CHAPTER 44: YOU’RE HER BOYFRIEND OR WHATEVER

Following our... session together, I took Isobel’s lead and bathed up with her in the bathing chamber. Things inevitably took a turn while we were in there, but could you blame me? The place looked less like a communal shower and more like a bathhouse for mythical gods! That was the best location for what we did to go down!

We did actually end up getting clean, though. We bathed, freshened up, got dressed in those wickedly comfortable velvet pajamas that the Greaves Family so generously left behind, and returned to her regular, unenchanted room. Saying it like that makes it sound unimpressive. It’s still a large bedroom in a lavishly appointed manor. Perhaps it was the mural of her grandfather that took up the wall behind her bed that threw me off?

Either way, the two of us were lying on her bed. She rested her head on my chest, and I had my arm around her while she used her magic to conjure a faux constellation above us while dimming the rest of the room. We were like that for a while, lying silently together, staring at illusory stars, simply enjoying one another’s presence. It was peaceful. Honestly, just being here with Isobel was enough for me to get the image of that mural out of my head–

"You know, part of the reason I cast the entire room in an illusion is because I didn’t want to have to think about Grandfather watching us make love," Isobel admitted. She giggled sofly. "I wouldn’t want him to think anything bad about me."

"Oh, god, I didn’t want to say anything! That first time together, my eyes kept darting to his! He’s always scowling. It felt like he was judging me!"

"He said he wanted to look serious in his mural, and that he wanted me to put mine here to scare boys away. I suppose, in some way, it worked." She nuzzled into my chest. "Though I’d say it failed in others. Unless you plan on leaving me for good?"

I turned to kiss her forehead before gently caressing her with a hand. "I don’t plan on it, Isobel. I wasn’t lying when I told you I love you."

She inclined her head and planted her lips on mine, soft and tender. "I love you too, Lloyd. The big bad Grandfather painting will not fulfill its grand purpose, unfortunately." She paused. "Though it may have succeeded in other ways."

"You mean by making me feel like I’m being judged?"

"Yes, actually. This House is... special. It isn’t outside of the realm of possibility to say that Grandfather’s spirit was, or even has been keeping an eye on you, considering your ultimate goal of purchasing House Greaves. The same could be said of the many other Lords and Ladies of the House in eras past. If there was anything they’d be watching, it’s this. Us. Our friendship. Our romance. Our... yet unacknowledged roles as enemies. They’ll be watching, and they’ll want to know what the fate of the House they lived and died for ultimately will be."

I considered her words. As much as I would’ve wanted to deny it, Isobel was right. In the end, no matter how you cut it, she and I were on opposing sides: I wanted to buy House Greaves, and Isobel wanted to keep House Greaves. We may have been in love, but that didn’t change our positions.

"Are you saying we’re doomed to fight? That our romance can’t last?"

Isobel scootched up in the bed so that she was level with me. She placed a gentle hand on my cheek before kissing me on the lips. I turned to face her, warmed thoroughly by her smile. "Don’t be so dramatic, love. I have no intentions of leaving you. But, as the final remaining member of this House, I must make a decision for it. For its best interest, and for its future."

"...And what is that?"

She sat up, eyes burning with determination. "One final challenge: a fight, three hours past sunrise. Myself against you and Lyra. It will happen on the Royal Battlegrounds before a representative for the Adventurer’s Guild and a Cleric."

"A Cleric," I mused. "You’ll be fighting to kill, then?"

"I will be, and I’d like you both to do the same, for if you two best me, I will relinquish House Greaves to you both. If I win, however, I will keep it for myself. Do you accept, Lloyd May?"

***

"I’ll listen to everything you have to say about the challenge, but first, I want to hear everything about your day with Isobel!" Lyra said, eyes eager and smile wide. Since when was she such a gossip?

"Do you seriously want to know everything...? You can probably guess how things played out."

"You literally wouldn’t be here if not for me and my magic, Lloyd. You owe me!" She smiled mischievously. "Leave no stone unturned. I want to know everything. What you said, what you did, how it all made you feel. Everything."

I ultimately obliged. I wasn’t sure what she got out of learning about my love and sex lives in particular, but we did share everything with one another. Perhaps I simply didn’t imagine that it would extend this far! Admittedly, it did feel nice in an odd way to share this with her. It didn’t have to feel like I was keeping some secret from her all the time!

When I finished, she teased me, of course, then left to take an unusually long shower. When she returned, she looked a bit flushed. I asked her about it, but she brushed me off by saying it was "a girl thing" and "I wouldn’t understand"... Whatever that meant.

"So, we’re gonna train for tomorrow, right?" Lyra asked, pacing about the room. Despite the late hour and the fact that she’d just gotten out of the shower, she was dressed in standard Questing gear: leather cloth, silver plate, and enough belts to keep everything in place.

"Do you think we need to? It’s a two on one."

"Against an Isobel whose strength we aren’t familiar with. If you’d said we were fighting against that dunce from the Quests, I’d be sleeping like a baby right now. Against that girl from the House who put us in fight or flight? I’m not so sure. Even if we are strong enough right now to take her on, I’d rather be safe than sorry. We’re too close to victory to get complacent now."

"Fair," I noted. "That’s fair." I hopped out of bed, making for the closet. "She said she’d call a rep from the Guild and a Cleric. She doesn’t plan on going easy on us."

Lyra groaned. "Ugh, it’s too early for me to fight Isobel! 25-year-old me can’t handle the Demon Queen!"

"She isn’t–"

"I know she isn’t the Demon Queen–emotionally. Or physically," She muttered, whistling sotly.

"Lyra!"

"You’re her boyfriend or whatever. You know what I’m talking about! Girl might be crazy in the future, but so is her body. Wow." She snickered. "Anyway, come on. We need to get some training in before the big day!"