I crashed into sleep after that, and woke up feeling rested, with Rin on the other side of the tent, twitching in his dreams. I guess he took the last sleep shift. I poked my head out of the tent and Forrest and Gilbert were watching the fire, yawning and lethargic.

“Uh…good morning,” I said. “Should we wake Rin?”

“Let ‘im sleep until the potatoes are done,” Forrest said, poking the ashes. “We’d better get a pot at the next town so we can make porridge again.”

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Fine.”

“You look dead tired. Did you ever sleep?”

He looked up at me with a face that said, Obviously not. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ve had less sleep before.”

“We traded off being in the tent,” Gilbert said. “By the time you fell asleep, we only had ten hours before sunrise.”

“So you each slept three hours?” I put my hands on my hips. “This isn’t sustainable. I need you guys in fighting shape!”

“We’ll have to do just one person on watch, two people to sleep, from now on,” Forrest said.

“I could take a shift, too,” I said.

“Phoebe, your job is to lend us strength and let us care for you. You are not taking a watch. You need your sleep. And the monsters are fast. You would need a weapon at the ready to take a watch.”

“You didn’t buy me the knife,” I said, but I gave up, slumping onto the pine needles carpeting the forest floor around the fire. Wretch climbed into my lap. I knew Forrest was never going to let me do anything important, but it really chafed. I didn’t actually want to cut monsters in half, but right now my role was so passive I would afraid they would eventually lose some respect for me.

Rin came out of the tent. He gave Gilbert a brief kiss. “Why didn’t you wake me? We need to get moving…” He quickly rubbed sleep from his eyes. “For all I know, my sister could be suffering, every day she is the captive of the Empire.”

“I believe they’ll treat her well,” Sir Forrest said.

“They’ll try to marry her off,” Rin snapped. “To some man she would never have chosen. Himika has never even left Gaermon Castle before. She’s too delicate for brutal treatment from the empire.”

“Maybe she’s stronger than you think,” I said, feeling some sympathy for all girls who were aggressively protected.

“The princesses of Gaermon have always been delicate,” he said. “She is sickly.”

“Poor girl,” Gilbert said, while I felt like I’d said something dumb. “She has to be very mindful of her health.”

Sir Forrest poked one of the baking potatoes. “All right. They’re done enough.”

We could eat the potatoes inside their jackets, while walking, once they had cooled a bit. I put a ton of salt on mine but it still tasted bland. The men shuffled along, barely talking. The day wasn’t shaping up very well. My feet hurt and they were obviously exhausted and somewhat irritable. Maybe they had gone with less sleep before, but we’d all been on the road for a while, and they’d been fighting monsters all along the way.

Just two hundred miles to go until I find guardian number three…

Ugh.

Maybe it was one hundred and ninety by now?

That hardly sounded better.

The road was heading southeast, and between Empero and Capamere we were seeing increased signs of former civilization, which was eerie. Sometimes an entire town, abandoned and ravaged by elements, with plants growing out of windows and broken roofs, lined the road. In some cases, the houses were still furnished. Shops were full of useless remnants: mildewed bolts of cloth, heavy tools, barrels that used to hold food. When the monsters first broke out of the gate, people had to grab what they could carry and run for the cities with the best defenses. These towns had probably stood empty for a century now.

It was really depressing, thinking that families used to tend gardens in the yards and kids used to play here. Some of the houses still looked really cute, painted cottages with tidy fences. Flowers grew everywhere, the gardens run amok. It reminded me what we were fighting for. Some of these buildings, built from stone to last the ages, were not beyond repair. People could live here again, if we could shut the gate.

But the monsters were also a little thicker here. They seemed to be attracted to the capital, for some reason. We kept running into one or two almost every hour. It worried me because I knew the guys were so exhausted. I could see it in the way they fought. Forrest almost got bitten by one of them before he could cut it in half, which never happened. Wretch was on edge all the time.

We stopped for lunch in the afternoon, taking some food out of a safe house and drawing fresh water from the well there. We still used safe houses during the day, when we were all awake to hear soldiers coming and had daylight to quickly flee.

“I’m taking over,” Gilbert said, grabbing the cook pot from Forrest. “Your bean stew last night was miserable.”

“Oh, it was, was it?”

“You have to sweat the salt pork with the onions before you put the beans in.”

“I ‘have to’? Says who? That’s a northern method and I’m a southerner.”

“Let Gilbert try,” Rin said. “He’s a very good cook. For my birthday, he made me steamed fish pie wrapped in seaweed.”

Forrest narrowed his eyes. “Yum…”

“It’s a court dish,” Rin said. “Very easy to mess up if you aren’t trained as a chef. But his effort was truly admirable, almost as good as the palace kitchens.”

“Only for you,” Gilbert said. “But at the time, you said it was the best you’d ever had…”

“Are any of you guys ever going to actually put those beans in the pot?” I cried.

Forrest suddenly stood up.

“Do you sense that?” he asked Gilbert.

Gilbert stood up too. For some annoying reason, I couldn’t sense monsters myself. Only my guardians could. I guess my magic just assumed they would always be around.

Gilbert and Forrest exchanged a look.

“What?” I cried.

“It’s a lot,” Gilbert said.

“At least twenty,” Forrest said. “Maybe more.” He already had his sword out, and Rin drew his blades. “We should go out there and keep Phoebe safe in here.”

“No—please—,“ I said. “Just wait here until they pass!”

“But if the Black Army finds us here…”

Suddenly, three flying monsters swept down over the walls. Their wings had a heavy sound as they beat, and they let out shrill screams. Gilbert started playing a furious tune to daze them.

“Damnit, we need an archer,” Forrest said, swiping upward. The monsters dodged. I tried to grab Wretch but she was already flying at them with a hiss.

“Wretch, no—come back!” I cried.

“Sasanu sor!” one of the monsters wailed as it plunged toward Forrest again. They were out for blood and nothing else.

“Yah!” Forrest slashed one of the wings all the way though, and it tumbled, where he could easily kill it. Just two to go now. That was a little better, since Forrest and Rin could each focus on one. Gilbert’s music was subduing them, too. They flew a little more sluggishly, but they were still dangerous. The violin music provided a very dramatic backdrop for the battle; it wasn’t just random notes but a melody worthy of a symphony hall, the bow dancing over high notes. The monsters wouldn’t get near Gilbert.

“Watch out!” I cried, as Wretch flew too close to one of them. I was so scared for her. She kept getting way too involved in these battles, and she was just a tiny little cat.

She swept down to me and landed on my shoulder, knocking her head into mine, but when I tried to grab her, she flew out of reach.

“Hey, come on!” I jumped, spreading my fingers, trying to stay calm. “Let the guys handle the monsters. I hate to break it to you, girl, but your teeth and claws are better suited for squirrels.”

She flew higher up, and then she flew over the wall of the safe house, out of my sight. “Wretch!” I screamed. I ran to the door of the safe house, but I could hear all the many monsters hissing on the other side. I would have been insane to lift the bolt. Behind me, I heard the sound of another monster being cut down over the maddening music.

The monsters growling on the other side of the door started to retreat. They were running, like they were chasing something.

My cat!

“They’re going after Wretch!” I rushed toward Forrest. “She flew away! We have to go out there and get her!”

“Shit!” Rin tumbled to the ground, clutching his shoulder. Blood streaked his fingers.

“No time.” Forrest pushed me back and swung the Monster Cleaver, beheading the last beast in midair while it was chewing on a piece of Rin’s cloak.

“That’s the last of the flying ones,” Forrest panted. “Your majesty—how bad is it?”

Rin gritted his teeth and slowly peeled his hand away from a wound. There was an alarming amount of blood and I saw gashes in his flesh.

Gilbert made an anxious sound. “Looks like a bad bite.”

“Shit,” Rin said. “We must press on.”

Forrest was breathing hard. He licked his lips, shifting his stance to face the door. He was thinking about throwing open that door, going out there, and taking them on. Normally I would have stopped him. But Wretch was out there. I heard monsters growling and hissing in a pattern that suggested she flew over their heads. What if more flying ones came?

“I’m afraid we’re better off staying here to rest, despite all risks,” Gilbert said. “The sun will be down in a few hours anyway. We wouldn’t have gotten that much more travel in. We’re all tired. We need to put space between ourselves and that pack. The monsters have been getting stronger.”

“We have to find Wretch!” I screamed. “We have to find her! If she lands those things will tear her up!”

“No…Gilbert’s right.” Forrest’s glove landed heavily on my shoulder. “Phoebe…she knew what she was doing, I think. She drew them away from you.”

“No…” I crumpled onto a bench and sobbed.

I knew he was right. It was too dangerous to leave the gates. Rin was hurt. But Wretch had been my friend and companion through thick and thin for the past decade. When I came back from my year in the troupe, she was glued to me for months. I promised I would never leave her again. What kind of friend was I if I couldn’t rescue her?

“Cats are very clever,” Gilbert said, sitting beside me for a moment. “Especially winged cats. She can land in a tree somewhere and they won’t get her.”

“B-but—how will I find her? She’s—she’s not going to know to go to Capamere— If she goes anywhere it’ll be home, and I can’t even get a letter from Mom, so—” I sobbed again.

Gilbert rubbed my back for a moment, and then he went to see about Rin’s wound. I cried until my throat hurt. She was an old cat… Maybe this was how she wanted to go—

I swallowed, pulling myself together. By this time, Forrest was building the fire and Gilbert was chopping some stuff up for a stew. Rin had gone into the cabin to lie down.

I pulled the goldenstars out of the saddle bag. They were still wrapped up in my dress. I took them inside the dim little room. He was spread out on a bedroll, staring at the ceiling, bandages around his shoulder. This safe house only had one cot, and it had a big hole in it, so I guess he decided the sleeping bag was better. It was one of the shabbier safe houses I’d seen. There was a cabinet of supplies with one broken door that hung on one hinge, a stool next to the hearth, and a small table.

“Rin,” I said. “I gathered some healing flowers back around the first safe house. If we pack them around your wound under the bandage, it’ll speed up the healing process a lot.”

He sat up slowly, regarding me with his dark eyes. “That was forward thinking. You know something about medicinal herbs, then?”

“A little. We lived near an herbalist in Istim. She handed out a lot of tips.” I paused. Another shirtless man, and Rin wasn’t my guardian. I wasn’t even sure how to behave around him. “Can I—” I lifted my hand toward the bandage.

“Of course, my lady.” He quickly added, “I am so sorry about your cat. We actually have a winged cat breeder in Gaermon. When all this is over, I will be sure you have your pick of kittens.”

“Oh, no, I—” My eyes welled again. I couldn’t even really answer. I was more tender-hearted about Wretch than I was about most humans.

He shook his head. “No, that was insensitive. I’m too used to solving problems with gifts. Sometimes I forget that you can’t buy off a broken heart.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m sorry if I sounded insensitive about your sister earlier. I didn’t know she was sick.”

“Not at all,” he said. “Few people know much of her condition, even in the palace. She would want to be thought of as strong. It is possible I underestimate her. But I was raised to be her protector.” He paused. “I was raised to be a lot of things.”

“Like what?”

“A king. A fighter. Husband to another princess, chosen by my parents…but here I am running around with Gilbert instead.”

Rin was so cool most of the time, such a perfect prince. The way he held himself, the way he fought, the way he spoke: it all seemed as honed as his blade. I was a little in awe of him, and I didn’t feel like I knew him at all. But now, I saw a young man under it all. Someone with responsibilities heaped on his shoulders. Imagine if it was still the Era of Elders when the priestess was marked at a younger age… “I see. You didn’t have much freedom, then.”

“No. But now I will bear regret all my life for my father’s death. I should have been at his side while Gaermon was under attack.”

“You’d probably be dead, too.”

“Yes…dead with honor.”

“Oh, come on,” I said. “You’ve got to rescue Himika. That ‘dying with honor’ stuff is so stupid. It sounds a lot better in an opera with a glorious soundtrack than in real life.”

“At least I have a glorious soundtrack now,” he said, indicating Gilbert.

“I think it’s lucky you met Gilbert and apparently dodged out on your kingdom, because otherwise your poor sister would have no hope at all. Right?”

“Hmph…”

I unwrapped the bandage. The inner layers had already soaked through with blood, but at least the wound didn’t seem to be bleeding too much anymore. I could clearly see two nasty lines of bite marks, like he’d gotten bitten by a tiny shark. I packed the dried out flowers around the wound and pressed the bandage to it, looking around for the roll. It wouldn’t hurt to change it already. It was sitting on the table. I extended my hand, trying to reach it while still holding the bandage to his shoulder.

“I wish I could heal you like the other guys,” I said, without hardly thinking about it.

He covered the bandage with his own hand, realizing that I needed to move. When his fingers touched mine, a tingle went through me. “I wish you could too.”

Bad girl, Phoebe. What was going on with me? Rin was kind of acting as my guardian so maybe it was no wonder my emotions were a little confused, but none of my sigils were for him. And clearly he was used to taking on a guardian role anyway. He was doing this for his sister, not me. “I mean, you know,” I said, laughing it off.

“Yes. Four men is going to be quite enough,” he said. His faint grin was sly and did some wobbly things to my knees.

“But, I am honored to be escorting a priestess,” he said. “You can be sure of that. I hope you and my sister do get to know each other. She has had such a sheltered life, I think she could use a friend like you.”

“Yeah, one thing I’m definitely not gonna be by the end of this trip is sheltered, huh?” I relaxed a little, wrapping a fresh bandage around the goldenstars.

“Try to enjoy what you can,” he said. “I know Gilbert. He will do anything to make you happy and keep you safe. But I’ve heard what the empire can do to the opposition. I’m ready to take them on, but if something happens to me, tell Gilbert not to cry. I think this is my destiny as much as it is anyone’s.”

“Oh, no need to talk like that just because some stupid monster bit your shoulder,” I said. “That’s better. Does it feel secure?”

“Perfect. Thank you, my lady.” He took my hand and gave it a chaste peck that nevertheless made me blush. I guess Rin wasn’t going to stop with the ‘my lady’ stuff. I was okay with that. The words suited him.

I was still pretty down in the dumps during dinner, even as Gilbert played some music for us that really was very good, and I think it was also infused with a little magic for improving my mood. It could only go so far. I felt like a piece of me was missing without Wretch. Besides that, I think it drove home the seriousness of what we were doing to everyone. We really could get hurt and die.

“I should take the first watch,” Rin said.

“But we’re in a safe house,” I said. “Do we need a watch?”

“No, Rin’s right,” Forrest said. “We just had three flying monsters at once. That’s more than I’ve ever seen. Maybe they can’t get in the safe house itself, but they could attack Horse.” (Yes, Forrest had named his horse ‘Horse’.) “We don’t want to lose him. Rin, you might want to ride for a bit tomorrow with your shoulder like that, and we need the supplies he carries.”

“That’s true. We don’t want Horse to be hurt anyway!” I added.

“I’m fine,” Rin said. “I had a nap. I’m not much good for fighting but I can sound the alarm. You two definitely need to recover your power.”

Forrest shrugged and waved me into the cabin. It was really dark inside now, since the sun had gone down, but he fumbled in a supply cabinet and found some candles. Our four bed rolls were lined up on the floor already, in a row. They took up pretty much all the open floor space. I took off my shoes and socks before walking onto mine and sitting down. Gilbert followed us in, leaving the door open just a crack. Forrest stripped off his leather vest and wrist guards, trying to be all casual, but totally failing.

“I should actually grab that wine we bought in Empero,” Gilbert said.

“I’ve got my whiskey,” Forrest grunted, taking out the flask.

“Well, I’m more of a wine man myself.”

“‘Course you are. Go ahead, then.”

Gilbert stepped out again.

“Wait, what is happening now?” I asked. “Seems like you guys talked while I was helping Rin out…”

Now I was the one failing at acting casual. I knew what was going on. This was the first time we had all spent time together alone, and the guys definitely had an air of “getting down to business.”

“You’re ready for a trine,” he said.

“I—I don’t know about that.”

“It would be the easiest one. Gilbert won’t penetrate you. But the road has gotten very dangerous in this stretch, and with Rin injured, we’ll both need as much power as we can muster. Soon we’ll find your third guardian and at that point, we’ll have to accommodate him as well. It’s better for all of us if we get used to this… I’m struggling with it as much as you are. I’m glad Gilbert can go to Rin for…release.”

I crossed my arms. “I—I don’t know. Do you even like Gilbert?”

“I don’t dislike Gilbert. But yes, it’s no secret that I would rather have you to myself.” He stroked a hand along my loopy braids. I warmed to his touch. “But this is better than nothing.”

Gilbert came back with the wine and two cups. Very refined of him. We could have just swigged right from the skin. I drank mine pretty fast. The warmth of the alcohol went straight down to my core. Very convenient, how alcohol zoomed right down to my nether bits. I was so nervous I could almost—but not really—forget that Wretch’s familiar presence was absent, that I hadn’t heard her mews or felt the nudge of her little face in hours.

“I told her the plan,” Forrest said.

“So serious. Dear gods, if this is our life we’d better at least enjoy it. For Phoebe’s sake, if nothing else. Why don’t you stand up, darling?”

Forrest looked at me over his flask, and I could see desire flickering there, in the soft light of the candle. He wanted me. He found me beautiful. His eyes asked for me to do as Gilbert said, and so I did.

Gilbert lifted both my dress and shift up over my arms at once, sweeping them over my head and dropping them to the side. Forrest stood up too, and now I was almost naked between them, my skin glowing in the light.

Gilbert brushed my sigil with his hand, stirring my desire, drawing warmth to the surface of my skin. He took my breasts into his hands, holding me against his chest, slowly rolling my nipples between his fingers. Already, I could feel my arousal growing, an excitement and anticipation building deep inside me. Two men? It didn’t sound so bad now… My body had such an immediate and favorable reaction to them. The connection was understood. If my brain got out of the way, I would enjoy it very much.

Of course, I was a human, and the human brain doesn’t always like to get out of the way. My thoughts were still jugging Do they like each other and Do they really like me and Maybe two is all right but what about three and Am I a terrible person for getting turned on by this and all sorts of other things.

I was still facing Forrest, and I knew I was getting that deep flush in my cheeks already. He peeled down my panties past my thighs, and let them drop at the knees. He glanced at Gilbert, who looked at the stool.

“Not yet…,” Forrest said. His eyes blazed down at me. They were both quite a bit taller than me, Forrest especially, and I felt utterly helpless, especially with Gilbert keeping up the teasing touch upon my nipples the entire time Forrest looked at me. “Phoebe, do you still feel like you’re not ready for a trine?”

“I’m ready,” I gasped.

“She doesn’t seem to need much foreplay, but it never hurts,” Gilbert said.

Forrest put his steady hands on my bare shoulders and kissed me. I practically sucked his tongue into my mouth, happy to have something for my mouth to do while Gilbert was drawing such desire out of me. He slid his tongue along mine and his hand held the back of my head. His other hand reached down and stroked my cleft, drawing small teasing sensations out of me. I spread my legs just a little, wanting more, and Gilbert seized on this action, using his feet to push my feet out even more.

“There you go, spread your little pussy for him, darling,” he said.

Gilbert was clearly willing to play the role of facilitator while letting Forrest claim the deepest intimacy, but I could feel his rigid manhood digging into my back. He was as hungry for me as Forrest, but more patient. I’m sure he knew that Forrest needed to be won over, and I could feel Forrest beginning to grow more relaxed and forward with his touch. He slipped two fingers inside me, fucking me with his fingers and stroking my clit with his thumb while he kissed me.

Quickly, I started feeling very close to coming from all the stimulation, especially to my clit, but when I started making eager little moans, Forrest drew back. He unfastened his trousers, letting his thick cock out. He picked me up by the knees and started backing up to the stool. They both carried me over there like they’d planned it. Forrest gripped my thighs, easing me onto his shaft. I was so slick with arousal that I my body slid all the way down to the hilt in one motion. I let out a breath of surprise and satisfaction at once. Forrest drew me down onto the stool, impaled on his cock, while Gilbert was still cradling my chest.

Gilbert kissed my ear and then gave it a little nip. “Comfortable? Not quite, I hope. That’s the best way to be.”

Ahh, he was right. I wasn’t quite comfortable but I was so full of Forrest and all the little sensations that meant he was close were welcome.

Gilbert lifted me up, still pinching my breasts, so my body started to pull away from Forrest. Forrest grabbed my ass and pulled me back down again.

I felt like a sack of grain, or—or something, I was not exactly up for great metaphors right now—the way these two strong men manipulated my body. They could do anything they wanted to me, and the idea of submitting to their control was making me even more excited. I trusted them so completely, and I knew they were completely devoted to my pleasure. I had never encountered anything like this before. The guys I’d known in the past seemed inherently selfish. The capital guys were pretty happy just to get a hot girl to jerk or suck them off, and village boys wanted wives who would cook and clean and tend the garden and the animals. Forrest and Gilbert—hell, they didn’t let me do enough for them. It seemed like this was all they needed from me, and Forrest was right—I was the star, and they would do anything to draw even more urgent moans out of me.

Maybe I wasn’t getting the bad end of the deal after all.

Not that they didn’t benefit, of course. My sigils were burning, and I could feel power flowing freely out of me and into them.

They fell into a rhythm, Gilbert lifting me almost off of Forrest’s cock and Forrest pulling me back down, so his shaft thrust into me, deep and relentless. My pleasure was building, but not fast enough, and I made little desperate sounds.

When Gilbert next pulled me up, he kissed me. I urgently drove my tongue against his, just as I had with Forrest. “Make sure to clamp tight,” he said, before Forrest pulled me down again. I clenched my inner walls against him. They had been going so fast that I had hardly been able to think straight, but when I made an effort to work my own inner muscles against the thrust of Forrest’s cock, it drove me to climax faster. When I started climaxing, Gilbert held me lower and leaned over me, suckling on my nipples, as Forrest pumped into me with rapid little thrusts almost like a vibration. I clawed at Gilbert’s shirt, screaming as my whole body convulsed. Once again, Forrest climaxed at the same time as I did. We were perfectly in tune. But it was so intense I was dizzy.

They both eased my limp body off of Forrest and carried me to my bed roll.

“Your sigils are blazing,” Forrest said.

“Mm.” I touched my chest, feeling the heat of my skin there. I was so spent I could hardly speak.

“It wasn’t too much, was it?” A hint of concern entered his voice.

“I just think I need to sleep now…”

“I’ll be back soon,” Gilbert said, ducking out the door, no doubt to finish his own satisfaction with Rin.

Forrest crouched beside me and smoothed a hand over my hair. I shut my eyes.

“Man—” He clutched his head. “The power you put out, Phoebe. It’s intense. I hardly feel like I can call that merely sex. It’s like plunging into a volcano and being reborn as a fire god. It’s true, what the book says. Your body is simply a channel for something much greater than anyone in this world understands.”

“It was almost too much,” I whispered.

“I see.”

“I mean, don’t feel bad. I’m still just…terrified. Gilbert’s the easy one. The next two guardians are not like him. They’re going to do—more intense things to me. And they don’t have Rins to go hit up afterward. And the power that surges through me…”

“I can protect you from everything but fate,” Forrest said gently, in his typical not-entirely-reassuring way. “But why don’t you sleep now. I’ll be next to you.” He settled in on the bedroll next to me, covered my naked body with a blanket, and held me against his chest. His touch, still stroking my hair, was very soothing. “We still have many miles to go before we find your next guardian.”

“Yeah…” I took a slow breath. He smelled like horse. Or should I say, Horse? Which made me think again of how much I missed Wretch. But I was far too tired to cry myself to sleep. I sank into dreams with Forrest’s arm around me.