"Kami is right." Elina's eyes were puffy and her voice hoarse, but her gaze was steeled with determination. "That's why I should go instead of her. Elysia can't risk losing both her parents and my life is a small price to pay to save my son."

"No offense, Elina, but you heard Lith." Kamila shook her head. "He doesn't remember you. If you remain alone with him, he'll kill you with no hesitation. Even if the guilt snaps him out of his amnesia, Lith would never forgive himself for harming you.

"I'm the one who has to go."

"Why you?" Raaz asked. "Lith seems to think you are the cause of his suffering. What makes you think you'd fare better than any of us?"

"Because I'm his wife." Kamila closed her eyes for a second, trying to find the right words. "I know things about him you don't. Things a man would never share with his parents or sisters.

"There are some aspects of his life that have to remain only between him and me. I believe if I play my cards right, he will be willing to listen and trust me."

She coughed in embarrassment. She was actually referring to his past as Derek McCoy and speaking English, but she phrased it in a way that would not arouse questions.

"Oh." Elina blushed a little and so did most of the women in the room, letting their imagination run wild.

Or rather, too many questions.

It wasn't the right time and place, but judging from the curiosity in their eyes, Kamila knew that sooner or later she would need a decent cover story. Probably a lewd one.

"I'm not done yet." She snapped her fingers to get everyone's attention. "I need you guys to promise me that no matter what happens or how worried you are. No watching, no peeking, no listening."

Those present blushed harder, making Kamila inwardly wish for Mogar to kill her on the spot.

'It's not what you think! I just don't want Lith's secret to be in the open without his permission.' She thought.

"It's not what you think!" She actually said, blushing harder than anyone else. "Lith could have still access to Life Vision. He sensed the Chroniclers wearing a Darwen armor, for the gods' sake.

"If he detects a surveillance spell, my plan will fail before it even starts. You know how paranoid he is. I don't want you to do anything that might compromise his trust."

"Sure." Elina coughed.

"Right." Quylla averted her eyes.

"Do you need to make a quick stop to your room?" Tista asked, referring to the cosplay outfits closet.

"Yes. I mean, no. I mean, yes, but it's not what you think!" Kamila bolted out of the room, too embarrassed to say a word.

She went to the master bedroom of the Mansion and changed into her lucky clothes. She left the Voidfeather armor Salaark had crafted as a wedding gift there and took Lith's betrothal gift and her own.

"I'm ready." When she entered the room and people looked at her, they sighed half in relief and half in disappointment.

"No armor?" Friya was flabbergasted. "If Lith attacks you, you won't last one hit."

"That's the point." Kamila replied. "Trust must be earned. Malyshka?"

"Are you sure about this?" Baba Yaga asked.

"No, but unless someone has a brilliant idea, this is our best shot." Kamila then looked straight into Silverwing's eyes. "Don't be stupid. If you want to see Elphyn again, you need Lith's help.

"Make sure no one, and I mean no one so much as looks in the direction of the Trawn woods. Are we clear?"

"Why do you ask me?" The First Magus tilted her head in confusion.

"Because you don't give a farm about me and care a lot about Solus. You are the only one who has nothing to lose and everything to gain from this bet. If you promise to help me, I know you mean it.

"Also, you are the only one who can keep Zoreth and Baba Yaga from interfering. Dealing with the others would take but one of your fingers. No offense." Kamila replied.

"None taken." Quylla, Friya, and Morok lied through their teeth.

"I like you." Silverwing nodded. "I still don't give a farm about you but I like you. Yaga?"

"On it." The Mother nodded, sending Kamila and Derek on the mana geyser where usually Solus' tower stood.

"What the fuck?" The Warp Gate shook the Void out of his stupor, forcing the parasitic souls haunting him to join him in the search for the enemy. "What is this place and why does it feel so familiar?"

The blue flames started to spread, burning the little vegetation that had grown back after the Wither had turned the land barren.

["Because this is your second home. The one you built with Solus."] A feminine voice said behind him. [AN: Everything in square brackets is in English.]

"You!" Derek weaved his spells and took a deep breath before realizing the human woman was as good as naked.

Her life force was minuscule, her mana flow irrelevant, and her clothes were just clothes, bearing no enchantment. His eyes lingered on her shapely bosom stretching the fabric of the blue shirt.

Then, he looked down at how the form-fitting black pencil skirt wrapped around her slender legs.

'She is no threat.' He smirked inwardly and outwardly. 'It would be so easy for me to rip those clothes off, shapeshift my wings into- What the fuck? Where do these thoughts come from?'

Weird images of the woman flooded his mind.

All of them were about intimate shared moments with sexy outfits and plenty of roleplay. In some of them, Derek was a man but in others, he was some kind of humanoid Dragon with upside-down wings, an Abomination, or some human-Dragon hybrid with feathered wings.

'What's happening to me? Since when do I have a dick for brains?' He hadn't felt that way since the time he was a teenager chock-full with hormones and full access to the internet.

As Kamila walked towards him, the Void stepped back.

The woman was weak and helpless yet his whole body screamed at him to stay away from her. Not to escape or attack. His main focus was keeping a distance that would ensure the woman's safety from the blue flames.

Kamila understood what was happening and stopped.

"Who… Who are you?" Derek gripped Ragnarök's hilt for reassurance.

'Kill her!' The voices in his head screamed. 'She wants to stop you.' 'She will trap you again.' 'Give me her life and body!'

'Silence!' The burning blade resisted the pain from the blue flames ravaging its metal body and helped the Void to tune out the voices.

["I told you already."] Kamila tried to smile but her face was full of worry about the blue flames burning Lith and the pain he had to be enduring. ["My name is Kamila, but you always call me Kami. I'm your wife and the mother of your child."]

'That's her "I'm worried about you" face.' Derek thought. 'Wait, how do I know that?'

["My wife?"] He actually said, sneering. ["Enough with your bullshit. If you want to talk, start by telling me how you speak my language."]