Chapter 2007: Pleading Woman

Above the ruined inn in Sarthal, Veshara flung her arms wide to break her dive toward Quinlan. Queen Zorvanna’s killing intent pressed against her chest, making her next breath catch as the first rank of ice lances shot upward to meet her.

"Wait!"

She smashed the nearest spearhead with her fist. Two more burst against her crossed forearms, driving them back into her breastplate hard enough to wrench a grunt from her.

"Ghh...!"

The impact sent her tumbling past Quinlan. A sweep of her tail brought the city back beneath her feet, but his ice followed the turn, forcing her to knock another lance away before it reached her throat.

Its broken shaft spun toward the street. Quinlan dissolved it before it reached the rooftops, descending after her on his wind while his companions spread out around them.

"All right, all right! I’m stopping!"

Veshara opened her hands toward him. Blood ran from the knuckles she’d driven through his ice, and a bruise was spreading beneath the scales of her forearm. Her grin returned anyway.

"You could have mentioned you were this much fun, Black!"

"You could have asked before sending me through the fucking inn."

"But then I wouldn’t have seen how you handled me!"

Quinlan halted the next volley between them, its points trained on her chest. Veshara shook the fragments from her hand, watching him over the frozen tips while his women closed from either side.

"May we go down now?" she asked in a soft, sugary voice, peering at Quinlan between the hovering spearheads. "I did come here to talk, even if my actions might suggest otherwise."

Her queen’s pressure still bore down on her. Swatting the nearest lance out of her face would hardly improve Zorvanna’s mood.

’Yes, yes. I’m behaving, m’lady.’

Quinlan guided their descent with his wind, keeping the ice around Veshara until her boots met the inn’s courtyard. Broken tiles crunched beneath her weight, and she glanced up through the ruined wall at the dining room they’d just left.

"Ah."

The roof had a hole where he’d thrown her out. Down at courtyard level, another hole gaped in the common-room floor where she’d put him.

"That’s quite a bit of damage."

"You’re paying for it."

"Why don’t we split the bill?"

"I refuse."

"Please?" Veshara clasped her hands beneath her chin, gazing at him with huge, pleading eyes. The word came out in a sweet, trembling whine.

"No." Immense disgust sounded in Quinlan’s tone; he wasn’t buying this bitch’s bullshit act one bit. "In fact, you should pay me tenfold."

"You? Not the inn owner?"

"Of course. I’ll have to move rooms because of you."

She turned back to him as his companions landed, then lowered herself onto both knees before Quinlan. Her tail curled around her boots, her hands rested neatly on her thighs, and she tipped her lovely face up toward his visor.

"Ehehe... I got a little carried away."

"A little?" Ayame asked.

Veshara gave the petite swordswoman a sunny smile.

"You were enjoying yourself too. I saw you."

"I was trying to end a lunatic’s rampage."

"With such a happy face~"

From a balcony across the street, a woman caught her neighbour’s sleeve.

"Is that Captain Veshara?"

"Why is she kneeling?"

The captain gave the two women a cheerful little wave. Quinlan watched her finish greeting her audience before she returned her hand to her thigh, laughing without the slightest trace of shame.

Zorvanna’s killing intent finally eased. Veshara let out a pleased breath, stretching her aching fingers against her knees.

Quinlan dismissed the ice. His saber remained in his hand while he looked over his companions, finding Scar with her broken forearm held against her body and Blossom still wearing blood on her chin.

The sight pulled at his temper. He wanted to wipe that cheerful grin off the dragonkin’s face and make her feel every blow she’d dealt them.

"Your arm?" he asked Blossom.

"Sera fixed it, Master."

She flexed her fingers for him, then glared past his shoulder at Veshara.

"Next time, Blossom is tearing that tail off."

"You’ll have to catch it first, pupper~"

"Blossom is not a dog!"

Quinlan reached out to wipe the blood from the dogkin’s chin with his thumb. She pressed her cheek into his palm, her eyes still fixed on the woman she’d been hunting through the sky.

He was proud of her. She’d been thrown across a room with a broken arm, then gone straight back into the fight. He loved that ferocity, even while the blood on his glove made him want to do quite a number of things to the draconic woman.

They’d left Iskaris to grow stronger and fight enemies well above their level. Quinlan wanted his women to have those battles, to test themselves and become the warrioresses he knew they could be.

He’d protect them, of course, no matter what. He’d fight until his last drop of blood before any of them could ever be killed. Seeing them hurt still made him fucking furious.

Veshara had walked through a door he’d opened for her and started breaking bones to satisfy her curiosity. She’d forced the fight on them in the place where they ate and slept, then laughed about how much fun she’d had.

He’d noticed her restraint before her first hit connected. She had struck to disable, aiming for Scar’s arm, Blossom’s guard, his own armoured body. She’d had the speed to aim for throats, and he’d felt enough of her strength to know how ugly that could have been.

That restraint was why he was letting the fight end. He still wanted the bitch to regret coming through that door.

"Blossom and Scar get compensation too," Quinlan said.

"On top of your tenfold inconvenience fee?!" Veshara yelped. "I didn’t agree to that, by the way!!"

"On top, naturally."

"Blossom’s arm is very expensive!"

"It’s already healed!" Veshara cried.

"N-no...!!" Blossom shook her head strongly, her perfectly healthy arm going hopelessly limp.

"Ouch!!"

Veshara stared at Blossom, who was already cradling her supposedly injured arm against her chest. The dogkin clearly expected to be paid.

Perhaps Quinlan would be more understanding. Still on her knees, Veshara leaned closer to him, her full lips curving as her voice softened into a purr.

"Couldn’t you be a little kinder to me? I’m just a humble guard, I don’t have the salary-"

"No."

"Even if I ask very nicely~?" She drew out the last word, pushing her ample chest forward for his consideration.

"No."

"Tch."

Veshara sat back on her heels with a curl to her lip, dropping the sweet voice along with every pretence of being a poor, helpless maiden. She visibly wasn’t pleased with the realization that pushing her tits at him hadn’t worked.

"If he’d accepted, you would’ve taken the offer back and called him a pervert," Seraphiel spoke up suddenly.

"I totally get that vibe too!" Kitsara nodded along sagely. "This bitch is just playing around. Bet she has the money to pay up, too."

"..." Veshara gave the two women a deeply offended look. Her irritation lasted right up until she turned back to Quinlan, at which point she brightened into another lovely smile.

"All right. I’ll play along instead of around, then."

Quinlan looked down at her. "Does that include giving up the helpless little guard act?"

"I’m on my knees, aren’t I~?" She held her scraped knuckles up for him to inspect. "Look what you’ve done to me."

"You still haven’t cast a single spell," Quinlan spat.

Around him, several of his women wore wry expressions. They’d been close enough to feel every kick and tail strike. Hearing him say it aloud did very little for their mood.

"Yeah..." Ayame sighed. "She’s one annoying maniac, but she’s crazy powerful."

The copper-scaled beauty had driven him through an entire building, fought their blades with her bare hands, and climbed out of his barrage with minor bruises and slightly scraped knuckles. Whatever spells she possessed were still hers to show them another day.

"Aww, don’t be like that." Veshara pressed a hand to her chest, looking wounded by the accusation. "I can’t cast any spells! My class is exclusively made up of passive abilities."

"Yeah, and I’m a queen from another world," Serika said, earning a giggle from Lucille.

"Alright, alright, I did indeed hold back..." Veshara rolled her eyes at Serika. As she worked her bruised shoulder, Quinlan noticed the shallow cut Vex’s sword had left across its scales.

"But to your credit, you were making a convincing argument for casting a few spells."

"Hubby, I don’t like this bitch." Vex did not care for a single moment that her words were heard perfectly well by said bitch.

"Me neither," Quinlan agreed, red eyes bearing down on the woman still on her knees. He did not care one bit either.