facts, Saffron.”

  Saffron stopped giggling as she met Eryl eyes, if she hadn’t been ughing at her, then what was so funny? She waited for her to eborate, though she knew her confusion showed on her face as Eryl shrugged, her long ears rising and falling as she did.

  “Hecatolite didn’t “leave” you behind. She entrusted you to watch over her family. A task, mind you, that she wouldn’t trust anyone else in this world with; not even me.” Eryl stated it like it was a fact, and Saffron froze.

  She… hadn’t thought of it like that. She knew that she was weak, not suited for combat or long hikes through the wilderness…

  Eryl smiled softly at Saffron who was frozen in her seat, “I think you're so caught up in the way things work for your people that you forget that Hecatolite and I aren’t demons. I promise you Hecatolite doesn’t care about how strong you are or who is better suited to be her mate.”

  “But…” Saffron struggled to form words as she… suddenly felt childish. She had been jealous of this woman because… of how things were in her old world. But Hecatolite was a goddess, her mistress, and she said she loved me…

  Saffron chewed her lip as she thought, Hecatolite… isn’t a demon. It seemed simple enough to admit, Hecatolite never forced others to bend to her will or used her power to assert herself over those weaker than her…

  But accepting that had been hard. Saffron was set in her way of thinking; but now that it was id out before her… of course Hecatolite wouldn’t expect her to suddenly be subservient to Eryl. And given how Eryl was acting she didn’t expect it either…

  But if that was all true then…, why had she been moping around all day? She had convinced herself that they would act like demons because… what, Hecatolite had asked Taaffeite to cast a spell?

  Thinking about it now Saffron would bet her wings that Hecatolite simply forgot, or didn’t know she was at the castle; a far more likely expnation than what she had told herself earlier…

  She could feel herself sag in her seat; she had done exactly what she had chastised Hecatolite for months ago… I should have just messaged her. If she had just swallowed her pride and done that to begin with then none of this would have happened.

  “I was being childish.” She sighed, as she looked up at Eryl, the other woman’s bright blue eyes didn’t hold a hint of judgment as she shrugged, her long ears rising and falling with the motion.

  “It seems to happen when Hecatolite is involved. I often find myself… over thinking when it concerns her.” Eryl admitted and Saffron ughed dryly.

  “So now what?” she asked softly, it felt dumb to argue about a position that one of them didn’t want and the other was under qualified for. It also felt strange, she wasn't Eryl equal, but she wasn't beneath her. The two of them were... nothing to one another yet linked somehow and Saffron would have to think long and hard about that and what it meant going forward.

  “I… don’t know.” Eryl said with a sigh.

  Saffron looked at the woman, really looked at her. Eryl was beautiful but there was a tiredness in her eyes as the two of them stared at one another.

  It shouldn’t have surprised either of them when Hecatolite smmed into the ground beside Eryl, what looked like a tuft of dark brown fur stuck to her cheek as she grinned. “Are you two still fighting?” she asked casually as she licked her fingers.

  And Saffron couldn’t help but ugh. “We… weren’t fighting, Hecatolite.” She said softly, a warmth filling her chest as she looked at her mistress. She may not be Hecatolite’s only lover, but she was… part of her family, and she would support her mistress in any way she could… “just talking, right Eryl?”

  In the end, the small conversation may not have changed anything; Saffron was still jealous of Eryl for being with Hecatolite, and she still felt inferior to the admin… but she felt better as Hecatolite waved at her, “I promise to call more often, I miss you…” Hecatolites grin shrank as she smiled, a small content smile as her eyes softened. “I love you Saffron, you be safe, ok?”

  Saffron could have melted as she nodded, “I… I love you too.” She said, her wings fluttering behind her as she nodded to Hecatolite, “And I will hold you to that, mistr… Hecatolite.” She gnced at Eryl, “It was… nice to meet you Eryl,” she was surprised that it wasn't a lie, it had been nice to meet the other woman and... maybe they could someday find more common ground and possibly become friends, after all they will have to work together moving forward. “Please keep Hecatolite safe while you travel.”

  The elven woman nodded as the spell faded and Saffron smiled feeling… much better. Eryl had been different than she had expected, the other woman seemed kind and would be a good match for Hecatolite… an addition to our cn…

  It was only then that she registered the slight sound of bells coming from deeper in the castle. Are... those arms? She stood just in time for her bedroom door to explode inwards, the heavy wooden door flying across the room and crashing right through the window on the far wall.

  Saffron sprang to her feet ready for anything... anything but a ughing Alister to step though the open doorway, a giggling princess under one arm and a defeated looking Alexa slung over his shoulder. “This is unacceptable!” He bellowed as he strode into the room and unceremoniously scooped Saffron up and deposited her on his other shoulder, “Locking yourself in your room all day and moping, it's a beautiful day and we are going out!” He ughed as he adjusted the three women he held captive, “Hold on,” he said to the princess in his arms as Saffron felt someone grabbing onto one of her legs.

  “What is going...” Saffron looked at Alexa who just shook her head as a dozen guards charged through the open door.

  “We’re being kidnapped...” Alexa said ftly as a ughing Alistar stepped out of the now open window and plummeted towards the ground. The princess shrieked in joy as Alexa screamed in terror. Saffron beat her wings, the leathery skin batting against Alistair's head uselessly as the ughing man casually kicked off the air sending them all flying over the castle walls.

  Across the world Hecatolite sighed as the spell ended. “I really messed that up, didn’t I?” she asked weakly as Eryl patted her shoulder, “I should have called her more… she was so sad…”

  “I think… She understands, Hecatolite.” Eryl said softly, she didn’t know how to feel about this caring side of Hecatolite. On one hand it was… cute how much she had been bothered by Saffron's distress, on the other…

  “I love you too,” Hecatolites quiet voice stopped Eryl thoughts in their tracks, her rge red eyes looking up at her as she gazed at Eryl the exact same way she had been looking at Saffron. “I shouldn’t wait for the right moment to say it. So… I love you Eryl.”

  Eryl blinked, a warmth flooding her body as she stared down at the tiny primordial. Not that she had said it, but the fact that Eryl didn’t doubt for a moment that Hecatolite meant it. She stated it like a fact and Eryls entire body shuddered.

  “You don’t have to say…” Hecatolite back peddled only for Eryl to cut her off.

  “I told you; actions speak louder than words Hecatolite… but…” Why was she suddenly nervous, it was just three words… “I… love you too.” Only to realize that it was in fact four words, but the way Hecatolite looked up at her in that moment with that warm little smile as her entire body seemed to rex… Eryl didn’t care about the extra words… that small piece of deer in Hecatolites hair however… “Now we need to get you cleaned… again.” She sighed as the moment passed, they had a meeting to attend in a few hours and Eryl just had a creeping feeling that she might just regret having not slept the night before.

  Tibbit