Chapter 896: Counting The Hours

After the compliments, they moved to the kitchen for some couples cooking.

Cassius insisted on wearing an apron a practical necessity, given the amount of flour and sugar he intended to deploy.

Ragnora’s apron, however, was designed for someone three times his size. When he tried it on, the thing draped over him like a tent, the hem pooling on the floor and the straps sliding off his shoulders.

Ragnora laughed with her entire face lighting up. "You look like a child playing dress-up!"

"I look like I’m being consumed by fabric." Cassius countered, struggling to tie the straps in a way that wouldn’t immediately come undone. "Do you have anything smaller?"

"Unfortunately, no. I don’t entertain many guests who need aprons."

In the end, Cassius retrieved his own apron from his spatial ring. Ragnora tied hers on as well, and together they stood before her kitchen counter like any ordinary couple preparing a meal together.

"Alright." Cassius said, rolling up his sleeves. "What do you usually cook?"

Ragnora hesitated. "I...mostly make army rations. Stews. Roasted meats. Simple things that can feed many people quickly."

"Comfort food."

"I suppose so. It’s not particularly elegant."

"There’s nothing wrong with comfort food. But tonight, we’re making something special."

He began pulling ingredients from his spatial ring—eggs, flour, sugar, cream, fresh berries that seemed wildly out of place in a mining commander’s kitchen.

"Dessert. Specifically, a layered cream cake with berry compote and a honey glaze!"

Ragnora stared at the ingredients as though they were foreign artifacts.

"I’ve never made anything like that before."

"Then it’s time you learned."

They worked side by side—Ragnora following Cassius’s instructions with the careful precision she usually reserved for battle formations, Cassius moving around her with the easy confidence of someone who had done this a thousand times before.

He showed her how to fold the egg whites without deflating them, how to tell when the cream was whipped to exactly the right consistency, how to arrange the berries in concentric circles so the final presentation would be beautiful.

"It’s so precise." Ragnora murmured, watching him drizzle honey in a perfect spiral. "Cooking. I always thought it was just...throwing things together until they tasted acceptable."

"At its highest level, cooking is art. At its most basic, it’s love." Cassius glanced up at her. "When you cook for someone, you’re telling them they’re worth the effort. Worth the time. Worth the care."

"Is that what you tell Isabelle when you cook for her?"

"Among other things." He smiled. "Now, taste this."

He held up a spoonful of the berry jelly, and Ragnora leaned forward to take it, only for Cassius to gently guide the spoon to her lips himself. She froze for just a moment, then accepted the bite.

"Mmmm!"

The flavor bloomed across her tongue, sweet and tart and impossibly rich.

"This is..." She struggled to find words. "This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!"

"You haven’t even tried the cake yet."

When the cake was finally assembled—three perfect layers of sponge separated by clouds of cream and rivers of berry jelly, the whole thing glazed with honey that caught the light like liquid amber—Ragnora could only stare at it in reverent silence.

"It’s too beautiful to eat..." She said.

"It’s too delicious not to eat." Cassius cut a generous slice and slid it onto a plate. "Here. The first bite is yours."

Once again, he lifted the fork to her lips. Ragnora hesitated for only a heartbeat before accepting.

The taste was extraordinary. But what made her heart swell was not the cake itself.

It was the act of being fed.

The patient way he waited for her to finish each bite before offering the next.

The small smile that played at the corners of his mouth every time she made a sound of appreciation.

"My parents used to feed me like this." She said quietly, between bites. "When I was very small. Before everything became...complicated."

"How long has it been?"

"Decades. More than thirty years." She looked down at her hands. "I never thought anyone would do it again. It seems so foolish, a grown woman being fed like a child."

"It’s not foolish." Cassius offered another bite. "It’s intimate. It’s caring. It’s one person saying to another: ’I want to take care of you.’ There’s nothing foolish about that."

Ragnora accepted the bite, savoring it slowly.

"You make everything sound so simple." She said. "So natural."

"That’s because it is simple. People overcomplicate romance. At its core, it’s just...paying attention. Noticing what the other person needs and providing it before they have to ask."

—

And so the night continued.

They played a board game that Ragnora had owned for years but never had anyone to play with, a complex strategy game involving territory control and resource management.

Cassius, despite never having seen the game before, nearly beat her. Ragnora, despite her competitive nature, found herself laughing every time he pulled off an unexpected maneuver.

—

They read aloud to each other from one of Ragnora’s favorite romance novels, taking turns voicing different characters.

Cassius did a surprisingly good impression of the brooding hero, and Ragnora’s impression of the plucky heroine made Cassius laugh so hard he nearly fell off the sofa.

—

They sat together by the window, watching the stars wheel slowly across the sky, and Ragnora pointed out constellations she’d learned as a child—the Great Axe, the Twin Warriors, the Lovers’ Bridge.

Cassius told her about the constellations from his homeland, making up elaborate mythologies on the spot when he couldn’t remember the actual stories.

—

They danced for a few minutes in the living room with no music except the crackling of the fire.

Ragnora had to stoop considerably, and Cassius had to stand on his toes, and it was objectively ridiculous.

But when Ragnora’s hand settled on Cassius’s shoulder and his hand found her waist, neither of them was laughing anymore. They simply swayed together, back and forth, back and forth, until the fire burned low and the room grew dim.

—

Finally, they ended up on the sofa together, side by side, both of them pleasantly exhausted.

Ragnora leaned back against the cushions, her golden eyes half-closed, her expression more peaceful than Cassius had ever seen it.

"Thank you." She murmured. "For all of this."

"You’ve thanked me at least a dozen times tonight."

"That’s because I mean it a dozen times over."

Cassius didn’t refuse the gratitude and instead retrieved the crumpled paper from the table and scanned it.

"Let’s see...we’ve done the hand-holding, the hugs, the hair-patting, the horn-polishing, the compliments, the cooking, the feeding, the board game, the reading aloud, the stargazing, the dancing..."

He looked up at her. "We’ve actually completed most of the innocent items. There are only a few left."

"Such as?"

He glanced at the list, then back at her. His expression shifted into something more careful.

"The more intimate ones."

Ragnora’s crimson face somehow managed to become even more crimson.

"What...what exactly do you mean by intimate?"

Cassius turned the list toward her, pointing at the remaining entries.

A Tender Kiss on the Forehead — 400 silver.

A Gentle Kiss on the Cheek — 450 silver.

A Slow, Lingering Kiss — 600 silver.

A Passionate Embrace — 700 silver.

Ragnora stared at the words as though they might spontaneously combust.

The thought of someone kissing her was something she’d imagined a thousand times in the privacy of her own mind.

But to have it presented as a real possibility, something that could actually happen...

Her heart began to race.

"I..."

She glanced toward the window, where the first pale hints of dawn were beginning to creep across the horizon.

"Oh, look at that! The sun is rising already! We’ve been at this all night. We should probably get some sleep—there are so many people I need to introduce you to tomorrow, and if we don’t rest now, we’ll be utterly useless."

Cassius’s lips twitched. "Commander, are you stalling?"

"I-I am not stalling! I am being practical! Sleep is essential for optimal performance, and today promises to be a demanding day. It would be irresponsible of me to—"

"Ragnora."

She stopped, swallowedq and met his eyes.

"It’s alright." Cassius said gently. "We don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for. The kisses will wait. The passionate embraces will wait. Everything will wait until you’re comfortable tonight"

"Yes. Tonight." Ragnora nodded eagerly, her heart already racing at the thought.

She walked him to the door, already feeling the weight of everything that had happened.

She should feel guilty, she knew that. What she was doing, accepting money for romantic acts from a married man...it was wrong.

Even if Isabelle approved, it felt like she was crossing a line she had never intended to cross.

But for some reason, that knowledge only made her more excited.

’I’ll do a thousand push-ups with weights on my back as punishment.’ She told herself. ’A thousand. Maybe two thousand.’

At the door, Cassius paused and turned to face her.

"Well then, goodnight for now, Commander."

And then, before she could react, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

Ragnora’s breath caught. "Cassius, what are you—"

"Couples hug when they say goodbye." He said simply. "Normally, there would be a kiss too." He looked up at her, his eyes warm with amusement. "But since you’re not ready for that, a hug is more than enough."

Ragnora’s heart melted.

She wrapped her arms around him in return, and this time, it felt natural. She didn’t have to think about where to put her hands or how tightly to hold him. She just...held on.

And for that wonderful moment, she let herself pretend that this was real.

That Cassius was her lover, saying goodbye after a perfect night together. That tomorrow, he would come back, and they would do it all again.

’I could get used to this.’ She thought. ’I could get very used to this.’

Then Cassius pulled back, gave her one last smile, and slipped out the door.

Ragnora stood alone in her living room, the fire reduced to glowing embers, the first rays of sunlight creeping through the windows.

This was, without question, the most terrifying thing she had ever done.

Which was absurd. She had faced creatures that could annihilate cities and had walked through fire and blood and death without flinching.

But opening her heart? Letting someone see the vulnerable, yearning woman beneath the warrior’s shell?

That was infinitely more frightening than any monster.

And yet. And yet.

Cassius had seen all of it. Every insecurity, every fear, every desperate longing she’d kept hidden for decades.

And instead of recoiling, mocking her, or treating her like a pathetic creature to be pitied...

He had reached out and held her hand.

’He was just doing business.’ She reminded herself sternly. ’A transaction. A service. Nothing more.’

But her heart—traitorous, hopeful, foolish heart—was already leaning in a different direction.

’It doesn’t feel like just business.’ A small voice whispered. The way he looked at you. The things he said. The way he held you. That wasn’t a merchant making a sale. That was...

She shook her head violently, trying to dislodge the thought.

She couldn’t allow herself to go down that path. She was like a soldier falling in love with a prostitute—pathetic, deluded, destined for heartbreak.

Cassius had a beautiful, adoring wife who looked at him like he hung the stars. He wasn’t interested in Ragnora—not like that. He couldn’t be.

She was too big, too scarred, too strange, too everything. The service was just that, a service. A kindness extended to a lonely woman by a generous man.

And yet.

When she climbed into her enormous bed and pulled the covers up to her chin, it wasn’t the memory of the hugs or the hand-holding or the cooking that lingered in her mind.

It was the memory of Cassius’s eyes.

The way they had softened when he looked at her. The way his voice had dropped to something almost reverent when he’d called her beautiful.

The way he’d made her feel, for the first time in her life, like she was worthy of being loved.

Ragnora pressed her hand against her thundering heart and closed her eyes.

’Get ahold of yourself!’ She commanded silently. ’You are not some lovesick girl pining after a married man. Today, you will get up and you will be professional and you will remember that this was just a service!’

But even as she thought it, a small, traitorous part of her was already counting the hours until tonight.