“A training mishap, Aegis Booker.” Volka’s shield slowly lowered as Yana finally tore free of Juni’s water; “Your wife merely got carried away, I think.”
Even as she explained, Yana slipped the gourd off her shoulders and dropped it to the cold ground before storming off, tossing Myrina’s spear back at its owner almost reflexively.
The gourd stayed upright for a second, before spilled its contents into the dirt, the water darkening the earth as the exposed Juni’s sob echoed out of the rapidly emptying jug.
Booker moved to follow but Volka put her hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
“Let her go Aegis, your wife is in turmoil, some time alone would be good for her, I think.”
Reluctantly Booker agreed as he knelt beside the gourd and pulled the blue-skinned Juni into his arms.
Meanwhile Milly was trying to wave off the concerned Nameless and Kaylee with a weak smile.
“I-I’m fine, really.”
“You are not, War-sister. I can see the bruises forming already, let us tend to you.”
But Milly shook her head, quickly wiping a tear from her bruised cheek and taking up Kar’s spear again.
“Really, I’ve had worse. Myrina, I want to try that thrusting stab thingy from yesterday again.”
She looked to the other Amazon and spoke as if nothing had happened, though the tremor in her voice gave her away.
“Milly, please-”
Nameless reached one hand out to her, but she shook her head again, her smile faltering for a moment until she spoke and her body assumed a ready position.
“Myrina, the stance, it was this way right?”
After sharing a quick look with Nameless and her warriors, and with some reluctance, the Amazon leader stepped forward and made some minor corrections to Milly’s posture, soon leading her through the spinning thrust maneuver.
All the while her family watched with worry.
__________
A mixture of frustration and guilt tore through the Brael warleader as she sought solace in the woods on the other side of the new fence.
She lashed out, her fist tearing a sizable chunk out of one of the trees around her, the pain in her knuckles easy to ignore as her internal strife ravaged her.
The look of condemnation from Volka would have been the worst, except as Yana turned to leave her eyes had met Milly’s.
While still laid out from the unprovoked assault, the kindly Minotaur had already forgiven her for her outburst.
Yana struck the tree again, though this time with much less force as the emotional woman let out a gasp and hot tears spilled down her cheeks.
“You hurt Milly like that again, and I don’t care what my master says, I’ll tear you apart.”
She looked up quickly at the threat.
Nina had followed her into the woods, her hammer at her side while both arms were crossed over her breasts.
Her voice was cold as she stared at the Amazon.
Yana turned her face away, shame creeping up on her again.
“Nina I-”
“Milly has suffered a lot, she loved Kar, and training with Myrina is one of the only ways she knows to honour her memory. And like an asshole, you just took that away from her.”
The giant’s voice dropped lower, the trees around them shaking slightly as she glared at the one who had hurt her bond-sister.
Her ire dissipated though when she saw the tears sliding down Yana’s face.
“I am sorry.” The Amazon whispered.
Nina’s chest heaved as she reined herself in, though she wasn’t finished.
“I’m not big on apologies. Ask my master.” She said as she rested one hand on the hilt of her hammer; “I get it, you’re hurting because of Kar. But so is everyone else. It blows. Deal with it.”
The warleader let out a heavy breath as more tears fell.
Her emotions still in chaos, she rested her fist against a nearby tree with her forehead pressed to her bloody knuckles.
“I don’t know what I am doing anymore. Even when the fight with Evadne started, and I witnessed her power dropping my sisters one by one, I was convinced that we could best her, that I could best her.”
Nina cocked her head to one side.
“And now?”
The Amazon looked to the mighty Gigas, a monster who, had their positions been reversed, might have been able to stop Evadne and save Kar.
“Now I look to those around me, even warriors I’ve fought beside for years like Tiana, and I see them falling before her. Worse, I see them doing so, while holding me back.”
“Welcome to my world.”
Yana snorted at the giant’s wry comment
“How do you stand it? Dow do you stand knowing everyone around you is weak?”
“Because I know they’re not.”
The Amazon pushed off from the tree, her expression aghast at the giant’s words.
“Nina! You could best anyone I know, save maybe Xalanth!”
“Of course, I am the mountain.”
“Then how-”
Nina cut her off.
“Before I bonded with my weakling, I was never truly afraid in my life.”
Yana frowned in confusion, so Nina clarified.
“I also had never loved anyone, at least not since my mom died. Before I bonded, that is when I was weak. I was a lifeless peak, strong, but cold.”
She gave Yana the longest look she had ever received.
“Now I’m a fucking volcano. Evadne will get what is coming to her, believe that. We just have to be patient.”
There was a minute of silence between the two warriors, but in the end Yana wasn’t convinced.
“I wish I could believe. But you didn’t see her in Divinity Square, her power, her malice. I have fought many powerful foes, even bested a Grizzly once when I was young, but Evadne is beyond anything I have ever seen. I want to believe that the Aegis will catch up with her, but at the same time, I am afraid of what she will do if that happens.”
Without warning Nina closed the gap between them and punched her in the stomach, causing her to double over with a gasping cough.
The Gigas spoke in a growl.
“I thought you were a warrior? Don’t be a wuss. The magic users will catch her and then Xalanth will eat her. Or she will come out of hiding and I will smoosh her. She isn’t the strongest, and even if she was, she is still alone. Her death is coming, so don’t worry about her. Your job now is to protect everyone else, like the Saenga are doing for my man.”
The Amazon coughed a few times as she tried to regain her breath, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Ch-cheap shot.” She wheezed.
“Tell that to Milly.”
Yana stood to her full height and looked to the Gigas, once again they shared a long moment as understanding passed between them, until finally the Amazon offered a grudging nod.
In response Nina gave her a hearty slap on the ass that bowled her over again before abruptly turning to walk away.
“Good talk.”
__________
After training with Myrina for a few more minutes Ophelia had finally convinced Milly to come inside and let her take a look at the numerous injuries that Yana had given her.
The cow girl sat on a chair in the kitchen, Ophelia having chased everyone else out of the cottage with a dark scowl.
With deft movements of her delicate fingers the Flutterby unbuttoned Milly’s overalls and pulled the front down to expose her upper body. Milly’s naked side had several bruises in an ugly shade of purple from the merciless beating.
She was a Minotaur and it took a lot of punishment to mark her creamy skin, which was testament to how harshly the Amazon warleader had treated her in the short fight.
She flinched when Ophelia pressed a cloth full of ice to her ribs.
“Oh dearest, I am so sorry.”
“I’m alright. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just cold.”
Milly wore one of her smiles, but th
e canny Flutterby wasn’t fooled.
She leaned in and kissed her forehead.
“No you aren’t and yes it does.”
Milly’s smile faltered and she gave a little sniffle as her eyes welled.
Without saying anything else Ophelia held her close, pulling the Minotaur’s face into her cleavage and running her fingers through her hair.
They stayed like that for a long time as Milly shed some stressful tears.
“I th-thought I was doing so good.” She whispered.
Her words were muffled by Ophelia’s breasts, so the Flutter shifted back slightly and lifted her face off of her chest.
“You are, dearheart. Whenever I speak to the Saenga girls all they can talk about is how much progress you’ve made, and Volka has said much the same. I don’t know the first thing about fighting, but the word of a warrior angel should be proof enough!”
“But Yana-”
“Yana is in pain. One of her sisters died, and she doesn’t seem to be handling it well. Everything that just happened had nothing to do with you, or even Kar for that matter. She is angry and the ones she wants to hurt are beyond her reach, so she foolishly turned that anger against you.”
Milly wiped the mess of tears from her face with her oversized hanky and then stood with a wince.
“I-I want to go back and train.”
But the older monster girl placed her hand between Milly’s breasts to stop her.
“You are out of luck, Myrina and the girls are tired, so you have nobody to wrestle with.”
“Really Ophelia I’m alright!”
“Well I’m not!”
Milly blinked at the heated admission as Ophelia held her hand over her mouth, as if to take back the outburst.
“O-Ophelia?”
With a sob the dam broke and it was the Flutterby’s turn for a good cry.
“I hate this! I hate you and Erica learning how to fight, I hate Nameless blaming himself! I hate being so scared for all of you all the time!”
The Minotaur mooed plaintively as Ophelia turned to lean on the counter, her shoulder shook for a time as her wings fluttered slightly in agitation.
Milly placed one hand on her shoulder but Ophelia immediately whirled around to face her.
“I just want us to live together without a care in the world! But I can’t have that, so the least you can do is let me take care of your damn bruises!”
The Minotaur struggled to find the words to respond, but ultimately couldn’t.
A few minutes later and Ophelia let out a shuddering breath as she composed herself.
“I’m sorry dearheart, I’ve been terrified since seeing our master in the square, with Kar dead at his feet.” She lifted Milly’s arm again to hold the ice to her injuries once more; “I’m not a fighter, I’m weak so I have to be useful in other ways. Just let me take care of you, please?”
Her face was twisted with desperate need, so Milly could only give a slow nod of acceptance.
“You are the strongest person I know.” She whispered as cold relief was pressed to her side again.
Ophelia sniffled and shook her head.
“No I’m-”
“When we first met, you were the one who told me about our master, who helped me get closer to him when he was so afraid to even let me touch him. You’re the one who helped Erica get over her past, and who got Nina to relax enough to be with us. You even helped Volka, and she’s an angel!”
Milly’s sincere blue eyes held Ophelia’s violets as she spoke.
“You always know what to say, what to do. We all look up to you so much, I hope you know that.”
The ice forgotten, Milly pulled the Flutterby in for a deep kiss, her tongue slowly working over the smaller girl’s, their breasts pressing together as Ophelia sighed into her mouth.
Several moments later, the kiss broke apart. Both were breathing heavily as Ophelia reached up and placed her hands on Milly’s cheeks, her thumb caressing her lips while she once again stared into those perfect blue eyes.
“And here I was supposed to be taking care of you. Master holds my heart, but he is not the only one. My sweet Milly, I love you too.”
She stood, pulling away slightly, but only far enough to take the topless Minotaur’s hand in hers.
Without saying a word, she led her into the bedroom.
Chapter 22:
Surrender
After speaking with Nameless and Erica, not to mention being rescued by Milly, Cordelia had made her decision: she knew what she wanted and just like her sister, she was going to go for it.
She walked right past Helena and Paul in his driveway, the Amazon and the old man somehow understanding that here was a young woman on a mission.
Even the fact that the warrior woman had her arm over Paul’s shoulders and both of them had sex hair couldn’t distract Cordelia.
Several minutes later and she stood before a trio of guarded Hornets, the limber girls blocking her way forwards.
“Hey.” Cordelia said to the one in the middle.
She had once again struggled through the undergrowth to reach the Hornet hive, though this time her dress survived the ordeal.
“Hey.” The Hornet’s response was clipped.
Cordelia swallowed, this was going to be even harder than she thought.
“Is the queen home or-”
“She is.”
“Can I maybe see her? I’d really like to talk to her.”
The Hornet frowned.
“What if she doesn’t want to talk to you?”
Cordelia nodded, it made sense.
“Yeah I probably wouldn’t want to talk to me either. Do you think she might listen though?”
There was another pause, the girl’s antennae wiggling and her eyes distant.
“Depends on what you have to say.”
With a deep breath Cordelia began the most important apology of her life.
“I know she’s sick of hearing me say it, but I have to start by saying sorry. Sorry for being freaked out in the woods, sorry that I didn’t make my feelings more clear about wanting kids, sorry if I made her think I was only leading her on. Sorry for being completely fucking nuts.”
The three Hornets considered her words, their eyes distant.
“Go on.” This time the words came from the girl on the right.
Oldeera was trying to make a point, but she didn’t need to, Cordelia already understood and she reached out to the girl on the left and pressed her palm to her cheek.
“Sorry that I was too stupid to understand that your girls aren’t your servants, they’re part of you.”
The Hornet froze at the touch of her hand to her cheek, and when she didn’t unfreeze Cordelia let her arm drop back to her side.
“Okay, what else, um, sorry that um… I don’t know what else I’m sorry for actually.”
“Sorry for pushing us away?”
“Oh yeah! That! I’m so sorry for that, I should have. Fuck! I don’t know!”
“You should have… I don’t know, fucked? We have all been on a slow boil since our queen met you.” Back to the one in the middle speaking.
Cordelia’s eyes widened as she realized the girls were expressing their own opinions, not that of their queen.
“Y-yeah, I mean. If that was still an option, because, as someone really stupid recently told me, life is too short… or whatever.”
“And how do we know that you aren’t just going to hurt us again?”
This was it, she knew it was coming, and even the butterflies in her stomach wouldn’t let her back down.
“Because.”
She kicked her shoes off, her bare-feet on the cold ground.
“Because?” The Hornet repeated.
Cordelia drew in a shuddering breath for the final plunge.
“Because if anyone is getting hurt tonight it’ll be me.”
And she let her dress fall to the ground in a puddle at her feet.
She stood now, naked save for an
other brand new pair of lacy panties, black this time.
The Hornets’ startled eyes tracked all over her naked skin, and she flushed at their gaze, but she clamped down hard on all of her hang-ups and reservations.
She wanted this.
“Do you think the queen might see me now?”
Cordelia barely finished when the Hornets had her airborne and flew her into the hive, her dress left forgotten on the ground.
The rush of cold air on her skin did little to quench the passion that built within her at what she intended to do next.
Once she arrived in the center of the hive she saw what appeared to be every one of Oldeera’s Hornets standing in their armour around their queen, as if she were an intruder that meant her harm.
But the mostly naked girl walked through them bravely, and they parted around her.
At last she stood before the frowning queen, who was herself clad in her armour. Cordelia didn’t miss the symbolism: she had wounded Oldeera once already.
The young girl’s nipples were hard, her breasts rising and falling rapidly, surrounded by armoured Hornets. She waited while the buxom Hornet’s eyes worked their way all over her body.
“This is an especially bold move, even for you.”
Cordelia nodded.
“Yeah, um, is that okay?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“That’s fair.”
But the queen placed her fingers on her lips to silence her.
“You hurt me before, hurt my sweets, you know that.”
Cordelia merely nodded, her eyes glistening as Oldeera continued.
“And so this is you… what? Throwing yourself at my mercy?”
This time the young girl shook her head, and the queen lifted her fingers from her lips.
“This is me, wanting to show you that I care about you, all of you. If you want to throw me out naked in the cold, that’s okay, I deserve it.”
There was a long pause and it was clear that Oldeera was measuring her former lover’s words carefully.
“And if you stayed?”
Cordelia gulped audibly and in her nervousness her voice wavered a bit as uncertainty found her.
“I-I suppose we’d make love or something?”
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