The bath and healing I'd earned after the fight with the Broodmaw had been a blessing, but it hadn't been enough. Not nearly enough. Well, the healing hadn't been. The bath had been amazing.

The reaper had opened up a thick gash across my back. That led me to a surgeon's table, where I got a lengthy set of stitches sewn across my back. All so that the shit Pit healers could heal me. Apparently, average healers couldn't heal wounds like that without more conventional methods being added in. I kept telling them I knew healers who could do it, that Lady Elise could send one if they'd just call on her, but they didn't listen.

Worse, due to all the leveling I'd done, they'd barely been able to get their needles through my skin. So that was fun. Beyond that injury, which had been bad enough, the other monster, the wingless bat thing, had carved up my arms something fierce. Oh, and the flying monster's teeth carved open a dozen more teeth marks in my shoulder and across my chest. So, more stitches, and even more fun. I was starting to look like Frankenstein's monster.

In the end, the Pit's healers had done what they could. They stitched up the worst of my wounds, gave me some kind of bitter potion that dulled the pain, and rubbed some of that magic water onto my skin, but their work was crude compared to what I was used to. Plus, they had other fighters to tend to, so they did what they could as fast as they could, threw me in the baths, and dragged me back to my cell.

Now, lying on the stone slab in my cell, I could feel a fever burning me up from the inside. The gash across my chest, where the flying bat thing's teeth had found the gaps in my armor, throbbed with every single heartbeat. Since the stitches were rough and uneven, they pulled at my skin whenever I moved, too, so I couldn't even get comfortable. Heavy, sour-smelling sweat had long since soaked through my rough prison clothes despite the cell block's constant wet chill.

Needless to say, it sucked.

"You sound like shit," Vral's voice drifted through the bars from the adjacent cell. "Your breathing's all wrong."

I tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a wheeze. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Vral."

"I'm just saying. Stop sounding like shit."

"I'm trying, ass."

That made her chuckle. "I heard you fought like a demon out there."

"Yeah. I didn't know I had it in me."

"Don't be modest, loser."

"Not modest. Just can't believe it."

She sighed. "Believe it. You killed a broodmaw and a bunch of spawn and saved, what, four peasants?" There was something like approval in her voice. "That's bad ass."

It was my turn to laugh. "Think so?"

"Fuck yeah, I do. I wish I'd seen it."

"Why's that?"

"I bet it was hot." Her voice got husky.

"That's what gets you going, huh?"

"What, you think I wouldn't want to see a hunky guy cut down a bunch of monsters like a total fucking badass? What kind of girl do you think I am?"

I chuckled. "We haven't really talked about what kind of girl you are."

"Yeah, well, get it straight. I'm here for that shit."

"Noted."

"One day, when you get us out of here, you need to do it all again, and you need to make sure I get to watch next time."

"Deal." Goblins were weird.

She sighed. "Your word don't mean much if you die from infection down here. So don't die. Got it?" Was she nagging me right now?

"I'll be fine," I muttered, shifting position and immediately regretting it as pain shot across my back.

"You better be. I didn't spend all this time getting to know you just to have you die on me. If you do, I'll kill you myself."

"How would you do that? I'd be dead, Vral."

"So? You think that would stop me?"

Despite everything, that actually did make me chuckle. "I'll keep it in mind."

"You better."

The sound of approaching footsteps echoed down the corridor. I closed my eyes, hoping whoever it was would just pass by. The last thing I wanted was another visit from Aerell or one of her people. Unfortunately, the footsteps stopped right outside my cell.

Keys jangled, and my cell door creaked open.

"Healer's here to work on you, courtesy of your handler," a guard's gruff voice announced. Another figure appeared, hood drawn and shawl covering their face, but before they could enter, the guard stopped them. "Word of advice: be careful with this one. He's strong, and he's Aerell's favorite pet. She won't be happy if something happens to him, and he's too strong for us to stop him before he gets you. But, since Aerell wants him healed, you're here to heal him. Just don't come crying if you get hurt, and if anything happens, you knew the risk."

The hooded figure nodded and stepped into my cell. I couldn't make out their face, but they carried a leather satchel that clinked softly with the sound of glass vials. Sweet, sweet healing potions.

The guard locked the door behind the healer with a heavy clank. "You've got an hour." Pointing at me through the slat in the door, he added, "Don't do anything stupid, Sentinel."

I shrugged. "I won't do anything. You see how many monsters I fucked up today? Too tired."

The guard grunted and disappeared.

The healer looked at me for a long moment before dropping their satchel and opening the flap. Inside were dozens of healing potions, and they were the really nice ones by the look of the bottles.

I whistled. "Damn, for me?"

"They're a gift." Her voice was soft and melodic. And familiar.

"Have you healed me before?" I was trying to place when I'd heard her voice before. It was nice.

"Once or twice." She looked like she was rifling through the potions, but on closer inspection, I could tell that she was wasting time.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for the right potion."

"No, you're not. I've seen people use potions like these before. Plenty of times, in fact. I know how they work. Kind of. A little. What are you really doing?"

"She's fucking with you," Vral said next door. "You know how these fucks are. The second you get hurt, they act like they're tough shit. Why don't you kick her face in and call it a day?"

"Don't do that. Just wait." The woman kept her head down.

"For what?"

The door at the end of the cell block opened, then closed again, causing a booming sound to bounce down the hallway. Only then did the healer grab two potions, stand up, and pull her hood back.

"Tristan?"

She grinned at me. "Hey, love."

I stood up, groaning all the way to my feet, and wrapped her in my arms. Picking her up off her feet, I squeezed her to my chest and kissed her. Then, when one of the stitches popped, I groaned again and sat back down. "Okay, that was a little too much."

She swatted me. "Dummy! I saw your damn fight. Don't go straining yourself after that!"

"I mean, a hot ass quarter elf is in my cell right now. What was I supposed to do? Not kiss you?"

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"Shut up, take your shirt off, and let me do my thing."

I could just barely hear Vral next door say, "Hot."

Before I could follow Tristan's directions, she was already pulling my shirt off. When it pulled away, her eyes went wide, and she blushed. "Um... have you always been so..."

"So what?"

"Rock solid?"

Vral scoffed. "What, you didn't notice those massive muscles the last time you had your ankles around his—"

"Tristan!" I cut the goblin off. "Meet Vral. Vral, Tristan."

Tristan was already blushing to the tips of her ears. Under her breath, she asked, "You told her about that?"

The goblin snickered. "No, but you just did."

When Tristan's eyes went wide, I shrugged. "Good ears."

Tristan turned tomato red. "Um... where..."

I pointed at the pipe next to my cot. "Down there."

"Oh." She took a deep breath. "Hi, Vral. Alex told me you two are friends now."

"Hey, girlie. Not friends so much as a master fighter and her training dummy, but close enough. Your man's told me a lot about you, though."

"Good things, I hope?"

"Yup. All that gushy shit, too, like 'she's beautiful' and 'she's been there for me no matter what' and 'we're best friends.' Oh, and that stuff about him thinking you were a boy. I saw you outside the mine. The fuck, Alex? She's hot as hell. Fuck's wrong with you?"

I groaned. "It was hard to tell!"

Tristan added, "I hadn't gone through the change yet, and I was weird about it. It's not entirely his fault."

"Pshh, the second you got all hot for him, you should have taken him out back and kicked his ass. That would have settled the issue."

"Maybe next time." The priestess grinned.

I groaned. "Not everyone's insane like you, Vral. Knock it off."

Somehow, she audibly grinned. "Make me."

"You're a mess." Sighing, I turned so that Tristan could see my back. "Think you can patch me up?"

Her hands ran across my back. "Yeah. It shouldn't be a problem."

I heard her uncork a vial behind me, then she started rubbing something wet into my skin. It smelled like... vanilla? "What is that?"

"Healing potion. A good one."

"Like the ones the temple gets sometimes?"

"Yeah. We found a vendor in town with them. Said he'd gotten them recently."

That jogged something in my memory. The quest we got from Faye! I'd honestly completely forgotten about the alchemist on account of... well, everything. "Have you found that gnome yet?"

She sighed. "No. With that whole war sparking up, I haven't had a chance. I don't think he'll be easy to find, either, since so many people are displaced up topside. Plus, once I found out where you were, I've been doing everything I could to get to you. So, here I am."

That pissed me off. "I told Elise to make sure you didn't do anything reckless."

"So? You're not the boss of me."

"You tell him, elfie!"

"You're not helping, Vral."

"She is, too. Don't shut her down." Tristan pressed a little harder on my stitches.

I nearly yelped. "I didn't want you to be at risk. It's dangerous down here."

"I don't care what you want for me right now, Alex, and I'm not about to sit aside and let you take everything on your own anymore. I told you before: I'm not some fragile flower that needs protecting."

"But—"

"But nothing. It took me months to find you. Then, when you were finally in front of me, Elise had me do that whole game of hers when you and she met. All I wanted to do was run to you, but she said I wasn't allowed to stay if I interfered. So I had to watch from the sidelines as she did her best to manipulate you into joining her team. And I went along with it, because all I wanted was to be with you again. I'd have given anything and sacrificed everything for the chance to see you freed."

"Tristan..."

"Wait." She held a hand to my back. "Just listen to me a bit longer, Okay?"

"Okay."

"That morning... after you left... I realized then and there that I'd never sit on the sidelines again, and I wasn't joining anyone else's team. The only team I'm ever going to be on from here on out is our team."

"I..." I really needed to hear that.

"And, I know that this is where you're supposed to be. I don't know why, and I don't know how it'll all work out, but this is where you need to be, so this is where I'll be until the day you get out. I'm not leaving your side."

"Damn, Alex. You weren't lying. She really is a good one."

"Told you, you ass!"

"How'd you manage to pull a woman like that?"

Before I could answer, Tristan spoke. "Because he's an amazing man, and he makes me want to be better. I'm lucky to have him."

Vral whistled. "You've got it bad, girlie."

"You have no idea, Vral." She bent over my shoulder and smiled at me. Her face was filled with love. "I really do."

I kissed Tristan's nose. "Honestly, the more I thought about how it all went down that day, the more pissed off I got. But I was too tired to think at the time. Plus, I was happy to see you, and it had been a while since we... and... so... you know..."

She leaned back and massaged the stuff into my shoulders. It was starting to feel really good. "Oh, I know."

"What a night."

"You were an animal."

"I'm right here, you two." Vral snapped.

I reached up and grabbed Tristan's hand. "It won't be the last time, either. When I get out of here, we'll need that month in Fairview we were talking about. Let's make it two."

"I like the sound of that."

"Guys?"

Tristan pressed her chest to my back. "I can't wait for you to do that thing again. You know, when you—"

"Guys!"

The two of us snapped out of the horny haze. "Uh, sorry."

"Y-yeah! Sorry!"

"Save it for after Alex saves us all. Damn sluts."

I couldn't help but take a shot at her. "What, I thought you were just talking about what kind of girl you were?"

She huffed, then grumbled something I couldn't quite make out: "... would be... only someone... hand... fair and square..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

Tristan reached into her satchel and pulled something out. "Hey, bite this." A leather-wrapped stick appeared in my hand.

"I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Nope."

"Great." I shoved the stick between my teeth and mumbled, "mmffkay."

Her fingers found the stitches on my back. Then, she started pulling them out one by one.

Yeah, I didn't like it at all.

"What's she doing?" Vral asked.

"Mfpmfpmfp."

"Huh?"

"This stitch work is shit. It'll heal all wrong and get infected if they stay in."

"Oh... Oh! Sucks to be Alex right now."

"He'll live." Tristan's fingers moved fast, and before too long, the stitches were out. "This'll itch real bad, love, but bear with me." She whispered some words under her breath, and there was a flash of light. Then, burning, followed by itching, followed by relief.

Pulling the stick out of my mouth, I said, "Phew, you weren't kidding. That was shit."

"Sorry. I had to." She quickly pulled out a half dozen vials. "Now, drink these. Fast. They taste horrible."

One by one, I took them from her and threw them back. She was right. They tasted like battery acid. When I threw back the last one, I took a deep breath and let the alchemy do its work. The torn skin on my chest and shoulder began knitting together. As my wounds healed, energy returned to my weary bones.

"Okay, another spell, and you should be good to go."

"Do it."

She mumbled something under her breath, pressed her hands to my chest, and white light flashed from her hands. In seconds, between the magic and alchemy, I felt nearly as good as new.

"Damn. That's some quality healing. If only they all healed like you."

"Only the best for the Iron Sentinel." She emphasized my arena name with a big grin on her face.

"You like it?"

"It's growing on me. After seeing you fight today, I, um..." She fidgeted.

"See? I'm not the only one who thinks it's hot!" Vral chimed in from next door.

I pulled Tristan down onto my lap and kissed her. "You liked what you saw, huh?"

"I mean, it was tragic, and senseless, and sad, but..." Her sapphire eyes glowed in the dim light. "You were amazing." Her lips brushed mine. "Incredible, really. It did things to me."

"Go on." I reached around and squeezed Tristan's ass. That got a small moan out of the woman.

"Come on!" Vral groaned.

"Sorry, Vral." With an incredible feat of willpower, I pulled away from my woman. "So, what's it like up topside?"

Tristan sighed. "The city's getting cleaned up. Things aren't so rough up there now, and most of the Barons' soldiers have been healed. There's still a lot of gang activity and all that, but we're making some progress."

"Good. And what about Elise? Is she still on the fence about whether she wants to be a horrible person or not?"

"She's been different since you talked to her. I don't know what part of your conversation stuck with her, but she's far more focused on helping people and far less interested in working with the noble factions. It probably helps that Ennel hasn't left her side, too."

"He's with her now?"

"Yeah. I got called back up to the surface to help the other healers for a couple of days, and once I was ready to come back down here, Ennel demanded to come back with us. Elise agreed after a dozen arguments, and he and Silan both came down and are staying with her."

Huh. "That's good, I guess."

"Yeah. He's a good influence on her."

"I can't imagine him being a good influence on anyone. He's a horse's ass."

Hey!" She smacked me. "Give him a chance. He really has changed for the better."

"No promises."

She sighed. Then, her eyes found mine. "Elise said to keep the stone she gave you with you at all times."

I felt for it. It was still in my pocket. "You know why?"

"Nope. I have no idea what it does, and she wouldn't say."

"God, she's infuriating."

"She really is."

I looked at her. "What about you? How did you get here?"

She stood up, twirled, and said, "I'm the Pit's newest healer, Dalia."

"You don't think they'll figure you out?"

"Nope." She pulled a cloth mask out of her pocket. "Not with this, they won't." She tied the mask around her face. The instant she cinched it in the back, her appearance transformed from the Tristan I knew to a plain, nondescript woman of maybe forty.

"Wow, that's handy."

"Yeah! Elise got it for me." She untied the mask and put it back in her pocket. "Plus, even if they suspected something, they wouldn't dare to mess with me. Not since Elise had half of the Pit's guards and a third of the healers arrested a week ago."

"Arrested? Aren't the Dregs mostly lawless?"

"Yeah. That's why she tricked them into coming topside. Once they did, that was it."

That was good news. Maybe Elise really had changed. "Good. Fuck 'em."

Tristan smirked at me. "Yeah... Fuck 'em." She moved closer and kissed my neck.

Reaching up, I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and pulled her lips to mine. Our tongues brushed.

"I can hear that, you two."

"Sucks to be Vral right now," Tristan said, a shit-eating grin spread across her face.

"Yeah, a real shame for her." I stood, spun Tristan around, and grabbed her by her hair.

Tristan tensed up. "What are you—"

I growled in her ear. "I wouldn't make any sudden moves if I were you."

Tristan's body relaxed, and she pressed into me. "And what'll happen if I do?"

"See, here's the thing. I've got a tiny bit of resentment built up toward you Pit people right about now. And I think I'm going to need to take it out on you."

She pressed her ass into my groin. "What are you saying, Mr. Sentinel, sir? Would a big, strong hero like you take advantage of the brand new healer who came down to take care of you tonight?"

"She came here knowing exactly what she'd get, didn't she?"

She pressed her ass into me harder. "Maybe she did." She bit her lip. "And maybe she's not so innocent as she lets on." She turned her head and nibbled my earlobe. "And maybe, just maybe, she has a massive crush on the Pit's famous Wicked Templar and wants to see if the rumors about him are true..."

In a single pull, I had her robes pulled over her hips, and she'd already pulled the drawstring on my pants.

As my pants fell, I heard Vral mutter two words: "So hot..."

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