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He made her feel safe, cherished, and wanted. Not just for her body, but also her personality. He was sweet, funny, and weirdly charming.

Nathair was wonderful: scales, claws, fangs, and all.

Glenda took a moment to process what Linh had said. When it finally sunk in, the woman rushed to her feet, almost knocking over her chair in the process. Linh winced at its loud scrape.

“It was consensual?!” she whisper-shouted.

Linh reached out and grabbed her robes, yanking and pulling on them so she would sit. Her brows furrowed beseechingly until Glenda sat her bum down.

“Yes,” Linh admitted, her cheeks flaring hotter. “I know it’s probably strange to understand, but he’s not a monster. He’s really kind, and he... he made me feel better after everything. He took care of me and was really understanding and patient.”

“You’re joking,” Glenda rasped out. “He’s a Duskwalker, Linh!”

Linh rolled her eyes. “I don’t think it’s fair for you to judge. You would think with three eyes, you’d be better at seeing people for who they really are.”

She cast Glenda’s mask a hard stare.

“So, he told you.” She cupped the chin of her mask and turned her face to the side. “How the hell did he know? Probably from eating a few of us, I guess.” The woman shuddered. “And you still let him...”

Linh winced at that. She lowered her head to stare at her hands sitting on her folded knees.

“I don’t think he wants to hurt people. He explained that he couldn’t help it in the past. They gain intelligence or something from eating people, and now that he has plenty of it... I don’t think he wants to do that anymore.” She picked at her nails again. “I don’t want to judge him for the past. Not when he saved me from my present, and the hurdles I would have faced on my own if he hadn’t come into my life.”

“You do realise this may all be a delusion, right? Stockholm syndrome, finding security in wrong places to get over trauma.There are many terms and meanings for what you may be going through.”

“No,” Linh quietly, yet firmly, stated. “I don’t want to think of it that way. He never kept me imprisoned. He told me to leave at first, and I chose to stay.”

“Linh–”

“I know what I feel, okay?” Linh snapped out. “I know what feels right for me, even if everyone else will think it’s wrong.”

The wary suspicion in Glenda’s voice was unmistakable as she asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Linh’s lips pursed, and she glanced up at Glenda’s mask. “You’re welcome to share my feelings with the others in your temple, but I ask that you let me tell my family and the villagers in my own time. I want to talk to Nathair first and introduce him properly.”

Glenda folded her arms across her chest with a childish harrumph, showing her age, but it was weak. She wasn’t truly upset, from what Linh could tell, and the Priestess quickly relaxed her posture.

“That’s fine. Whatever you wish. I guess it’s a good thing we were unable to remove the spell he put on you. We don’t know what it was for, if it was some increased fertility magic or just ensuring the strength of your body for mating.” Then she quietly muttered, “Why your ass, though? Are all male creatures weird?”

Oh my gosh, someone end me now!Linh threw her face into her hands, mortified they’d examined just what she and Nathair had done the other morning.

“Wait,” she whispered, lowering her hands to her mouth. “You tried to remove the magic?”

She winced.Why does that feel like a violation against my body?Doing it had been her choice, and having the spell removed against her will, or even knowledge, felt like she’d almost betrayed Nathair somehow.

“I wish you hadn’t assumed,” Linh grumbled, only for a knock at the door to interrupt their conversation.

Glenda stood, and her robes fluttered as she walked to the door. Very little dust puffed into a flurry, the infirmary clean and tidy.

“Who’s there?” Glenda asked through the door. Her tone was hesitant and unsure, and Linh figured someone had attempted to enter while she was unconscious.

She shuddered at what that meant.

“It’s us,” Tahlia, her mother, answered.

Glenda immediately opened the door. A girl, barely fifteen, almost pushed her to the ground as she ran inside.

“Linh!” May cried while tackling her to the bed.