Mir lay on his stomach, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, as Lei's hands moved along his back. A sharp crack and a pair of resonant pops followed the dragon's touch as the deep pressure of it caused the bones to realign. A low groan of satisfaction followed, bunched muscles beginning to slowly loosen the more his husband's hands worked their magic. His skin twitched as the oil met scratched shoulders, but the sting was below the threshold where his body otherwise responded to pain.

  "How do you get so tense? It baffles me. Was it the vampire? I thought you said the talk went well?" Lei's tone was wry, the chiding soft, his hands already moving to a knot at the base of Mir's neck, thumbs working the tension.

  "I suppose I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders." Mir was doing no such thing, but the joke was amusing to him. "Honestly it's just my unfortunate habits, my heart. I always pick up tension, and I've never learned how to put it down properly. It's not like I can indulge in my usual stress relief either." Leifr would be most displeased with him if he suddenly started going out and picking fights with adventurers or tinkering with the stuff of souls to find new ways to inflict pain that would echo up and down the bloodline.

  Lei could almost sense those thoughts, brushing a kiss to the nape of Mir's neck. "You need new hobbies. I've been telling you that for years. Painting, maybe, or given your enjoyment of working with your hands, woodworking? I'm sure you'd eventually enjoy taking sharp objects to blocks of wood."

  "Scrimshaw was a habit of my father, no thank you." Mir shuddered, whether from the kiss or the memory, tail flicking lazily on the bed. "So I suppose I'll think about painting. It's got the word 'pain' in it after all." He turned his head, just enough to look up at his husband, and cracked a small smile.

  "You can take the Lord out of the Darkness, but you can't take the Darkness out of the Lord, I suppose." Lei moved lower, working his way down that spine to make sure he hadn't missed anything. His husband's care and keeping required a lot of effort on his part, Vladimir's negative karma found any way it could to get back at him. With Mir no longer sitting in the heart of his carefully constructed fortress of countermeasures, it was inevitable that little things could crop up.

  That and Mir's body was, fundamentally, that of a mortal. No matter what changes he'd made or foundational bricks of his existence he'd rearranged, Mir should have died centuries ago. Before Lei met him, in fact. If Vladimir Grimm hadn't chosen his dark and vile path of planar villainy then Leifr would have been one of those sad dragons that wandered through their life as half a soul, forever never finding the creature meant to be their other side.

  "...you're doing it again..."

  "I can't help it, you amaze me, darling." His eyes flicked to the band of scales on Mir's hips, where they joined just above that dark tail. A single scale there was different than the others, not the hard obsidian black. Not the strange, wave-like, shark-tooth shape. This one went against the grain in a dark, bruised violet color. One of Lei's own scales had been worked in deep and remained there no matter how many others were lost.

  Mir sensed his intentions, tail coming up and pressing against Lei center mass. "Of all the things I've done for you, why is that the one that makes your heart race?"

  "Because of what it means. Any other dragon who-"

  "Any other dragon who is in a position to see that isn't living through the experience." Mir rolled over, taking Lei's hand and pressing it to his chest. "You're so very old-fashioned. You should have just put it where you really wanted it."

  Lei huffed, kissing his husband's forehead. "It wouldn't have looked good on your face. It's the wrong shape. Besides, unlike some dragons, I'm not insecure about you, darling. I'm traditional enough to like the meaning, but in the grand scheme of things, you're right. It's the least important thing I've given you."

  "You still want others to see it, me wearing a ring really isn't enough for your draconic greed." They stayed like that for a moment before Mir pushed at Lei's solid chest lightly, said wedding ring catching the fading light of sunset as he did so. "Let me get up my heart. We're meeting the Baron in an hour at the edge of the wards, and I'm not going wearing body oil and a bed sheet. Or do you want him looking?"

  The instant, thunderous growl was amusing. Draconic greed indeed.

  Lei pulled back, flushing a little and wiping the oil off his hands. "You're so mean sometimes." He adjusted his lenses. "And who's the one that got all huffy when I was just treating the poor miller boy?"

  "I never said I wasn't possessive of you. It just amuses me when your worse nature slips past your better one. Gives me the urge to preen a bit." He slung his legs off the bed, rolling his neck as he started to put his hair up in its usual style. Mir glanced over at Lei, admiring his partner a moment. He didn't need any particular reason, and Lei wasn't doing anything in particular. He just existed, and that was enough.

  The dragon caught his husband's gaze, the tips of his ears heating a little. "Stop that. Finish getting ready. Our guest is due shortly after moonrise. I'm going to go make sure that there is tea to set on the table." Lei paused. "Is he the type that drinks things beyond blood?"

  Mir stood, lacing his trousers. "It somehow didn't come up during our posturing. How thoughtless of me to not pause and inquire about his dining habits while I was debating opening a portal to the sun somewhere in his intestines." From his tone, it was clear Mir was teasing about the first part at least. The sun portal? Well, he wasn't teasing about that.

  Still, he helped his husband carry the tea set to the little table set down the path from the cabin. He watched the dragon fuss over the scones he'd baked in the shape of bunny rabbits. The vampire might be young compared to either of them, but he was hardly a child. Still, cute desserts were something Lei prided himself on. Adorable to a degree, Mir sometimes found them difficult to eat. Truly, the former Dark Lord was a tamed monster these days.

  He had just worked up the appetite to take one of the berry scone bunnies and was layering on a generous helping of honey butter when that familiar mist began to curl up the path. There was no carriage this time, the Baron came on foot as all good supplicants should. The table had been very precisely placed, angled so that the chair he was being offered was outside of Lei's carefully constructed wards. A place setting waited in front of the seat. Hospitality at its bare minimum.

  The vampire clearly noticed. He swallowed loudly when he realized he'd been given a seat at the table but was not invited in.

  Mir's eye flicked up to the moon and then back to the vampire. "You're punctual. I like that. Please, take your seat, then it will fall to me to make introductions."

  The Baron sat, sliding gracefully into his chair, his eyes fixed on the plate. As if lifting them would lead him to danger. "...I spoke to Broll. I know who you are." The Northman had been very forthcoming with the details the alchemist had shared. Details that had turned Alastair Greystone's guts to ice. Every aspiring Dark Lord knew the story of the Progenitor. A man from the North, born under the black Aurora, was left on polar snow to quietly expire. There, an old dragon had turned him from an abandoned child into a lethal weapon. A man gifted with a primal power to wield magic at its roots, an Origin Mage or huel caster in their harsh tongue. A man named Vladimir Grimm.

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  And Alastair Greystone's toady had insulted him.

  "Then that saves me one introduction. Allow me to introduce you to my husband, Leifr. Do not mistake his kindness for weakness, Baron, it will be the last thing you do." His hand moved under the table, resting briefly on Lei's knee and squeezing softly. "My heart, this is Alastair Greystone, titled Baron Bedivere."

  Leifr shot his husband a warning look, the dragon could have done without the dire introduction! He extended his greetings in a soothing tone, hoping to lighten things somewhat. "Baron Bedivere- oh, is that your preferred form of address? Or should I call you Baron Alastair or Baron Greystone? Either way, we are well met by moonlight." The dragon was being very polite. In truth, the first impression he had of this young vampire was that the Baron was reaching for a legacy he didn't have the foundation for.

  "Oh, Greystone is fine." The Baron wouldn't presume to make either of them use his title, and he had the survival instincts to realize that they weren't on a first-name basis. Greystone implied an appropriate level of familiar acquaintance for their further purpose. And his continued survival. His eyes flicked up, taking in a brief glimpse of the husband of his predecessor, and he froze. "You're a dragon!"

  Lei couldn't help it. Long-fingered hands patted his own firm chest in rapid succession, then one reached up to adjust his lenses neatly. "Well, would you look at that, so I am!" It had been so long since he'd run into someone who didn't realize what he was right off the bat that the dragon couldn't resist being a bit cheeky.

  Mir snorted into his scone, setting the treat down and wiping away the crumbs at the corner of his mouth with a hasty thumb. "Have you never seen a dragon before, Baron?"

  The vampire's head tilted, almost mesmerized as he looked Lei over. "Never so close, and never one so adept at passing for human. Or at least mixed-blooded. It's just your eyes that give you away."

  It would always be the eyes. Once a dragon found their other half, it became impossible to change them, their soul blended and anchored too firmly. Lei's lenses normally hid him well enough, but the Baron was a powerful creature, one that the lenses were never expected to guard against.

  Lei's voice was a little sharper when he spoke up, not liking the vampire's dissecting gaze. "Well, we're not here to discuss my eyes or Mir's past. We're here to lay some ground rules since it seems like we'll be neighbors for the foreseeable eternity." He lifted the teapot, pouring himself a cup, then tilted it toward the Baron. "Before we begin the real discussion, tea? I wasn't sure how strict your diet was."

  The Baron eyed first the teapot and then the scones wistfully. "Thank you for the generous offer, but my body tolerates blood only."

  "Shame," Mir said, finishing his scone, "Lei's refreshments are top-notch." He took the cup of tea Lei offered him and settled back, regarding the Baron coolly for a moment. There were many things he wanted to say, well, commands he wanted to give, actually, but this was an opportunity. Managed properly, of course. He glanced over at Lei, seeing his husband's thoughtful look, but the dragon showed little inclination to start the talks.

  It fell to Mir, it seemed, as expected. "Alright, to business." The tea was set back down, fingers steepled on the table in front of him. "You were drawn to this place likely for the same reasons we were. It's remote, priest-free, quite easy on the eyes, and just simmering with pure, clean magic. The Leys here are remarkable, or were. The moment you started your Ascension bid, you leaked something into them. Just like your territory is taking on a less-than-lovely appearance. After talking it over, as your neighbors, Lei and I cannot sit by idly and watch this happen. At the rate you're going we'll have Heroes arriving in just over a year."

  The Baron's eyebrows furrowed, his head cocked to the side. "I am aware that my actions will eventually draw attention from the forces of Good, but I left countermeasures behind when I came here that would delay them. I believe your estimated timeline is a little on the pessimistic side."

  Mir's expression flattened. "I did the job you're aspiring to for over a thousand years. There are Heroes out there who were in training to fight me when I retired who are now, instead, finding other ways to fill their time. Most of which is training new heroes who will come to deal with you. And if those young heroes die in some remote backwater mountain village then do you think their mentors are just going to sit by idly? No, they'll come looking, and when they do... well first they'll find you. Then they'll find me. If, by all the Powers Above and Below, some divine-sword-wielding, provenance-bearing, glory-seeking, halo-having, personality-lacking, piece of excrement who thinks they're going to be the protagonist of a newly minted legend strolls up to my wards and causes me a problem then I will revive you from the dead and put your soul in a time loop of a desert sunrise."

  Mir was out of his seat, folded knuckles of both hands braced on either side of his teacup as he loomed over the table toward the Baron. "Do. I. Make. My. Self. Clear?"

  The Baron was pressed backward in his seat, hands folded in his lap, his gaze locked on Mir's lips because he couldn't make eye contact but had the distinct impression that looking elsewhere would get him killed. "Ah, yes. So. If I may, I'll start setting things right in the town, but could I request that either of you give me a hand with the Leys? I'm hardly skilled at working with power at the Origin as is evidenced by said corruption, and it seems a priority to clean that up!"

  Lei's hand reached up, tapping Mir's hip, a signal for his tail-lashing husband to sit back down. "Of course you can! I'm rather skilled at it, actually. I'll make an excuse to visit the village here in the next week or so. Shouldn't take me more than an afternoon to fix, I don't see any signs telling me it's past the initial stages, no matter how awful it might seem." The dragon beamed, patting his husband's thigh under the table when the pale man sat back down.

  For a moment, there was silence. It let Mir's calm return and the Baron's fear ease a bit. Once Lei was certain both men had returned to a place of listening, he started again before either of them could. "I've given it thought, and I believe we should set some rules for our little community going forward. I say community because we're neighbors here and, also, if the three of us found this place lovely then it stands to reason others might. So to save all of us a headache we should try to come to some sort of accord, something we can use as a template for the behavior of future residents of similar interest." He gauged the responses of the other two before continuing. "Alright then, let me get some paper out to take notes and we can start this conversation properly."

  It was going to be a long night...