The three Skinwalkers exchanged panicked glances.

  [00:20] the timer flashed.

  "Tick tock," Ixthia commented, taking another casual bite from Archer's torso. The pradavarian shuddered. "Oh, and just so we're clear—refusing isn't an option. If none of you volunteer, I'll simply pick one of the girls and have the Seeker harvest your male for the… lack of cooperation. He can work his way out of my displeasure on the Entertainment Deck. I should warn you, the mortality rate for beginners is..." She paused thoughtfully. "Seventy-eight percent? Seventy-nine? I lose track.”

  [00:11]

  "I'll do it," Sage declared and the countdown froze.

  "Sage, no!" Marya grabbed her sister's arm. "You don't know what you're—"

  "I'm the youngest," Sage interrupted, fox skull turning to face Marya. "You and Fin have responsibilities here. The café. Mom needs you. I'm just... I'm the useless spare. The comic relief. I don't even get to leave the tower during the day."

  "Sage—" Fennel began.

  “The blood contract might require us to quit working at the café,” Marya let out. “We don’t know what’s going to be in it! This… You’re basically signing up to spend the rest of your life as her servant.”

  "Eh," Sage shrugged, "how bad can it be? I get to hang out with a cute dragon girl and her incredibly jacked up human ‘bold. Getting kinda sick of being an attic hermit.”

  Marya exhaled.

  "Relax sis. She's not going to eat me. She's too busy having relationship anxiety," Sage commented, glancing at Galateya.

  Galateya's white-gray scales flushed with spots of pink between sickly green.

  "Excellent choice," Ixthia clapped her bloody hands together. "The fox skinny has spirit. I like her. Galateya, do bind her properly. Don't embarrass me."

  "Yes, Great-grandmother," Galateya forced the words out of herself.

  "Oh, and before I forget," Ixthia turned her attention to me. "Consort-bold! Tell me about this old Wendigo friend of yours. The one the Skinwalkers mentioned. The girl in the sparkly dress?"

  God damn it, fuck.

  "They're talking about Xandria Frontenachii," I said. “She and I were friends when we were kids.”

  “Xandria, hum? I'll have to look her up later,” Ixthia said. “How many bloody Omnids did that idiot sell gate access to? Slayer,” she muttered, probably thinking about Zexxia, then looked at me. “And… where is this Xandria now?”

  “On Earth,” I said.

  “Oh? Will she be a problem for my granddaughter’s ascension?”

  I considered my options. Lying to the Legate seemed stupid since Keiy could just tell her things anyway. Telling the whole truth seemed equally stupid.

  "No," I said carefully. "Xandria won't be a problem."

  "You sound quite certain," Ixthia observed, licking blood from her skull-snout. "How can you be so sure?"

  "Because she’s my childhood friend," I said. "I know her better than anyone. She will help Lady Galateya’s ascension if I simply ask her.”

  Ixthia's silver eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "How sweet. A childhood friendship that transcends dimensional and species barriers. Hmmm. So I am right, as always. Omnids can enjoy human company just fine." The Legate took another bite, chewing contemplatively. "Speaking of bonds, my little rainbow, you've gone quite green there."

  Galateya's scales had indeed shifted fully to an acidic lime color, crystalline mane crackling with tiny electrical sparks.

  "Spawnling, have you met this… Xandria?" Ixthia asked.

  The dragon girl's silence stretched uncomfortably long.

  "Galateya," the Legate's voice carried a bell of warning.

  "Yes," Galateya ground out. "We've met."

  "And?"

  "Xandria bullied Galateya a tad when they met," I said, "they're on much better terms now."

  Galateya nodded, her mane igniting from within with emerald auroras.

  "Jealous, are we?" Ixthia's smile widened.

  Galateya let out. "I'm not—"

  "Spawnling mine," Ixthia interrupted sweetly. "Your Phase-shift betrays every emotion. It's one of your... endearing weaknesses. Now answer the question. Why are you so lime-green?"

  The dragon girl's claws dug into Keiy's grip. "She... Xandria's known Ash longer. They have shared memories. Inside jokes. She understands him far better than I do. She—" Galateya's voice cracked slightly. "She was here first!"

  "Ah." The Legate's expression softened. "First consort anxiety. A classic problem."

  "He's my ONLY consort!" Galateya snapped. "Xandria has an established emotional connection with him that I can't compete with! Yes, I'm jealous of that, damn it."

  "Good," Ixthia said approvingly. "Jealousy means you care. Caring means investment. Investment means you'll work harder to secure your position at the top of this world. Use that feeling, my rainbow. Channel it into ambition."

  "How?" Galateya asked miserably.

  "By making yourself indispensable to this world and to its people," the Legate explained. "This Xandria girl may have history, but you have something she doesn't—official status, a blood bond! He's YOUR consort, bound to YOUR ascension. You're his future. Act like it!"

  Teya nodded, not looking like she was committed to anything of the sort.

  "Speaking of which," Ixthia's eyes glinted mischievously, "have you two consummated your bond yet?"

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Galateya's scales went supernova white, steam literally rising from her body. Small, dark flowers erupted across her mane and immediately withered to ash.

  "Great-grandmother!" she squeaked.

  "That's a no," the Legate observed dryly. "Keiy?"

  "Negative consummation detected," Keiy reported clinically. "Situation analysis suggests mutual attraction with significant anxiety barriers. Current intimacy level: awkward hand-holding."

  "I don't—we just—there hasn't been time!" Galateya sputtered, looking absolutely destroyed.

  "Excuses. You are to fuck him tonight," Ixthia said, ripping off Archer's arm. The pradavarian cheetah had gone mercifully unconscious. "A consort who hasn't been properly ridden is just a pretty accessory."

  "We've been busy!" Galateya protested, scales flickering between mortified pink and defensive orange. "There were vampires and Skinwalkers and—"

  "I don't want to hear it," Ixthia waved dismissively. "Keiy, establish dual countdown protocols for two new Quests. Ten hours for consummation. And… shall we say, four hours for the Skinwalker Knight binding? Yes. That’s more than enough time to arrange binding terms with the Skinwalker family. Begin countdowns."

  [09:59]

  [03:59]

  The countdowns began. Galateya let out a noise of a dying dragon, scales turning into jet black coals and mane reshaping itself into jagged obsidian shards.

  "There you are," Ixthia sucked on the remnants of Archer's hand like a lollypop. "I expect excellent reports on both completions. Don't disappoint me, spawnling." She turned to her trembling kobolds. "What are you standing around for? Start running! The next level awaits! When I'm done chewing Archie I'll be coming for you next!"

  The hologram faded away slowly as Keiy's third eye dimmed from violet back to red. The pradavarian kobolds' screams echoed briefly through the cafe before cutting off with Ixthia's laughter.

  Silence.

  Then Galateya exploded.

  "FUCK!" She grabbed Keiy and threw her at the nearest wall with enough force to leave a deep hole in the drywall. Keiy’s eyes flickered as the gun spidered out of the wall-hole. "Fuck fuck FUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!"

  "Teya—" I started.

  Galateya whirled on me, violet eyes blazing. "Don't you ‘Teya' me right now! Do you have ANY idea what she just did?!"

  "Set ridiculous Quest deadlines?" I offered.

  "Ridiculous?! Try HUMILIATING!" Her entire mane turned to ice, frost spreading out across the table and floor, snowflakes spiraling around her. "She just ordered us to—to—in front of WITNESSES! With TIMERS! Like we're some kind of—of—"

  "Entertainment," I finished quietly.

  Galateya's indoor-winter spread further, creeping up the walls. The temperature in the café dropped thirty degrees in seconds.

  "Entertainment!" she snarled bitterly. "Yes. Exactly. That's all I am to her. A fucking show. 'Oh, let's watch the awkward Taniwha raised in a fucking time bubble try to seduce her human consort! Let's give her idiotic fucking Quest deadlines! Let's force her to get an Omnid Knight! Let's embarrass her in front of fucking Skinwalkers!'"

  The ice reached the ceiling, forming crystalline patterns that refracted light into harsh, cold rainbows.

  Her eyes filled with tears. As they fell, the air and table where they landed hissed, turning to ice. I pulled back slightly, the gigachad suit flashing [Danger! Extreme cold!] warnings in my eyes. Was she crying with liquid nitrogen?!

  "She doesn't respect me," Galateya lamented, more tears freezing the air mid-fall. "She never has. I'm just a... a puppet for her schemes. A tool. A—"

  "Hey." I reached toward her carefully, mindful of the spreading frost. "Teya..."

  "Fuck off!" she growled. "I'm done! I'm fucking done!"

  "Done?" I blinked.

  "Yes, done! I'm at my wits end here!" She howled, clawing her face. "You... fucking Xandria, fucking Nexxali, fucking all morning..."

  Keiy skittered back to her. "Galateya, you cannot be done. You have a..."

  "Oh fuck you!" the Taniwha barked at her symbiote weapon. "Get the fuck outta my face!” She grabbed Keiy and reality wobbled.

  The gun unit froze solid to the table, red eyes flickering and then dimming completely. The countdown timers vanished.

  Galateya stared at her gun as if she didn't expect to actually be able to turn it off with her water-bending powers.

  "Damn, that's some Elsa-tier shit right there," Sanguine commented. "And here I thought that mom was scary when she got mad."

  "Sage," Marya hissed. "Read the room."

  "What? I'm just saying—"

  Fennel smacked the fox to shut her up. She smacked him back.

  Galateya's shoulders shook. More frozen tears hit the table, creating a spreading pattern of ice crystals. Her breathing came in ragged gasps.

  "I'm so fucking alone," she whispered. "Especially in that house. I wake up to them—to you three—" She looked at me with devastating clarity. "I felt it ALL in the Astral. The three of you… entwining together while I'm just... Stuck cooking breakfast. Playing house."

  I felt my stomach drop.

  Shit, I really didn't consider her feelings. Would inviting her to our bed fix things? Probably not, as Shady expected absolute devotion during sex.

  "I'm just the useless Hearth Keeper," she continued bitterly. "Not the Prima. Not part of your Circle. Just the dragon who fixes pipes and makes eggs while you fuck your actual partners."

  "Teya, that's not—"

  "Don't lie to me." Her voice went cold. "I know what happens in that bedroom. I know how you look at them. How they look at you." More tears froze reality. "I'm just the politically convenient consort. The one you have to pretend to care about!"

  The Skinwalkers trio looked lost and uncertain at this turn of events, wincing as the air got colder with each minute.

  "That's not true," I said carefully. "You're not—"

  "Then why?!" She slammed her fists on the table. Ice exploded outward in jagged spikes. "Why haven't you LOOKED at me like you look at them?! Why do I have to have a fucking TIMER to get you to consider touching me?!"

  Her voice broke completely on the last word.

  "I read all those books," she sobbed, absolute zero tears streaming down her scaled cheeks. "All those stories about humans and Omnids finding love. Building something real. And I thought—I actually thought—that maybe I could have that. That maybe someone would see me as more than just a tool. More than just Doctor Iowsh's experiment or Great-grandmother's Baroness puppet or—"

  She choked on her words, collapsing forward onto the frozen table.

  "I'm so fucking stupid," she whispered into the ice. "Falling for the first person who was nice to me. Who held my hand. Who pretended to care."

  "I do care," I said.

  "Do you?!" Galateya's head snapped up, violet eyes blazing through cold tears. "Or do you just care about whatever scheme you and Xandria and Nexxali are running?!"

  I opened my mouth. Closed it.

  She was right. At least partially right.

  My plans involved her, yes, but as a piece on the board. A necessary ally. Not as... not as someone I'd actually considered as an immediate romantic partner. I already had my hands full with Shady, Nexy and saving the world.

  "That's what I thought," she said bitterly, watching my hesitation. "You can't even deny it. You... you aren't even here for me! You're not even here, not fully! I can taste the injustice of it all with my Omnid heart! You're fucking somewhere else!"

  I felt my consciousness strain between two places. Between being there for Shady and being here for Teya.

  "You're right," I admitted, glancing at the frost-covered, disabled gun.

  Galateya blinked, clearly not expecting my honesty.

  "I'm not... fully here," I continued. "Part of me is somewhere else. Doing something else. And yes, I have plans. Schemes. Things I can't tell you about because—because a lot of people depend on them succeeding!"

  Galateya let out another sob. More frozen tears hit the table, forming intricate crystalline patterns that spread like frost fractals. Her entire body shook with the force of her crying, scales rippling through whites mixed with sickly greens, ash grays bleeding into bruised blacks.

  I reached toward her again.

  "Don't," she choked out. "Just... don't. Don't touch me."

  I withdrew my hand, feeling utterly helpless. The Backend of my mind was preoccupied with events unfolding two hundred thousand miles above the Earth where the Slayer's Sword Third fleet capital ship loomed beside the moon.

  The Frontend existing in Cascade struggled with what to say, how to help, how to fix this catastrophic emotional disaster. If Teya accidentally froze my neural network connection to my other gun-unit self, if I failed my mission, then Shady would probably stay dead permanently, become unmade by her family.

  Fuck my life.