“Good afternoon.”
I cracked an eye open and looked up, finding delicate fingers running through my hair. Fingers that eventually attached to a slender, pale-skinned arm. That arm finally pulled my gaze to meet familiar emerald eyes.
Daniella smiled at me, her tongue sliding along her lips in a sensual reminder of what had happened the last time my eyes had been open. The greedy girl had sure enjoyed getting a taste of divine essence. It’d keep the energy vampire young for at least another fifty years, even without her getting another sample.
As if there wouldn’t be a second time. Ha!
I grinned at her, reaching out to boop her nose gently. She went briefly cross-eyed, making me chuckle. “Good afternoon? How long did I sleep this time?”
She waved it off. “It’s a bit past lunch time. Fukushi has had quite a time keeping this castle in order, poor thing.”
“Oh?” I flashed a quizzical look.
“Mhmm. She’s keeping your friends in order, and keeping an eye on the castle staff, as well. She acts like she hates having so much to do, but she secretly enjoys difficult tasks.”
Noted.
I rolled onto my back, taking in the four-poster bed and massive personal chambers. The whole space was circular, and some stone steps curved along the far wall, leading upwards. The path I assumed would lead down was closed off by an oak door that had been warded with an inlaid, unfamiliar pattern of spellwork. The lack of uniformity to the design made me think it was a newer ward layered over an older one, except repeated at least a half dozen times.
“This is?”
“My tower in the castle. Fukushi resides in another tower. Her Majesty’s way of helping prevent fools from intruding upon our living spaces.”
I glanced over as she got out of the bed, eyes glued to the sight of her swaying hips. She was pale as a proper vampire, even. Like she didn’t get much sunlight. Not that vitamin D mattered much with how much of her was simply magical in nature.
I noted that last bit as some flirting material for later.
Daniella stopped at a squared stone basin in one corner, where she fiddled with a blue gemstone, which created a trickle of water on command. Again with the obscene wealth being thrown around for baths. I was coming around to the idea, even if it was a bit wasteful.
“Coming?” She glanced back, beckoning me towards the bath.
I looked at the sheets and grimaced. That had been… Yeah, I needed the bath.
Standing, I narrowed my eyes playfully as Daniella stared.
Finally, I reached her and pecked her lips. “Earlier… I hope you aren’t expecting anything exclusive. I’m not a one partner kind of woman.”
“Oh, that’s entirely fine. Honestly, I’ve never met someone as vital as you are. Most people would’ve slept longer after being with me.” Daniella stepped into the rapidly filling bath, then sank down with a sigh.
I joined her, feeling heat from the stones set into the bottom of the basin. “Don’t underestimate a hero, I suppose. I’ve got some secrets I’ve picked up here and there, that’s all.” Noting the look in her eyes, I added, “I could be convinced to share some of those, eventually. Maybe if you devote yourself to me.”
Daniella laughed, covering her mouth with a tress of hair. “So you’re not a one partner kind of woman, but you expect me to be one?”
“It isn’t like you need anyone else to keep your good looks, right?”
Her good humored expression vanished, replaced with a guarded one. “You noticed. Of course you did. Just my luck.” She tensed, and I could see the violent intent in her eyes.
I smiled, begging her to try something.
After a tense moment, Daniella sighed, defeat etched across her face. “Seven hours after beating back a magic storm, and you’re still confident and composed. I wouldn’t stand a chance removing you as a witness, would I? Guess I’ll be taking an early retirement into the mountains until everyone forgets me again.”
I snatched her hand, pulling her towards me, delighting a little in the fear that crossed her expression. “Oh no you don’t. You thought you could steal my vitality and run to hide somewhere? Tsk, tsk. I’m keeping you. You’re too fun to let slip away.”
Her breath hitched, and I could feel her pulse quicken within her wrist. “But I—” she trailed off, then smiled again after taking in the look in my eyes, “I suppose that’s only fair… Mistress.”
I shivered, delighted by the bit of submission. “Excellent. I won’t spill your secret, of course.”
Despite the intimacy of the moment and our positions, I could tell Daniella was relieved, stress fading from her shoulders. Nobody would permit a life stealing witch openly walking around. That was fine for me, though. Eternal existence and the ability to immortalize her as an angel at any time? I had her wrapped around my finger.
We enjoyed a relaxing soak together, then finally faced the fact that we had our own responsibilities.
“What have I missed? It sounded like you kept informed about what was going on?”
Daniella nodded. “I don’t have the previous Mage Hero’s famous universal elemental control, but I’m still one of his children. I’ve got control over Light and Wind magics. I can eavesdrop on the whole castle, minus warded spaces.”
“I guessed as much. Light magic for the energy vampirism. Wind magic for your public image?” She nodded in response to the question.
“As for what you missed… Some backstory is in order first. The marriage of King Euclid to Queen Verienne is a divisive one. Some factions find it scandalous that the queen has yet to bear an heir, and they form a faction opposed to her. The queen herself is intelligent, gifted, and very devoted to properly governing the nation. She holds military authority as a battlemage, preventing a coup from her husband’s faction. A coup I believe your cohort of heroes was intended to provide the backbone for, originally.”
I gave that a little thought, getting the rough idea. It sounded like the queen was the true heir of the royal bloodline. A trashy arranged marriage to the fool, Euclid? The drama wrote itself.
“The queen usually resides in the summer palace, though she currently is in Olandra, to the east. Getting back to the matters that relate to you…” Daniella continued speaking from within a walk-in closet beneath the stairs that led above. “I believe that the king intended to use the queen’s absence and the prophecy of impending doom as a justification for the summoning of you heroes, then turn you all into tools for his own power.
“The king does not operate alone, however. He has advisors and supporters of his own. They continue to move against the queen, even after you… did away with the king. There have been assassination attempts. My wards have been disturbed at least five times since I brought you into my room. Fukushi has been working tirelessly to cut off any attacks on the others you arrived with.”
I wrapped a towel around my torso. “Any injuries?” Daniella hummed a negative to that. “Well, I appreciate her help. Only… has she not slept since the storm abated?”
Daniella snorted, reaching out to hook a few dresses on the doorway of the closet. “Let me know if any of these catch your eye, and maybe we can pin one in place until you find replacements in your size. As for Fukushi, don’t worry. She doesn’t sleep to begin with. Blessing of the God of Gold. Gives her limitless energy. I’ve been snacking on her for years and she hasn’t even noticed.”
I did a mental fist pump, hearing that Fukushi was open to women. My gaydar was without equal sometimes. Still, a blessing from a deity might be a bit of a roadblock, if that deity took too much interest in her.
“Blessing?” I tried to ask innocently.
“Mhmm. Fukushi has completed trials for two. Gold and Silver. Limitless energy and incredible speed, respectively. It’s not uncommon for descendants of the last sword heroine to seek out blessings that benefit their unique traits.”
“How does that work for the gods?”
Daniella stepped out of the closet and shrugged, carrying a small stack of hangers with layers of clothing. The green and gold dress looked absolutely enticing. “Nobody really knows. They are said to be trials placed by the gods, but they work fairly autonomously. You enter, complete the task, and receive a ‘divine’ blessing. Done and over with in about a week, usually.”
I knew the type she was talking about. Not exactly a blessing, but rather, more of a boon granted as a reward. It meant Fukushi probably didn’t have a direct line of contact to any deities. Hopefully.
“I’d guessed you had a few similar abilities, based on the flavor of your…” Daniella eyed me like a particularly succulent fruit, her eyes firmly planted on where the towel didn’t hang low enough to really cover anything.
I rolled my eyes at her, pulling the towel aside, giving her an eyeful as I mentally fished around for something in my divine realm. Earth’s god had made me empty out all the dangerous relics and dismiss my angels from service, so it was a bit empty. Just a vacant floating island in the heavens that I used as a portable closet.
Annoyingly, whatever I wore would have to be somewhat magical in appearance. It would have to convey ‘I made this from magic’ instead of ‘I have a pocket dimension full of clothes.’
Flaming dress? A little too much. A gown made from mist woven into fabric? That had been done before, and would stray from cosplay towards the theft of intellectual property. I paused when I considered textured darkness to look like tight leather. I’d wear that one for the girls at some point.
In the end, I made a show of invoking a complex eruption of elemental magic that hid a suit of decorated green and black armor arriving from my divine realm directly onto my body. It felt like a second skin to move in, but had a rigid, black, metal chestplate, vambraces, and greaves. The olive colored leather that formed the layer beneath the metal held a faint hum of wind magic, which would redirect arrows. I didn’t like looking like a renaissance knight on Earth, so it had been sitting idle for a long time. It was purely defensive in nature, though. It didn’t count among the dangerous relics.
Daniella eyed the ‘Tempest Regalia’ with an appreciative expertise. “That looks expensive. Are those made from Cosmic Plate?”
I winced. When I received it as an offering, the metal plates were just called Starmetal. The new world calling the material Cosmic Plate implied the substance existed, and was known. Which meant at least one of the deities I was familiar with had migrated to… whatever the world was called. I’d ask later.
“Yes, I think it is? If that’s what you call it. Condensed from dark and earth sources, which makes it very heavy. Magic, thankfully, cures all problems.”
Daniella smirked, eyes twinkling. “I knew I liked you.”