Months after making his contract with Naiad, Leon began to fulfill it. Naiad had finally convinced him to have sex with her, and it only took having Elise there as well.

Of course, this meant that Leon started first with Elise, which Naiad could understand as she was his first mate. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of impatience since her sanity and continued existence as a river nymph was on the line.

So, for the first few minutes, Naiad simply laid on the bed, watching Leon and Elise do their thing. They were a bit bashful at first, with little more than kissing and some light touching since Naiad was watching so intently, but eventually, they started to ignore her and go after each other much more vigorously. Some of their moves even made Naiad feel a bit embarrassed despite her own readiness to mate, but not once did she look away.

After bringing Elise to climax, Leon turned to Naiad. She braced herself for what was to come, expecting that she would be joining with Leon with the same intensity as he had when he made love to Elise, but with Naiad, Leon took things a bit slower. He felt he had to, for the intensity with which he and Elise had sex nearly broke the bed, and Elise had just about passed out after Leon brought her to finish, effectively leaving Leon and Naiad alone at this point.

Seeing Naiad tense up in anxiety and anticipation, Leon didn’t immediately get the deed over with, despite his earlier hesitation implying that he didn’t want to do this. Instead, he started with light foreplay, stroking her shoulders and inching closer, getting her used to his touch. He gradually escalated as Naiad relaxed, his surprisingly eager hands moving on to more sensitive parts of her body, though he never once kissed her.

Having never experienced such things before, Naiad could barely lay still by the time Leon’s hands made their way up her thighs. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, being far more sensitive and excited than she had ever known it to be. Her breathing was rough and ragged, and all she could see was Leon moving into place above her. His hands roamed over her body as he maneuvered into place, first to her breasts, then to her hips, and then to her legs.

‘This is it,’ Naiad thought to herself in her last moment of lucidity as she opened herself up to Leon.

She barely even noticed his first thrust; the moment he entered her, her magic, which had been slowing down within her for years, seemed to suddenly explode, rushing throughout her body like it hadn’t for almost a decade. It felt so good that Naiad almost screamed, her eyes instantly glazing over, and though she never turned away from Leon, she barely even knew where she was anymore.

Everything that happened after was a blur. Naiad was seeing stars, and her reverie only grew more intense the more Leon moved. At the height of her pleasure, Naiad was barely even aware of herself, let alone Leon or Elise, all she could feel was her body floating in a sea of ecstasy. It wasn’t until Leon pushed them both over the edge that she finally started to come back down and regain any kind of awareness of her surroundings. Even then, it took enough time that Leon had already turned away from her.

As her sight returned to her, Naiad felt like she hadn’t in a long time, with energy pouring out of every cell in her body. Magic flowed freely throughout her, there wasn’t a single hint that her water magic had been slowing into earth magic.

When her mind returned to normal and everything that had just happened came back to her, she lay by herself on one end of the large bed in her guest room. Leon had left her and returned to Elise, who had experienced pleasure similar to Naiad’s, though she had completely passed out by the end.

Leon had taken her into his arms, cradling her like she was the most precious thing in the world, and unconsciously, she wrapped her arms around him and entangled her legs with his. It was a scene of absolute trust and intimacy, and Naiad couldn’t help but feel some type of way when she glanced over at them.

She had been about to demand that they do all of that again but looking at Leon and Elise caused the words to die in her throat. Her body began to cool and return to normal, and she averted her eyes. She had no idea why, but there was some part of her that wanted to go over and join their embrace, but she refrained.

Still, she couldn’t help but momentarily glance back every now and then as everyone rested from their exertions. Elise woke up after a few minutes in an ecstatic daze. She found herself embracing with Leon, and a smile of complete joy and contentment bloomed across her face. Leon smiled back, affectionately pressed his head into hers, and held her closer, to her delight.

They began to whisper to each other, ignoring Naiad entirely. The river nymph was a bit annoyed by that, but she couldn’t bring herself to break that moment between the other two. So, she lay back in the bed and tried her best to ignore both of them and instead take stock of her current condition.

As she had already realized, the rate that her magic flowed through her body had sped back up to levels that were more in line with other beings that used water magic. She felt like she was almost overflowing with magical power since it had been more than a decade since her mana had acted as it should.

Her heart, which had been slowly calming down after being with Leon, suddenly began to exuberantly race as she realized what this probably meant. She could still feel Leon’s power within her, so she knew that he had fully committed to his side of the bargain, but when she looked within herself using her magic senses, she didn’t detect any signs of life beginning within her.

‘I guess… then sex on its own can stave off gorgonism?’ she wondered. Her mother had always taught her that the only way to remain a river nymph and not undergo the transformation into a gorgon was to have children, but from her reaction to laying with Leon, she knew that the transformation that had begun to her body more than a decade ago had been completely reversed in this short time.

She looked back at Leon and saw him and Elise pressing their lips together and a jolt of… something she couldn’t identify ran through her mind. She felt like she wanted to be doing that with Leon, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why. She knew that it was something that humans did to express affection, but that couldn’t be it, she was sure that she possessed no romantic feelings for Leon.

Naiad rolled a little closer anyway, and she felt a strange feeling of relief, due both to getting closer to Leon and knowing that they would have to do all of this again if he wanted to fulfill his side of their contract; she wasn’t pregnant yet, and the deal wasn’t simply to have sex, it was to have a child.

[So…] Naiad hesitantly began, drawing the attention of the other two. [I… suppose we’ll have to figure something out, then…]

“What do you mean?” Elise asked with slightly less hostility than usual. The deed had been done and doing it a second time wouldn’t be as bad, at least in her mind.

[How do we proceed? Do we need some kind of schedule?] Naiad asked, eliciting strange looks from both Leon and Elise.

“So… we’re going to have to do this again?” Leon asked, his tone tinged with both excitement and apprehension.

[No child was made just now, but I could feel that the process worked, somewhat,] Naiad explained. [We’ll definitely need to do this again.]

“I see…” Leon muttered. For his part, he would admit that having both Elise and Naiad together had been exhilarating beyond his ability to articulate, and the primitive man within him was demanding that he continue this relationship for as long as he could, and while he would hesitantly agree, this wasn’t a decision that was solely up to him. He turned his eyes to Elise who met his gaze. He probably would’ve slept with Naiad long before this point if he hadn’t already been with Elise, and it wasn’t right to cut her out of this despite giving her consent.

She smiled at him, then said out loud, “If we’re doing this again, it will be all of us…” She looked over at Naiad, whose face was also breaking out into a smile and continued, “I still don’t trust you, nor do I even like you all that much. But… but this was incredible… and I wouldn’t mind doing this again… and I don’t want to leave you alone with Leon…”

Cutting Elise’s ramblings off, Leon said, “I think we would all like this to continue, at least for the time being, no?”

The two ladies nodded at him, though Elise’s was far more hesitant than Naiad’s.

“Good,” Leon said, and he looked back at Naiad. “I would like to, as well. I’m not entirely sure what we are, what everyone wants from this, or how this will end up, but I would like to continue. See what happens.”

“Naiad wants a kid, though, so we know what she wants out of this,” Elise said. “This’ll be temporary, I think, you’re going to leave once you get what you want, aren’t you?”

Elise’s brilliant green eyes bored holes into Naiad, and Elise was smiling with the certainty that Leon was hers and that his and Naiad’s relationship was only temporary. An ephemeral thing that she could enjoy for what it was for as long as it would last. Naiad wouldn’t be sticking around for long, and once the river nymph left, neither Elise nor Leon would see her ever again.

However, Naiad didn’t rush to confirm what Elise just said. Instead, she took a moment to think, then said, [Don’t get too comfortable in thinking that I won’t be around, I think this will still take a while, so I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, and who knows what the future might hold?]

Elise’s smile faltered just a little, but overall, her confidence in the transience of their situation remained unshaken.

Naiad, however, was more than a little shocked at what she had just said. Elise was right, she only wanted the child and to not turn into a gorgon, nothing more. That Naiad even floated the possibility of sticking around after that surprised no one more than Naiad herself, and her satisfied smile began to drop.

“We should get going,” Elise said as she struggled to get out of bed—her legs were a bit weak from how intensely she and Leon had made love. Still, she was a fourth-tier mage, and that wasn’t enough to prevent her from rising and getting dressed.

Leon followed suit, leaving Naiad alone in the bed. She didn’t get up, but she didn’t want either of them to leave quite yet. She wanted to be treated just like Elise, but she and Leon weren’t close enough for that. Naiad didn’t say a word as they took their leave.

When the door closed behind them, Naiad was alone, naked and colder than she had felt since she was a child, what little warmth that remained of Leon fading fast. She laid back in bed and silently stared at the side of the bed where Leon and Elise had been a moment before, her mind seeming to work both miles a minute and at a snail’s pace as she tried to figure out just why she was suddenly feeling so attached to Leon. Whether this was a new feeling or just one that she was now aware of wasn’t a question she considered.

---

Once outside of Naiad’s room and no longer needing to project strength and confidence, Elise sighed in exhaustion and almost collapsed. Only Leon holding out an arm for her kept her on her feet.

“Ahhhh,” she sighed as she looked to her lover. “Think you could’ve gone any harder?” she sarcastically asked.

Leon smiled in embarrassment, but he said nothing.

Pushing for more than just silence, Elise asked, “So, how was that for you? You were pretty quiet after…”

“Honestly, I never thought it would be so… intense,” Leon replied, saying what was on both of their minds. “I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t be enough for the both of you, but I guess I was wrong…”

“You can say that again,” Elise said as she stumbled a bit in the hallway. Fortunately, it was early in the afternoon and most of the work that the servants do in the estate was finished by noon, so there wasn’t anyone around to see her in this state. “How long were we in there?”

“… An hour or two?” Leon guessed. That both lost track of time came as no surprise to either.

“I have to say, though, if every time is like that, then I’ll find it much harder to object to her presence here,” Elise stated. “Especially if she is going to add her power to ours, then what else is there to say?”

“Is she starting to rub off on you?” Leon teasingly asked. He wouldn’t insist that Naiad stay if given the option, but with Elise now openly expressing some acceptance, his own desires to not have the river nymph around were rapidly disappearing.

“I still don’t like her,” Elise replied in a satisfied tone. Gone was her usual anger when it came to matters concerning the river nymph Queen, leading Leon to doubt how truthful Elise was being. “However, I don’t think either of us can deny that what just happened was amazing!”

“Got me there,” Leon said, almost shrugging until he remembered that Elise was still using his arm to help herself walk through the halls.

“So, what do you really want to do about this?” Elise asked. “At least for the time being, I don’t mind if she stays, but when she goes, I expect you to start keeping an eye open for other potential wives!”

“Still going on about that, huh?” Leon asked as he averted his gaze and suppressed a smile.

“Of course!” Elise cried. “I can even help you get started!”

“Do you think I need that help?” Leon asked with a laugh.

“Yes you do!” Elise responded. “How about Valeria? What do you think about her? I, for a fact, know that she likes you, and I wouldn’t mind if you got together… with her…”

She trailed off at the end once she realized that Leon had stiffened when she brought up her silver-haired friend’s name, and at first, she thought that it meant that Leon did like her. However, when she glanced at Leon’s face, it was one of stony rejection.

“She’s a fine woman,” Leon neutrally said. “I’m sure she’ll make someone very happy, someday. Just won’t be me.”

“… Oh…” Elise muttered. She filed that away for later, as there seemed to be something that Leon wasn’t telling her. However, Valeria was one of her closest friends, and she wasn’t about to give up on Val becoming her sister-in-law just yet.

Once they reached Elise’s wing of the estate, Leon helped Elise back to bed where the latter collapsed. Leon wasn’t in such a shape, so he returned to work on the defensive wards he planned to add to their villa.

Neither realized that the entire way back, Naiad had watched them with her magic senses, a tight, unfamiliar, and deeply uncomfortable welling in her chest. There was nothing wrong with her, physically, as she confirmed multiple times with her own magic senses, but still, seeing Leon and Elise just leave after everything the three had just done hurt far more than Naiad ever thought it would.