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I glance down at my phone, checking my feed. The space between event and report is so short now that I almost immediately see ten different articles with ten different photos and videos of the heavenly bread-fall.

Manna From Heaven? Bread Tumbles From Sky

I can already see the headlines. If we are not careful, my mate is going to found a new and entirely incoherent, chaotic religion.

I open a portal in what I hope is a private place, and step back through to the Golden Keep. The first thing I notice is the smell of fire. Certainly not what I expected. Second is the rich and almost overpowering smell of bread.

“Melissa!”

I call for my mate in a voice that shakes the castle to its foundations. Possibly not a good idea given the currently fragile state of things.

“Sire, your mate is in the dungeon doing forbidden magic,” one of the accountants informs me, as if I did not already know. Arkos is not far behind, an ‘I told you so’ expression plastered all over his face.

“I left an entire keep of guards, advisors, soldiers, and more to maintain order, and somehow my mate and my nephew have managed to undermine it all in a matter of hours?”

“I did mention the likelihood of such an event,” Arkos reminds me. “She has fate wrapped around her, a particular and peculiar power that I do not pretend to understand. You have not chosen an ordinary human female. It is possible she had some of the blood in her already, or that she is otherwise tainted, the product of another adjacent realm. Or, perhaps, she may simply be so rebellious and chaotic that magic itself twists and bends to her will in ways it will not for others.”

I do not have time to listen to theories. I need to go and get my mate. Now.

“Where is she?”

“Ripping the dungeon apart.”

Of course she is.

I go down to the dungeon, where I find my mate standing in the midst of the remnants of Equinox’s cell. There are bits of ceramic all over the floor, which is rather wet. I suspect the water pitcher spell has been deployed here many times over, in addition to the incredible numbers of bread, which are still in evidence.

Equinox is still in the cell, which is something. As is Melissa. But they are not alone. They are enjoying the company of a very large hole in the wall that is threatening to undermine the foundations of the Golden Keep.

“Maybe we can put it back together?” Melissa is saying hopefully.

“You want to rebuild a wall when you’ve atomized half the stones? What are we rebuilding it with?” Equinox is sarcastic when he is stressed.

“Is there a conjure stone spell? Or a ‘make it look like there’s stones here’ spell?”

“There’s a kiss both of your asses goodbye spell,” I growl.

They see me and swing around like a pair of naughty whelps.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Melissa gasps.

“Really? Because it looks like you came down here and asked my nephew to teach you enough low-level magic to allow you to create an unstable portal to the human world that just flooded a hillside with magic dragon bread.”

“Oh,” she says. “Well, in that case, it’s exactly what it looks like.”

“Come out of there. Now.”

“I can’t. I’m locked in.”

“I know you walked between the bars. Walk through them again.”

She swallows deeply and looks at me with wide, frightened eyes. “I don’t want to,” she says, speaking in very nearly a whisper.

“Melissa. Now.”

She whimpers and obeys me, snugging out between the bars. The moment she is outside, I grip her by the back of her robe, turn her around, and spank her ass. Hard.

“Ow!” Her wail is just the beginning of the well-deserved cries I will hear this evening. “I did what you told me to do, why would you do that?”