Chapter 78: Priorities*
Talia’s room smelled like expensive perfume.
Everything was either black marble or silver silk. Even the bed frame had gems embedded in it, because apparently, regular wood wasn’t fancy enough for royalty.
"Are you even—fuck—paying attention?" Talia gasped as she bounced on Aegis’s cock.
Aegis blinked, focusing back on the princess riding her. Talia’s hair stuck to her sweaty forehead. Her tits bounced with each movement. Her pussy gripped Aegis’s dick like it was personally offended by the lack of attention.
"Yeah. Totally."
"Liar." Talia slammed down harder, making Aegis’s vision blur. "You’re thinking about something else."
[Guilty.]
"Sorry. Just... a lot going on."
"Like what? My girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend showing up to steal her back?" Talia’s rhythm got angrier. "Or my mother selling me off like cattle?"
"All of the above?"
Talia stopped moving entirely.
"Seriously?"
"I mean..." Aegis grabbed Talia’s hips, trying to get her to move again. "It’s been a weird week. I’m trying to figure out what to prioritize."
"We’re having sex and you’re making priority lists?"
"Multi-tasking is a valuable skill."
Talia glared down at her. Then she started moving again, but slower, meaner. The kind of rhythm designed to drive someone insane.
"Fine. Let’s talk about Serilla then."
"While we’re—"
"Yes, while we’re fucking. Since apparently that’s when you do your best thinking." Talia rolled her hips in a way that made Aegis’s toes curl. "What’s your take on the situation?"
"I think—oh fuck—I think she’s dangerous."
"Obviously. What else?"
Aegis tried to focus, which was difficult with Talia’s pussy trying to extract Aegis’s soul through her dick.
"She knows you. Like, really knows you. That comment about finishing school—"
"We all went to Lady Pembroke’s Academy for Young Ladies when we were thirteen." Talia’s nails dug into Aegis’s shoulders. "Me, Liora, and Serilla. Three years of etiquette lessons and barely suppressed sexual tension."
"Sounds fun."
"It was hell." Talia’s pace quickened. "Serilla and Liora were together within the first month. I had to watch them sneak around, making out in alcoves, fucking in the music room after hours."
"And you wanted Liora even then?"
"I wanted both of them."
Aegis’s cock twitched hard at that admission.
"Both?"
"Don’t look so surprised. I was young and stupid. Serilla’s hot in that whole ’ruin your life’ kind of way." Talia’s pussy clenched.
[As are you.]
"But," Talia kept going, "she’s also possessive. Controlling. The moment she realized I had feelings for Liora, she made sure I knew Liora was hers."
"What did she do?"
"Fucked Liora against my dorm room door while I was inside studying." Talia’s movements got erratic. "Made sure I could hear everything. Every moan, every wet sound, every time Liora screamed her name."
"Jesus."
"Who’s that?"
"Uh, wow," Aegis corrected.
"Yes." Talia was close now, her thighs trembling. "So when she says she knows me? She’s not lying. She knows exactly how to hurt me."
She came hard, pussy spasming around Aegis’s cock. Aegis followed right after, pumping cum deep inside her.
They lay there panting for a moment. Then Talia rolled off, flopping onto the silk sheets.
"So what do we do about her?"
"Honestly?" Aegis stared at the ceiling, which had a painting of some goddess or other judging them. "I have no idea. I’ve got the Winter Trials coming up, the Monthly Ranking Test..."
[Sister Mirabel breathing down my neck about shadow magic, too. Too many problems. Not enough solutions.]
"You need a plan."
"I need about six plans."
"Then make them." Talia turned to look at her. "You’re annoyingly good at improvising, but you can’t improvise through everything."
She was right. Aegis had been reacting to everything instead of actually planning ahead. Just trying to survive each crisis as it came.
"I should go."
"Probably." Talia didn’t move to cover herself. "Same time tomorrow?"
"Your mom won’t notice?"
"Mother thinks I’m at evening prayer."
"And she believes that?"
"She believes what she wants to believe." Talia’s smile was bitter. "Her perfect daughter would never be fucking a commoner in her spare time, after all."
---
The Sky Piercer always looked different at night.
During the day, it was just another academy building. Tall, sure, but nothing special. At midnight, though, it became something else. Moonlight turned the stone silver. The shadows moved in ways that suggested they were alive.
Aegis took Rosanna’s usual magical lift to the top, peeking once or twice to make sure the guards weren’t looking her way. Somehow, even now, the ride up made her stomach flip—not from the height, but from the increasing density of magic. By the time she reached the meditation platform, the air was so thick with aether it felt like breathing soup.
Queen Rosanna stood at the platform’s edge, transparent hands clasped behind her back, wearing what looked like a purple dress, though it was hard to tell with her being somewhat transparent and all.
"You’re troubled."
"That obvious?"
"You’re slouching. You only slouch when you’re overwhelmed." Rosanna turned, her ghostly features sharp in the moonlight. "Tell me."
So Aegis did. Everything from Darius’s arrival to Serilla’s return to Sister Mirabel’s threats. She talked about Talia’s engagement, Liora’s ex-girlfriend, the upcoming trials. Word vomit, basically.
Rosanna listened without interrupting. When Aegis finally ran out of words, the ghost queen tilted her head.
"I fail to see how most of this stops you from accomplishing your goals."
"What?"
"Your goals. What you’re working toward. How does Lady Frost’s arrival prevent you from achieving them? Or Lord Darius and the princess’s engagement? You should of course help your friend should she need it, but how does this stump you, darling?"
Aegis opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
[What... what are my goals?]
"I’m trying to survive the academy."
"That’s not a goal. That’s a baseline." Rosanna floated closer, her form solidifying slightly. "What do you want, Aegis? Not what you need to do tomorrow or next week. Or who you want to have sex with tomorrow night. What do you actually want?"
The question hit harder than it should have.
She’d been so focused on not dying, on navigating each crisis from the game, that she’d never actually thought about what came after. In the game, the goal was simple—romance the love interests, defeat the Shadow Empress, get a happy ending, yada yada. But this wasn’t the game. This was real life, her life now.
It was essentially the "where do you see yourself in 10 years?" question, and Aegis had no answer for it.
"I don’t know."
"Then perhaps that’s your real problem." Rosanna gestured to the city spread below them. "When I was alive, my primary goal was always clear. I wanted to unite the kingdom. Everything I did served that purpose. Every alliance, every battle, every compromise. Even learning shadow magic was just a tool toward that goal. Sure, I had my fun in between victories, but I knew what each victory was for."
"So you’re saying I need a goal."
"I’m saying you need to decide what kind of story you’re telling." The ghost queen moved to the meditation circle at the platform’s center. "Are you the hero saving the kingdom? The ambitious commoner rising to power? The horniest woman in Valdria building a harem?"
"Can’t I be all three?"
"Perhaps. But you need to choose a priority." Rosanna sat, or did the ghost equivalent of sitting. "Come. Meditate with me. Clear your mind."
Aegis joined her in the circle.
The meditation helped, sort of. The aether here was so dense it felt like drinking pure magic. Her mana pool expanded bit by bit, pathways widening to accommodate more power.
But the question kept echoing in her head.
[What do I want?]
In her old life, as Emily, she’d wanted simple things. To not be sick. To play her favorite game. To maybe, someday, kiss a girl.
Now she had all that and more. A healthy body that was also ridiculously hot. The ability to literally live inside her favorite game. Not to mention that her list of women she’d had sex would soon need two hands to be counted instead of one.
But none of that was a goal. It was just... circumstances.
"You’re not meditating," Rosanna observed.
"Hard to meditate with an existential crisis."
"Then let me simplify things." The ghost’s eyes opened, boring into Aegis. "In one year, where do you want to be?"
"Alive."
"Besides that."
Aegis thought about it. Really thought about it.
"I want to be strong enough that no one can threaten me or the people I care about."
"Better. How strong?"
"Strong enough to beat the Shadow Empress when she shows up."
Rosanna went very still.
"You know about the Shadow Empress?"
[Shit. That’s not public knowledge yet.]
"I... have my sources."
"Interesting sources." Rosanna studied her for a long moment. "Very well. If that’s your goal, then you need to start taking things more seriously."
"I am taking things seriously."
"You’re reacting to events as they happen. That’s not the same as preparing for them." The ghost stood, pulling Aegis up with surprising strength for someone incorporeal. "The Monthly Ranking Test. What’s your strategy?"
"Train harder?"
"Specific strategy."
"I... don’t know."
"Then find out. Use that network of lovers you’re building. Gather information. Make alliances." Rosanna’s form started to fade as dawn approached. "And Aegis?"
"Yeah?"
"Decide what kind of person you want to be when you have that power. It’s easier to lose sight of yourself than you might think."
The ghost vanished with the first ray of sunlight.
Aegis stood alone on the platform, watching the sun rise over Rosevale. The city was waking up. Soon she’d have to head back down, go to classes, deal with all the drama waiting for her.
But Rosanna was right. She needed to stop just surviving and start actually planning.
[What do I want?]
Power, obviously. Safety for her and her friends. To stop the Shadow Empress before she destroyed everything.
But also... maybe something more.