It was rather horrid luck that the day Alys and I took a step forward in our relationship also happened to be the day we received news of the Hergeiros invasion. Our preparations, the attack itself, and my ensuing revenge plan hadn’t left us much time for each other.

  That’s probably why I spent the next several days doing the bare minimum of work, just enough to keep the town supplied, before going to bother Alys.

  My dragoness indulged me. No matter how many work hours were left in the day, she let me drag her off to cuddle or cook together. Sometimes, I simply watched her work as she carved a bewildering variety of pieces.

  With some, it was obvious what they would turn into. I could identify chair legs and such. Others were difficult for me to figure out, and she wasn’t giving me any hints. She stashed all the finished pieces inside the new building without letting me see her assemble them.

  It didn’t matter, because I enjoyed the simple act of watching her lose herself to the woodworking.

  Not that I spent all my time staring at her! I only stole glimpses. These might have been a bit too frequent, true, but I was still making progress in my own endeavors.

  For the first time since my arrival in Swiftband, I broke out some of the books I’d brought with me. I needed to brush up on my knowledge if I wanted to make those birthing-aid potions for Nelaeryn in time for them to be useful. I also had the vague idea of using my draconic ingredients to do something nice for Alys, which would require a bit more research on my part.

  With such pleasant occupations, the days passed rather cozily. Winter was still sapping my energy, but I spent as little time outside as possible.

  My silly dragoness had been planning to continue working outside through the Winter. When I pointed out that she could set up a proper workshop inside the new building, she actually tried to refuse, citing that the space was mine! Considering I spent every night in her bed and had been intruding on her generosity since long before we became a couple, this felt a tad unreasonable.

  I had a feeling it was some dragon-ish quirk. When I pointed out that my space was hers, she flushed and thumped me with her tail. But, at my insistence, she accepted.

  As for my workspace, Alys spent the first few days after the attack frantically assembling the furniture for my new laboratory. Even then, she refused to let me see the house before it was ready. Instead, she would lead me down to the basement every morning, then fetch me once I was finished and had taken a bath.

  “You know, you could at least let me have a peek at the inside of the house,” I teased one day, a couple weeks after the Hergeiros trouble had been resolved.

  We were in Alys’ house. Or, rather, the ‘old’ half of what would become our house. Alys had converted the living room into another inside workshop she could use whenever I wanted to watch her work. I was trying to focus on reading. My dragoness was sitting on the floor in one corner of the room, whittling away at some smaller piece of wood.

  “No,” she replied flatly, without looking up.

  “Leading me to the basement with my eyes covered is a bit much, isn’t it?”

  “You’ll see it when the furniture’s all in and it actually looks nice,” my dragoness huffed.

  Her determination not to disappoint me was adorable. As if I could possibly hate anything she had built for me! That alone made the detached half of our house special.

  It also looked striking. The obsidian-like appearance of the material was both grand and intimidating. Even my family would have been quite satisfied to own a building like that. As a fresh settler out on the frontier, I was in awe.

  None of these observations got through to my dragoness, who insisted the house was too barren to be shown off yet.

  “And when is that going to be?” I asked. “I don’t mean to rush you. I’m just curious.”

  “Soon. I am finishing up the last room right now.”

  “Wait, really?” I sat up straighter, a grin ghosting over my lips. “I truly look forward to seeing what you’ve done. The house itself looks amazing already. You’ve been producing furniture at a stunning rate, too.”

  She shrugged, false modesty giving way to a proud grin. “I can speed a lot of things along using my flames, and the supplies you keep making for me are exceptional.” Her grin grew. “Hrrrmmm… You know, we still have that deal we made.”

  I blinked. That wasn’t the sort of thing a fae was supposed to forget about, even when it came to one’s spouse, but I definitely had.

  We were still fulfilling our own parts of the deal, of course, but that was more out of affection than anything else. I certainly would have run out of containers some time ago without Alys making more for me on the side. She would have run out of sealants and wood treatments in no time.

  The woodworking products were just one piece of my daily required output. The ‘bare minimum’ of products I had to make to keep the town supplied kept me working well into the early afternoon each day. I’d simply stopped all experimentation so I could spend time with Alys.

  The growing problem of my production limitations loomed large on the horizon. If I ended up making another alchemical product that would be useful on a regular basis, I would have to start picking and choosing what I made each day.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  The issue was that I still couldn’t think of a way to bypass this.

  The option of taking an apprentice was there, taunting me. But beyond being unable to trust a complete stranger, and not wanting to waste time supervising a beginner (one more liable to blow up a cauldron than make anything worthwhile), I could admit that I disliked the idea of sharing my professional secrets.

  I didn’t know if it was my base nature or the attitude all alchemists seemed to develop, but I wanted to hoard my recipes more obsessively than a dragon with their treasure. I was still mostly fine with the idea of sharing them with family. If any of my children wanted to practice alchemy, I would train them to the best of my ability, and with a smile on my face. Strangers, on the other hand…

  “Thorn?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “You got lost in your head again.”

  I sighed. “Just thinking about what I can do to supply the town with alchemical products more easily. I can’t come up with anything… But, yes, we do have that deal between us still. What, want to renegotiate? If you’re tired of making containers, I’m willing to give you woodworking supplies in exchange for kisses instead.”

  She looked at me with distinctly draconic pride. “My kisses are more valuable than that.”

  “True.” Setting my book aside, I stalked closer and leaned down so I could cup her snout. “Give one up for me?”

  “Needy fae…” she grumbled.

  But when our lips met a moment later, I felt us both melt into the moment.

  —

  I wanted to continue spending my days like that. Reality, however, had a way of intruding on both present joys and future plans.

  For me, this came in the form of a promise remembered: I had said I would do whatever I could to help the town prosper, and I intended to keep my word.

  Yet this resolve was accompanied by a revelation: I didn’t really know the townsfolk. Though I had lived in the town for a while now, I considered only a handful of people as friends, and could count barely more than that as acquaintances.

  It didn’t seem wise to become a complete recluse from the developing community. I couldn’t count on goodwill to make people like me forever, and fae lives were long.

  It was with some reluctance that I realized two things. One, I needed to start fixing this. Two, there was an obvious way to do it. Alys had mentioned the idea before, and the elders had definitely hinted at it. Even I had considered it.

  A shop. A place where townsfolk could obtain alchemical products. A front I could use to get to know the community gradually, through safe, mundane interaction.

  I didn’t think I would be swamped with visitors, of course. There was a bit of a walk between our home and the town, but I considered this a good thing. I was an admittedly private person. So was Alys, even if her isolation came from throwing herself into her work. My dragoness agreed that a relatively slow drip of visitors would help us get used to socializing more.

  So, two days later, I found myself standing in front of the door to ‘my’ half of our home.

  Alys was by my side, as well as Kiri, Nasha, Penelope, Arandel, the elders (Grafton was even more frustratingly in shape, I noted), and Vance. Ritsu had begged off awkwardly when I’d gone to the Hall to invite people, probably on account of the frosty way I was still treating him.

  Since the fox had shown no sign of wanting to leave after meeting Kiri, I would have to get over my dislike of him. Eventually. For now, I was more than content to hang onto my grudge, minor as it now seemed when compared to the Hergeiros family’s attempted invasion.

  “Can I finally go in?” I asked Alys, with a teasing smile to communicate I wasn’t actually upset.

  I saw the bit of nerves that snuck up on her, souring her grin. Yet she didn’t hesitate. With an imperious nod, she waved at me to get on with it.

  I didn’t need to be given permission twice. I pounced at the door, which she had somehow managed to make out of the special material, and pushed it open with surprising ease.

  The first thing I noticed was the warmth. Alys had been keen on keeping our home well-heated ever since she observed how the colder weather was affecting me, which warmed my heart both figuratively and literally.

  Next, I spotted all the shelves. They dominated the large room, lining the walls and filling out the space without making it difficult to move around. Their arrangement was organized to display perfectly whatever I placed on them.

  To the far left was a counter that split the store from the rest of the house. I knew that beyond it were two rooms, one smaller and meant for storage, the other larger and housing Alys’ workshop. There were also stairs leading both up and down.

  For a moment, I was speechless with wonder.

  The level of detail was staggering. Not even the shelves were simple shelves. Each one was meticulously carved with reliefs of draconic figures and plants bearing all sorts of fruit. The leaves had been lacquered in bright shades of red, orange, and yellow.

  I did feel a twinge of anxiety at what could be recognized as Autumn imagery. But the dragons came in various shades of red, too, so Alys was only sticking to a theme.

  The counter was similarly appointed, as were the few chairs Alys had positioned around the space. They would be helpful if someone needed to wait while I fetched things or dealt with a different customer.

  Granted, I wouldn’t have a lot of those any time soon, but we were thinking ahead. I was planning to put proper bartering systems in place. When the town grew, we’d see about setting up a proper economy, but that was for the future.

  “Alys, this is amazing,” I breathed. “I love it.”

  “You should see the bed upstairs,” Alys whispered huskily against my ear.

  My entire face combusted, which only made my dragoness snicker.

  Thankfully, Hyel came to my rescue. “This is very, very impressive,” he exclaimed. “When I sent you to Alys, hoping she would prioritize building a home for you, I couldn’t have expected something like this.”

  “I don’t think any of us expected what would follow.” I snuck a glance at my mate, who grinned happily. “I am happy you accepted my invitation to attend this grand unveiling. I hope I can help the town prosper for a long time to come.”

  “Ah, yes…” Hyel faltered, his smile turning a little strained. He glanced at his fellow elders, as if for aid, but they were all milling about and examining Alys’ handiwork.

  “Is there a problem?” Alys prodded.

  The elf sighed. “Well… You see, when we all became part of this settlement drive, someone visited me.”

  “Hrrrrm?” Alys rumbled, after another long pause.

  “I do not know how to soften this, so I will be direct. It was your grandmother, Alys.”

  My dragoness stiffened.

  “She wanted to be certain you would be alright, and gave me strict instructions on what to do if any trouble came to our town,” Hyel went on. “The eel… thing… didn’t quite count. But after the attempted invasion, I couldn’t avoid contacting her. She recently replied.”

  I could feel the tension radiating off Alys as she whispered, “W-What did she say?”

  “In light of what happened… your grandmother is coming to visit.”

  Alys made a little noise of distress. I, meanwhile, could only stare at the old elf.

  Shaessath, The Incandescent. Shaessath, The Molten Expanse. A dragoness dangerous enough for the Seasons themselves to afford her due caution was coming to Swiftband.

  And, by the local customs, I was recently married to her granddaughter.

  the ebook launch, so if you are like me and you tend to reread the series you are following, you have until the 13th to do so here.

  https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0GDH1KQ13?maas=&ref=