WIEDERGEBURT Act IV: Chapter 8

“This princess is telling you, the best way to train him is trial by fire! Put him in dangerous situations that will force him to grow stronger!”

“And I’m telling you that will probably kill him. In order to train someone, there are certain steps you have to follow. They must build their physical strength and stamina with constant exercise, widen their Spiritual Pathways, increase their Spiritual Power, and work on reaching the next state of enlightenment.”

“Maybe if you have the time for such things, but this man doesn’t have that kind of time. His lover is being married off in a month, you know? If we do things your way, it will take too long, and she’ll be married off to that Almond guy!”

“Ammon.”

“Right. Him.”

Lin and Fay were standing in the middle of the carriage, practically bust to bust, glaring at each other, as they argued over the proper way to train Zane in Spiritualism. They’d been going at it ever since we left Cairo behind several hours ago.

I wouldn’t say either of them was wrong. Both were viable methods to teach someone. In all truth, the method of teaching should normally be based on how someone learned.

A good example was the difference between Kari and Fay. Fay was a kinesthetic learner. She learned by doing physical activities the best. Sure, I always made sure to explain things to her when I was teaching her, but most of what she knew now she learned through physical work rather than listening to lectures. On the other hand, Kari was a linguistic learner. She learned better through dialogue and writing. Certainly, she also learned through physical work, but when it really came right down to it, her ability to learn simply from listening to me talk or write something down was greater than her ability to learn from physically exerting herself.

Oddly enough, Lin was also a linguistic learner, though she didn’t seem to realize it.

“Look.” Fay swept her red hair out of her face and tried to give Lin an even stare. “I understand where you are coming from, but you also have to realize how dangerous your method is. He might be able to increase his strength exponentially with your method. He might also die. What will you do if we train him this way and he dies?”

Lin crossed her arms. “If he dies from this princess’s training, it just means that was as far as he could go.”

“Oh, for the love of--you can’t just throw people into life-threatening situations and expect them to get stronger!”

“And why not?”

Fay threw her hands into the air at Lin’s response. Then the two of them were at it again.

I was sitting on the sidelines, watching from where my alchemy set was situated on a table. A number of ingredients were laid out before me. There was red thistle, spirit essence, aqua flower, yellow carinthian, firefly dartwings, and purple haze grass. I did have several more ingredients laid out, but the wyrm claw shavings and giant newt blood was already being refined in a 500 mL beaker.

“Shouldn’t you stop those two?”

I glanced at Zane as he warily eyed the two women like they might start attacking him. He was sitting on the couch, which was coincidentally right next to the alchemy table. Siv was further away, sitting on the bed and playing with Raul. My son was gripping the drakvar’s hands  for balance as he stood up. He still couldn’t stand on his own.

Kari was driving.

I felt bad that she was all alone, but I had to do this right now. Time was of the essence.

“I wouldn’t worry about them,” I said. “They do bicker like this occasionally, but it has never once come to blows. They actually get along most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” Zane looked like he wasn’t sure how to take that.

Grabbing the red thistle, I began the process of grinding it up inside of my mortar. Every time I brought the pestle down, a loud scraping noise would echo around the room, while the thistle was slowly ground into a paste-like substance. When I was finished, I scooped the paste into a 100 mL flask and activated a burner--a flat disk made from the core of a Demon Beast with a fire element.

“Fay and Lin are different people with different ideas. It’s only natural they wouldn’t get along all the time,” I said in answer to his question.

“And you don’t stop them when they get like this?” Zane looked aghast.

“Should I? Both of them are their own people,” I fired back. “What right do I have to tell them what they can and can’t do?”

That seemed to shut Zane up, so I went back to what I was doing, cleaning my mortar and pestle before grabbing the firefly dartwings and purple haze grass. I mashed up the two ingredients, added the resulting paste into a 250 mL beaker, then poured a jar of spirit essence into the same beaker. After activating another burner, I plucked the aqua flower petals and slowly added them into the beaker with the wyrm claw shavings. I used a stirring rod each time I placed a petal inside to make sure it dissolved properly.

“By the way,” Zane began again. “What are you doing?”

“I’m refining an alchemy pill for you,” I answered.

“So this is alchemy?” Zane murmured in surprise. “I’ve heard of it, of course, but very few people in the Endless Desert know how to refine anything.” He seemed fascinated by what I was doing. “What will this pill do?”

“It will show me where your Spiritual Pathways are.” I finished adding the aqua flower petals, then went to work on grinding up the yellow carinthian, which I added to another beaker. “Since we don’t have a lot of time to train you, we need to use a faster method to make you stronger. I plan on opening your Spiritual Pathways and unlocking your potential via an acupuncture method called åndutgivelse. With this method, you can theoretically increase your training three fold.”

“I can really grow stronger that quickly?” Zane asked with a flabbergasted expression on his face.

“You can indeed grow stronger more quickly using this method. However, I don’t recommend it.” It looked like Fay and Lin got tired of arguing. Lin was over by the bed with Siv and Raul. Fay had come up to me when she heard what I was saying. “This method forcibly unlocks any Spiritual Pathways that are currently not in use, allowing you to use your full potential. However, anything that can help you grow stronger more quickly always comes with a price.”

“And what is the price I have to pay for this?” asked Zane, gulping as he realized the method I was planning for him might not be the safest one.

“There is a possibility that your Spiritual Pathways will explode and you’ll become a cripple,” I answered bluntly.

“I’m suddenly not sure I want to do this anymore,” Zane said.

“If you want to save Ronia, you don’t have much of a choice,” Fay admitted with a sigh. “As much as I don’t agree with Lin’s training method, even I know you won’t be able to gain the kind of strength you’re looking for in one month unless you take a more drastic approach. Eryk is using this method because it has the highest chance of success. Should this be successful, you will be able to rapidly grow stronger. It won’t be hard for you to reach the Second State of Spiritualism in less than a month.”

At these words, Zane’s nostrils flared and his eyes looked like a fire was hidden behind them. I could already tell he was sold on the idea. Of course, he was only sold on it because he didn’t understand how painful this was going to be, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. He might scream and curse at me later. That didn’t matter, though. Zane was the one who asked for this.

After all of the ingredients had been refined, I added them into the cauldron one after the other in the order they had been refined, then grabbed each side of the cauldron and began channeling my Spiritual Power into it. Sparks crackled as the liquid bubbled, then condensed as I willed the medicinal ingredients into the shape of a pill. What I was left with when all was said and done was a round pill half the size of my palm. It had blue, red, yellow, and orange streaks running through it.

I took the pill and handed it to Zane. “Take this pill, then lie on your back.”

Zane reached out a hesitant hand and grabbed the pill. He hesitated for another second before popping the pill into his mouth, breaking the thin film protecting the medicinal ingredients, and making a bitter face as he swallowed. Once that was done, he laid down on his back in the middle of the wagon.

It took a little while for the medicinal ingredients to travel through him, but once they did, several green lines appeared on Zane’s body. He looked at himself in shock.

“What are these?”

“These are your Spiritual Pathways,” I answered as I summoned a box of acupuncture needles and knelt next to him. “They are the paths through which your Spiritual Power flows. You can think of them as veins, but instead of pumping blood through the body, they pump Spiritual Power through it. Anyway, I’m about to begin. Place this in your mouth please.”

Zane looked questioningly at the wooden cylinder I was holding out for him. I could tell he was now on high-alert. Tattoos were not an unusual thing in this society. I was sure he knew about them, and he probably also knew that people who got tattoos placed one of things in their mouth during the process. It kept them from injuring themselves or screaming in pain once the tattooing process began.

He understood, without me telling him, that this was going to hurt. Despite this, he took the cylinder and placed it in his mouth.

Once the Spiritual Pathways became visible, I began sticking acupuncture needles in them at certain points. The breaking of the Spiritual Pathway allowed Spiritual Power to flow out. If I were to look at Zane with Spiritual Perception, I would have seen wind-natured Spiritual Power flowing from his body in several places like smoke billowing from a chimney.

Nothing happened for the first several needles, but after I stuck the twelfth needle inside of him, Zane bit into the wooden cylinder and began to squirm.

“Fay,” I said.

“I’ve got him.”

Fay came over and grabbed onto Zane, keeping him pinned to the floor. I would have normally strapped his arms and legs to something, but I didn’t have anything I could strap them to. Fortunately, Fay was ridiculously strong. Zane might as well been a child struggling against an adult for all the good his fighting did him.

With Fay holding him down, I continued sticking acupuncture needles inside of his Spiritual Pathways. His muffled screams, fortunately, did not seem to bother Raul. I could only thank Lin and Siv for distracting my son from what was taking place on the floor next to him.

24 done. Only 352 more to go.

***

The operation was a success; thanks to the åndutgivelse acupuncture method, Zane’s Spiritual Pathways opened up and allowed him to access more of his Spiritual Power. He still hadn’t reached the First State of Spiritual yet, but I’d have been surprised if that happened. Even the most renowned of geniuses wouldn’t make that kind of progress from something like this. All this did was increase the strength he would gain through training.

Now it was time for the hard part.

Training.

When I trained Fay, we had gone through a specific routine. We’d wake up every morning and travel to the training ground, where Fay would run an obstacle course, do a series of exercises, and then meditate for an hour. I would also occasionally lecture her, but she mostly learned through exercise and practice.

Unfortunately, our group was now traveling, so we could not afford to create an obstacle course. What’s more, all this place had was sand dunes. I might be able to make a temporary obstacle course out of the sand dunes if I asked Lin to manipulate the earth, but the fine grains here made creating something like that difficult.

Since we couldn’t do our usual routine, especially if we wanted to keep our current pace, I decided it would be fine to focus primarily on combat training--and there was only one method I knew of that would help him grow stronger.

Sparring.

“Come on! This princess isn’t even using her Spiritual Power to attack! Surely you can do better than that!”

“Damn it! Just you wait! I’ll hit you if it’s the last thing I do!”

“You’re so violent. Just know that if you really do hit this princess, she will not forgive you.”

“Like I care!”

“This princess will make sure you can’t have children.”

“Geh!”

Lin slithered around the battlefield with a speed that I doubted anyone, human or lamia, could keep up with. She seemed to almost be gliding through the desert sands. Zane, who was caught in the middle of her, could only turn in place and attempt to defend himself.

Without warning, Lin stopped circling Zane and lunged forward, her fist fully extended. She was like a coiled spring. Zane tried to block her attack by crossing his arms. A loud explosion of sound and wind detonated from the point of impact. Zane’s guard wasn’t just broken. He was sent flying backwards, slamming into a sand dune, which caused sand to explode everywhere.

Lin didn’t continue attacking when this happened. She stopped moving and waited for the dust to clear.

Zane was slowly standing to his feet, his knees wobbling as blood ran down his lip. It looked like Lin’s attack had caught his lip even though he tried to block it. With a wince, he wiped the blood from his mouth and glared at her.

Lin didn’t seem to care. “When you are fighting against an opponent who is physically stronger than you, you can’t expect to block their attack. Instead of blocking, try avoiding the attack and countering with a grapple.”

“What?” Zane looked perplexed.

Lin sighed. “Look, just come at this princess now. Punch her, and this princess will show you what she means.”

Zane still didn’t look like he understood, but he had no qualms about decking her in the face. He ran up to her, reared his fist back, and threw it forward. He put all his weight into this attack too. His entire body was leaning forward as he hyperextended his fist.

Of course, Lin dodged it. Then she grabbed his outstretched arm, twisted her sinuous body, and used the leverage derived from his own momentum to lift Zane into the air and slam him onto the ground. More sand flew everywhere and a loud rumbling echoed through the desert.

“Uguf!”

The air was expelled from Zane’s lungs as sand billowed all around him. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and curled into a ball, taking several deep, gasping breaths as he tried to regain the oxygen he had been deprived of.

Lin waited for him to regain his breath before lecturing him again.

“This is called a throw. It’s a very basic grappling technique that involves knocking an opponent off-balance and throwing them to the ground. Once you upset your opponent’s balance, you pull them over your shoulder and toss them like they’re a ragdoll. It was particularly easy to throw you over this princess’s shoulder. You put your entire weight into that attack. When you do that, it becomes easier for someone to knock you off balance.”

As Lin lectured him, Zane sat up and stared at the woman like he didn’t know who she was. I wondered if he was surprised by Lin’s ability to teach, or if he was shocked by how helpful she was being.

“You’d never guess it if you didn’t know her, but Lin is a pretty amazing teacher, isn’t she?” said Kari.

Fay sighed as though saddened by this fact. “Yes, she is incredibly adept at teaching others.”

I looked at Fay to see her disheartened expression and realized she was feeling a bit inferior to Lin. Once I recognized that, I knew better than to leave it be, which was why I wrapped my arms around Fay and hugged her from behind. Kissing her cheek, I set my head on her chin and pulled her even closer.

“Lin often trains the new recruits when she’s not helping me with the paperwork. She said it was because she wanted to work off some stress, but I know she does it to help me.”

It was important to train the new recruits so they wouldn’t die while on quests. The mortality rate of mercenaries was high specifically because a lot of them weren’t very strong and none of them received proper training. They’d accept a job that was beyond their level, go out, and get themselves killed as a result. I wanted to avoid that with my sect.

I did not have the time to train the recruits myself, Kari was often busy creating new inventions that we could use and sell, and Fay spent most of her time training with Siv or taking care of Raul (sometimes both at the same time). That meant Lin was the only one among my wives who could do this.

I had to say, she did a damn fine job.

“I’m not jealous of Lin,” Fay said. “I’ll admit, I am envious that she is able to teach others as if it was as natural as breathing, but I understand that my talent as a Spiritualist does not mean I make a good teacher.” Fay paused as she shifted around in my grip, until we were face to face. Then she leaned up and gave me a soft kiss. “But thank you. Seeing how much you care for my well-being warms my heart.”

“Of course. I’m always gonna be here for you,” I said.

The two of us smiled at each other before Fay shifted back around in my grip, so that I was once again hugging her from behind. We watched alongside Kari and Siv as Lin trained Zane. Kari was holding the sleeping Raul to her chest.

“Okay. Now that you understand how a throw works, this princess is going to attack you, and she wants you to try and throw her. Think you can do that?”

“Of course I can do that!”

“Then here comes this princess!”

Lin threw a punch that was much slower than usual, but Zane was still unable to dodge in time and got clipped in the shoulder. He spun around like a top, fell to the ground, and ended up eating sand.

“That was lame. This princess even slowed her punch for you. Are you even trying to throw her?”

“Ugufu wooo,” said Zane.

I was pretty sure that was him trying to say “fuck you.”

***

One day, I woke up with a soft gasp as something wet trailed along the underside of my dick. I recognized the slightly rough feel of Siv’s tongue. It wasn’t as long as Lin’s, but it didn’t have the same texture as Kari’s and Fay’s. The electric sensation of her wet tongue dragging across my shaft caused me to grit my teeth so as to avoid making any noise. It became even harder when my dick was suddenly engulfed inside the warmth of her mouth.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Kari and Lin were snuggling together on my left, but my right was empty. Fay should have been there. Where was… oh. I found her sleeping on the couch, a sleeping Raul resting against her chest. She must have been breast-feeding Raul and then fell asleep. Zane was, fortunately, also still asleep on the floor.

Once I took stock of everyone else’s situation, I lifted the bedsheets and stared at Siv. The dragon girl paused in her work to look at me. The sight of this adorable little thing sucking me off caused my dick to swell. Her eyes grew wide when this happened, but I merely licked my lips.

“Siv… it’s not fair that you’re the only one who gets to have a treat. Get that cute butt over here.”

I spoke in a whisper, but Siv heard me just fine. She eagerly maneuvered herself around until her legs were on either side of my chest. She was already pantiless, so I could see her wet pussy. Her juices were dripping down her thighs. She must have been masturbating while she sucked me off.

As Siv went back down, engulfing my cock inside of her mouth, I spread her pussy lips apart and plunged my tongue into her vagina. Siv moaned around my cock. The vibration effect of her moaning sent me into a spiral of pleasure. It was unbelievable. However, it also urged me on, spurred me to continue.

I didn’t want to be the only one cumming.

There was something highly erotic about having oral sex while three of your wives, your son, and one stranger were asleep in the same room. I didn’t think I was a voyeur, but I wouldn’t lie and say this wasn’t turning me on. All it would take was a simple turn of my head, and Kari’s and Lin’s sleeping faces would be right in my field of vision.

It made me really horny.

My end was coming soon. I could feel it as the pressure inside of my abdomen and balls built up. I patted Siv’s ass to let her know, but I didn’t stop what I was doing at all. I ate out Siv’s pussy, licking inner and outer lips, and sucking on her clit. I didn’t stop until her body was shaking and her juices were flowing into my mouth.

Once Siv orgasmed, I allowed myself to cum as well, shooting my load inside of Siv’s mouth. She kept her mouth closed around my dick, and I thought I heard slurping noises. I was sure it was just my imagination. Once I released my last spurt, she sat up on my chest, turned around, and opened her mouth. As she stuck out her tongue, I could see my cum inside of her mouth. She soon closed it and swallowed.

My dick was standing back at attention.

Sitting up, I wrapped one arm around Siv’s lower back and used the other to brace myself. I rocked my hips, rubbing my hard dick against her butt crack. Siv shivered.

“You know you’re the only one who does that? Show me my cum before you swallow it.” I leaned my head down and began kissing her neck. Siv moaned as she tilted her head, wings flapping and tail thumping. “I don’t know why, but something about how you do that really turns me on. It’s very sexy.”

“I-is it? I’m glad. I--hyan!”

Siv placed a hand against her mouth when I dragged my tongue across her neck, reached her ear, and began nibbling on it. Drool leaked from between her fingers as muffled moans escaped her closed mouth.

“You can feel how hard I am, can’t you?” I whispered into her ear. “I want you so bad right now I can hardly stand it.”

“M-me too,” Siv whispered after removing her hand from her mouth. “I want you too.”

“You’re making an awfully erotic expression right now.”

I wasn’t lying either. Siv didn’t normally express her emotions that much, other than shyness, but right now, there was a wanton look on her face. Her eyes were glazed over, drool leaked past her lips, sweat covered her forehead, cheeks, and neck, and her breathing had grown so hot I imagine steam might start billowing from her mouth. It was enough to drive me wild.

“Do you… not like my lewd expressions?” she asked cautiously.

“Why are you asking something so silly? Of course I love them,” I said.

Deciding to show her how much her expressions turned me on, I grabbed a handful of her ass, kneading it like dough as I lifted her butt, lined her pussy with my cock, and lowered her onto me. I groaned as Siv released a strangled gasp like she was trying to stifle a moan. Her tight little passage still had trouble accepting me, so I had to push her down harder.

“Ha… ha… Eryk… you’re gonna break me… if you… if you do that… I’m really gonna break!”

“Isn’t that what you want?”

“It is!”

“Then no complaining.”

Since I was sitting, it was much harder to move in this position, but Siv had no trouble rocking her hips against me. Her tight passaged rubbed my dick in all the right places. It was like every centimeter was being stimulated at the same time. Siv set a slow pace, but she made up for that by gyrating her hips in time with her thrusts.

Because I couldn’t do as much in the hip department, I decided to please Siv in other ways. Lowering my head to her chest, I began licking her tiny breasts with my tongue.

“Nnn! Hhnnn! Hrrnn! Hhhhnnn!”

Her small nipples stiffened under my tongue. I soon took them into my mouth, flicking my tongue back and forth, swirling it around her nipples, and I even went a step further by heightening her nerve endings with the lightning element.

I had discovered through expiramentation that the lightning element was great to use during sex. It was something I had thought of several times but only put into practice within the last few months. By using lightning, I stimulated the nerve endings to heighten how much someone could feel, which in turn caused the pleasure my wives experienced to increase.

It was quite the genius use of spiritualism, if I did say so myself.

Siv opened her mouth to scream when I did this, but I quickly hampered her ability to do so with my mouth and tongue. Even then, her moans sounded loud as I filled her mouth with my tongue and saliva. The slurping sounds of our tongues gliding together was all I could hear. My heart was beating a hundred kilometers per second as we kissed, as Siv impaled herself on my dick. So many sensations were stimulating me at once that it was a wonder I hadn’t already cum again.

Before I could cum, I stopped Siv from moving and pulled out. She looked seconds away from complaining, but I had an idea.

“Can you get on your hands and knees, please?”

Siv’s eyes lit up at my request, and she soon turned around. Now on her hands and knees, she wiggled her small ass in my face--a clear invitation if there ever was one. Her tail was standing straight up like a cat’s when it felt threatened, but hers was shivering in anticipation.

“Eryk. Please… more…”

Siv was a woman of few words. She probably always would be, but I didn’t mind. I found her quiet nature endearing.

I got on my knees and grabbed her hips, lining my dick with her pussy once more before I plunged it inside of her. Siv’s spine arched as she once more opened her mouth to scream. Since I couldn’t afford to have anyone--especially Zane--hear what was happening, I leaned down until my chest was against her back, and placed a hand over her mouth. Siv didn’t seem to mind. Actually, the moment my hand was within her reach, she began licking my fingers. Since she seemed to enjoy that, I stuck two of my fingers into her tiny mouth, enjoying the thrilling pleasure of her tongue giving me a finger felatio.

This new position sent more intense sensations through my body. The feeling of her pussy seemed slightly different than before but no less wonderful. My only concern was how loud it sounded. It might be my imagination, but I felt like I could hear the lewd squelching sound of my dick churning her insides. I even felt like I could hear a suction-like noise as I pulled out of her. Was it my imagination? I really hoped it was.

The only thing I needed to be careful of was Siv’s tail, which was waving back and forth like a destructive pendulum. I ducked several times when it came to close. If that thing hit me, it would knock off my rhythm. It would also hurt. I’d been smacked by that tail before. The last time she accidentally hit me during sex, I was sent flying through a wall. The poor maid I landed in front of fainted when she saw my dick drenched in Siv’s love juice.

“Hannn… ha… hrrrnnn…”

Siv’s moans might have been muffled as she sucked on my fingers, but I could still hear it just fine. However, I was no longer able to focus on that as I tried my best to stave off another orgasm. I could feel it. This one was causing my entire body to feel like a pressure valve. I gritted my teeth as the desire to explode came over me. Just a little more. I just… wanted to wait until Siv came!

“Erhyk… h-humming!”

Siv bit down on my fingers as her entire body became taught like a drawn bow. I could no longer retract my cock from her pussy, so I pushed my hips as far as they would go, until it felt like my cock was pushing against her womb, and then released a flood of my seed inside of her. I jerked my hips a few more times. Once I was sure I wouldn’t cum anymore, I pulled out. None of my cum fell from her lips, which closed up as though trapping my seed inside of her.

Siv fell forward, landing face first on the bed, her ass sticking into the air. I placed a hand on Siv’s pert bottom and rubbed it. Her butt shivered a little. The sight of her ass shaking made me horny again.

I grabbed her legs and pulled them so she was lying flat on her stomach. Grabbing my semi-hard dick, I wedged it between her ass cheeks and began slowly rocking back and forth, until I was hard once again.

Siv hadn’t recovered quite yet. I could see her face in profile, resting against the bed, her tongue sticking out of her mouth and her eyes glazed over.

Pressing my hands against her ass, I once again pushed my dick into her twitching pussy.

“Oooofff!”

Siv buried her face in the bed and bit down on the sheets to keep from screaming out loud. I leaned over until my entire body was pressed against hers, placed my mouth next to her ear, and whispered into it. Her ear grew red and shivered.

“How does this feel?”

“It feels… so good… Eryk… This position feels really good.”

“I’m glad. I actually wanted to do the usual, but… well, if Zane wakes up, I don’t want him seeing you like this. I’d hate to have to kill him.”

Siv shuddered when I spoke into her ear, but she didn’t get the chance to say anything as I began having sex with her like this. She just kept her mouth full of the bedsheets and clenched her eyes shut as if that would somehow stop her from feeling anything. However, I could tell from the way her pussy had become a wet and twitching that she’d grown pretty sensitive. She was feeling it, and so was I. This would probably be the last time I came.

Since I only had her back available, I spent my time exploring it with my lips. I kissed along her small shoulder blades, trailed my lips across her spine, and kissed the nape of her neck. Her hair had become something of a mess. The long strands were spread across the bed. Several ends were sticking up. I think I saw a few split ends, meaning I’d have to cut her hair soon.

These thoughts were interrupted when an explosion of pleasure caused my vision to turn white. Just like I had thought, this was the last time I would be able to cum this session, but that was fine. As I came down from my pleasurable high, I pressed my face against Siv’s sweaty back. I could feel a combination of our cum leaking from Siv’s pussy. The sheets would have to be changed. Whatever. I’d change them later today.

I was just about to sit up--when something caught my attention.

I was looking into the wagon, which meant I had a view of the entire interior, and so I was able to see Zane, wide awake and sitting up in his fuuton. He was staring into my eyes with a fierce blush. The moment he seemed to realize I had noticed him, he squeaked and laid back down, turning his body as if he could pretend I hadn’t seen him watching me and Siv have sex.

I knew this was technically my fault, knew I couldn’t really blame him, but I was so going to be his sparring partner this morning.