Trinket (Reverse Harem)

How I Got Here

They left me alone to bathe off the sweat and tears, but as soon as I emerged, I emerged to Korr waiting in the center of the large bed. At least he had on pants. He was sitting cross-legged, hands on his ankles, just... waiting.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Indulging my instincts," he replied. "Itek and Ethat have angered you, but I've only mildly annoyed you."

"What instincts are you indulging?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure."

"Um... okay," I said, sidestepping towards my clothes. "So what's our next move? How do we figure out if I'm this lost hippocamp princess?"

"I'm also not sure of that. Itek believes the solution is to divine why you can't shift. This will lead us to unlock what sort of shifter you are, or how the binding was done." Korr shifted his spine slightly, pondering the pattern painted on the wall opposite my bed.

"I keep telling you I don't think I'm a shifter," I said.

"And we keep telling you you are."

"But Tynn never said I was shifter. You told me all shifters can tell another shifter, just like humans can tell another human. Tynn never said anything."

"Never anything?" Korr asked.

"Well..." I said. "I mean, nobody ever assumed I was fully human. But that I'm human enough everyone just treated me like a human. Like I've got a shifter great-grandparent."

"You're a shifter," Korr said. He resettled himself to watch me change, his expression smoldering with hunger. "And you can see Maris' demonic influence. Most can't see that. Even shifters."

"But you can."

"I'm a dragon," Korr said like it was obvious. "Powerful shifters can perceive those things. Humans with magic, or angelic exposure, can perceive it. How do you think the first human mages worked? I find it curious you can see demonic influence, but aren't aware of your ability to shift. You are an assortment of contradictions. Anything else unusual about yourself we should know?"

"I don't think so?" I said. "Aside from the fact I've found my way to Haven."

"And apparently have appetites so vast the gods think you need four males to satisfy them," Korr said slyly.

"Tynn seemed to do just fine on his own."

Korr grinned. "Come here, my love, and I will show you how inept the little wolf was."

Love? Korr needed to slow that down. I didn't love him. I barely knew him, and up until an hour ago, I'd been his damn pet, and he'd hatched some shitty scheme with Itek to drop me from the sky to prove to me I had nothing to be afraid of.

"So what are you going to tell the other clans? Everyone here in Haven?" I asked instead. "Should they even know? Maybe you and Itek should keep pretending to be married."

Korr said up straight and frowned, indignant. "And insult you when the truth gets out?"

"I won't be insulted. I'm a foundling."

"We are going to tell Haven the truth. That you revealed you have a Trinket that matches ours," Korr said. "And that will also explain very neatly to the Ravens why you caught our eye. The day you came to Haven we were all restless—we'd been restless for weeks, actually. I wonder if it was you had received your Trinket and our souls knew, and somehow we call you to us."

Awww, my heart almost melted. Almost. "I never figured you for a romantic, Korr."

"I'm very romantic," Korr said with a sly grin. "All dragons are. We are beyond devoted to the object of our affection. But I do not jest, my love. We were all out flying over the lands into Haven, and Itek spotted you from five miles up. You didn't see us."