It was a beautiful sunny day. The sky was clear, and a nice, cool breeze brushed through the forest. The mountain village we resided in was just off a main path through the mountains. While the winters were harsh, the rest of the year was primarily calm, with the occasional bit of rain hitting our village.

  In that peaceful mountain village, we mostly kept to ourselves with the occasional trading with those who were passing through the major path. In exchange for quality crafted wooden pieces, we’d trade for goods that we couldn’t obtain there, and we rarely let outsiders in as it was considered bad luck. Isolation, for the most part, was our way of life. Occasionally, we’d rescue underprepared adventurers during the winter as we did not want random strangers dying due to the harsh winter conditions.

  While our homes weren’t exactly made from the highest quality materials, they kept us warm and safe during those wintery conditions and cool during the summertime. Overall, our homes were built well and could withstand extreme weather.

  The village itself probably consisted of around 50 people, and we had a village chief who would help us settle disputes and make significant decisions. He was an older gentleman with slight gray mixed into his brown hair. He was strict but fair regarding his expectations and the rules that were implemented for our quaint mountain home.

  As I stood there, looking through mountain ranges, I could see birds flying off in the distance and the sun shining through the trees. The sounds of various wildlife in the forest made the forest appear lively. But something caught my eye: a group of four walking along the path. They had a horse-drawn cart with some personal belongings occupying every bit of space possible in it. I continued to watch as they walked along before one of them collapsed.

  I quickly ran down the small trail from our village to the main road, making my way to the right. As I got closer, I could see that they appeared to be different. Their skin was grayer, and their facial features were different from those of humans. After I reached them, I noticed that a child had fainted, and being a child myself, I was scared.

  I screamed loudly for help, trying to get my mother, father, or one of the other villagers to come down to help. As I continued to scream for help, I could hear a bell ringing in the distance, indicating that the village had listened to my calls for help. On such short notice, at least two of the militia members quickly ran towards us. Once they got closer, they realized a child had fainted.

  “Quickly! An Elven child appears to be hurt. Get a stretcher,” he yelled loudly.

  A few moments later, a couple of other villagers, along with the village chief, arrived.

  “Elves. Great. Elves, you may stay with us temporarily until your kids are both okay. But you pointy-eared bastards are not to overstay your welcome.” He said firmly.

  I watched as the child was placed on a stretcher. The ground suddenly turned black, and everyone started to fall through it. I stood there baffled as to what was going on around me. I stopped for a moment, rubbing my eyes. I looked back again as the team carrying the child on the stretcher was now up on the path back to the village. The Elven family was following closely behind with their horse and cart in tow.

  I stood there, wondering if what I saw was just my imagination. As I continued to stand there, blindly looking at the ground, the Chief called out to me.

  “Hey, c’mon! Back to the village; it’s not safe for you to be here by yourself.” He shouted.

  I looked over at him. “Coming!” I shouted back.

  I started to run back up the main path, following the others through the somewhat well-maintained path heading back. As I returned to the village area, I saw one of the Elven children holding onto the horse.

  “Hello, do you wanna play?” I asked.

  He turned around, looking at me. “Thank you for saving my sister. She wasn’t doing well, and I don’t know what we would’ve done without your people.”

  “Oh, yeah, it’s nothing,” I said, motioning my hand in front of me.

  As we continued in small talk, the adults finally emerged from a small medical hut that the village had set up for outsiders since we tried to assist when we could. The village was incredibly remote and was probably about 3 hours from a huge city. So, while our village wasn’t exactly geared for significant issues, we could still offer basic aid if needed.

  When the adults exited the hut, their faces were blurred, looking as though someone had scribbled on them. They were slowly dissipating into dust as the ground turned red where they walked. I stumbled backward as the ground around me started to turn red, and the Elven boy started to dissipate, too. I let out a scream.

  My father rushed out from his home, holding a spear, over to me.

  “What? Are you okay, bud? Did this pointy push you?” he asked before pointing the spear at the Elven child. “DID YOU PUSH MY SON?!” He yelled.

  “No, father, it wasn’t him… I just… lost my balance and fell backward. I don’t think I’m feeling well.” I replied, trying to take the heat off of the Elven child.

  “Very well.” He said as he returned his spear to an upright position.

  He grabbed me gently by my head, ushering me back towards our tiny home. I decided to retreat to my bedroom for now. It wasn’t a large room, but it had a small bed and a dresser, along with a window facing towards the forest to the side of the village. Occasionally, I’d wake up to see small critters or birds sitting on my windowsill.

  I hopped into my bed, staring at the ceiling as it started to slightly disappear. I could see the sky, which was now red. I looked down at the floor, and I found my bed to be… flying? Floating? It was doing something along a black cloud that looked like it was made of many circles. I covered my eyes with my hands in fear of the current events.

  After a few moments, things appeared to be calm again, but I was in different clothing and playing with the elf child.

  “Are you paying attention?” he asked, concern in his voice.

  “Sorry, I got lost in thought or something,” I said.

  He laughed. “Okay, well, I’m trying to teach you a fire spell. Aicanár. Hold your hands up in front of you, focus your energy on your palms, and let’s try to get this fire pit going.”

  I focused the energy through the palms of my hands, looking at the kindling in the firepit. When I felt focused enough, I made an attempt.

  “Aicanár!” I exclaimed.

  The kindling caught fire, starting it. I looked at the Elven boy, who had a huge smile on his face.

  “You did it! You did it!” he said, jumping up and down.

  “Yeah… Yeah, I did.” I quietly said.

  I gently placed a couple of smaller pieces of wood on the firepit, resulting in a small campfire, before noticing the daytime sky turned into darkness. I looked up at the sky, trying to figure out why it was dark suddenly. The sky appeared to have several large cracks in it, with a mixture of fire and darkness protruding. I quickly looked back at the ground; the Elven boy was now just a ripple in front of me. I stumbled backward, landing on what appeared to be someone’s hand.

  The fear of the hand being detached from the body it may belong to caused me to warily look behind me. While it was still attached to an arm, which was attached to someone else, their face was nothing but squiggly lines, and their skin appeared as if it was made of stone. It then started to crumble. I tried to stand, but the hand I landed on was holding me down.

  I shut my eyes tightly, trying to wake myself up from whatever nightmare I was experiencing. The ground, the faces, the sky—everything about the… day… was beyond crazy. Everything continued breaking around me until it was just silence. After a few moments of silence, I placed my hands down, seeing an empty white void.

  “Hello?” I said, hearing the echo of my voice.

  I heard a step behind me, and as I turned around, there was a figure in the distance.

  “Hey! Can you help me?” I shouted.

  The being waved its hand at me, motioning for me to approach. I was scared but found myself running as fast as I could in the hopes it was someone who could help me. After a few moments of running, it didn’t seem as though I was getting closer. In fact, I think this being was getting further and further away the longer I ran.

  I stopped momentarily to catch my breath, glancing up at the distant figure. It shrugged at me before slowly coming my way. I stood up, watching it. As it somehow was able to get closer to me. The closer it came to me, the blurrier it became. It eventually reached me, causing me to fall backward, landing on my butt. The being poked my head, and suddenly, I was back in the village.

  My body was lightly covered in blood, with most on my hands and the smell of smoke strong. I turned around to see the village fully engulfed in flames, and it was starting to spread to the surrounding trees. The smoke filled the air, with embers flying all over. A few landed on me, resulting in minor burns. I ran for the path that led down to the main path and ran as fast as I could in the direction of the nearest city.

  I came across a random female along the path. She grabbed me, shaking me violently as if she was trying to wake me up from a dream or something.

  “THADEUS, WAKE UP!” she shouted.

  Her face started to deform into blackness as she continued shouting that over and over. The ground around us started to crumble apart.

  “MASTER THADEUS, WAKE UP!” she shouted again.

  Everything turned black, but the echoes of her words continued.

  My face felt welt, and I felt as though I hadn’t taken a breath for a while. I quickly opened my eyes, seeing both Selyse and Antharian over me. I sat up quickly, causing Selyse to jump off the bed. I quickly placed my hands against my chest, trying to make sense of what happened. Antharian placed her hand on my face, causing me to flinch.

  “Master Thadeus, it’s okay. Whatever was going on, you’re safe now. You were having a night terror, you’re okay,” she said.

  “Thank you, both of you.”

  I stood up, making my way over to Selyse and out into the hallway. I quickly rushed down the stairs, making my way out the front door into the fresh air. As I exited, it appeared that the sun had just come up.

  “Was that just a dream?” I thought to myself.

  I stood there, taking in what had happened. It felt incredibly lifelike—the smells, the sounds, everything. After a few moments of thinking about what I had just experienced, I concluded that Antharian was correct—it was just a bad dream. I had probably overworked myself over the last couple of days, and the stress was just probably getting to me.

  After what felt like hours, I heard the door open. To my surprise, Neriah stepped out. She turned towards the door, closing it gently. She walked over to me and sat at my feet.

  “Master, are you okay? Selyse and the others are concerned about you. May I do anything to help?” she said, resting her head against my shin.

  I glanced down at her.

  “I’m okay. I think I just needed some fresh air. Just a lot going on, y’know?”

  I felt her nod against my leg.

  “Okay, well, if you need anything, let me know. My body is also available to you, but if you prefer…” she peaked her head over from my leg, checking in both directions.

  “If you prefer the younger servants, I understand.” She said quietly. “But I can also make a relaxing tea if you’d like.”

  “It has nothing to do with your age. I just kind of figured that you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  She slid herself up the wall, standing up.

  “Master, you are not like the others, and it’s taken me quite a while to accept that, but please. Don’t hesitate to ask for anything from me. I’m here for you, too.” She said, grabbing my hands.

  Her hands were soft and warm. She moved my hands to her chest, allowing me to feel her. They were surprisingly perky for how old she was compared to the other servants, and despite having a gray/white spread, I could tell her face was flushed.

  I took my hands back from her, embracing her in a hug.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  As I continued to hold her, I noticed someone out of the corner of my eye.

  “Lord Master Thadeus, is now a bad time?”

  “It depends on who you are and what you need,” I said, trying to sound as if I was being interrupted.

  Whoever this was, they kneeled. They weren’t wearing any sort of insignia indicating where they came from or who they served.

  I let go of Neriah.

  “Fetch my sword,” I said quietly.

  “It’s just within the door,” she whispered.

  She slowly made her way back to the door before leaning around the frame and retrieving my sword. I held my hand out behind me, and once I felt the handle, I unsheathed it. I didn’t want to take any chances with whomever this might be.

  “M’lord, I come in peace. I hail from one of the controlled areas and was asked to come retrieve you as we’ve been told that you do the audits for all Order controlled areas.”

  I looked at him, trying to figure out where exactly he hailed from.

  “You wear no markings of the Order nor any of the Archangels. Identify yourself, at least.” I said, unsure if this was truly an Angel of the Order or even a servant of someone else.

  As I stood there, I could hear the warning horns in the distance and emergency flares.

  “I knew it. You’re an intruder. Who are you?” I asked.

  The being in front of me shifted from this white-feathered, blue-eyed, angelic-looking creature to a black-eyed, black-winged, and red-feathered creature.

  “Neriah, go back in. Emergency protocol.” I shouted.

  She quickly rushed back into the tower, slamming the door, and shouting could have been heard.

  “I’m not here to fight you, Master Angel, but I know you know that the Order is wrong in what it is doing. You’re far too good to be here. The Order wants to impose their ideal world onto other worlds, including Earth. You know this, and I know you don’t agree with it.”

  I dropped my sword, opting for my bow instead.

  “This isn’t the place to talk about this, and you should have never come here,” I said, aiming at him.

  As I was talking, I saw multiple flares from the tower go up, along with several bellows of the emergency horn. I looked over to the lower Kingdom, watching a hoard of Holy Order elites slowly flying their way here.

  “You can stick around and wait for them to get here, or you can get going on your own,” I stated.

  The dark angel started to back up slowly before opening up a weird distortion and leaping through it, disappearing entirely. Just as the Elite guards showed up, I looked over at them.

  “He got away! Find out how he got through and where he came from immediately.” I shouted.

  All but one flew off in different directions. The one who remained appeared to be an Officer for the guard.

  “My lord. What was it that was said to you?” He asked.

  I thought about it momentarily, trying to decide whether to tell him the truth about what had happened.

  “The dark angelic being came with a message,” I said, picking my sword off the ground.

  “Oh?” he asked.

  “Yep. There’ll be attacks on our furthest controlled areas. So, between ensuring we have stricter security here, we should also ensure our furthest areas from the Kingdom itself also have the proper forces.” I said, unwilling to give the true information.

  He looked taken aback by this information. He thought for a moment, unsure how to respond.

  “How many Elite and higher-end guards do we have here?” I asked.

  He looked out towards the lower Kingdom.

  “We have… about… We have millions of Elite guards within the Kingdom itself and about a thousand Cherub guards for the Order.” He said hesitantly.

  “I suggest we start sending some of those Elite guards to other areas to help keep those areas protected then. You are excused,” I said authoritatively.

  He bowed before taking off in the direction of the Order.

  “Antharian, emergency over.”

  “Everything okay down there? It smelt like something was burning.”

  “Things are good, don’t worry about it.”

  I walked back inside, placing my sword back into its sheath. Selyse and one of the other servants came down the stairs, with Selyse holding a bottle of wine.

  “Master, I think you should unwind. You could use some time with all of us…” the servant said.

  “What is your name?” I asked her.

  “Mmm. I don’t have a name. At least not one that I can remember. But my eyes are green, so you may call me Green if you’d like.”

  “Green, hmm? Okay, I’ll call you green from now on.” I said, thinking it was a bit weird.

  She handed me the bottle of Angelic wine.

  “I actually don’t know if-“ I said as a knock at the door happened.

  Selyse rushed over to the door, partially naked from the waist down. Upon opening the door, Michael’s true right hand stood there.

  “Lord Master Thadeus of Gabriel, and partially of my Master, Michael. I have been sent here by both Michael and the Order to inform you that due to the incidents, you, your servants, and your belongings will all be moved to a similar tower within a different district in the Order, as it appears that those who wish to do harm against Master Lord Gabriel’s female have been finding her. In this new area, there will be no way for…” He said before I interrupted him.

  “Okay, that's great; thanks. Tell us where, and we’ll be there,” I said, sounding annoyed by this new development.

  “You’ll be on the same side of the kingdom, just on the other side.” He said.

  “Great. So instead of being in the left corner of the Kingdom, I’ll be on the right?”

  “Yes, M’lord.”

  “Perfect, your work is done here. You can go now.”

  He nodded before taking off.

  It appeared I’d be in one of the areas under control by one of the two that don’t talk or resemble any sort of lively activities whenever I see them. I decided to fly over and get a general idea of the place. As I got closer, I became confused because there was no actual building where one should be. I saw a random guard patrolling the area, so I flew towards him.

  Upon landing, I asked him, “Where is the tower of this part of the Kingdom?”

  “If you keep heading in the direction you were, it’ll be right there. It’s just covered in a barrier that doesn’t allow others from outside to see. Gabriel and Michael disagreed with hiding theirs. Otherwise, they’d have one as well, Master Thadeus.”

  I glanced in the direction of where the tower should be. Not knowing if this guard was messing with me or not. I decided to head over on foot to see if there was some sort of field or not. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far away from where I landed and was a quick jog. As I made my way through the area, I must have walked through the barrier he spoke of as I saw a tower. It looked wider, and the materials appeared to be smooth on the outside. I could only see about three windows. The ground floor was far wider than the one we inhabited.

  As I approached, a servant opened the door. She appeared to be human, wore a tattered cream-colored dress, and looked as though she hadn’t bathed in quite a while. Her skin was fair, her hair was brown, and her eyes looked as though they were slightly yellow. She had several dark bruises along her chest and shoulders.

  “Master, I am of your service,” she said, sounding lifeless.

  “How many more of you are there?” I asked.

  “M’lord, there are about 6 of us.”

  I approached her, gently grabbing at one of her arms and running my fingers around one of her shoulders to inspect the bruise.

  “What happened?”

  She slightly glanced at me, seeming confused by the question.

  “These bruises. How did they happen?”

  She remained quiet for a moment before hesitantly answering.

  “I… A guard threw me about because I wasn’t cleaning quick enough for your arrival.”

  I looked at the door.

  “Is he still here?”

  She nodded.

  “Perfect, go grab him and tell him I request his presence.”

  She nodded again, making her way back into the tower. She returned a few moments later with a guard, who was also human. He was pretty large, with bits of him hanging out of his armor. I couldn’t tell where his neck began as it appeared to be more face than anything.

  “Guard, are you the one temporarily in charge of my new servants?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “Are you going to hand them over to me now?” I asked, wondering if he’d fall for this trap.

  He took a long whiff of the servant’s arm, causing her to look uncomfortable.

  “As the Right-hand of Gabriel, I demand a response,” I shouted.

  “Oh, sorry, my lord.” He said, sounding as though he was heavily congested. “Yes, yes, they are yours now.”

  I looked at his sword.

  “Are you the only one in here with my servants?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  This was perfect. If nobody can see us from the outside, I could freely kill him and say he tried to attack me or something. While it was perfectly normal for guards to mistreat servants, I could literally just kill a guard because I didn’t like the way he smelled, and it’d be perfectly okay.

  “Perfect. May I see your sword?”

  He grabbed it, revealing it from his sheath and holding it out to me.

  It was a bit small compared to my standard sword and looked more like a dagger in comparison.

  “Servant. Please take the sword.” I said calmly.

  She carefully grabbed the sword from him. I placed my hands on his shoulders and turned him towards the servant.

  “You have the permission of your new Master to kill him, as he appeared to cause harm and distress to you. The only ones that will know the truth are you and I.” I told her.

  The man let out a chuckle.

  The servant looked up at me, trying to see if this was maybe some sort of trick.

  “Either you do it, or I do it.”

  She looked down at the hilt of the sword, firmly grasping it. The guard started to shout, but I covered his mouth with my hand.

  “Shhhhhh. None of that, now.”

  Now, with tears coming out of her eyes, the servant slammed the sword as hard as she could through his gut. He let out of a muffled scream as blood started to drip down his legs. She held the blade against his neck, slashing it. As his life began to fade, I dropped him. I turned around, turning a blind eye to what was going on behind me. Her breathing increased in intensity.

  After a few moments, I heard the sword hit the ground, causing me to turn around.

  With the rage in her eyes calming down and her breathing returning to normal, she was dripping with blood all over her. I stepped around the useless carcass lying on the ground. She started to back up.

  “Well, wait a minute… don’t back away. You’re not in trouble. Do you feel better now?”

  She nodded, staring at her hands, possibly in shock that she had just killed a man.

  “Master… did I do a bad thing?” she asked.

  “No, you did good. He hurt you, and nobody hurts those who belong to me.”

  I opened the door slightly to see if perhaps there were other servants nearby who could assist. I could see one hiding behind a chair.

  “Excuse me, I need your assistance out here,” I said, turning my attention back to this other servant.

  “Lift up your arms; let’s get you out of this blood-soaked dress,” I said, gently tugging at a shoulder strap.

  She lifted her arms, and I carefully removed the dress, trying not to get blood further splattered on her. The door behind us opened further, and outside was a female angel. She stood straight up, placing a fist over her heart.

  “My lord, how may I be of assistance?” she asked.

  “Please take this one to get cleaned up. Also, please inform the others that six other servants plus an additional female VIP will be coming. Thanks.”

  “Of course, m’lord, I shall. Your room is also ready for you should you require it.”

  As she ran in, I found it odd that of all things to inform me of at this time, it was that my room was ready. I turned back to the lifeless corpse lying on the ground before me. I healed up all the wounds other than the one on his neck, as I didn’t want to explain why I stabbed him several times before slicing his throat. I looked around, seeing if there was a guard nearby who could get to come pick up this mess.

  Thankfully, there was a guard within yelling distance, and when he heard me call out for him, he came rushing over. I explained to him that this guard was incredibly disrespectful to me and tried to attack me when I called him out for taking advantage of being assigned to the Order. Eventually, the body was removed, and nobody questioned my decision in his death.

  Once everything was taken care of, I opened a portal within the third floor from Gabriel’s Garden tower to the ground floor of this one to allow us to move our things back and forth at a faster pace than having to use a cart to haul things around. Surprisingly, other than the large stash of spirits & wine, it was a relatively quick move as none of us had much of our own, except for Antharian’s belongings, which took us about 4 trips to get all of her stuff. But other than that, the move went smoothly.

  Once everything was mostly settled, I requested that the new servants line up on the ground floor to lay down some rules. I was partially worried about whether we could trust these newer servants, as I fully intended to continue having relations with Antharian. While I had hoped the servant I let kill an abusive guard would spread what I allowed her to do to the others while she bathed, I wasn’t sure if that plan had worked yet.

  With Selyse and them behind me and the other servants in front of me, I started to address them.

  “In case you are not aware, my name is Thadeus. You may address me by Thadeus, Master, Lord, or a combo of Master/Lord Thadeus, but please do not address me by the full title. I see a couple of you are humans, which is fine. As you can see behind me..” I looked behind me at Selyse and Anatasia. “I have a couple of human servants that came with me. As of right now, I will get you some actual clothes issued out, or you may choose to remain naked. It does not matter to me-“

  I wasn’t even able to fully finish that sentence as a few of them shed all their clothing, tossing it aside. I looked back at Selyse and them, who also shed all their clothing, tossing it aside as well.

  “Okay, so do you truly not to wear clothes, or are you doing this thinking this is what I want?” I asked.

  The human from earlier stepped forward.

  “Do you have a name?”

  She nodded but didn’t say anything.

  “Okay, look, all of you. You may speak at any time. I will not punish you.” I said, wondering if that was the problem.

  Selyse stepped forward, slightly pushing me aside.

  “Hey, I’m Selyse. I’m his Head Servant. As you can tell, I’m human, just like a couple of you. Master Thadeus here is a caring Angelic male and protects us as long as we don’t do anything stupid.” She looked at me, wondering if she could say more.

  I nodded at her.

  “Sleeping with him is not a requirement, but it is a great time if you choose to do so. The Master is kind, caring, and fair. It will take time to adjust to his way as it is different, but you’re all able to relax.” She said, smiling and giving the others a thumbs up.

  This new group looked at each other before the remaining stripped their clothing, too. They all still looked a bit skeptical, but Selyse’s words appeared to have relaxed them as the tenseness of the room dissipated.

  “Master Thadeus, you asked me for my name. My name is Sarah.”

  “Ah, Sarah, good to meet you,” I said, giving her a smile.

  “Thank you, Master. May I ask what is with that female?” she said, pointing at Antharian.

  Antharian stepped up to my side.

  “My name is Antharian. I will be Gabriel's soon-to-be bride once he returns to claim me. I have my own set of rules, and that is unless you have permission, do not come to my floor. The floor is off-limits unless Master Thadeus issues an emergency. Right now, only the Master, Selyse, and Anatasia have permission to be up there.” She said casually.

  “Lady Antharian, it is great to be in the presence of such a prestigious Angel such as yourself,” Sarah said, bowing.

  “Okay, with it being late, I think it’s about time to retire to our rooms,” I said, feeling a bit exhausted from the night before and all the moving.

  While the servants all dispersed, Antharian tapped at my hand, indicating she wanted me to follow her. I followed closely behind her as we walked up the stairs. When we got to her level, I grabbed her at her waist, causing her to turn her head and give me a look.

  “Being a bit naughty towards a girl who isn’t yours, are we?” she joked.

  I let go of her as she continued walking into her room. She stood by the door, slowly closing it after I had entered. She rubbed herself up against me, smiling, and led me with her to her bed.

  “Master… I think we’ll be left alone for some time up here. I’m sure of it.” She said quietly.

  She slowly laid down on her side, motioning for me to join her. I slid beside her, placing a silk blanket over us as she curled up against me, making a noise that indicated she was happy.

  “Master… did you have strange dreams last night?”

  “Yeah… I did…”

  “Tell me about them.”

  As we lay there, I told her about the village and the Elven family that I had seen. I described how things kept flashing here and there and how reality continued to break in the dream. I spent a few moments describing, in great detail, what I had seen, heard, and everything. As I finished explaining, she threw the blanket off and sat on me.

  “Thadeus, I knew it! That is why you are different from the others. This explains so much now,” she said excitedly.

  As I went to make eye contact with her, I was distracted momentarily by her chest. She must’ve noticed because she placed my hands over her breasts before giggling.

  “Well, I mean… so wait, tell me what you mean.”

  “Well, m’lord, it’s because you weren’t just created as our kind. You came in as an experienced soul versus one designed for the purpose of just dying pointlessly for the Order. I mean, look at you! You are not like the rest of the angel’s here. You have compassion for others, for Selyse and the servants. While you do make questionable choices, you still have to play a part. Which… I don’t get why-“

  “They’ll kill me if I don’t comply, Antharian. You realize that, right? If I don’t play the part of Gabriel’s right hand and go against the Order, they’ll kill me.” I interrupted.

  “Oh… I didn’t realize that.” She said, gently grabbing at my wrists.

  “I am doing whatever it takes to survive while also trying to protect innocent people. When I first met Selyse, she barely talked, had a broken pelvis along with other broken bones, and never bathed. Now look at her. I can’t keep the little brat from sassing myself or the guards. It’s kind of hilarious, actually.

  Antharian smiled again, pushing my arms to the side and leaning in to kiss me. She rolled back onto her side, cuddling up to me and sliding the blanket over us.

  “Mmm, Thadeus. So strong and yet so caring and loving. Good night, my love.” She said softly.

  “Good night, Antharian.”