Chapter 1
Luvia had been planning her trap for some weeks now. She had artfully tailored it to her quarry, baited it with cutting insults and provocations. Now she was eager to watch Rin walk into its jaws.
She hummed happily to herself as she flipped a page in her grimoire. Inevitably, her good mood drew an irritated glance from the other table.
"You've got that smile again," growled Rin. "What horrible thing are you planning now, you harpy?"
"Concerned with the affairs of your betters, Rin?" said Luvia with a smirk. "Well, I suppose I cannot blame you. It is only natural that a dull moth would be drawn to a brilliant flame."
The Japanese magus snorted and went back to her papers, but not before shifting her seat so that her back was firmly turned to the blonde.
The library grew quiet again, filled with little but the steady scratching of pens and occasional sighs. It gave Luvia plenty of opportunity to sit back and consider her prey. Rin was controlling her fiery temper particularly well today, but it was a matter of time until she snapped. Luvia would see to it. Then like clockwork, the tantrum would lead to a challenge; the challenge to a fight; the fight to Luvia's victory. Then the trap would spring firmly shut, and Rin would finally belong to her.
She smiled again as she let her gaze settle possessively on the other girl's back. It was Rin's own fault for constantly going out of her way to attract Luvia's attention. Since the day they had met, the girl had never hesitated to bare her fangs at the Edelfelt heir.
It had been amusing at first, an upstart mongrel yapping at a purebred hunting hound. So Luvia had decided to indulge the stray for a bit; have a bit of fun at her expense before bringing her to heel. But Luvia had since come to appreciate many things about Rin. There was a lot of raw talent there, enough to shine if only the proper polish was applied. And it came in a very pleasing wrapping – slender frame, bright blue-green eyes, hair the same glossy black as a crow's wing. Rin knew full well her hair was one of her best features, and the girl took meticulous care of it. For Luvia's benefit, she liked to imagine, and it was only years of discipline that stopped her from reaching forward and grabbing those silk strands, propriety be damned.
Although beauty alone had never been the selling point. Luvia could easily buy that if she wanted it, and there were no end of magi with carefully crafted looks only too eager to sell themselves to someone of her illustrious pedigree. No, what attracted her most to Rin was that cunning mind, and the fiery will that fueled it.
Surely the girl realized it, and that was why she was constantly picking fights with Luvia. Luring her to the combat ring, where she could feast her eyes on lithe muscles gleaming with heat and sweat. Spending hours in the workshops working out some brilliant bit of research, only to immediately bring it to Luvia so she could gloat about it. The steel of her defiance, the venom on her lips when their paths crossed in the hallways. All this effort, and all of it seemingly aimed at forcing Luvia to take notice. What else could it be but flirting?
Surely she knew that if Luvia was actually upset or annoyed, she could easily have Rin – friendless, orphan Rin – eliminated. The girl had to know the game she was playing; had to know she was engaged in seduction, playing to everything that Luvia liked best in her bedmates.
So Luvia had graciously responded in kind. She had risen to her every challenge; matched insult with provocation; accepted every gauntlet flung her way. And she very much enjoyed their little altercations. Facing such open, honest hostility was a welcome relief from the veiled threats and insincere flatteries that the Edelfelt heir usually attracted. It made her blood sing with her ancestors' hunting instincts. It made her want to grab the girl and throw her down and dominate her utterly.
And she knew the attraction was returned. She had not missed the way Rin's eyes hungrily roamed over her curves whenever she thought the blonde wasn't looking. The way her cheeks flushed red and her breath caught whenever Luvia closed the distance between them, so their faces almost touched.
By now, blood running hot and eyes full of each others' assets, they should have tumbled into bed together for an energetic and mutually satisfying romp. Luvia had invited it several times, in her discreet way.
If only Rin would stop acting the stubborn mule! But no, the stupid girl insisted on her maddening pretence of obliviousness. Kept throwing punches long past the point where they should have been tugging clothes off instead. She simply wouldn't take the hint, and Luvia was losing patience.
She was considering throwing another taunt Rin's way, so those jewel-bright eyes would be forced to look at her, when the girl softly cursed to herself and started rummaging impatiently through her bag. As she did, Luvia caught sight of a flash of pink paper folded into a pamphlet. It was so incongruent with the serious texts she associated with Rin that it peaked her curiosity.
A mystery that was easily solved for a magus of her peerage and ability. A whispered incantation, a brief flash of magic circuits, and a sudden gust of wind plucked the paper out and blew it to her waiting hands.
Rin's head snapped up to follow the floating paper. "Hey, give that back!"
Luvia's lip curled as she considered the pamphlet. It featured gaudy hearts and glossy photographs of doe-eyed couples simpering at each other. Magic of Love Matchmaking Services! Let us set up your date, you may meet your soul mate!
Her brow darkened as she took in the vulgarity of both object and concept. To think that Rin had rebuffed all her lures and insinuations in favour of this… this rubbish. She directed what she had intended as an unimpressed stare at Rin, but the way the girl flinched suggested that some of her furious indignation had leaked into it.
"I was aware that your standards left much to be desired," she said coldly, "but this seems vulgar even for you."
Rin looked insulted. "Who exactly do you take me for? As if I'd ever resort to something like that." She tapped a finger impatiently on the edge of her table. "If you must know, I meant to mail it to an old school friend of mine, precisely because it's so tacky. We had a bet of sorts before I left for London."
From anyone else, Luvia would have suspected a face-saving excuse. But a prank of this kind fit entirely with what she knew of Rin's character. Nor could she detect any of the subtle tells the girl betrayed when she was genuinely embarrassed.
Still, the whole situation left her feeling irritating. Rin might not be seriously seeking a mate at this time, but she would eventually. That she might do so without once acknowledging the dance between them… it vexed Luvia. It vexed her very much.
"And how do you intend to find your intended, Rin?" she asked.
"I'll know the right person when I see them," waved the other dismissively. Far too dismissively for Luvia's taste.
"Do you know how we Edelfelt choose our marriage partners, Rin?"
"Highest bidder at the auction?"
Oh, how lucky for Rin that Luvia had certain desgins on her, or that little quip would have cost her dearly. Instead she smiled at her. "My family selects for talent. Money and power can always be acquired, but talent has to be bred in. In this, we differ from the other noble houses. They value established blood for its own sake, while we value it for its proven potential."
She folded the pamphlet and handed it back to the other magus, letting her fingers lightly touch on Rin's. Her smile grew a little wider when the girl couldn't quite contain a shiver. "But if we find another source of potential, we do not hesitate to claim it." She caught her eye meaningfully.
Rin shuddered, the implication so clear that even she could not simply brush it off. And for a moment, as the Tohsaka heir looked at her with something close to longing, Luvia thought her trap might be unnecessary after all.
But then the defensive walls went up behind Rin's eyes, and the girl straightened up in her seat. "Good for you. I'm sure all your connections and lackeys can help you with that. I'll get things done myself, just like everything else I do."
Luvia gave her a mocking smile to mask the heady swell of indignation welling up inside her. Rin's pride was in the way as always, that accursed pride. Misplaced pride in her name as a Tohsaka, as if being heir to that clan of upstarts was anything to preen about. But also pride in her independence. In her self-control. In her stubborn refusal to admit that she had certain wants and needs. Luvia understood all about pride. She positively basked in her own as designated heir to the Edelfelt, after all. But she knew enough not to let it get in the way of what she wanted. Rin, on the other hand, was bitten raw with it, practically drowned in it.
Clearly Rin would accept a cold and lonely bed as long as it meant she could swell her fat head a little bigger. But Luvia was an Edelfelt, and an Edelfelt took whatever caught their eye. She would break that self-destructive pride. Rin had her chance to come willingly. Now Luvia would take her forcibly. She licked her lips in anticipation.
Now if only Mount Rin would go through one of its periodic eruptions. Luvia had been steadily building it up all week, each barbed insult and petty slight another destabilizing rock thrown into the caldera. It had to be getting close now.
As if sensing the blonde's thoughts, their target suddenly shivered. Rin turned to glare meaningfully over her shoulder. Luvia responded with a tilt of the head and a smirk. The volcano behind those blue eyes rumbled menacingly, but to Luvia's disappointment, Rin only gave an angry huff before looking down once more.
Luvia frowned. Should she simply challenge the girl herself, and be done with this endless waiting? Tempting, very tempting. But no, Rin had to think the spar was her own idea.
Instead, Luvia placed her tailored bag on the table. The motion looked natural, but had been calculated to produce a thump of just the right volume. Sure enough, her prey's eyes flitted towards the bag, entirely without their owner's permission. They narrowed as soon as they spotted the rare tome poking out from the top. The very tome that Tohsaka had been trying to wrangle from the Spirit Grave's archives for months, without success.
Black plumes of ash and fire shot up on the horizon of Rin's mood. Luvia smirked. One more insult should do the -
Rin beat her to it. She slammed her hand down on the table. "What the hell is your problem, blondie?"
Luvia felt the triumphant smile forming on her lips. Only years of the finest etiquette lessons that money could buy held it back in favour of a bored expression. "My problem, Miss Gorilla? You are the one interrupting this peaceful library with your inane outbursts."
"You've been staring at me all afternoon! Don't think I haven't noticed."
"I was simply admiring your work ethic."
"Wha-?" Rin's brows raised in honest surprise, before narrowing in suspicion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Such dedication, when all you'll ever be able to aspire to is second place. And even that is being generous -"
"That's it!" Rin finally exploded. Blue-green lines flared dangerously to life along her left arm. She marched right up to Luvia and placed a hand on each side of her study space, leaning threateningly into her personal space. "Dueling room. Now. I'll show you second place, you bitch."
"And waste my time?" Luvia drawled, expertly masking her eagerness. "As usual, I will win the match, and you will stubbornly refuse to admit it. As usual, nothing will get settled. So no, I have better things to do than wrestle with a pig."
"Fuck you, Edelfelt. I win every bit as much as I lose."
Privately Luvia could concede that was nearly true, although she did of course have the slight edge. Rin knew it too. They both kept obsessive track of their victories and losses.
Rin glared down at her, and Luvia couldn't quite suppress the shiver of anticipation that ran through her. Her rival completely misinterpreted it, scowl giving way to a challenging smirk. "Sure you're not afraid, blondie?"
Luvia paused for a moment – just enough to stoke that pride – then gave a long-suffering sigh. "Very well, I shall once again do you the honour of schooling you. But - !" she raised her hand to interrupt Rin's incoming tirade, "- we shall duel according to the old rules of House Edelfelt."
Rin frowned. For all her impulsiveness, she was a magus, and not a stupid one either. She clearly sensed a trap. "And what exactly do those rules entail?"
"The payment of forfeits," said Luvia serenely. "This way, a victory will actually count for something."
Her rival hesitated. "This isn't going to end up with me serving as your maid for the week, is it?"
Luvia fought to contain a burst of laughter. Maid for a week, how quaint. Poor orphaned Rin, with no idea how deep the precipice plunged. It was a miracle no one had yet shoved her in.
She was doing the girl a favour, really. And if she happened to fulfill her own desires at the same time, then count it as her fee.
"Perhaps," she said with a smile. "But that will only matter if you lose. Are you admitting your loss already, Tohsaka Rin?"
"Of course not!" snapped Rin, but the girl looked increasingly doubtful. Luvia had to add some fuel to the fire, quickly, before her quarry's caution overruled her temper and she backed out.
"Ohohoho! I see, you are the one that is afraid. Some war veteran – you are merely a peasant girl." She let her lip curl into an expression of affected pity, the one Rin hated most. "And a flat-chested one, at that."
Rin saw blazing red. She puffed herself up and pointed her finger directly under Luvia's nose. "Fine! Whatever you toss my way, I can beat you. I'll wipe that smug smile off your face once and for all, Edelfelt!"
Magnificent, thought Luvia. Her rival was never more beautiful than when she was angry; it brought out the brilliance in Rin's eyes like nothing else. She grinned as she rose from her seat. "Then shall we?"
"What, right now?" Rin was still furious, but now she looked a little off-balance as well.
"Of course. An aristocrat likes to settle such matters promptly." And a huntress never gave her target time to reconsider a bad decision.
Fifteen minutes later found them standing in one of the campus' designated rooms for magus duels, all reinforced stone and magically tempered glass. Rin seemed perplexed to find one available at such short notice. Well, she didn't need to know that Luvia had been renting it for several days now, keeping it on standby for exactly this opportunity.
Rin made a last adjustment to her sparring clothes – shorts and a very abbreviated top, clearly chosen to expose all that tempting flesh – as she looked around.
"Aren't we going to wrestle on glaciers or something? Isn't that what your weird ancestors did?"
"What an active imagination you have, Rin," giggled Luvia. "Worry not, I do not require such things to put you in your place." She deliberately let her gaze linger a little too long on Rin's bared midriff before smirking. "Underneath me."
"You insufferable cow!" Her rival scowled even as her cheeks flushed red. Clearly she had not missed the entendre, even if she was dead set on ignoring it.
Once it would have made Luvia laugh, but now she felt more like sighing in exasperation. No matter. Soon she would have the girl under her thumb, where she would be forced to acknowledge every last advance.
With that pleasing image to buoy her, Luvia confidently assumed her fighting stance. Rin did the same, raising her arms defiantly in front of her. Blue-green light burned along their limbs as their magic circuits heated up. There was a moment of bated breath and bodies coiled tight as they stared each other directly in the eye, Rin's glare met by Luvia's smirk.
Then, as if by some invisible signal, they fell upon each other. A relentless fury of blows, sending up wind and dust from the sheer speed and force of their strikes.
Luvia could have crowed for joy. Here was the battle she craved. The bloodlust of her ancestors was given voice in the pounding of her heart and the wild rush of adrenaline flowing through her veins.
"Ohohoho! Excellent, Tohsaka Rin!" she managed through laboured breaths, "Show me what a beast you are!"
Rin gasped as she fought to catch her own wind. "Who are you – hah - calling a beast, you vicious har –"
Her retort was cut off when Luvia pressed forward with a vicious blow. Rin barely managed to catch it on her forearm. For a brief moment they were suspended, their limbs locked as their eyes roamed each other's flushed faces.
Luvia grinned, pleased with what she saw. There was raw fury in Rin's eyes, unmarred by pretence or hypocrisy. Fury so beautiful that Luvia wanted to reach out and choke it.
She was so distracted by the thought that she missed the warning twitch in Rin's knee, the way her circuits burned just a little brighter. So she was caught by surprise when her opponent kicked forward with inhuman speed, catching her right in the stomach. The pain hit her, sharp and clear. If she were an ordinary human, without Reinforcement coursing through her frame, it would have been fatal. As it was, it still sent her flying backwards. Her feet tore up the stone tiles as she scrabbled for purchase.
"Magnificent," she conceded as she forced herself back into her stance. The Japanese magus had definitely improved since the last time they fought. A little more, and Luvia might actually have been in trouble. She grinned. It only made her want Rin more.
Rin mistook her pause of admiration for hesitation, and moved to take advantage. Pride as always was the girl's failing, Luvia thought with a wry grin. What else could have made the girl overextend herself in a full forward lunge, even when her opponent could see her coming?
The black-haired magus paid for her mistake when Luvia dodged the blow entirely, and her momentum carried her further forward than planned. Just by a step before she caught herself, but it was all the opening that Luvia needed.
Quick as a cobra, she was pressed up against Rin's exposed back. She felt the girl stiffen - far too late - as she threw her arms around her torso and braced her legs to lift.
"Luvia, don't you d- ARGH!"
A flawless suplex, as expected of the heir to the Edelfelt fighting arts. Luvia slammed Rin into the ground with such force that the floor cracked all around them. The blonde rolled with the momentum, the better to position herself over her prone opponent for the pin.
Only to find that somehow, Rin had already recovered her senses and was scrambling to her feet. Impressive, perhaps, but Luvia was getting impatient for victory. She threw herself against Rin, knocking them both back down.
"Let go-!" hissed Rin as Luvia flipped her on her back and got on top of her.
"Never." The blonde reached to grab her wrists, but the girl thrashed like an angry anaconda underneath her, seething and spitting curses. The furious motion, coupled with the slick sweat coating that lithe body, made it difficult to even stay on top. Let alone secure the grip she needed. When had Rin gotten so strong?
Inspiration struck when Rin craned her neck up for a moment, defiantly seeking out the blonde's gaze. Rin's mouth was still working furiously around her next set of profanities when Luvia leaned forward and firmly captured it with her own.
Soft warm lips under her own, tasting vaguely of spice, but Luvia had no time to focus on the sensation. She was leaving herself open to a bad reprisal if she had not estimated Rin correctly.
But she had, because the Tohsaka girl stared at her in wordless shock as she went entirely limp underneath her. Just for a moment before she recovered her senses, her muscles tensing in outrage. But by then Luvia had already caught her in a full body lock.
"What the hell, you pervert!" roared Rin. She thrashed harder than ever, but it did her little good against Luvia's Reinforced muscles. "You shameless - ! Let me up, you cow!"
"Do you concede defeat?" asked Luvia. Her voice was perfectly calm. But had Rin paused in her struggle to really look at her, she might have shuddered at the feral gleam in her amber eyes.
Rin fought valiantly for a few more moments before exhaustion set in. She gasped for breath as her frame loosened, however reluctantly, in Luvia's grasp.
"Fine," she eventually grit out. "You win this time. But only thanks to that dirty trick, you shameless hussy. You'd better believe I'll get you n-"
She stopped when she saw the glowing sapphire in the blonde's palm. "Luvia, what are you – hey!"
Luvia grinned as she reached down and grabbed the top of Rin's neckline. Then she yanked hard. The cloth made a satisfying tearing sound as it came apart in her grip.
"What the hell? Stop! St-"
Ignoring her prey's outraged cries, Luvia firmly pressed the gem against the newly exposed skin of Rin's collarbone. Just above her heart.
Luvia murmured the incantation, feeling the gem grow hot between her fingers. And then Rin was screaming and thrashing as the sapphire burned against her skin. But as much as she bucked violently beneath the blonde, her body given new strength by agony, the pin held firm.
The sharp tang of ozone filled the air as glowing lines etched themselves onto Rin's skin, forming the stylized wolf-and-star of the Edelfelt family crest. A brand that the girl would carry with her everywhere from now on. Even better, although Luvia couldn't see them, additional tendrils were burying themselves in Rin's flesh. Spreading down her nerves and arteries, seeking out her magic circuits and forcing new connections.
Luvia was so mesmerized by her work that it took her a moment to realize that Rin had gone limp and silent in her grasp. She glanced towards the girl's face. Passed out. Luvia tutted disapprovingly, but she couldn't really blame the girl. Magic circuits were sensitive at the best of times, and Rin had just had a brand directly affixed to hers.
She leaned back to admire her creation. The brand glowed softly in shades of blue-green against the pale skin, marking the girl as Luvia's conquest. Ah, that reminded her. One last touch, to make her victory count. To ensure that Rin would have to return to her, no matter her self-destructive pride.
She leaned down to kiss the heated skin, tracing the brand's lines with her tongue as she whispered another spell. Then she leaned back again to watch as the brand drained out what little prana remained in Rin's circuits after their fight, then winked them out entirely. Blocking a set of magic circuits that had already been opened was no mean feat, but her ancestors had not earned their vicious reputation without cause.
The old Edelfelt laws of conquest, she thought triumphantly to herself. Her family had amassed its power by plundering not only lands and riches, but also people. What better way to get promising heirs and retainers than to snatch them as spoils from their vanquished prey? And if a new servant insisted on clinging to old loyalties, the Edelfelt brand seared into their essence would soon teach them otherwise.
True, the brand was yet another Edelfelt asset that attracted whispers from the squeamish cowards of the Association. Many of the softer magi considered it rather too close to a forced geas for their comfort. And so it had been rarely used in modern times, deemed too dangerous for delicate political realities.
Luvia had broken that tradition by deploying it on the former Tohsaka heir. But she couldn't bring herself to regret it, not for an instance. Rin had tempted her for the last time, and now she was finally where she belonged – at her feet. And surely nobody had room for complaint. For wasn't Rin ultimately of Edelfelt blood, along with her stolen crest? She was Luvia's property all along. All Luvia had done was reclaim it.
She straightened up before sparing a glance for the girl still passed out on the shattered tiles. What to do with her new acquisition? Tradition dictated that Rin should be brought back to the manor, to await her mistress' pleasure. Luvia reached for her phone, her fingers hovering over the screen, before she shook her head. No, that was still feeding into the girl's pride. Better that the girl should have to come crawling to Luvia instead.
She tapped her fingers lightly against her chin as she considered the surrounding room. It was safe enough to leave Rin here to recover on her own time. No one would dare intrude on a room claimed by an Edelfelt. Let the girl wake up here, in the broken remains of her final defeat. It would set the stage nicely for what was to come.
Luvia laughed as she closed the door behind her. Ah, this really had been the correct decision. She had not felt this much excitement in years.