“Rather tired,” Shalanna admitted, but I was glad to see a flush spread over her cheeks. “I believe I will go to my room now and get some rest.”

  “That’s a really good idea,” I said. “Go on, get some rest, and if you want, I can send Ingrid up with water and something light for you to eat.”

  “Thank you, Levi,” Shalanna sighed, and she leaned in close. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” I murmured as I hugged my black-haired warrior, and I couldn’t help but smile as I recalled the first time she’d said those words to me.

  Just a couple weeks ago, I’d been in the middle of torturing her with my mouth on her pussy, and when I’d finally allowed her to cum, she’d cried out that she loved me. I almost didn’t believe it at first, but she repeated the words again after she came down from the climactic high. Then she’d murmured it again as she’d fallen asleep in my arms, and I’d finally said the words back to her even though I’d felt it since the day I’d saved her from the tangling vines in the forest’s danger zone.

  It was good to have our admissions of love flowing so freely between us now, and I pressed a gentle kiss to her temple before I urged her inside to get some rest.

  Shalanna waved tiredly at us, and then she trudged up the front steps of the castle.

  Frida whined as my black-haired lover walked away, and she looked at me with longing in her eyes.

  “You want to go with her, don’t you, girl?” I chuckled.

  Frida’s huge tongue lolled out of her mouth, and she practically nodded at me, so I quickly unbuckled the half-empty pack from around her torso and let it slide to the ground.

  “Go on, then,” I laughed.

  Frida didn’t hesitate to bound up the stairs and walk beside Shalanna like a protective medical assistance dog. My short-haired lover smiled over her shoulder at me and threw one arm over Frida’s shoulders for extra support.

  I shook my head at the way Frida had been almost clinging to Shalanna’s side lately, and I wondered if the woman had slipped some kind of special treat to my adorable apex predator.

  “Shall we assist Hezzig in bringing this metal to his shop?” Elora asked.

  “Yeah, let’s help him out.” I nodded and scooped up an armful of iron fireplace tools. I gestured for Elora to go first, and I followed a few steps behind her. “I wanted to check on the garden anyway while we’re out here.”

  “They have made a lot of progress in the last week,” Elora said.

  I saw that she was right as we rounded the back corner of the castle, and the garden came into view.

  The elven and dwarven botanists, Nestryn and Grenna, had been put in charge of the project, and even though they had differing opinions on how to go about it, it looked like they’d come to some kind of agreement.

  The whole garden was cordoned off and divided into sections with hundreds of loose stones acting as borders. It had taken them a few weeks to plan out the gardens on paper and to haul in enough rich soil from the forest to cover the fifteen thousand square feet of space. It ran about three hundred feet along the rear defensive wall of the castle and was easily fifty feet deep.

  I was proud of my people and all the hard work they’d already put into the project, and not a single seed had even been planted yet.

  The gentle giant I’d freed from the Demon Lord’s clutches, Cedoric, had immediately volunteered to help bring in all the soil from the forest. His devotion had inspired several others to help, and the blond warrior sisters, Azariah and Arlindra, had quickly joined in. A few of Finnern’s people had also lent their hands and shoulders to the work, and together, they had worked in shifts over the last week and a half until the whole garden was the deep brown color of nutrient-rich soil ready for seeding.

  Ingrid’s half-elf son, Goren, and Azariah and Arlindra’s youngest sister, Astrid, were in the garden as well. Goren was smoothing out what appeared to be the last pile of soil, and Astrid dropped a final stone into the line that separated her area from the young half-elf’s. The pretty blonde girl kept glancing at the curly-haired boy out of the corner of her eyes, and she flushed deeply when she saw me watching her.

  I offered the girl a kind smile and turned my attention to the elven botanist.

  “We should plant the gulrots separate from the peppers,” Nestryn decided as he pointed at two of the sections.

  Grenna pursed her thin lips and furrowed her gray eyebrows with displeasure at the light brown-haired elf as she leaned on her wooden walking staff. It was clear she didn’t agree with Nestryn’s suggestion, and that she was waiting for her chance to tell him exactly what she thought.

  Elora smirked at me as we laid our loads of iron outside the blacksmith’s workshop that took up the eastern corner of the courtyard, and then we walked over to where the botanists and their helpers were observing the empty gardens.

  “Why’s that?” I asked Nestryn. “Does it make a difference for the gulrots or the peppers?”

  “The peppers’ root system can produce a slight acidity in the soil that can ruin the gulrots,” Nestryn explained.

  “Hmm, I didn’t know that,” I said, and I thought about the gulrots closest cousin on Earth. Carrots were pretty hardy root vegetables from what I understood, but maybe their Asgardian counterparts were more delicate, so I turned to Grenna for her opinion. “What do you think, Grenna?”

  “The peppers should indeed be apart from the gulrots.” The old dwarf nodded, but her smug smirk made it clear she wasn’t done. “But they should not be near the borddle berries, either, for the same reason. The peppers will be best suited at the end of the garden.”

  “Oh…” Nestryn rubbed his hand over his smooth face. “Of course. How could I have been so foolish?”

  Grenna smirked with satisfaction, and the other helpers in the garden seemed to relax. Goren rolled his green eyes a bit from where he leaned on a spade, and I wondered how much the two botanists had been arguing about issues such as this.

  “This will alter my plans completely,” Nestryn grumbled to himself, and he pulled a small sheet of parchment from his breast pocket. “How could I have overlooked such an important thing…”

  Goren stood up, jammed his shovel into the ground, and walked over to me with a rueful grin on his face.

  “Have they been arguing a lot?” I asked the curly-haired youth.

  “They argue about almost everything, my lord,” Goren chuckled. “Or should I say, Grenna waits until she can tell Nestryn why he’s wrong, and then sits in smug satisfaction while he tries to correct the errors.”

  “Well, at least good progress has been made,” I chuckled. Then I smirked at Goren and walked over to Nestryn. “The garden is looking really awesome, Nes.”

  “Thank you, Lord Levi.” Nestryn narrowed his eyes slightly at the nickname I’d taken to using, but he didn’t complain about it. “We will have plenty of room to extend the garden around the western side of the castle if we ever have need.”

  “Yeah.” I nodded and assessed the current size of the garden for a moment. “I think this is a perfect amount of space to start with. We’ll have to continue to gather from the forest while we wait for the crops to grow anyway, so we’ll have time to see if we need to expand. You’ve all done an excellent job so far.”

  “Thank you, my lord,” Grenna said in her rasping voice. “I believe we shall have much success with this fine soil Cedoric and the others have brought in for us.”

  “Who else helped with that?” I asked. “I want to make sure they’re properly thanked for their hard work.”

  “Halrond, Gorn, and Varian all helped,” Nestryn said.

  Halrond was a stout and strong man, so I wasn’t surprised he’d lent a hand. Ever since I’d freed him from the Demon Lord’s dungeon, he’d been eager to help, and I got the feeling he really enjoyed the physical exertion of manual labor. Based on the almost comically large sword he carried, I suspected he would have been quite the gym rat if I’d known him back on Earth, and I was glad for his excellent work ethic.

  Gorn was one of Finnern’s slimmer subjects, but he was a strong man despite his narrow frame. He was a bit younger than the other dwarves, and it seemed like he felt as though he had something to prove. He volunteered for all kinds of projects, and seemed to find great pleasure in being useful much like Cedoric.

  “My sisters helped as well,” Astrid added.

  I wasn’t surprised at all that Varian had offered his help if Arlindra and her sister had been out here helping, too. The brown-haired man had been pining over the blonde warrior for a long time when I’d arrived on Asgard, and he’d finally professed his love for Arlindra after we’d defeated the Demon Lord. I’d spotted them together on most occasions since then.

  “Good.” I nodded. “I’ll make sure to thank them each personally for their hard work.”

  “It has been good to have so many of our people involved in this project,” Nestryn said, and he puffed his chest out just the slightest bit as he grinned.

  I chuckled at the socially awkward elf and wondered if the leadership role on this project had finally given him some self-confidence. If anything, I hoped he’d realized what an enormously important role he had to play among our growing society. Nestryn’s knowledge had been pivotal on many occasions, and I wanted him to realize his true worth.

  “When will the garden be ready for planting?” I asked.

  “It is ready now, my lord,” Nestryn said with pride in his hazel eyes. “We can begin to plant whenever you’d like.”

  “Oh, that’s awesome.” I grinned. “And we have seeds ready to go?”

  “Ingrid has been saving the seeds from all the vegetables and fruits that have been collected from the forest for weeks,” Astrid explained. “I can go and collect them from her if you like, my lord.”

  “Yeah, that would be great, Astrid, thanks.” I smiled at the girl but then turned to the others in the garden as the position of the sinking sun caught my notice. “Actually, have you all had dinner yet? Maybe you should call it a night, and you can start planting in the morning.”

  “Thank you, Lord Levi.” Goren grinned brightly, picked up his shovel, and ran to put it away in the small lean-to we’d built by the edge of the garden. Then he walked more slowly over to Astrid and suddenly looked incredibly shy as his half-pointed ears turned a bit pink at the tips. “Would you like to have dinner with me, Astrid?”

  “Oh,” the blonde girl breathed with surprise as her entire face turned bright pink. “Yes, I would like that very much.”

  I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face as I watched the young couple walk away holding hands.

  “That’s so sweet,” Elora murmured.

  “That is really cute,” I agreed, and then I laughed. “I wonder what Ingrid will think of it.”

  “Have a pleasant evening, my lord,” Grenna called as she shuffled away from the garden.

  “It’s very good to know you approve of the gardens, my lord,” Nestryn said with a sigh of relief. “I never wish to let you down.”

  “You’re doing a great job, Nestryn,” I said as I gave the nervous elf a pat on the back. “Go have dinner. You can start planting tomorrow. Oh, and I wanted to talk to you about a well at some point, too.”

  “A well is a fantastic idea, my lord,” Nestryn agreed. “Unfortunately, I do not know a single thing about creating a well. I believe you may be better off to seek out the knowledge of someone else for that.”

  “Alright.” I nodded. “Thanks, I’ll let you know when I have more for you.”

  “I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening, my lord,” Nestryn said, and he nodded respectfully at Elora. “Lady Elora.”

  “Good evening, Nestryn,” Elora replied with a kind smile.

  At some point, the people had begun to refer to my lovers as Lady Elora and Lady Shalanna, and I didn’t have a single issue with that. They’d both been a bit uncomfortable with it at first, but I’d assured them it was only proper. If I was going to be God King of the nine realms one day, they’d both be queens of Asgard, so they’d better start getting used to having proper titles.

  “I want to check in with Hezzig before we go inside,” I said, and I took Elora’s hand into mine. “Would you care to join me?”

  “There is not a single place I would rather be than by your side, Levi,” Elora snickered, and there was a mischievous sparkle in her amber-red eyes that hinted at delightful trouble when we were done with the day’s business.

  We turned to the right and walked over to the twenty-by-twenty feet area in the corner of the courtyard that Hezzig had chosen for his blacksmithing shop.

  In the five weeks since he’d claimed the spot, the dwarven blacksmith had made a fully-functional workshop for himself. His first task had been to create a firepit that could be used to turn cold iron into a red-hot and malleable consistency. The anvil Wyn had located in the castle’s dungeons sat squarely in the center of Hezzig’s open-air shop, and a wooden bench filled most of the space against the castle’s outer wall behind him. A wooden rack that stored his tongs, hammers, and other tools had been constructed along the wall to the left. The blacksmith had plans to enclose at least part of the space with either wooden or stone walls, but for now, an open-air shop was all he required to forge the greatest weapons I’d ever seen. Directly beside the firepit was a large brass basin filled with a horrific-looking reddish-black sludge that was congealing around the edges. I could only assume it was filled with the blood of whatever demons the bald dwarf was experimenting with at the moment.

  “Your shop is looking really good, Hezzig,” I commented.

  “Thank you, my lord,” the bald man replied. “I was just sketching out a design for the dagger I promised you. What do you think?”

  Hezzig handed me a small scrap of parchment paper with a diagram of a dagger that had been carefully drawn with a charcoal pencil. The blade had a similar silhouette as the sword that was sheathed at my hip, but there was a delicate knotwork pattern sketched onto the edge of the spine and about two inches of serrated cuts on the back side of the tip.

  “This looks awesome,” I said. “I can’t wait to try it out.”

  “Is there anything you would like for me to alter about the design before I get started?” Hezzig asked.

  “Nope, not a thing.” I grinned, and I handed the sketch back to the blacksmith. “I assume you’re going to quench it in demon blood?”

  “Of course, my lord.” Hezzig smirked with excitement. “I have yet to try combining the lava demon’s blood with the acid-spitting demon’s.”

  “Oh, that’s a wild idea,” I mused. “Do you think this will give a combination of perilous effects to the blade? Or maybe something totally new?”

  “I haven’t the faintest idea, my lord,” Hezzig admitted. “But there is only one way to find out, and at the very least, I believe the blade will have one trait or the other.”

  “Both options are great.” I smirked. “And your weapons are so well made, there’s no way I won’t be happy with the dagger.”

  “Your praise is always appreciated,” Hezzig said with a proud tilt to the corner of his lips. “I shall get started straight away.”

  “Take your time,” I encouraged. “There’s no rush.”

  “In that case, I believe I’ll join the others in having a lovely dinner and begin on this project at first light,” Hezzig said, and he tucked the sketch away on his workbench.

  “That’s a good idea.” I nodded.

  “Enjoy your evening, my lord, my lady,” Hezzig said, and then he strolled toward the castle in search of a hot meal.

  “What do you think?” I asked as I took Elora’s hand in mine. “Are you hungry?”

  “I am absolutely famished,” Elora purred, and she danced her fingertips up the front of my chest.

  “Why do I get the feeling you aren’t talking about food?” I chuckled as warmth spread over my entire body.

  “Most likely because you know me quite well by now,” Elora giggled, and she started to tug me toward the castle’s front door.

  “Alright, but I want to stop in to see Ingrid for a second first,” I laughed. “I want to make sure Shalanna gets something to eat.”

  “Yes, that is wise,” Elora murmured, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly with concern for my other lover. “I wonder why she was feeling so unwell today.”

  “I mean, the Draugr’s stench was pretty nauseating,” I said. “But I wonder if maybe she’s just been overdoing it lately.”

  “Perhaps,” Elora hummed.

  We walked up the castle’s front steps and through the doors, and then I led Elora down the stairs to the kitchen.

  The room was bustling with noise and activity, and as my mouth started to water at the delicious smells that filled the rooms, I realized I hadn’t eaten since before we’d left around mid-day.

  “My lord!” Ingrid greeted me with a bright smile. “Astrid has informed me the gardens are ready to be seeded. What wonderful news!”

  “Yes, it’s very good news,” I agreed. “I wanted to ask you a small favor.”

  “Anything, my lord,” Ingrid assured me. “It is my duty and pleasure to tend to whatever your needs may be.”

  “Actually, it’s Lady Shalanna’s needs,” I said. “Would you make a plate of light food for her?”

  “Certainly.” Ingrid nodded as she laid down her current task of chopping mushrooms, and she picked up a silver tray from the shelves. “Has Lady Shalanna been feeling ill?”

  “Yes.” I nodded.

  “We encountered a pair of Draugr in the Spire today,” Elora explained. “The rotting stench made Shalanna feel quite ill.”

  “I want to make sure she has something to eat to help build her strength back up,” I said.

  “I can handle that,” Ingrid said with confidence. “Worry not, my lord. Lady Shalanna will have a simple and sustaining meal presented to her without delay.”

  The old elf bustled about the kitchen and quickly assembled a platter of mild fruit slices, some honey bread, a few dried strips of rabbit, and a large silver pitcher of water.

  “Shall I bring this to Lady Shalanna now?” Ingrid asked.

 

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