Blood Ties, Part 43

Only after you settle on your next course of action do you allow yourself to drift off to sleep like your fellow bedmates, the warmth of their flesh lulling you into your well-deserved repose. Your rest is peaceful, undisturbed, and eventually you awaken with the morn. Fresh and full of energy, ready to put the next steps of your plan into effect.

You notice that sometime during the night, Anaka had unconsciously shifted her naked body to cling to you even tighter, both her arms wrapped around one of yours. You give her hair a gentle ruffle, which slowly starts to wake her as well. As the bleariness of sleep falls away, she realizes just what she's doing, and you watch a blush creep over her face as she looks away, unable to meet your eyes.

She doesn't stop holding your arm, though.

You caress her cheek, noting again how she tries to hide the damage to her face from you. It seems as though she's ashamed of it.

Well, that much you can help with. "Do you trust me?" you ask, as a glowing light forms at your palm. "Do you trust me enough to accept this?"

The former spy nods without hesitation, and the Corruptive Boon takes effect. In addition to heightening her sexual abilities and sensitivity, your boon also able to handle purely cosmetic changes on this relatively minor level, and soon her face returns to its normal look. She touches her fingers to her face in wonderment, drawing in a quick breath as she feels the infernal lust course through her.

With a grin you roll over, pinning her beneath you, and begin to fuck her in earnest. Any hesitation on her part is long gone, and she abandons herself to the act, letting you plunder her body in every way you desire. "You were worried about what I did to your heroines, weren't you?" you say. "I'll ask Khaytala to check in on you from time to time. You can see for yourself the Kovora that we're creating."

Anaka cries out in bliss as you release into her, clinging tight as you fill her womb, as though she couldn't bear to risk missing a single drop. Then she slumps back, chest heaving, looking up at you in awed wonder.

Rysanial and Kelissa are awake now as well, and you attend to them before the three of you head out to meet with the rest of your inner council in Lily's chambers. Once you're all assembled, the final round of discussion starts.

"I think we should get started on subverting the Underworld," you begin, outlining your plan. "The opportunity Verika found for us is too good to pass up. Three of their leaders, exposed and in one place. If Verika takes Rysanial with her, we could start to set things in motion on that end. It will also head off any retaliation against us, for our attack on their sacred festival."

You can see the fervent gratitude in Verika's eyes, and you can tell how important this is to her. Even beyond its immediate strategic advantage, the attempt to change her homeland, to fight against what Melca's influence has done to them. "You can count on us," she says, nodding. "We'll make it work."

"We'll also need to do something about the food situation," you continue. "Now that we have a large group of loyal orcs, I think we can send them out to obtain supplies without the risk of it devolving into an outright bloodbath. With the boon I've given them, and the skills I've taught them, they should be able to... convince... one of the border towns to willingly trade with us."

Lily flushes red and chews her lower lip, but doesn't object. She knows how tight Kovora's situation is. And, after all, this is more or less an extension of her original plan. Just taking it to the next level. Still, you take the time to reassure her. "Don't worry. By the end, at least, they'll all be enjoying themselves like nothing they've ever experienced in their lives."

It is technically an aggressive move, no question. But in the grand scheme of things, just one single raid without killing anyone is still an overall deescalation from even what the rogue orc bands were doing under Varthurg. This shouldn't be too much of a provocation, not yet.

From there, you turn to Khaytala. "That means we won't be able to have our most loyal forces on guard here, though," you say. "I'll be trusting you more than ever to keep Lily safe."

The towering half-orc woman nods in understanding, and places her hand over Lily's much smaller one, holding it. "Don't worry," she assures you. "I'll keep an eye on everything here. I won't let anything happen to her."

Finally, you turn to Ceriss. "And of course, if we're going to be seducing Nevati next, you're the obvious choice to assist in that," you say. "Having you along should tempt her in ways I could never do alone."

Ceriss frowns, puzzled. "Tempt her?" she asks. "Me? What do you mean?"

Oh, that's right. With everything else going on, you never actually got around to explaining what you'd deduced about Nevati's hopeless crush. "I mean that Nevati is head over heels in love with you," you say. "Why did you think she kept coming out to visit you so often?"

The sorceress stares at you. "What? That's... that's nonsense," she says, incredulous. "Nevati isn't... I mean, I know she enjoys spending time talking about magic, but... that's... that's not..."

Her voice slowly trails off. You can tell by her expression that she's thinking back to their previous encounters. Re-evaluating them in this new light, without her unconscious assumptions. And as she does so... you can see understanding start to dawn.

It's a bit harder to tell with the natural reddish coloring of her infernal heritage, but your eyes can still pick out her mortified blush. "Oh," she says in a small voice. "Oh, goddesses. I... I didn't realize. How did I not realize? That time at the lake... When she asked me..."

You wince in sympathy as you watch Ceriss. She's clearly thinking back through all the times she'd inadvertently stepped on the other woman's shy, fumbling attempts, without even realizing it. Eventually, she outright buries her face in her hands. "I am such an idiot."

Placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, you give her a squeeze. "Don't worry," you say. "It's going to be fine. All we need to do is make her every dream come true."

Then you allow yourself a diabolical grin. "And I have just the idea for how to do that..."