"And no matter what you see, you must stay on the ship, or you will die a horrific death. Understood?" Vance's voice was smooth, quiet, and carried a weight that made the mountain breeze feel fragile.
"Yes, my Lord." The mayor nodded hastily. "We will do our part. Right, men?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes... understood, Lord Vance!"
One after another, the six volunteers answered. Samuel, George, Loric, Arthur, Robert, and the mayor himself. Others had offered their help earlier in the afternoon, but only these few had remained after learning the full risk—and hearing the grotesque details of how the lake's beast hunted, and fed, and how useless were common weapons and magic against it.
"Lord Vance..." Loric, a lean, bearded fisherman with raw, wind-chapped skin, stepped forward. He offered a friendly, nervous grin. "How do you intend to reach the center of the lake so fast from the shore once the thing takes the bait?"
"For the Sun Lords' sake, Loric! Lord Vance is a mage!" the mayor snapped, throwing his hands up. "Forgive him, my Lord. He has spent too many years talking to fish."
"Don't worry," Vance replied, his dark eyes reflecting the dying twilight with cold, absolute certainty. "I will be by your side the moment the creature reveals itself."
"You heard the man. Now go get your thickest coats, scarfs, and leather gloves. It's going to be a long, freezing night," the mayor ordered. The men nodded.
Vance turned and walked smoothly toward the terrace of the lakeside manor where Lilith and Aria stood. The two women had been speaking with a few elderly fishermen who had come to share old regional folklore regarding the lake bird.
As the crew walked out of earshot—or so they believed—Loric leaned toward the mayor.
"Lady Aria is exceptionally beautiful... I'm truly honored just to have seen her up close," Loric began, pulling his collar high. "But who is the other woman, sir?"
"That is Lady Lilith," the mayor muttered, his eyes darting toward the terrace where the dark-haired woman stood beside Vance. "She is Lord Vance's woman."
"His woman... I figured as much," Samuel chimed in, adjusting a heavy crate of oars. "I mean... look at the way she clings to him. Like a vine around an oak."
"Don't tell me you had hopes there, Sam," Robert chuckled, patting his shoulder. "Your wife would castrate you with a fillet knife if she heard you."
"Bah! If my wife saw her, she'd cheer me on just for trying!" Samuel laughed. "By the Sun Lords, look at that beauty... she's a woman a man would gladly die just to touch once!"
"Ooff... the things I'd do to her," George muttered under his breath, shaking his head in sheer disbelief. "Look at that frame... the way she sways that ass every time she takes a step..."
"She is Lord Vance's woman, gentlemen. Remember that," the mayor warned, his tone hardening into a cold edge. "She is his wife. Show some respect."
"Don't tell me you wouldn't die to hump that cutie all night until dawn, sir?" Loric grinned, his tone that of a man indulging in an impossible daydream.
"Ha! You wouldn't last a single minute, Loric!" Samuel barked a laugh. "You'd fold in five seconds!"
"Then I'd die the happiest corpse in the kingdom!" Loric chuckled softly.
"You pig! Wait until Penny hears about this!" George laughed.
"Joke all you want, but look at her," Arthur whispered, taking in her distant silhouette. "What a woman... just look at her and tell me that isn't a female whose man claims her at every single opportunity he gets."
"That," the mayor said, his voice dropping into a raspy whisper, "is the face of a woman who only has eyes for her master. And do you know why?"
"Because Lord Vance is pounding her deep and proper every single night!" Arthur snickered quietly. "That's the secret to a happy wife! If I were him, I'd never leave the bedchamber... I'd literally lay there until my heart gave out."
The men chuckled under their breath, their rough humor a desperate mechanism to shield themselves from the terror that was waiting for them.
Far from them, Lilith was too busy pressing her cheek against Vance's shoulder, radiant with her impossibly perfect, breathtaking features shining in the twilight as her delicate ears twitched under her dark hair, capturing every raspy whisper with crystalline clarity. They were talking about her, about the things they would do to her if she were theirs, insolent mortals speaking about her body, speculating on her purity, and imagining her naked beneath them, such filth would have earned them an agonizing, bloody death. She would have ripped their tongues out through their throats before they finished their sentence.
And yet...
"His wife.... His woman... Pounding her deep..."
The words echoed in her hyper-cognitive mind like a symphony of pure, intoxicating ecstasy.
A vibrant, deep rose flush spread across her porcelain cheeks. Her breath hitched. The image of Vance, of his heavy, absolute body pinning her down, claiming her again and again until she was left overflowing, flooded her mind with terrifying vividness. Her heart hammered against her ribs, completely drowning out any impulse for violence. All her rage evaporated, replaced by an overwhelming, intoxicating pride.
She buried her burning face deeper into the fabric of Vance's sleeve, biting her lower lip to suppress the smitten, giggling maiden squeal threatening to escape her lips.
Yes... louder, you dirty fools... she thought, her mind spiraling into endless, filthy daydreams. Tell the world who I belong to...
By the time the last rays of the sun sank beneath the western ridge, Vance, Lilith, and Aria stood inside the main room of the mayor's elevated estate overlooking the entire expanse of Silver Lake.
"Don't worry, Vance," Lilith said softly, snapping out of her romantic trance as her expression shifted to lethal pragmatism. "Aria and I will maintain a flawless perimeter from this vantage point."
"I know you will," Vance replied smoothly. He knew there was little danger for them, but he had the need to do it, something inside of him, in his core, compelled him to act. "However..."
He stepped closer. Gathering his Essence, he gave shape to a subtle, invisible thread of Void authority. Raising his hand, he gently tapped Lilith's forehead with two fingers, leaving a faint, warm resonance behind, before repeating the gesture on Aria.
"What was that?" Lilith asked, blinking in surprise as she touched her skin, feeling no physical change at all.
"A safeguard," Vance explained, his voice entirely calm. "If either of you face a mortal threat or an attack that exceeds your defenses, the ward will automatically trigger. It will end the threat, and will send you to the safety of the vault in the capital."
Lilith's eyes widened. He didn't register the sudden move for there was no hostility behind it, and before he could respond, she had stood on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, and pulled his lips down onto hers.
It was an unprompted, fiercely affectionate kiss, a deep, lingering press of her lips that knocked his usual stoic defense down for a brief, breathless moment that he allowed to last as long as it could.
"Don't be reckless out there," she whispered against his lips, her eyes shining with absolute devotion.
"Be careful, Vance," Aria added, standing a respectful step behind them. A rare, warm smile touched her pale rose lips, her hand fixing a rebellious silver thread of hair that had fallen over her pretty face, her ruby eyes displaying gratitude. His mere presence was soothing for her. "We will await your victorious return."
Vance gave them a single nod, then walked back to the shore.
Hours later, the wooden skiff drifted into the middle of Silver Lake.
The water was pitch-black, smooth as polished glass, reflecting the cold, sharp light of the full moon hanging directly overhead. The fog was thick, hovering over the freezing surface like a ghostly blanket, trapping the steam of six breathing men in a small, shivering cloud above the deck.
"Now I know why no sane man sails at this hour... Ugh! I'm frozen straight to the marrow!" Samuel hissed, rubbing his gloved hands together frantically.
"You volunteered for this, Sam," George muttered, slowly turning his head from left to right as his eyes scanned the dark water. "We told you it would be brutal out here."
"I came prepared!" Samuel whispered defensively, pulling his collar tight. "This is full bear fur! Real hide! And it still feels like the wind is cutting right through my ribs!"
"Meanwhile... he's probably sitting in a warm, plush bed with that impossible woman..." Loric grumbled under his breath, leaning heavily on his spear.
"Silence!" the mayor hissed from the stern, his hand gripped tightly around his sword hilt. "Lord Vance is exactly where he promised he would be. Look! There on the high shore. The torch is lit. He is watching us right now, ready to strike the moment the beast shows its hide!"
The men fell silent, glancing toward the faint, solitary amber spark flickering on the distant, shadowy coastline.
The stillness of the lake was suffocating. There were no crickets, no ripples, no sound of night birds—only the rhythmic, icy creak of the boat's wooden hull against the freezing water.
"Sir..." Loric whispered again after a long, agonizing pause. "How can a man stay out on a freezing shore waiting for this monster... when a woman like that is waiting for him under the blankets?"
"I told you to keep your mouth shut, Loric," the mayor reprimanded in a harsh whisper.
"I'm sorry, sir... I'm just trying to keep my heart from jumping out of my chest."
"To be completely honest..." George interjected quietly, staring into the dark fog. "When I first saw her face... I thought she was a demigod or something. She's too beautiful to be real. How can a woman look like that?"
"Elven blood, probably," Arthur offered. "Or old high-noble stock."
"If that's true..." Loric grinned nervously. "...then she must be an absolute freak between the sheets. I bet a woman like that could shatter a man's hips with one movement."
"Loric, by the Sun Lords, shut up!" the mayor hissed, his face turning bright red under his heavy hood.
"Sorry, sir..." Loric muttered, ducking his head. "I'm just saying... did you see the way she walks? The way she sways those big, round—Ouch!"