by A. S. Etaski
“They’re all male,” Gaelan cut in.
I blinked. “No female ‘divine’ healers?”
She smirked at me. “None who aren’t made to be Priestesses. Lelinahdara healed you by touch.”
Oh, right.
I already knew we didn’t have any bua Priestesses, but regardless, it was obvious as a strike in the forehead that the Sanctuary would want control of this kind of healer.
Maybe they have something to do with the Consorts as ‘sons’ of the Priestesses?
The search for the young Noble appealed to me. Even if I would never get very close to the discovery of his location, moving about over the next two cycles without Reverie, I learned a lot from watching Reishel and Gaelan during the interrogation of the servant of House Shenpra, and from the other opportunities we were able to exploit.
Gaelan was familiar with many areas around the Market where we followed up on whispers, and Reishel understood more about the outlying farmland than I’d realized. Meanwhile, though each had a basic knowledge of the Noble pedigree, they always looked to me to give them a short-cut or confirmation with the current names at Court. Jaunda had warned me, D’Shea would not allow me to fall behind.
As a result, we covered a lot of ground quickly, and what we brought back helped. I knew it the moment I saw Rausery’s face during our last report.
“Excellent,” she said. “This is the lead I needed.”
The three of us didn’t know how it was, exactly, but something had linked together in the Elder’s eyes. She was grinning like a hungry thief about to nab a pie cooling on the table.
“Take a break, Sisters, you’ve earned it,” she said, and her tone made me feel warm and proud. “Oh. And Jael’s still here after five cycles, hasn’t gotten herself killed yet.”
Unconsciously, I smiled. Calling her by her name. Good sign.
“Take your turn, if you get the chance. I might ask your opinion later. Dismissed.”
“Thank you, Elder,” we said.
Hmm. Sleep or sex? Always a tough call. Then again, was I up for holding down a biting, nut-hooking bruiser? She must be in worse shape than I am by now.
Given the choice, Gaelan had already made hers by the time we reached the first ramp around the curve. She shook her head in the dim light. “Just want some Reverie. Maybe later.”
Reishel seemed to want to follow her but hesitated, looking to me. “You want her, Sirana?”
Well, when she says it like that… I nodded an affirmative. “Yeah, I do.”
“Can’t loan you my Feldeu,” Gaelan said before I could ask, giving me an irritated look, as though it wasn’t her idea but she’d still paid for what happened last time.
I nodded again. “So be it.”
I didn’t want to court a resurgence of Kain’s shard while initiating a new Sister, anyway. I hadn’t heard his voice since making peace with Lana and hoped he might be gone for good, but I couldn’t tell if my mind was truly healed or just numbed.
Given how much I’d enjoyed Reishel and Callitro recently, my way and without a cock, I had more confidence leading again now than in a long time. Better for Jael that she sees this side; few things had led me to accept my role and place in the Sisterhood more than Lead Jaunda when she welcomed my ass into the Cloister with both hands.
There was no doubt that she thought I belonged.
I wagered that, as I found out more about each Red Sister, I’d find the Sisterhood was all misfits in Davrin society, anyway. And Jael Aurenthietti was, for certain, another misfit.
“I’ll help you find her,” Reishel offered, stifling a yawn, and I grinned in thanks.
I wouldn’t say it aloud, but I felt relief when we found the Sisters who currently had the novice. It wasn’t Corpora Thena and her team, but a pair, Red Sisters Mela and Graer, who had no particular grudge against me or Reishel. They both owned Feldeus, and Mela sat in a worn chair holding Jael’s ears, the recruit’s face held firm in her lap and phallus lodged full between her lips and down her throat, while the other kneeled behind her, enjoying the ride in one hole or the other. Jael was tense but tolerating it, neither fighting nor particularly engaged.
Mela looked up and grinned at me and Reishel. Graer noticed and glanced over her shoulder, still holding tight to Jael’s hips. She smiled as well, and their focus and teamwork in double-ending the new Sister seemed revived.
They like being watched.
I winked at Mela and reached to squeeze Reishel’s firm backside cupped tight in her leathers. Reishel squeaked, offering a fun expression of surprise and a chuckle. Jael couldn’t fail to notice the heightened energy of the pair, and she grunted, making more noise as the two Red Sisters demonstrated that enthusiasm in rutting her.
“Oh, that’s good,” I murmured, rubbing my crotch through my leathers watching the pair.
Mela took one, abrupt moment to shift her chair with a scraping thud. It hauled Jael into an erotic profile so that Graer could get a better look at Reishel and me as she lunged with her phallus deep inside the recruit. Their eyes traced my body, my hand, and they enjoyed Jael so much more on that account. Better for her, if Rausery really did ask for opinions.
Inspired, I stepped behind my Sister, arms coming around to molest Reishel from behind, my hand heavy and rough, mauling her mound through the red leather. My Sister submitted, leaning back against me with a soft moan. Mela and Graer murmured approval, grinned and panted as they spit-roasted Jael, and I showed teeth in a wide, hungry grin, tugging at the hip ties of Reishel’s uniform to expose her dark skin and white puff adorning her sex. My red gloves fondled her, and Reishel made more noise.
It helped my other Sisters climax faster, and they reached it almost at the same time.
“Shit!” Mela gasped, thrusting a couple more times, slowing down. “Shit…ah, yeah…”
With a deep, rumbling sigh, Graer pulled her cock out of Jael’s slit, and I could be glad that the novice’s netherhole had received a break. I slapped Reishel’s cunt just as she was starting to get aroused, and she yelped in protest; Mela and Graer laughed.
“Our turn?” I asked.
They nodded, taking hold of Jael at each end and shoving her away from them, toward me and Reishel near the doorway. Jael barely caught herself so her chin didn’t strike the stone, but then she fell, trembling and too spent to stand up.
“Have at,” Mela invited, leaning back to relax in her chair, a spit-soaked, black prick sticking up and hovering above her belly. She didn’t move to pull up her leathers around her ankles.
“Pucker’s probably had a chance to tighten up again,” Graer suggested, putting her leathers back into place as Reishel tightened her own and set her skewed belt back into place.
“Excellent.”
We stepped forward to claim the newest Sister, each taking an arm and pulling Jael to unsteady feet, and she shivered. I saw tiny bumps spreading across her skin and glanced at her dark purple nipples. Enjoying the turgid, tight form, my gaze drifted farther down her flat belly to her mons. I blinked in surprise.
Her pubic fur was gone. Her crotch was only smooth skin, like a juvenile Davrin.
What the fuck?
Furtively, the Aurenthin glanced up at me, wary and uncertain, as I looked toward the other two Red Sisters. Graer read the question on my face and shrugged.
“Not us. Someone who had her before took the fluff. She hasn’t said who.”
“We didn’t ask,” Mela corrected, and Graer smirked.
“Got it,” I said, nodding toward Reishel, who might have looked more sympathetic in private. “Doesn’t matter, I guess, just weird.”
“Eh, her slit feels the same if you don’t look at it,” Graer confirmed.
I nodded again, and Jael’s flushed, swollen mouth pursed tight as we led her away to another section of the Cloister. Reishel took a sniff and looked at me.
“Let’s stop by the sluicers,” I murmured.
T
here were the scents and saliva of probably seven to ten Red Sisters to clean off the novice before I would put her on my pallet. I had gone through the same, passed around from one place to another. A good portion of it, I was in a magical high that blurred a lot of detail, for better or worse, but those cold showers in between gangbangs had always brought me aware for a while.
I could wonder how much of this Jael would remember clearly later, but for certain she’d recall the sluicers. The shock of cold was enough that she yelled and started fighting us. I grabbed her mouth to muffle her, bent her backward as she stood in discomfort on her toes, water spraying her sweaty belly, running down her thighs to her feet. Gloves off, Reishel kneeled and began rinsing Jael’s well-used crotch as the novice writhed like her bald cunt was too sensitive.
“Quiet,” I whispered. “We’re lucky we have the place to ourselves right now, but that won’t last if you keep making noise.”
The young fighter quivered, nodded agreement, breathing hard through her nose. The tight tips of her small breasts wrinkled still more as I watched, and I grinned in delight. When I removed my hand from her mouth, she didn’t make a peep.
*I can wash,* she signed, acknowledging this was a short opportunity to get clean.
Prepared for rebellion, Reishel and I released her, and Jael scrubbed herself without our help, willing and urgent. She was thorough. I grabbed a towel from the cabinet, wrapped it around her, and Reishel and I hustled Jael out before she’d barely begun to dry herself, leaving wet footprints upon the stone as she clung tight to the only covering she possessed for the last several spans.
We stopped by one of the storerooms so I could grab some dry rations then we moved to my small room in the barracks, located not far from Lead Jaunda’s. The three of us relaxed when we got the door closed behind us without being confronted by other Red Sisters. Reishel exhaled, smiled at me, and I smiled back, chuckling when she fought another yawn.
“Reverie?” I asked.
Reishel rubbed an eye. “Hmm. Truth, yes. Been a long two cycles.”
I nodded. “Go ahead. Join Gaelan, if she’ll let you. Thanks for the help.”
Reishel smiled at that, looking at Jael, whose bright copper eyes flicked back and forth between us as she kept her mouth closed. My Sister brushed Jael’s cheek with her fingertips, and the novice jerked her head up in surprise and annoyance.
“Don’t be stupid.” Reishel nodded with visible affection to me. “And secure the door.”
“Will do,” I said as she stepped by us to let herself out.
I waited until she was gone then followed through. The ward itself had worn out—I needed Gaelan to refresh it—and I would receive neither magical warning nor barrier against a Sister determined to enter, but a chain attachment I’d installed would at least slow her down.
Jael looked around the sparse room before I pulled her damp towel off her shoulders and pushed my hand against her bare back to guide her toward the pallet. She went, although reluctance still radiated in each barefooted step as I hung the towel on a wall hook. She kneeled to crawl onto the mat and rolled to sit on her backside with her knees drawn up.
The Aurenthin looked up at me as I began to undress and secure my weapons out of easy reach. A tightening of her mouth was the only show of dismay once I was fully nude, but I noted it. She was tired. I was far from a loathed or frightful figure to her, but in this state, it didn’t matter who had her next. At the same time, I knew I wasn’t up to the task of impressing her, so maybe that made my decision for me.
I picked up one of the small bags of rations and sat on the pallet with the new recruit. I ate first, dipping into the mixture of rich pods, seeds, dried meats, and toasted pastes. Chewing methodically and swallowing, I offered some to Jael from the same bag. She didn’t take long to accept; she had been watching my hands, which I kept in full view. The risk in eating was as low as she could expect.
We consumed the first, and she watched me open and sample the second before accepting more. She was as hungry as I was. When we had finished the two bags, I kept the third for later and twirled my finger.
“Roll over, Jael. On your side, facing the wall.”
This would put her back to me, and the muscles in her arms flexed as she stared at me. She glanced around the room again then back. I watched her without moving. Once given long enough to consider her alternatives, Jael did the smart thing and obeyed.
I lay down and moved up close, cradling her back and buttocks with my body. With one arm folded beneath my head, my free hand drifted over soft skin and the occasional bruise, over her flank and hips and right buttock. She flinched when I caressed her ass, and I kept my hand away from her orifices since it was not my intent anyway.
She was toned and strong, and I enjoyed her lean scent up close; fragrant and earthy without being tart, neither too musky nor of heavy perfume. I stroked her arm up and down and then reached beneath it to cup one breast, first rubbing my thumb back and forth over her nipple, then in slow circles. She drew in breath and tensed as I nuzzled through her damp hair and nipped the back of her neck. My nibbling turned into lazy draws with my lips, and the slow circles around her nipple grew even slower.
“What are you doing?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“Whatever I want,” I responded, my breath hot in her hair.
“So… Do it already.”
“I am. Be quiet. I’m very tired.”
She huffed a laugh tinged with bitterness. “Tired? Oh, poor Red Sister! So sorry to have burdened you with my eager and awaiting cunt!”
I couldn’t restrain the chuckle against her shoulder.
“What’s so funny?” she sneered, a tremor passing through her naked body. “I didn’t ask to be made bald!”
Is that what she worried about? I gave her nipple a little squeeze and a twist. I was just playing with it, but she tensed and squeaked. “Who did that, anyway?”
Jael growled, then swallowed her answer, her shoulders hunched up. The loaded silence stretched long enough that I wondered.
“The Prime?” I asked.
She hesitated, murmured, “You said to be quiet so you could rest, Sister.”
Huh.
I removed my hand from her breast and spread it flat over her abdomen if it might help her take a deeper breath. I drew air myself, deep in then back out, nice and slow. Enjoying her scent and managing to relax despite the situation. I closed my eyes and listened to life signs faster than mine and felt her charged energy as we were pressed skin-to-skin.
She still waited for something to happen. Nothing would, unless she acted first. The quiet stretched as Jael’s muscles softened a little at a time, if only because she couldn’t maintain readiness to fight when exhaustion dragged at her as it did me. Jael struggled to stay awake until I drifted into Reverie.
She probably only lasted a score of heartbeats before falling into the same.
“Talk to me,” the Matron whispered. “With your hands, with your lips, however you can. What happened?”
“Demons,” the youth confessed upon drawing enough courage. “Yellow eyes watching me sleep. In my room, in the deep shadows. They have white manes. Claws.”
This Matron was young for having had four Daughters and two sons already. She had probably been barely more than a cait herself the first time she’d caught a bua’s seed. There was more concern on her beautiful face than there was on any female of power at Court. Her bright eyes, the same color as her young Daughter, sparkled with intelligence.
“Damn them,” the Matron whispered, straightening up. She put her hand to her lips, thinking deeply. She seemed to come up with nothing new for she shook her head and said it again. “Damn them…”
“What, Mother? Please?”
The older Davrin frowned at the worn desk still holding together past the time it should have broken a leg and needed to be replaced. There were old, brittle notes taken by previous Matrons, and resilient lea
ther wraps trying to keep them contained.
“The Priesthood may come for you when you’re grown,” she said with frank sobriety, her thoughts unfiltered. “It has been so through the time of many Matrons. Sometimes, they just come and take one of us. The one they choose vanishes, we never know what becomes of them. Those Sathoet are always the first sign.”
The cait blinked her wide eyes, hand clenching into a fist as she shook her head with fear. “No! I’ll run away! Like Franek.”
The Matron shook her head. “They track the Daughters, my baby. Sometimes the sons can get away to the Fringe, but…”
“What should I do, Mother?” the youth implored.
The Matron swallowed. “Learn to fight. Perhaps a Red Sister will notice you and challenge the Sanctuary.”
Jael jerked when I did, each of us startled by the sudden movement as something jarred me awake. My heart pounded in my ears, but I still held the novice against me; by the scent and the warmth surrounding us, neither of us had moved for quite a while. The voices and images from my Reverie faded from my mind’s eye, and I heard Jael lick her lips and swallow as she came fully awake. She shifted her head slightly, trying to look around. I wondered if she didn’t recognize where she was. It was possible.
“Rest well?” I asked.
She tensed against me but didn’t pull away or twist around. I was sure now that she had rested; the comparative tension which returned was stark.
“Sirana.”
I smiled even though she couldn’t see it. “I am.”
Jael paused. She hadn’t yet looked my way; my breasts were warm pressed to her back. “How did I get here?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
She swallowed. “I…I only know I’ve been fighting for spans to stay alive. Th-the Sathoet came for me, probably because I insulted the Fifth House healer.”
“True,” I said.
“Then you and Elder Rausery were there. Grabbed me away from them.”
“Yes.”
“Put me through all this… lying, so the Prime could accept me.”
