The Spiced Ruby had tasted like victory, warmth, and dark fruit.
Unfortunately, it also contained a devastating amount of alcohol, a fact Aric’s ledger-trained brain only realized when he attempted to stand up from the prep counter.
His knees instantly dissolved.
“Whoa there, manager,” Kaela purred, her strong hands catching him firmly by the waist before his chin could introduce itself to the floorboards.
The Lion Kin didn’t even flinch under his weight.
“I think you’ve successfully audited the bottom of that bottle.” “I am perfectly balanced,” Aric announced.
His words slurred together into a soft, slow drawl that entirely ruined his commanding managerial tone.
He blinked heavily, trying to focus on her golden eyes.
“The floor is just…
pitching.
Like a ship.” Mera appeared on his other side, neatly stepping around his dangling left foot.
She tucked her slate under her arm and smoothly hooked her shoulder under his opposite arm.
“The canal is frozen, Master Vale.
There are no ships,” Mera noted pragmatically, though a fond, highly amused smile played at the corners of her mouth.
“You spent two weeks drinking nothing stronger than tea, then consumed four glasses of reserve wine in one evening.
Your blood is currently ninety percent Spiced Ruby.” “It was an investment in morale,” Aric argued earnestly, though he leaned heavily against Kaela’s warm, furred shoulder.
“And a highly successful one,” Kaela laughed, her tufted tail swishing behind her.
“But the investment is going to sleep now.
Come on.
Up the stairs we go.” Together, the two women hauled him out of the sweltering, boisterous kitchen.
The heavy oak doors swung shut behind them, muffling the sound of Rhoz’s booming laughter and the trill of Lyra’s wooden flute.
The corridor was dim, lit only by the low-burning night lamps, and the air felt remarkably cool against Aric’s flushed face.
Navigating the sweeping, carpeted staircase to the second floor proved to be a complicated logistical puzzle.
Aric was a broad-shouldered man, and his feet currently refused to obey basic gravitational laws.
“Pick your boots up, Aric,” Mera instructed, hoisting his arm higher.
“You are dragging your toes on the velvet runner.” “Mera,” Aric said, turning his head to look at the human house manager.
He blinked, his dark eyes wide and incredibly earnest.
“Mera, you are brilliant.
Did you know that?
Your column alignments in the black ledger are…
they are structurally flawless.” Mera let out a soft snort, shaking her head as they hauled him up another step.
“Save your flattery, Master Vale.
It won’t get you a discount on the soap invoices.” “It isn’t flattery,” Aric insisted, stumbling slightly.
Kaela’s powerful arm tightened around his waist, easily correcting his momentum.
“It is a factual observation.
And you,” he added, turning his heavy gaze to Kaela.
“Yes?” Kaela asked, her feline ears twitching forward.
“You are spectacular,” Aric breathed, his provincial filter entirely obliterated by the wine.
“You walk through the front hall like you own the city.
And your purr…
it rattles my ribs.” Kaela’s breath hitched in genuine surprise.
A deep, rumbling purr immediately started in her chest, vibrating right through his side.
She looked across Aric’s slumped shoulders at Mera, her golden eyes wide with delight.
“Oh, I am keeping him,” Kaela declared, hauling him up the final step to the second-floor landing.
“The widows can bid all they want, Mera.
I am keeping the clerk.” “He is currently a house asset, Kaela,” Mera reminded her smoothly, though her own smile was bright in the dim lamplight.
“And house assets require sleep.
One more flight.” The third floor lacked the plush velvet of the lower levels, the runner thinning to sturdy wool.
By the time they reached the top of the stairs, Aric was practically being carried.
His head lolled against Kaela’s shoulder, the intoxicating scent of sandalwood and feline musk wrapping around him.
They dragged him down the silent hallway, stopping outside the plain oak door painted with the number sixteen.
Mera reached into his trouser pocket with practiced efficiency and retrieved his heavy iron key.
She unlocked the door, the repaired window latch holding fast against the howling winter squall outside, keeping the room perfectly draft-free, though the air remained chilled.
Kaela guided him inside and steered him directly toward the center of the room.
Aric’s knees finally buckled completely.
He pitched forward, falling face-first onto the new oak frame and the premium goose down mattress.
The canvas ticking yielded with a soft rustle.
The down swallowed his weight, cradling his bruised shoulders and exhausted spine in an absolute, perfect cloud of luxury.
Aric let out a long, muffled groan of pure ecstasy into the blankets.
“So soft,” he mumbled into the fabric.
“Math is beautiful.” Mera laughed softly, a clear, ringing sound in the quiet room.
She walked to the foot of the bed and efficiently unbuckled his heavy boots, pulling them off his feet and setting them neatly beside the frame.
Kaela knelt beside the mattress, gently gripping Aric’s shoulder and rolling him onto his back.
“Belt,” Aric mumbled, his eyes closed as he tugged weakly at the heavy brass buckle.
“Too tight.” “May I loosen it?” Kaela asked gently.
He nodded blindly against the mattress.
Kaela reached for his waist.
She unfastened the heavy brass buckle of his belt, then popped the top three buttons of his standard wool trousers to let his stomach expand after the massive feast.
The heavy wool parted, but the pressure didn’t just release his waist.
Without the rigid fabric holding him in, the loose front of his linen smallclothes shifted.
Aric’s heavy cock simply flopped free, spilling out of the linen and resting thickly against his thigh.
The sheer, massive weight of his balls followed, settling heavily against the mattress.
Kaela froze, her hands still resting on his waistband.
In the staff kitchen two weeks ago, Aric had been terrified and blushing, only parting the fabric just enough to show them the swollen, shining head.
They had instantly recognized his size, but seeing the full length of him completely exposed, unhindered by his own shy grip, was entirely different.
Even soft and heavy with sleep, the sheer scale of the provincial clerk was absolutely stunning.
The thick, dark-veined length of his cock lay heavy and prominent against his thigh, dwarfing the anatomy of most men in the Lantern District.
Mera walked up beside Kaela.
The human house manager looked down at the bed, her sharp, calculating eyes widening significantly.
“Gods above,” Kaela breathed, a low, ragged purr starting deep in her throat.
Her golden eyes dilated, tracing the thick veins and the incredibly heavy set of balls resting beneath the shaft.
“Vaelisse wasn’t exaggerating.
Look at the sheer weight of him, Mera.” Mera let out a slow, deliberate exhale.
She didn’t look away either, her logistical mind immediately jumping to the premium booking sheets.
“A flawless asset,” Mera murmured, her professional tone laced with unmistakable feminine appreciation.
“If he ever steps onto the intimate floor, Perrin will have to rewrite the pricing structure entirely.
There are widows in the upper ward who would surrender a trade fleet just to hold that.” Aric grunted softly in his sleep, his breathing evening out into the deep, heavy rhythm of an alcohol-induced rest.
He shifted slightly on the goose down, and his thick cock bobbed heavily against his leg with the movement.
Kaela’s claws twitched, visibly fighting the urge to reach out and test the weight of it in her palm.
Instead, she let out a shaky sigh and pulled her hands away from his trousers entirely.
“He really did eat gray oats for two weeks just to save enough silver for this bed,” Kaela whispered, looking up from his lap to his relaxed, flushed face.
“He did,” Mera agreed.
She leaned forward and grabbed the thick wool blanket, pulling it up over Aric’s chest and covering his massive endowment to ward off the chill of the unheated room.
“Cassian wanted him to learn how to manage people.
I don’t think the old man realized the boy would try to endure the house rather than command it.” Kaela traced the line of Aric’s jaw with the back of her knuckles.
“He isn’t enduring it anymore.
He cursed at Brinna, he fed the entire staff, and he flirted with me on the stairs.” “The Spiced Ruby helped,” Mera noted pragmatically.
“The Spiced Ruby just removed the ledger from his head,” Kaela corrected, standing up and smoothing her linen shorts.
She looked down at the sleeping manager, her tufted tail giving one final, affectionate swish.
“He belongs to the Hearth now, Mera.” Mera looked at the young man who had just spent a fortune to feed his staff.
She offered a quiet, approving nod.
“Yes,” Mera agreed softly.
“He does.” Mera picked up the iron key from the nightstand, leaving it on the desk, and followed Kaela out into the hallway.
The door clicked shut, locking the cold out, and leaving Aric to the deepest, safest sleep he had experienced in years.