Mages of Rubia ✔️

21

I can admit I've spent a lot of time in my memory lately. Having access to both my and Lief's memories is interesting. Lief's memories are pretty different from mine--he gets more of Ravana's attention, though I suspect that's because Ravana knows he can be harsher with him. Still, he's rough with me, only he avoids drawing blood.

With Lief, everything is a lot more tender. He's gentle, despite wanting others to be hard on him. I keep imagining the way his lips feel, how his calloused hands felt softer than Ravana's baby-smooth ones.

Conversely, I keep imagining Ravana's talons against my skin, and his harsh kisses. They're way too easy to fantasize about.

"You're zoning out a lot recently," Ezzy observes.

She's hanging out in the shop after just finishing her last reading of the day.

"I'm daydreaming," I say wistfully.

"No boss persona," she observes.

"They've been like this all week," Rachel says from where she's restocking crystals.

"You got laid?"

Esmeralda's guessing is pretty spot-on.

"By who?" Rachel asks.

"Don't worry about it."

"Ravana finally gave in?"

I wince. I don't like the way that sounds. "We were all really drunk."

"All? Lief too?" Ezzy whistles, "Damn, Arden."

"Lief doesn't think sex matters at all, so it's fine."

"If he doesn't think it matters why did they hold out so long?"

"Because their relationship isn't fully developed yet and they don't want to make things messy."

The girls nod.

-

Things are starting to get messy. Plain old horniness is turning out to be a bit more. I try to ignore it. It's easy to ignore with Lief, since I see him less. But with Ravana it's difficult.

When he smiles I feel warm. When I do something right and he gets excited, something swoops in my stomach. Suddenly I notice how endearing he is. His love for animals, the look he gets when he concentrates, the messy state of his braids by the end of the day...

I could go on for hours. Ravana doesn't seem to notice, because I've been working very hard on my guarding. I don't want him to know what I'm thinking.

It's no big deal. I'm just over attached. It happens. It'll fade eventually.

Lief is busy at the forge a lot more lately, sometimes even on Saturdays.

"He's going to work himself to death," Ravana says, "He's still pissed about his dad."

"The guy did leave him," I mutter.

"He felt very guilty. He's felt the guilt for eighteen years."

I shake my head. "That doesn't make it less painful for Lief. I know how that is."

"I'm sorry, Arden."

"I'll forgive you if you give me a kiss," I tease.

He rolls his eyes and ignores me.

-

Magic is easy to learn. I get through defensive demonic magic with ease. Then Ravana moves to offensive. This one is a little harder, but I manage to get him closer to me more often.

Eventually he gets fed up with me, and I find myself pinned against my shop counter.

"Stop fucking around, Arden. If we got attacked right now, you would die. I wouldn't be able to protect you, I'd be dealing with my own stuff."