I stripped down to my briefs, pulled the covers back, and lay on my back with the lights out. About half an hour later, a warm body joined me as Karen...eased her long, lean torso into bed and snuggled into my side. She whispered, "There, that's better." She placed her phone on the nightstand. Its alarm went off at five. We kissed and she got up, put her robe on, and slipped out and back to her bedroom.I tried to return to sleep. I never quite made it but did get into that half asleep, half awake. ”The team leader grinned and described my association spell and the men it identified. They were sullen and against the wall and the councilor nodded, “then you have the killers. Terminate them now and destroy the bodies.”We bowed and he swept out, his kind were not known for violence. I looked at the team leader and pulled a knife and whispered a spell of illusion and sleep. He looked at the other constables and then nodded. I moved to the two men responsible that were still alive. They jerked. She ordered a drink and we went back to my table. We chatted for a bit getting to know each other. The whole time we talked whenever she looked away I found myself checking out her body. Unbeknownst to me she was checking me out too. We didn’t meet to hook up that day but the tension between us was impossible to fight.We finished our drinks and left the coffee shop. This is usually the point where the woman thanks me for the coffee and then I never see her again. But this time was different. I. "Hunger works nicely. Are there deserters already?" Every night. Between four and six of them. We strip them of their arms, give them a silver mark each and send them on their way. A few even asked to serve in my lines. Rugenberg is not well-liked by his foot soldiers, ever since he sacrificed them on the field of Ehrenberg, to bait the trap for Arnulf's brother." Can we take his lands outright?"Count August shook his head dubiously."Usually not. He's a follower of the Roman Church, to boot..