“Ouch.” She moves past me, heading to the kitchen. Her steps are even, which might be a good sign that she’s actually somewhat sober for once.

Doesn’t matter if she is. I follow after her, anger simmering in my chest. “We need to talk, Magpie.”

“I need to eat something. We can talk after I’ve had a snack.” She enters the kitchen and slices a bit of cheese off the wheel, then sits atop the counter and eyes me as she eats. “Rough day? You look beat.”

I cross my arms over my chest. It’s either that or reach out and strangle her. “You do know what you missed, don’t you?” When she gives me a blank stare, I realize she doesn’t. She truly has no idea. “I had to take your students to the hall for enrollment without you, and everyone noticed.”

Her eyes widen, and she chews slowly. “Huh.”

“That’s all you can say?”

“Well, I’d like to say hearing that really makes me want to get another drink, but I think you’ll lose your shit if I do.” She takes another bite of cheese. “Was Rooster pissy about it?”

“To say the least. He said if your class doesn’t pass this year, you’ll be stripped of your guild rank and cast out.” My anger builds, especially when her expression doesn’t change. “What do you have to say to that?”

“He’s just bluffing.”

“He’s not bluffing! I talked to him! I saw his face! He’s just as tired of your excuses as I am! You need to get your shit together, Magpie. Having a Taurian for a teacher isn’t good enough for the guild. You know that. They don’t respect me and now I’m forced to work with the mess you’ve pulled together as students.” I gesture at the door. “Have you seen that crew?”

She squints, as if trying to concentrate. “There’s one of them lizard-thingies, right? With the little legs?” She waggles two of her fingers back and forth. “Cute buggers.”

Indignant, I gesture at the shell in the corner that she’s clearly missed.

“Right.” Magpie blinks at it, then at me. “So he’s a lizard. You’re a bull-man. What’s the problem?”

“You also gave me Lark,” I hiss.

She grimaces. “Was that this year?”

“YES.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll talk to her. What about the others? They any good?”

“Two more women and a priestess.” I tug on the ring hanging from my nose, agitated. “What am I supposed to do with this team, Magpie? If you get booted, I won’t get the chance to pay my hand back—”

“I’ll handle it,” she tells me easily. She hops off the counter and for a moment, she looks just like the old Magpie. “I’ll pull back on the drinking. I’ll talk to Lark and anyone else you want me to talk to. It’ll be fine.” She moves in front of me and puts her hands on my arms, then pats my biceps. “You worry too much.”

“You don’t worry enough,” I grumble. “I mean it. You need to get it together.”

“I’m trying.”

I don’t know that I believe her, but I need to.

We talk for a little longer, me discussing the class and potential issues, and Magpie distractedly pretending to listen. I can tell when she’s no longer paying attention, as her gaze wanders and her responses slow. Something tells me she’s waiting for me to shut up so she can go find herself another drink, and my mood sours. I head off to bed, because tomorrow’s going to be a long day and I doubt I’ll see Magpie for the morning’s class, despite her assurances that she’ll be there.

It’s when I get back to my quarters that I realize something important.

I have a wife now. And she’s not here.

Not that I want to fuck her tonight. Well, part of me does. But that part is easily ignored, this week at least. No, she needs to be in my quarters because she needs to get used to sleeping with me. Even if we only fuck during the Conquest Moon’s rut, we still have to make people believe we’re married for normal reasons. That means she needs to stay with me. We need to act like a married couple to a certain extent.

And I don’t need her avoiding me and then panicking when the lust of the Conquest Moon hits me hard. I’ve heard horror stories of males unable to control themselves and just rutting anything and anyone close by, regardless of whether or not those people wanted to be rutted. It’s why Taurians tend to leave the city during the Conquest Moon season. It’s why we line things up in advance.

So there are no surprises.

My new wife needs to get comfortable with her Taurian husband before we get down to business. Rubbing a hand down my long nose, I pull another pillow from the linen closet in the hall and toss it on the bed, then go in search of my new bride.

I find her upstairs, having a lazy conversation with her friend. Aspeth is sprawled in Gwenna’s bed with the big orange cat tucked at her side. She looks sleepy, her hair is disheveled, and she’s wearing nothing but a thin thigh-length chemise that leaves her arms and legs bare. My knot threatens to act up again, and so I scowl at the two women. “Was today not hard enough already? You should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be even worse.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Gwenna huffs. She’s sitting on a chair near Aspeth’s spot on the bed, and when I approach, she puts her feet up on the edge of the mattress. It’s a subtle blocking move, easily missed if you don’t know what to look for. “We’ll handle your class. Don’t you worry about me and Sparrow here.”

“Aspeth,” I say firmly, reminding them that they haven’t earned guild names yet, “is my new bride. She needs to sleep in my quarters.”

“Oh, right.” Aspeth sits up with a yawn. “I forgot.”

“How do you forget your husband?” Gwenna asks. “How is that even possible?”

“It’s because some arse keeps making me carry rocks in a backpack and trek through the city.” She slides off the bed with a half smile at me, and then picks up the cat, settling it against her breasts. “Come on, Squeaker. We need to go to bed with your new daddy.”

Ugh. “Don’t call me that.”

She blinks at me, then moves past me into the hall, ignoring what I said and the fact that she’s barely dressed. The fat cat is tucked under her arm, leaving a trail of loose orange cat hair drifting in her wake.

Gwenna clears her throat. “This better be a marriage of convenience. If you hurt her, I’ll murder you.”

“I’ve no intention of hurting her,” I reply stiffly. The insinuation is incredibly insulting.

“Good.” She pauses and then adds, “She’s not used to dressing herself, by the way. You might need to help her in the morning if she can’t reach the laces.” She takes out a set of folded clothes—another uniform—and hands it over to me with an expectant look.

By the bull god, is Aspeth that spoiled? It takes everything I have not to curl my lip. If she’s that pampered, she’s going to be in for a rude awakening over the next several months. Guild members are the height of physical fitness and competency. They’re required to be able to handle any and all situations that might arise deep in the Everbelow, because no one can rescue them when they’re six leagues underground.

Well, no one but a few Taurians, sadly enough. Used to be that the guild only passed the strongest, the most capable, but now with the greed of the holders increasing, the impetus is for the guild to continually grow so more teams can be fielded. Most of them aren’t prepared enough, and so Taurians go down to retrieve anyone in trouble more and more often. I’ve gone on far too many of those missions myself, and seen more than one useless guild member lose his life to stupidity.

Recently, Rooster and the king decided that if a Five finds a Greater Artifact while in training, they’re automatically upgraded to full guild artificer status. That caused a lot of angry rumbling, but the guild ranks have been swelling, which is what Rooster wants. As long as the demand for artifacts is greater than ever, we’ll keep sending people in, I suppose. It bodes well for Magpie’s team. No matter how terrible they are, if they’re even reasonably competent, I should be able to get them into the fledgling tunnels at least.