Love is like fire. It consumes, it rages, it is irrational, it lacks reason, and it burns those that are not careful. But life without that fire is like an empty hearth—cold and lifeless.

~Aine, Goddess of Love and Vengeance

“Cia…?” Conall gently extracted himself from her embrace and looked at his wife. Her thin body, haunted face, and the black orbs that were now her eyes all spoke of a harrowing time. Gently, he caressed her brow and along the side of her eyes. Others may fear those midnight eyes, but Conall adored them.

It broke his heart to see how badly his wife had suffered, and it lit the fires of hate and rage. He’d never let any of the Blood Ember Sect survive this calamity. All of them would die at his hands, including Cia’s father.

“He’s gone,” Cia murmured. Their connection was deep enough that Conall just nodded in understanding. “He brought his elites with him.”

“Why?”

“Idiot. Didn’t someone destroy the sect’s foundation? Already the jackals were plotting, and he isn’t immune to plots, especially with fate and karma turned against him. He abandoned it all to save himself.”

“I will kill him. He might be your father, but I cannot permit him to live.”

“It is what you were always destined to do. I know that now. Lover… he left Besnik behind, but you’ll leave him for your son to deal with.”

“Why would I let that little bastard—”

“That was the man that cursed our boy. You will leave him for Crow.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Conall grinned, and Cia dug a finger into his side.

“And don’t curse our child!”

“Should we go see our son? He is such a mama’s boy that it angers me to death.”

Cia broke out in tears and laughter. Her emotions were so conflicted over her little Crow.

“No,” Cia softly sobbed. “My next thirty lives wouldn’t be enough to repent my failures as his mother. I’ve wronged my little boy and made our son suffer. I really want to go see him, but we cannot interfere for now.”

“How can you know that? You may not realize it, but he is unfated.”

“We are sharing a bloodline power, so I can feel him. I’m not sure why, but we must wait for a time. You and I need to ascend, but first, I need time to recover. Now, we need to go because the guard dog has arrived.” Cia pouted at her husband and looked like a scared rabbit. Conall knew something brutal usually followed her playful side, and an icy chill crawled up his spine. “You’ll protect me, right, lover?”

Cia pointed behind Conall, and he turned to see a serpentine beast three times larger than a man. Its scales were blood red, and it reeked of death. The beast’s mouth hung open, exposing teeth that didn’t look like an ordinary beast, much less a dragon. Instead of shark-like fangs, they were long and thin, like a fishing hook fashioned from bone.

“Is that a Blood Dragon?” Conall asked, unable to hide the incredulity on his face. These things were legendary existences in the tower because they were extremely sinister. To incubate one, the amount of blood needed was astronomical. Thinking of the Blood Pit below, he shuddered and wondered if Gideon fostered more than one of these guardians because that was really extravagant.

“Leave the girl, human.” The dragon could speak, which surprised Conall more than the fact that it was a Blood Dragon.

“Can’t do that; she’s my mate.”

“Doubtful. She’s a criminal.”

“No. Her father is Gideon, the sect chief. She is not a criminal, just a kidnapped wife who misses her child.”

“And husband,” she grinned cheekily but remained hidden behind her husband. Secretly her hands were already weaving Witch Marks, which were protection spells sacred to each coven. It was why this duo often defeated enemies several levels above themselves.

Bands of energy rotated around her fingers and wrists like gaudy jewelry. Once they turned into tattoo-like existences on her hands and arms, the glow of power faded, and she waited. The tattoos were the manifestation of her spell, and she could hold them with minimal effort until she needed them. Cia’s body might be emaciated, but her mind and spirit were more potent than ever.

Conall’s double-bladed ax appeared in his hands once more, and he gripped the familiar handle until his knuckles popped. He didn’t move yet, because he was curious why the beast wasn’t directly attacking.

“You think highly of yourself,” the dragon laughed. “With this much blood, I’m practically indestructible.”

“No, I just think highly of the woman behind me. I’ll kill anyone that tries to take her away from me.”

“Ah, I’m sure I’ve heard of you. You are the Soul Reaper, the man that’s almost single-handedly taken down this sect.” The dragon stepped forward, but Conall didn’t flinch. With his combat experience, he could sense when he was in danger. There was no sense of malice emanating from the dragon, which made Conall more uneasy than not.

Sniff. The dragon’s nostrils flared as it smelled the man in front of him.

“You have the scent of kin.”

“Uh…?” Conall looked at Cia, who shrugged in confusion too.

“We are brothers, no? Both birthed in blood.”

“Yeah… kin. So, brother, we should meet up again in the future, yeah? Right, lover? We should meet up with big brother later.”

“So shameless,” Cia sighed.

The Blood Dragon laughed and dropped to his belly like a dog laying down. Its head and eyes were now low enough to look directly into Conall’s face. In this way, it looked docile, but Conall wasn’t about to let his guard down. Not for a second.

“I’m not an actual dragon, but I have some of their blood in me. Dragons are banned from the towers, so naturally, my existence wouldn’t be allowed here. And I am not sure if you know this, but Blood Dragons are reasonable and rarely grown in the wild. You could say we are domesticated by humans. Our fear factor comes from the way we devour live opponents. Like dragons, we are not capable of breaking alliances or treaties and abide by the rules within.”

“If you aren’t a dragon, then why do that?”

“Dragon blood, and to be liked, of course. It is a diplomatic game we play.” The Blood Dragon smiled.

“Stop. Don’t smile. You are freaking me out.” Conall stated boldly, and Cia snorted.

“Ignore this idiot,” Cia finally stepped in. Curiosity replaced her initial fear. “Are you after something?”

“It is true that human wives are smarter than their husbands.”

“What the hell would you know? You big red lizard!”

“Well, I already said we are kin. Are you not going to bond me?”

Conall’s mind blanked for a second. The absurdity of the request was beyond his expectation. It was so mind-boggling that he didn’t even have a way to reply. A small squeak escaped his mouth, and Cia chuckled and clapped excitedly.

“Could you not say it that way, pervert?”

“Yes, he wants to bond with you,” Cia spoke over him. “Are you able to fly?”

“I can.”

“Quickly, husband, bond with… what is your name?”

“Burble.”

This time, even Cia wasn’t able to respond. Burble? What the fuck kind of name was that?

Conall burst out laughing, unable to contain himself.

In the end, he sliced his hand open because even he knew this was an opportunity only an idiot would turn down. The dragon did the same, and focusing on the mingled blood, they could quickly establish a bond. It wasn’t nearly as intense as the one formed by Crow and Nin, but that was because the bond wasn’t as deep. Nin bonded Crow as a lover and lied about being able to cancel it. Death was the only way to break their bond. Conall and Burble were loosely bonded and definitely not a beast contract. It was closer to the bonding ceremony that Crow and Otto went through.

“Then shall we go?” Burble asked. The way he spoke was firm and carried an aristocratic feeling like a scholar looking down at fools.

“May I ask why you wanted to bond?”

Burble looked over at Conall like he was an idiot. Cia felt something was off too, but quickly agreed for her husband because she wasn’t sure they could escape without the dragon. Her bloodline ability and scrying were jumbled, partly because of Crow’s interference. It turned her power into a type of empathetic scrying. She couldn’t see the details exactly but could sense what was happening through emotional surges. It was like some kind of spiritual sonar.

“I wasn’t lying about being kin. Something in your blood is in mine, which is why the bonding process went so smoothly. However, the main reason is that I need you to put me in one of those… beast ring things you humans use. Otherwise, that—” the dragon pointed a talon toward the circular gate that could be seen everywhere inside the Blood Pit. “—will kill me if I try to leave.”

“Formations? Why didn’t I run across any on the way in.”

“I regret. I regret so much,” Burble moaned. “Madam, your husband is an idiot.”

“Stop that!” Cia ordered. “Dear, the reason is that it’s a prison. It keeps people in, not out.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll smash them apart, anyway.” Conall said but was clearly agitated by the way he was scratching his beard. Burble snorted in response but made no other comment. Conall brought Burble into the ring. Once the dragon was inside, he smiled insidiously.

“You are so bad, lover.”

“Fucker wants to toy with me. He deserves it.”

“Who is it? Please don’t tell me you put him in there with Minnow.”

Conall frowned. “Minnow died. I’ll tell you about it later. Remember Marsst?”

Cia’s mouth fell open, and then she laughed so hard tears poured out of her eyes. Marsst was a perverted simian that was raised by some sadistic tamer. The only thing he taught it to do was how to fornicate. That old tamer would let it loose inside stables, breeding pens, and other beast farms to impregnate anything and everything. It didn’t know how to distinguish between females and males either. If it had a hole, it went after them. That tamer caused so much trouble that the Adventurer’s Guild offered huge rewards for his capture or death. Cia remembered when Conall captured the simian but always assumed he’d killed it off.

“Why the hell did you keep that thing?”

Conall chuckled. “How do you think I tamed all those beasts over the years?”

“Husband, you are very evil. Is this the kind of role model you are providing for our kid?”

“Don’t get me started on that bastard. Every time a pretty woman came around that kid, he had some flowery speech and ruined my reputation every time. He’s eviler than me.” Conall was gruff, but Cia could sense the proud dad coming out.

Cia felt like the last fifteen years fell away as if they never existed. She felt so connected to her husband that they picked right up where they left off. No matter what happened, this was the man she devoted her soul and life to, but that didn’t mean Conall wasn’t angry. She could tell he was distraught and brimming with a murderous aura.

“I want to recover on a beach. Remember the island on the twenty-sixth floor where we conceived our son? I want to go there.”

“Very well, but if you give me another son…” Conall threatened, and Cia giggled. The two left the building, but no trap, formation, or enemy could stop Conall from leaving with his wife. He let Burble out once they were outside and flew them away from the real trap waiting for them at the sect’s exit.

Elric and some of the other prisoners were also carried away. Conall dropped them at a town and gave them enough gold to live their days comfortably. Elric even claimed he and the others would open up a shop, but Conall didn’t put much thought into it. They helped him, so he returned the favor.

Burble wasn’t happy. He’d met Marsst in the beast space contained within the ring and wasn’t happy at all. Even refusing to enter the ring, which only made the two lovers chuckle with amusement.