When we walked in everything felt like usual.
Rōko. Intense and blazing like a blade still on the grindstone. Training, of course.
Julius and Kate at the table, their mana settled into a soft competitive hum.
Fay and William off to the side — their energy guilty but quiet.
And Alven, stretched on the couch in a cloud of contented sleep.
"Hey," I called as we stepped in. "We brought gifts."
I pointed toward the back room. "Storage wing. Had to teleport it, there was too much to carry."
Silence.
Then a rush.
Chairs scraped. Chess pieces clattered. I could feel their auras all shift toward excitement.
Rōko paused her training.
Kate practically squealed. "Is that a sparring axe?!"
Fay and William hovered at the edge. I could feel the guilt in their mana, still heavy from earlier but they didn't say anything. I let them have that silence. Sometimes the best apologies are unspoken.
Salem and I sat down on the couch together.
Correction again. I sat. She melted against me like I was a cushion she owned. Her mana curled around mine, smug and slow.
"I had fun today," I whispered.
She didn't answer. She just nudged her leg against mine and leaned her head to my shoulder again.
"I might even kiss you tonight," I added, teasing. "Maybe."
Her mana jumped — a little hiccup of excitement, but she stayed cool.
"Cruel," she muttered, lips barely moving. "You enjoy watching me suffer."
I smirked.
And outside, the lanterns burned soft and gold as the city drifted into night.
Dinner was chaos.
Not the normal kind either. The unhinged kind.
Apparently, handing out gifts before food was a mistake.
The group tore into the bags like children at a harvest festival. The sword Rōko claimed? She used it immediately — to skewer roasted vegetables right from the pan. The axe? Julius and Kate played "catch" with it across the room. William made a hat out of the ring-toss game's prizes. Fay got into the cheese like she hadn't eaten in years. Even though it was for our travels back.
There was food everywhere.
Hands reaching. Plates clashing. Spices flying. A cup exploded for some reason. I'm pretty sure a fire spell got thrown.
I sat beside Salem, laughing with a berry-stained smile, nibbling from a meat skewer while Alven tried to stack cutlery into a tower. Someone tripped. Something caught fire. Rōko punched it out.
Total. Chaos.
But it was ours.
And I loved every second of it.
⸻
Later, the castle quieted down.
People drifted to rooms. The laughter softened into little pockets of contentment behind thick stone walls. The gift pile had been raided thoroughly. Fay and William finally stopped avoiding eye contact. Julius and Kate had officially declared their chess match a "draw to preserve friendship."
Salem and I ended up alone again — in the quiet warmth of our shared quarters. My mana settled deeper into my skin. Her presence beside me was soft now. Gentle. Familiar.
That's when she whispered:
"I want to take a bath with you again."
I paused mid-step, head tilting toward her mana.
"…What?"
"Please," she added, more urgently. "Please please please?"
I blinked. Her aura fluttered. Desperate. Eager. Something about it was almost…
Submissive?
A slow grin curled at my lips. "I've never seen you this soft before," I said, amused. "It's adorable. And weird."
She bristled — her aura flaring hot. "It's because you won't let me kiss you!"
"Uh-huh."
"I kissed you in the bath yesterday and now you won't let me even touch you and it's torture and you're cruel and evil!"
I chuckled, unlacing my boots, kicking them off by the bed. "Mmm," I mused. "Maybe I'll take a bath with you if you beg."
She froze.
"You're joking."
"Nope." I turned toward her, folding my arms. "Get down there, my dear bond."
She didn't move at first.
So I added, all innocent-like, "At my feet, Salem. Beg nicely and I'll consider sharing a bath. Again."
Another beat of silence.
Then.
A heavy sigh. A slow kneel.
I felt her mana slide lower. the flicker of her outline sinking in front of me. Her hands at her sides. Her breath a little shaky.
"…Please."
I smiled, wicked and warm.
"Please what?"
"Please let me take a bath with you," she muttered through her teeth, barely containing the flustered rage-love radiating from her whole body. "I want to sit in hot water with the girl I love and not explode from sexual repression."
I bit my lip.
And burst out laughing.
"You're ridiculous."
"You're evil."
"You're in love."
"Shut up," she grumbled.
And then…
I felt it.
A faint warm pressure brushing the top of my foot.
Soft. Deliberate. Barely there — just a small, lingering kiss.
I jolted upright, nearly swaying from the heat blooming in my cheeks. "Salem?!"
"What?" she said innocently. Too innocently. "You said beg."
"That's not begging, that's!"
"Creative interpretation."
I clutched my face, flustered beyond reason. "You are so ridiculous."
She rested her head on my knee with a smug little hum, aura glowing brighter by the second.
"And you love it."
Gods help me.
She was right.
Later, after the water had cooled and the candles burned low, we found ourselves in bed again.
Still sitting upright, backs against the carved wooden headboard. My legs curled beneath me. Salem's thigh pressed against mine. Her mana wrapped loosely around my shoulder like a shawl of heat and mischief.
The silence between us was the good kind. Full. Warm.
Then, out of nowhere:
"You know," Salem muttered, arms crossed, voice all pouty, "your double standards are so unfair."
I blinked, eyebrows raised. "Excuse me?"
"You won't let me kiss you, but you grab my waist like it's your job. And I'm just supposed to deal with that?? Like that's not going to make me lose my mind?"
I snorted. Her mana flared like a kicked fire.
"I do not!"
"You absolutely do," she accused. "In the bath. On the bench. On the street. In the market! Don't think I didn't notice that little hand squeeze when I got back from kicking that noble into next week."
I laughed, flustered. "Okay, maybe once or twice…"
"Twice a minute."
"Fine! And what if I gave you permission to kiss me now, huh?"
She froze.
Her aura sharpened, pin-drop still. Every pulse of her mana snapped to attention like soldiers at parade rest. Like a dog hearing the word walk.
"…What?" she whispered.
"You heard me."
"Say it again."
I smirked. "What if I gave you permission…"
"Yes."
"…to kiss me…"
"Yes yes yes"
"…right now…"
"YES."
I laughed. "Okay. You can kiss me. I won't take it back until morning."
She didn't waste a single second.
Before I could even brace myself, her aura surged forward and I was pinned, not hard, not rough, just sudden and Salem. Her knees on either side of me, hands braced by my hips, mana cocooned around mine like a net of fireflies in a jar.
Then came the kisses.
Everywhere.
First my cheek, soft and reverent.
Then my jaw, eager. Familiar.
Then my nose.
Then my neck.
And then…
My lips.
Hot. Confident. Overwhelming in the best way.
I gasped between them, laughing and breathless. "Salem—!"
But she didn't stop.
Not at all.
More kisses, more pressure, hands running through my hair, lips brushing places that made my breath hitch in my chest.
"Salem I still need to breathe—!"
"No time," she muttered against my throat. "You gave permission. You unlocked the gates. This is your own fault"
I was dizzy with warmth. Drenched in heat and affection and something deeper, heavier. Not just desire but need. A sacred hunger to feel, to prove, to exist wrapped around another person like she was trying to remind herself this wasn't just a dream.
And I let her.
Because it felt like safety.
It felt like her.
Her heart. Her chaos. Her mouth on mine like I was the air she needed and the flame that lit her soul.
And as I tilted my head back, lips bruised, smiling like a fool, only one thought echoed in the hollow of my chest:
This is the girl I love.
More than anyone.
In either of my lives
We were lying down now.
The blankets barely clung to the edges of the bed. My shirt was halfway untucked, my hair messy. Our bare legs tangled together under the sheets like ivy.
Salem's face hovered close, her mana like a second skin over mine, warm and fluttering, brushing my cheek with every breath.
And she wouldn't stop kissing me.
Light kisses. Soft kisses. Absurd ones. Nose, brow, cheekbone, chin.
"Salem—" I muttered between quiet giggles. "You're insatiable."
"I'm efficient," she whispered back. "You gave me permission. I'm using every second."
I laughed, and then sighed, sinking closer into her aura, her heat, her shape drawn in glowing blurs before me.
And then the thought that had been quietly pacing my mind all evening stepped forward.
"Hey…"
"Mmh?"
She kissed my temple.
"…In two days," I murmured, voice low, "we spar the Ætherbound."
Her aura paused. Just a flicker.
"It's the first time we'll be fighting… you know. As a couple."
There it was.
Her mana blushed. Not flared, not flickered, just… blushed. Warm and crackling, like a hearthstone too proud to glow too bright.
But then she tried to play it cool, of course.
"So?" she said, nuzzling the edge of my jaw, still kissing every third syllable. "It doesn't change anything. We're still strong. You're still terrifying. I'm still me. And we're only fighting two of them, not all fifteen."
I let out a slow breath. "I know."
And I did.
It just… felt different now.
Not bad-different. Just… more.
I leaned in.
She held me tighter.
Our legs shifted again — my thigh sliding between hers, hers curling around mine. Her arms wrapped fully around me now, one hand brushing slow patterns across the center of my back.
Her kisses slowed.
My breathing did too.
And even though we were sprawled together in a messy bed, kissed raw and half-dressed, two deadly girls more powerful than anyone should be — I felt safe.
Safe enough to drift.
My thoughts wandered. Her mana pressed around me like a lullaby.
"…You're lucky I love you," I whispered, lips almost against her throat.
She kissed my forehead.
"No," she murmured, voice quiet with something that sounded like everything, "I'm lucky you let me."
And sleep found me, slowly, while she kept kissing me, over and over. Until the world faded to warmth and darkness.