Pest gave one final buck, releasing his seed. For a long moment, he didn't move. Instead, he let the bliss wash over him. His heart felt full, his mind felt full, but not his body.

He was well spent and sated.

But then the slim hips below him shifted, forcing him to withdraw, and his insides caved in. It was slow at first, coming with a chill. Thoughts of Fanli followed, as they always did, and that erosion came faster.

Now with actual action to accompany the worry, his gut ached. His hands gripped the sheets, but he felt her skin. And he felt her face pressed against his throat. He felt her tight waist below his touch. He felt her breasts brush against him.

An actual kiss on the cheek roused him to turn his head and stare into a pair of pleased blue eyes.

"You're pretty good, human."

Her features were dark, her cheeks still flushed, her bare body glistening with sweat, and yet the heat and hunger he'd answered mere moments prior...were gone.

There was simply nothing.

Long fingernails glided up his torso. "Are you looking to satisfy me again?"

Pest's body trembled and it took everything inside him to let out a slow exhale. "No."

The blue eyes blinked. "I only—"

"Where's my payment?" he demanded.

Another piece of him fractured inward. His chest throbbed. She watched him, waiting for a smile, anything to show a return to the playfulness they'd just shared but he didn't have it in him to even pretend.

"Now."

With a flinch, she rolled over then reached below the bed. It was a dingy room—dragons loved being high up. There was only one tower in the village, and they'd staked a claim to it. That had made finding them easy.

After taking a beating by her two bodyguards, getting her attention after that had only been a matter of time.

This conquest was the easiest by far. He'd expected to stop, but nothing had deterred him. With how different he'd felt this time, he'd been certain this empty feeling was gone.

But he was wrong. It was back. And it was by far the worst.

"There are three here," the dragoness confirmed. "Which—"

"That one." Pest didn't have to ask. He knew what Fanli liked. Whatever she kept, the most plain one would be her favorite, it was just like her. "Give me that one."

"Of course. And if—"

Pest snatched the dress from her hands and hurried to shimmy into his trousers. Dragons looked similar enough to ogres in human form. Even down to the muscled body. That had been Pest's main reason for trying this. And it had been a mistake. His biggest one.

He flung the dress onto his shoulder and buckled his belt.

As he crossed one part of the room to the next to retrieve his shirt, the dragon's blue eyes watched him.

"Very few humans can keep up with our stamina. I'm—"

Pest stepped out and slammed the door behind him. At the top of the stairs, he looked down the spiral and was tempted to throw himself off.

Thoughts fell to Fanli and her distress. Within seconds, his fingers gripped the dress, and he used the wall for support in his unsteady journey down.

He reached the bottom of the stairs twenty minutes later, feeling the worst in his entire life. His body ached from the self-disgust.

The aged wood of the door gave way to his tentative push, and he sucked in the crisp evening air.

Even from here, the faint cries of an ogre's lament carried on the breeze.

The two bodyguards, resting against either side of the door, glanced at him. One scoffed but Pest didn't care what they thought. He took the shaky steps needed to get him off that hill and down into the woods.

Distance brought his heartache to the back of his mind, and it was nearly gone by the time he reached his home and saw Fanli hunched over, glowing as she wept.

The dress in Pest's grip shine brighter. It spoke of magic. But a pit formed in his stomach at the thought of bringing it to her. He had to be sure, so he left her there in the care of his mother as she chanted, "Dragons. Dragons. It's so cold," without end. Pest longed to give her treasure back to her but instead, he made his way into the woods.

"Oh, wow. Yes, I must say that is very, very potent magic. Very potent."

Pest's spirits sank. "How much magic? What's causing it?"

The faun took the dress and made his way to a boulder where he spread the frock. "Well...." He met Pest's gaze. "Love."

Flinching, Pest stared him down.

"You've bled over this? Made sacrifices? Then this will only grow stronger. And once it's back into the hands of the ogre who cultivated it, it will be the strongest form possible. For an ogre, this is manna." The faun explained, "Back when the world was young, my father said ogres were creatures of cheer and affection. They were big, yeah, but very loving. And far gentler than any stuffy old troll."

That sounded similar enough to Fanli.

While he spoke, Pest kept his eyes on the damn dress.

"But then they started transforming." Sadness filled his voice. "And it does damage to the body, unfortunately. But it also becomes an addiction. Finally, they shed off their human form to stave off the temptation. And put their focus outwardly."

Pest blinked himself awake. "Wait. Ogres chose to make holding a human form difficult?"

"Oh, yes. The longer they stay human, the harder it was to love themselves. And they'd just become a terror eventually. T'is very sad. Very sad really." After picking the dress up once more, he allowed it to cascade. "As a contingency, The Living Goddess granted them one gift—should they find love outward, their treasure can help them keep their transformation."

Those weren't the words Pest wanted to hear. His eyes gravitated from the dress to the faun. "Then why are dragons after it?"

"Well, everyone's after it. For ogres, it allows for a transformation, and they keep using it little by little. But for others, it is a wish—a powerful wish. Take a dragon, for example, with treasure this powerful, they could change time and even events."

Pest let out a sigh. "What are the chances that a dragon will leave once they know about it?"

At the scoff, he rubbed his face.

"A dragon gave it back to me—allowed me to take it back."

Deep down, Pest confessed to this in search of reassurance. Instead, he only received one word.

"Why?"

Pest's heart stopped.

Why? Why let him walk away with something strong?

For a fuck? Who in their right mind would believe that. They could have beaten him—they had at first until the girl told them to stop. And now, it was stronger for it; they must have known. So why?

Pest found his answer. His throat felt dry when he asked, "If it gets back into the original ogre's hands...."

The faun blinked two brown eyes at him. "It'll be the strongest ogre treasure I've ever seen—ever heard of."

Strong enough to do whatever the dragons wanted. And they wouldn't let it go...unless they knew they could easily kill whoever has it.

"But it won't matter once it's used up. Eh?" Elbow resting on the boulder, the faun grinned. "Once used, it's gone. But that's nice, isn't it? With a treasure this infused, she could become human permanently."

Permanently.

It was Pest's frown why the faun stood fully and musted up some cheer.

"Because a human sleeping with an ogre in ogre form is...rather dangerous, isn't it?"

That wasn't where Pest's worry lay. "We don't have to sleep together," he grumbled. "We could just be together forever as is." Each time he thought of Fanli, he felt happy. But then the human form came and he felt dead inside. She didn't like being human, that was why she couldn't sustain it for long. That was why she'd never wasted any of her treasure on the effort. She hated it. So how could he ask her to make that sacrifice when it was unnecessary?

He hated it, too.

Besides, if the treasure really was this powerful now, there'd be no way a dragon would allow someone to waste it on a beauty treatment, not when it could literally shift time and space.

"I'll sell it to you," he told the faun.

Eyes widen, the faun stepped back. "R—really? Would you do that? Wait. Can you do this?"

Pest thought back to this morning and nodded. "Yeah. It was stolen then given to me as payment. I'll sell it. And in return, you—break it down or something. You get rid of it."

"Oh, we can certainly find ways to store such magic. Especially one this powerful. Thank you. How much will you sell it for?"

He was already rummaging through his pouch when Pest said, "One coin."

The faun looked up at him. "Pardon?"

"That's enough for a new dress." Pest let out a held breath and said, "She can start her treasure all over again. One that'll take her years to build up. And one that'll never get this strong. Because next time I won't rescue it. I can't. Not with what it cost me. I honestly can't."

At the end of his words, the faun pursed his lips, at a loss for a rebuttal.

Finally, he said, "I see. But friend, I don't deal in coin. Changing the shape of things is a human's task."

"Fine." Pest backed away then turned to run. "Then it's yours. Get rid of it."