---
Sha smirked. "I will cut off their legs and make wind chimes from their screams."
Lirien turned slowly to look at all of them. "I must say, This is… a colorful ant army."
Azhara looped an arm around her neck. "Oh honey, this is nothing. Wait till you see our morning stretches. Very… revealing."
Kai sighed and dropped onto a warm flat stone. "All of you, rest. No sharpening blades, no torture threats, and no mating talk for the next two hours."
Vel grinned and whispered to Sha, "That means we have one hour and fifty nine minutes of potential mischief."
Naaro pulled a hood over her face. "Wake me only if we are attacked. Or if sir Kai takes his shirt off."
Akayoroi sat near the fire, tending her molten blade, but her eyes drifted once toward Kai's shoulders. Just once.
Azhara, as always, took the initiative.
She straddled Kai's lap from the side, not fully sitting, just enough to tease. Her eyes gleamed with the glint of moonlight and mischief.
