Thalion and Ylva had relocated to a different location—a small, rundown boarding house on the eastern edge of the adventurer’s district. The rooms were cheaper here, the walls thinner, and the smell of old cabbage and cheaper ale clung to everything. But it was safe. Or at least, safer than the Feather’s Rest.

Ylva had paid for a single room on the second floor, one with a window that overlooked the back alley and a door that locked from the inside. Thalion sat on the edge of the narrow bed, his silver hair still damp from the bath, the blue robe pulled tight around his thin shoulders. His hands had stopped trembling, but his eyes still darted to the window every few seconds.

Ylva stood by the door, her arms crossed, her ears swiveling at every distant sound.

"They’re not chasing us," she said finally, her voice flat. "No one followed."

Thalion nodded slowly. "You’re sure?"

"The only thing I smell is mold and rat shit. No guards. No guild thugs. No reptile." She paused. "We’re fine."

Thalion let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. They had managed to escape—slipping through back alleys, doubling back twice, waiting in a cellar until the streets cleared. But they knew they couldn’t go far. Otherwise, Jason wouldn’t be able to find them.

"He’ll come," Ylva said, as if reading Thalion’s thoughts. "Jason always comes back."

Thalion looked at her. "How did you meet him?"

Ylva’s ears flattened. Her tail stopped moving.

"None of your business," she said.

Thalion didn’t push it. He had learned, in the short time he’d known her, that Ylva was not someone you pushed. Her claws were sharp, and her patience was short.

Instead, he changed the subject. "He’s strange, isn’t he? Jason."

Ylva snorted. "That’s one word for it."

"I’ve never seen anyone like him." Thalion’s pale eyes drifted to the window. "Not elf. Not dwarf. Not beastkin. Something else. Something... different."

Ylva didn’t answer. But she didn’t disagree either.

Thalion knew Jason wasn’t an elf—despite being close to one in appearance. The round ears, the lack of mana sensitivity, the way he talked and moved and lied. There was something about him that felt unnatural.

Which was ironic, coming from Thalion. A couple of centuries-old who had spent decades in a dungeon, who could blow up heads with a flick of his wrist, who had tried to manipulate Jason’s mind and failed.

"He’s the unnatural one," Thalion thought. "Not me."

But he didn’t share his thoughts with Ylva. Some things were better left unsaid.

They sat in silence for a long moment. The afternoon light filtered through the grimy window, casting long shadows across the floor. Somewhere outside, a merchant was shouting about fresh fish. A child was crying. Life in the district continued, indifferent to their small drama.

Then Ylva spoke.

"I met him through my father," she said, her voice softer than before. "Jason stumbled into our territory. My father wanted to kill him. I stopped it." Ylva twisted the story, lying to make herself look far more grand than she actually was.

Thalion raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Ylva’s eyes met his. "Because he looked at me like I was a person. Not a monster. Not a tool. Just... a person."

Thalion was quiet.

"And now," Ylva continued, "he’s my mate."

Thalion’s other eyebrow went up. "Mate?"

"That’s what I said."

Thalion considered his next words carefully. "So... partner?"

Ylva growled—a low, rumbling sound that vibrated through the small room. Her claws extended slightly.

"Partner is worse," she snapped.

Thalion’s lips twitched. "I see."

"No, you don’t. And I’m not explaining it." Ylva’s ears were flat now, her tail thrashing. "Just know that he’s mine. And if anything happens to him, I’ll tear apart whoever did it. Including you."

Thalion raised his hands in surrender. "I have no intention of harming Jason. He’s my savior, remember?"

Ylva stared at him for a long moment. Then she turned and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Thalion asked.

"To get meat." She pulled the door open. "Jason will want something to eat when he gets back. And I’m not listening to him complain about being hungry again."

Thalion watched her go. The door closed behind her with a soft click.

He sat alone in the dim room, his pale fingers tracing patterns on the worn blanket. His mind was still fuzzy—fragments of memories, flashes of violence, the lingering echo of the orc’s scream. But beneath all of it, a single thought crystallized.

"Jason is the key. To freedom. To power. To whatever comes next."

Thalion closed his eyes and leaned back against the headboard.

He was going to behave. For now.

-

Jason walked through the crowded streets, the temporary waiver folded neatly in his pocket. His mind was still reeling from the encounter with Mira—the panties, the nakedness, Kaelen’s yellow eyes boring into him. But he pushed those thoughts aside. He had what he came for. Time to find Ylva and Thalion.

He turned a corner and stopped.

The body was gone. The cobblestones had been scrubbed clean, but the water was still pink in the gutters. A small crowd had gathered around a figure hunched near the spot where the orc had died.

A young orc girl. Maybe ten years old. Her green skin was streaked with tears, her small fists clutching a tattered cloth—something that might have been her father’s shirt. She wasn’t wailing. She wasn’t screaming. She just sat there, shaking, staring at the clean stones like she could still see the blood.

Jason’s chest tightened.

"She’s someone’s daughter."

He learned from the murmurs around him that the dead orc wasn’t a guild member. Just a laborer. A father. A nobody who had tried to help a stranger in an alley and paid for it with his head.

"This wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t release Thalion."

Jason knew it was true. The guilt hit him like a physical blow—heavy, suffocating. He had freed a monster. A broken, traumatized monster, yes, but still a monster. And now a little girl had no father.

"I did this."

He wanted to walk away. To pretend he hadn’t seen her. To bury the guilt under jokes and sarcasm like he always did.

But his feet wouldn’t move.

Jason stood at the edge of the crowd, watching the girl cry. His hands curled into fists at his sides.

"Never again."

He made a silent vow, there on the bloodstained cobblestones. No more collateral damage. No more innocent bodies because of his choices. He would find a way to control Thalion.

To protect the people around him. To be better than the man who had opened that dungeon door without thinking.

"I’m sorry," Jason whispered, though the girl couldn’t hear him. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Then he turned and walked away, the waiver heavy in his pocket.