“You got home late last night, Mir.”

  With those soft words, Leifr bent to plant a kiss on his forehead, extending a steaming earthenware mug for Mir to take. What a view to wake up to. His husband's face was a work of art with full lips, a proud nose, and purple eyes in the hue of orchids behind his gold-rimmed mana lenses. The streaming sunlight even brought out the violet sheen of his husband’s hair.

  He propped himself up on an elbow, taking the mug by the rim and sipping, blinking his mismatched eyes. “Apologies, Lei. Ran into a small issue on the road home.”

  A snort followed, Lei’s powerful arms folded over his chest, sweater bunching. “Small issue? How many bodies is that?” The dragon’s face was impassive, lenses glinting as he watched over the rim of his mug.

  “Three.” Another swallow, Mir’s lazy gaze roaming the figure of his husband as he thought to change the subject. Unfortunately, only one other thing came to mind, that Leifr Grimm was a gorgeous dragon with a fetching human form, the most perfect creature to ever live in Mir's opinion. “Stop flexing, your pectorals are a criminal offense.”

  That made Lei laugh, shifting his posture into a more relaxed one. “Good thing I married a criminal then. Who are you going to report me to?”

  Fully sitting up in bed now, Mir’s ivory hair was a mess, hanging everywhere unrestrained. It gave the Ley-Scarred an air of innocence he didn’t deserve in the least. “I am my own highest authority, and you’re in luck, I’m in the mood to grant pardons if you pay the fine.” A strong hand seized the other by the wrist, pulling the dragon down for a kiss, both of them laughing their way through it like newlyweds. “Good morning, my heart.”

  “Good morning, darling, breakfast is ready.” Lei motioned to the door with his mug. “If you’re not dressed in fifteen, I’m going to start eating without you, though. I’m starving.” As if to punctuate his words, the dragon’s stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.

  Mir grinned around the rim of his mug. “Well, experience tells me hungry dragons are difficult to deal with. I’ll be right out.” He paused, one hand on the duvet. “Unless you want to watch?”

  “Tempting offer, but I’ve got clients coming after breakfast. Be a bit rude of me to hang a sign on the door asking them to come back later because I’m busy giving you an unscheduled ravishing.”

  The dragon was out the door before Mir could do more than laugh in response, eyes lingering in the direction the other had gone for a moment. Then the blankets were tossed back, and Mir was in motion, going through the morning routine to get himself presentable.

  The marriage between the Ex-Dark Lord and the former Guardian of the Lifestream was one of the world’s great mysteries. They had met on opposite sides of a conflict and, by all rights, should have remained staunch enemies. But sometimes the outcome everyone expects isn’t the one that they get. It was with the tacit understanding of the Powers That Be that the two of them were left alone in this little mountain valley, retired and living largely in peace.

  Leifr spent his time cultivating rare herbs and making lovingly enchanted earthenware. Vladimir brewed his potions and worked on his alchemical creations. Together they were that slightly odd couple, one a potion peddler and the other a minor marvels merchant. Hardly the stuff of legends these days. That was the nature of retirement, though, the two of them quite done with world-shaking exploits. That was how you got Heroes, and neither of them felt like being infested with Heroes at this age.

  Mir slipped into his seat at the table, tail curling around Lei’s calf as he reached for the muffins and fresh gorgon butter. “So who’s the client?”

  The dragon snorted in response, glancing down at his husband’s wandering tail with mild amusement. “It’s a good thing you retired, if anyone out there knew that the Dark Lord himself was clingy in the morning, it would damage your image, darling.”

  Mir poked a bit of muffin into his husband’s mouth. “They’d be dead before they could open their unfortunate mouths. I’ll accept nobody spying upon my privacy and suffer them to live. Besides, if I’m clinging to you, I’m not out there causing trouble, right?”

  In truth, it was habit and routine at this point. The two of them were casually physical with each other. Like they needed those constant touches to remind themselves that their good lives were real.

  “So, the merchant, my heart?” Mir gently reminded the other, hoping to have his curiosity indulged.

  Lei laughed. “The one from By-Bridge. You know, big belly, big beard, big eye for profit.” He rubbed his fingers together to suggest coin was to be made. “Bought a couple of things at the Harvest Festival, and I guess sold them on to some minor noble. He’s traveling along the Old Road and sent word he’d be stopping by to negotiate a larger order.”

  Mir paused his muffin buttering, brows drawing together. “The energy along the Old Road doesn’t feel right. I noted it when I was at the crossroads last night. I’d have investigated if it weren’t for those three idiots.” He resumed buttering, adding some jam from the pot to assuage his sweet tooth. “I’ll go check on it later.”

  “I’ve noticed a few things. It’s not really my business anymore, though. Yours either.” Their retirement was hard won, and the peace around them was payment for services rendered. Or a bribe to stop causing trouble in Mir’s case. Either way, the dragon didn’t want to put his whiskers back into anything 'interesting'.

  “I’m not interested in taking up the tome and dagger again, Lei. Even mayhem gets boring when you’ve run out of new ways to cause it. This jam is fantastic, by the way, new berry blend?”

  If his husband was changing the subject, he was definitely going to go poke it. Lei wasn’t going to let him off the hook. “Yes, it is, I added cloudberry this time. But promise me if you go look at the Old Road, you’re just going to look darling. You’re not going to do anything but look.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Mir paused mid-bite, lowering the muffin, then chuckling. “You’re no fun. Fine, I’ll just go snoop a little bit, and I won’t touch anything. I swear on your heart.”

  That put the dragon at ease. Vladimir Grimm was as dishonest as the polar night was long, well known for twisting words in ways that made fae cry tears of blood. But not to Liefr. He’d never break an oath sworn on his husband’s heart.

  “Usual clauses, Mir. I don’t expect you to just stand there and get punched in the face if something happens.” The dragon spooned some of the jam into his oats, stirring happily. “I just don’t want to give certain entities excuses to claim you’re ‘active’ again.”

  The rest of breakfast lapsed into comfortable silence, things silently asked for with gestures and motions of eyes, passed over with smiles. They’d been married for a decade, intimate for far longer. Centuries of on again, off again connection would forge a bond like that.

  With the food eaten and the dishes cleared, they both went their separate ways to get ready, slipping into the personae they’d perfected. The homebody herbalist and his more outdoorsy husband. A known set of faces to the residents of nearby hamlets and villages.

  They lived here together in their little valley cabin, surrounded by carefully built outbuildings and tended herb beds. The orchard of fruit trees, the sweep of wildflower fields, and beautiful snow-capped mountains that provided gorgeous vistas in every direction. Normally, the valley existed in a perfect early summer, the fruit ripe, the flowers in bloom. The lake would sparkle just outside their door and invite them to dip their toes in.

  With a visitor coming, an illusion had been carefully cast, making the valley match the late autumn of the rest of the surroundings. The same bite in the air, the same gray skies. Mir wore his wolf fur-topped boots and a cloak trimmed in the same, a short sword on his hip, and a bow on his back.

  He kissed Lei on the cheek, pushing the dragon’s lenses back up his nose. “I’ll be back in time to make dinner. Anything you want me to look for on the way back?”

  “If you run across the boar that’s been trying to get at my Gildercaps then please, shoot it and bring it home for dinner. We’re almost out of smoked ham anyway.” Sure, they could have caught the boar with magic, or Lei could have just magicked ham into existence, but the dragon held himself to standards. It was the only way to get Mir to follow.

  Another kiss, a lingering hug, resting his chin on the top of that dark hair, and feeling the warmth of Lei’s firm frame against him, and then Mir was off.

  If anyone had pointed out to him a decade ago that he’d give up his life of evil and debauchery and move to the countryside, Mir would have called them an idiot and then incinerated their skeleton while it was still inside them. He’d spent his whole life becoming the Dark Lord, polishing his reputation till just the thought of him could cause psychic damage.

  Now here he was, with a handmade scarf around his neck and a sandwich his husband had carefully packed for him in his lunch satchel, walking on foot like a common traveler. And he was happy, something he’d never been during all his years doing that job.

  It was for the sake of his own curiosity that he was going to poke at the Old Road’s energy. Last night at the Pot and Kettle, he’d heard some interesting rumors. Well, interesting for him, unsettling for others. He’d have pressed old Baor for more information last night had it not been for the three ne’er-do-wells who had been eyeing him for his parts. A hand reached up, rubbing the base of one horn.

  Ley-Scarred, that’s what they called him. Technically, it wasn’t correct, Ley-Scarred were people who’d been downstream of one of his more heinous spells. Ordinary folks caught in an extraordinary magic backlash. No, Vladimir looked like this because of his own doing, changes wrought in his flesh as prices paid for powers and deeds done. He didn’t regret it. Leifr loved him just as he was, but he did have his moments when he wished he could look normal without excessive use of illusion. If only to stroll the village green with his husband on his arm and not draw whispers.

  Holly-on-Green had always been on the welcoming and tolerant side. They’d had a Priest of Peace guiding their holy souls for decades before the strange couple had shown up at the Pot and Kettle with intent to settle. Liefr was easier to swallow, mostly human save for his strange eyes, odd coloration, and a few scales in a few places. Mir knew the problem was himself.

  Still, when Father Thom had passed on, and no new priest had come to replace him, Mir’s alchemical remedies had been the only thing standing between the villagers and death. It was odd to be saving lives. He wasn’t sure he liked it. It felt off. Like combing his hair the wrong direction.

  In contrast, the energy flowing off the Old Road felt familiar. He’d cut through the forest to hide his movements, after all, cutting back down the crossroads risked being spotted by those at the Pot and Kettle, and he'd be hard pressed to answer what he was doing back so quickly. It was also faster travel, he wasn’t impeded by the terrain like a normal man would be. It didn’t dare.

  Kneeling now, he put a hand to the soil and sent his senses through it. The energy in this area had been disgustingly pure when they’d settled here, no doubt what had drawn Lei in the first place. Mir had to be very careful when he interacted with it in order to leave no traces. That was why when he felt that old, familiar rot at his fingertips, he couldn’t help but bare his teeth in something too feral to be a smile.

  “I knew it.”

  It was like a single drop of ink in a bowl of water. No, not quite one, but only a handful. No more than a dozen. Not yet visible to those observing the bowl, but undeniably there. This was direct, caused by someone impure handling the energy in very specific ways that one Vladimir Grimm was far too familiar with.

  “What wickedness dares to take root in my garden?”