Isran couldn’t help the blush on her face at the sight of three beautiful women cuddled up to her. Elysi had gone to sleep in her arms and had barely moved throughout the night. Since the bed was so big Phaedra and Calliope had been much farther away. Both women were already asleep when they left the bathroom.

  It seemed none of her companions were good at staying at one pce at night since Phaedra’s arms were wrapped around her torso while Calliope’s head was dangerously close to her morning wood.

  Isran tried her best not to move a muscle, hoping to not wake any one of the women. She remained in that position, each sleeping beauty moving slightly over the course of an hour.

  Calliope woke up first, her ears droopy and her eyes squinted. She barely registered where she was sleeping. Instead, she pushed off the bed, almost palming Isran’s cock in the process, and stumbled to the bathroom.

  Calliope had just come out of the bathroom, dressed in new clothes—that Elysi had bought for her the day before—when Phaedra woke up.

  The healer rubbed her eyes as she sat up, her shoulder-length hair a bit of a mess. When she opened her eyes and took note of the position she was in she blushed and slowly got off the bed before locking herself in the bathroom.

  Isran sighed, her heart rate calming down, her eyes stung a bit. She drifted off into sleep once more, holding Elysi tighter against her body.

  ---

  Isran gnced down at Phaedra as they walked through the busy streets of Kestin. The healer was wringing her hands nervously and kept her eyes on the ground.

  Elysi had gone to look for possible apartments they could rent, considering Calliope refused to see the guards about… her circumstances and Phaedra had brought up that she would like to stay with them for a little while, they had to find a bigger space than Elysi’s old pce.

  Phaedra had asked Isran to escort her to retrieve her things from her father’s compound. The healer had looked nervous since they had entered Kestin, and the closer they got to her old home, the more her nerves showed. Isran was starting to feel nervous as well.

  Pheadra’s father’s compound was rather rge. He was a merchant after all, Isran had been under the impression that merchants in Neos were more or less the upper css. Looking at the compound, her assessment was most certainly correct.

  The compound was more buildings than open space, although the open space was a lot. It had been a long walk from the whore house. Phaedra had declined horses and Isran had assumed that meant the journey was short.

  A thirty-minute walk wasn’t short. She guessed Phaedra needed time to think. Moving out of one’s parent’s house couldn’t be easy, in any world.

  Most of the buildings had signs over them. Meat shop, jewelry, ore, fabric, cheap weapons, and some enchantment shops.

  Phaedra had waved at many people as they passed through the compound, most of them waving back enthusiastically.

  Their journey ended at a building at the end of the compound. It stretched the entire width of the space and had so many doors Isran wondered if it was all one building.

  Two men dressed as guards approached them. Their tunics were dark blue and they held spears.

  “Miss Phaedra… what a surprise.”

  Isran frowned. Did they not expect her back?

  “Is my father home?”

  “He’s…” One began gncing anxiously at the other

  Phaedra walked past the two guards and Isran followed her soon after. Considering the fact they didn’t stop her she guessed there wasn’t much of a problem.

  Inside the building were more doors along a very long hallway, several people walked around, carrying food items. As they walked through the long building, Phaedra stopped one of them.

  The gnome woman seemed startled but recovered retively quickly. “Miss Phaedra.”

  “Hello, where is my father?”

  The gnome gnced nervously at the other people walking around. “A meeting.”

  Phaedra let the woman go but walked faster.

  “Is something wrong?” Isran whispered to the blue-haired woman when they stopped in front of a door.

  Phaedra shook her head as she opened it. “I was hoping to avoid him either way.”

  The healer paused at the sight of a bare room. Every thing had been stripped clean. The rge bed had no sheets, the walls seemed freshly painted and two rge bags sat in the center of the room. The bags seemed like duffle bags although they were leather and had an almost briefcase look.

  Phaedra frowned and walked to the bags. She opened them and rummaged through them for a few minutes before sighing and zipping them up.

  “Could you--?”

  Isran wasted no time grabbing both bags and lifting them.

  "Thank you."

  “Are you okay?” She asked as the healer walked out of the room.

  “Yeah.” She whispered back.

  No one stopped them as they made their way out of the building but the moment they stepped out the guards stood in their way.

  “What is the meaning of this?”

  “I’m sorry miss but… we have to wait for your father.”

  Phaedra drew closer to Isran, a frown on her face. “That is your problem.”

  When she made to move the door behind them opened and a man walked out. Isran could see the resembnce immediately. The man was short, with a round belly. His hair was a dull brown but his eyes were the same grey as his daughter. Their features gave it away much more clearly.

  He looked rich. Several tempered steel ornaments decorated his form and his tunic was purple, with several designs etched into it.

  “Father.” Pheadra’s voice was strained as she said the word.

  “His eyebrows lifted slightly. “Phaedra…” he gnced at her bags in Isran’s hands. “Where are you going?”

  Phaedra didn’t answer his question.

  “I thought you were dead.”

  Phaedra hummed in response. “I am alive… I joined a group.”

  The man hummed. “Is that so?”

  She nodded.

  The man waved at the guards behind them. The two men moved out of their way.

  “You are still under contract with me.”

  Phaedra's eyebrows lowered. “No, I am not, I was never under contract with you.”

  Her father only smiled. “You can leave the compound, but you have to complete your service.”

  Phaedra was beginning to look a little more than upset. “No, I do not father.”

  The short man only continued smiling. “I’m gd to see you’re alive, but as avid a reader as you are you should know how contracts work yes? Whatever this little act is you can have it. But remember, you work for me.”

  Isran’s grip tightened on the straps of the bag. “No, she does not.”

  “And who exactly are you?”

  Isran swallowed. Having the man’s eyes on her, the little courage she had mustered up had shriveled into nothing. Her throat clogged up and she did her best not to let her nerves show on her face.

  “She is my partner.”

  Isran blushed at the term but from the ck of response, she guessed it had more to do with adventuring than anything else.

  “I’m not going to argue with you, Phaedra. You are under contractual obligation. If you fail to fulfil your duties you will face the legal ramifications.”

  As nervous as Isran felt in his presence she disliked Phaedra’s father to no small extent. He had thought his daughter was dead, for whatever reason and the first thing he decided to do when he found out she wasn’t was try to force her to work for him?

  Phaedra lifted her head, looking down at her merchant father with vitriol she hadn’t seen from the woman ever before.

  “We’ll see about that.”