Chapter Ten
TEN
HAWK
24 Days Before the Conquest Moon
Magpie’s new fledgling team is arguably the worst team I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some dreadful ones in the past few years. I’ve worked with fledglings who didn’t want to take direction from a Taurian. I’ve worked with fledglings who were cowards, or too spoiled to get their clothes dirty. There was one year where they all wanted to just get drunk with Magpie in taverns and none of them showed up on testing day.
They were still better than this crew.
I wash at the basin in my room, splashing water on my muzzle and wondering if everything is about to come crashing down upon Magpie’s nest. This team has to pass or Magpie’s going to lose her position as guild master. We’ll be kicked out and homeless, and I’ll never pay my hand back.
But I don’t know if this is the team to get us out of the hole we’ve been dug into.
It’s been two days of training and I haven’t seen a lick of potential. They’re a stunning disgrace, and I don’t have much time to get them into shape so they can do test runs in the tunnels. I knew it would be bad, and yet I’m staggered anew every time I look at them. I couldn’t have picked a worse team if I tried.
Lark is yawning and belligerent, but I knew she would be. She argues with all my orders and makes faces behind my back.
The slitherskin won’t take off his house, and I’m not entirely convinced he’s listening to a thing I say.
The young priestess cries when she has to run and says a prayer when I look at her.
Gwenna glares at me as if I’m ravishing her friend in front of her eyes.
And Aspeth?
Aspeth tries, at least. Just like yesterday, she tried her hardest today. Just like yesterday, she was the worst of them. She huffs and trudges along the heavily sloped streets of Vastwarren with the best of them, gamely trying to keep up. She truly wants this, I sense, which is annoying because she’s in terrible shape, athletically. It’s also annoying that the more she sweats, the more her clothes cling to her figure and outline the heaving mounds of her tits. It took everything I had not to stare at the dark nipples poking through her flimsy linen top.
I stare at myself in the mirror. Is that a hint of red in my pupils or am I imagining things? I look half-crazed already, and we’ve still weeks to go. It’s the upcoming Conquest Moon that’s making me act like a rut-addled fool. Normally I wouldn’t be mesmerized by a pair of sweaty breasts. I could focus on my work, on molding these students into decent guild members so they can tithe to Magpie’s house and I can pay off some of my debt. I could ignore all distractions.
Instead, here I am marrying a student and daydreaming about the salty sweat trailing between her tits.
The sacred knot swells ever so slightly around the base of my cock like a band, reminding me that things are about to get worse, not better. I rub the ache of it until it lessens, and then towel off and head out of my room to find Magpie.
The kitchen is surprisingly tidy. I expected it to be a mess after training started, but there are no dishes stacked on the table, no half-eaten crusts left about. That doesn’t track. Normally students are exhausted and don’t clean up after themselves in the first few weeks of training. They run the poor nestmaid ragged. They sit at the table and eat (and bitch) as much as possible. But the kitchen is empty except for one notable exception. In a corner near the hearth, the slitherskin’s large, swirling shell is on its side and a tiny bell hangs over the lip, indicating that the owner is inside. Tomorrow we’re going to have to talk about him leaving his shell behind. He can’t just take it everywhere with him. It’s against guild custom for fledglings to wear anything other than their assigned uniforms.
I’m contemplating the best way to approach removing the slitherskin’s house from him when Lark enters the room, muttering under her breath. She’s still in her sweaty uniform, her hair in messy braids. She glances at me and then avoids eye contact, heading for the cabinets and rummaging through them. I probably yelled at her too much today. I probably yelled at all of them too much today. I see my hopes for the future drifting away with every dramatic sigh one of them makes, every time they ask to sit down and take a break.
So then I push them even harder. They’re probably regretting ever joining Magpie’s nest.
“There’s no alcohol,” I tell her, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the table and taking a bite. “You’re wasting your time.”
She turns and glares at me. “I did my time. I just want a quick sip before bed.”
“I mean it. No drinks. You know the rules. And if I find you’ve snuck something in, I’ll have you on belly-crawling drills for the next three weeks.” I devour the apple in two bites and snag another. “I’m tired of all the drunks in this house.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I absolutely would. Try me.”
Lark makes an irritated sound but huffs out of the kitchen, storming up to her quarters. I can’t really boot her from the program—not when we need five—but I can make her life miserable if she tries anything.
I finish my apple and then eat a wedge of goat cheese and a handful of nuts before heading out of the kitchen, just in time to run into Magpie at the base of the stairs. She blinks at me, her eyes glassy. Her hair is messy and her face flushed. She’s wearing a wrinkled guild master uniform, her heavy sash dripping with pins, and runs a hand over it as she gives me a distracted smile. “Did I miss recruitment?”
Irritation bubbles up inside me and I try to ignore it. “Two days ago, aye.”
“Oh, bury me.” She almost sounds upset. Then she pauses. “Am I drunk or did I hear a cat earlier?”
“I don’t know, are you ever not drunk?”
“Ouch.” She moves past me, heading to the kitchen. Her steps are even, which might be a good sign that she’s actually somewhat sober for once.
Doesn’t matter if she is. I follow after her, anger simmering in my chest. “We need to talk, Magpie.”
“I need to eat something. We can talk after I’ve had a snack.” She enters the kitchen and slices a bit of cheese off the wheel, then sits atop the counter and eyes me as she eats. “Rough day? You look beat.”
I cross my arms over my chest. It’s either that or reach out and strangle her. “You do know what you missed, don’t you?” When she gives me a blank stare, I realize she doesn’t. She truly has no idea. “I had to take your students to the hall for enrollment without you, and everyone noticed.”
Her eyes widen, and she chews slowly. “Huh.”
“That’s all you can say?”
“Well, I’d like to say hearing that really makes me want to get another drink, but I think you’ll lose your shit if I do.” She takes another bite of cheese. “Was Rooster pissy about it?”
“To say the least. He said if your class doesn’t pass this year, you’ll be stripped of your guild rank and cast out.” My anger builds, especially when her expression doesn’t change. “What do you have to say to that?”
“He’s just bluffing.”
“He’s not bluffing! I talked to him! I saw his face! He’s just as tired of your excuses as I am! You need to get your shit together, Magpie. Having a Taurian for a teacher isn’t good enough for the guild. You know that. They don’t respect me and now I’m forced to work with the mess you’ve pulled together as students.” I gesture at the door. “Have you seen that crew?”
She squints, as if trying to concentrate. “There’s one of them lizard-thingies, right? With the little legs?” She waggles two of her fingers back and forth. “Cute buggers.”
Indignant, I gesture at the shell in the corner that she’s clearly missed.
“Right.” Magpie blinks at it, then at me. “So he’s a lizard. You’re a bull-man. What’s the problem?”
“You also gave me Lark,” I hiss.
She grimaces. “Was that this year?”
“YES.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll talk to her. What about the others? They any good?”
“Two more women and a priestess.” I tug on the ring hanging from my nose, agitated. “What am I supposed to do with this team, Magpie? If you get booted, I won’t get the chance to pay my hand back—”
“I’ll handle it,” she tells me easily. She hops off the counter and for a moment, she looks just like the old Magpie. “I’ll pull back on the drinking. I’ll talk to Lark and anyone else you want me to talk to. It’ll be fine.” She moves in front of me and puts her hands on my arms, then pats my biceps. “You worry too much.”
“You don’t worry enough,” I grumble. “I mean it. You need to get it together.”
“I’m trying.”
I don’t know that I believe her, but I need to.
We talk for a little longer, me discussing the class and potential issues, and Magpie distractedly pretending to listen. I can tell when she’s no longer paying attention, as her gaze wanders and her responses slow. Something tells me she’s waiting for me to shut up so she can go find herself another drink, and my mood sours. I head off to bed, because tomorrow’s going to be a long day and I doubt I’ll see Magpie for the morning’s class, despite her assurances that she’ll be there.
It’s when I get back to my quarters that I realize something important.
I have a wife now. And she’s not here.
Not that I want to fuck her tonight. Well, part of me does. But that part is easily ignored, this week at least. No, she needs to be in my quarters because she needs to get used to sleeping with me. Even if we only fuck during the Conquest Moon’s rut, we still have to make people believe we’re married for normal reasons. That means she needs to stay with me. We need to act like a married couple to a certain extent.
And I don’t need her avoiding me and then panicking when the lust of the Conquest Moon hits me hard. I’ve heard horror stories of males unable to control themselves and just rutting anything and anyone close by, regardless of whether or not those people wanted to be rutted. It’s why Taurians tend to leave the city during the Conquest Moon season. It’s why we line things up in advance.
So there are no surprises.
My new wife needs to get comfortable with her Taurian husband before we get down to business. Rubbing a hand down my long nose, I pull another pillow from the linen closet in the hall and toss it on the bed, then go in search of my new bride.
I find her upstairs, having a lazy conversation with her friend. Aspeth is sprawled in Gwenna’s bed with the big orange cat tucked at her side. She looks sleepy, her hair is disheveled, and she’s wearing nothing but a thin thigh-length chemise that leaves her arms and legs bare. My knot threatens to act up again, and so I scowl at the two women. “Was today not hard enough already? You should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be even worse.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Gwenna huffs. She’s sitting on a chair near Aspeth’s spot on the bed, and when I approach, she puts her feet up on the edge of the mattress. It’s a subtle blocking move, easily missed if you don’t know what to look for. “We’ll handle your class. Don’t you worry about me and Sparrow here.”
“Aspeth,” I say firmly, reminding them that they haven’t earned guild names yet, “is my new bride. She needs to sleep in my quarters.”
“Oh, right.” Aspeth sits up with a yawn. “I forgot.”
“How do you forget your husband?” Gwenna asks. “How is that even possible?”
“It’s because some arse keeps making me carry rocks in a backpack and trek through the city.” She slides off the bed with a half smile at me, and then picks up the cat, settling it against her breasts. “Come on, Squeaker. We need to go to bed with your new daddy.”
Ugh. “Don’t call me that.”
She blinks at me, then moves past me into the hall, ignoring what I said and the fact that she’s barely dressed. The fat cat is tucked under her arm, leaving a trail of loose orange cat hair drifting in her wake.
Gwenna clears her throat. “This better be a marriage of convenience. If you hurt her, I’ll murder you.”
“I’ve no intention of hurting her,” I reply stiffly. The insinuation is incredibly insulting.
“Good.” She pauses and then adds, “She’s not used to dressing herself, by the way. You might need to help her in the morning if she can’t reach the laces.” She takes out a set of folded clothes—another uniform—and hands it over to me with an expectant look.
By the bull god, is Aspeth that spoiled? It takes everything I have not to curl my lip. If she’s that pampered, she’s going to be in for a rude awakening over the next several months. Guild members are the height of physical fitness and competency. They’re required to be able to handle any and all situations that might arise deep in the Everbelow, because no one can rescue them when they’re six leagues underground.
Well, no one but a few Taurians, sadly enough. Used to be that the guild only passed the strongest, the most capable, but now with the greed of the holders increasing, the impetus is for the guild to continually grow so more teams can be fielded. Most of them aren’t prepared enough, and so Taurians go down to retrieve anyone in trouble more and more often. I’ve gone on far too many of those missions myself, and seen more than one useless guild member lose his life to stupidity.
Recently, Rooster and the king decided that if a Five finds a Greater Artifact while in training, they’re automatically upgraded to full guild artificer status. That caused a lot of angry rumbling, but the guild ranks have been swelling, which is what Rooster wants. As long as the demand for artifacts is greater than ever, we’ll keep sending people in, I suppose. It bodes well for Magpie’s team. No matter how terrible they are, if they’re even reasonably competent, I should be able to get them into the fledgling tunnels at least.
Maybe there the gods will smile upon them and shove a Greater Artifact under their noses. Who knows.
Aspeth heads for my room, yawning, and I watch as the hem of her chemise plays against the backs of her thighs. They’re thick thighs, which I like. Thick thighs that will feel glorious wrapped around my waist—
“So where am I sleeping?” she asks, pulling me from my spiraling thoughts.
I gesture at the bed. It’s big enough for two, even if one of the two is a Taurian.
“I see.” She pauses for a moment, and then sets the fat cat down on a chair near the hearth, giving the ears a scratch. Then she turns back to me, her expression placid. “Do you want me on my front or my back?”
“To sleep?”
“For sex.”
“We’re not having sex tonight.”
Aspeth immediately brightens. “Oh, good. I’m exhausted.” She brushes past me and moves toward the bed as if it has always belonged to her. “I’m taking the right side, but tell me if you want it.”
She gets in and pulls the covers over herself, and then closes her eyes. I stare at her for a long moment, my thoughts churning. How is it that this particular class has only just started and yet I feel my life spinning more out of control by the hour? Eventually, I lie down in bed and stare up at the ceiling, waiting for her to say something. To start the conversation I know we should have. I’m experienced and I know what to expect with a Conquest Moon on the horizon, but I suspect I’m her first Taurian relationship.
Or her first relationship. My throat goes dry. “Tell me about yourself, Aspeth.”
“Why does everyone keep asking me about myself?” She yawns.
“Because I wish to know who I married.”
“Do you? Or did you just need a warm body? Because that’s what I needed.” She rubs her nose, a sleepy and unguarded motion. “Don’t fret about whether or not we like each other, Instructor Hawk. That’s not why we married.”
Hearing “Instructor Hawk” while we’re alone together feels…strange. “Muck it. Just call me Hawk.”
“Hawk, then.” She drops her hand and snuggles down into her pillow, clearly ready for sleep.
While I appreciate her practical nature when it comes to our marriage, we’re not on the same page. I’m thinking about sex and she’s thinking about whether or not we’re companionable. It just makes me even more concerned that she’s innocent. “We should talk.”
“Mmm.” She doesn’t stir, but at least she’s listening.
“This isn’t my first Conquest Moon. I’ve experienced two since I hit the proper age. The god doesn’t call to his sons until they’re over the age of eighteen.”
“That’s nice.” Her voice is sleepy.
I continue to stare at the ceiling, then at the crack on the wall that drips water sometimes when it rains. It’s a crack that Magpie’s been swearing to get someone to fix, except she owes the carpenter money. “It’s so if we breed a child, we can support it. Take care of it. I’ve had no children despite two god-callings. This will be my third.”
She’s silent, and I wonder if she’s worried about children.
“I’m not looking to have children this time, so we are in agreement,” I say before she can stress over it. “I need to handle my debts first.” I raise my magicked hand into the air, twisting my wrist and admiring the strength of the runes carved into the metal. Every day, I’m grateful for my hand. It’s a reminder that I’ve been in worse situations, and flexing it calms me. I can handle this. I can handle what this season brings. “Besides, if you’re pregnant, you can’t excavate.”
“Mmm.”
“So we’ll need to talk about birth control of some kind. The Conquest Moon makes our seed exceptionally potent….” Especially because I’ll be buried deep inside her, knotted tight, and the thought sends heat curling up my spine and makes my tail twitch. I clear my throat, steadying myself. “What have you used in the past?”
“Haven’t,” she mumbles sleepily.
I turn my head, and then pull back a little because her pillow is even with mine and one of my horns nearly took her eye out just now. We’ll have to figure that out. Later. “What do you mean, you haven’t?”
“Haven’t had sex.” Her eyes are closed, and she looks half-asleep. “Was waiting for marriage.”
I sit up on my elbows, aghast. “How old did you say you were again?”
“Thirty.” She pulls her pillow over her head. “Do we have to talk about this right now?”
“And you haven’t had sex ?”
“My father would have murdered my suitors.” Her voice is muffled. “And I’m going to murder you if you keep talking while I try to sleep. Can we discuss this later?”
I relax back into bed. Right. Later. Tomorrow.
Fine. It’s fine.
I stare at the ceiling for a while.
“Your father must have been exceedingly protective,” I can’t help but comment. I’ve got a picture in my mind of some fat, wealthy merchant—maybe even an illegal artifact broker—who caters to all the prosperous holders. Of course he’d be protective of his daughter, letting her choose who she wishes to marry and when. And if that daughter is as bookish and spoiled as Aspeth, she probably gets her way in everything.
Even so, something isn’t adding up. Why wait so long to marry and then fling herself into a hasty wedding with a Taurian who needs a rut partner? Am I going to have to deal with an angry father showing up on my doorstep? Demanding my head for deflowering his little girl?
I eye Aspeth again. The pillow is over her head still but I have a mental picture of her in my mind’s eye. She’s not that young or innocent. My gaze steals down to her tits, which slope indecently toward the mattress, her nipples outlined by the thin cloth of her chemise. It’s like they’re taunting me.
“This is damned inconvenient,” I point out to her. “You being a virgin.”
“Why?” She rolls over and presents her back to me, as if done with the conversation. “All I have to do is lie there, right? It’ll be fine.”
I sputter, glaring at her back.
Lie there?
Lie there?
“You are aware I’ll be rutting you?”
“Mmm.”
“Do you not know what that means?” I shake my head, bitterly laughing at my own folly. “Of course you don’t. You’re a virgin. Your father probably kept you locked away from anything that hinted at sex. I’ve seen the type.” My head pounds and I rub my hand over the aching spot between my horns. “Allow me to educate you a little. Are you listening?”
“Mmm.”
I take that as an indication to continue. It saps at my damned dignity to explain this to her like she’s a small child, but I don’t want any surprises.
“I take it you have heard the story of Old Garesh and the Prellian queen? The Taurian people have a different version of things than most. Our story goes that the bull god conquered Prell and stole the queen away from her husband. He was so taken with her beauty and courage that he claimed her for himself, and rutted her for five days straight. And when she arose from his bed, she gave birth to five strong Taurian sons. From there, the Taurian race was born. It is why we are part bull and part man.”
It’s not something humans like to hear, so I hurry onward with my explanations.
“Because we are the direct descendants of the bull god, it is he who guides our matings. Taurians are extremely fertile during a Conquest Moon. Every five years, when the moon returns, we seek our mate and do our best to impregnate her. If there is no mate, a Taurian seeks to spread his seed everywhere he can and in as many willing females as he can.”
She has no response to this, and I suspect I’ve shocked her.
“You need not fear. Since we are married in the eyes of the gods, I will seek only to mate with you. And…I will be gentle. Or I will try to be. That is why we must talk.” Just thinking about the upcoming rutting is making parts of me twitch. “Taurian males are not like…other males. When the Conquest Moon rises, so does our sacred knot. It only appears every five years, and it carries our seed. There are some minotaurs who carry the hand of the god permanently upon them, but I would not wish such a thing upon my partner.” I can’t imagine how those males function, constantly needing to breed, to rut, the knot always pressing, pressing, pressing….
Aspeth is silent.
“I will try to be gentle,” I remind her. “But it’s not always easy for us. As the Conquest Moon rises, I will grow more and more unable to control myself. Your very scent will distract me. I’ll want to touch you.”
Lick you.
Drag my muzzle over that pretty cunt of yours and just drink in your taste…
My words grow strangled even as my cock stirs. “I’ll grow jealous of other males in your vicinity, so if I seem like I’m in a bad mood, it’s not you. It’s the moon. And I’ll want to mark you as mine. Not in a bad way, and not physically, of course. Just to show the world that you’re mine. Some of the more flagrant Taurians take their mates out for public displays of lust, to remind the world looking at her that she’s claimed. I’ve yet to do that, but…I understand it.”
By the five gods, do I understand it. The thought of placing Aspeth on a platform in the market district and spreading her thighs wide so I can claim her in front of all? It appeals to the dark, base side of me. The side I’ve never really given free rein.
I swallow hard, because I can feel the knot rising, even now, weeks away from the Conquest Moon. I desperately stare at the crack on the wall, wishing Aspeth would say something. Her silence compels me to continue explaining, even though every word heats my veins. “When the hand of the god is finally upon me, you’ll know it. My eyes will turn red and my thoughts will be of rutting you, and only rutting you. Any birth control will have to be done by you, because if it’s left to me, I will try to stop it. Instinct will demand that I impregnate you.”
Hot, wild instinct.
The need to fill my mate between her thighs with my seed. To fill her cunt so full of my cum that there’s no chance she can rise from our bed without a child inside her. And because the moon is coming, the thought is an enticing one. It’s all wrong, but my baser instincts love it.
“I’ve heard from my mother’s brother about a Taurian who had a mate. She used a sponge to stop his seed inside her, and the hand of the god was so heavy upon him that he fished it out and then shoved it into her mouth to stop her protests while he plowed her. Heard she had twins, too, because the god was teaching them a lesson. But don’t be too alarmed by that. The god will understand when it’s not a good time, and I’ll make a plentiful offering to Old Garesh to appease him. But during the Conquest Moon? I’ll be lost, Aspeth.”
Even though she’s a stranger to me, and an irritating one, I can’t deny that her body is enticing. I can’t deny that a willing partner for the Conquest Moon is an exhilarating thought. I can’t deny that I’m looking forward to things. Just thinking about it has made my cock hard, seed dribbling down my shaft as I lie next to my woman and tell her all the filthy things I’m going to do to her.
“I’ll take you hard and fast,” I tell her, and my voice is a growl of pure unadulterated lust. “I’ll want nothing more than to shove my knot deep inside you and fill you with my seed. I’ll fuck you hard and bury myself inside, and then we’ll wait for my knot to go down. During that time I’ll be tied inside your body, locked to you. And then once it goes down, I’ll probably want to fuck all over again. Some Taurians don’t come up for air until the moon passes entirely. We’ll have to keep food and drink nearby. I’m going to be in an absolute frenzy. When we’re done, you won’t be able to walk straight for a week. That’s not bragging—that’s a fact.”
I reach for my aching cock and then pause, glancing over at the form of her in the bed. “I know it’ll be your first time, but I won’t be gentle. Can’t be gentle. I won’t brutalize you, but we need to get comfortable with each other before the moon fully rises. I’m not saying that to get my rocks off, no matter how it seems. I’m saying that for you . You should be comfortable with my body, and I should know how to please yours. That will make things easier for both of us. You should know Taurians aren’t built like regular humans. Just like we’re built bigger overall, we’re bigger everywhere. If you want an anatomy lesson, I’m happy to give you one.”
The idea pleases me. Not just the thought of shoving my hard cock into her hand and letting her explore it, but the practicality of it.
“Actually, we should add that to your lessons. We can meet after class. What do you think?”
Aspeth lets out a gentle snore.
Shock courses through me as I stare at her back. How can a female sleep at a time like this? When I’ve just explained to her in great detail how I’m going to rut her? Take her? In public if the need upon me is too great? That I’m going to fuck her so hard—
She shifts in the bed and as she does, I notice a smear of dirt on her arm. She was so tired from the rock carrying earlier that she must have opted not to bathe but just crawl straight into bed.
And here I am trying to have a conversation with her.
I snort at my own arrogance and adjust my aching cock under the blanket. Tomorrow, perhaps I won’t push them so hard. Or I’ll at least make certain Aspeth is awake before I launch into a conversation about my anatomy.