Chapter 198

That night, I lay in bed surrounded by my women.

My hips met Mirri's again and again as her soft moans gradually rose into breathless whimpers. Every movement drew another sound from her. My hands wandered across her small, lithe body, caressing familiar curves, teasing every sensitive place I knew by heart.

She was vibrant and expressive in everything she did. Every emotion burned brightly within her, and that passion carried into moments like this. Her fingers clung to me, nails lightly dragging across my skin as she chased the pleasure building between us.

To one side, Ashlara lay sprawled across the blankets.

The orcish beauty was still floating in the haze of her recent string of orgasms. Her dark eyes were half-lidded, her expression relaxed and content in a way she rarely allowed herself to be. Strong, fierce, and stubborn in every other aspect of life, she became surprisingly affectionate afterward. She lazily kissed and nipped at one of Mirri's breasts, her strong frame pressed against us like a living furnace.

Behind me, Elise wrapped her arms around my chest.

The void-mage’s touch was always gentle despite the incredible power she possessed. She trailed kisses across my shoulders and neck, each one tender and lingering. Her normally composed demeanor had melted away entirely, replaced by quiet affection. She held me as though she never wanted to let go.

The evidence of our earlier lovemaking still marked her pale thighs as she slowly ground herself against my back, content simply to be close.

On my other side lay Iolite.

The earth elemental looked nearly catatonic.

Her violet eyes stared unfocused at me as occasional tremors ran through her body. Of all of them, she was the newest to this. The least accustomed to being touched. To being desired.

This was her first time with the group of us and the experience of being lavished with affection by five people at once had nearly broken her.

She looked beautiful - fragile in a way that felt strange for someone made of stone.

Serah seemed determined to make matters worse. Or better, depending on who you asked.

The dragon woman cuddled against Iolite's back, her long fingers wandering over the elemental's body as she whispered soft words into her ear. Every time those graceful hands drifted near Iolite's breasts or womanhood, another shiver raced through her.

The sight made me smile.

Mirri had been the first to receive our attention tonight. And, fittingly, she would be the last.

As her breathing began to hitch, I felt the tension building within her. Her body trembled. Her fingers gripped the sheets.

My thumb brushed over her clit and release swept through her like a tidal wave.

Her breath caught. Every muscle locked tight. Velvety walls gripped me as pleasure crashed over her. The sensation was overwhelming.

My own release followed moments later. I exploded inside her, ropes of cum painting her womb white - filling her to the brim before leaking out onto the bed. The world narrowed to warmth, touch, and the women surrounding me.

For several long moments we simply held each other as the intensity slowly faded.

No one seemed eager to move. No one wanted the moment to end. Eventually exhaustion won.

I collapsed onto Mirri, earning a soft laugh and an affectionate noise from beneath me.

Slowly, carefully, I rolled us over until she rested comfortably on my chest. She sighed contentedly and curled against me as I slowly softened inside her.

Ashlara immediately claimed my right arm as her personal property, wrapping herself around it and nuzzling closer.

Elise draped herself over my leg and settled there with a satisfied sigh.

Iolite pressed against my left side, still looking dazed but smiling in a way that made my chest ache.

Serah remained wrapped around the elemental, unwilling to surrender her chosen cuddle target.

Surrounded by warmth, affection, and the people I loved most in the world, I felt the last of the tension leave my body.

Sleep came slowly and the quiet glow of our love settled over us like a blanket.

* * *

“What’s buzzin’, cousin?” I asked as I stepped into the containment chamber.

Nyssira sat alone within the concentric rings of wards.

The stars of her face drifted slowly across the darkness where her features should have been, turning with the lazy motion of distant galaxies. For once she wasn't pacing. Wasn't glaring. Wasn't plotting.

She simply sat. Thinking. Or perhaps trying not to think. She didn't look up when I entered.

“Is everything okay?”

The stars gradually shifted, aligning themselves into a rough approximation of a face. “I'm trying to remember which thoughts are mine,” she said softly.

The words caught me off guard. There was no venom in them. No arrogance. No anger. For just a moment, she didn't look like the woman who had tried to become a god of everything. She looked like someone slowly disappearing.

“Maybe I can help with that.” I grabbed my chair and dragged it closer, stopping just outside the wards.

“What’s on your mind?”

“I hate you?” The words came uncertainly, like she was testing them.

“That one's definitely yours.” There wasn't a trace of humor in my voice.

She nodded faintly.

“I love you.”

I rubbed at my eyes. “I'm not completely certain, but that's probably Yveth.”

The stars shifted - not quite a nod, but close enough.

“The moon doesn't watch people.”

“It watches doors,” I answered.

Her brow furrowed. “Which doors?”

“I don't know,” I admitted. “I was hoping you could tell me.” I sighed. “Pretty sure that's Lunythera.”

Silence settled between us. Then, “I should have waited.”

“Waited for what?”

She glared at me. “If I knew that, I wouldn't regret it.”

I couldn't help smiling. “That one feels like you.”

“Wonderful.” The sarcasm was familiar. Comforting, even. “You shouldn't kill every enemy.”

“I agree.” I leaned back in my chair. “My guess is Drazhkul. Can't conquer anyone if there's nobody left to rule.”

The stars rotated thoughtfully. “You never asked enough questions.”

“About what?”

“Everything.” Her voice grew distant. “The answers were usually nearby.”

I frowned. “That sounds like Elyndra. Maybe.”

The uncertainty entered her voice again. “Everyone keeps disappointing me.” She looked away. “Including myself.”

“That's probably yours too,” I told her.

Her shoulders slumped slightly.

“I've felt that way before.”

For a while neither of us spoke.

“I trusted you.” The statement was so quiet I almost missed it.

“Who did?”

The stars slowed. “I don't know.” A brilliant point of light erupted across her face. A tiny supernova. Then reformed.

“Why did you trust me?”

“I.” Another star exploded. “Don't.” A second burst of light. “Know.” The stars began spinning faster. Their motion growing erratic.

Her voice sharpened.“Why?”

“Why what?” I asked.

“Why are you even here?” The vulnerability vanished. Replaced by something harder. Sharper. The stars of her face spun so quickly they blurred together. “You come down here every day.”

She rose abruptly to her feet. “Day after day after day.” Her voice echoed through the chamber. “To torment me. Cease it now!”

She snatched up the block of wood I'd brought her several days ago and hurled it at me.

The block struck the wards and bounced harmlessly away, clattering across the stone floor. “Leave me be!” The stars erupted into a dozen tiny novas.

I sat quietly. Watching. Waiting. Because beneath all the anger and screaming, I was beginning to suspect the truth.

The thing Nyssira feared most wasn't me. It wasn't imprisonment. It wasn't death. It wasn't even losing.

It was waking up one day and discovering there was no Nyssira left to save.

* * *

I spent the rest of the day with my family.

I played with Briva and Morien. Went fishing with Tib, Torvek, and Mak. Spent some time reading and talking with Lilae.

Eventually, I found myself standing outside Issa's door.

I knocked.

After a moment, the door cracked open. Issa peeked out. Her eyes were no longer red. She wasn't crying anymore. But the hurt was still there. The betrayal. The loss. The confusion. All of it lingered behind her eyes.

“Hey,” I said. “I could use some help if you have time.”

She hesitated.

“It has to do with James. Grams’ father.” I held up the journal. “I think there might be a clue to this moon key in here somewhere, but I need a second opinion. I was hoping you'd be willing to help.”

Her gaze drifted back into her room. For a few seconds she stood there, weighing her options. Then she looked back at me. “Okay.”

I smiled.

That was a win as far as I was concerned.

I opened the journal and showed her. “I've seen this same route a few times in his notes. He seemed to walk from Reedwatch into the mountains and back every few weeks. I'm wondering if he left something behind. Or maybe there was somewhere specific he kept visiting.”

“You don't know?” she asked.

“Not even a little.”

That earned the faintest hint of a smile.

“I just know I need help figuring it out.”

She flipped through the pages, studying the sketches and pressed flowers.

Issa was a remarkably talented painter. Or at least she had been. A month ago I'd commissioned a painting from her. As far as I knew she'd never even started it.

I couldn't blame her. The wounds Ssazarik left behind were still fresh. She needed time to heal. But healing wasn't the same thing as hiding. And I wasn't going to let her spend the rest of her life trapped inside a room.

So we stepped to Reedwatch and started walking.

I let Issa take the lead.

She chose the direction. Studied the notes. Compared the flowers. Examined the sketches.

Honestly, it was a longshot. Nothing in the journal suggested James had hidden anything. But he'd made this same journey over and over throughout his life. That had to mean something.

For the first hour we barely spoke. “Maybe this way.” “What about over there?” Small things. Nothing more.

But as the miles passed, little cracks began to form in the grief that had consumed her.

She started noticing things. Seeing things. Actually looking at the world again.

“It's so pretty,” she said softly, holding one of James's sketches beside the flower he'd drawn.

A little later she pointed toward a rocky outcrop. “I think he was sitting over there when he sketched this.”

As the walk continued, her observations became more thoughtful. More confident. “It was summer when he came here.”

“How can you tell?”

She looked up from the journal. “The shadows.”

“The shadows?”

She nodded.

A few minutes later she held the sketch out in front of her. “He wasn't drawing the tree.”

“No?”

“He was drawing the light,” she told me.

I smiled.

That sounded exactly like something an artist would say.

As we neared the mountains, she stopped. For several long moments she simply stared. The snow was blowing from the peaks in white streamers. Clouds drifted across a sky so brilliantly azure it almost hurt to look at. Dark stone and brilliant snow created contrasts so sharp they looked painted.

“Nobody would believe these colors,” she said quietly. Her eyes never left the mountains. “If I painted this exactly, people would say it was fake.”

For a while neither of us spoke. Then she said, “I wish I'd met him.”

“James?”

She nodded.

I looked out at the mountains. “Grams laughs when she talks about him.” A smile tugged at my lips. “I bet he was a great man.”

Issa looked at me. “Why?”

“People don't laugh like that when they talk about normal people.”

She considered that. “Do you think he knew he'd disappear?”

The question caught me off guard. “If I knew I was going to disappear,” I said, “I'd probably bring my drawings with me so I'd have something to remember.”

Issa smiled faintly.

We continued walking.

After a while I glanced at her. “Hey.”

“What?”

“Can I show you something?”

Her brow furrowed. “What?”

“This way.” I pulled off my cloak and draped it around her shoulders. “It's getting cold. And it'll get colder before we get there.”

She studied my face for a moment - curiosity finally winning out. Then she nodded.

I led her up a mountain pass that had become second nature to me.

The wind howled around us. Snow stung our faces.

I tried to keep myself between her and the worst of it.

Eventually we rounded a bend. An icy cliff rose beside us while the mountainside dropped away sharply on the other.

I stopped. “This is it.”

Issa looked around. “This is what?”

I moved beside her and wrapped my arms around her waist.

She tensed, then relaxed. “What are you-”

I started to sing and we rose from the ground.

Her eyes widened. She immediately wrapped her arms around me. Tightly.

The wind buffeted us as we drifted upward. Ten feet. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. Until we reached a cave carved into the mountainside - barely visible from the path.

The moment we crossed the threshold, the wind vanished. Silence rushed in to replace it.

Issa slowly stepped away.

The walls were formed from thick glacial ice. Sunlight filtered through them, filling the cavern with a soft blue glow.

Nearby sat a table and chairs carved from ice, partially melted and softened by years of neglect. Beyond them stretched winding corridors disappearing deeper into the mountain.

“This was Yveth's lair,” I said softly.

Even whispering felt loud here. The words echoed through the frozen halls.

Issa turned slowly, taking it all in. “It's beautiful.”

“Yeah.” The sadness in my voice slipped out before I could stop it.

Issa glanced toward me.

I ran my hand across the icy wall, tracing memories.

“Do you...” She hesitated. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I shrugged. “What is there to say?” I stared deeper into the cavern. “She's gone.”

The words still hurt. “It’s been almost five years, and I still think about her nearly every day.”

The silence lingered.

Then I smiled sadly. “She used to say pain defined us.”

Issa listened quietly.

“That it shaped who we were and who we'd become. That we had to remember it. Otherwise we were living a lie.”

I sighed. “But she also said we couldn't let it consume us.” My fingers brushed across the ice. “That losing someone didn't mean our lives were over.”

I looked around the frozen cavern. “She was the goddess of sorrow that never fades.” A faint smile touched my lips. “But she was also the goddess of winter's beauty.”

I met Issa's eyes.

“She knew that even when life hurts, there's still beauty in it.” I gestured toward the cave. “The trick is finding it.”

For a long moment Issa said nothing. Then, “Do you think he ever loved me?”

The question came out so quietly it almost broke my heart.

I crossed the room and wrapped my arms around her, holding her the way I wished someone had held me.

“He'd be a fool not to.”