There was quiet for a few moments.

  Karana said, “I’m confident I can keep us safe from a few human mages and what they might get up to, but I don’t have any more tricks to shorten the battle. They know their spell won’t work, so I’ll be tied up dealing with standard battle mage spells. Only so many of the enemy can attack the wall at once, even with double the numbers. We’ll have James to minimize the casualties on our side and get people back on the wall faster. I think that would be enough, even if we have to fight a battle four times longer than the one yesterday.”

  Saria nodded, “We’d probably lose closer to a hundred though, maybe more.”

  Jaren grunted, “I agree, but if he sends more than a thousand, we’ll be in trouble.”

  Maybe. I had a couple of ideas, one was the grass I was working on. Another was increasing the percentage of our people that had magical battle abilities. I was reluctant to do either. I’d gotten over my reluctance over self-defense, but large scale battles were another thing. Of course, it really wasn’t, I’d be defending my life and others just the same, but the idea of it still made me wary.

  Coren growled, “That’s it, depend on the flesh sculptor?”

  Saria said, “Others may come to the city that want to break from tyranny once the word spreads, I also expect we’ll hear from my parents soon. I don’t think they’ll send more warriors, but we may get a mage or two to assist.”

  Jaren nodded, “It’s a good start, and we should all think about what we can do to increase our odds the next few days, we’ll bring it back up tomorrow morning.”

  At that point one of the guards opened up the doors, and several people from the city came in. I looked up and scanned the crowd that was for me, about twenty of them. The six young attractive women with haunted eyes were easy to pick out of the crowd, even as I sent my magic into the first. They’d also stand out because I’d healed them recently, and they were the only healthy people in line.

  He had an infection, it was easy enough to force it out and then clean the cut he had on his arm. I wanted to scold him for waiting so long, but I didn’t want to interrupt the man talking to the council. Something about several farms being untended, and the families being missing.

  One of the young ladies gasped, and I looked up to see her eyes widened in fear. Her body started to shake, and the five others looked in the same direction she was and the blood drained from their faces.

  I turned to look, and saw Coren glaring at them with a look that promised death if they spoke.

  Fuck. I guess maybe he was behind everything after all. I’d known he was a jackass, and had zero respect for women, but I’d had no choice but to give him the benefit of the doubt. Especially without proof.

  Saria and Karana had picked up on it too, Jaren was clueless.

  “Coren,” Saria said sharply, “Why are they afraid of you?”

  Then all hell broke loose.

  Coren waved his arm and sent out a telekinetic wave of force, knocking down half the people in the room including me, and then ran for the back door. The only people close to him that had managed to resist his attack was Saria and Karana. My armor had been useless because it wasn’t directed at me, the wave had hit my clothes, and I’d gone flying off my chair with them. I’d just managed to catch Regina before she hit the floor.

  Coren went flying back against the wall with a flick of Saria’s fingers, and the elven and human guards cut Coren’s guards down quickly when they drew swords and summoned elements. They were outnumbered three to one and the clash of weapons and magic was quick.

  I stood up, as did Jaren with an angry look on his face. Most everyone else stayed down on the ground.

  Coren waved a hand at Saria, but she barely moved from his attack. Obviously, her telekinesis was stronger.

  Then she started to choke and cough up water.

  Karana growled, “Kill him!” and as if taking her own advice, she barked the same word that Desirae had, and a green ball of fire shot into Coren and started to consume him. A loud cracking sound filled the hall, as Saria fell to her knees. She must have snapped his neck when he could no longer focus on his own telekinesis magic. She coughed out the water and took deep gasping breaths.

  Regina said, “How is that possible, he was a telekinetic and had control over water?”

  I wondered if he did drown those men after all, to cover his tracks, but that didn’t make sense, he’d never left the council hall that day.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Everyone was looking around warily, when a bright blue flash revealed the truth.

  Karana gasped.

  I stared, and asked, “What?” and trailed off.

  She was short and curvy, even shorter than my petite elf at five foot one, but obviously a fully grown woman, with a perfect athletic curvy body, like a gymnast. She had dark brown hair, so dark and rich that it would look black in very poor light. Her eyes were a light blue, like shallow waters in the Caribbean, and seemed to glow with their own light. Her skin was fair, with a blue tinge even lighter than her eyes, and her face had a natural mischievous beauty about it.

  No, I decided there was no seemed about her eyes glowing, they did glow a light blue, but it was subtle. There was also an aura of power around her that was unmistakable and felt like the ocean. She was clothed in a mostly opaque mist that clung to her body, and it seemed to waver at times to offer a teasing translucent glimpse at the light blue skin and curves beneath.

  Karana whispered in awe, and a little fear, “Fae. Water nymph.”

  The fae walked up to Saria, and sent blue tendrils toward her.

  I shot out my magic toward the fae, concerned for my mate, and it stopped dead at her skin. She didn’t even seem to notice it. Or, she simply ignored it.

  Karana shook her head, “Don’t bother, she’s made of sentient water magic, she has no biological body. Coren must have bonded her somehow, and he used her.”

  Saria didn’t look concerned though, and even bowed her head in respect.

  The tendrils pulled away from Saria, and the nymph looked at me and approached. She sent the tendrils back out, and when they met my armor they stopped. She got an annoyed look of concentration on her face, and then her magic slid into my body. She seemed to be searching for something, and when her magic reached my head I felt something click.

  Her voice reverberated in mind, it sounded like the gentle ripples of a tiny rolling wave. It sounded innocent and sweet, but authoritative and overwhelming at the same time.

  “I am Oceana, Master. How may I serve?”

  Me? Why me?

  Apparently, she could read my mind.

  “My old master is dead, and now I belong to you. I don’t wish to return to the waters. You will be a good master, much better than the last.”

  Her voice in my mind had a sensuous edge to it that last time, and my body stirred. How the hell did this happen? Why not Saria or Karana? They’re the ones that killed her old master.

  She replied to my thoughts again, “They belong to you master, as do I.”

  I replied with directed thought, “Please only answer questions or requests I direct at you, it’s disconcerting when you answer my thoughts. Go to my quarters, we’ll speak more later.”

  I was kind of freaking out, but I was also turned on by the idea, which wasn’t like me. I loved Regina’s submissiveness, but that wasn’t the same as having a slave. Although I got the impression she could break our connection and return to her home whenever she wished, so slave was probably the wrong idea even if she called me master. She’d said she didn’t want to leave. Still, I was uncomfortable with the idea of having a fae as a servant, for whatever reason.

  I also couldn’t deny I’d already entertained a few fantasies, and wondered if I was turning into an asshole. I had a feeling though, that it was her influence on my mind, and from the bond she’d formed with me. I could feel her alien contentment through it, and her desire to serve not only my whims but also in my bed.

  Oceana replied, “Yes master, we’ll have fun together.”

  Then she disappeared in a whirlpool of blue magic and a flash of light.

  Chapter Fifteen

  As I’d hoped, no one seemed to notice I’d been bonded by the water elemental, except perhaps Karana who was a mage and could feel the flows of magic. She shot me enough amused looks throughout the morning and early afternoon to make me suspect she did know, but she also wasn’t talking. I’d decided to wait until this afternoon when we were in the privacy of our suite to tell Regina and Saria about it.

  Everyone else seemed to be wondering where the fae had gone.

  I got the idea that bonding with a fae was rare, and if it became general knowledge I’d be hunted by others wanting to claim her service, by killing me. Being a flesh sculptor already had me on the murder list for a lot of people, I didn’t need to add another reason for the people of this world to hunt me down. The fact Karana hadn’t outed me, told me I was doing the right thing by pretending ignorance.

  Once things settled down from Coren being killed, I healed the people in line, and gave the six-young woman power over the elements that they’d chosen. They left eagerly with a couple of dark elven women, apparently ready to learn how to wield their new power in defense of themselves and our rebel city.

  The one other thing I paid attention to, was Jaren called for a city meeting later that night in the street before the inn, and several guards had left to spread the word. The two hundred plus people in the city would be told to vote for and choose a new councilor. They could choose Jaren and have him represent all humans, or they could choose someone else among them and replace Coren as the fourth councilor to the city council.

  I hoped we were done with chasing filth and abusers in the city, or at least, at so horrifying a level. There would always be domestic abuse, and that would be dealt with, but I meant at the torture level, I really hoped that was over with. Coren’s sick little club was gone, and now he was too. The rest had fled almost two weeks ago, when we first took the city.

  Most of the rest of the time I spent during council I was playing with the blade of grass, and I thought I had a very viable land mine was when I was finished. The only question was, would I deploy my new knowledge? It had taken a long time to tweak the DNA of the grass to get the magic I wanted. It was complex, with aspects of earth, air, and fire to it.

  Killing in self-defense, in war, wasn’t murder. But when I looked at the blade of simple green grass, it felt like mass murder. In reality though, it would be no worse than what Karana had done in paralyzing almost a whole army, to be slaughtered unopposed by fire. I didn’t think she was a monster, she was an incredible woman, a woman of morals and high ideals, and she’d saved so many through her actions.

  Yet, I held myself to a higher standard. Was that out of cowardice and squeamishness, or because I could truly be a monster with my power if I went too far? Was I worried I’d be corrupted by this new power, or was it simply arrogance and my old society that I held myself to be more moral than others? I was a physician, and a doctor who’d given an oath. I’d do no harm to my patients in the course of treatment. But… in a violent world like this one I was also a killer, in self-defense and in the defense of others.

  I’d have to think about it more. Honestly, I already knew what the right thing to do was, it just didn’t settle right at that moment, I needed more time to adjust to this new reality.

  The other thing I spent a majority of my time on, was a mental conversation with the water nymph who was probably hanging out in the bathtub back in my and my mates’ suite. It was a disjointed confused conversation, especially at first, but I eventually figured a few things out from her comments.

  The fae were amoral, like nature. Water could heal and quench thirst, or it could drown and destroy in floods. There was no good and evil in either of those things to the sentient beings of magic, they just were. She was alien, amoral, and powerful. That’s why she either needed a master, or to be tied to a body of water, to be on our physical plane. To give her direction and morality by human or elven guidance, it was a rule of their sentient magic, though she couldn’t say who or what made that rule. She was sentient, but it was alien in nature, and I didn’t understand her desire to be tied to me, or to be among us, but I didn’t have to understand it, I just needed to accept it as truth.

  She did have some desires common to humanity though, small places where we could relate. She wanted to be near humans and have companionship, she wanted to be helpful and needed guidance because she didn’t understand what would be helpful. We even discussed pleasure. She’d brought it up, not me, and she’d apparently be quite happy to take care of my and her needs for pleasure, but I was of two minds about it and needed to talk to my mates about it first.

  Regardless, I’d come away with the idea that her calling me master didn’t truly make her a slave, and if we did have sex it wouldn’t make her my sex slave, she wanted it and quite enjoyed those activities. It was actually a little disconcerting, sex seemed to be her favorite subject, so maybe there was something to those water nymph legends back on earth. But… without the drowning part.

  Probably the thing about it that disturbed me most was I didn’t believe she was capable of love, though I was far from sure about that. It would be sharing pleasure, company, and having experiences with her. That’s what she craved, camaraderie, experiences, and pleasure, and she was willing to serve me in all ways to get them. She totally lived for the moment, immortal with no cares for the future or the past, and when I died she’d just attach herself to another and probably wouldn’t give me a second thought.

  That gave me pause, because shallow or not I knew I’d come to care about her if I had her in my bed with my other mates. I wasn’t wired for casual sex, and I knew her servile and eager regard toward me would stir those emotions at some point. Maybe Saria could fill me in on some of it, maybe I was wrong, but I really didn’t think nature could love, it just was. I’d asked her about it, but she hadn’t been able to answer that question in a way I understood. Or maybe, she just didn’t understand the question.

  In short, I was in a bit of a moral quandary. It didn’t help that she was attractive, on a visceral level. One thing I was sure of, I wouldn’t be using her as my personal assassin, like Coren had done. Although, having her as another layer of protection for my mates and I was an appealing option. I hesitated to give her any orders though, not until I’d discussed it with Saria and Regina. The one exception I made was to order her to conceal herself from everyone but me and my mates. Apparently, she could be invisible and undetectable.

  When the meeting broke up, we headed to our suite. I had the feeling Saria had to go back out, but she’d have enough time to talk first.

  I wasn’t all that surprised, when Karana followed us.

  Oceana met us all at the kitchen table.

  “Master,” she greeted in a warm tone, it felt like my body was caressed by a warm gentle wave, and my cock stirred. This was going to be hard, no pun intended.

  “Can you speak aloud?”

  Her voice was bubbling, and sweet.

  “Yes master.”

  I nodded, “Please do so when we’re in private, and my mates are present.”

  Then I looked to the others. Karana and Saria looked awed, but only Saria looked surprised as well. Regina looked amused and her eyes were dancing as she looked into mine.

  “Apparently, she chose me as her master, because the one that killed her old master belonged to me.”

  Saria nodded, “The fae must have read in me that you’re the head of our house. That makes sense. Do you know what this means?”

  I shook my head, “A little, I’ve talked to her, but I’m not sure what the right thing to do is.”

  Saria tilted her head, “In a way there is no right thing, she yearns for a connection to this world. Ask her to drown all the children in town, or to water the garden, it’s all the same to her. The one thing water nymphs do crave and desire, is the pleasures of sex, and the connection to a sentient being of this world. They can’t experience pleasure like that on their own or with their own kind, you could almost say it’s addictive to them.”

  I frowned, “And that doesn’t bother you?”

  Saria smiled, “No. Even less than with Regina, there is no competition. She is already bonded to you, and that is the depth of your intimacy with her. I don’t fear what she might do, because I know you wouldn’t have her do anything evil.”

  I turned to Regina.

  Regina blushed as she looked at the lovely nymph, “I’m not jealous by the idea love. I’ve heard stories, I don’t mind either, especially if you share. We shouldn’t tell anyone about this though.”

  All the women in the room nodded in agreement to her last statement.

  “Karana?”

  She tilted her head and licked her lips. She looked as seductive as ever, but she also looked a little uncomfortable, as if not quite sure where we stood. Her usual flirty gestures were not gone, but subdued. I decided Saria had been right, and I just needed to give her time to either fold or call my raise. Maybe she’d been just as blind to the change between us as I’d been, before it was pointed out to me. It was easier for me to accept, I had nothing at all to lose, and so much to gain if she joined our family. She on the other hand had a sacrifice either way she jumped.

  “I was just curious and wanted to verify my suspicions. I was also going to advise you to keep her hidden, outside of you and your mates. I have no doubts you won’t use her for assassination like Coren did, but in the same way the tasks you do choose should be equally as hidden.”

  I said, “I was thinking outside of the obvious, companionship I mean, she could defend us, but I wonder how to phrase things. I don’t know enough, and fear giving her too much leeway.”

  Karana shook her head, “That was Coren’s mistake. That fight would have been much harder, had he not been micromanaging her every move. She would have killed many of us before I could banish her. My advice is to just order her to keep herself hidden from all but us, and to protect you and your mates without violating the first order. That’s it, she knows her powers and limits far better than we do, and will be most effective with a free hand.”