11. Chapter 11 The Spoils #2
I took it. The leather was warm in my hands, warmer than the room.
I ran my thumb across the stitching and it pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
I buckled it around my waist over my shirt and the heat spread, settling into my chest where the gold always started.
The sensation was like [Mend] running at low power all the time, a background hum of the same energy I used to heal.
"How does it feel?" Bjorna said.
"Warm. Like the healing, but constant. Low and steady." I pressed my hand against the belt. "I've been healing with nothing but my hands and whatever the System gave me since I got here. This is my first piece of decent gear."
"It suits you," Sif said. "You look like a proper adventurer now. A proper adventurer with a magic belt to go with your stunning rabbit-kin girlfriend."
"I'll take both of those things."
Liv leaned over and hugged my arm. "Someone wants to get lucky tonight."
"Does it change anything right now? Can you feel the difference now that it’s equipped?" Sif asked.
I activated [Mend] and my hands glowed. The gold came when I reached for it. Easier than before. Not dramatically, not like flipping a switch, but the path between wanting to heal and the gold responding was shorter. Less resistance. Like a door that had always been stuck and now opened clean.
"I think so," I said. "The cast response is faster. Smoother. I'd need to actually use it on someone to know for sure."
"I volunteer," Sif said. "Hit me and then heal me."
"Nobody is hitting anyone," Bjorna said. "We'll test it on the next run."
Sif glanced at Liv. “If he fucks you tonight, make it rough. Get him to slap your ass as hard as he can. Then heal the damage.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not doing that.”
Liv popped out her lower lip. “Why not? Might be fun.”
My cheeks reddened.
Sif pointed at me. “Look at him blush! That is the color I want her ass cheek to look like.”
“Will you three be quiet? At least until we’re done,” Bjorna growled.
“Yes, ma’am. You know how I get,” Sif replied with a smirk.
Bjorna finished counting the coin. She sat back and looked at the remaining stacks.
"Before market sales, the coin alone puts us at twelve gold per head. With the crystals, the furs, the claws, and the bone plates, I'm estimating thirty to thirty-five gold per head once everything sells."
The room got quiet.
"Thirty-five gold," Liv said. She sat up straight on the bench. "Wow."
"Give or take. The yeti furs could push it higher if we price them right. The mystery metal is a wild card."
"That's more than three times the Brood Mother haul," Sif said. Her grin had come back, wider this time. "Three times. Bjorna, you beautiful genius, you planned this."
"I planned a full moon run. The fifth depth was a surprise to everyone."
"A profitable surprise. I'm going shopping. I want new boots, new leathers, and something pretty that isn't covered in dungeon residue. I want something that makes Daniel weak in the knees when he looks at me."
Liv giggled. “I think you already have that effect on him.”
"Sif, you're going to sleep first," Bjorna said. "Shopping happens after market day."
"A woman can plan."
"Thirty-five gold," I said. I was still processing the number. "What does thirty-five gold actually buy in Halver's Reach?"
"Months of living expenses," Nott said. "Gear upgrades. Quality materials for enchanting and alchemy. It's not retirement money, but it's real freedom. We can choose our next run instead of needing one."
"That's a good feeling," Bjorna said. Her voice had a settled quality I hadn't heard before, the sound of a woman who'd made a promise and kept it.
She'd promised the party a payday and she'd delivered beyond what anyone expected.
"The bulk materials go to market traders.
Competitive bidding on the crystals and the claws.
The boss metal goes to Larg for assessment first. If he can't work it, it goes to market with a reserve price.
Yeti furs get priced separately through a luxury trader.
" She looked at each of us. "The equipment we keep.
Those rings and the belt aren't for sale. "
Nobody argued.
Bjorna loaded the sell pile into her ring immediately. Nott wrapped the yeti furs in cloth and put them in her ring. The table cleared slowly, the massive spread reduced to organized piles and then to nothing.
Sif leaned forward and grinned. “We aren’t going to wake up tomorrow finding you and Nott gone with all our loot? We will track you down to the ends of the planet.”
“If we aren’t here, we’ll be out turning this into coin… not on a caravan out of the Reach,” Bjorna replied.
Sif nodded. “Okay, but just so you know what will happen to you.”
“Sif, I think if Bjorna and Nott decided to make a run, we wouldn’t stand a chance at stopping them,” I said.
Sif blew a raspberry. “Speak for yourself, Outworlder. I have a new ring and I’m much more deadly.”
Liv snorted. “Not that deadly.”
We ate what was in the apartment. We had dried meat, bread that was getting stiff, and water from the pitcher.
Nobody had the energy to cook or go out.
Liv ate sitting on the bench with her knees pulled up.
Sif ate standing, leaning against the wall near her room.
Nott sat at the table with a piece of bread and her hands wrapped around a cup.
Bjorna ate methodically, steady and unhurried. Everyone was starved and exhausted.
The post-run crash was settling in. The loot high had carried us through the sorting and now the weight of the night was catching up. Five depths, a trap gauntlet, a boss fight, three [Bubble] uses, and a long climb out. I was tired down to my bones.
"I could sleep for a week," Sif said. She was leaning against the wall near her room, chewing dried meat with the casual grace of someone who looked good doing everything.
"You could sleep for a week but you'd be at the market by noon," Nott said.
"By ten. I have priorities."
Bjorna stood. She looked at the group and the tiredness in her face softened into something warm. "Get some rest. We earned it tonight. Every one of you performed beyond what I expected, and I don't say that often."
"She really doesn't," Sif said. "Write that down. Bjorna complimented us. Someone mark the date on the slate."
Bjorna shook her head. "Goodnight, Sif. Rest that mouth of yours.”
"Goodnight, boss." Sif pushed off the wall and headed to her room. She paused in the doorway and looked back at me. "Nice belt, healer. It looks good on you. Almost as good as I would look on you." She closed her door before I could respond.
"Damn, Sif." I almost choked on the food I was swallowing.
"Be in our room in a few minutes and you might have that opportunity," Liv shouted from the bench.
Nott stood and collected her cup. She looked at me for a moment, and the expression on her face was one I was learning to read.
Not open like Sif, not performed. Quieter, more careful, like something she was deciding whether to say.
She settled on a nod, a small motion, and followed the hallway to her room without saying anything else. The door closed quietly behind her.
Bjorna headed for her room. She stopped and put her hand on my shoulder. Her grip was firm and steady. "You did well tonight, Daniel. The belt is deserved."
I placed my hand on top of hers. “I’m glad I could help. Thank you for letting me tag along.”
She smiled and let go and walked into her room and closed the door.
The apartment was quiet. The coal-pot ticked as the heat settled. Somewhere below us, Larg's forge creaked as the metal cooled.
Liv was still on the bench, watching me with her ears soft and her eyes warm. "Ready for bed?"
"I've been ready for bed since depth three."
She smiled and held out her hand. I took it and she stood and we walked to our room. The door closed behind us with a soft click.
Liv turned the latch and leaned back against it for a second, eyes still on me. The room was small and dim, lit only by the low glow of the moonlight filtering through the thin curtain. Our bed took up most of the space. The walls were thin. We both knew it.
She pushed off the door and came to me without hurry.
Tired, yes, but her hands still found the hem of my shirt and pulled it up.
I raised my arms and let her strip it off.
She tossed it aside and ran her palms over my chest, fingers tracing the faint bruises that had already started to yellow from the dungeon work.
I hadn’t focused on actually healing myself.
“Quiet,” she whispered, almost against my mouth. “The others might hear us.”
I kissed her instead of answering. Soft at first, then deeper when she opened for me. Her tongue met mine and she made a small sound in her throat that she immediately tried to swallow. I felt her ears twitch against my cheek.
We undressed each other slowly, clothes dropping to the floor in a quiet pile.
When she was bare, I sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her between my knees.
My hands slid up the backs of her thighs and settled on her ass.
I felt the soft touch of her round, fluffy bunny tail as I squeezed her juicy cheeks.
She leaned down and kissed me again, longer this time, while I squeezed and pulled her closer.
“I want you inside me,” she said against my lips. “But I don’t know if I can stay quiet.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
I shifted back onto the mattress and brought her with me.
She straddled my hips, the heat of her already-wet pussy against my cock.
She reached down, wrapped her fingers around me, and guided the head between her folds.
For a moment she just rubbed, slow and deliberate, coating me in her slick juices.
Her eyes stayed locked on mine. Then she sank down.