The Heartstone Saga by Archibald Bradford (short novels in english .TXT) 📕

“How could you know when I didn’t? Paul showed us.”

“Man, I love that old guy.”

Milly giggled.

“Me too.”

“Me three.” Nameless remarked as he set down the file; “But don’t tell him, it would be weird.”

Erica rolled her eyes at him.

“Boys are silly.”

With his work on Milly’s feet done, Nameless kissed each of her four nails before letting her ankles go.

“All done.”

“Thank you Master!” She gushed, her eyes shining with absolute devotion.

In the face of her appreciation it was impossible for him not to smile.

“You are so welcome baby.”

He stood up and straddled her lap before giving her a hearty kiss.

“Wow, someone’s randy! Never knew you had a thing for feet, lover.” Erica teased as she began to massage her bond-sister’s shoulders.

“I have a thing for Milly. From her perfect hooves to her sexy horns, and every single thing in between.”

The Minotaur beamed and let out a happy moo before pulling him close for another kiss.

To Nameless and his family moments like these felt stolen.

After the slaughter at Lipton Falls the Aegis had become downright militant in their hunt for Evadne and the pitiable monsters that her bond-mate had turned into murderers.

In a bid to make their daunting task easier emergency resolutions had been passed in most of the city-states so that anyone dealing in prohibited weaponry was immediately sentenced to life in a dig-site.

Any public outcry at the lack of due process was smothered by the nightmarish stories that came from the small mining town that Evadne’s forces had eradicated.

And after they shut down the massive lost-tech smuggling ring in Algrade, the Aegis found public opinion had shifted in favour of harsher punishments for those that broke the laws regarding lost-tech anyways, so the rate of such infractions had plummeted.

The criminal underworld had basically gone into hibernation as a result; the big players were laying low, while the little cockroaches were doing their very best to not get noticed and unceremoniously squashed like those in the hidden whorehouse had been.

Having spent the morning with Milly and Erica bolstering his resolve against the struggles to come, Nameless found himself standing at attention before an elderly Aegis commander who blinked slowly and frequently, as if always on the verge of nodding off.

The young Aegis operative was still a bit nervous at having been directed to the man’s office, as he’d never met him before, but figured somebody must know what they were doing.

“You’ll be assisting the lawkeepers with refugee intake.” He said in a quiet voice without looking up from his desk.

“Yes sir.” He nodded; “I’m assuming I’ll be focusing on the monster girls?”

The elderly man looked up to him as if just realizing that someone was even there, his face twisting into a puzzled frown.

“Why would you assume that?”

“Er, sir?”

“You’ll be helping the lawkeepers with refugee intake.” He repeated with a little shake of his head, as if to clear away a minor distraction; “Whatever they need you to do, you do. Monster girls or not.”

Silence descended as the commander looked back towards the papers on his desk, dragging on until finally he broke it again.

“I suspect that you think this is a boring assignment, but that’s only because you’re fresh out of the academy and don’t know any better. This is real Aegis work; it isn’t all sexy girls and grand adventures.”

“No sir. But-” Nameless began, wanting to remind the man that he wasn’t just any rookie.

He didn’t get the chance.

The commander absently waved at the canisters on his belt with his pen, still preoccupied with the papers in front of him as he talked over his objections.

“Turn in your lost-tech at the first-floor dispensary. Then report to the lawkeeper liaison’s office. Dismissed.”

After taking his leave with a salute, Nameless was a bit dazed by the brusque encounter, but thinking on it he soon understood what had happened.

He was brand new, and with the shakeup of Aegis personal following the attack on Lipton Falls, he and several other academy graduates had their internships cut short to free up the manpower, but it wasn’t like the Aegis was just going to set them loose.

All the same though, after all the work he’d done with the task-force Nameless kind of felt like he’d just been benched.

But if he complained about it to the commander, it would make him seem like an immature rookie with something to prove.

So he did as he was told, relinquishing his gear to the Aegis quartermasters before seeking out the lawkeeper liaison.

Nameless spent the rest of the day sequestered in an office, wading through a stack of papers, lists of names and addresses that needed to be double-checked with the lawkeepers’ entry logs.

It was tedious and repetitive work, and by the time he was finished for the day he swore that he could feel his brain dribbling out his ears.

But still he didn’t complain, acknowledging the fact that someone had to do it... probably.

Ophelia was back at her medical training, her intention to certify as a second-tier medic, and aside from her none of his bond-mates had the temperament to do the work he was doing.

If she’d seen how dismissive he was of her man, Nina would have flattened the Aegis commander.

Of course, his girls were very aware of his mental fatigue when he got home, and had every intention of helping him relieve it.

After trudging up the stairs Nameless walked through the door with his eyelids drooping, too numb to even feel the rising anticipation from his girls’ heartstones.

His soporific daze vanished in an instant though when he saw Milly waiting for him, wearing nothing but a blush and a red bow nestled in her hair against one of her horns.

A present from his bond-mates.

With mouth agape he