return to adventuring

Three weeks passed.

Alice did not notice the change happening all at once.

It came in pieces.

A dungeon corridor where Nia called a formation shift and everyone moved before Alice had time to think. A fight against gumbarks where Jen kicked one enemy into Nia’s waiting swing without either of them needing to speak. A narrow bridge over a syrup pit where Mako nearly slipped, and Alice’s thorn vines snapped around his belt before he even started falling. Nell’s spell circles appearing exactly where Alice expected them, pinning enemies at the edge of her shield range so she could slam them down before they reached him.

By the end of the second week, Alice realized she had become the party’s tank.

Not officially.

Not with some grand speech or guild form or Nia solemnly handing her the role. It just happened because Alice kept putting herself between danger and the people she cared about, and because Paladin, annoyingly, made her very good at that.

She was not as good as Nia had been.

Not yet.

Nia had tanked by being a wall of terrifying muscle and ****, the kind of frontliner who made monsters hesitate because some animal part of them recognized that touching her was a mistake. Alice was smaller, lighter, and still learning how to make her body hold space instead of slipping around it. She could not simply stand there and absorb punishment through brute durability even with her new armor. Not the way Nia could.

So Alice cheated.

Her thorns became her best tool.

At first, Thorn of the Devoted Rose had felt like a dramatic accessory. Beautiful, sharp, and very on brand, but not yet reliable enough to build tactics around. Three weeks of dungeon runs changed that. Alice learned how to make the vines strike low and wrap around ankles. How to hook a thorn line into cracked stone and pull herself sideways before a blow landed. How to lash one enemy across the face, not to damage it, but to blind and distract long enough for Jen to crush its knee. How to pin a monster’s arm against a wall so Mako could put a charge directly into its exposed joint.

And gods, the shield helped.

It was a kite shield, tall enough to cover most of her body when she braced properly, heavy enough that her first day using it left her shoulder aching, and edged in silvered steel that had absolutely been sharpened by someone. Alice had expected to hate it. She had expected it to feel clumsy, too noble, too Paladin, too much like admitting the system had been right.

Instead, she kept throwing it.

The first time had been an accident.

A jawgrinder lunged for Nell from the side, too fast for Alice to cross the distance normally. Bullet Time snapped open in her head, the world stretching thin and slow as her perception accelerated. She saw the monster’s plated jaw opening. Saw Nell’s eyes widen. Saw the half drawn spell circle collapsing under surprise.

Alice’s body moved before her mind could object.

She threw the shield.

It spun end over end through the air and hit the jawgrinder edge first hard enough to knock it sideways into a candy glass wall. Alice’s thorn vine snapped after it, wrapped around one of the shield straps, and yanked. The shield came tearing back across the battlefield into her waiting hand.

For two full seconds, everyone stared.

Then Mako screamed, “SHE CAPTAINED THE AMERICA!”

Alice had immediately pretended not to be delighted.

She was delighted.

After that, it became part of her style. Shield bash. Thorn bind. Throw the shield. Pull it back. Use Bullet Time to adjust the angle mid throw. Use Coiled Rune Handling to lace the thorn vines through the shield’s inner straps without tangling. She was still rough. Still messy. Still more enthusiasm than technique sometimes. But she could feel the build forming around her. Dhampir reflexes. Paladin defense. Thorn control. Time perception.

Nell called it “unconventional but promising.”

Mako called it “hot garbage hero physics.”

Jen called it “weirdly effective.”

Nia said nothing the first time Alice saved her with it.

She only looked at Alice for a little too long.

That still happened.

Even with Jen at her side. Even with their strange new bond growing stronger every day. Even with Nia calling Jen pet and Jen pretending she did not glow every time it happened. Nia’s devotion to Alice did not vanish just because Jen had claimed a place beside her. Sometimes, in the middle of a dungeon, Alice would feel those crimson eyes on her. She would glance over and see Nia watching with that old worshipful intensity, like Alice had done something impossible by simply existing.

Jen always noticed.

Her reaction had changed over time, though. At first, jealousy made her sharp. She would snap at Nia, pick fights, shove ahead too hard, take stupid risks just to **** Nia’s attention back where it belonged. Then, gradually, the pattern shifted into something else. Jen would see Nia staring. Her jaw would tighten. Nia would realize what she had done. A silent look would pass between them, complicated and heated and too private for Alice’s comfort.

Then Jen would say, flatly, “Break.”

And Nia would follow her.

Every time.

Sometimes it was a side tunnel. Sometimes an empty storage chamber. Once it was a cave behind a waterfall in a dungeon full of glowing moss and goblins that had the decency to flee. The rest of the party would stop, pretend to reorganize supplies, and very carefully not acknowledge the muffled moans echoing from whichever direction Nia and Jen had disappeared.

Nell would go crimson and become intensely interested in spell notes.

Alice would pretend she did not hear anything.

Her new Dhampir senses betrayed her constantly.

It was awful.

It was also, undeniably, working.

Nia came back calmer every time. Jen came back smug and embarrassed and soft around the edges in a way she clearly hated but could not hide. The jealousy never became a fight in the party. It became something Nia and Jen dealt with between them. Messily, loudly, and in ways Alice desperately wished her enhanced hearing would stop documenting, but still. Between them.

On the homefront, things changed even more quietly.

Nell living above the Velvet Bottle became normal.

At first, that normality scared both of them half to ****.

The first few days were a masterpiece of mutual overcorrection. Alice tried not to spend too much time near him because she was afraid of being clingy. Nell tried not to spend too much time near her because he was afraid of being intrusive. They both kept accidentally occupying opposite ends of the apartment while clearly wanting to be in the same room, which led Maria to watch them over her tea with the expression of a woman witnessing two anxious cats pretend they did not want the same blanket.

Eventually Maria lost patience and started creating problems.

“Nell, Alice needs help reaching the top shelf.”

“I can reach the top shelf!”

“You hissed at the sunlight through the kitchen window, baby. Let the owl boy get the mugs.”

Or

“Alice, Nell made tea and is pretending he didn’t make enough for you because he’s shy.”

“I was going to offer.”

“You were going to stand there and quietly hope she smelled it.”

He had, in fact, been doing exactly that.

Little by little, embarrassment gave way to habit.

They ate breakfast together more often than not. Nell graded his own spell diagrams at the kitchen table while Alice leaned against him reading horror forums. He learned that Alice forgot to eat if left alone and started placing snacks near her with academic subtlety. Alice learned that Nell got overwhelmed by loud bar nights and began leaving her bedroom door open so he could escape into the quieter dark with her if he needed to. He brewed tea. She stocked chocolate cookies. He labeled blood packs. She started buying ink in the brand he liked without mentioning it.

At first, it felt like playing house.

Then it stopped feeling like playing.

Maria was rarely upstairs during the busiest parts of the day. She had the bar, supply runs, doctor appointments, mysterious lunches with people she refused to explain. That left Alice and Nell with the apartment mostly to themselves for long stretches. The whole place softened around them. Nell’s books migrated into the living room. Alice’s jacket ended up on his chair. His spare glasses appeared on her nightstand. Her artificial candles somehow made their way into his room because he liked the softer light.

Neither of them commented on how domestic it felt.

That would have been too dangerous.

There was only one real problem.

The bathrooms.

The apartment had two bathrooms, technically. Two full bathrooms, both with showers, both perfectly functional, both absolutely useless from a household logistics perspective because each one was connected directly to a bedroom.

One belonged to Maria.

The other belonged to Alice.

There was no hallway bathroom. No neutral bathroom. No convenient little guest washroom for the poor boy who had been abruptly moved into their home for his own safety and then **** to navigate the architecture of a building designed by someone who hated privacy and guests.

At first, Nell used Maria’s when she was downstairs or out and Alice’s only when she explicitly told him he could. It worked. Mostly.

Then came the morning when it stopped working.

Alice had just finished showering after a dungeon run that had left sugar mud in places sugar mud had no right to be. Steam clung to the bathroom mirror. The room smelled like her shampoo, clean heat, faint floral soap, and the lingering metallic trace of one blood pack she had drunk before getting in because fighting while hungry had turned out to be a terrible idea.

She stood in front of the sink, wrapped in a towel, squinting at her own reflection.

The Dhampir thing still surprised her sometimes.

Silver eyes. Pointed ears. Fangs visible when she parted her lips. The pale smoothness of her skin. The way her pupils narrowed when the bathroom light hit too sharply. The way her body looked both familiar and slightly more monstrous than she was emotionally prepared to tolerate before breakfast.

She was leaning closer to inspect whether her fangs had gotten any longer when the bedroom door opened.

Then the bathroom door opened.

Nell stepped in with a towel over one arm, a stack of folded clothes in the other, and his glasses slightly fogged from the hallway warmth.

They stared at each other.

Alice stood frozen by the sink in nothing but a towel.

Nell stood frozen in the doorway.

For one full second, nobody moved.

Then Nell made a sound like his soul had tripped.

“I’m sorry!”

He spun around so fast he nearly smacked himself into the doorframe.

Alice clutched the towel tighter against her chest, face going nuclear. “Nell!”

“I knocked!”

“No you didn’t!”

“I knocked on the bedroom door!”

“That does not count as knocking on the bathroom door!”

“I thought you were still downstairs!”

“I live here!”

“I know! That is why I thought this bathroom might be empty because you were supposedly downstairs!”

“Supposedly?”

“Mako said you went downstairs!”

“Mako lies recreationally!”

“I have learned that too late!”

Nell stood facing the wall outside the bathroom, shoulders hunched, clothes clutched to his chest like a shield. The feathered edges of his hair, looked like they had fluffed in panic. Alice could see the back of his neck turning red.

Her own embarrassment was so intense she briefly considered drowning herself in the sink.

Instead, Alice slammed the bathroom door shut.

The click of the latch sounded much louder than it needed to in the steamy little room. Alice stood there for a moment, towel clutched to her chest, heart hammering, silver eyes wide in the fogged mirror. Her reflection stared back at her.

From the bedroom, Nell said, very faintly, “I am still sorry.”

Alice closed her eyes.

“I know.”

“I am facing the wall.”

“Good.”

“I will continue facing the wall.”

“Great.”

“I may never face another direction again.”

Despite herself, Alice snorted.

That ruined the panic.

She was still mortified, still damp, still standing in a towel with the boy she loved sitting on the other side of the door probably trying not to dissolve from shame. But laughter slipped under the embarrassment and cracked it open just enough for air to get in.

Alice leaned her forehead against the bathroom door.

“Nell.”

“Yes?”

“I’m not mad.”

Silence.

Then, softer, “You’re not?”

“No.” She swallowed, cheeks heating all over again. “I’m embarrassed. There’s a difference.”

“Oh.”

“And also we desperately need a bathroom system.”

“Yes.”

“Possibly a chart.”

“I can make it tasteful.”

“Do not make our bathroom schedule tasteful.”

“I can make it functional.”

“That’s better.”

“I’ll avoid decorative borders.”

“Thank you.”

She heard him shift on the other side of the door, then the soft creak of her bed as he sat down. That made her smile.

Alice dried off quickly, She yanked on fresh clothes. Black shorts. Oversized shirt. One of Nell’s cardigans from last night before she realized it was his and then decided she was already wearing it so the crime had been committed.

When she opened the bathroom door, Nell was sitting on the edge of her bed.

Patiently.

Terribly.

Like a student waiting outside the principal’s office after committing accidental intimacy.

His folded clothes sat neatly beside him. His hands were clasped in his lap. His posture was straight enough to hurt. He was looking at the floor with the grave seriousness of someone who had decided the carpet deserved his full attention. The feathered edges of his hair still looked slightly fluffed from panic.

Alice stopped in the doorway.

The sight did something unfair to her heart.

“Nell.”

He looked up instantly. “Yes?”

“You look like you’re in trouble.”

“I feel like I’m in trouble.”

“You’re not.”

“I walked in on you.”

“By accident.”

“I should have knocked again.”

“Yes.”

“I will knock twice from now on.”

“Good.”

“And maybe announce myself.”

“Also good.”

“And wait for verbal confirmation.”

“Nell.”

“And possibly use the bathroom sign.”

Alice crossed the room before he could spiral any further.

He looked up at her, worried and red faced, and Alice realized with a strange rush of warmth that she did not want to tease him first. Not this time. She did not want to let the embarrassment grow teeth. She wanted to stop it in that overthinking brain of his.

So she leaned down and kissed him.

Nell froze for half a heartbeat.

Then softened.

His hands lifted uncertainly, hovering near her waist until she caught one and placed it there herself. That seemed to give him permission to breathe again. The kiss was gentle, still morning slow, still edged with shyness, but it said what Alice could not quite make words do without tripping over them.

I’m not mad.

You’re safe.

Stay.

When she pulled back, Nell’s eyes were wide behind his glasses.

Alice’s face warmed. “There. Punishment complete.”

He blinked. “That was punishment?”

“Don’t argue with the court.”

“I would never.”

She sat beside him on the bed and reached up, running her fingers through his feathered hair. Nell’s eyes fluttered half closed before he could stop them. The texture was still fascinating, soft and layered, feathers that made her want to keep touching far longer than was reasonable. He leaned into her hand by a fraction, embarrassed even by that, and Alice felt her chest go soft.

“You really do fluff up when you panic,” she said.

“I do not.”

“You absolutely do.”

“It is a stress response.”

“That means you do.”

Nell sighed, but there was a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth. “I suppose.”

Alice kept combing her fingers through his hair, enjoying the way his shoulders gradually relaxed. The apartment beyond her room was quiet, at least for the moment. Maria was downstairs or out. The bar had not fully woken into evening chaos yet. Their bathroom disaster had not become a crisis. The world, for once, had given them a pocket of peace.

Naturally, Alice ruined it.

Her gaze drifted to Nell’s satchel near the foot of the bed.

The scrying orb sat half visible inside, wrapped in soft cloth.

Alice looked at it.

Then looked away.

Then looked at it again.

Nell opened one eye. “Alice.”

“What?”

“No.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You looked at the orb.”

“What.”

“You have a specific orb looking expression now.”

Alice huffed. “That is slander.”

“It is observation.”

She withdrew her hand from his hair, leaned over, and plucked the wrapped orb from his satchel before he could stop her. Nell made a small protesting sound that had no **** behind it whatsoever.

“We’re just checking,” Alice said.

Nell adjusted his glasses, already blushing. “Checking what?”

“Nia and Jen.”

“They are adults.”

“They are volatile adults.”

“They are also probably fine.”

Nell stared at her.

Alice stared back.

He sighed. “This habit is becoming concerning.”

“It is not a habit.”

The scrying orb had become their guilty pleasure.

Alice knew it was wrong. She knew it every time Nell's fingers traced the activation rune, every time the cloudy interior began to clear, every time her heart started pounding in anticipation of what they were about to witness.

She kept watching anyway.

Three weeks had transformed everything.

"She's starting," Nell whispered, his voice catching.

Alice leaned forward, her cock already straining against her pants.

The orb showed Nia's new bedroom. Familiar now, after weeks of observation. The massive bed with its reinforced frame. The scattered clothes. The way moonlight streamed through the window and caught on white fur.

Jen was on her hands and knees.

Naked.

The black choker still circled her throat she never took it off anymore but everything else had been stripped away. Her small body trembled with anticipation, her face pressed into the pillows, her ass raised high in the air.

And what an ass it had become.

Alice's breath caught as she stared at the destruction Nia had wrought over the past three weeks.

Jen's asshole gaped.

Not a little. Not the slight looseness that came from regular use. This was something else entirely. Her sphincter had been stretched so thoroughly, so repeatedly, so brutally that it no longer remembered how to close. The pink inner walls were visible, winking obscenely with every breath Jen took, a permanent gape that would never close again.

It was a ruined hole.

A claimed hole.

Designed specifically for Nia's cock and nothing else.

"Please," Jen whimpered into the pillows. "Please, I need it, I've been good, please "

Nia stood behind her, stroking her massive shaft with lazy confidence.

The horse cock looked even more impressive today. Eighteen inches now, Alice was certain, thick as a grapefruit, the flared head glistening with precum that dripped in long strings onto Jen's upturned ass.

But it was Nia's balls that made Alice's mouth go dry.

They were swollen .

Engorged to nearly three times their normal size, hanging heavy and full between Nia's thighs, practically throbbing with the pressure.

"You have been good," Nia rumbled, her voice that dark possessive thing that made Jen melt. "My perfect little pet."

"Then please " Jen's hips wiggled desperately. "Please fuck me, please use me, I need your cock so bad "

Nia's smile was predatory.

She positioned herself behind Jen, the massive head of her cock pressing against that ruined gape.

And pushed.

There was no resistance.

How could there be?

Jen's ass swallowed the first six inches like it was nothing, her destroyed sphincter offering no barrier whatsoever. The gaping hole stretched wider, accepting the impossible girth with the ease of long practice, the pink inner walls molding themselves around Nia's shaft like they'd been designed for exactly this purpose.

"Oh fuck ," Jen sobbed. "Oh fuck yes, deeper, please "

Nia obliged.

Eight inches. Ten. Twelve.

Her hips drove forward with brutal efficiency, not bothering with gentleness, not needing to. This hole belonged to her. She'd made it hers. Every inch she claimed was an inch that would never belong to anyone else.

"Look at you," Nia growled, hands gripping Jen's hips hard enough to bruise. "Look at this sloppy hole. You remember when you were tight?"

"Y yes " Jen gasped.

"You're not anymore." Nia pulled back and slammed forward, driving deeper. "I ruined you. Stretched you out. Made you into my personal cocksleeve."

"Yes! Yes, I'm yours, I'm your cocksleeve, I'm ah! "

Nia bottomed out.

All eighteen inches buried in Jen's ass.

And started to fuck .

Alice couldn't take it anymore.

"Nell," she breathed, her voice shaking. "Get on the bench."

He was already moving.

Nell bent over alices bed, his robes already hiked up, his ass bare and waiting. Alice could see he was trembling with arousal, with anticipation, with the same **** need that consumed her every time they watched.

She freed her cock with fumbling hands.

It wasn't even a third as big as nia, nothing was as big as Nia's but it was enough. Hard and aching and already dripping precum, **** for the tight heat of Nell's body.

"Please," Nell whispered, unconsciously echoing Jen.

Alice pressed forward.

Nell's ass accepted her with a moan, his body yielding around her shaft, his fingers gripping the bed sheets as she sank deeper. She didn't stop until she was fully seated, her hips pressed against his ass, her cock buried in his warmth.

"Keep watching."

They both turned back to the orb.

In the bedroom, Nia had established a brutal rhythm.

Her hips pistoned forward with animalistic fury, driving her massive cock into Jen's ruined ass again and again and again. The wet sounds were obscene slick flesh meeting flesh, Jen's gaping hole squelching around the invading shaft, precum and leftover cum from previous sessions being churned into a frothy mess.

Jen was gone.

Her eyes had rolled back, tongue lolling out, drool pooling beneath her face. Every thrust drove a broken sound from her throat, something between a sob and a moan, her small body jerking forward with each impact. The choker's tag bounced against her collarbone, catching the light.

NIA"S FUCKPET, it read.

"Such a good hole," Nia praised, her own breath coming faster now. "Such a perfect, ruined, slutty little hole. You're never going to be tight again. You're never going to close again. This ass is going to gape for the rest of your life, always ready for me, always mine ."

"Yours," Jen sobbed. "All yours, only yours, please "

"You want my cum?"

" Yes "

"You want me to fill this sloppy hole until it overflows?"

"Please, please, please "

Nia's thrusts grew erratic.

Her swollen balls drew up, heavy with their massive load, preparing for release.

And then she stopped.

Pulled out completely.

Jen wailed at the loss, her ass gaping and empty and winking desperately, her whole body shaking with denied pleasure.

"No! No, please, don't stop, I was so close "

But Nia wasn't listening.

She grabbed Jen's hips and flipped her over, moving her like she weighed nothing, arranging her on her back with her legs spread wide. Jen stared up at her with wild, **** eyes, not understanding, not caring, just needing .

"You've been so good," Nia said, her voice dropping into something tender and terrifying. "So perfect. My sweet little pet."

"Please "

"So I'm going to give you a reward."

Nia positioned herself between Jen's spread thighs.

The massive head of her cock pressed against something that wasn't a ruined gape.

It pressed against Jen's pussy .

That tiny, unused, virgin cunt.

Jen's eyes went wide.

"Nia "

"Shh." Nia's grip was iron. "You can take it. I've trained you. I've prepared you. And now I'm going to breed you for real."

The head pressed harder.

Jen's pussy lips stretched around it, desperately trying to accommodate the impossible girth, her tiny entrance spreading wider than it had ever spread before.

It wasn't going in.

It couldn't go in.

Nia was too big. Jen was too small. The same barrier that had stopped them three weeks ago in that changing room, the same impossible mismatch of bodies

Nia's balls throbbed.

And she came.

Alice's hips stuttered as she watched.

She was balls deep in Nell's ass, her cock pulsing with the need to release, but she couldn't look away from what was happening in the orb. Couldn't miss a single second of what Nia was doing.

Because Nia wasn't pulling away.

She was holding the tip of her cock against Jen's tiny pussy lips, the broad head pressed firm and unyielding, and she was coming directly into that sealed entrance .

The first rope hit Jen's cervix.

Even without penetration, the **** was enough to paint her insides white. Cum flooded her tiny cunt, filling it immediately, having nowhere to go because Nia's cock blocked the exit.

Jen screamed .

"Nia! Nia! It's too much, I can't "

"You can." Nia's voice was strained, her orgasm still building. "You will ."

More cum.

And more.

And more .

Nia's swollen balls pulsed with release after release, pumping liter after liter of hot seed into Jen's tiny pussy. The cum had nowhere to go. It backed up, filled every available space, started to stretch her from the inside.

Jen's belly began to swell.

"Oh gods," she whimpered, watching her stomach bulge. "Oh gods, there's so much "

"five lives," Nia growled through gritted teeth. "Five lives turned into cum. All for you. All going inside you."

The orgasm continued.

One minute.

Two.

Three.

Jen's belly grew rounder, distended with the impossible volume, her tiny body struggling to contain it all. Her pussy stretched around the pressure, the lips spreading wider, **** open by the sheer quantity of cum trying to find space.

Four minutes.

Jen looked pregnant .

Her stomach was swollen drum tight, sloshing with Nia's seed, her small frame distorted by the massive load. Cum leaked around the seal of Nia's cockhead, dripping down to pool beneath her, but most of it stayed inside.

Stretching her.

Preparing her.

Breeding her.

Five minutes.

Nia's orgasm finally slowed.

The last pulses were weaker, finally manageable, her enormous balls now empty after their prolonged release. She panted above Jen, her cock still pressed against that stretched entrance, her cum still sealed inside.

"Good girl," she breathed. "Such a good girl. Look how full you are. Look how ready you are."

Jen couldn't respond.

Her eyes were glazed, her mind somewhere far away, floating in the overwhelming sensation of being so completely filled. Her stretched pussy gaped slightly now, the lips loosened by the **** pressure, no longer the tight virgin entrance it had been minutes ago.

Wide enough for what came next.

"Now," Nia said, positioning herself properly, "let's see if you can take me."

She pushed.

Alice slammed into Nell so hard she saw stars.

Her orgasm hit without warning, triggered by the sight of Nia's cockhead finally finally breaching Jen's cunt, pushing through the sea of cum to claim that last unconquered hole.

"Fuck!" Alice gasped, emptying herself into Nell's ass. "Oh fuck "

Nell came too, untouched, his cock spurting as Alice filled him. His hole clenched around her shaft, milking her through her release, both of them shaking and gasping and unable to look away from the orb.

Nia was inside.

Two inches.

It should have been impossible. The same barrier that had stopped her three weeks ago, the same tight little pussy that couldn't stretch wide enough but the cum had changed everything. The prolonged pressure had loosened her. Softened her. Prepared her.

Jen's cunt gripped Nia's shaft like a vice, but it was a vice that was giving way .

"Yes," Nia growled, pushing deeper. "Yes, take it. Take your reward."

"It's it's so big " Jen's eyes were wild, her voice breaking. "I can feel it in my stomach, I can feel you inside me "

Four inches.

Cum squelched out around the shaft, displaced by the massive intrusion, coating them both in the slick evidence of Nia's earlier release. Jen's pussy stretched obscenely, the lips wrapped tight around that grapefruit thick cock, her clit grinding against the top of the shaft with every millimeter of penetration.

Six inches.

"Nia Nia, I can't "

"You can." Another inch. "You will ."

Eight inches.

Something flashed in Jen's vision.

Her eyes went wide.

"Oh," she breathed, her voice suddenly trembling with something beyond pleasure. "Oh gods."

A system notification.

Visible only to her, but the effect was unmistakable her whole body stiffened, her breath caught, tears started streaming down her cheeks.

"What?" Nia demanded, pausing. "What is it?"

Jen's laugh was watery, hysterical, joyful .

"I'm " She hiccupped. "The system says Nia, I'm "

Pregnant .

The word hung in the air between them.

Nia went very still.

Then her eyes darkened with something primal and possessive and absolutely feral .

" Mine ," she snarled.

And slammed forward.

Alice watched through the orb as Nia lost all control.

The massive cock drove into Jen's cunt with brutal ****, powered by instinct and possession and the overwhelming need to claim. Eight inches became ten. Ten became twelve. The cum inside her provided lubrication, letting that impossible shaft slide deeper and deeper into territory no one had ever reached.

Jen screamed.

Her back arched off the bed, her hands scrabbling at Nia's shoulders, her legs wrapping around those powerful hips as if trying to pull her deeper . The pleasure pain of being stretched so completely, of being so utterly filled , overwhelmed every other thought.

"I'm going to destroy this hole too," Nia promised, her voice rough and dark. "Going to stretch it out just like I did your ass. Going to ruin you for anyone else, make you mine in every possible way "

Fourteen inches.

"Going to breed you again and again. Going to keep you full of my cum, full of my babies "

Sixteen inches.

"You're never leaving me. You're never being with anyone else. You're mine , do you understand? My pet. My breeding slut. Mine ."

" Yours ," Jen sobbed. "Yours, only yours, always yours "

Nia grabbed her face, tilting it up, forcing eye contact.

And kissed her.

Deep and claiming and possessive , her tongue plundering Jen's mouth as her hips drove forward that final impossible distance.

Eighteen inches.

Balls deep .

They both moaned into the kiss as Nia's hips finally met Jen's, as every inch of that massive cock found its home inside her stretched and claimed cunt. Jen's belly bulged with the outline of it, the shape visible through her skin, her tiny body completely reshaped around Nia's intrusion.

" Mine ," Nia breathed against her lips.

Jen could only whimper in response.

Because she was.

Completely.

Irrevocably.

Nia's .

Alice lay tangled in the sheets, panting, her mind still reeling from what they'd just witnessed in the orb. Nell was beside her, equally breathless, his robes disheveled and his glasses fogged beyond usefulness.

The orb had gone dark as Nia and Jen settled into whatever tender aftermath followed that intense claiming. The image of Nia's cock finally bottoming out inside Jen's stretched cunt still burned behind Alice's eyes.

She should have felt satisfied.

She didn't.

Her cock had softened after her orgasm, but there was an ache deeper inside her that hadn't been touched. A hollow need that watching and fucking Nell's ass hadn't filled. Her pussy throbbed with neglected want, slick and **** for attention.

Alice rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling.

Beside her, Nell was quiet. Too quiet.

She turned her head to look at him.

His expression was strange. Not the usual post orgasm softness she'd come to expect. There was something tighter around his eyes, something that looked almost like... frustration?

"Nell?"

He didn't answer immediately.

"Nell, what's wrong?"

He took off his glasses, cleaning them on his robes with more focus than the task required. "Nothing."

"That's not a nothing face."

"I don't have a nothing face."

"You absolutely do. You're wearing it right now."

Nell put his glasses back on and finally met her eyes. His cheeks were pink, but not just from arousal this time. There was something else coloring his expression. Something that made Alice's heart do a complicated thing in her chest.

"You watch her a lot," he said quietly.

Alice blinked. "What?"

"Nia." His voice was carefully controlled. "You watch her. In the orb. Your eyes... they get a certain look."

Oh.

Oh.

"Nell "

"I'm not accusing you of anything." He said it quickly, like he'd been rehearsing. "I know you love me. I know we're together. I just..." He trailed off, looking away. "Her cock is very impressive."

Alice stared at him.

Nell, her sweet, scholarly, endlessly patient boyfriend, was jealous .

Of Nia's cock.

Something warm and unexpected bloomed in Alice's chest.

"Nell," she said softly, reaching out to cup his face. "Look at me."

He did, reluctantly.

"I watch the orb because it's hot," Alice admitted. "I'm not going to lie about that. But I'm not wanting Nia. I'm wanting you . Every time we watch, I'm thinking about you. About us."

His ears drooped slightly. "But I'm not... I can't..."

"Can't what?"

"I can't do what she does." The words came out in a rush, embarrassed and raw. "I can't stretch you out or fill you up or make you scream like that. My cock is average at best. Smaller than yours, even. I can't "

Alice kissed him.

It was the only way she could think to shut him up.

Nell made a small surprised sound against her mouth, but melted into it almost immediately. His hands came up to cup her face, gentle and trembling, and Alice felt her heart squeeze with how much she loved this ridiculous, insecure, perfect boy.

When she pulled back, his eyes were wide behind his glasses.

"Nell," she said firmly. "I don't want Nia's cock. I want yours ."

"But "

"No buts." She took a shaky breath, her face heating. "I want... I want you to fuck me."

Nell went very still.

"What?"

Alice's blush deepened. She couldn't meet his eyes anymore, focusing instead on a point somewhere around his collarbone. "My pussy. I want you to... I want you to."

The silence stretched.

Then Nell made a sound that was almost a whimper.

"Alice..."

"You don't have to," she added quickly, suddenly terrified she'd misread everything. "If you don't want to, that's fine, I just thought "

"I want to."

His voice was rough. Different than she'd ever heard it.

Alice looked up.

Nell's expression had changed. The insecurity was still there, but it was being crowded out by something else. Something hungrier. Something that made her stomach flip.

"I want to," he repeated, softer. "Gods, Alice, I want to."

He moved before she could respond.

His hands found her hips, guiding her onto her back, and Alice went willingly. Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat. This was different. This was new . She'd fucked Nell dozens of times over the past three weeks his ass, his mouth, between his thighs and been fucked by him in return but she'd never offered herself like this.

Never been this ****.

Nell settled between her legs, and Alice felt suddenly, acutely aware of how exposed she was. Her cock lay soft against her stomach, spent from her earlier orgasm, but her pussy was dripping . Three weeks of watching Nia and Jen, three weeks of fucking without being fucked, had left her **** for something she hadn't known how to ask for.

Until now.

"You're so wet," Nell breathed, staring down at her.

Alice covered her face with her hands. "Don't say it "

"You're beautiful."

She peeked through her fingers.

Nell was looking at her like she was something precious. Something worth studying. His hands traced up her thighs, gentle and reverent, and Alice shivered under his touch.

"I've been paying attention," he said quietly. "These past three weeks. Learning you. Memorizing you."

"Memorizing me?"

"Where you're sensitive." His fingers brushed against her outer lips, and Alice gasped. "What makes you shake." A thumb circled her clit, feather light. "How to make you feel good."

Alice's hips bucked involuntarily.

"Nell "

"I know I'm not big," he continued, his voice taking on an edge she'd never heard before. "I know I can't compete with what you watch in that orb. But I know you , Alice. And I'm going to make you forget every cock you've ever seen."

Before she could respond, he pushed inside her.

Alice's back arched off the bed.

He wasn't big he'd been right about that. Average at best, maybe five inches, slender enough that the stretch was more comfort than challenge. But gods , the feeling of being filled.

"Oh fuck ," she gasped.

Nell didn't give her time to adjust.

He pulled back and thrust forward, setting a pace that surprised her. Not brutal, not like Nia, but determined . Focused. Like he had something to prove.

And then he angled his hips, and

" Nell! "

Her G spot.

He'd found it immediately, unerringly, like he'd mapped its location weeks ago and had just been waiting for permission to use the knowledge. Every thrust dragged across that sensitive spot, sending sparks shooting up her spine.

"Right there," Nell murmured, watching her face with intense concentration. "That's the spot, isn't it?"

"Yes yes, fuck , right there, don't stop "

He didn't stop.

His pace was relentless, hips snapping forward with a rhythm that spoke of careful study and **** determination. Alice had never seen this side of him before. The shy, stammering scholar was gone, replaced by someone focused and fierce and absolutely intent on taking her apart.

And then his hand moved.

Alice felt his fingers trace down, past where they were joined, to the tight pucker of her ass. She tensed automatically, but Nell just made a soothing sound, his other hand coming up to stroke her hip.

"Trust me," he whispered.

She did.

Two fingers pressed inside her ass, finding her prostate with the same unerring accuracy he'd found her G spot. And then he pressed , rubbing firm circles against that sensitive gland while his cock continued to pound into her pussy.

Alice screamed.

The dual stimulation was overwhelming. Her G spot and her prostate, both being worked at once, pleasure building from two directions until it crashed together in the center of her body like colliding waves.

Her first orgasm hit without warning.

" Nell! " Her pussy clenched around him, her whole body shaking, and her cock soft until now suddenly twitched and spurted, cum leaking from the tip in a steady stream.

But Nell didn't stop.

"Again," he ordered, his voice strained. "Give me another one."

"I can't I just "

"You can." His fingers pressed harder against her prostate. "You will ."

Where had this come from? This fierce determination? Alice wanted to ask, wanted to understand, but her brain was melting, thoughts dissolving into static as Nell continued his relentless **** on her body.

Her second orgasm crashed through her less than a minute later.

Her cock spurted again, weaker this time, and her pussy fluttered around Nell's shaft. She was making sounds she didn't recognize, high and **** and broken.

"That's it," Nell breathed, sweat beading on his forehead. "That's my good girl. One more."

"I can't Nell, please "

"One more."

His angle shifted, driving deeper, hitting spots she didn't know she had. His fingers in her ass pressed and rubbed and demanded , and Alice felt another wave building despite her protests.

"I'm I'm gonna "

"Do it. Come for me."

The third orgasm ripped through her like lightning.

Her cock twitched, trying to spurt, but there was nothing left. Dry, completely emptied, and yet her body kept convulsing around him, pleasure without release, overwhelming and endless.

Nell kept going.

" Nell " She was crying now, she realized distantly. Tears streaming down her face, pleasure and overstimulation blurring together. "Please, I can't, it's too much "

"One more," he gasped, his rhythm finally starting to falter. "Just one more, Alice, please, I'm so close "

She gave him one more.

The fourth orgasm was dry, her body wringing itself out around him, her pussy clenching so tight that Nell finally, finally lost his rhythm. He thrust forward one last time, burying himself as deep as he could go, and came with a broken moan.

Alice felt his release inside her, warm and wet, filling her in a way she'd never experienced before. It wasn't much not like the torrents she'd watched Nia pump into Jen but it was Nell's , and that made it perfect.

Then he collapsed on top of her.

His full weight pressed her into the mattress, and Alice could feel his heart hammering against her chest, his breath coming in **** gasps against her neck. He was trembling, completely spent, utterly exhausted.

Alice, meanwhile, was barely winded.

She was overstimulated and shaky, but not tired . Adventuring had built her stamina significantly, and while Nell had just fucked her through four consecutive orgasms, she could have kept going if he'd had anything left to give.

But he didn't, and that was okay.

More than okay.

She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close, feeling his racing heartbeat slowly start to calm. His fingers were still inside her he'd apparently forgotten about them in the aftermath but she didn't mind. It felt weirdly intimate.

"Nell," she said softly.

"Mmph." His face was still buried in her neck.

"That was amazing."

A pause. Then, muffled: "Really?"

"Really." She pressed a kiss to the top of his head, tasting sweat and feathers. "Where did that come from?"

He finally lifted his head, looking at her with exhausted, **** eyes. "I don't... I don't know. I just wanted to show you that I could... that I'm enough. That you don't need..."

"I don't need Nia's cock," Alice finished firmly. "I need you . Your cock. Your fingers. Your ridiculous big brain that apparently memorized my entire body without telling me."

Nell's cheeks flushed pink. "I like studying things."

"You're a menace."

"You love me."

Alice's heart clenched.

She did.

Gods help her, she really, truly did.

She pulled him down into a kiss, soft and sweet and full of everything she couldn't quite put into words yet. Nell melted into it, all the dominance from before fading back into her gentle, shy boyfriend.

When they finally broke apart, Alice smiled at him.

"I love you," she said.

Nell's eyes went wide.

"I " He swallowed hard, tears suddenly pricking at the corners of his eyes. "I love you too. So so much."

She kissed him again, still laughing, and Nell finally remembered to remove his fingers from her ass, which made both of them dissolve into embarrassed giggles.

They lay there together, tangled and sticky and utterly content.

By late afternoon, Alice had mostly convinced herself that they were all going to act normal.

This was optimistic.

It was also clearly a lie, but Alice had learned that lying to herself in a confident tone could sometimes get her through the first five minutes of a problem, and five minutes was often enough time for the problem to become someone else’s. Unfortunately, today’s problem remained very firmly hers. They had agreed to meet at the Fangspire gate before dusk. Nia had confirmed the time with the usual efficiency of a party leader. Mako had sent six separate messages, four of which contained no useful information and two of which were pictures of snacks. Jen had not responded at all.

That last part worried Alice.

Not because she thought Jen was dead. If Jen died, Alice had a feeling the afterlife would send her back out of sheer irritation. But after what she and Nell had accidentally seen through the scrying orb, the idea of looking Jen in the eyes again made Alice want to throw herself under the bed and become a local haunting. Jen had always been sharp, proud, and angry in a way that made her seem difficult to wound. Yesterday had proved that was not true. It had also proved several other things Alice was desperately trying not to think about while Nell helped fasten armor straps around her waist.

“Too tight?” Nell asked.

Alice blinked down at him.

He knelt in front of her with a focus so serious it would have looked funny if he had not been adjusting the fitted white armor over her hips. His glasses sat low on his nose. His feathered hair was tied back loosely so it would not fall into his eyes while he worked. He had a small pouch of tools open beside him on the floor, each little buckle adjuster and mana thread hook arranged with such perfect care that Alice felt mildly guilty for being the sort of person who had once stored clean socks and chips in the same drawer.

“No,” she said. Then, after a second, “Maybe a little.”

Nell adjusted the strap immediately. “Better?”

Alice shifted her weight. The armor settled with a soft click, internal enchantments responding to movement. “Yeah. Better.”

The armor was still strange to see on herself.

White plate over dark underlayers. Silver trim. Red cloth accents worked under the chest and around the waist. Blue rose ornaments that matched Liliana’s impossible flowers so well Alice knew Quin had somehow known more than he should have. The shield leaned against her dresser, polished and sharp edged, its kite shape catching the candlelight. The whole set made her look less like the horror punk tomboy who lived above a bar and more like some tragic vampire knight from a game cover.

Alice hated how much she liked it.

Nell stood and circled behind her, checking the back clasps. His fingers were careful against the armor, not touching her more than necessary, which somehow made every accidental brush feel ten times worse. Alice stared at herself in the mirror, silver eyes half lidded against the glow of the candles.

“You look good,” Nell said softly.

Alice’s ears went hot.

“You have to say that. You’re my house boyfriend.”

“I don’t have to say anything inaccurate.”

“That was dangerously smooth.”

“I practiced saying it in my head first.”

Alice looked at him in the mirror.

Nell went red immediately.

“That made it cuter,” she said.

He adjusted his glasses with tragic dignity. “I was afraid of that.”

Alice smiled, then looked back at herself. The smile faded slightly.

Level 10.

She still could not quite believe it.

Three weeks ago she had been standing in the guild hall trying not to feel like everyone could see through her. She had still been human then. Still classless. Still convinced that her biggest problems were hiding her family name, choosing a party, and maybe one day becoming a necromancer.

Now she was a Dhampir Matchmaker Paladin with thorn magic, a boyfriend living in her apartment, a pregnant mother, a yandere party leader she was trying to rehabilitate through ethically questionable harem construction, and a status sheet that looked like Dice had taken personal offense at the idea of a normal progression curve.

She opened it before she could talk herself out of it.

The panel unfolded in rose gold first, Liliana’s interface softening the edges of Dice’s usual theatrical nonsense. Blue roses bloomed faintly around the corners. Then red and blue lettering shoved itself along the bottom like graffiti on a cathedral.

[Status]

[Name: Alice Inspira]

[Race: Dhampir]

[Class: Matchmaker Paladin]

[Level: 10]

[Title: None]

[Affiliation: Company of the Coin]

[HP: Increased]

[Mana: Increased]

[Unspent Attribute Points: 110]

Alice stared at the number again.

One hundred and ten.

It was obscene.

Not world ending obscene. Not high rank adventurer obscene. But rookie obscene. Normal people did not sit on that many points at Level 10 unless they were either extremely disciplined, extremely indecisive, or traumatized by every shopping menu the system put in front of them.

Alice was all three.

[Attribute Reminder: You began with 10 unspent points and gained 10 points per level. Congratulations on hoarding resources like a nervous dragon with commitment issues.]

[Dice: I respect it. I don’t approve, but I respect it.]

[Liliana: There is no need to rush. Thoughtful growth is wise.]

[Dice: Thoughtful growth is boring. Buy something weird.]

Alice scrolled down through the stats.

Strength had risen a little from class and race adjustments. Agility had increased too, helped along by Dhampir reflexes and all the actual fighting she had been **** to do instead of just imagining cool fighting in her room. Perception had ticked upward slightly after three weeks of dungeons, scrying mistakes, and learning how to track enemies by sound, scent, and the deeply unfair advantage of vampire adjacent senses.

But most of her base numbers had barely changed.

Not really.

She had gained power, yes, but much of it came from class features, race change, equipment, and skill interactions. Her actual foundation was still waiting for investment. One hundred and ten points could reshape her. She could dump into it Constitution and become a real tank instead of a clever little thorn gremlin pretending at durability. She could boost Willpower so divine oaths, vampire hunger, and emotional catastrophes stopped shoving her around quite so easily. She could invest in Magical Control, make her thorns sharper, faster, more complex. She could raise Strength and turn shield throws into something legitimately terrifying.

Or she could spend them in the Cash Shop.

That was the dangerous thought.

The Cash Shop icon pulsed at the edge of the panel like it knew she was looking at it.

Alice narrowed her eyes.

“No.”

The icon pulsed again.

“No.”

[Dice: You haven’t even seen the sale.]

“I do not want the sale.”

[Dice: Everyone wants the sale.]

[Liliana: Alice, perhaps only look, you are emotionally prepared to close it.]

“That sounds like a trap.”

Alice opened the Cash Shop anyway.

Nell, standing behind her, noticed the change in panel reflection in the mirror and immediately went very still. “Alice.”

“I’m just looking.”

“That is how Mako starts sentences before explosions.”

“I am more responsible than Mako.”

The silence that followed was unflattering.

Alice scowled. “I’m a little more responsible than Mako.”

The shop opened in a flood of categories.

Traits. Skills. Gear. Race Tweaks. Permanent Rewrites. Temporary Blessings. Cosmetics. Forbidden Cosmetics. Dice’s Favorites, which Alice refused to touch on principle. The Race Tweaks menu glowed with a smooth, predatory shine, each option listed with cost, benefit summary, and a cheerful warning that most changes were permanent unless one had access to divine intervention, or absurd money.

Alice did not know why her eyes went to Oni.

Maybe because she had been thinking about Fangspire.

Maybe because the dungeon was full of orcs and goblins, and somewhere deep in her childhood fear, orcish strength had always meant something too big to survive. Before becoming an adventurer, Alice had found oni terrifying.

The window opened.

[Race Rewrite: Oni]

[Greater Orc Variant]

[Base Cost: 85 Attribute Points]

[Bonuses: +35 Strength, +35 Constitution]

[Passive: Oni Regeneration]

[Passive: Iron Liver]

[Passive: Addictive Body]

[Drawbacks: Reduced Magical Control Growth Rate]

[Drawbacks: Social Penalties in Some Regions]

[Drawbacks: Anger Management Issues]

Alice stared at it.

The number was too possible.

That was the problem.

Eighty five points was an enormous amount, but she had one hundred and ten. She could buy it. Right now. She could become something larger, stronger, harder to kill. The Strength and Constitution alone would make her tank role easier. Oni Regeneration stacked with Dhampir blood regeneration sounded horrifyingly effective. Iron Liver would make Maria both proud and dangerous. Addictive Body was a phrase Alice did not want to unpack before a dungeon run.

Her reflection stared back at her from the mirror.

White armor.

Silver eyes.

Vampire fangs.

Blue roses.

For one brief, absurd second, she imagined horns curling from her head and dense oni muscle filling out the armor.

Then she imagined trying to explain that to Maria before dinner.

She closed the window so fast the panel almost snapped.

“Nope.”

Nell’s shoulders relaxed. “Good choice.”

“I didn’t say I was tempted.”

“You leaned closer.”

“I was reading.”

“You whispered ‘oh no.’”

“That was academic.”

“It sounded spiritual.”

Alice dismissed the shop entirely.

The status panel remained, still displaying the waiting points with infuriating patience.

[Unspent Attribute Points: 110]

[Dice: Coward.]

[Liliana: Restraint is not cowardice.]

[Dice: It is when there are horns available.]

Alice jabbed the air and closed the panel.

“I’ll decide later.”

Nell looked at her with the quiet patience of someone who knew later could mean tonight, tomorrow, or three months from now during a panic spiral at 2:00 a.m. over tea.

“That may be wise,” he said.

Alice sighed. “You say that now, but if a goblin stabs me because I didn’t put points into Constitution, Promise you'll call me an idiot.”

“I would prefer you didn’t get stabbed.”

“That’s not a promise.”

“I promise to object strongly to you being stabbed.”

“Romantic.”

“I try.”

Alice smiled again despite herself.

Nell helped her fasten the last shoulder clasp. The armor’s internal runes chimed softly, recognizing a complete seal. The weight redistributed across her frame, becoming less burden and more second skin. Alice rolled her shoulders. The plates moved with her, smooth and quiet.

“How does it feel?” Nell asked.

“Expensive.”

“It probably was.”

“That makes it worse.”

“It also makes it protective.”

Alice gave him a look in the mirror.

Nell smiled faintly. “Let yourself have good armor.”

“I am letting myself have it.”

“You are glaring at it.”

“It knows what it did.”

“It protected you?”

“It came from my father.”

“Probably.”

Alice exhaled through her nose.

They still had not had that conversation properly. Nell knew enough now to understand Quin was complicated. He knew Alice’s father was powerful, wealthy, and impossible to separate from half the things that made her life easier and more infuriating. He knew the armor had arrived through him, even if no one had put his name on the paperwork.

Nell had not pushed.

That was one of the most dangerous things about him.

He waited so kindly that Alice kept wanting to tell him things.

She turned around and kissed him before the thought became too much.

Nell made a soft sound of surprise, then kissed her back carefully around her fangs. He had gotten better at that. Or maybe she had. Either way, she liked it.

When she pulled away, his blush had returned.

“Stay alive today,” he said softly.

Alice blinked.

The words landed harder than they should have.

“I’m planning on it.”

“Plan harder.”

Alice laughed once. “Okay.”

She picked up the shield.

The thorn vine answered before she called it, curling from her wrist and threading briefly through the inner grip like an eager pet. Alice flexed her hand, and the vine withdrew. The connection was getting smoother. Stronger. She could feel the path of the shield before she threw it now. Not perfectly, but enough to make her dangerous.

Nell gathered his satchel, staff,and orb. He had packed extra rune chalk, three mana stabilizers, two blood packs for Alice, and a bloody Mary in a sippy cup Maria had labeled Emergency Vampire Juice in pink marker.

Alice had pretended to be offended.

She had still put it in the bag.

They headed downstairs together.

The Velvet Bottle was awake by then, though not yet roaring. Afternoon regulars occupied the quiet corners. Lila was wiping down glasses behind the counter, and she gave Alice a wink that Alice chose not to analyze. Maria stood near the end of the bar speaking to a supplier, one hand resting absently against her stomach. When she saw Alice in the white armor, her face changed.

For a second, Maria looked like she might cry.

Then she ruined it by whistling.

“Damn, baby.”

Alice groaned. “Mom.”

“What? You look gorgeous.”

“I am trying to be intimidating.”

“You are. Gorgeous and intimidating.”

“That sounds fake.”

“It’s not. Ask Nell.”

Nell looked deeply unprepared to be used as supporting evidence. “Both can be true.”

Maria pointed at him. “See? Smart boy.”

Alice pulled her hood up even though they were still inside. “We’re leaving.”

Maria came around the bar and caught her before she could escape, pressing a kiss to Alice’s cheek. Then she tugged Nell down by the collar and kissed his forehead too, which nearly shut his brain off.

“Be careful,” Maria said.

Alice’s smile faded slightly.

Maria’s hand lingered against her arm.

“I mean it.”

“I know.”

“Fangspire isn’t Candyland.”

Alice swallowed. “I know.”

The name alone changed the air around them.

Fangspire.

They had started going there after Alice hit Level 8. Nia had chosen it carefully, or as carefully as someone like Nia could choose anything while still carrying a bomb where her heart should be. It was not completely unknown. Plenty of parties entered Fangspire’s. But for their group, it was new. New enemies. New terrain. New rules. A living dungeon city full of goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins who did not behave like mindless monsters waiting politely to be killed for experience.

They had barely scratched the entrance tunnels.

That was the only reason Maria had not chained Alice to the bar.

Probably.

The first time they went, Alice had expected caves.

Fangspire had given them a city under the earth.

Smoke choked tunnels. Crude glyphs. Distant laughter. The clang of metal from unseen forges. Goblin chatter echoing through side passages like insects in the walls. Orc voices rolling from deeper chambers in low, boastful thunder. hobgoblin signs carved neatly into stone, marking routes, warnings, territory lines, and political claims Alice could not yet read but desperately wanted to learn.

Nia had kept them slow.

Very slow.

No charging. No deep pushes. No glory. They mapped side passages, marked safe retreat points, tested enemy patrol patterns, fought only when they had to, and left before the dungeon could decide they were worth serious attention. It was the first time Alice had seen Nia be cautious in a way that felt almost academic. The party had not loved it, but it kept them alive.

Today was supposed to be another careful push.

Supposed to be.

Alice did not like that word.

She and Nell reached the Fangspire district just before dusk.

The part of Ikos surrounding the gate was nothing like the bright portal plazas built around safer dungeons. Candara’s entrance had vendors, cheerful signage, candy themed gear stalls, and enough rookie optimism to make a veteran develop a migraine. Fangspire’s approach looked like the city had tried to grow around a wound and eventually given up.

The streets narrowed as they approached, cracked stone giving way to rusted barriers, old scorch marks, boarded windows, and buildings reinforced with ugly metal shutters. A few grim taverns and supply shops clung to the edges, serving the kind of adventurers who did not mind drinking near a place that occasionally spat out goblin raiders. The air smelled of smoke, oil, old rain, and something animal that made Alice’s new nose wrinkle.

The gate itself rose from the broken shell of an old cathedral.

Its windows were shattered. Its roof had collapsed in places. Inspira banners hung over the worst damage, black and crimson cloth snapping lightly in the wind. The portal shimmered beneath the central arch, not pretty, not welcoming, but deep red and pulsing like an open artery. Human wards and harsh goblin glyphs crawled along the stone around it, glowing in uneasy layers.

Alice stopped for a moment.

Nell stopped with her.

The crimson light painted her white armor pink.

“Still creepy,” she muttered.

Nell’s eyes moved across the glyphwork. “The interface is fascinating.”

Alice looked at him.

He cleared his throat. “And creepy.”

“Thank you.”

Mako was already there.

He sat on a low concrete barrier near the toll booth, goggles pushed up on his head, one leg bouncing rapidly while he ate something that looked like fried dough wrapped around meat wrapped around a worse idea. He lifted it in greeting.

“Hey! dusk knight and house husband.”

Nell went red.

Alice pointed at Mako with the shield. “Don’t start.”

“I have already started.”

“Then stop.”

“No.”

Beside him stood Nia.

Alice felt her before she fully looked at her.

Nia stood near the portal with her arms folded, tall and pale and impossible to miss, white hair pulled back into a ponytail today, crimson eyes fixed on Alice like the entire ruined district had blurred into background decoration.

Jen was not there.

Alice’s stomach tightened.

Nia noticed the question immediately.

“Jen is resting,” Nia said.

Mako choked on his food.

Alice looked at him.

He lifted both hands. “Not commenting.”

Nell stared very intently at the toll booth.

Nia’s expression did not change, but her ears flicked once. “She said to go without her.”

Alice’s face warmed despite herself.

“Is she okay?”

“Yes.”

The answer came too quickly.

Mako muttered, “Physically.”

Nia looked at him.

Mako took another bite and stared into the middle distance with the courage of a coward.

Alice rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Great. Perfect. Normal party logistics.”

Nia’s gaze moved over Alice’s armor again.

Slowly.

Too slowly.

Alice felt it like a hand.

The old worship was there, leaking through the cracks in Nia’s discipline. Not as wild as before. Not as consuming. But Jen’s absence changed something. Without her pet at her side, without that jealous tether pulling Nia’s attention back into a different shape, the intensity drifted toward Alice again like a needle finding north.

Nia’s voice came quieter.

“You look strong.”

Alice swallowed.

“Thanks.”

“I knew you would.”

Mako’s chewing slowed.

Nell’s hand brushed Alice’s, light and grounding.

Alice took the touch and held onto it.

Nia’s eyes flicked down to their joined hands.

There.

Just a flash.

Pain. Want. Restraint.

Then Nia looked away.

That, more than anything, told Alice there had been progress.

Three weeks ago, that look might have sharpened into something terrifying. Now Nia breathed in, held it, and **** her attention toward the gate.

“We go slow,” Nia said. “Outer route only. No deep descent. No clan halls. If we encounter organized resistance, we retreat.”

Alice blinked.

That was sensible.

Very sensible.

Suspiciously sensible.

Mako leaned toward her and whispered, “She’s been reading leadership manuals.”

Nia did not look back. “I heard that.”

“I said it supportively.”

“No you didn’t.”

“I could have.”

Nell adjusted his satchel. “Without Jen, our front line is thinner.”

Alice shifted the shield on her arm. “I can cover.”

Nia looked at her again.

For a second, Alice saw the words Nia wanted to say and the words she chose not to.

I know.

I trust you.

You are everything.

I love you.

What came out was, “Yes. You can.”

Alice’s throat tightened.

That was also progress.

The toll guard checked their passes with the expression of a man who had seen too many rookie parties walk into Fangspire looking confident and crawl out looking educated. His eyes lingered on Alice’s level, then on her armor, then on Nia, then back to Alice.

“Outer routes?” he asked.

Nia nodded once.

“Good.” He stamped their registry. “Warrens are lively today. Goblin chatter’s been high. Something’s stirred them up deeper in.”

Mako perked up. “Fun stirred or lethal stirred?”

The guard stared at him.

Mako nodded. “Lethal stirred. Got it.”

Alice looked toward the portal.

The crimson surface pulsed again.

She was stronger now. Level 10, armored, armed, blessed, hungry, and carrying one hundred and ten unspent possibilities in her system like a loaded gun she refused to fire.

She still felt small in front of that red wound.

Nell squeezed her hand once.

Alice looked at him.

His face was nervous, but steady.

“We stay together,” he said.

Alice smiled faintly. “That’s my line.”

“You can use it too.”

Mako hopped down from the barrier and cracked his neck. “Company of the Coin, minus one angry gremlin.”

Nia stepped toward the portal.

The red light rolled over her face, turning her crimson eyes almost black.

“Formation,” she said.

And just like that, the awkwardness became something else.

Not gone.

Never gone.

But folded away beneath habit, training, and danger.

Alice lifted her shield. Nell moved behind her left shoulder. Mako drifted to the flank, already checking devices at his wrist. Nia took point, not as the tank this time, but as the blade that would strike anything Alice held in place.

For one breath, they stood together before the wound in the cathedral.

Then Nia crossed through.

Mako followed.

Nell looked at Alice.

Alice looked back at him and tried not to think about unspent points, missing Jen, Nia’s stare, or the goblin city waiting under the world.

“Ready?” he asked.

“No.”

He smiled nervously. “Me neither.”

“Good.”

They were almost through the gate when the portal spat someone back out.

The Fangspire entrance convulsed in a violent pulse of red orange light, the surface of the gate rippling like heated blood. Smoke rolled out first, thick and bitter with the stink of ash, sweat, iron, and underground fires. The guards at the registration desk snapped to attention. A pair of nearby adventurers stepped back instinctively, hands going to weapons before the gate stabilized enough for shapes to appear inside it.

Alice froze with one hand on her shield.

A figure stumbled through first.

Small.

Blond.

Barefoot.

Dressed in torn scraps of dungeon cloth and old adventuring gear that had been altered badly. His hair was still blond, but long and messy going all the way down to his waist. His body had changed. There was no pretending otherwise. The broad, cocky shape Alice remembered from the guild hall was gone, softened and narrowed into something delicate and pretty.

Leo hit the stone on one knee.

For one impossible second, Alice did not recognize him.

Then he lifted his head.

Same eyes.

Same furious pride.

Alice’s breath caught. “Leo?”

His face twisted immediately. “Don’t.”

Before anyone could say anything else, two much larger bodies emerged from the portal behind him.

The first oni stepped through.

Blue skinned, towering, and powerfully built, she wore nothing that resembled Ikos clothing or guild armor. Only tribal wraps, rough hide cords, beadwork, bone ornaments, and a loincloth that looked more ceremonial than modest. White fur hung across her shoulders, smoke darkened at the edges, and black markings curled over her blue skin in bold, jagged patterns. Her horns rose high from dark twintail hair, and a heavy tail swept behind her with such poor awareness of its own size that it nearly knocked over one of the warning posts beside the portal.

The second came right after her, red skinned and just as massive, with black markings striping her body too. She carried herself with a heavier kind of arrogance, one hand resting near the haft of a crude polearm strapped across her back. Her clothing was just as sparse: tribal cloth, leather straps, bone charms, a loincloth, and little else. She looked like she had walked out of an older, harsher world.

Both of them were visibly, unmistakably hermaphroditic.

Alice stared before she could stop herself.

Not because she meant to be rude.

Because her brain simply did not know where to put what she was seeing.

She had known she was not the only person in the world with a body that did not fit neatly. Of course she had known that. There were Chimerin, system mutations, mana birth variations, race changes, curse effects, dungeon alterations, and a thousand other reasons bodies could become complicated.

But knowing that in theory was different from watching two giant oni women step out of a dungeon wearing almost nothing, entirely unashamed, with bodies that made Alice feel abruptly, painfully aware of her own.

Was it common?

Was this a Fangspire thing? A goddess forsaken “everyone knows except Alice” thing?

Her pointed ears burned beneath her hood.

Beside her, Nell shifted closer without looking at her directly. His sleeve brushed her gauntlet, quiet and grounding.

Alice swallowed.

The blue oni looked down at Leo, then casually hooked one big hand under his arm and lifted him to his feet like he weighed nothing.

“Up, little wife,” she said.

Leo went red so fast Alice almost forgot the portal.

“Koko,” he snapped. “Not here.”

The blue oni grinned, tusks flashing. “Why not here?”

“Because there are people.”

“So?”

“So stop calling me that.”

Kiki leaned down from Leo’s other side, her smile broad and wicked. “But you answer to it now.”

“I do not.”

“You did.”

“I was concussed.”

“You were cute.”

“I fucking hate both of you bitchs.”

The words were sharp, but his voice cracked near the end. Worse, he did not pull away when Koko’s hand remained on his shoulder. He stood between the two oni like a man trying to maintain dignity.

Mako leaned toward Alice and whispered, “Is that Leo from LionHeart?”

Alice whispered back, “I think so.”

“He got shorter.”

“Mako.”

“What? He did.”

Leo’s glare snapped toward them. “I can hear you.”

Mako immediately lifted both hands. “Then for legal reasons, I said nothing.”

“You said something.”

Leo looked like he wanted to punch him and lacked the energy.

Nia had gone very still.

Her crimson eyes moved from Leo to Kiki, then to Koko, then back to Leo. Alice could feel her measuring the scene. Not jealousy. Not exactly. More like threat assessment. The oni twins were large, unknown, and from the dungeon they were about to enter. That made them relevant. That made them dangerous.

Jen was not there.

That absence suddenly felt louder.

The registration guard recovered first, clearing his throat with the practiced exhaustion of someone who had seen enough dungeon nonsense to know paperwork came before panic.

“Names and exit clearance,” he said. “If they’re coming through from Fangspire, they need surface registration.”

Leo’s jaw tightened, but he moved toward the desk.

Kiki and Koko followed immediately.

Too immediately.

Koko’s tail curled around Leo’s ankle as she walked, not enough to trip him, but enough that he nearly stumbled when it tightened by accident.

“Koko.”

“Hm?”

“Tail.”

She looked down, blinked, then tried to unwrap it. “Sorry.”

Kiki laughed, and her own tail swung wide enough to smack against a metal barrier with a loud clang.

The guard flinched.

Kiki looked back at the barrier, offended. “Small place.”

“This is an outdoor plaza,” Mako whispered.

Alice elbowed him.

Leo signed the first form with a trembling hand.

Not just embarrassment.

Exhaustion.

His fingers shook around the stylus. His shoulders were too tense. His skin had that drained, too pale quality people got after prolonged healing. Even with the changes to his body, even surrounded by the oni twins, he looked like someone who had barely made it out.

The guard stamped the panel. “Race?”

“Oni,” Kiki said proudly.

“Newly changed,” Koko added.

Kiki’s tail smacked the same column again.

Dust fell.

Kiki looked up. “Still adjusting.”

Leo muttered, “That is one way to put it.”

Koko’s tail finally freed itself from his ankle, then immediately curled behind his calves again. Leo looked down, then closed his eyes like a man choosing not to fight a losing war.

Alice stared at the three of them until Matchmaker’s Sight itched behind her eyes.

No.

Absolutely not.

She was about to enter Fangspire. She did not need to scan Leo and his oni wives. That was invasive, unnecessary, and guaranteed to give her information she did not want.

The skill bloomed anyway because apparently Alice had the self control of a hungry raccoon in a snack aisle.

[Matchmaker’s Sight: Compatibility Analysis]

[Target Group: Leo LionHeart / Kiki / Koko]

[Romantic Compatibility: 68% and rising]

[Sexual Compatibility: 94%]

[Bond Volatility: High]

[Major Notes: Leo presents resistance through embarrassment, pride injury, grief displacement, and refusal to admit attachment. Kiki and Koko display strong pair bond inclusion instincts, high physical affection, high protective drive, and low respect for emotional denial.]

Alice blinked.

Then the next line appeared.

[Personality Compatibility: Low to Moderate]

[Compensating Factors: Addictive oni biology, high physical trust, trauma bonding, shared survival event, and the twins’ free loving emotional framework actively softening Leo’s defensive personality.]

Alice’s eyes narrowed.

Actively softening.

That was one way to say modifying.

Liliana’s text appeared gently at the edge of the panel.

[Careful, darling. Not all change is ****. Not all influence is healthy. Both can be true at once.]

Dice immediately added:

[Translation: the brat got wife’d and now his personality is under renovation.]

Alice dismissed the panel before her face could get worse.

Mako leaned toward her. “You checked, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“You absolutely checked.”

“I saw nothing.”

“You have divine gossip face.”

Alice jabbed him lightly with the shield edge.

“Ow.”

The guard glanced at the form. “Party affiliation?”

Leo stopped.

The silence lasted too long.

Then he said, “None.”

Alice’s stomach sank.

The guard looked up. “Former affiliation?”

Leo’s mouth tightened. “LionHeart.”

Former.

Alice stepped closer before she could talk herself out of it.

“Where’s the rest of your party?”

Leo did not look at her.

Leo finished signing the registration form with exaggerated aggression, then turned as if he intended to leave without acknowledging anyone further.

Alice stepped into his path.

“Where’s LionHeart?”

Leo stopped.

The air changed.

Kiki and Koko both noticed. Their playful posture did not vanish, exactly, but the ease bled out of it. Koko’s tail stilled around Leo’s legs. Kiki’s hand tightened around her halberd.

Leo did not look at Alice.

“What?”

“Your party,” Alice said. “Jolie. Yamaba. The others. Where are they?”

His shoulders stiffened.

“They’re not my party anymore.”

Alice stared at him. “What does that mean?”

Leo’s jaw worked.

For a second, the softness of his new face made the anger look almost childish. Then his eyes sharpened, and Alice saw the old Leo there. Not gone. Not erased. Wounded, smaller.

“They abandoned me,” he said.

Nia’s ears angled forward.

Alice’s voice went careful. “Gone where?”

Leo’s laugh came out brittle. “If I knew that, they wouldn’t be gone.”

The guard wisely focused very hard on the registration form.

Alice looked from him to Kiki and Koko. “Where are Jolie and Yamaba?”

At Yamaba’s name, something flickered across Leo’s face.

Pain.

Then anger rushed in to cover it.

“Ask the fucking dungeon.”

Alice went cold.

“Leo.”

He slammed the stylus down on the counter hard enough that the guard flinched. “What do you want me to say?”

“The truth.”

That made him turn on her.

His eyes were bright, furious, and too wet.

“The truth?” he snapped. “Fine. The truth is I was in there for a week. A week. Poisoned, hunted, half dead, and waking up in a body I didn’t recognize you fucking cunt.”

Kiki’s fingers tightened on his shoulder, Comforting.

Leo’s voice shook harder. “I looked for Jolie. You think I fucking didn’t? You think I just skipped out of Fangspire with two oni dickgirls and decided not to care?”

Alice said nothing.

He laughed again, uglier this time.

“I searched until I couldn’t fucking stand. I bribed people who lied to my face. I fought things I couldn’t kill. I called for them until something answered wearing Jolie’s voice and tried to lure me into a pit.” His jaw clenched. “So no. I don’t know where they are.”

Alice’s chest tightened.

Kiki spoke then. “We found him.”

Koko nodded. “Running from hunters.”

“I was not running,” Leo said automatically.

Koko looked down at him.

Leo looked away.

“I was tactically withdrawing.”

Kiki snorted. “He fell into our camp.”

“I collapsed near your camp.”

“You hit a cooking rack.”

“I was poisoned.”

“You broke the stew pot.”

“I fucking hate you.”

Kiki’s grin returned faintly, but it was gentler than before. “Little wife survived. Food did not.”

Leo’s face flushed, but he did not argue again.

Alice wanted to soften.

She almost did.

Alice did not wait for Leo to finish.

Alice did not care.

Not in that moment.

Something hot and stupid tore through her chest, sharper than anger and less noble than courage. Leo’s bitterness had cut too close to something Alice did not want to name, and the whole messy shape of him standing there between two new women after losing the old ones made her stomach twist so violently she could barely breathe.

Because if Leo’s harem could break like that, what did that mean for Nia’s?

What did it mean for the fragile impossible thing Alice was trying to build out of obsession, guilt, lust, and divine matchmaking?

What did it mean for Jen?

Her hand tightened around the shield grip until the leather creaked.

Maybe it was Paladin instinct. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was fear wearing armor and pretending to be duty.

Alice turned and walked straight into the Fangspire portal.

“Alice!” Nell shouted behind her.

The red orange light swallowed his voice.

Heat slammed into her first.

Then smoke.

Then the dungeon.

Fangspire did not welcome people so much as consume them. The air inside tasted of iron, ash, old blood, wet stone, and something animal left too long. The portal chamber opened into a jagged cavern throat ribbed with black rock and rust red mineral veins that pulsed faintly like buried arteries. Crude torches burned along the walls, their flames guttering sideways in a draft Alice could not feel on her skin.

Alice raised her shield.

A wet clicking sound came from above.

Her silver eyes snapped upward.

Goblins dropped from the ceiling.

They came in a shrieking cluster, green bodies painted with soot and bone dust, hooked knives clenched between teeth, their smiles too wide. They had been waiting over the portal threshold, patient as spiders, ready for the first panicked adventurer to stumble in blind.

Unfortunately for them, Alice was not blind anymore.

Bullet Time opened in her skull.

The world stretched thin.

The first goblin fell toward her face, knife extended. She saw the chipped edge. Saw the crude rune carved into the handle. Saw the string of teeth around its neck bouncing in slow, lazy arcs.

Her thorn vine snapped up.

It wrapped around the goblin’s neck midair and yanked.

The creature hit the ground headfirst with a wet crack.

Time snapped back.

Alice moved through the rest of them. Shield up. Bash left. Thorn lash right. A hooked knife scraped across white armor and sparked. She slammed her shield edge into the attacker’s throat, caught another by the wrist with thorns, and hurled it into the wall hard enough to leave a smear of blood against stone.

A massive shape passed beside her.

Nia.

She had followed instantly.

The bunny girl hit the goblins like a falling executioner. Her mace bluntly cleaved through two at once, the blow so heavy it buried itself in the stone after passing through them. One goblin tried to scramble away on all fours. Nia’s boot came down on its head and crushed it flat with a sound Alice decided not to think about.

“You ran in alone,” Nia said.

Alice deflected a thrown knife with her shield. “You followed.”

“That does not make it less stupid.”

“It makes it less alone.”

Nia paused for one fraction of a second.

Then another goblin lunged at her back, and Alice’s thorn vine speared through its shoulder, pinned it against the wall, and held it there long enough for Nia to turn and finish it.

Nia’s crimson eyes flicked to Alice.

“You are angry,” Nia said.

Alice threw her shield.

It spun across the chamber, clipped a goblin in the ribs, ricocheted against stone, and tore back toward her on a thorn line. She caught it with a grunt.

“Brilliant observation.”

“You are angry at Leo.”

“I’m angry at everything.”

“That is less useful.”

Alice barked out a laugh, sharp and humorless. “Thank you, Captain Emotional Stability.”

Nia smashed the last goblin with a thoughtless swing of her mace.

The chamber went quiet except for dripping blood and distant drums somewhere below.

A second later, Nell and Mako burst through the portal behind them.

Nell stumbled over a goblin corpse, caught himself on the wall, and immediately went pale.

Mako stopped dead, looked around at the mess, then slowly pointed at Alice and Nia.

“So,” he said. “We’re calling this the diplomacy phase?”

Alice lowered her shield, breathing hard.

Nell rushed to her side, eyes wide behind his glasses. “Are you hurt?”

“No.”

Alice looked away.

Nia cleaned her mace with one sharp flick, black blood spattering across the stone. “We search.”

Alice turned back to her.

Nia’s face was unreadable in the torchlight.

“You’ll help?”

Nia looked almost offended by the question. “Yes.”

“You don’t have to.”

Nia’s grip tightened around the mace haft. “I know.”

Alice swallowed.

That made something in her chest hurt.

Nia looked down one of the side tunnels. “If Leo’s people are alive, we find them. If they are dead, we find proof. If something took them, we kill it.”

Mako nodded slowly. “That’s probably the healthiest mission statement we’re going to get today.”

Nell’s voice softened. “Alice.”

She sighed.

“I know. I know. I shouldn’t have run.”

“No,” Nell said. “You shouldn’t have run alone.”

Alice looked at him.

For a moment, the dungeon seemed quieter.

Then Mako clapped his hands once. “Great. Relationship lesson complete. Goblin **** accomplished. Now can we move before whatever owns the drums hears us?”

The drums below continued.

Slow.

Distant.

Patient.

They moved.

Fangspire unfolded around them in layers of **** and heat. The outer tunnels were worse than Alice expected. Narrow in places, then suddenly wide enough to hold entire hidden camps. Crude rope bridges crossed pits full of old bones and yellow fog. Goblin vents honeycombed the walls, too small for most adventurers but large enough for knives, darts, whispering voices, and things that laughed from the dark.

They searched through the rest of the day.

Then into what passed for night underground.

Time became strange inside Fangspire. There was no sky, only the color of flame and mineral veins. No proper silence, only distant forges, dripping water, echoing snarls, and the occasional roar from deeper tunnels that made every sensible person freeze until it faded.

They found signs of LionHeart.

A scrap of pink fabric caught on a hook near a collapsed tunnel.

One of Yamaba’s old bone charms buried under soot beside a goblin cooking pit.

No bodies.

No proof.

No answers.

That was worse.

Alice slept in armor for three hours against a warm stone wall while Nell sat beside her with a ward circle drawn around their little alcove. Mako claimed he would take second watch, then immediately fell asleep sitting upright with his goggles still on. Nia remained awake the entire time, crouched at the entrance like a white haired statue, mace across her knees, eyes fixed into the dark.

When Alice woke, Nia was looking at her.

Alice pretended not to notice.

They kept searching.

By the second day, They passed **** paths and abandoned shrines, goblin graffiti and orc watch marks, ventilation tunnels that breathed hot smoke and low caverns where strange pale fungus glowed.

They fought when they had to.

Avoided what they could.

Alice’s shield arm ached. Her throat felt dry despite the blood pack Nell practically **** into her hands during one break. Nia had a shallow cut across one shoulder that had already stopped bleeding. Mako’s left pantleg was burned from a fire trap he insisted he had “mostly disarmed.” Nell’s spell circles were becoming shakier from exhaustion, though he refused to admit it until Alice told him she could hear his heartbeat getting weird.

That finally shut him up.

For about five minutes.

Then, near the end of the second day, Alice heard water.

She stopped so abruptly Mako walked into her back.

“Oof. Why are we stopping?”

Alice held up one hand.

Everyone went quiet.

There it was again.

A soft rushing sound.

Not dripping.

Not pipe flow.

A waterfall.

Nia’s ears lifted. “I hear it.”

Nell frowned. “There’s no water source marked on the outer tunnel maps.”

“Fangspire doesn’t care about maps,” Mako muttered.

Alice turned slowly, following the sound.

It came from a blank wall.

At least, it looked blank at first. stone. Soot. Old scratches. A faded smear of red paint shaped like a crude fang. Nothing obvious. No seam. No rune. No handle.

But the water was behind it.

Alice stepped closer.

The sound grew clearer.

Alice pressed her palm against the wall.

At first, nothing happened.

Stone stayed stone. Soot dusted her gauntlet. The faded fang mark stared back at her with, stupid and simple and dead. But the waterfall was there. She could hear it now with painful clarity, rushing behind the rock like the dungeon had hidden an entire throat of water just out of sight.

Her thorn vines stirred.

One slipped from beneath the edge of her bracer, black and glossy, curling over her knuckles before reaching for the wall. It moved slowly, searching along cracks Alice could barely see, thin roots threading through old seams and knife thin grooves beneath the soot. A blue rosebud bloomed near her wrist, shedding faint light across the stone.

The fang mark pulsed.

Mako leaned closer. “That’s either a door or the dungeon is flirting with you.”

“Mako,” Nell whispered.

“What? Weirder things have happened.”

Alice ignored him and pulled.

The stone answered.

Not with the grinding **** of a trap, but with a long, tired sigh, as if it had been waiting years for someone to remember the right shape of touch. Seams split through the wall in crooked lines. Soot cracked. Hidden gears or roots or whatever Fangspire used instead of honest engineering groaned deep inside the rock. Then the wall folded inward, opening into a narrow passage filled with cool mist.

Fangspire’s heat and smoke fell away. Damp air rolled over her face, carrying moss, clean stone, fresh water, and the faintest smell of woodsmoke. It was so gentle compared to the tunnels behind them that Alice almost distrusted it more.

Nia stepped beside her, mace raised.

“I’ll go first,” she said.

Alice’s hand tightened on her shield. “No.”

Nia looked down at her.

Alice looked up.

Nia gave one short nod.

“Together.”

Alice swallowed. “Together.”

They entered the passage side by side.

The tunnel was short, sloping gently downward through stone veined with pale crystal. Water ran in thin ribbons along the walls, catching blue light from moss that glowed in soft patches underfoot. The air grew colder with every step. Alice’s silver eyes adjusted easily, catching details Nell’s little spell light softened: old claw marks carved into the stone, not fresh; small repairs where someone had packed cracks with mud and woven roots a goblin sized handprint pressed into dried clay near the base of the wall.

This was not just a hidden passage.

Someone had maintained it.

Someone had lived beyond it.

The passage opened all at once.

Alice stopped.

After two days of Fangspire’s **** tunnels, the cavern beyond looked impossible.

A waterfall poured from a split high in the stone ceiling, tumbling down in a silver curtain into a clear pool that reflected the glow of mana crystals and luminous blue fungus. Moss covered the rocks in thick green velvet. Ferns grew near the waterline. Pale insects drifted in lazy spirals above the pool, their bodies shining like tiny stars. The ceiling opened into a dark vertical shaft where crystals glittered like a false night sky.

And across the pool, tucked beneath a shelf of stone and half hidden by mist, stood a small wooden cabin.

Crude, patched, and old.

But cared for.

Smoke rose from a narrow chimney in a thin gray thread.

Alice stared at it, throat tight.

Then she saw the pink hoodie.

Jolie sat on a flat stone near the cabin steps with her knees drawn up to her chest, blond hair messy, hood half slipping from one shoulder, face puffed slightly from either crying or aggressively pretending not to. Beside her sat a goblin boy with mint colored hair, sharp orange eyes, and the kind of relaxed posture that only came from either incredible confidence or having absolutely no instinct for danger.

They had been talking.

Jolie’s hands moved in little circles as she spoke, bright and expressive even through exhaustion. The goblin boy had one elbow on his knee, chin in hand, listening with a crooked smile that made him look far too amused by the world.

Then the hidden door opened fully.

Both of them looked up.

For a moment, nobody moved.

Jolie blinked once.

Twice.

Then she shot to her feet so fast she nearly tripped over her own boots.

“Oh my gods!”

Alice barely had time to lower her shield before Jolie sprinted across the cove and crashed into her.

It was not graceful.

It was not dignified.

She hit Alice hard enough to make her armor clank, wrapped both arms around her, and squeezed like she was trying to prove Alice was solid by compression.

“People!” Jolie half laughed, half sobbed into Alice’s shoulder. “Actual people! Not goblins, not ghosts, not Yamaba being mysterious, not Kairos apologizing for things and then disappearing into brooding corners. People!”

Alice froze for one second.

Then hugged her back.

Jolie was warm. Real. Shaking.

Alive.

Alice’s throat tightened hard.

“You’re alive.”

Jolie pulled back, eyes wet, smile wobbling dangerously. “Yeah. I mean, obviously. Look at me. Peak survival.”

Her voice cracked on the last word.

The smile stayed anyway.

Nell stepped forward carefully. “Jolie, are you hurt?”

“No.” Jolie wiped at her cheeks immediately, like the tears had personally betrayed her. “Well, emotionally, yes. Physically, mostly no. Ask me after I sleep for a month.”

Mako looked past her toward the cabin. “Is Yamaba here?”

Jolie’s face did several things at once.

Alice watched cheerful relief, irritation, embarrassment, and a strange complicated tenderness all crash together behind her eyes.

“Uh,” Jolie said. “Yes.”

From inside the cabin came a low thump.

Then a muffled curse.

Then silence.

Nell went red.

Mako’s mouth slowly opened.

Alice pointed at him without looking. “Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were about to.”

“I was going to say we should respect privacy.”

“That is the most suspicious lie you’ve ever told.”

The goblin boy finally stood from his stone and padded closer with a lazy little wave. He was not tall, barely reaching Alice’s chest, but he carried himself like height was an optional social construct. His mint hair fell around his face in messy layers, his tail flicking behind him with amused curiosity.

“You must be the rescue party,” he said.

Alice looked at him. “And you are?”

“Taro.”

Taro made a small flourish with one hand.

Jolie sniffed, then gestured toward him with both hands. “This is Taro. He’s cool. Very annoying. Extremely pretty. Tragically unavailable.”

Taro sighed. “Jolie.”

“What? You are.”

“I am also standing right here.”

“And gay, apparently,” Jolie continued, sounding genuinely mournful. “Which is devastating because if this dungeon wasn’t horrible and my boyfriend hadn’t abandoned me and my life wasn’t on fire, I would have absolutely tried to have fun with him.”

Taro stared at her.

Nell stared at the waterfall like it was the only safe object in existence.

Mako whispered, “I like her.”

Alice closed her eyes. “Of course you do.”

Taro gave Alice a look that said he had survived far worse than Jolie’s flirting and was prepared to endure. “I appreciate the compliment, but yes. Not on the market.”

Jolie pointed at him. “See? Tragic.”

Her expression must have shifted, because Jolie’s smile faltered.

Nia moved closer, silent as a threat, but not hostile. She stood a little behind Alice, mace lowered, crimson eyes scanning Jolie’s face, the cabin, Taro, the waterline, every shadow where danger might hide.

Jolie noticed her.

Then looked up.

And up.

Her eyes widened.

“Wow,” she said softly. “You’re tall.”

Nia blinked.

Mako sighed.

Jolie did not seem to hear him. She looked from Nia’s white hair to her rabbit ears to her red eyes to the mace in her hand, and some automatic part of her expression tried to assemble a flirt through sheer habit. It failed halfway and collapsed back into exhaustion.

“Sorry,” Jolie said, rubbing her face. “I’m running on cave mushrooms, trauma, and spite.”

Nia’s voice softened by one degree. “That is enough to survive.”

Jolie stared at her.

Then her mouth wobbled again.

Alice stepped in before the moment could crack open too soon. “Jolie. What happened?”

The cove seemed to quiet.

The waterfall kept rushing, but the sound became distant, a curtain drawn behind them.

Jolie wrapped her arms around herself.

Taro’s expression lost some of its sharpness. He looked toward the cabin, then back at Jolie, like he was deciding whether to speak for her if she could not.

Jolie **** a laugh.

It was too bright.

Too fake.

“Oh, you know. Normal dungeon stuff. Got captured by orcs. Terrible hospitality. Zero cute décor. They gave us a choice because apparently Fangspire loves choices that aren’t choices. Fight a monster that had been wrecking one of their villages, or stay captured and probably end up in a much worse situation.”

Alice’s fingers tightened against her shield strap.

Nell went very still.

“The monster,” Alice said.

Jolie nodded too fast. “Yeah. Big scary thing. Everyone kept calling it a beast, a curse, a walking slaughterhouse, whatever. We thought it was going to be some dungeon predator. Maybe a mutated wolf. Maybe a boss adjacent thing. Something horrible, but normal horrible.”

Her eyes flicked toward the cabin.

“It was Ignition.”

Alice stopped breathing.

Mako’s voice came quieter. “Kairos?”

Jolie nodded.

“He was... not himself.” Her voice thinned. “Werewolf curse. Full transformation. Big. Fast. Strong. Gods, Alice, you don’t understand how strong. Leo tried to fight him.”

She swallowed.

Her hands shook where they held her own sleeves.

“I’ve never seen Leo lose like that.”

No one interrupted.

Jolie’s eyes stared at something that was not the cove anymore.

“He didn’t just beat him. He broke him. Like Leo’s whole heroic shining knight thing meant nothing. Shield gone. Sword gone. Lightning everywhere, and Ignition just went through it like a fire burning through paper.”

Alice felt Nia shift beside her.

Nell’s hand found Alice’s wrist, gentle but grounding.

Jolie’s voice went smaller.

“Yamaba tried to stop him after that.”

Alice knew before Jolie said the rest.

She saw it in the way Jolie’s mouth tightened. The way Taro looked away. The way the cabin suddenly seemed too close and too far at the same time.

Jolie did not describe it.

Not fully.

Thank gods.

“He pinned her,” Jolie said, voice trembling. “And then he... the curse took what it wanted. It wasn’t Kairos. Not really. But it was his body, and Yamaba was under him, and Leo was still conscious enough to see it.”

Alice’s stomach twisted.

Nia’s face darkened.

Mako stopped moving entirely.

Nell whispered, “Jolie.”

Jolie shook her head, smiling again in that terrible airy way that made Alice want to grab her shoulders and beg her to stop pretending.

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s not fine. Obviously not fine. Very much not fine. But after it was over, Ignition came back to himself. He didn’t even understand where he was at first. He saw Yamaba. Saw Leo. Saw me. And he looked like someone had carved his soul out with a spoon.”

She laughed once.

It broke immediately.

“He apologized so much. Like apologizing could fix anything. Like if he said sorry enough, the whole cave would rewind and Yamaba wouldn’t be lying there creampied and Leo wouldn’t be looking at her like the world had just ended.”

Alice’s throat closed.

Jolie wiped at her face again, angry now at the tears.

“And Leo ran.”

The words landed harder than any shout.

“He just ran,” Jolie said. “After everything. After she needed us. After I needed him. He looked at Yamaba, looked at Ignition, looked at me, and he ran like he couldn’t get away from us fast enough.”

“That’s not what he said,” Mako blurted.

The second the words left his mouth, everyone looked at him.

Mako froze.

Alice’s stomach dropped.

“Mako,” Nell said softly.

Mako winced. “I mean ”

Jolie turned toward him.

Slowly.

“What did he say?”

Mako’s face went pale in a way Alice had rarely seen.

“Nobody should have let me talk,” he whispered.

Alice stepped forward. “Jolie ”

“No.” Jolie’s voice went flat. “What did he say?”

Mako looked at Alice, then Nell, then Nia.

No one saved him.

Because there was no saving this now.

“He made it out,” Mako said carefully. “With two oni women. Kiki and Koko. They helped him escape.”

Jolie stared.

The cove went cold.

Mako continued, each word worse than the last. “He said LionHeart wasn’t his party anymore. He said... he said you abandoned him.”

For one second, Jolie did not react at all.

Her face emptied.

That was worse than crying.

Then her entire body shook once.

“Abandoned him,” she repeated.

Taro’s ears flattened.

Inside the cabin, something shifted, but no one came out.

Jolie laughed.

It was not a happy sound.

It was sharp and ugly and full of so much pain that Alice felt it scrape across her ribs.

“He said we abandoned him?”

“Jolie,” Alice said.

“No.” Jolie stepped back, shaking her head. Her pink hoodie slipped farther down one shoulder. “No, that’s funny. That’s actually funny. That is so fucking Leo. That is so perfectly, stupidly fucking Leo.”

Her voice rose.

“I sat here for days thinking he was dead. I wanted to go after him. I wanted to drag Yamaba out before she could get any more tangled in Kairos’s guilt and the curse and whatever the hell this dungeon did to all of us. I begged them to let me search farther. I kept telling them Leo would come back. Leo would find us. Leo always finds us.”

Her hands curled into fists.

“And he left.”

Alice stepped closer. “He thought ”

“He thought?” Jolie snapped.

The air seemed to crack.

The bubbly softness vanished, and beneath it was something raw enough to draw blood.

“He thought what, Alice? That I just skipped away? That Yamaba decided to get breed by a werewolf for fun? That we got bored of him? That after years of loving that arrogant, dramatic, beautiful idiot, I just abandoned him in Fangspire?”

Her voice broke on the last word.

Taro moved like he might touch her shoulder, then stopped, not sure he had the right.

Jolie’s breathing came too fast now.

“He got new girls,” she whispered.

Mako looked like he wanted to sink into the pond and never resurface.

“He got out,” Jolie said. “He got out with new girls, and he decided we were the ones who left him.”

Alice had no answer.

There was no answer that would not sound like an excuse.

Jolie’s face twisted.

“I’ll never fucking forgive him.”

Her voice turned into a sob halfway through.

“I won’t. I won’t forgive him. I loved him. I loved him so much it made me stupid, and he left me here. He left Yamaba. He ran.”

The words echoed against the water.

Then Jolie cracked.

She folded inward, hands covering her face, shoulders shaking as the sobs finally tore through the sweetness she had been using to hold herself together.

Nia moved.

Alice did not even see the decision happen.

One moment Nia stood beside her. The next, she was in front of Jolie, slow and careful despite her size, lowering herself enough not to tower. She did not grab. She did not trap. She simply opened her arms.

Jolie looked up through tears.

For half a second, she looked confused.

Then she stepped into Nia’s embrace and broke completely.

Nia held her.

Gently.

That was the part that made Alice’s breath catch.

Nia, who could crush skulls under her boot. Nia, who had once looked at Alice like she would burn the world if asked. Nia, who still terrified Alice in ways she was not ready to unpack. That Nia folded her arms around Jolie with startling care, one large hand settling against the back of Jolie’s head, fingers combing softly through messy blond hair.

“You are here,” Nia said.

Jolie sobbed against her.

“You survived.”

“I hate him,” Jolie choked.

Nia’s hand moved slowly through her hair. “Then hate him.”

Jolie clutched at Nia’s shirt.

“I still love him.”

“Then love him too.”

That made Jolie cry harder.

Nia did not flinch. She only held on.

Alice stared.

Something rose at the edge of her vision.

Rose gold.

[Matchmaker’s Sight Available.]

Alice did not activate it.

But she could feel it humming, curious and warm and terrible.

Mako sidled closer to Alice, speaking under his breath. “You’re thinking it.”

Alice kept her eyes on Nia and Jolie.

“No, I’m not.”

“You have harem face.”

“I do not.”

“You absolutely do.”

Alice swallowed.

Because he was right.

Gods help her, he was right.

Jolie was beautiful, affectionate, emotionally starving, and already fluent in impossible relationships. She was loyal to a fault until that loyalty shattered and turned sharp. Nia was holding her like she understood what it meant to love someone who could not love you cleanly back.

It was a terrible idea.

It was probably an awful idea.

It was also the first time Alice had seen Nia comfort someone without turning the moment into possession.

And Jolie had melted into her like she had been waiting for someone strong enough to catch the collapse.

Alice’s stomach twisted.

(No.)

(No, do not start building another branch of the harem in the middle of a hidden cave while Yamaba is apparently in a cabin with her werewolf boyfriend and Leo is outside the dungeon married to oni twins.)

(That sentence alone should disqualify me from decision making.)

A rustle came from the far side of the cove.

Everyone turned.

A goblin woman emerged from a narrow path behind the waterfall, arms full of dry wood bundled with twine. She was small, wiry and compact, with dusky dark green skin, dark geometric tattoos over her arms and shoulders, and molten amber eyes that matched Yamaba’s so closely Alice felt a chill. Her long lion like tail curled behind her, balancing the weight of the firewood as she stepped over wet stone with silent confidence.

She stopped when she saw them.

Her eyes flicked over Alice’s armor, Nia’s mace, Nell’s spell ready hands, Mako’s burned pantleg, Jolie crying into Nia, Taro standing nearby with his hands raised in a silent not my fault gesture.

The goblin woman sighed.

“Strangers,” she said flatly.

Taro smiled. “Hi, Ruki.”

Ruki’s gaze sharpened. “Why are there strangers in our cave?”

Jolie lifted her head from Nia’s chest just enough to sniffle and point weakly. “Rescue party.”

Ruki looked unimpressed. “Late.”

Mako whispered, “Ouch.”

Jolie wiped her face with the heel of her hand, then gave Alice a shaky, watery smile. “Oh. Right. That’s Ruki. Also Yamaba’s kid.”

Alice stared.

Ruki stared back, tail flicking once.

Very stabby. Tried to kill us once.”

Ruki narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“Nothing.” Jolie sniffled again. “Anyway, Yamaba is apparently in her forties. I think. Maybe older? Elf ages are fake numbers. She looks amazing, so who cares.”

Nell adjusted his glasses with the delicate caution of a man choosing not to ask eight questions.

Alice looked from Taro to Ruki.

Yamaba’s children.

Alive.

At least two of them.

Something in the ugly knot of the last two days loosened.

Then another crash came from inside the cabin.

A low male voice muttered something.

Yamaba snapped back, “If you break that bed again, you are fixing it this time.”

Ruki closed her eyes like someone praying for patience from gods she hated.

Taro looked at Alice. “So. Rescue party. Do you have a plan?”

Alice looked toward the hidden passage behind them.

Then toward Jolie, still tucked under Nia’s hand.

Then toward the cabin.

Then toward the dark tunnels of Fangspire beyond the cove, where the drums had started again, slow and distant and waiting.

Her fingers tightened around her shield.

“Yeah,” Alice said.

Mako brightened. “Do we?”

“No,” Nell said softly. “She’s lying.”

Alice nodded once. “Absolutely lying.”

Nia’s crimson eyes flicked toward her over Jolie’s head.

For the first time since they entered Fangspire, Nia almost smiled.

Alice hated how reassuring that was.

Then Liliana’s rose gold text bloomed faintly at the edge of her vision.

Alice shut her eyes.