Mariella, Vidalia, and Victoria stepped into the hut the foxgirl twins had pointed out as their own.

  The fire mage tried not to look too shocked.

  It is humble, but there’s nothing wrong with that, she told herself. Not everyone grows up the way you did.

  Still, this place gave her the impression that the Twinleaf family was on the poorer side relative even to other beastfolk. There were a few sticks of furniture, a rude fireplace—and two male beastfolk, a middle-aged man and a child of around twelve, both dressed in patchy clothing.

  But their reactions to the arrivals forced Mariella to forget about the material conditions of the fox beastfolk’s lives for a moment.

  “A human!” said the boy excitedly.

  That made the man look up, and his face lit up with a mixture of shock and horror.

  “Why have you brought a human—two humans—into our home?” he asked hotly. “Vida, Vicky, what were you thinking?”

  “We were thinking that they just saved the village,” Vidalia said coolly.

  “They… what?”

  He looked as if his worldview had just been shaken.

  “This man is a necromancer, Uncle,” Victoria said, gesturing at Tybalt. “He was blessed by Lord Mudo, and he brought a bunch of undead. They, along with the necromancer and this woman, using a fire-related class, brought death to the invaders.”

  “Fire and death, hm?” the older man muttered, a smile slowly dawning over his features.

  For the first time, Mariella started really thinking about the god that had given Tybalt his powers. Mudo… Is there a month named after him?

  It was part of winter, if she was correct. The month was called Mudrius. The coldest month of the year, when everything was dead. A chill ran down her spine.

  The calendar was, as far as she understood, older than the oldest temples in the Kingdom.

  That lent some credence to the idea Tybalt had pushed, that she and the rest of their people had been lied to, to some extent, about the truth of the divine.

  “Could one of you, perhaps, um, tell me something about this Lord Mudo?” Mariella asked nervously.

  “Ah!” The man got a glint in his eye and quickly rose to his feet, almost falling in his haste. “Thank you very much for saving our village, young lady. May I assume you’re asking because you are a potential convert?”

  “Um…” His enthusiasm was a little off-putting, but he wasn’t wrong. “The man I’m… in a relationship with follows your god, so I would like to at least keep an open mind.”

  It was strange to think about keeping an open mind on something that would get her killed for heresy if she was back home. But she wasn’t home just then, and she had been proven wrong in so many of her assumptions about the world over the last week…

  “All right, I won’t do the explaining myself, then,” the man said, grinning. “I’ll find one of our learned shamen to do it! Perhaps Zorin…”

  “Andric’s brother, really?” muttered Vidalia in a low voice that spoke of mild impatience.

  The older man ignored it or didn’t hear what she’d said. Mariella could believe either one, as he was quickly getting ready to leave, donning shoes and a patched up cloak. She noticed for the first time that the man moved with a pronounced limp. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t been present for the skirmish at the village, though he was also past what she would consider the normal fighting age for men.

  “Name’s Edmund, by the way,” he said, turning back to Mariella.

  “Can they stay with us, Uncle E?” Victoria asked with a bright smile. She almost certainly knew what the answer was going to be already from the way she asked.

  “Of course,” Uncle Edmund said, shrugging. “They saved the village, like you said. Surprised they don’t have somewhere better to stay, honestly.” He wrinkled his forehead. “Wait, do we have enough room? Where will the necromancer sleep? The young lady will want her privacy.”

  “They’re lovers,” Vidalia said, and she seemed to take a little bit of amusement in the look of surprise that appeared on Uncle Edmund’s face in response. “She’ll certainly want to warm his bed while he recovers from his injuries.”

  “Er, right,” the older man said, letting out a breath and forcing a smile. “I forget that people in the Kingdom do things a bit differently from us. You two can take, um—”

  “—my space,” Vidalia finished for him. “I’ll sleep next to Vicky.”

  “Good girl,” Edmund said, nodding his approval and squeezing her shoulder. He looked at Mariella and lowered his voice slightly. “I hope you might be able to keep things, um, quiet at night, when we’re all home. We work our plot of land during the day, so you will have the run of the place, if you can get dear Vidalia to do other things. I’m sure she would be happy to give you space.”

  The foxgirl covered her titters with one hand as Uncle Edmund looked at the fire mage obliviously.

  I’m not that kind of girl! Mariella wanted to shout.

  But as Tybalt had proven, in the right circumstances, she was exactly what Vidalia and her uncle’s exchange suggested. She felt a bit like a whore.

  At least I’m pretty sure he’s husband material for me, if I can get past this massive political and religious divide. That’s worth a little shame, right?

  As the uncle turned away from Mariella, she aimed a disapproving look at the foxgirl. Vidalia responded with an apologetic expression, her hands folded together as if praying, and the mouthed words, “Sorry! I had to.”

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  “Hayden, come along,” said Edmund to the boy who had remained seated this whole time—staring at Mariella, she now realized. “We’ll light a candle at the shrine before we return and pray for the spirits of the fallen from today’s battle.”

  It took Hayden a moment to respond. The boy’s mouth was slightly agape.

  Like he’s never seen a girl outside his own family before, Mariella thought. My eyes are up here…

  This was going to be a long visit, no matter how many days it actually lasted.

  “Uncle, if you do actually find Zorin there, please let him know the Council of Elders needs to invite me to their next meeting, and it must take place soon,” Vidalia said in a quiet but clear voice.

  “Why?” he asked with a tinge of worry in his voice. “Didn’t you just say the village was saved?”

  “For today,” Vidalia replied firmly. “That doesn’t mean we’re out of danger. The tribe has poked a sleeping leopard with a stick, and somehow they seem to expect to get out of this un-mauled. I need to help them with what comes next.”

  “Very well, Vidalia,” Uncle Edmund said, frowning. “They will not appreciate your effort to command them like this, though. While we’re gone, finish up lunch, would you?”

  “Yes, Uncle.”

  He turned to his other niece. “Vicky, you can make our guests at home, yes?”

  The foxgirl nodded in the affirmative. The older man pulled his son along and left.

  “So, this Zorin guy is a shaman and a member of the um, Council of Elders?” Mariella asked.

  “No,” Vidalia said. She was looking down into a large pot of water simmering over the fire as she spoke. “He’s a shaman whose father is Chief. The same Chief whose other son is Andric, the war chief. You met both Chief Mihalic and Andric earlier. Any Chief automatically sits on their tribe’s Council.” She used a wooden spoon and took a cautious sip from the water. “Darn, Uncle E didn’t do a thing to this stew after I left… I just asked him to season it a little… but at least we’re eating hot food again. I’ll have to go gather herbs myself.” She looked back and forth between Mariella and Victoria. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do while I’m gone!”

  “That hardly seems plausible,” Victoria said dryly.

  Vidalia blushed and then smiled and shook her head. “Yeah, fair enough!”

  She rushed out, and the two other women looked at each other.

  “She’s a lot to keep up with,” Mariella ventured.

  “You have no idea. I’ll show you where you and Tybalt will be sleeping.”

  A few minutes later, the necromancer lay on a straw mattress behind the fabric that separated Vidalia’s sleeping area from the rest of the hut. Victoria and Mariella settled in the main room. The fire mage could finally relax and think about the new circumstances she’d found herself in.

  “So, tell me about Tybalt,” Victoria said suddenly.

  All right. I guess I’ll digest today’s events later. How I found out my lover was a necromancer, right after he took my virginity. How I betrayed the Army, killed my commanding officer, and am considering leaving the religion of my family, all for that same lover. On second thought, just talking about Tybalt is a lot easier than processing all that…

  “What do you want to know?” Mariella asked. She swallowed nervously.

  “Well, Vidalia wants us to marry him. We’d be your co-wives. And you’re already more… experienced with him than us. No offense. I know that everyone else has already made you feel ashamed enough. I’m not judging at all. Is he… a good man?”

  I don’t even know how to answer that.

  The more she thought about Tybalt, the more he was more complex than she could easily label. He was a noble bastard raised in poverty but with most of the education of your average noble; a skilled and experienced soldier and scout, knowledgeable in beastfolk cultures; a dark mage versed in the arts of death and undeath, chosen by a purportedly evil god, hungry for power and position; selfish and selfless in extremes; the savior of the beastfolk, the destroyer of his former comrades. He was merciless with enemies, tender with her…

  She had almost hated him in the past week, she had grown to perhaps love him, she resented him, she admired him, she didn’t know where she was emotionally. Further complicating matters, all of those different thoughts and feelings were covered in a haze of lust, because she was also sleeping with him.

  “I… I…” She chuckled nervously as she struggled to formulate an answer.

  “Sorry, I get that could be a complicated question. We’re talking about someone you love. Just, there are things I need to know. Vidalia has a tendency to walk us into things, and I’m not always sure if I’m doing what I want to do or what she wants for me. This is the biggest decision of my life, and it’s mine, regardless of any custom. Vida can marry him if she wants, without needing to do any background investigation, because the gods gifted her with supernatural means of knowing things. But with something this important, I… I can’t just lean on that. Tell me, is he gentle, at least? That’s more concrete. I wouldn’t want to be with a man who beats his wife if I had the choice.”

  Mariella nodded. “He’s gentle.”

  That was an easier answer. She could not easily imagine Tybalt being aggressive with her without her having attacked him first. He wasn’t even sexually very aggressive. When she drunkenly threw herself at him, including bodily landing in his lap, he’d acted like someone who had taken a vow of celibacy.

  “So, he’s been kind to you?” Victoria asked, swallowing. She looked nervous but excited.

  “That’s—hmm. He lied to me at the beginning, but yeah, he’s kind. He, um—” she blushed—“he gave me what I needed, and I’ve tried to do the same for him. We saved each other’s lives, mostly him saving me despite me being stronger than him physically and more experienced with magic. In some ways, he’s maybe the strongest man I’ve ever met. His willpower is incredible. He…” She realized a note of something like worship had crept into her voice, and she trailed off, a little uncomfortable.

  “Are you all right?” Victoria asked.

  “No,” Mariella said. She laughed at herself helplessly. “I don’t think I ever will be again. He has me twisted around in a way I never realized before. I… I think I belong to him. My heart, my body, my everything, I just keep thinking I want to be with him. It’s ridiculously intense, when I consider that he’s in the next room!”

  It also feels ridiculous, because I keep arguing with myself about whether I should want that or not…

  Victoria snorted with laughter. “That does sound intense. It must be a good feeling, though.”

  “It’s complicated. More complicated than I’d prefer. I want him to hold me, care for me, make big life decisions with me… or for me. I think that’s what I find most attractive in him. He’s the kind of man I want to follow. I want him to tell me what to do, and I just obey him.” She swallowed and fidgeted, her fingers rubbing against and twisting around each other as she spoke. “Everything I just told you is embarrassing, and I think I only said it because I’m processing my feelings out loud.”

  Maybe I also needed someone to share it with, she thought. Am I going mad?

  “I, um, I guess I don’t need to ask how the… bed stuff is.” She chuckled, which Mariella did not join.

  The fire mage rubbed the bridge of her nose, a little frustrated.

  “It’s great. The one night we had, I mean. It was great.”

  I’ve probably made some terrible decisions, because it was great. If we were just compatible personalities, I probably wouldn’t have stayed with him this long. Would I have fought the squad? Maybe? I certainly wouldn’t still be here, sitting around waiting for him to wake up like a—like a mind controlled princess from a fable. Would I?