Chapter 299: Secret in the Sauce

“Is the bird royalty?”

Syris’s deep, velvety voice broke the comfortable silence of the room. The question was asked so slowly, so casually, that for a split second, Ren didn’t fully process what the Snake King had just asked.

When her brain finally caught up, Ren froze.

Her hand, which had been in the middle of stirring the minty-green aloe paste with the stone pestle, halted mid-circle. Her heart dropped straight into her stomach. ’Oh my god,’ Ren panicked internally. ’Did he just figure it out from what I said?!’

Her mind began racing a mile a minute. What if Syris was somehow secret pen-pals with the Eagle King? What if he decided to sell Altair out? Hell, she wasn’t even supposed to know that her stoic bird was a fugitive prince!

Ren forcefully swallowed the dry lump in her throat. She decided her absolute best course of action was to play completely dumb.

“Royalty?” Ren asked, forcing a light, confused chuckle as she looked up at him. “Why in the world would you think that?”

Syris simply shrugged. He leaned back against the edge of the stone table, his dark silken robe falling open to completely expose his muscular, sunburnt chest.

“Abilities like physical healing are incredibly rare for male beasts,” Syris calmly explained, his amethyst eyes watching her carefully. “Usually, such potent, specialized magic is entirely reserved for females or Shamans. If a male possesses an innate healing ability like that, it almost exclusively means they belong to an ancient, royal bloodline.”

The Snake King reached out, gently tucking a stray lock of fiery red hair behind her ear. His tone shifted, dropping its usual arrogant lilt to become entirely serious.

“You need to be extremely careful when you are with him in the forest, Ren,” Syris warned darkly. “Unlike my swamp, the forest is not entirely safe. Any desperate stray or greedy dog from around the world can wander in. If other beasts catch a whiff of that bird’s ability, they will come after him. He is a walking target.”

A wicked, playful smirk suddenly curved Ren’s lips. “Well,” she teased, bumping her hip against his thigh. “If the forest is so incredibly dangerous for him… maybe Altair should just stay right here in the swamp with you.”

Syris loudly scoffed, his face instantly twisting in pure disgust. “Definitely not,” he sneered, crossing his arms protectively over his chest. “I am not a cubsitter.”

Ren burst into a fit of bright, ringing laughter.

“Alright, alright,” Ren giggled, scooping up a generous handful of the thick, minty-green paste. “Come here, your majesty. Let’s get this skincare routine over with.”

Syris obediently stepped closer, parting his thick thighs slightly to stand flush against the stone table.

Ren pressed her paste-covered hands directly onto the center of his broad chest. Syris instantly let out a deep, vibrating groan. The soothing, icy-cool sensation of the swamp aloe and mint, supercharged by the magical potency of Altair’s tear, was an absolute shock to his feverish, sun-damaged skin.

“Oh…” Syris breathed, his head falling back as his long black hair cascaded over his shoulders.

Ren’s hands moved slowly and sensually over his pectorals. She slicked the thick paste over his hard muscles, her small fingers dipping perfectly into the deep grooves of his chest. As she dragged her hands down his torso, tracing the sharp, pronounced V-line that disappeared beneath the loose sash of his silken robe, she could literally feel his abdominal muscles violently twitching under her palms.

The air in the room instantly grew thick and heavy with renewed lust.

Syris’s breathing hitched. He looked down at her through half-lidded, darkened eyes. The intense friction of her slick, wet hands massaging his bare skin was rapidly sending all the blood rushing straight back south. Beneath the dark silk of his robe, a large bulge began to visibly stir and tent the fabric against her hip.

“Syris,” Ren scolded playfully, blushing as she purposefully dragged her thumbs right over his flat nipples, making him hiss. “We literally just finished an exhausting marathon. Behave yourself.”

“You are the one rubbing your hands all over my body,” Syris purred back, his hands coming up to lightly grip her waist. “How do you expect me to behave?”

As Ren continued to massage the remedy into his shoulders, an absolute miracle happened right before her eyes.

The remedy worked instantly.

Wherever her paste-covered hands touched, the angry, inflamed redness of his severe sunburn completely vanished. The flaky, peeling dead skin miraculously smoothed out and melted away, flawlessly restoring his chest to its beautiful, pristine, pale coldblooded perfection. It was like erasing a mistake on a canvas.

“Holy crap,” Ren whispered, her green eyes wide with awe as she wiped the last of the paste over his neck. “It actually worked perfectly.”

Syris looked down at his own chest, flexing his pectorals. The dull, throbbing pain that had been plaguing him was completely, entirely gone. He looked back at Ren, a profound, overwhelming affection burning in his eyes.

Before Syris could lean in to capture her lips in a deeply grateful kiss, a loud, monstrous, highly unromantic sound echoed through the stone chamber.

GRRRRUUUMBLE.

Ren froze. Her hands dropped to her sides, her face flushing a brilliant shade of crimson as her stomach violently protested its utter emptiness. Between the brutal swamp journey and the incredibly intense, calorie-burning sex with her husbands she had just miraculously survived, she realized she hadn’t eaten a single bite of food since yesterday afternoon in the forest.

Syris let out a booming, rich chuckle, the sound vibrating deep in his bare chest. “It seems my little chef needs to be fed,” he teased, his cool fingers gently poking her flat stomach.

“I am literally starving to death,” Ren whined, aggressively rubbing her belly.

Her professional chef brain instantly booted up, entirely overriding her lingering lust. She had an entire kitchen at her disposal, Syris’s guards to do the heavy lifting, and she had just received the Magical Swamp Ingredients Log Book from the System. Her culinary imagination began running completely wild.

She began pacing back and forth in front of the stone table, muttering to herself as she brainstormed.

“Okay, what do we have in the swamp?” Ren mumbled, tapping her chin. “Maybe those massive, terrifying swamp-beasts they claim are crocodiles… there has to be some giant crustaceans out there. Oh! Giant swamp crabs! Their meat would be incredibly sweet and tender if I parboil it correctly. And I saw those massive, starchy lotus roots in the garden…”

Syris watched her pace, his head tilted in quiet, absolute adoration. He didn’t understand even half the culinary words leaving her mouth, but he loved watching her in her element.

Ren suddenly stopped pacing, her green eyes lighting up with a brilliant, mouth-watering epiphany.

“I’ve got it!” Ren declared triumphantly, clapping her hands together. “We are having Spicy Garlic-Butter Swamp Crab boils, paired with crispy, deep-fried lotus root chips and a sweet-and-sour wild berry dipping sauce!”

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