If there was one thing Dene liked about this castle, it would be the view.

She was at the balcony, laying in one of the stretchers. Dressed in a pair of brown pants, and a white, sleeveless lace-up shirt, she admired the city that stretched before her eyes. Rooftops, trees, and even the grass were all covered in white. To the desert woman, it was nothing short of a miracle.

She had gotten used to how much it rained here in the north. 3 to 4 months a year compared to maybe half a week back in the desert. But this was different. Crystals of frozen water that fell from the sky. Snow, they called it.

Every winter it happened. This was her 5th one away from home, and it still moved her.

She thought back to her life since arriving here. Save for that first night and morning, it’s been mostly uneventful. Angela and Richard still hated her but could do nothing while she had Jonathan’s protection. The Duke and Duchess still didn’t like her but would do nothing while their son remained steadfast in defending her.

But even if they did nothing, Dene just didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in the same building as them. Fortunately, most of the time she didn’t. As a student of the war academy, Jonathan —and consequently Dene— lived for most of the year on a house inside the campus grounds.

It wasn’t far from the castle, but it was still better than sleeping inside the viper’s nest. Besides, instead of the small, servant’s quarter here, she had a proper bedroom there.

The bald, black woman following the Olsen son had become a common sight. His shadow as people called her.

When not following Jonathan around she kept to herself. And with barely any form of entertainment or people to talk to, she mostly tried to learn more about the Gwynland kingdom and the Great Plains duchy.

The duchy was located at the kingdom’s eastern border and was one of the twelve duchies composing the country.

To the northwest, they shared borders with the Wynnes, historical allies to the Olsens. Jonathan's mother was one of them, and there were already talks of marrying him to some Wynne girl.

That worried Dene, if nothing else because it could threaten her safety.

To the southwest were the Olsandres, a former cadet branch of House Olsen and now their adversaries.

That was related to why she was waiting at the balcony. Every once in a while, the war academies of both territories would organize a competition between its top students, and Jonathan was one of those.

Right now he was soaking in the bathtub. When he was ready, they would both fly to the Phoenix academy along with other students. After a night of rest, they would start fighting in the morning.

The Dragon, as the Olsens were known, against the Phoenix, as the Olsandres were known.

Dene wasn’t really worried about Jonathan’s performance. He was already an accomplished fighter before they met, and it had only gotten better with their regular sparring sessions. Even his parents had to begrudgingly acknowledge this fact.

In the last four king’s tourneys, he reached the finals in all of them, managing to become champion of single combat two more times. Along with his victory at his second year’s tourney, he had equaled the record of some dead guy from centuries ago. And he hoped to surpass it half a year from now, on his seventh and last tourney.

Despite not sharing Jonathan’s passion for the competition, Dene was nevertheless happy for him. He had done a lot for her, and she wanted to retribute however possible.

“Haaaa...” She exhaled, admiring the smoke that came out. Her naked arms were filled with goose pimples. Reaching to the side, she took a sip from a glass of whisky to warm herself up. Going back inside, or simply putting on her coat would achieve the same effect, but she enjoyed the cold against her skin. And also the liquor.

It had a dry taste, especially when compared to the sweet drinks from back home.

Home.

How much she missed it. Her family and friends. The dunes, the foods, the sex, always blue skies, sex, their music, sex… Gods, she missed sex.

Four and a half years and she was already crawling up the walls. Her only prospect was Jonathan or would be if not for his stupid vows and stupid religion. Something about remaining a virgin until marriage. To Dene, it sounded like a form of self-torture. And people found his decision praiseworthy. Unbelievable.

As for his religion, she learned more about it. The Holy Flame was seen as the greatest power in the universe and the creator of life. Since the beginning of time, it has been in conflict with its antithesis, the False Flame.

According to their holy scriptures, the Holy Flame created all lifeforms and humanity was the perfect one. Envious of this fact, the False Flame attempted to create its own humans but was incapable of doing so.

If it couldn't create its own humans, then it would destroy the Holy Flame’s. From the soot itself produced, the False Flame created the demons who would bring the end of times for humanity.

That was what their scriptures said. How the people interpreted it was another story. Some, such as Jonathan and Father Anderson, saw the demons as simply a metaphor as so many others present in the holy text.

Others, though, took it more literally and concluded that the desert people were the soot demons because of their black skin. An infallible logic.

The sound of a door opening back in the bedroom caught her attention. She didn’t need to look to know it was Jonathan coming out of the bath… But there was no harm in doing it.

Peeking through the door gap, Jonathan came into view by the side of the bed, where his clothes were laid out. He had a towel around the waist and that was it, his athletic body in almost full display. Broad shoulders, muscular arms and a tight abdomen ending in a “V” pointing towards what she wanted. And he made a stupid vow to only fuck his future wife. Gods, what a waste.

She emptied the rest of her glass in a single gulp, left it over the stretcher and opened the door.

Jonathan was first startled, then annoyed. “Didn’t I ask you to wait?”

She faked a look of innocence. “I forgot. It was cold outside and I thought you were already done.” It didn’t help her case that while speaking she was looking up and down his body.

Embarrassedly, he held his towel with one hand, while trying to cover his upper body with the other. “F-Fine, just turn around so that I can get dressed.”

“Oh, I did something wrong,” Dene ignored what he said. “I’m here, fully clothed while you are so exposed. That’s so unfair. I must do something about it.” And so she started to unlace her shirt.

At the first glimpse of cleavage, Jonathan’s face turned beet red. “Dene!”

Dene could no longer hold it and started laughing. She had few sources of entertainment around here, and teasing Jonathan was one of them.

“Very funny. You had your laugh, now do you mind? I need to get dressed.”

“Oh, I don't mind it at all, go ahead.”

“As soon as you turn around.”

“Are you sure? Seems you might need some help,” she spoke seductively, glancing at the bulge that grew under the towel. “Why don’t you lay down and let me take care of you. I mean, you are a dragon, but we’ll try to make it quick.”

Before he could refuse, she finally turned around. “Just don’t stare at my behind for too long,” she said chuckling. “Or else your problem will only get worse.” While saying that, she wiggled her hips, knowing full well there would be some glances towards it.

It took a few breaths of time before she heard the rustle of clothes from behind her. She could take a look. She wanted to take a look. But it was best to leave it at this. He had been teased enough already.

While she waited, Dene took a look at the bedroom. It was practically the same as when she first got here years ago.

The only difference was a suit of plate armor in a stand to the corner. That was the one he used to wear.

A few days after she got settled here, Dene and Jonathan sparred for the first time. Though it would be more accurate to say he got trampled.

She even went easy and didn't cast any spell, but it made little difference. She danced around the slow and heavy armored Jonathan for a quarter of an hour until he could barely breathe. From there it was just a matter of a few hits for him to fall down and find himself with a blade pointed at the slit of his visor.

If she was not afraid of hurting him, she could have ended the spar even earlier through some strong blows to the head when he showed the first signs of getting tired. Her shortswords wouldn’t cut through the helmet, but a strong enough blow could still cause a concussion.

From then on, he started using lighter armor and added a heater shield to make up for the loss of protection. The only piece of equipment that didn’t change was his sword, a three and a half foot long longsword.

“Alright, you can look.”

Turning around, Jonathan was now fully clothed. He wore a crimson doublet, along with brown trousers and shoes.

“Are you well? Pants are not too tight?”

Jonathan took a deep breath. “I’ll manage.”

“You wouldn’t need to if you weren’t so stubborn...”

“Let’s just go.”

They made their way through the castle towards the courtyard where the flying beasts would be waiting for them.

Dene was actually excited for this trip. During her time here, besides studying about the country, she had also been trying to find out the destination of the other eleven initial tribesmen that were sent along with her. Among them were some of her family and friends.

With Jonathan’s help, she was able to inquire about the one sent to the Wynnes. He was a Warlock and a Crusader. From this, he could be either her uncle Tau or Kellan, one of her father’s guards.

But that was where the good news ended. When arriving in their castle he was placed at the dungeons, as the Wynne Duchess was too busy at that moment. Later that day when she finally sent for him, he had disappeared.

Dene didn’t doubt this part, no reason for the Wynnes to lie about it. And she didn’t believe he had been able to escape. Even if he somehow managed to leave the castle, he would still be stuck in the heart of a city with hundreds of thousands of people different from him.

But the Wynnes weren’t the only ones Jonathan asked. Despite the rivalry with the Olsandres, Jonathan had a few friends in their territory. One such friend studied in the Phoenix Academy.

He told him that a desert woman was indeed sent to House Olsandre and that she somehow managed to be employed by the Duke. He didn’t know much more, but that was enough for Dene.

Whoever the woman was, Dene was hoping to meet with her.