Elowen had the brilliant idea of hosting a sleepover party, and the females loved it.
And so it happened that Mirabelle’s males were forced to spend the evening without her.
Which was probably for the best.
Because only the Beast Goddess knew what Mirabelle might have done while in her current state of intoxication.
Silas, Kaelith, and Lucien found themselves once again in a familiar underground arena to work off so accumulated frustration and establish a hierarchy among themselves...
Let’s just leave them under the illusion that they had any say in the matter.
The underground arena was illuminated by the rows of flickering torches mounted along the stone walls.
The massive roots descended from the ceiling like the limbs of ancient sleeping giants, twisting through the rock and disappearing into the darkness above.
Dark sand still covered the arena floor, as it had for generations.
The air slled of dust, sweat, iron, and old battles.
A low murmur echoed through the chamber as spectators gathered along the stone terraces.
For a brief mont, the three Beastn stood motionless.
Then everything exploded as muscles moved.
Shadows surged across the sand.
Silas vanished.
One mont he was standing there.
The next, he dissolved into darkness itself.
Black tendrils burst from nearby shadows like living tentacles while dark mist spread across the arena floor.
Attacks ca from impossible angles.
Sotis a shadow would move.
Sotis the shadow itself beca Silas.
Lucien’s response was imdiate.
The arena distorted.
Space folded.
Distances stretched and compressed.
The place where Lucien stood suddenly wasn’t where Lucien stood anymore.
Illusions multiplied.
One fox beca three.
Then five.
Then ten.
Each moving differently.
Each appearing completely real.
The audience watched in confusion as reality itself seed to bend around him.
Excitent quickly spread through the Beastn who had followed the three males underground after realizing there was no longer any chance of finding a female at tonight’s ball.
They watched from the stone terraces, whispering among themselves as they evaluated every movent, attack, and evasive maneuver displayed in the arena below.
Their murmured discussions blended into a constant background hum beneath the clash of battle.
Only occasionally was it interrupted by a shouted cheer, an impressed curse, or a sympathetic groan whenever one of the males took a particularly brutal hit.
Then Kaelith smiled.
Sothing changed.
Nobody could have explained what.
The air felt heavier.
Colder.
Not physically.
Sothing deeper.
Several spectators suddenly felt their souls tremble.
For the briefest instant, so thought they saw sothing standing behind the hyena Beastman.
Sothing vast.
Sothing ancient.
Sothing that should not exist.
The sensation vanished imdiately.
But it left behind an instinctive fear that refused to fade.
And then Kaelith joined the fight.
At the sa ti, Mirabelle was lying on her stomach across Lysandra’s bed.
She wore nothing but a silky robe.
Her legs were bent upward behind her, gently kicking through the air while she stuffed midnight snacks into her mouth.
Beside her sat Lysandra, carefully brushing her fox tail.
The red fur flowed through the brush like liquid rubys.
The room felt worlds away from the noise and politics of the ballroom below.
Warm, muted colors dominated everything.
Soft creams, pale golds, and natural wood tones blended together beneath white walls carved with delicate patterns of leaves, flowers, and curling vines.
The furniture looked almost elven in design — elegant without being fragile, playful without being childish. Rounded shapes replaced sharp corners, while small glowing crystals hidden among hanging plants cast a gentle amber light throughout the room.
Every detail seed designed to make its occupants feel comfortable enough to stay up talking until sunrise.
Across this princess room, Elowen was buried waist-deep inside a wardrobe.
Every few monts she would throw another dress toward Caelia.
"Try this one."
Caelia obediently did.
To Mirabelle’s surprise, the deer female wasn’t nearly as shy as she usually seed.
Now that they were alone among females, she had absolutely no problem standing completely naked while changing from one dress into the next.
She examined each outfit critically before moving on to the next one.
anwhile, Nyria sat curled up in a large wingback chair beside the crackling fireplace.
A thick book rested on her lap.
However, she hadn’t turned a single page in quite so ti.
Instead, she was quietly watching everyone else.
Or more specifically—
she was watching Caelia.
While her gaze never left the rabbit and deer female, Nyria directed her words toward Mirabelle:
"Isn’t it about ti you made a decision?"
In that mont, the Beast Goddess nearly claid Mirabelle for herself when a grape slipped down the lynx female’s windpipe.
Mirabelle choked violently.
Lysandra imdiately smacked her firmly on the back.
The grape shot out in a high arc and bounced across the floor.
Every female followed it with her eyes.
"You almost killed her," Elowen whispered.
"Hadn’t we agreed not to bring it up?" Caelia raised an eyebrow as her head slowly turned toward Nyria.
"You agreed on what?" Mirabelle croaked, still struggling for air.
"Not to bring up your male situation," Elowen helpfully explained.
"Why?" Mirabelle cried.
"Because of that." Caelia pointed toward the grape. "Because you very obviously belong to the rare species of female that either can’t or won’t make a decision, and it’s painfully obvious how overwheld all of this is making you."
Mirabelle stared at her in disbelief.
Not only because of what she had said.
But because of how much she had said.
She had never heard the deer female use so many words at once.
Unfortunately, every single one of them hit their mark.
Because they proved the four females had analyzed her perfectly.
The crackling fireplace filled the occasional pauses between their words. Every now and then a log shifted, sending a shower of sparks dancing behind the protective screen.
The room slled of sweet fruit, wine, brushed fur, and the faint scent of lavender drifting from freshly washed blankets.
Outside, night insects sang sowhere beyond the castle walls, their distant chorus barely audible through the closed windows.
Despite the cozy atmosphere, the air around Mirabelle felt increasingly heavy. While her friends spoke casually, analyzing her situation with the rciless efficiency of people who weren’t personally trapped inside it, each observation landed with uncomfortable accuracy.
Laughter occasionally broke out among the females, but Mirabelle found herself sinking deeper into thought with every passing minute and spoken word.
And if those words had struck true, the next ones riddled her like machine-gun fire.
"It’s completely understandable that you’re taking your ti and thinking everything through carefully. But for the three of them, it’s honestly pretty unfair to keep them hanging like this."
Lysandra said it casually, as if she were comnting on the weather.
Elowen nodded in agreent.
"They’re completely gone for you. Even a blind person could see it. And so far, they don’t even know whether you plan on accepting them soday. Never mind anyti soon."
Caelia sighed as though she could physically feel the males’ suffering.
"Hey! Whose side are you actually on?"
Outraged, Mirabelle threw a grape at the rabbit female.
Elowen simply caught it out of the air and began chewing.
"Yours, obviously."
"Exactly. That’s why we’re worried. It’s pretty obvious there’s sothing there. You’re attracted to all three of them in so way, aren’t you?"
Mirabelle automatically nodded at Nyria’s carefully phrased question.
"Then why don’t you at least tell them that you plan on making them your partners eventually? Because it is going to happen sooner or later..."
"And if one of the three isn’t an option for you, then you should tell him that as well." Caelia’s voice was gentle.
"Yes! Keep it short. A quick stab to the heart is kinder than letting soone slowly bleed out," Elowen said with several emphatic nods.
As she spoke, she pantomid stabbing soone.
Lysandra and Nyria burst out laughing as they watched the rabbit female wildly gesturing through the air.
Mirabelle, however, wasn’t in the mood for humor.
Her mind was racing.
Suddenly, she felt sothing fresh move through her mind.
It reminded her of the sensation of mint spreading through her throat.
Yes.
Nyria was right.
Deep down, she had known that all along.
Only her modern mind had refused to acknowledge it.
For that part of her, everything was happening far too quickly.
But her body wanted more.
And if she intended to live in this world...
then she would eventually have to acknowledge the needs of that body as well.
That realization felt like a revelation to the lynx female.
She suddenly understood that she had rely been postponing sothing that was going to happen anyway.
Deep down, she had already made her decision.
The realization should have terrified her.
Instead, it felt strangely relieving.
For days she had treated the question as though it still needed an answer.
Now she realized she had known that answer all along.
Apparently, all of that overthinking had achieved exactly nothing.
Her heart had made the decision long before her brain caught up.
Several hundred ters below her, three heavily panting and thoroughly disheveled males remained blissfully unaware that their fate had already been sealed.
They were still fighting over a decision that had already been made.
Not a single one of them had received the mo.
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