I walked over to the washstand and took a brush to my long hair. Lengthy locks were the pride of every Elfand I kept mine the longest, to remind everyone I was just as much Elf as they were.
“I didn’t know bears and assholes woke up equally grumpy.” Maggie stretched, exposing her midriff in her short shirt and pressing her tight nipples into the fabric.
I stepped close to run a finger along her exposed skin and she slapped a sigil on my forehead in retaliation. Nothing happened, so I shrugged it off as she pushed me away. She could experiment with her magic all she liked.
Sliding out of bed, Maggie shook out her hands. Without a stop at her pack, or food or anything, she started that ridiculous exercise that brought her nose to the floor and got her ass in the air like she lived on a hinge. I didn’t know how she managed to be awake so instantly. My Nightmare was always trying to keep us in dreams, even if they had grown terrifying these past months.
I turned back to the washstand to finish brushing my hair, watching her in the mirror. Maggie was correct that every part of me was grumpy that we weren’t fucking her right now and had to satisfy our duty and ambition over our lust. I wondered if Maggie was aware her well of power still had something left in it. I got my answer when her magic crawled up my spine and nestled on my head.
Annoyed, I attempted to shrug it off but it tightened my scalp. Horror of horrors, my hair started to curl into waves.
“MAGGIE!”
“NOTH!” she retorted.
The strands curled tighter, gaining volume I didn’t know it was capable of. Running the brush through it only made it poof larger.
I stood over her, hands on my hips. “Turn it off! I can’t go outside like this.”
Her words muffled in her thigh as her body bent in strange ways. “It’s your turn to say you’re sorry, unless your giant ego can’t handle that either.”
“I’m about to go into battle for the Calix and I can’t look like I just stepped out of the Harrowland’s most demented sauna. I at least need my helm to fit on my head.”
Maggie didn’t reply, only twisted her wrist and curled my hair tighter as she did the same with her body. Not even her breathing through the positions as if she was having sex could soothe this injustice.
“Fine. I’m sorry I was an ogre’s ass when you woke up. I’m not looking forward to having this mermaid potentially finish what you failed to do.”
It was so much more than that, but it’s what I could bring myself to reveal at the moment. It hung heavy that the usurper was destroying my kingdom as Maggie and I tangled together in an impossible knot. Let alone the fact that my people might all skin me aliveforMaggie if I tried to take the throne, Calix or no Calix.
“Wow, well, I suppose that’s the best I’m going to get fromyou.”
She popped up, drew another sigil on my forehead and her magic drained away, leaving my hair a silky black sheet.
“And if today’s the day, I’m totally excited to see you die,” she said. The words were right, but they lacked their usual venom. Flirty might have been a strong descriptor, but I couldn’t contain my grin that my Pumpkin warmed up to me, just a little.
“You would smile at that,” she said, and turned to grab her leathers out of her pack.
I pulled my armor from the void. Yaya gave me this armor before the last battle to kill the Godds. The void kept it perfectly in stasis, its dull copper color swimming with sorcery. Sleek lines flared the pauldrons off my shoulders and the tasset cascaded over my hips. The oil-slick metal, imbued with enchantments for speed and strength, served me well fighting Godds who destroyed with a glance. The armor fit together like folding petals and I had to put it on in a certain sequence to activate the magic of each piece. It held secret voids for pulling more weapons if required. It also helped call shadow beasts like the crow I put Maggie on. That last resort had saved me on a few occasions.
Long before most monsters were alive, all of it was needed to fight the Godds who had corrupted the Harrowlands with their viciousness and cruelty. None of us were sure of when prayers and offerings stopped being enough for them, but all of us remembered the years ittook to banish them to another domain that didn’t touch ours.
I didn’t know if we had done much better as Kings and Queens of the realm, but at least we couldn’t wipe out whole swaths of the land in a blink. Well, Maggie’s sister might, but I trusted Ward to keep her from ending the world.
Was Godd armor overkill to fight one mermaid for a sacred object? Maybe. But I wasn’t taking any chances with an uncanny water creature. Old Magic was said to be older than even the Godds.
Everything hung a bit too loosely on me. Would Maggie let me join her in her daily exercises? It seemed I had gotten out of shape stuck in Ward’s keep. Teaching Maggie a few forms might actually improve her fighting skills.
I shook my head. That was stupid. Spending time locked in anything but battle or sex would just give her the opportunity to try and kill me. I glanced at her as she stood watching me put on the armor with her mouth wide open. I couldn’t help but preen a bit. It was impressive, but also frustrating that I had to ask Maggie for help to buckle the hardest to reach spots. It felt too intimate, too heavy for what came next.
With the last strap tightened, I drew my night terror sword and rested it across my shoulders.
“Let’s go.” I imbued the words with dark power to bring us luck with ourquest.
I stepped forward.
“To breakfast?”
I blinked.
