Handbook of Erotic Fantasy: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Patreon)

A bolt of realization shot through Wizard’s slender frame. 

He knows! Somehow he knows of my indiscretions during the hot springs mini-arc! Has Thief realized…?

Lying close against her lavender lover, Wizard could feel the tiefling’s muscles tense beneath her. But was it the sudden rush of jealousy, or the spring steel readiness of a street fighter that Thief had displayed so many times before? Who might she lash out against first? The man who had invaded their boudoir, or the elf maid, traitorous and unarmored, who had broken her trusting heart? There were daggers secreted beneath the pillows, Wizard knew, but they were no longer a reassuring proof against harm. 

Wizard opened her mouth to speak, but it was Thief who broke the silence first. “One more word, you alt-class wannabe. One word, and we’ll be in initiative.” 

The mage could feel Thief’s tail creeping down her long and shapely legs, questing for the hidden weapons. But what Wizard could not feel, and what she could not know (because she hadn’t prepared detect thoughts), was the tumult of terror coursing through Thief’s mind.

He knows! That idiot Warlock must have confessed. Wizard can’t find out. I can’t let her find out! It will break her dramatic heart if she discovers that I was target practice for that meathead’s eldritch spear! 

“You mean,” said Ninja lazily, a cruel smile creeping across his face, “That you haven’t told one another….?”

“Initiative!” cried the lovers, each looking askance at the other’s sudden vehemence.

“Happily,” said Ninja, the sound of dice rattling—too slowly—behind his silken words. ”But I’m afraid you will find that talking is a free action.”

And the next words he spoke, a few short sentences of trust and treachery and hot-pink eidolons, were enough to draw first blood.