The clearing behind their camp had seen more action than most battlefields. Sword swings, magic explosions, heavy panting—it just so happened none of it was sexual.
Yet.
Ari stood in the center, arms crossed, watching his so-called elite party act like horny college dropouts trying to one-up each other with violence.
Yuri was already mid-sprint, blades out, sweat glistening across her collarbone as she launched at a training dummy with enough aggression to make it personal.
SLASH. CRACK. DEAD.
The wooden construct exploded into chunks.
Kimi clapped—slow, sarcastic, and entirely too smug. “Wow. Truly inspiring. Did it cheat on you or just breathe too loud?”
“I’m imagining it was you,” Yuri snapped, sheathing her weapon. “Next time I’ll just use your staff.”
Kimi didn’t even blink. “You can touch my staff anytime, honey. It’s the
only
stick you’ll ever beat.”
Ari sighed and muttered, “Both of you need therapy. Or a f**king cage match.”
Finoria, meanwhile, was lounging under a tree nearby, cleaning her shield like she was polishing a damn trophy. Every few minutes, her eyes drifted to Ari—his arms, his chest, his ass—unapologetically inspecting the goods.
"You should take your shirt off, Ari," she said casually, not even looking at him. "You're already sweating. No point in hiding what we've all seen anyway."
He raised a brow. “Didn’t even swing a sword yet.”
“You walked,” she replied, smiling faintly. “That’s enough to get
me
warm.”
He ignored the heat that crept up his neck.
Barely.
“Alright, swap partners. Yuri, with me. Kimi, you’re with Finoria.”
Kimi’s eye twitched. “You’re sparring with
her
?”
Yuri smirked. “Afraid she’ll step on your foot and Ari will start drooling again?”
“Don’t bring his preferences into this,” Kimi growled. “You wouldn’t know how to satisfy a fetish if it kicked you in the face.”
Ari, deadpan as ever, cut in. “Both of you: shut it, pair off, and try not to turn the f**king forest into a fetish-off.”
Thirty minutes later
, Yuri’s shirt was torn, Kimi’s sleeves were burned, Finoria had broken two training swords from "accidentally gripping them too hard," and Ari was
regretting everything.
He watched them circle each other like wild animals in lingerie, throwing jabs between actual sword swings.
“I swear to god,” Ari muttered under his breath, “they spar just to dry-hump violence.”
Finoria walked over, wiping sweat from her brow with a towel that was far too damp to be helpful.
“You want first dibs on the bath?” she asked, stretching her arms overhead and arching just enough to show the underboob gods a little love.
“Nah,” Ari said, drinking water from the canteen. “I’ll go last. Don’t need to fight the warzone in there.”
She took a step closer, tossing the towel onto his shoulder like it was hers to give. “You sure? I could help wash your back... or your front. Totally up to you.”
Ari met her eyes, no hesitation. “You say sh*t like that one day and I
will
take you up on it.”
Her smirk curled slow and dangerous. “I’m counting on it.”
Later, the girls took turns bathing—though "turns" quickly became
all three of them splashing in the stream together,
arguing about soap while pretending not to compare tits.
Ari sat nearby, polishing his weapon. No, the actual one.
He didn't even look up when Finoria called out, "Hey Ari—what’s your opinion on thigh-to-hip ratio?”
“Finoria,” he called back, “get out of the water before I walk in there and answer that question the wrong f**king way.”
Kimi giggled. “He’s bluffing.”
Yuri muttered, “He’s not.”
Kimi turned to her. “Still mad you got handled during sparring?”
Yuri leaned in, water dripping from her short red hair, eyes like f**king fire. “Still mad Ari watched me stretch and not you?”
Kimi's smile twitched.
Ari finally stood up. Walked to the edge of the water. Shirt off. Completely f**king done.
“I told you two to cut the sh*t earlier,” he said calmly, “but if you’re really that desperate for attention, I’ll give you both some right now.”
The girls went dead quiet. For one beautiful, horny second.
Then Finoria burst out laughing, arms folded beneath her wet, bouncing chest.
“I’d pay gold to see that,” she said. “Just don’t forget who deserves to be first in line.”
Ari stared at them for a long moment, then turned and walked back to camp.
“…I’m getting drunk tonight,” he muttered.