“How about we take a walk first and decide on the rest once we’re there?” Dago asked.

Taking into account that the word “rest” meant an act of an erotic nature that would take place in a public space, Hera should have refused immediately. She shouldn’t hesitate. She shouldn’t imagine what it would be like to feel a man’s touch in her intimate parts, being separated from other people’s eyes and ears only by a curtain. It didn’t matter that with this man she was able to experience pleasure that no other could give her. Sex should take place in bed…

Hera pushed away the image of the table in Dago’s home library where they’d become intimate for the first time.

Sex should take place behind closed doors…

As soon as she pushed away the memory of the sea breeze enveloping her body as she’d lain in an unambiguous position on the sunbed on the shore, it came back to mock her other argument that sex should take place where no one could see its participants.

Caramel dream… What had she been thinking? How could she have let Dago lick her in such a place? What if a ship had passed by? Or some kind of levitating vehicle?

This time she had to refuse. It didn’t matter that the curtain would prevent others from seeing the man caressing her. Someone still could hear them… hear her. A healer, researcher, apprentice of the Archmagus himself, moaning from pleasure in a changing room at the seamstress shop. Colorful drops, she couldn’t let that happen.

She could not.

She. Could. Not.

She could not!

Despite this logical conclusion that was beneficial for the entire nation, Hera stared at Dago Midais’s gray eyes in silence. She liked his gaze. She liked the attention he was giving her and the desires that lurked in its shadow made her pulse quicken.

Is it so strange that I give a gift to the woman I want to marry?

His determination excited her as much as the thought of his caresses, and though she had a hard time believing it, there was something about his outrageous idea that appealed to her. Why shouldn’t she succumb to it? He too conducted activities that influenced many people. Why should the same society that treated his unvirtuous behavior as something almost normal condemn her?

“I’m not sure if I like this expression,” Dago said, noticing the sudden change in her mood.

“And I’m not sure if I like your proposition.” Hera examined his face. “Tell me the truth, Midais. Are you planning to ruin my reputation in case I decide not to sign the contract?”

His surprise lasted a second. His silence lasted much longer.

“Wait,” he said as she rose from her seat and reached for her bag.

She ignored him and the book he was allegedly giving her, then started toward the elevator without looking back.

“The dessert was untasty?” Ainone asked, worry in their voice.

“It was good. Can you summon a carpet?” Her tone sounded harsh even to her own ears, so she added, “Please.”

The shadow frowned, but before they could answer, Dago came up behind them and said, “Fulfill her wish, Mxes. Ainone.”

The wrinkles on the morpheus’s forehead deepened, but they waved their hand and summoned a strawberry carpet with their chaotic magic. Hera entered it wordlessly. She wanted just to shift into a phoenix and fly away. What stopped her was the knowledge that in the satchel of the ghoulish goblin next to her was a valuable scroll that she didn’t want to destroy.

The thought that this could also be part of Midais’s plan burned her lungs.

Sweet nightmare, how could she be so stupid? She’d almost acted like all those naive women who fell dreamily into a man’s arms, convinced that they would be the Only One for him.

“Dessert wasn’t sweet enough?” Oinone asked when the carpet landed on the first floor.

“Dessert was good,” Hera and Dago said at the same time in an equally irritated tone.

“Oh, I see.” There was an amused note in the phantom’s voice. “See you soon, then.”

No way, Hera thought, starting briskly toward the exit.

“Can we talk in a more private place?” Dago asked, weaving between people to keep up with her.

Hera snorted. Let him find a private place alone. She would never go anywhere with him again.

Never.

Nowhere.

“Are you going to just leave it like this?”

Yes. That was her intention.

“Nyx Nemesis, Galenos,” Dago hissed, holding her arm. “Communicate with me verbally.”

She looked at him like he was a troll. Was he just referring to a contract she didn’t sign?

“Let’s try to act as if the contract was valid,” he said with constrained patience. “It will save us a lot of time, I guarantee it.”

Aha.

Both parties will tell each other the truth.

Before making a decision that may affect the other party, one should talk to them about it.

The goblin had broken the rules, but she couldn’t point it out to him because they only applied from now on.

Clever.

“Let me go.” She said the words slowly and clearly so he had no doubt about their meaning. “Or I’ll start screaming so loud and desperately that everyone thinks you hurt me.”

He pulled away from her as if she’d clawed him. She liked that reaction. It seemed he’d underestimated her up until that point, but now he had no choice. If he wanted to be promoted to Archmagus, he had to take into account her opinion, which was:

“I want nothing to do with you.”

Without waiting for his reaction, she turned and plunged into the crowd of passersby visiting the main square.

This time nobody disturbed her.

***

Promiscuous Diary. Special Issue

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s happening. It’s happening so much and it’s happening so fast. So much and so fast that no one knows what exactly is happening.

Did this enigmatic introduction annoy you? If yes, then you know how I feel.

Do you want to know the reason?

Here it is.

Dago Midais, a brilliant businessman and debauchee, descendant of nightmarish Nyx Nemesis and apprentice of Archmagus Homer Sokratis, met recently with another apprentice of the same Archmagus, a brilliant researcher of a good-dreamy lineage of healers, Hera Galenos. The meeting took place in the Temple of Sweetness on the terrace called Sweet Loge where, until now, Midais had been seen only in the company of Zeno Nereus, the magus of an ancient lineage of alchemists, who two years ago were on the verge of bankruptcy because of the breakthrough alchemical discoveries made by Galenos, and Deianira Ikaros, the daughter of Dedal Ikaros, whose transportation and construction company Ikaria is worth billions of auras.

Are you intrigued now? Then buckle up because it is only the beginning.

According to the anonymous onlookers, the meeting had a romantic character.

No, it is not a slip of the quill nor a euphemism. In writing the word “romantic,” I did not mean “erotic.”

Yes, dear readers. Dago Midais was on a date where nothing more than a fleeting touch happened.

If you are not shocked yet because you think that the non-fleeting touch certainly happened after the date, then I feel obliged to crush these beliefs too. Midais and Galenos left the Temple of Sweetness not only upset but also separately.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. It seems that for the first time in history, Dago Midais did not get what he’d hoped for.

The keyword: “seems.”

What exactly was Dago Midais counting on? Why did Hera Galenos agree to meet him in such a place? Weren’t those two rivals?

I am asking these questions constantly, but I still haven’t found answers. The longer I wonder, however, the stronger my suspicion becomes.

Did Dago Midais fall in love?

If you want to know the truth, be sure to subscribe to my Diary. It is difficult for me to predict in which issue the answer will appear, but I guarantee that besides the participants of the events, you will be among the first to learn about their effects.

With incandescent dedication,

Erato Adonis