It was a week later when I was examining someone with a flu, and would extract it from their bodies that I had a breakthrough of sorts, one with shocking and mind boggling implications. In a moment of curiosity, I sent my magic into the virus.

  The virus’s DNA spread open for me to view, change, and implement changes. My mind immediately stretched out in several directions at once, until I decided I’d have to think long and hard about what I not only could do, but should do, with this newly discovered ability.

  Treatment and my oath prevented me from harming patients with my power, but what about things that weren’t harm. Enhancements, not the barbaric and rude kind the king did, but more subtle changes? What was the morality there? When I suddenly found myself in a position to play god with the human race, and others.

  It was later that same late afternoon or early evening in our quarters, when I had a talk with Saria about it, and only the smallest part of it, while Regina was making our dinner.

  Saria asked, “What’s bugging you James?”

  I looked into her eyes, “What would you say if I told you I could extend Regina’s and my lifetime to match yours. I could live another seven hundred and fifty years, Regina close to eight hundred.”

  Saria’s eyes widened.

  I asked, “Would you even want that, you are with me and have already pledged a chunk of your life away from the forest you love.”

  Saria frowned, “You think I’d rather mourn you for seven centuries, merely to enjoy my forest?”

  I shook my head, and gave her a sheepish look, “No, but I wonder about envy of other humans, I don’t think it would be a good change across all of humanity.”

  Saria tilted her head, “Probably not, but how is that even possible, you can’t affect your own body with your magic.”

  I nodded, “I figured out how to do it to others a while ago, it’s pretty simple since the template for it is in elven DNA. I hadn’t planned on letting anyone know about it either. What I can do though, is set up those DNA changes as a vector in a virus designed to infect every cell in my body once, and then die off. Technically, my magic won’t be changing me at all, the virus will. That science was risky and full of uncertainties and risks on my world, but with my magic it would be simple and safe. Regina, I could just change with my magic, if she also wished it.”

  Saria narrowed her eyes, “I want you to do it, please? What else, there’s more, isn’t there?”

  I frowned and pulled her into my lap.

  She melted against me, and practically purred in my ear, sensing my need of her. My mates constantly amazed me, and humbled me with their love, support, and sensitivity.

  “I’ll do it, for our family at least, the life extension. What else? I could build complex viruses that would complement the immune system and jealously guard its host body from sickness and infection, as well as being self-limiting so it wouldn’t hurt the host itself. I’m talking full immunity to disease, poison resistance, faster healing from physical trauma, better DNA correction, and a modest life extension of half again what the human lifespan is now just from being so healthy all the time.

  “More, I could work in a light version of my own magical ability into the virus, including organ or limb regeneration in case of failure or mass damage, things of that nature. In short, I could make a human all but impossible to kill outside of old age, a particularly strong poison, or an immediately mortal wound.”

  She kissed my neck, and wiggled to get comfortable.

  “And this worries you?”

  I nodded, “What right would I have to do any of it. It’s a step beyond healing, and I could do it for your people too.”

  The one thing I wasn’t really worried about overpopulation, this planet was young and barely populated as it was, and most deaths were of old age anyway, giving them fifty more years and stopping premature deaths due to disease wouldn’t hurt anything. At least, not for thousands of years to come.

  She said reasonably, “You can’t do it to everyone though, your only one man.”

  I shook my head in disagreement, “I can love, I can make the virus highly virulent, people wouldn’t get sick from it or even notice it, except they’d feel healthier, and eventually it would spread to everyone. It would change what it meant to be human, for the rest of time, since it would be passed down to future generations.”

  She said softly, “What would you do for a living, if everyone was healthy.”

  I laughed, “Every physician’s dream. I’d have to find a new job. But I worry about the morality of it, would we even be human anymore? Even just extending my life, and Regina’s, unless I account for it, it would mean our children would live that long as well, it would eventually spread through breeding, just as the magical talents did over the last few millennia.”

  She kissed my neck and rubbed her body against mine.

  Damn, I could worry about it later, or tomorrow.

  She laughed when I spanked her tight little ass, and then picked her up by it and ran for the bedroom. My sexy and wild elven seductress, what else was I going to do?

  I decided after the wild, passionate, and bordering on violent sex I’d had with Saria, that I’d have to think long and hard about the virus idea. But I did extend my and Regina’s life later that night, so we’d grow old together with Saria. Saria would still outlive us both, but by decades instead of centuries, assuming of course we wouldn’t come to a violent end. I’d have to think about our children, was it something we should pass on?

  There was more I hadn’t told her about the possibilities with viruses, but those possibilities I wouldn’t consider, for they would harm. Still, the idea of making humans immortal outside of aging and deadly trauma to the body was enough to think about. I hated suffering, but suffering was part of what defined humans as humans, and as she said, what would I do if everyone was always healthy?

  Was it selfish not to do it? Or was it arrogantly playing god to do it?

  I wasn’t sure where my idea fell on that scale, just because I could do something didn’t mean I should. Worse, for evil men, I’d be increasing the suffering potential of the people they abused and tortured, since the human body would be far more resilient. A man could literally mutilate his wife in the evening, and she’d be looking unblemished by morning. That was disturbing to me, both that it was a distinct possibility, and that I’d even conceived of the possibility in the first place. My only defense was that I’d often thought of ways to reduce that kind of abuse on this world, because I’d never perpetrate it. It disgusted me, the limits of my violence with my wives was a good spanking when they begged for it during sex.

  There was still more besides, if I could modify humans, elves, and viruses, why not flowers? What if I could imbue a magical ability of a specific ward inside a flower, and then grew vines on the side of our house? Or wore it on my body, similar to the armor Saria wore? I doubted it could defend against fire and water with that idea, but it would keep a telekinetic from grabbing my body directly, or a mage from paralyzing or stunning me with magic, or really, any raw magic that would affect the body or mind directly could be blocked or absorbed. It would be like a mage that enchanted warded protections, just using organic matter instead of jewelry and steel weapons.

  There was a lot to think of, a lot of options to explore and decide upon, and I had a feeling I was still missing a lot of possibilities inherent in my own magic. Regardless, what I thought of so far had me very glad the king lacked my imagination and knowledge of the biological sciences.

  Otherwise, we’d have already been dead.

  Chapter Seven

  Regina looked incredible in black lacy lingerie, that was far more translucent than opaque, except right over her nipples and over her mound. She looked incredible as she modeled it for me. I knew she was working on something for Saria as well, but it wasn’t done yet.

  It was mid-afternoon of the ninth day since we’d arrived at Eastguard and had freed all the people enthralled to the king. We were alone, though I could feel Saria’s constant presence in the back of my mind, she was off in the surrounding forest this afternoon with one of the scouting parties.

  Regina was voluptuous and curvy, with a tight waist, very bountiful and rounded breasts, and lovely hips and a sexy supple ass. I never got tired of seeing her lovely face, one of natural innocent beauty with a hint of seduction in it without her even trying. She was mesmerizing, with her strikingly intelligent and joyful green eyes, and long red hair which fell down her body in gentle curls.

  At the moment, she’d artfully arranged her body on the bed, her head up on one arm, her hips cocked, and her legs slightly bowed.

  She smirked, “Aren’t you coming in James?”

  Yeah, I’d been struck dumb at the doorway when she’d called me in the bedroom.

  As was my habit before our afternoon trysts, I check her over quickly with my magic as I walked over to the bed and stripped out of my clothes in record time, leaving a trail behind me on the floor.

  Her eyes twinkled up at me as I crawled onto the bed and claimed her lips in a passionate hungry kiss that I knew she wanted, and that she’d definitely earned with her seductive and talented hobby. Of course, the sexy lingerie was nothing compared to what it showcased. My cock was impossibly hard, and she breathily sighed into my mouth as I gasped into hers, when her soft hand reached out and stroked me a few times teasingly.

  My whole body was electrified with need, and the scent of my mate and her arousal, made my nostril’s flare.

  I ended the kiss and laid on my back as I pulled her against my side.

  “Regina, we should talk about something first.”

  Regina’s eyes widened with surprise, I guess she figured I’d be ravishing her about now, with my cock if not my tongue.

  “What is it?” she asked nervously.

  I kissed her softly, lovingly, and with all I felt for her.

  “Nothing bad, my heart, but we haven’t really talked about the timing for kids. You’re fertile, my question is, are you ready to start a family? If not, I can take precautions.”

  I had no moral qualms about preventing conception with my magical ability, there was no harm in it.

  She said breathlessly in excitement, “I am if you are.”

  My breath caught, and I had to admit when I saw she was fertile a moment ago a huge surge of lust and desire went through me, stronger than I’d ever felt. It had shocked me how much the idea of impregnating my mate turned me on.

  She seemed just as turned on by the idea.

  “More than you know, but I didn’t want to make the decision by myself.”

  Her eyes widened, and her pupils dilated with desire. She whipped her leg over me, and ground down on my cock hard with her center, and I felt the heat and moisture of her core through the thin silky diaphanous material of her panties.

  “Yes, please my love.”

  My cock twitched hard at the begging tone in her voice, and caused me to throw my restraint to the wind.

  I bent my legs slightly to put my feet flat, as I reached down and pulled her panties to the side. Then I speared half way up into her tight and wet needy core.

  She gasped, and then rocked her body twice and impaled herself the rest of the way.

  The pleasure of the tight and wet heat of her sex was incredible enough, but I felt her squeeze me tighter and release sparks of pleasure up and down my cock, even as she teased my neck and upper chest with the same from her fingertips.

  I was out of my mind and in a fog of lust with the idea of giving her a baby, and I was about to start driving up into her hard and fast, but the sexy minx beat me to it.

  She dug her fingernails into the skin of my chest, almost hard enough to break skin, and started to twerk her hips like a madwoman. She very rarely took control and fucked me hard and fast from above like this, preferring to be taken, ordered about, and submissive to me in bed, but the desire and lust in her bright green eyes was very clear.

  She wanted my baby, and she was damned well going to take it now that she had my permission.

  “Fuck,” I gasped at the pleasure her body had over mine, impaling me as I started to move in counterpoint, thrusting up into her and meeting her halfway.

  The haze of lust and the incredible bliss of being buried in my sexy mate, and the friction of our sexes as we became one time and time again, made the rest of the world fade away. There was just her gorgeous eyes, the scent of our arousal and sweat, the sweet sounds of pleasure falling from her lips and mixing with mine, the blissful euphoria building in both our bodies and radiating outward from everywhere we touched, and the single insane and undeniable desire to fill her with my seed and give her my baby.

  Regina said between breathy gasps, “James, please, I want your baby.”

  Fuck. That was it, the button that finished me off.

  I grunted, “Regina,” and my body and mind froze on the cusp as my legs went numb, then the shockwave of pleasure broke over me, and overwhelmed my body and mind as I started to shoot up inside her warm tight body and into her womb.

  She trembled and came undone with the first pulse of my seed, and I barely managed to keep her from falling off in my own ecstasy, but I managed to grab her hips firmly as she joined me in the ultimate pleasure. Her sex gripped me tighter, and convulsed around me, as if desperate to milk all the seed it could get.

  It was a short moment of eternal and blissful rapture, before we fell back to Earth.

  I held her tightly as we fell and pulled her down to me for long lingering kiss. My Regina was an insatiable and very accommodating woman to my desires, as I was to hers, but I don’t think the level of desperate animalistic passion we’d just felt was equaled by anything in our past, outside of the intensity of our mating night, or even came close the desperate rutting we’d just done.

  I said, “I’m surprised you didn’t force it.”

  She giggled, “Are you kidding, and waste all that passion with a surge of magic?”

  I smirked, and rolled us so I was on top.

  She knew what I wanted, I didn’t even have to ask.

  I felt my cock recover, with a brushing tease of her pleasure magic, and then started to make love to her. The intense lust was gone, it’d been replaced by a gentle and protective love that made my heart ache and feel like it would burst. She was my mate, and would be the mother of my children, I was in awe of her, and I showed it to her the best way I knew how.

  I took slow and full sweet loving strokes into her magnificent body, as I looked deeply into her eyes. There was no guarantee of course, and I wouldn’t be sure for a couple of days, but chances were I was about to be a father.

  I was surprisingly happy with that concept.

  “You’re going to be an amazing mother,” I said softly as she gently ground herself up against me.

  Her eyes widened at my heartfelt and obviously spontaneous compliment, and she tightened around me and convulsed as she came undone. She was so beautiful in the throes of ecstasy, and the moment was so intense as I continued to stroke slowly into her, with our eyes locked together in an intimate and vulnerable connection.

  She had tears of joy in her eyes as she came down, and she whispered my name with an intense deep devotion that always took me off guard. What had I ever done in this life to deserve her, much less Saria as well.

  There were a lot of horrors in this world, not just the king, but I couldn’t imagine a life without Regina and Saria in it. They were the light in the darkness of this new world for me, and they’d keep me from being dragged down by the evil around us, or from losing heart.

  I planned to love her for hours, and would see how many times I could make her tremble before I finished inside of her…

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning started out okay. I’d healed three guards from training accidents, and two pre-teen children with scrapes and bruises from getting in a fight. After that I’d just been half listening to the council, because most of my concentration was on Saria’s skin-tight armor. I examined the structure of the life form and wondered if it had been another sculptor that created it.

  It was a work of art, but at the same time it was quite crude, as if the sculptor had been going with their feelings and trusting in the magic too much. Really, that’s all they could do on this world, they didn’t understand the building blocks of life as I did through my education. Honestly, crude or not, it was quite an achievement given that fact.

  I’d pretty much decided against the virus idea, at least for now, but I was working on the idea of embedded magical protections and wards for buildings and people. I rather thought there might be offensive applications as well, but I was of two minds about exploring that aspect of things, and would start out with defenses.

  I was sure I could do it, protection against spells designed directly against a person, like their mind or body. It wouldn’t be effective against magic that effected a human as a secondary effect. Like a fire ball. It would stop a fire talent from setting a person directly on fire, but not from throwing fire at them. Still, it would be a huge advantage, one I wanted to provide for myself and my family at the least.

  Perhaps others too, but I would charge a lot of money for it. Being a healer was my calling, but I had to make a living, and if Regina had her way I’d have a very big family, multiple wives and an army of children. Especially if I was going to live seven more centuries.

  I could upgrade Saria’s armor so to speak, and then make something similar for Regina and me to wear under our clothes. Could be a full suit, or just a ring made of the biological armor. I could probably make one for Regina that could be several things, and even change colors to suite what she was wearing. The armor was semi-sentient, and followed its wearer’s wishes, which is how Saria took it off and put it back on.

  I also considered inserting other abilities besides protective, like healing, protection from disease, and all the other things I’d thought up for the virus. It wouldn’t change the wearer’s body, but it would protect them from those things.