"Sera."

  "What?"

  "I want to go to the dungeon."

  "You...what?"

  The ctter of a wooden spoon against a cy pot echoed in the room. Sera's hand, which had been halfway to her mouth, froze in mid-air. A bit of the stew dripped from the spoon, nding back into the pot with a soft plop.

  "I want to go to the dungeon," Leo repeated. He took another spoonful of the simple stew, chewing slowly. The taste was bnd, as expected, since condiments were a luxury that a poor farmer couldn't afford. But it was food, and he was starving.

  "Why?" She asked, setting her spoon down with care as she fixed him with a stare filled with curiosity, worry, and just a hint of hope.

  Leo swallowed his mouthful. He met her stare directly.

  "Because I've thought it through, and you were right."

  "About what?"

  "You've been saying it. We can't just farm," Leo gestured vaguely toward the door. "I'd bust my back from dawn till dusk, and at best, we'd have a full belly at the end of the season and maybe a few coppers to show for it. That's not a life. That's just... surviving. At least...I want you to have a better life than this."

  A profound silence filled the cottage. The only sound was the crackle of a few embers in the hearth.

  "I...You..." Finally, Sera broke first. Her face flushed from embarrassment. She picked up her spoon again, not to eat, but just to hold it, as if she didn't know what to do with her hands. "You're saying a lot of sappy things tely. Where did you learn all that?"

  "But wait! That's not the point. Why dungeon? I know I...tried to convince you to find another job, but I thought maybe we could go into town to find work or something. I know that you're..."

  "Not cut out for dungeon work?" Leo gave her a dry smile. She nodded.

  "We'll never know if we don't try," he shrugged and put the st spoonful of stew in his mouth before setting the bow down. He wasn't full, but he had had enough of bnd stew for now.

  "It's dangerous."

  "So is hunting."

  "You'll have to kill."

  "Again, so is hunting."

  "The monsters are much scarier than wild beasts."

  "I don't see the difference."

  That st one was just Leo putting up a brave front. He had never faced a dungeon monster before, so he couldn't tell.

  Sera fell silent for a while. She then sighed, holding her face with one hand.

  "What's wrong with you tely? Seriously, it's like you're a different person."

  "But do you like this me more, or the old me more?"

  He grinned and teased her.

  "I..." Sera almost dropped the bow. She then threw him a gre that he found to be more endearing than scary on her blushing face. "Hmp. Even if you learned to smooth talk, that doesn't mean you've changed."

  "Does that mean you agree to let me go to the dungeon?"

  "I...I'm not sure. I wasn't kidding when I said it was dangerous, Leo."

  "Then come with me."

  "Huh? Me? Go with you?"

  Sera's head snapped up.

  "Think about it," Leo leaned forward, his eyes intent on hers. He needed to show her that he was serious. "You're worried about me, then come with me. We can watch each other's back. You're good with a spear, and I a crossbow. We'll be a perfect duo."

  Her hands, which had been fidgeting with her spoon, went still. A dozen emotions crossed her face.

  "Just the two of us?" she finally asked, her voice quieter. "We've never fought together before. Besides, just two people going in there is... We don't even have the coins to hire anyone..."

  "There might be one person we don't have to pay upfront," Leo said as he leaned back. The chair creaking under his weight.

  "Who?"

  "Marsh."

  Sera blinked.

  "Your older brother?"

  "Just the one."

  "The Marsh who borrows money from people then let his wife chase them away when they come to collect? The Marsh who gets himself drunk at the tavern at least three nights a week? That Marsh?"

  Leo nodded. He then saw the look in Sera's eyes and sighed.

  "Don't be too harsh on him."

  "Harsh, hah!"

  Sera snorted, but there wasn't any humor on her face.

  "Well, he's good with an axe, at least I'll give him that," finally, she conceded. "But can you really trust someone like that to watch your back? Also, his wife is pregnant, right? Will she even let him go in the first pce?"

  "Oh...Dar is...pregnant. Right, I forgot about that."

  Leo was taken by surprise. Marsh's wife was indeed pregnant in old Leo's memory. He just didn't think about it.

  "Well..." he scratched the back of his head. "I'll just have to ask him ter. And about your other concern...Yes. He's my brother. He might be unreliable elsewhere, but I trust Marsh when it comes to our family."

  "Really...men, so simple..." Sera didn't protest anymore. "If you've already decided, then I'll support you."

  "Thank you, Sera. You're the best wife that I could ask for."

  "Cut the fttery."

  The fire had burned down to embers. Outside, the vilge had gone quiet, just the soft chirp of crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl somewhere in the trees beyond the fields.

  Leo y on his back, staring at the ceiling beams he'd memorized over the past week. Beside him, Sera was lying under the thin bnket, breathing steadily, with her back turned toward him.

  They'd been talking for over an hour.

  Not about the dungeon, they'd exhausted that topic at dinner, hashing out pns and supply lists until there was nothing left to say.

  They talked about her instead, and Leo had learned a lot of thing about his wife that old Leo never had the chance to know.

  He'd learned that Sera's favorite season was autumn, when the leaves turned and the air smelled like smoke and apples.

  She'd wanted to be a traveling merchant when she was a girl, before she understood what her father's disgrace meant for her prospects.

  He had also learned that she hated the taste of parsnips but ate them anyway because they stored well through winter and waste was a sin when you were poor.

  Small things, but Leo felt like he had gotten a lot closer to her.

  Sera had talked more tonight than she had all week combined. Something had loosened in her since dinner, since he'd told her about the dungeon and asked for her help.

  Now Sera's breathing had slowed, evening out toward sleep. And he was staring at the ceiling and thinking about the future.

  The dungeon. The skill. The 35 energy sitting useless in his reserves, waiting for monster kills to replenish it. The crossbow, restored and ready, mounted back on the wall where it belonged. The bolts, old but serviceable, waiting in their quiver. Sera's spear, stashed under the bed ever since their wedding night...

  Sera shifted in her sleep, pressing her back closer to him. Close enough that he could feel the warmth of her through the thin yer of their clothes.

  Leo's thoughts stuttered.

  He suddenly became very aware of her body.

  Her hip curved under the bnket. Her waist dipped inward, then fred out again to the swell of her backside. Her big, beautiful breasts - he couldn't see them from this angle, but he remembered them.

  Leo's cock twitched.

  Fuck.

  He didn't decide to move his hand. It just happened. His fingertips grazing her hip, light enough to be accidental.

  Sera went still.

  She wasn't asleep then. Or not anymore.

  Leo waited, his heart thudding against his ribs.

  Should I stop? I don't know. I've never had a girlfriend before. But we're husband and wife, right? This much is...

  In the end, his lust won, and his hand settled more firmly on her hip. His thumb traced a slow circle against the linen, almost involuntary, mapping the shape of her.

  "...Leo?"

  Sera voice was quiet. Muzzy with almost-sleep, but there was a trace of alert underneath.

  "Mm."

  "What are you doing?"

  "Nothing."

  "That's not nothing." She still hadn't moved. Hadn't pulled away or turned to face him. "That's your hand on my hip."

  "Is it? I hadn't noticed."

  "You're a terrible liar."

  "I know."

  His hand slid higher, over the curve of her waist, following the dip and swell of her body. She sucked in a breath but didn't stop him.

  His fingers brushed the underside of her breast through the fabric. It was soft and warm.

  Sera inhaled sharply, her whole body going tense against him.

  "Leo..."

  "Do you want me to stop?"

  Silence stretched between them. Her breathing had quickened, the rapid rise and fall of her shoulder visible even in the dim light.

  "...It's fine. We're married. I...expected this," she admitted finally. "But that doesn't mean you should just...I was almost asleep..."

  "You weren't."

  "I was close."

  "You were thinking about the dungeon."

  A pause. Longer this time.

  "How did you know that?"

  "Because I was too," his hand closed over her breast. They were full and heavy even through the linen, more than he could hold in one palm, the flesh spilling between his fingers. "And then I started thinking about other things."

  "Ah..."

  Sera made a sound. Half gasp, half annoyed huff, like she couldn't decide whether to moan or scold him.

  "Men. You're all the same. Always have your thoughts in the...ah..."

  Leo had found her nipple. It was a stiff peak pressing against the fabric, and he rolled it between his thumb and forefinger, feeling it harden further under his attention.

  "You were saying?"

  "I hate you."

  "No you don't."

  "I might," her voice had gone breathy and strained. And when he pinched it lightly again, her hips jerked back against him, pressing into the erection that had been growing before he had even touched her.

  She froze.

  "Is that..."

  "Yes."

  "Already?"

  "You're very attractive," Leo whispered. He rolled her nipple again.

  "You're...oh...impossible," she didn't pull away. If anything, she arched into his touch, her breast filling his palm, her ass grinding against his cock through the yers of fabric between them.

  She wants this, Leo realized. She just doesn't want to admit it.

  He could work with that.

  His hand slid down from her breast, over the curve of her waist, the fre of her hip. Found the hem of her dress where it had ridden up to her thighs and slipped underneath.

  "Leo," her voice had gone thin. Desperate. "We can't. It's...I'm..."

  "We can't? Why?"

  "It's my time," the words came out frustrated, almost angry, like her own body had betrayed her. "My monthly time. I'm bleeding. We can't...I can't..."

  Disappointment settled in Leo's chest. He'd been hoping, but that wasn't fair. Sera couldn't control her body's timing any more than he could control the way his cock had hardened just from lying next to her.

  "Okay. I understand. Maybe next time..." He said, starting to withdraw his hand.

  Sera caught his wrist, holding his palm ft against her hip.

  "It's...It's okay....we can't do that, but there's... other things."

  Leo's cock jumped against her ass.

  "Other things?"

  "Don't make me say it."

  "I might need you to say it."

  She made a frustrated growl, muffled against the pillow.

  "You're being difficult on purpose."

  "I have no idea what you're talking about."

  Sera twisted to look at him over her shoulder. Her face was flushed, her hazel eyes bright with annoyance and something that looked like grudging amusement. Strands of chestnut hair had escaped her braid, curling against her flushed cheeks.

  "I could use my hand. Like before. If you need it so badly."

  "I need it very badly."

  "Of course you do," she rolled her eyes, but her fingers were still wrapped around his wrist, holding his hand against her skin.

  "Can I ask for something else?"

  He leaned in, pressed his lips to the curve of her shoulder. He felt her shiver.

  "You're already asking for plenty."

  "One more thing."

  She sighed. The long-suffering exhale of a woman who knew she was going to agree and resented him for it.

  "Fine. What?"

  "I want to see you naked."

  Sera went still.

  "...What?"

  "Last time, you were still fully dressed," he traced his thumb along her hip, feeling the softness of her skin. "I want to see you."

  "You want me to undress."

  Sera's voice was ft and nervous.

  "Yes."

  "All the way?"

  "As much as you're comfortable with."

  She stopped talking. Leo could almost hear her thinking - weighing her shyness against his request.

  "Fine," she said finally. "But turn around."

  "What?"

  "Turn around!" She was already pulling away from him, sitting up in the bed, her back rigid with embarrassment. "I'll undress, but I'm not doing it with you watching me like...like some kind of...just turn around."

  It was a compromise. Leo could accept that.

  "Okay," he rolled onto his other side. The straw mattress rustled beneath him. "Tell me when."

  The bed shifted as Sera moved. Then came the rustle of linen being pulled over her head, and the soft thump of fabric dropping to the floor beside the bed.

  Leo stared at the wall and imagined what she looked like. The heavy fall of her breasts, freed from the shift's loose constraint. The curve of her waist, the swell of her hips. The freckles scattered across her shoulders that he'd glimpsed during bandage changes...

  His cock strained, aching against his sleep pants.

  The rustling stopped.

  "Okay," Sera's voice was small. Nervous. Trying to sound steady and failing. "You can look."

  Leo had never moved as fast in his life, both of them.

  She was sitting up in bed with the bnket pooled around her waist, her arms crossed over her chest, like she was bracing for judgment.

  But Leo wasn't looking at her arms.

  Her breasts spilled around her attempt at coverage, pressed together by her forearms, creating a valley between them. They were even rger than he'd realized. He could see the edge of one areo peeking past her wrist, dusky pink in the dim light, and the sight sent a fresh pulse of heat straight to his cock.

  Her waist...that was a curve he wanted to trace with his tongue, exactly as he'd imagined. Her skin looked soft and pale.

  "Stop staring," she whispered. Her face had gone scarlet, visible even in the moonlight.

  "No."

  "Leo..."

  "You're beautiful."

  The words came out simple, honest. No fttery or exaggeration.

  Sera's arms tightened around herself. Her blush deepened, spreading down her throat toward her chest.

  "Can I see the rest?"

  "I'm still wearing...I kept my..."

  "I know. I want to see anyway."

  Hesitantly, Sera pushed the bnket down.

  She'd kept her lower undergarment on - a simple cloth wrapped around her hips, held in pce with a tie at her waist.

  But other than that, she was bare.

  Her stomach was soft, gently rounded. Her thighs were thick and strong where they pressed together.

  Leo's mouth went dry.

  "Come here," he said.

  She huffed, but moved toward him anyway. Her arms still trying to cover her breasts. Leo reached out and gently pulled them away.

  "Let me see."

  "You've been seeing. You've been staring for..."

  "Please."

  The word stopped her protest short. She let her arms fall to her sides, sitting there exposed and trembling while he looked his fill. Her nipples had hardened in the cool air, cute pink peaks standing stiff on top the swell of her breasts.

  Leo's hand found her waist first, sliding up the curve of her side. She shivered but didn't pull away. He traced the line of her ribs, the soft swell where her breast began, mapping her with his fingertips.

  "Oh..."

  Sera whimpered.

  His hand closed over her breast. Her nipple pressed into his palm, and when he squeezed gently she made a moan that went straight to his cock.

  "Your turn," he murmured.

  "My turn to what? You're the one who...nnh...who wanted to..." She gasped as he rolled her nipple between his fingers. "That's not fair."

  "You promised to use your hand."

  "I said I would. I didn't promise anything."

  "Sera."

  "Fine. Fine," she reached for him with trembling fingers, her movements clumsy, distracted by what his hand was doing to her breast. "You're so...ah...so demanding..."