Warren's POV:

  “What?”

  “You're in heat. Or rut, or whatever it’s called.” Warren repeated, running a hand threw his messy hair and leaning back into his couch. Guests were always exhausting - royal guests especially. “You want babies. And you want them now.”

  Bastain just stood there, frozen.

  “Is there a cure?” Carsen asked, helpful as ever. Much like Warren’s own assistant, the fox got straight to the important questions. He liked that.

  “Isn't he getting married?” Warren chuckled. “The problem should solve itself then. Unless you don’t like your partner–”

  “No,” Bastian growled, actually growled. The drakin had it bad, poor guy. “It’s the opposite.”

  “Then what’s the problem?” Warren slipped back into a laid down position on the couch, grabbing his soft throw pillow and pleased that he’d solved the issue so quickly. Now he could go back to sleep.

  “Heh-hmm,” Gemma coughed, telling him not-so-subtly that napping wouldn’t be in his immediate future.

  More the pity. He dragged himself back to a mostly sitting position, hoping this wouldn’t take much longer.

  “The problem,” Bastian explained through ground teeth, “Is that I can’t go five feet from my fiancé without suffering this.”

  He waved at his sorry state, and Warren nodded knowingly. “That’s good then.”

  The drakin stared at him like he’d grown a second head. Which, he had not.

  “What?” Warren asked into the silence, adding, “You’ve found a mate, you’re marrying her, and you get to live happily ever after. I still don’t see what the problem is.”

  Bastian just stared at Warren. Really, it was bordering on rude at this point. Not that he couldn’t sleep through someone staring daggers at him - Gemma was proof of that. The girl sometimes stood there for a while before she woke him up. Not that she knew he knew that.

  Carsen broke the silence, patting the drakin on the back, “I guess you’ll be taking some more time off work. Uh. Congratulations?”

  Thankfully, Bastian turned his attention to his second-in-command. “Peregrine wanted to join the Adventuring Guild, and explore the city, and… I can’t just lock her up in my house until she’s–”

  He stopped himself, flushing from his neck to the tips of his pale ears. Warren nodded, “Putting her wants first is a good sign. Nothing saying you can’t do both dungeon delving and mating.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  The drakin managed to get even redder and covered his face with his hands, groaning. Gemma poked Warren in the shoulder blade. He looked back to see her also rosy-cheeked, and frowning. Her scrunched-up nose was cute like that, and he quickly looked away.

  Gemma spoke firmly from behind him, “Maybe put things more delicately for the Knight Commander.”

  “Not much left to say.” Warren yawned deliberately louder than he needed to. “Now can I go back to sleep?”

  “Thank you for your time,” Carsen said, deciding that his boss had had enough and he should probably get the drakin out of there. Such a good fox.

  “Anytime,” Gemma said, nodding at the royal knights who were already showing themselves out. “Let us know if there’s anything else you need to know.”

  That was as good a goodbye as any, but some tingling at the back of his neck prevented Warren from collapsing back onto his nice pillow and falling back into peaceful slumber. The Assistant Guild Master’s voice was so close that he could feel her breath on his ear, sending a shiver down his spine. “Now that we’re alone…”

  A pile of scrolls tumbled out of mid-air and landed on his lap. “You can sign these. Then we’ll be reviewing the contestants you have to face for the martial competitions next week.”

  Unease turned to dread as he saw the firm look in her eyes. They meant great misfortune and despair.

  No more naps for Warren.

  ...

  Bastian's POV:

  “Are you going to tell her?” Carsen’s words cut into Bastian’s thoughts as the two stood outside the doorway to his house.

  It was a good question.

  “What am I supposed to say?” Bastian glanced at his gate. “Sorry Peregrine, but I’m throwing away our marriage of convenience for a real one?”

  He couldn’t bring himself to say it. After watching his mother suffer raising him alone from his father’s irresponsible life choices, the thought of going into a mating frenzy was already like getting dunked in ice water.

  Sure, he wasn’t his father, but Peregrine deserved way better than whatever nervous wreck he’d become.

  For all he knew, she expected a friendly celibate year of comradery that any sane person would expect from a marriage of convenience… whereas Bastian already knew his mind was planning their life ten, fifteen years ahead.

  Now he needed to think of some other way to survive. One that didn’t inconvenience Peregrine too much.

  He could move out of the house and into the palace. Their Highness had crafted a special dungeon that could hold elite criminals well into Level 80. He could go straight there after the wedding service was done and lock himself in. Or maybe he’d go there right now…

  “Can’t you just tell her the truth?” Carsen suggested, dragging Bastian back to reality. “If you trust her, that is… I can see things going very badly if Sumbria was using her to get passed Rowen’s defences and suddenly the head of Their guard is out of his mind with obsession–”

  “I can’t be the Knight Commander like this.” Bastian stated simply. “I have every trust in Peregrine - it’s myself I don’t trust. Not now.”

  Carsen agreed. “I’ll leave you to tell Their Highness. Whenever they’re back.”

  “Sorry to put this on you with no warning.” Bastian said, putting a palm on the fox’s shoulder and trying to remain calm.

  Carsen bumped a fist over his heart in salute, shooting Bastian a reassuring grin, “We’ll handle everything until you're ready to return to service.”

  Bastian let him go and reached into his pocket, bringing out his two clearance badges. One was for being a member of the royal family and the other for being the head of Rowen’s personal knights. He ran a thumb over each and then offered the second to Carsen. “Here.”

  Carsen accepted the badge without comment, gripping it firmly in his palm and taking a deep breath. “I won’t let you down, Sir.”

  Bastian slipped the royal badge back into his pocket, determined to give it to Their Royal Highness as soon as they’d returned.

  “I know you’ll do just fine.” Bastian glanced at his house. “And you’ll know where to find me if you need anything.”

  Carsen followed Bastian’s gaze and it was his turn to clap the drakin on the shoulder, “Good luck.”