“Oh, look who finally shows up.” Kiara’s mirthless voice was accompanied by an equally mirthless face. The Succubus stood at the porch of her little fortified hut, arms crossed, staring intently at Rick as he hopped off of Rosalind. “And what’s this you’ve brought?”

  The sky was clear, the wind still carried the freshness of winter, and Kiara had only shown up well after he’d passed the perimeter guards. Rick couldn’t help but notice both the psychic mice and the Dark Elves had stopped training and left the moment he’d arrived. Similarly, the servants and guards had made themselves scarce, taking post further away from the cabin.

  “She ambushed us on the way out.” Rick tried to sound apologetic, but Lise’s eagerness to being glued to his side again was a little contagious. He did his best to ignore the reptilian tail currently wrapped around his waist as he approached. “Her name’s Lise, she’s… new.”

  The feralborn Salalexis had been skulking about the outer perimeter of the city ever since they’d gotten back. Apparently, she’d taken the “trip” to go visit Kiara as an opportunity to attempt to kidnap him… again. If not because Rosalind was as harmless as she looked, then he would’ve had a harder time convincing the lizard-girl to ride along.

  “I normally don’t take untrained gifts, but I can make an exception.” Kiara approached, eyes flashing menacingly, her smile devoid of mirth and all business. “Before we start, is she dead?”

  “Start? Also, who?”

  “Whoever hurt you so hard that it’s still bleeding.” She replied. “An emotional wound that large is hard to miss.”

  Rick hesitated, then grimaced. “She’s dead, yeah.” He rubbed his shoulders a bit, breaking eye contact. “Throag’s dead.”

  The Succubu’s brows knit together. “You bonded her.”

  “In an attempt to protect myself.” He quickly replied, lips thin. “I tried channeling all the… things that were happening through the bonds and into her, but she knocked me out.”

  Kiara’s eyes widened, a mix of befuddlement, followed by disappointment and anger. “You are a fool.” The ageless maiden let out a long and pained sigh, approaching him and ignoring Lise’s angry hissing. “Perhaps this was my mistake for not thinking you’d ever attempt something so… recklessly suicidal.”

  “What?”

  “You used the bond, the empathic bond, to hurt someone you are bonded to. Does that not strike you as maybe, probably, perhaps, being a bit… what’s the word… suicidal?” Her tone was thick with sarcasm and a threat, not looking away from him.

  His back straightened slightly. “I did what I could to protect myself.”

  “Yes, Rick, you stopped a sword by grabbing it with your naked hands and then swinging it around frantically, nice work.” She sneered, coming to a stop just barely outside of Lise’s strike range. The Salalexis had coiled herself, tail still firmly wrapped around Rick’s hip. The feralborn looked half ready to run, and half ready to pounce. Kiara seemed to completely ignore her, however. “Are you going to just stand there, or…?”

  Now that he was closer, he couldn’t help but note what she was wearing. Unlike the usual simple dress, or the more frequent shameless nudity, Kiara wore something between a blue toga and an ochre robe. It was elegant in its simplicity, almost regal, but what caught Rick’s attention was the purple sash wrapped around her waist, intentionally placed there in such a way that it accentuated her hourglass figure.

  “No, no, just… I’m glad to see you too,” he said, noticing other details about her appearance. How she’d combed her long, blue hair into a ponytail, the simple gold stud earrings… “Looking at you, I think I should’ve dressed up a little more.”

  The anger in her eyes turned to suspicion. “I’m not the healer; I hadn’t put this on for the praise and attention.”

  “I know, I know, you wanted to use it to spice my emotions in some specific way or another.” He grinned, not stepping closer, intentionally allowing Lise to remain as a pseudo-guardian between them.

  “And you ruined it by being all broken like that.” Kiara snapped.

  “Is it really that serious?”

  She gave him a deadpan look. “You taste like someone dumped gravel into a soggy salad. The concerning part is that you don’t seem too aware of it, which you should be.” Crossing her arms, she cocked her head in thought. “Have you felt randomly and irregularly apathetic towards things that, perhaps, should have incurred more of an emotional response?” Her lips twisted slightly upward. “What about the cat’s newest pet?”

  “It’s not a pet, it’s-” Rick stopped, frowning, then groaning. “Monica took a kid and… fuck. This should’ve…” A second, louder groan. “Objectively, looking back, this should be something big…”

  Monica’s memories of her time while feral were slowly coming back, foggy recollections, glimpses into the years she’d spent alone in that mountain. But one memory had affected her heavily, a pregnancy that had ended in stillbirth. Just talking about it had brought the feline to tears, and thinking back, Rick should’ve reacted to the news of this “adoption” with far more concern. At least try to push for a conversation about it, clear things out with her.

  But…

  “But you’ve left it at the wayside, left her to deal with it on her own, because you felt it wasn’t that important,” she said, as if reading his thoughts, giving a ‘tut’ of disapproval. “You are like a fighter that doesn’t bother checking their own body for injuries. And you just came back from pummeling yourself.”

  “I can’t exactly ‘see’ my feelings, Kiara.” He answered, annoyed.

  “No, you can’t, which is more the reason for being careful. You are bonded to hundreds of maidens, Rick, just how their feelings can affect you, yours can affect them. Imagine if you wake up and suddenly start feeling murderous? How long until, say, some feral-born thing opts to express those emotions that are seeping through the bond?”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Lise hissed at Kiara, but Rick reached out, gently squeezing the maiden’s shoulder. For a moment the Salalexis hesitated, but with one more look at Kiara, she lowered her claws, tongue flicking in the air.

  “Fine, you’re right.” He conceded. “What do you suggest?”

  “Aftercare.”

  “...what?”

  “Aftercare.” Kiara reiterated with a roll of her eyes. “That’s why you came here, isn’t it?”

  “So Yasir told you why I’m here.” He accused half-jokingly. Apparently the merchant had taken the chance to send a message ahead of his journey here.

  “The foreign merchant and I have an understanding.” She smirked, shameless. “I hadn’t suspected the state you’d be in, though. I’ll have to change plans, pamper you some. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

  Now it was Rick’s turn to roll his eyes.

  “Give me any more attitude and I can just send you back the way you came.” She chided, gesturing for him to follow her inside. “I’ll change into something more appropriate.”

  “What about Lise?”

  Kiara shook her head. “Keep her, you’ll need an emotional crutch anyway, and the horse won’t fit.”

  Without another word, she stepped inside, leaving him to wrangle the dubious Lise towards the house. The Salalexis was nervous, clearly unsure whether to consider Kiara a threat, a foe, a snack, or something entirely separate. Not exactly wanting to use the bond to coax her into compliance, Rick instead kept himself to speaking with soothing and reassuring sounds as he gently guided her towards the wooden house.

  Leading by example, Rick took his coat off, then his shoes, proceeding past the foyer and into the common-room. The fireplace had been lit, the room was cozy and warm, the table set with a bowl of fresh fruit. Lise’s gaze immediately locked on the food, sparing a glance around the room before hastily snatching the whole platter. The reptile proceeded to back herself against a corner nearest a window, tugging Rick along with her as she began to gobble up the food without waiting another moment.

  “I know you’re not even hungry right now.” He commented idly, not making any moves to take food from her.

  Taking food from a feral-born maiden mid-meal was one of the quickest ways one could lose a hand… or an arm.

  “You didn’t take her into the city?” Kiara called out from elsewhere in the hut.

  “She was very uncomfortable, kept trying to run off with me, and opted to just…” Rick blinked. “Oh, this is another of those apathy things, isn’t it.”

  “I’ll write some mental exercises you’ll have to do regularly from now on.” She replied. “Make sure to follow them, you wouldn't want an accident.”

  “Talking from experience?”

  “...” Somehow, the silence felt pensive, interrupted only by Lise’s loud chewing. “Yes.” Kiara finally declared from the other room, the lone word heavy with some indistinguishable weight to it. “Be a dear and pick up the bristled glove next to the fireplace. Use that on the lizard until her scales stop losing that brown-ish tint.”

  “Is this supposed to be aftercare for me or for her?” He jokingly asked, coaxing the feralborn maiden away from the window so that he could find and use the aforementioned glove.

  Lise wasn’t all too happy, but obliged after confirming there was nothing else in the room with them. Her tail remained tight around his hip, and she kept the escape-window within line of sight at all times. The attention, however, quickly shifted to Rick once the gloved hand began to stroke the scales that ran down her back and into her oversized tail.

  Slit pupils watched him intensely, one hand holding the bowl of fruit, the other helping her gobble up every bit. But as his stroking became a bit more forceful, the maiden began to shiver a little with every stroke. Her body began to ease into his touch, letting out a soft hissing sound.

  “What’s with the scales?” Rick asked, watching the slight shimmer on the scaly surface.

  “Salalexis that’re stressed try to blend with their surroundings.” Kiara answered. “It’s not conscious, though, and if they relax enough, they return to their default.” A pause, followed by ruffling. “If you can get her to lay down before I’m finished here, I’ll give you a reward.”

  “Yes ma’am.” He chuckled.

  Keeping to the task, one hand scrubbing while the other very carefully sought out where to exert pressure into the deeper tissue. Her response was to just let him do that, making more pleased hissing sounds, eyeing the doors and windows less and less as her tail loosened.

  It was easier than he’d expected, but he figured part of the reason came from the warmth in the room and the fact that she’d stuffed her face. Rick took the opportunity to think back to when he’d met Monica for the first time: wild, dangerous, unstoppable, and promptly hooked on the chocolate bars he’d brought.

  Funny how food was still the simplest and most effective method to bond a feralborn. It was a universal thing that went beyond any language.

  That and scritches, though it took a while for Monica before she enjoyed those.

  Lise appeared to be all up for it, letting out a long groan as she leaned forward, down to all fours, stretching her tail up like a flagpole. The limb was, in contrast to the rest of her body, massive. Thicker than Rick’s thigh, the limb coiled and bent with powerful muscles underneath, the scales taking a dazzling green luster under the scrubbing of the glove.

  The tail flicked, the tip curling behind Rick’s neck and pulling him down as she moved to lay on the fur rug in front of the fireplace. Lise’s eyes dazzled as she stared up at him with a mix of satisfaction and comfort. For a moment her gaze lingered on him, then, slowly, she took the gloved hand in her own and moved it down to her scaly thighs.

  The scales on the inside were soft like silk, while those on the outside felt more like polished glass. Rick kept his focus as he traced a path down her leg all the way to her talon-like feet.

  “Don’t get too ahead of yourself.” Kiara chided as the door slowly creaked open. “She’s feralborn, recently tamed, and unaware of how fragile you truly are.”

  The Succubus was wearing nothing at all save a set of heels, her skin decorated with thin red lines of paint. She looked as if a wild naked viking, painted and ready for battle. Her eyes smoldered as she looked at his work with naked approval.

  The Salalexis tensed at the sight of her, particularly of the tail, wings, and horns.

  “So she’s going to be your meal?” Rick asked amusedly, keeping his work and soothing Lise back down, noting how Kiara did not take a step closer until the lizard-girl had relaxed.

  “In a sense, yes.” She cooed, stepping closer, and stopping when Lise tensed up, before waiting a bit longer and taking another step. “I thought it would be a good opportunity to show you what Succubi were used for. Call it a historical representation of our original designs, extracted from texts as old as that green bitch in the forest.”

  He laughed lightly, more so once he noticed the undertone of eagerness and anticipation Kiara was trying to keep hidden. “And what would that be?”

  “Historical records of Succubi did not make an appearance until well after the first mentions of ferals.” Kiara was close enough she caressed Lise’s tail, and the maiden shuddered, gasping loudly, whole body trembling in enjoyment. “The stories were muddled and contorted, details lost to time.” Kneeling next to him, her finger continued up the tail, yet her golden eyes remained locked on Rick’s. “We took in wild things and tamed them, made them safe, enjoyable.”

  She stole a kiss, hot and brief, before lifting her finger.

  Lise sighed, slumping into a puddle on the rug.

  “That was for doing a good job.” Kiara whispered, her finger turning his face so he’d stare at the Salalexis, the Succubus whispering into his ear. “Now, I’ll teach you how to do this properly.”