V

The Inquisition's agents always roamed about the realm in search of someone the Bigot wanted dead, or captured, or tortured, or all of that, in varying order. The list of targets was endless. In most cases, they were looking for mixed-bloods, the fruit of forbidden love between humans and any kind of Elf or other non-human being, or for scientists that were a little too sure of their "knowledge", or rebels that opposed the Inquisition. After the tragic death of the Emperor Barimen and the Zealot, things had gotten a little messy, but with the new Bigot, who was even more fervent than his predecessor, the hunt after heretics and greenskins could continue. Surely, when the Butcher of Bay Harbor and his furtive assistant murdered the Emperor and freed the slaves of the mire, the power of the Inquisition had decreased severely. It was far away from its former strength, and the war against the Orcs needed to be canceled. For now, for the Bigot had found a promising clue that might restore the lost power of the Inquisition: A way to regain Amber. A creature named Styx was thought to hold precious information on that topic, so the High Inquisitor withdrew most agents from their missions, and gave top priority to finding Styx, a Goblin. Even the hunt after the Butcher of Bay Harbor, the last Bloodjaw and leader of the rebellion, was paused for now.

Soon, the agents found what they were searching for, using their reliable methods of torture and questioning: Styx seemed to have vast contacts among assassins, thieves, mercenaries and other scum you could hire to do your dirty work, all of them opposing the Inquisition's ideals. Surely the Inquisition also had ways to hire sellswords and cutthroats, but those came from organizations loyal to the Empire. The ones that knew Styx, or had heard of Styx, always came from the side of the enemy. It seemed he had worked with the Dark Brotherhoods most often, as some weaker specimens confessed. The Dark Brotherhood, always in need of precious poison, acid and other baneful alchemic mixtures, was said to have contacts with the heretic magic-teaching Academies spread all over the realm. Those Academies were too powerful and influential for the Inquisition to just ban and burn them like they had done with the High Mage Order. There were many, and seemingly they didn't only do research on their wicked magic, but also secretly helped the rebellion by providing knowledge, spells, scrolls, runes and alchemy. That was no surprise, since the Academies accepted members of any race, not only pure-blooded humans, but also Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, even mixed-bloods and other scum like those rakish Dragonelves. The agents continued looking after Styx's possible partners, focusing on cities with Academies or close to Academies, on cities that were suspected to hold Dark Brotherhood sanctuaries and cities in which dubious, unsearchable murders had occurred, with no assassin seen. Relentlessly, they were searching, eventually getting closer to their target.

"So... You two spent some days in the wilderness? How romantic", Sicca teased.

The two were sitting on a table in the dimly-lit dining hall deep in the caverns of the northern Dark Brotherhood sanctuary. Abbyss, the head of the Brotherhood, had assigned a bunch of contracts among the assassins and after that most members had wandered off to catch some sleep, prepare their missions, or have some fun before leaving out again, and in Styx's case he stayed with the red-haired Dragonelf to drink a cup of mead.

"Hah, yeah, totally. As if you could do something romantic with a romp like Maera. Should have seen her crazy smile when her owl killed some rabbit so she could roast it. Charred on the outside, bloody on the inside, that's how she prefers her meat", Styx rumbled, sipping at his mead. That was only half the truth. When they hadn't been roaming the forest, they had spent all their time screwing around. Maera made a hell of a noise when she knew that nobody but a bunch of birds was listening. Not that Styx didn't like that. In fact, he couldn't get enough of her crying out his name. They had had a lot of fun out in the deep forests and woodlands around the town, spending some days in the wilderness. Styx also had slept like a bear in winter when he had been around her for several nights in a row, without any nightmares or headaches.

"Sounds like something you'd like", Sicca remarked smartly. Styx grinned.

"Yeah, I do. Thanks again for introducing her to me. She's big fun."

"One just needs to look at your back to see how much fun. It's covered in scratches", Sicca snickered.

Styx tried to turn his neck far enough to peek over his shoulder, but he didn't need to see his back. He could very well imagine what it looked like. Maera could be feral if her lust was taking her over, and her pointy claws were sharp. He didn't mind, to be honest, quite the opposite. The sharp pain that shot through him when she raked her claws across his skin in ecstasy filled him with adrenalin, driving him wild and enhancing his own pleasure. Styx did his best to be gentle when handling Maera, but she too had some minor scratches here and there – mainly around her hips. He knew she didn't mind.

"Maera's just as good in bed as I am", Styx replied grinning.

"Just in bed? Or more than that, after all I've heard?", Sicca wanted to know, casting him a suggestive smile. Styx didn't like where this was going. Thinking about that sort of thing made his head feel dizzy in an uncomfortable way, and something inside him protested angrily.

"Just bedstuff", he affirmed. "I've gotten laid more often since I've known her than in my entire life. And damn, she's just amazing."

"So all you did was fuck around in nature?"

"No. Well, at least not all the time. We did some owl-falconry with Bryn. Hunting and stuff, real fun."

This was true, for once. Styx had truly been amazed at how wild and close to nature the Dragonelf could be. He knew that she sometimes felt out of place among the other researchers, as she was the total opposite of boring and stay-at-home. She really flourished when they had their little adventures, fishing in the streams and walking in the woods at dusk, sleeping by the fire under the stars. Maera was amazingly good at lighting fires, he had observed, making it burn in the blink of an eye, and he wasn't even able to see how exactly she did it. Styx had to admit to himself that he had enjoyed the time more than he could tell, and he'd gladly do it again. Sadly, Abbyss had given Styx a new mission just after he returned that required him to travel away for quite a while, and he wouldn't see Maera for several weeks. That sucked in more than one way. Styx would miss her warm, soft body pressing against his at night, her wonderful scent when she was close to him. But the thought of not being able to talk to her for such a long time unsettled him, just sitting next to her, sharpening his blades while she read or wrote or ground up some pigments in a mortar, just being around her… Thinking of her smile and the sound of her voice when she talked to him gave him a sting.

"Can't wait to get back to her. Gonna finish that Imperial asshole as fast as I can", he declared, and Sicca raised his cup to Styx.

"Same here. I already miss Gabriella. You know how much I like Dark Elves…" Sicca sighed, eyes dreamy. "You gonna miss Maera too?"

"I'm going to miss her skills in bed", Styx lied.

The Bigot stood on the dais of the Grand Chapel, fixing the magnificent patterns of the large window decorated with the Inquisition's cross. His expression was hidden behind the painted bronze mask he wore, but his light grey eyes glittered zealously behind it. He slowly turned around to gaze down disapprovingly at the group of agents who were cowering at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the altar, heads bowed like children that feared a scolding.

"So... ", the tall young man stated with a voice sharp enough to cut glass. "You want to make me believe that the secret raid on the Academy yielded nothing useful?"

The agents tensed even more. Finally, one of them spoke, but he didn't dare to look up.

"Well, your Highness... We searched very thoroughly and as careful as we could to avoid leaving any traces of our presence behind, but the Thaumaturgan Academy is very large, and we surely couldn't examine all the rooms, and most of the inhabitants possess magical abilities, so..."

"Enough with the excuses!" The Bigot was more than just a little angry. Normally, the Inquisition would carry out controls on the heretic institutions like the Academies, and he was convinced that they were hiding all their sinful crimes from the Empire. Still looking for that certain Goblin, but unable to hunt him down when he was viciously murdering the people of the Empire, the Bigot had decided to secretly sent spies in the Academies all over the Iserian continent to look for clues, hoping to catch him while he thought himself safe. A hint by some spy made the Old Thaumaturgan Academy look most promising, but the raid, taken out in the last night, had proven unsuccessful.

"But your Highness... We looked in the alchemy section, in the summoning section, even in the Library though we were constantly endangered to be discovered, but there was not a single hint of his presence. Maybe the spy who claimed to have seen Styx in the Library was wrong?", an agent dared to ask. The Bigot turned around infuriated, his robes swirling. He hated being opposed by sassy questions more than he hated those filthy elder races.

"So you imply that my judgment is flawed? I, the Grand Inquisitor willed by god and the scared Inquisition, say that this impure vermin must be somewhere in that Academy, I can feel it! You will burn by the stakes for questioning my words! Take him away."

With a dismissive handshake, the Grand Inquisitor turned back towards the glass window while the agent was being removed by some disciples. Styx was known to not have a fixed home or hideout, since he changed back and forth between the Black Hand hideouts, the Dark Brotherhood sanctuaries, different kinds of mercenary groups, always in motion when he wasn't out committing crimes. Hunting him down seemed impossible, but something told the Bigot that searching in that particular city was the right way to go. Yes. His trusty spies couldn't be mistaken. He himself had chosen the ones to send and the places to look for, and he, blessed by godly powers, could not be wrong.

He would keep a keen eye on that city, and the Academy. He would not give in that easily.

While Styx was away to fulfill his contract, Maera went back to her research. She still found fir needles in her dreadlocks from time to time, and every time she plucked out one from her hair she grinned, reminiscing the wonderful, intimate time they had had on their field trip. Of course, it had been nothing fancy, just some practice in falconry with Bryn and lots of horizontal activities that left her covered in leafs and moss, but she really appreciated the gesture Styx had made with that. Maera knew this was something very untypical for him, and the mere fact that he had kept his promise to offer her some diversion from the paperwork was… well, adorable, sort of. She couldn't put it in a different way, even if that was an odd word for a Goblin assassin. She had grown really fond of him over time. Sometimes, if some somber mood and a little too much time alone left her feel mawkish, the friends-with-benefits relationship Maera had with Styx seemed a little… unsatisfying to her. Sure, he was amazing in bed, and a great and helpful friend to her, but still… Sometimes she longed for something more definite. Maera had even caught herself imagining what it would be if he was together with her in a less buddy-ish kind of way. She had introduced him to her group of Librarians and most of the other scientists at the Academy, and they had gotten along fairly well. At least nobody had been hurt, and they tolerated the Goblin roaming around the institutes, so that Styx had the possibility to move in the buildings on his own when she was busy. So that would be no obstacle if Styx was her…

Shaking her head fiercely every time her mind wandered off in that direction, she contented herself with the thought that it would be a stupid idea to even think about a relationship with a partner that not only hated relationships, but also was so perfectly fine with the bed-friendship they were having now that he would probably flee as soon as she started to get overly attached. Maera was very proud of her independence and she intended to remain free.

That didn't make the fact better that she desperately missed him. If Styx ever started to show honest interest in something more than just a fuckbuddy, she was not sure she could resist a mere second.

Still, she had work to do, and Styx was out on his mission as well, so she pushed those thoughts aside until he would return, and concentrated on her books. While she did so, something completely unexpected happened.

In order to intensify the connections between the Academies spread over the Iserian continent, some new researchers were introduced to the Old Thaumaturgan Academy. One of them was a guest-researcher from a different Academy in the south, a young, very handsome human named Roderick. When the staff of the Library was introduced to the new members of the Academy, Roderick greeted Maera with a kiss on her hand.

"I heard tales of the Dragonelves' beauty, but I never thought I would see one that outshines even the wildest descriptions", he said, smiling disarmingly.

"Why, thanks", Maera said, not paying him too much mind.

Roderick did, though. He was tall, slender, with a straight nose, blue eyes and a head of fancy blonde hair and many of the female staff quickly fell for him. Even though he bandied compliments around like some famous minstrel, he quickly started focusing on Maera. Whenever he could, he tried to get in the Library areas close to Maera's rooms under the roof to work with her. He made sure he ended up in the same research group, taking every chance to talk to her. Roderick greeted her as he walked past, made compliments, chatted with her, always subtle and charming. Maera didn't really care about his flattery, but she appreciated his knowledge and work. It was nice to have somebody to talk about the texts with.

When Styx came back from his contract, it didn't take long until he stumbled upon Roderick. Maera and Styx were eating supper together, talking vividly about the mission he was going to attend the next morning, when Roderick entered the chamber and approached Maera.

"Good evening, dear colleague! I just couldn't forget what you told me about the lost manuscripts of Sappho, you know, when we did the intense research on her work together. I followed your advice and looked up some of Menander's annotations, and there really were lots of useful comments about her! I must say, without your excellent knowledge of ancient poetry, I would not..."

"Why, good evening to you too, beanpole", Styx interrupted him, squinting at him suspiciously. "We were just having a dinner for two, just in case you didn't notice."

Roderick glanced at Styx as if he just noticed him for the first time, then kept on talking to Maera, ignoring Styx.

"... As I tried to say, the cooperation with you is most satisfying..."

"Roderick, please, can't this wait till tomorrow? I'm having supper with Styx here", Maera said. "Styx, this is my new colleague Roderick of Mezdé. He's come from another Academy to us and works in the same research field as I do. Roderick, this is Styx."

"I'm very pleased", Roderick said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "So he is your servant...?"

"A servant?! I get called a servant by a fucking pansy, how do you like that? If I told you about my job, you'd probably wet your pants for fear, bookworm!", Styx snapped angrily.

"Styx, it's fine. Roderick, Styx is a... a very good friend of mine and I'd like to be alone with him for now. Can we discuss this tomorrow?"

"As you wish, dear colleague. If you long for someone to have more... high-class conversations with, just let me know." He gave her a most sassy blink, turned around and left her rooms. Styx glared after him with an angry golden glitter in his eyes.

"What the fuck...? Who is that guy? What do you have to do with him, and why didn't you tell him to get the fuck away?"

"He's just a colleague, as he said himself. You know I do research on lots of different topics, but my studies on ancient southern poetry has gotten a little stuck, and he's quite an expert in that field. He helps me a lot", Maera said even-minded. "Could you pour me another cup of mead?"

"Sure, here you go... But... How do you manage to work with him, he's unbearable!"

"Don't get too huffy about him, that's just how he is. When I work with him he's very competent."

"Hrmpf."

Styx tried to forget about Roderick, and they spent a pleasing evening together. But when they went to sleep, snuggled up to one another, Styx lay awake for quite some time, and thought about what happened today. He did not like the hungry way Roderick's eyes had wandered about Maera's body. Not a fucking bit. And Maera's reaction… She had said Styx was a very good friend. Was that a good thing? Surely it was, but something about that sounded most unsatisfying to Styx. His head started to hurt as he thought about that longer, so he just shrugged, buried his face in Maera's long silver-blond hair and tried to sleep.

It took him hours to fall asleep, and when he finally did, he had terrible nightmares again. It was the kind that let disturbing pictures of his past flash across his mind, terrifying images of things that had been true or had seemed to be true, or things that simply were too absurd to be real, all covered in the golden glow of Amber. An insane laughter that sounded almost like him, just much older, thundered through his head, voices calling to him, telling him things that he had long forgotten, buried deep in the dark corners of his memory, faces rushing by, hunting him, chasing him with swords and maces and crossbows, calling for his death.

Styx woke up screaming.

"Styx! Shhh, it's okay, calm down. Everything is fine."

Styx was vaguely aware that he had sat up, and Maera was placing herself on his lap. His vision was blurred as he struggled to shake off the disturbing pictures, to stop the panic that was filling his veins with fire, making his heart race like a bird in a cage.

He felt her warm little hands on his cheeks.

"It's me, Maera. I'm here with you, everything is fine. I'm here. You're awake. Shhh…", she soothed, stroking his face, pulling him close. He breathed more slowly and felt his heartbeat relax. She pressed a kiss to his wet forehead.

"Maera…?"

"Yes, it's me. I'm here. Just calm down, nothing bad is going to happen", her voice purred next to his ear.

Finally, he found his way back into reality, though he was still shaking like a leaf. Styx put his arms around Maera and pressed himself against her warm body, clutching to her as if she was the only thing that could prevent him from sinking into that horrifying vortex again. She gently pushed at his shoulders and he lay back again, pulling the blanket back over their bodies. Thankfully and utterly exhausted from the aftermath of his nightmare, he held the Dragonelf close, inhaling her calming scent. It had been quite a while since he had had a nightmare this bad, but as always Maera's presence was balm for his soul. Her incredibly high body temperature helped him relax further as he allowed himself to close his eyes again, drifting away.

Into darkness…

There were sunken trees, reaching for the sky with blackened branches like drowned bodies, stuck in the mire. Misty shrouds covered the ground, hiding the vicious holes and pits under the muddy surface. There were sounds that almost sounded like voices, but they couldn't talk, he knew, they were mindless, feral animals, even if they looked almost like him… And suddenly they were all around him, eyes glowing and teeth bared, crouching on all fours, hissing and growling. The swamp, crawling with Goblins, the very same had seen in the subconscious of Arkence, the swamps of his past…

The insane laughter…

Styx woke up again, covered in sweat.

This time, he had not woken Maera, she was still sleeping peacefully by his side. Styx's head felt like an anvil. Cursing quietly, he crawled out of the bed, careful not to wake her after all. This was no use, if he went to sleep again the dream would continue, and he really had enough of this shit. He forced himself to push the memory of his dream aside, he really didn't want to think about it further. Styx didn't wait for the sun to rise. Pressing a gently farewell kiss on Maera's crown and patting her butt one last time, he gathered his gear, jumped out of the window and went straight for his next target.

A few days later, Styx returned from his mission. He was not in the best state, since he had slept quite badly the last few nights, and his head felt like a fucking wagon's gone through. He really looked forward to see Maera again, smell her wonderful, calming scent, let her heated embraces take away his tension. She always felt like a remedy to him, and with his nightmares getting worse over the last days, he could really use some comfort.

Styx got in the Library unseen, climbed in the rafters and quietly made his way to the ancient poetry section. Soon, he had spotted Maera reading on a desk. Deciding to surprise her, he got ready to jump down to land behind her, when suddenly Roderick came around a corner.

Styx hesitated, watching, eyes wide and ears pricked.

Roderick went over to her, touching her shoulder slightly. She smiled at the human and they started talking. Styx was too far away to hear what they were saying, but it must have been something funny, because Maera laughed. Roderick sat down next to Maera, unfolding a manuscript. He pointed to some shelf, as if he needed some scroll from there, and seemingly Maera went over for him to get it. She had to climb up a small ladder and bend forward to reach the scroll, which made her slim waist and wonderful ample rear look most tempting. Styx realized with a disgusted gasp that Roderick stared at her body with unhidden desire. Apparently, that dickhead only had told her to climb up there to get a better view of her backside. It took all of Styx's self control not to leap down on the human and slash his throat in one smooth movement. Instead, he stayed in the rafters, watching from the shadows, getting angrier and angrier with every moment that Rodrick was close to Maera. Since Styx had already spent much time in the Library, reading and helping her organize the scrolls, he knew where he could climb down further and finally he was able to understand what they were talking about.

"Look, dear colleague, I found another segment of Sappho's love poems!", Roderick said, leaning over to Maera, pointing to a passage in a manuscript. "She compares the beauty of princess Antigone to a summer sunset's soft glow, and her scent to a field of wild roses at dawn."

"A very powerful section, I've already read that one", Maera replied. She had to lean closer to him to see the passage in the manuscript, and Styx couldn't but notice that Roderick intentionally put his stupid handsome face closer to hers. He felt sick.

"I must say, all this doesn't even remotely serve to describe you", Roderick said. Maera laughed as if Roderick had made a random joke and returned to her own work.

"What the fuck is he thinking?!", Styx muttered to himself in his hideout, boiling with rage.

Later that afternoon, Roderick left and Styx took his chance to jump down and talk to Maera.

"Styx! It's so nice to see you again!", Maera greeted him happily, running over to him to embrace him. Styx refused her hug.

"Why the fuck is that asshole talking to you like that? Who does he think he is?!"

"Styx, please, calm down. I know he is a little... flirty sometimes, but that's just amusing to me. Don't get so angry about that, just ignore him. I ignore that too."

"But..."

"No but. Just leave him be. Don't you want to take care of something more... entertaining, now that you're with me? Nobody's going to be here for the next two hours, just us two...", Maera said softly, stroking his chest. Styx wanted to say something else, but he hesitated when he felt Maera's body pressing close to his, inhaling her scent. She ran her warm tongue across his neck and he shivered helplessly. Maera slid a hand down his belly into his pants to stroke him gently, which broke what was left of his resistance. Groaning hoarsely, he closed his eyes, indulging in the heat that shot through his veins when her deft hands sped up their movements. Quickly, he stripped her out of her robes. Styx pressed her against a shelf, kissing her passionately, his tongue curled against hers, but even when Maera was breathlessly moaning into his ears when he entered her, he could not forget how greedily Roderick had stared at her.

In the following days, Maera had to work a lot and Styx roamed the Library on his own, reading and watching the town from the lofty rooftops. Even though he did all he could to not think about Roderick, he ended up following him, watching whether he would talk to Maera again. And that asshole did just that, he flirted and made compliments and was the biggest lickspittle the world had ever seen. Seeing the two together hurt Styx in a way he never experienced before. He sensed that something was wrong with this guy, even though Maera insisted that he was harmless. Styx's head throbbed with pain every time he imagined the two together, and finally he got so obsessed with Roderick that he stalked him, watching every step he did from the shadows. Finally, Maera started to feel that Styx was constantly in a bad mood, and wanted to sort that matter out with him.

"Why the hell are you always pissed lately? Is it because Roderick talks to me every now and then?", she asked him after they had their supper.

"Every now and then? He follows you like a fucking dog! Why do you tolerate that?", Styx snapped back.

"Why should I not? It's not like he's hurting anyone with that", Maera huffed. "Styx, why can't you just leave him be? He is just being polite."

"I know there's something fishy with that asshole! You shouldn't let him talk to you like that!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, I'm not a child, Styx. You can't tell me what to do and who to talk to. I already said, I don't care about Roderick, so why can't you do the same?"

Styx knew no answer to that.

He retreated a little from Maera, since his nightmares had gotten so badly over the last days that he feared he might disturb her when he started from his sleep in the middle of the night. The lack of proper sleep and the tiredness started to show, and sometimes, even when he was awake the voices were haunting him.

You should forget about her, Rakash, a voice whispered. What would she want with a dirty rat like you if she can have a sophisticated, handsome man like him?

Styx told himself to shut up, but it didn't help.

Maera was so annoyed with his behavior that Styx had almost given up stalking Roderick, until one evening, when Styx overheard him talking to another Librarian. As usual, the Goblin was hiding in the rafters, peeking down on the human as he stood next to his colleague, casually arranging some quills in a jar.

"What's new?", the other one, a skinny, slimy guy, asked Roderick.

"Well, I might have gotten closer to my goal!", Roderick answered. "The sexy Dragonelf gave me a blink when I helped her with the translation of Menander's scrolls lately. She wants me, I know that."

"She most certainly does NOT, you piece of shit!", Styx grumbled quietly to himself in his hideout. Roderick continued.

"Normally, I'm not into girls that short, but her huge juicy ass kinda makes up for that."

"Yeah, she's quite hot for a non-human, if she doesn't open her mouth", the other guy said, "You gonna screw her?"

"Soon. I just hope she doesn't fall in love with me, it's so hard to take her annoying chitchat."

"Oh yeah, totally! Does she ever stop swearing?"

"You know, that's something you can't avoid when you pick up girls. You gotta act like you're really interested in what they're babbling to get them laid. And then I'll drop her like a dirty towel." Roderick laughed nastily, and the other one chimed in.

Up in the rafters, Styx's emotions went in two very different directions. On the one hand, he was triumphing like crazy, as he finally had the proof that Roderick was a total asshole. On the other hand, Styx was so angry he would have loved to just jump down on him, rip out his tongue and paint the walls of the library with his blood. He controlled himself and immediately ran back into Maera's chamber to tell her what he just heard.

He found her working in her laboratory. He came running to her and told her everything that had happened excitedly, carefully emphasizing the fact that Roderick was the biggest piece of shit in the world. To his surprise, Maera reacted annoyed.

"Styx, please! Not that topic again."

"What? Don't you believe me?"

"I can't believe that you are so overly jealous that you are getting obsessed like this! Do you want to force me to ignore him? You are acting like I'm your property! But guess what, I can decide for myself who I talk to. And I enjoy getting compliments!"

"But... I also make you compliments!"

"We have barely talked for the past weeks because you were so obsessed with Roderick!"

"I've slept badly. I didn't want to disturb you", Styx grumbled.

"And I would have loved to help you with that, you know that! But you spent every waking second stalking Roderick!"

"I just don't like the way he's looking at you. He wants to use you, I heard him say it!"

"Well, if that was the case he is currently using me for supporting our research. How terrible of him. Why do you think you can ban me from getting compliments from another guy? Because I might like what he says? Because I might flirt back?"

Hearing her says those words made Styx's heart skip a beat. His stomach felt like a glowing piece of ember.

"You can't do that", he said hoarsely.

Maera's eyes lit up with anger. "Why not, Styx? WHY?", she yelled.

"But Maera, we are... We... I…"

Styx desperately fumbled for words. He didn't know why it hurt him so badly when she spoke to Roderick, or at least he wasn't able to put it into words. Even thinking about it made his head throb with pain.

Maera threw her hands up desperately.

"That's the point! What are we? Friends? Fuck buddies? Or are we more than that? Tell me!"

"I..." Styx had never felt so lost in his entire life. "I don't know. I just don't like it."

With that, the anger suddenly faded from Maera's eyes, and sorrow replaced it. Her fierce expression faltered, leaving her look tired and sad.

"In that case... I guess it would be better if you think about this for a while, and come back when you've made up your mind."

For a second, Styx struggled desperately to reply something, but then he just surrendered to the pain, turned around and shuffled away to the window. Maera looked at him leave, then turned around to her desk, wiping her eyes.