Chapter 52: Ch 52: Sacrifices.
"And now you’ve sacrificed a lot to save her. Probably more than she’ll ever give you in return." Anna fixed him with her gaze. "Don’t lie to me. The soldiers said that Fei practically had to carry you up to the wall. Vera even admitted you couldn’t fight when you helped her. What happens if the Federation arrives here in the morning?"
August finished his cup and placed it on the table. Unlike with Anna’s coffee, Kuda didn’t instantly whisk his away for a refill.
"Let’s lay this on the table then," August said, his tone serious. "First, the Federation probably won’t march on this fortress straight away. They have no way of knowing that we’ve been seriously weakened by the demonic invasion. What they do know is that we showed up in Vera’s tower despite that invasion. A normal Bastion would assume that means I crushed the invasion without any real difficulty and play it cautiously."
Anna nodded, her eyes bright and expression focused.
August continued while raising two fingers, "Second, even if they do show up, the fortress is well fortified. The barrier will prevent any siege weapons or Champions from knocking down the walls easily. The ditches, walls, and your soldiers—yes, that means you are helping—can keep any non-magical assailants at bay."
Raising a third finger, he said, "Third, it won’t take long to recover my power. I’ll have enough to top Fei up in the morning. Once Vera is feeling better, she can help defend. Most of my summons survived the demonic invasion, so I don’t need to waste power recreating them. And although Sen’s tired, she should be fine in the morning. Even I’ll be able to fight. The binding stone is low on power, but I can use my own sorcery."
Anna took a bite of her cake while the explanation soaked in, her gaze wandering. Kuda placed another cup of coffee in front of August. Noticeably, there was no cake for him.
"Sen’s the name of the bandit girl you took in, right?" Anna asked.
"You met her last time you were here," August said.
"Mmm," Anna said. She sipped her coffee. "I have two questions about that. More, really, but two for now."
August had expected this to come at some point.
"If she had the power to use such powerful magic before, why didn’t she use it against you? Or against me?" Anna frowned. "You seemed to capture her far too easily, and I don’t remember Vera mentioning anything about any tornadoes of flame."
August coughed. "Actually, Sen tried to cast that spell both times we met her."
"What?"
"Yes. Fortunately, a sixth rank spell takes too long to cast in a normal battle to be usable without proper support, so she never succeeded. But she tried," August explained.
Anna stared at him, her cup frozen in front of her lips. "You mean when you fought her in front of Trantia the day after you arrived, she—"
August nodded.
Slowly, Anna placed her cup on the table. It shook as she let it go, and Anna quickly placed her hands together in her lap. Kuda’s eyes narrowed, and his tail moved for the first time since August had met him.
"I believe I owe you an additional thank you, Bastion," Anna said, her voice flat.
"I just—"
"Do not blow this off," Anna snapped. She froze, closed her eyes, and schooled her expression. "Thank you for preventing Trantia from being turned into an ashen wasteland. The description of the power of her spell made a strong impression on my officers. They believed that she must have been holding back as a bandit." Anna rubbed her face. "Goddess, how did you even recruit her? And don’t say it’s due to your skill in bed."
August loudly slurped his coffee. This earned him a glare, and he grinned at Anna.
"Fine, keep your secrets," she muttered. "Although I can’t believe both she and Jafeila are both interested in you. They’ll tear you apart once they find out."
"You think they don’t know?" August laughed.
"This is funny to you?" Anna asked incredulously.
August blinked, realizing she was serious. And even a little angry. He glanced at Kuda, who shook his head.
"You don’t know much about beastkin, do you?" August said.
"Don’t patronize me."
"I’m not. But I’m used to people at least knowing that beastkin are polyamorous," August explained.
Anna looked at him blankly, then she turned her head to face Kuda and raised a questioning eyebrow.
Kuda coughed. "It means that we willing to share our partners. In both the sexual and romantic senses of the word, mistress."
"Sexual," Anna repeated.
"Yes. Different races of beastkin have different preferences, but it is a common trait across our entire species," Kuda explained. "Hence young Jafeila’s willingness to pursue Bastion August, even though he is romantically and sexually involved with Sen."
Anna faced August again, her cheeks flushed. "I don’t remember Sen being a beastkin."
"There’s a concept for this sort of thing happening with Bastions," August said, feeling sheepish. "The beastkin don’t care about the feelings of the humans. This means the human Champions get caught up in the flow of the beastkin Champions."
This was exactly what happened between August and Vala. Vala had been his first Champion in Falmir, and his bond with her had been strong. Except the beastkin he picked up in the ruins of the Empire didn’t really care. They saw August as a strong mate, their Bastion, and ripe for sharing. Vala could push back, but the beastkin didn’t play along.
Or even if they did, something invariably happened that broke everything down. The animalistic traits of the beastkin caused some unique sexual problems at times. Vala eventually gave up and let the beastkin join her, and that opened the floodgates.
"I don’t remember reading anything like this," Anna mumbled. "And a lot of legendary Bastions don’t sleep with all of their Champions like Leopold does."
"The Empire has the largest proportion of beastkin Champions of any nation. It comes with the territory," August said.
"You could say no?" Anna suggested.
August loudly slurped his coffee and ignored Anna’s glare.
"Fine," she said, and stood up. Then she mumbled, "Something to keep in mind for the future, I suppose."
"Did you say something?" August asked.
"Yes, but you don’t need to worry about it for now." Anna smiled. "Good night, August. I suppose I’ll see you in the morning. Or the afternoon, if nobody invades. I wouldn’t mind some additional sleep."
Kuda looked unimpressed at the idea of Anna sleeping in until the afternoon. August got the distinct impression that Anna’s dream of staying in bed would not come to fruition.
With this conversation over, August slipped away. He made his way to his bedroom. The hallways were silent. Everybody was asleep, save for a few patrolling guards. The celebration outside had ended. Despite all of this, August felt wide awake.
The knowledge of an impending battle pumped adrenaline through his body. His nerves seared his body like fire, and it took everything he had to move calmly.
Maybe this was also a side-effect of using too much magic. August usually kept his calm better, but he felt on edge. His years of experience didn’t help him tonight.
He pushed open the door to his room.
"Oh, you’re finally back," Fei chirped from his bed.
