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After leaving Keliyah in his tent, the emperor visited Colonel Senf.

"Do you still have a list in mind of everyone who bothered my attendant?"

"Yes, of course, Sire," the colonel bowed obediently. "Shall I.. send for them?"

"Let their superiors know, and drag them all here," Calix commanded. "Anyone who was involved and all of their squadmates."

Of course, he would have had to resort to this eventually. Any kind of disrespect, even the most minuscule amount, toward the emperor could not be tolerated. Actions that started as tormenting the emperor\'s chosen subordinate could easily snowball into something bigger.

Something like mutiny.

Emperor Anselm had made the mistake of allowing resentment seep through the cracks, but Calix couldn\'t afford to do so. Therefore, he had to stomp out every single spark--thoroughly and resolutely.

"Their feet," Calix nodded to the officers lined up in front of their convicted subordinates. "Please remove them."

Beads of sweat glistened in the torchlight on the faces of the men kneeling in front of him.

"Your Majesty.." a brave commander bowed deeply before the emperor, his hands trembling at his sides. "How will they travel?"

"Mmmm so you say.." Calix paused, pretending to think.

In the first place, he never intended to create a group of useless, footless soldiers. If the circumstances were different, he wouldn\'t hesitate to deprive the dissenters of both their title and their limbs. Anyone who showed such insolence against their ruler deserved as much.

But it wasn\'t efficient to do so now.

"Alright," Calix grinned as if he\'d reached a new conclusion, "just their toes then."

Word of the incident predictably reached Keliyah.

When she returned to Calix\'s tent that evening, her face was twisted with inner turmoil.

Anger, fear, apprehension... ah, and the usual spark of determination.

Calix counted all of them in Keliyah\'s expression.

How funny. Something like this, something that had to be done whether it involved her or not, was the thing that brought her to him.

It was the guilt that she always forced herself to shoulder whenever blood was spilled. He\'d seen it drive her to the edge before, and now here she was in front of him.

What a fool, the emperor thought to himself.

But as Keliyah knelt on the ground before him, his gaze inescapably pulled in by the same expression he\'d already analyzed, he wondered who the real fool was.

"...You win."

Calix\'s fingers subconsciously found their way to the girl\'s face.

Her skin wasn\'t as smooth as it used to be, but the curve of her jawline was exactly the same.

"I want to have my bed returned to my squad\'s tent."

Keliyah was surprisingly unflinching under his gaze.

If she knew the fire of fury her words had ignited behind that gaze, perhaps she would have faced him differently.

No.

No more running away.

"I want you, Keliyah."

Calix pressed his lips against Keliyah\'s shoulder as she tried feebly to pull away from him.

The light from the lamp had already faded, but Calix had hardly noticed. He could still see the outline of the wrappings wound tightly around Keliyah\'s chest. It was probably all part of the identity Dashien had created for her in order to snatch her away.

But in the end she came back to me anyway, Calix thought smugly, slowly untangling the wrappings to reveal Keliyah\'s warm skin.

Touching her wasn\'t enough.

In the dark, with Keliyah in his arms, he wanted to taste every part of her skin. From her cute tiny toes to the small mounds that had been suffocated for so long under the layers of taut cloth.

She blossomed beautifully for him. With each sound that escaped her lips and tremble that shook her as Calix explored her body with his lips and fingertips, he knew he was the first one to ever have her.

It made his own body burn with desire for her. To the point he could no longer hold back.

Oblivious to anyone or anything going on outside the thin canvas walls surrounding them, Calix held her, his little bird, over and over again until he thought he could never again be satisfied by anything except her.

Long after Keliyah had fainted from so many unfamiliar intense sensations, Calix lay awake watching her.

As he hugged her bare body against his chest, her warm breaths tickling his neck, he knew for certain.

Keliyah didn\'t belong to him.

She owned him.

The next morning, he awoke to Keliyah\'s pleasant scent surrounding him and locks of her hair, loosened by the night\'s activity, laying haphazardly over his face and arms.

"Mmmm," she rolled over, freeing his senses from her golden mane, and nuzzled her nose into his chest.

It wasn\'t long after that before the wild-haired girl woke up. Surprisingly, she didn\'t seem as shocked as Calix expected her to be. She even petted his head and whispered sweet words.

Just like a dog, he smiled gleefully under her strokes, but her hand soon faltered.

Of course, she was curious about many things.

They talked about Itzae and Dashien.

Kel seemed entirely unfazed to learn the truth of her \'Uncle\', but strangely, became annoyingly defensive about her friend.

Was it because they were raised together?

Calix was in a good mood though, so hearing Dashien\'s name come from Keliyah\'s lips didn\'t bother him. After all, those same lips had repeated his name over and over last night, in a desperate whisper that Dashien would never get to hear.

Just thinking about it made him want to devour her all over again.

Keliyah caught on to the mood change immediately, however, and quickly scrambled away from him. With unsteady hands, she somehow managed to don her uniform and suddenly became a soldier once more.

"Are you going to play soldier again?" Calix teased.

Kel nodded vigorously and then disappeared out of the tent with a squeak.

"Cute," Calix chuckled.

"I can\'t wait to see you tonight."