AO 4 Ch 12 (Patreon)

Chapter 12

Aurelia refused to look at me as I sat in the local inn, but I was quite happy with myself.

I had a stone seat and a bench in front of me, and a beautiful stone archway over me where I had scorched ‘Free Healing’ on with fantastic flourish.

“Okay. I’m sorry. It was a joke. As you can see, I did not open a kissing booth.” I reached out for her and to my surprise she took my hand only to pull herself into my seat.

I made it a little larger to fit both of us, I was nothing if not adaptable.

She cuddled in closer. “I thought you were going to test for anchors.” Aurelia sighed.

It seemed she might be a little more sensitive at the moment than I realized.

“No. Why would I do that when I have the best ones already?” I hummed as people from our group milled around and absolutely no one came up to my booth. “Want to talk to me about what’s really going on? You’ve been quiet this whole trip.”

“My family died.” She grumbled far more like a disgruntled kitten than the manticore that we all knew and loved. That was a problem, because I liked the manticore despite how much I teased her for her ferocious behavior.

“Bullshit. There, I said it. You were a certain sort of sad when we were preparing, but you bounced out of that. There’s something bothering you with returning.” I countered, knowing that she had already come to terms with the deaths in the family.

It was bad form to be this aggressive with someone who was grieving, but the more time I spent around her, the more I was sure it wasn’t grieving for her family that had her off.

My anchor was being far more of a submissive kitten, and I found I really wanted the manticore back.

Even if she was a touch too aggressive at moments, she was far happier like that.

She grumbled something under her breath.

I noticed a person hesitating nearby, wondering if they should approach my stand and I flashed them what I thought was a welcoming smile while talking out of the side of my mouth to my anchor. “You’re going to have to speak up if you want me to understand this. I’m not letting you go until you say something.”

Surprisingly, she didn’t rise to the challenge and just pressed herself against me.

Damn, I was missing something.

“Uh. Is now a bad time?” The man approached.

“Nope.” The first customer is the most important. They spread the word, and I get a flood of people to heal. “Hi. I’m Arden Aldis. This is my anchor, who’s currently behaving a little strangely. Good news is it’s less likely that she’ll bite.”

The man looked at me with a single eyebrow slowly creeping up his forehead, but his need was apparently more urgent than his caution. “Okay.” He spoke slowly, sitting on the bench. “My stomach has been in pain for the last week, to the point I can hardly eat.”

I tried to lean forward, but a certain constricting kitten prevented the move. So I just waved the stone seat to move for me and touched the man’s knee to send life magic coursing through him. “Yep, let me just.”

The man let out an almost sexual groan. “I didn’t realize how bad it was until you just healed it.”

There had been several spots in his stomach that had needed considerable healing. “I’m not a doctor, but are you eating something strange?”

“Nothing strange sir. At least, not for winter fare. There was a strange snake in my meals lately.” He scratched his cheek after a moment of thought.

“Yeah. Don’t eat that snake. I don’t know what it is, but you’ve been hurting your stomach. Please send anyone you’ve shared meals with to me, and I’ll patch them up as well.” I smiled at him.

He fished around his pocket for a few coppers.

I waved them away. “No need. Just passing through and bored from travel. Figured I would hang out with you lot and do some healing here for the night. Best thing you can do is spread the word. I know people are loath to go outside in this weather.”

This far north, the snow was much heavier than I had experienced growing up. But I remembered that heavier snowstorms had come down from the north.

Our first patient walked away, and I glanced down towards Aurelia whose face was still buried in my shirt.

What the heck was wrong with my manticore? “I’m going to kick you out of my lap if you don’t start talking. As much as this kitten act is adorable, I want to get past this.”

She mumbled again and I pushed her hair back and her head up.

“Say that again.”

“Can I sleep with you tonight?” She asked weakly.

“Nope.” I shot her down in an instant. That wasn’t the solution.

Her brows furrowed and a little spark of that manticore aggression returned. “Why not?”

“Because I kind of hate pouting ladies. It makes me want to scoop them up and fix it all. Yet I feel a little manipulated at the same time, which makes me want to pull back and the torn feeling is uncomfortable.” I was brutally honest. “Now. What’s wrong?”

“If I tell you, can I sleep with you tonight?” She bargained.

“Maribelle has tonight. I don’t think you want to get in the middle of that.” I used Maribelle to block her. “Maybe next night. Spill.” It wasn’t happening but it felt like a concession to ease her.

Two more people entered the inn looking around. Their eyes fell on me.

I stopped boring into Aurelia to smile at them and wave. “Don’t think they are going to save you. Out with it.”

“I’m leaving.” She told me.

My brows pressed down into a fierce scowl and my head snapped down to her. “What? No you aren’t.” I refused. It was that simple; she was fantastic in so many ways, including as an anchor. She was great at keeping me alive and even better at keeping monsters dead.

“Right now I’m tasked to support your mother, and she assigned me to you. When I get back, that trip and that duty will be complete and I’ll have to offer myself up to my house and the Enclave for a new assignment.” She whispered as the two new customers sat down.

“Hold on. Stomach issues?” I asked the two.

“Yes sir. Rod said you could help.”

I was in a hurry to get back to the conversation with Aurelia so I put a hand on each of them, sending a flood of life magic into them and fixing their guts along with a little frostbite on one of their toes. Healing the frostbite so quickly caused the one to double over and cry out as his nerves activated again. “All patched up. Spread the word. I’m here for one night only.” I would do as much good as I could during this time. “Now you.” I focused back on Aurelia. “Who said you get to leave?”

“These are the rules, Ard. I am an anchor of House Virel. I will follow the protocol.” Aurelia sighed.

I ruffled her hair, making her glare at me. This move was valuable just because it was pulling her out of her moping for a moment. “That’s funny. I didn’t say you could leave.”

“Ard.” She tried to argue.

“Nope.” I held up a hand, full well knowing how stubborn I was being. “Right now you clearly don’t want to leave, otherwise you won’t be so damn depressing to look at. So, here’s how it’s going to be. You stay. If anyone has a problem with it, make it perfectly clear that the four sphere mage you are working for is making you stay. See? It’s my problem then and not yours. You can happily stick around knowing that I’ll deal with it.” Not every problem had to be theirs to solve. I should start getting some serious weight to my name and that of my house. If covering for my anchors wasn’t the time to start swinging it around, then I was worthless.

“That’s not how it works.” Aurelia said, though there wasn’t much conviction behind it.

Slowly, I was wearing her down. “That’s how it will work if you are sticking around. This procedure is a minor thing and we could certainly talk to our grandfathers to work it out anyway. So this once, please abandon that procedure and stick with me. I won’t risk you being sent off somewhere else.” Especially not with the turmoil we might be walking into at The Capital.

Her jaw tensed like she was struggling with the concept.

I knew her sense of duty was strong. Yet, for something like this, I wanted to see her put me first.

It was stupid and selfish. However, if one day the Virel family or the Enclave said it was her duty to leave after she’d been my anchor for ten years, would she put me or duty first?

At the end of the day, I needed to know that if I was to accept her as part of my family that she wasn’t going anywhere. I couldn’t start the path to something greater until I at least had a small show of putting me first.

I knew myself well enough that I fell in love easily and opening myself up to it was the hardest and most dangerous part. Losses hit me hard. I refused to suffer another.

“Fine.” She sighed. “Promise me you’ll get our grandparents to reassign me.”

“I’ll ask, but no guarantees.” A weight lifted off my shoulders. “Should Carmilla succeed, the Enclave might start giving very strange orders.” I voiced another concern that had been building in my mind.

Her eyes flashed dangerously. “She won’t win.”

“I hope not.” Leaving my mother’s involvement unsaid.

If Carmilla joined the elders, my mother would likely be dead. It was unlikely that the princess would hold back when they dueled, and I was almost certain there’d be an accident during the fight.

I needed someone by my side for when the shit really went down and we couldn’t trust The Enclave. Someone who would follow me through thick, thin and a few confusing orders.

Aurelia sighed. “I understand and accept your order to stay with you. Right now, you are my mage and I should follow your instructions.”

“Not quite, but we are getting somewhere.” I smiled at her with the progress and gave her a squeeze. “Now go back to being my manticore. There’s a time and place for you to be my kitten. What would Emlyn say if she came down from the bath and you were snuggled up like this?”

Aurelia couldn’t get out of my arms fast enough and straightened her kingdom blues. She checked to make sure her sword was belted properly to her hip as she scanned up the stairs to make sure Emlyn didn’t see her.

I smiled. Good to know their rivalry was still a strong motivator.

“You won’t tell her?” Aurelia asked, narrowing her eyes in a small challenge that made her look far more like herself.

“Of course not. Unless you leave then I’ll have to explain this conversation as to why I’m so mad and determined to kidnap you.” I would kidnap her.

“You couldn’t kidnap me.” She crossed her arms.

“We’ll never know because you are mine. Stick around and maybe I’ll show you the gift I got for you.” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Gift?” She perked up.

“It’s pretty and deadly. You’ll love it. Oh look, more people.” I turned away from her to the new people coming for healing.

“You can’t stop with that!”

I laughed. “Yes I can. Watch me. Don’t you dare threaten to leave either. You are nearly as bad as Maribelle. I got her a gift too, and I’m certain she’s gone through my things and found it.”

“She goes through your things twice a day.” Aurelia shrugged helplessly when I turned to glare at her in shock.

Now I was going to hide something ridiculous in my bags so that I could screw with Maribelle. The sudden thought of her finding a giant stone spring and immediately assuming it was some sort of sex toy made me shudder.

Maybe I shouldn’t put strange ideas in the crazy lady’s mind.

Crossing off screwing with Maribelle from my to-do list I focused on my new patients.

“How can I help you?” I didn’t let my face show what was on my mind as I greeted the new group that needed healing.

“Frostbite, we only ha—“ She was digging into her pockets and I waved my hand to stop her.

“Free means free. Well, maybe not free. I might be getting free drinks from the Innkeeper, so be sure to thank him.” I smiled and made a second little stool between us for her to use for her foot.

Aurelia shot me a look as Emlyn and Zuri came down the stairs.

With their cloaks off and a fresh bath, they both looked radiant and the whole inn turned to stare.

Yet their eyes were only for me and stayed on me as they hurried across the inn towards my station.

I took the newest patient’s foot in hand and worked to heal the frostbite. I was slower this time, reviving the nerves in something like this was actually decently painful so I did it in much slower chunks.

“Free healing?” Emlyn asked, crossing her arms and leaning on my chair. “You’re relieved for a bath. Thanks for making sure he didn’t get into any trouble.” She told Aurelia.

Aurelia stared at me. “He was only his normal self.”

“She was a peach. You should have seen it, Emlyn.” I got a slight rise out of Aurelia as she tensed for what I said next. “She nearly scared away the first customer.” I covered for Aurelia.

Emlyn scoffed. “Of course she did.”

Aurelia relaxed and walked off.

“What’s got her tense?” Zuri asked, her eyes flashing with a little insight.

“None of your business.” I didn’t want to try and lie to Zuri. “She and I had a certain talk. The manticore thought she could escape my services when we returned to The Capital, and I’ve relieved her of that silly notion.”

“I’d wondered.” Emlyn tapped my head. “She’s become a solid part of the group.”

“Yeah. Well I got her that axe, so she better stick around long enough for me to give it to her.” I watched her ascend the stairs.

She really had a great butt. Everything about her was bigger than the other anchors, but she had some serious curves in the back.

“Stop staring.” Emlyn chided me. “Not when you have two lovely ladies at your side.”

“Oh of course.” I continued healing with one hand on the patient and then scooped Zuri over the arm of my stone chair and planted her against me. “Why should I look at another when I have this?” I planted a kiss on Zuri’s cheek, only to find her lips pressed against mine.

“You’re making the patient uncomfortable.” Emlyn grumbled.

Zuri broke the kiss with me to turn to the woman. “My mage loves to heal people. Please put up with a little of our affection. It’s been a long trip and I haven’t been able to spend much time with him.”

“Uh. No problem at all.” The woman stuttered. “It’s a little painful.”

“That’s why it’s taking so long.” I sighed. “Your nerves are healing, and when that happens, you are a little overloaded because you haven’t had any senses there for a while and gotten used to that. So, it’s painful and I’m going slow so you aren’t howling in pain and scaring away the line forming behind you.”

Over her shoulder, there were now eight townsfolk standing and looking around each other to see how many were in front of them. Some were having trouble staying on their feet.

“Em, can you get their order and let them sit down?” I asked.

“You got him Zuri?” Emlyn confirmed.

“He’s safe.” She slid out of my lap to take her spot by the side of my chair.

“You could have guarded me from there. Really, I feel like you can protect me suitably from my lap.” I was just teasing, letting my anchors do their duty.

“You’ve made enemies, Ard.” Zuri informed me. “Two very major ones who might think your traveling makes for opportunity.”

“Well. I guess it’s good that one of us thinks about those things. I just do what I want.”

“We know, Ard. We know.” Zuri shook her head and rolled her eyes.

I finished up with the woman in front of me and let go of her foot. “How is it?”

She flexed her foot and wiggled her toes. “Wonderful.”

“Next! I think that was you.” I pointed to someone that Emlyn had just dismissed to sit at a table. “Also can someone get me a be—“

Maribelle appeared at my side with a frothing mug.

“-er.” I blinked and took the mug from her.

She had a slightly fantastical smile on her face and I squinted at the beer for a moment before deciding to just drink it and hand it back to her. “Sir. How late do you think you’ll be healing?” She asked me.

“As long as they keep coming, Maribelle.” I said dismissively. “We’ll get to sleep when we get to sleep.”

“Of course.” She nodded her head and held the beer mug at my side while people came and went.

Emlyn, Zuri and Aurelia traded out so they could all eat while patients kept coming. I worked through the line of people before getting up out of the chair and stretching my back.

“Night everyone.” I took what was the third mug from Maribelle, downed it and put it on the counter while I took Maribelle by the waist and dragged her off with me to bed.

AN - Last purposeful chapter for $2 tier (I mess it up occasionally and confuse a lot of people)