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“Though next time I want a plate,” she said, and took another bite, chocolate smearing across her cheek. “Where did you even get a cake? There is no oven in your grotto.”

She insisted on calling my den a grotto. At first, when I had increased the light to show her my multiroom home, she had wandered around cussing, as if she were upset. My understanding of her emotions shifted when she stripped and flopped into the hot spring that fed through one of the rooms. She wasn’t upset, she was delighted.

“The Orcs have rescued a number of the kitchen staff from the school,” I said. “One of them is a trained pastry chef.”

“Let’s kidnap a fashion designer next,” she said, glancing down at the leather skirt she was wearing. I had gotten the clothing from the Orcs, trading some of the weapons I had taken from the corpses of Dungeon divers. The Orcs preferred simple loincloths and tunics, though the ones that fought more frequently ended up wearing more armor. Just because the Dungeon could bring us back to life didn’t mean we enjoyed dying.

Fiadh’s familiar chirped and hopped up onto the table where I had placed the cake, reaching over to lick it.

“Nibblet would like carrots instead of cake,” Fiadh said. “I like the roasted meat a lot, but I want some veggies too.”

One of the ‘requirements’ the human had put upon me was to help her retrieve her familiar. That requirement had become easier now that several of the Dungeon seals had broken. There were now secret pathways onto campus, allowing us, Dungeon dwellers, to explore the surface without having to fight our way free through the soldiers guarding the entrance.

The final battle was coming, and I knew my place would be beside her, keeping her safe.

“Vegetables will be provided,” I agreed.

Fiadh looked up at me, a smile on her face.

“What do you want provided?” she asked.

“Softness,” I reached out and trailed a finger through her hair. She leaned into my touch, her cheek pressing into my hand as she looked up at me with eyes that shimmered.

“What kind of softness?” she asked.

“Any kind you wish to share with me,” I murmured.

She turned her face and kissed my palm, and I knew what my subconscious had known the moment she had fallen into my world, changing it forever. Determination cemented in my heart. I would do anything to make her want to stay with me.

I was going to learn how to bake a cake.