Ambition without a plan is diffidence.

~Ogma, God of Eloquence and Inspiration

“Lily!” Crow called out after waking up. The little fae appeared immediately, which startled Ahote and Aine.

“She was here the whole time?” Xue Lin asked. “Why didn’t you show yourself?”

Lily mimed and then pointed at Ahote before stomping her foot and turning away from him. Crow chuckled at her and had already long guessed why she remained hidden. “She is angry at Ahote. Previously, he attacked me by accident.”

“Miss Lily, I apologize for attacking your master—”

Her little hand went up, and Ahote stopped talking. Then pointed at Crow and made a series of gestures that even Crow didn’t fully understand. However, a woman’s intuition was really scary.

“She says Crow is not her master, but her husband,” Xue Lin said with a smile and raised an eyebrow at Crow.

“Hey. Don’t start judging me. I have done nothing inappropriate. She’s been claiming that since we bonded.”

“Is she a… a fae?” Aine asked, coming up close to the little woman.

“Fae princess.”

Aine and Ahote both felt their eyes widen and mouths fall open. Crow couldn’t help but think his cousin really had secured a perfect mate. Provided Brian, her shadow, didn’t appear it should be reasonably smooth. In the past, he really had felt Brian was a good fit for her, but seeing Ahote, he changed his mind.

“For real?”

“You are a god-elect?” Ahote asked, which in turn surprised Crow. Dagda explained many things in that fragment of time, but Crow didn’t reveal all of them. Including the information about fae princesses and god-elects. But Ahote knew.

“How did you know that?”

“My people are intimately familiar with bonds, including Soul-Linking items. Humans, beasts, fae, and all kinds of other bonds have been researched, and the knowledge passed down. The problem with bonding fae, or any intelligent race, is their high Spirit and Mental capability. Bonding with them is only possible if they allow it. Some bonds are only determined by karma or fate, such as that of a fae princess.”

That was the most Crow had heard Ahote say in one go. The taciturn man had a trigger, and he was easily excited talking about the lore and knowledge of his people. Crow wanted to speak with him about beasts, especially finding specific cores. However, that was a conversation for another time. Regardless, Ahote’s word aligned with the things he’d learned and had confirmed a few things he only speculated about.

“Lily, head back to Rosdoe. I have a feeling that person in the wagon is heading there directly. Warn the others.”

Lily frowned, and Crow gently caressed her cheek. “Please. It is important to me.”

A small foot smashed into Crow’s face, and a jolt of electricity surged through him, causing him to yelp. However, he knew it was because he embarrassed her. Even now, he could see her red face, but she nodded. Before flying off, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek while Song Lin and Aine were chuckling at her antics and Crow’s hair, which was standing straight up.

“Who is at Rosdoe?” Song Lin asked.

“Otto, Nin, and Mara,” Crow replied while checking over Song Xue.

“Whose Nin?” Song Lin asked, and Crow looked over guiltily, his face flushed. She smirked and didn’t appear upset. “So… she is another wife?”

“Crow! How could you?” Aine yelled in exasperation.

“Look, it’s complicated, and she’s also bonded to me. I didn’t know the bond meant she had chosen me as a mate. Now, if I break that bond, she’ll die.”

“A dragon?” Ahote asked incredulously.

“Dammit, how much knowledge about bonding do you know?” Crow felt even more aggrieved because he let things slip left and right.

“You really took a dragon as a wife?” Aine asked quietly.

Crow sighed and looked at Song Lin apologetically. “It happened during the trials before I left. The Trial of the Six Dragon Gods…” Crow explained the story and how Nin tormented and tricked him. Hearing the girl’s story, Song Lin’s eyes turned watery. It wasn’t hard for her to imagine how Crow felt at that moment, especially knowing how hard he took his own mother’s abduction.

Her dainty hand stroked Crow’s cheek and slid under his chin before tilting his head upward. Soft, warm lips pressed against his.

“Ah god, my eyes! Why are you torturing me, cousin?”

Song Lin’s lips pulled away, but she leaned her forehead against his and stared into his eyes. Her hands cupped his cheeks. It was intense and intimate, but very much like Song Lin. She was sweet, tough, and had an enormous heart.

“Are there any more?”

“Wives?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know, maybe one?”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, during the Clocktower Trials…” Crow explained how he met a Clockwork woman that claimed they might end up together. He hid nothing, and Song Lin didn’t judge. She knew long ago that Crow’s journey was something out of his control and that he needed allies if he was going to survive. In the bigger picture, she’d rather he have powerful wives around him than see him struggle and lose his life to achieve his goals. Besides, these new wives were much older than her, so now she didn’t feel guilty about her age. Of course, she’d never tell that to him, but her massive smile was genuine.

After explaining, the others left the cavern and went hunting. Song Lin went along with them to find herbs. Acco disappeared when Song Lin kissed him, so he did not know where that idiot went. They left him alone with Song Xue.

Crow turned on his Ghostly Aura, used his abilities to check their karmic bond, and found that it had mostly recovered. That woman’s forced connection wasn’t enough to do more harm. Only after seeing that did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Leaning over, he moved his lips down to kiss his Faelan. As soon as his eyes closed, they snapped back open. A dagger was pressed against his throat. Rather than showing signs of fear, he chuckled. Ignoring the blade pressed against his neck, he continued to lower his head.

Lighter than the caress of a feather, his lips softly touched hers before he pulled away. It’d been almost three years since he’d last seen Song Xue, and he was scared if he pushed too fast, he’d scare her off. But a hand snaked around his head and grasped his hair. Song Xue pulled his head down and forcefully pressed her slightly opened mouth against his.

A tongue snaked into his mouth and wrapped around his. It made his blood boil as his temperature rose. Once she released him, he was practically panting, trying hard to control the urge to officially make her his woman.

“Stop… or I won’t be able to control myself,” Crow whispered breathlessly.

“Then don’t,” Song Xue’s eyes bore into his. Images flooded into his mind. All the times he’d spent with her created an ache and fire in his heart that he couldn’t quench. Before he could make the first move, her legs wrapped around his waist. Both her arms circled his neck, and her tight body pressed against his.

Crow sat up, and she came with him. His hands reached down and grasped the soft curves of her butt as he pressed his engorged manhood against her. Even with clothes on, he could feel the moist heat and growled deep in his throat. Song Xue ground herself against him, and his mind nearly went blank from desire.

Their breathing grew heavier and heavier, and Crow lost all reason. He ripped their clothes apart, but she stole his thunder. Before he could thrust himself into her, she slid down onto his manhood, giving him her virginal energy. Even as they joined, Crow could help but chuckle evilly. His Faelan would never take a loss, and he nipped at her collarbone with his teeth which caused her to moan. That little sound made him lose the last of his rationality.

Her pert little breasts slid against his chest as she rose up and down. Her ragged breathing and increasingly loud moans brought them both to a frantic climax. But Crow wasn’t done, and neither was Song Xue. However, her legs were quivering so much that he leaned forward and pressed her against the ground. They climaxed again, but Crow stopped. Even if he wanted to go on, he could tell her body was hurting.

In his heart, he felt complete. Song Xue nestled against him and dotted his chest with tiny little kisses. Crow felt something was different now, and just because they slept together.

His eyes changed colors as she looked at him, and Song Xue ran a finger along his brow.

“Why are your eyes like that?” Her voice was a little raw, but Crow smiled, thinking about why. Everyone outside the cave probably heard her moans.

“Part of my Silver-Eyed Crow merge. While seeing karma is chaotic and beyond my comprehension, it is easy for me to check the bond between two people that are close together.”

“Are you looking at us? Describe what you see.” Song Xue was curious about how he saw their bond.

“It looks like a shackle—”

“You think I won’t stab you?” She hissed at him, and Crow laughed.

“Hold out your arm,” he told her, and a small, pale limb was held out before him. “Now, close your eyes.”

“You better not do anything foolish,” Song Xue’s almond-like eyes closed. He placed her palm against his heart and then put his hand on her chest. Unexpectedly, her breathing became irregular, and her heart started thumping harder.

“Do you feel your heart thumping against my palm and my heart beating against yours? That reciprocal feedback is the best way to describe the karmic bond. It is a living representation of how people are connected. You don’t need to see it to feel it, but seeing it is hard to put into words.”

“And are we… okay?”

“Better than that. After our… umm session. Our bond is no longer damaged. It’s recovered, and I doubt the Heavens can harm it anymore,” Crow said while staring at the bond between the two of them. In his mind, he was daring the Heavens to try. They were fated lovers previously, and now that they’ve consummated their relationship, that link between them had hardened. The clarity of the bond was so pure that he wasn’t even sure a primordial could harm it.

“What did I fucking tell you!?” Acco growled, standing at the entry of the cave.

Song Xue reacted first, and she threw a dagger without looking at who was standing there. Crow knocked her hand to the side, so the thrown weapon missed Acco by a few centimeters.

Acco’s eyes were bloodshot, and it looked like he’d been crying. His ragged breathing intensified as he stared at the both of them, still naked but under the thick covers.

“Shield your damned mind! Shield it! Shield it! For the love of all the damned gods, shield your fucking mind if you are going to have sex!” Acco practically roared like a desperate little mouse. His eyes shifted to Song Xue. “That goes for you too!”

He stormed away. Song Xue’s soft laughter and Crow’s deep chuckles followed him out.

“Let go of my tit,” Faelan’s winter-like voice reached Crow’s ears, and he felt like he missed something important. Reluctantly, he took his hand away from her chest. “I’m guessing this isn’t the first time he’s suffered?”

Fuck! Crow cursed Acco with a thousand painful deaths.