Adam considered what Rowena had just told him, and as he did, he mumbled aloud, "So it's kind of like an item box or inventory from a game."
"Item box? Inventory?" Rowena asked in confusion.
"Oh, they are things from computer games back on Earth that allow you to store items without having to carry around a big bag all the time," Adam replied.
"Oh, then I guess it's kind of similar," Rowena stated.
"Can you store anything in there and how big is your hoard space?" Adam asked Tephe.
"I can't store living things, unless they themselves can survive in subspace," Tephe replied before adding, "The size of the hoard is proportional to my true form, so as I grow older and get bigger, so does my hoard."
"Whoa, it's already that big?" Adam asked in surprise before adding, "You must have loads of stuff in there."
"Not really," Tephe replied while shaking her head before adding, "Because I grew up in isolation, I was never able to collect things I liked like other dragons; most of what I have in my hoard are presents or gifts."
"It's still super cool and makes me wish I could do it; that would make carrying things around so much easier," Adam remarked, making Tephe puff out her chest proudly before she realised something and looked at Adam accusingly.
"Don't think you can make me forget about the ring with all these compliments," Tephe stated as her eyes once again narrowed, surprising the others.
"I wasn't," Adam replied as he waved his hands.
"Then give me one too," Tephe replied stubbornly.
"I can't do that, Tephe," Adam replied in an apologetic tone as he continued, "I can't give you a ring to wear on your finger like Stacey and Lorelie since that holds special meaning in my culture."
"Does it have to go on her finger?" Lorelie suddenly asked, causing everyone to turn and look at her.
"What do you mean?" Adam asked.
"Well, I know that some people wear rings on chains they hang around their necks," Lorelie replied.
"I suppose that's possible," Adam replied after thinking for a moment.
"Why do I have to wear it on a chain?" Tephe pouted as she turned her head away.
"Tephe, can I have a quick word in private?" Aphrodite suddenly asked.
"What about?" Tephe asked as she looked at Aphrodite suspiciously, as she knew that she was also interested in her future mate.
Ever since she was little and learnt about what it meant to be the white dragon, part of Tephe had always been fearful that she would never find a mate since her family had always kept her in isolation. Even after running away and joining up with Adam and the others and slowly becoming attracted to him, part of her had never really believed that she could take Adam as her mate because of how resistant to it he seemed to be.
However, after she heard her new prophecy from White in her dream, she now knew that she was indeed destined to find a mate and to even have sisters, so while she wasn't completely against Aphrodite becoming her future mate's mate. She still hadn't decided if she was worthy of her future mate since she had only just met Aphrodite.
"It's nothing bad," Aphrodite replied while making an inviting gesture as she moved away from the group.
"Hmmm," Tephe thought for a moment before getting up and following Aphrodite into the kitchen.
"What do you suppose that's about?" Adam asked.
"I could take a guess," Rowena replied with a playful smirk.
"Which is?" Adam inquired.
"Secret, where would be the fun in telling you?" Rowena replied with her signature smirk.
"So, care to explain to me how you saved my life?" Stacey finally asked, bringing up the subject she was curious about but had been holding back from asking since other topics kept coming up.
Adam and Rowena looked at each other before Rowena stood and, while looking at Stacey and Lorelie, asked, "Can we talk about it in private?"
"Err, sure," Stacey responded as she, along with Lorelie, stood up.
"Sorry, Eri, you don't mind, do you? It's a private matter," Rowena said while turning to Eri.
"Not at all, there was actually something I wanted to discuss with Adam anyway," Eri replied, causing everyone to show surprised looks since, as far as they knew, Eri hadn't really interacted with Adam much apart from when he helped her during the photoshoot.
Rowena nodded before she led Stace and Lorelie into the bedroom she had been using and closed the door.
"So what's up?" Adam asked.
"So what did you want to discuss?" Tephe asked Aphrodite suspiciously.
"There is no need to be so suspicious. I'm here to help you," Aphrodite replied with a wink.
"How?" Tephe asked, still obviously suspicious.
"I'm here to help you claim Adam as your mate."
"Thanks, but aren't you kind of having your own problems with that?" Tephe replied sarcastically, making Aphrodite surprised.
As far as Rowena and the others had told her, this Tephe was not the troublesome one she knew, but rather a more innocent and naive one. A sarcastic comment about her own difficulties in becoming Adam's mate was the last thing she expected.
"Well, you're not wrong," Aphrodite conceded after recovering from her shock, before she continued, "But our circumstances are completely different. I'm new to the group, and so Adam doesn't know how much I can be trusted, while you have been with them far longer, causing both Adam and the others to both care and trust you."
"Then why won't he accept me?" Tephe asked in confusion since neither Tephe nor Tephe Two had ever experienced romance of any kind. It was one of the few things both Tephe's had in common, but while Tephe was inexperienced because of her isolation, Tephe Two was because she never found anyone she deemed worthy of receiving that much attention from her.
"Because he views you as a little sister," Aphrodite explained.
"Huh!" Tephe replied in surprise before adding, "But I'm like five hundred years older than him."
"In most cases, sure; however, you're also very naive about certain things in the universe since, according to Rowena and the rest, you lived your entire life in isolation."
"Not now," Tephe mumbled quietly.
"Pardon?" Aphrodite replied as she failed to hear Tephe's words.
"Nothing, carry on," Tephe replied quickly since she still wasn't ready to talk about her dream to anyone and when she finally did open up, it wasn't going to be with someone she didn't know or trust, as she still remembered White's warning about her iridescent form and so she associated that with her dream as well.
"Well, if you want Adam to view you in a more romantic way instead of just the big brother way, you need to show him that you can mature."
"You mean by making advances towards him as you do?" Tephe asked curiously as she tilted her head.
"Possibly in the future, but not straight away. If you suddenly change from a naive, innocent girl to a flirtatious one, then he is just going to get confused and maybe be pushed away even further since he will not like the idea of someone he sees as his little sister making such obvious advances towards him.
You'd be better off acting more like Rowena does. She offers Adam advice or answers his questions regarding things she is knowledgeable about, while occasionally making a subtle flirtatious gesture or comment, thus building the impression that she is a reliable, trustworthy companion.
You must have noticed that the air between them is different since they travelled back in time?"
"Are you saying they had sex?" Tephe asked, surprising Aphrodite again since she had heard that Tephe basically knew nothing about sex and mating.
"No," Aphrodite replied adamantly.
"How can you tell?" Tephe asked curiously.
Instead of answering, Aphrodite asked, "You can tell when two dragons have had sex or mated, right?"
"Sure, their bodies reek of each other's scent for quite a while after," Tephe replied, since she didn't understand why Aphrodite asked that.
"It's the same for us succuba, only slightly different. We don't only smell their scent, but also each party's ejaculation liquid."
"You mean you could smell Adam's cum on Rowena if they had actually had sex?"
"On her, within her. I smell it every time he ejaculates within Stace or Lorelie. Also, Adam's not the type to cheat on his woman."
"Ok, so they didn't have sex then," Tephe conceded before asking, "Then what?"
"There is definitely some greater sexual tension between the two since they got back, but no, they didn't have sex. Something else happened, something that made them far closer than they were before, far closer than just mere friends, but also not at the stage of lovers or mates. But I'm not sure what," Aphrodite replied.
"Could she have fed on him?" Tephe asked curiously.
"Doubtful. Stacey is already doing that after all and two Brood very rarely feed on the same individual since there isn't enough blood," Aphrodite responded.
"So, what your suggestion is that I should start offering Adam advice and help answer his questions regarding the knowledge I know about?"
"In the beginning, yes, as a way to change his little sister impression of you."
"Then what about the ring?"
"Accept Lorelie's proposal and, for the time being, wear it on a chain around your neck, then in the future, when you have managed to change your relationship with him, you can have him personally place the ring on your finger."