Vayal Academy

I wake with a roar, shooting up and ready to fight, but Mae’s hand on my chest stops me springing to my feet. “Easy.”

We’re back in her room, Alyx and I laid out on the bed and Mae sitting on the edge. Alyx’s head slid off my chest when I sat up, so I lower myself back down and wrap an arm around her shoulder. She grumbles contently.

“You two are so cute.”

“Mae. Are you okay?”

“You know I’ve been pumping Alyx with sedative magic like, every thirty minutes?”

“What? Why?”

“She is pissed. And I wanted to talk to you alone first. Because I figure you’ll be more understanding. Cos like, uhm, yeah, I’m okay. I actually kinda had a great time.”

My heart sinks. “You don’t mean-”

“No, no, I get the impression it was a one time thing. And just cause you didn’t win the competition, doesn’t mean I’m not interested in seeing you two fuck. And maybe a little more than that, if you’re good.”

I hold Alyx tighter against me. Her eyes flutter open. “Hattie?” she mumbles. “Hattie-Hattie-we, gotta kill her.” Golden light settles over her, and she returns to snoring.

Alyx’s plan is certainly tempting. I can’t just forget. But then, really, it’s not hard to see why she did it. It’s an escalation, but…

“Hattie?” Mae says, sweet as ever, like that didn’t just happen.

“Yeah?”

“Now that we’re alone, would you tell me what happened in the cave?”

“Okay. Hold my hand — I’ll show you.”

I expect Alyx to force me down by the tie, but instead she rises, slowly, drunkenly, swaying and smiling. “Gods, I’ve been waiting for this. Waiting for you.” She straddles me, hands linked together behind my head, and leans in, pressing her antlered forehead against mine. “I don’t know what it is about you, Hattie. You make me feel… well, how Mae makes you feel.” Her wine-hot breath rolls down my nose. She gasps when I grab her hips. “Fucking hell, you’re so big.”

My cheeks flush. I’ve gotten the worried looks since I grew taller than dad — when I was ten. Whenever I went into Asarain Village the other kids hurried off the street.

“It’s awesome, Hattie!” Okay, that’s new. “So big, so broad. Taking up space. I wish I looked like you.”

“T-thank you.”

“You’re right, you’re right. I’m getting carried away. It- let me. Let me make a guess about you.” She reaches into thin air and conjures a set of rusty iron manacles, linked by a painfully short chain. Confident in her guess, she clamps them over my wrists.

I blush deeper. “I just… I find them comforting.”

“Hattie, you don’t gotta explain anything. What’s a bit of tasteful bondage between friends?” She lifts the chain, forcing my hands above my head, and presses it against the rocky cave wall; a thick root grows out of the stone, looping around the chain. “I wonder what else gets you going?”

A lot of things I never would’ve expected — I think I learn something new about myself every vision. “This is okay for now, right?”

“Oh, Hattie, Hattie, Hattie. This is a good start, but…” My nose finds the irresistible smell of stewed jakol haunch, a staple of the Imperial Legions since the Second Revision of Regulation Recipes and Culinary Guidelines for Quartermasters (and, consequently, a staple of the Hare household). Alyx holds the haunch an inch in front of me, and I lean forward to tear a chunk without hesitation. Tastes like home.

“You know how to make jakol?”

“I mean, if soldiers can figure it out…”

“Hey-”

“I’m just fucking with you. Now be a good girl and take another bite.” This time the deliciously peppery meat is just outside comfortable range, and I almost strain myself getting my tusks in. “It’s really that good?”

I nod, and flick my eyes up at the haunch when I’ve swallowed the last, ready for more; desperate for more, come to think of it — I hadn’t realised how hungry all this fighting had made me. But for every inch forward I move Alyx steps back the same, until I’m there with my arms way out behind me, still shackled to the wall, the haunch just out of reach.

“Go on,” she says. “I mean, if you don’t want it-” Right in my face she sinks her teeth into it, screwing her eyes shut with exaggerated pleasure and moaning. “Oh fuck,” she says, mouth full of food. “It is that good.”

“Alyx, please.”

“That’s a good start. But, I mean, you’ve been calling me Alyx since we met, and if I’ve got this opportunity… well, I think I’d love making such a beautiful, powerful woman address me properly.”

“Properly?”

“As Empress.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She doesn’t reply, just takes another bite as my stomach grumbles. “It’d be sacreliege!”

“Mmmf, this is so fucking good.” Round and round she turns the haunch, gnawing every last scrap of delicious, delicious flesh from it.

“Aren’t you vegetarian?”

“Gods, Hattie, nothing dies when you conjure meat. How’d that even work?” Honestly, I’d thought it was her biology.

Alyx bends the bone, which resists a moment before snapping with the sound of a fireplace crackling. Who knew she was that strong? “Listen,” I say, “I’m not going to humiliate myself with sacrilege just for a bit of food. No matter how hungry I am.”

“Oh, that’s fine.” She slurps marrow like a suckling pig, loud and echoing. Gods. Every Orc knows the bones are the best part; I guess Alyx does, too. “Fucking hell, Hattie, I wish you’d show me a little respect so I could share this.” She smashes the last chunks of bone together in her palms; they crumble to a fluttering swarm of green light, which she swallows. “You can get a lot of the mana back, you know? Maybe I’ll teach you to conjure, one day.”

“Come on, Alyx, please.”

“We both know that’s not how you should address me.”

“I’m not-”

“Nnnnf, fucking hell; fucking hell that’s good meat.” She swings the new leg like a sword, in a swift arc, and the smell wafts under my nose for just a second; my teeth close just a fraction too late to get it. “Shame you’re a heretic. Heretics don’t get to eat.”

“I am not a heretic!”

“You’re not addressing your Empress properly, are you? As heretical as it gets.”

It’s about now that the terrible realisation sets over me, and it takes every ounce of hope or resilience from me — she’s more patient than I am. I can sit here until the race is over (whenever that might be — if the remaining teams are caught up in defence, it might be hours; some have lasted days) and then give in when my hunger drives me mad. Or I can humiliate myself now and maybe keep things composed, keep a bit of dignity.

“Please, E-” but it dies in my throat. It’s just too far! It’s too much! How could she ever expect me to-

A tiny scrap of meat, just as big as her fingernail, balances on the tip of her finger, right in front of my lips. I close around it and the taste reminds me why I’m so, so desperate, and I’m so hungry, and it’s not like I really believe it, I’m just… just playing along.

“Please, Empress.”

“Ah. Now that’s a good girl.” She tosses a huge chunk through the air; I snap it up with my teeth. “Wow. Good catch.” With a few quick strides she’s on me, hand gently on the back of my head, holding the food to my mouth tenderly and letting me, finally, devour it. When it’s all gone, I stare up at her with pleading eyes.

“Thank you,” her eyebrows raise, so I quickly add, “Empress. I- I need something to drink.”

“Awh, is my subject thirsty? Should I deign to water your parched throat?” A glass of water appears in her hands, ice cubes bobbing and clinking. She gulps it greedily, lets a bit roll down her chin and splatter against the cave floor.

Gods, is she ever gonna fuck me?

Girl. She is.

“Whoops,” she says, “guess I drank it all. Oh well.” She uncorks her wineskin and lets the enticing smell (nothing makes me want a drink more than already being drunk) fill the space between us. “I’m not sure a heretic like you deserves my regal vintage.”

“Please.”

“I already gave you a feast. Greedy, greedy.” Vines twist around my ankles and drag me to the floor; my arms burn from the strain, still chained well above me. Another vine slithers round my neck and keeps my head flat against the wall. “If you want more from me… Well, then your Empress demands your service.”

She strips her uniform off, then her underwear, standing before me somehow utterly perfect. She’s lithe and muscled, not the sort of body I usually go for, but there’s just something indefinable about the way she stands, so confidently assured of her own power and sexiness, that makes her irresistible. “Whatever you want, Empress.” It feels less ridiculous, now.

“You’re finally learning, heretic. Maybe I won’t have to behead you.”

My legs, both spread out before me, slowly lift up by the ankles until my crotch is angled out for her. She falls to her knees in front of me and strokes my cheek. “You’re quite beautiful, for a heretic.”

“Thank you, Empress. You honour m-” the word turns to a gasp as she’s suddenly inside me, my underwear pulled aside.

“Oh, fuck, Hattie… You’re everything I dreamed of.”

I feel my cheeks burning as she breaks character, now suddenly aware of how much I love Alyx — I’ve buried it deep down, with this contest going on and my eyes locked on Mae, but I don’t think I could ever get that lid back on, now. “I- I love you,” I moan.

“Of course you do. I’m your Empress.” She giggles. “You just know she’s getting up to shit like this all the time. Power makes anyone into a fucking freak.”

It’s so damned blasphemous, but all I can do is laugh along, melting into another moan and leaning into her hand when it comes up to cup my face. Her strokes are slow, loving, as she summons a wineskin from thin air and carefully pours it down my throat.

I accept it eagerly, letting out little whimpers of pleasure, drinking until I’m sure it should be empty. It just keeps going though, sweet and fruity and tangy, one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. It spills over my face as she thrusts, struggling to maintain her slow pace.

“That good?” she asks, and the husky affection in her voice means I know that she’s broken character again. I swallow the last of the wine, and the skin disappears. “You like being taken care of?”

“Yes,” I whisper. I’ve spent the last however-many hours in some level of discomfort — pain or embarrassment or fear — it really is nice to just be cared for. To be filled with good food and drink, body buzzing pleasantly, nothing to do except lie here and get fucked by Alyx.

And Gods, she’s so good at it. So good at it that when she says: “yes who?”

I cry out: “yes, Empress!” actually happy to be saying it, because she’s warm and she feels so good and right here in the cave, she’s everything.

She smiles drunkenly, plants a kiss on my forehead, collapses against my neck. “Y’know, Hattie, y’know… I’m trying to be real slow and romantic and everything, but I might have to… just have’ta.” Her strength combined with her vines spin me around, curve my back so my ass is pressed hard into her. “There we go,” she grunts.

She speeds up her thrusts, and the pleasure between my legs becomes all-encompassing. I moan. I whine. I cry out. A vine twists my face around, supports my cheek while Alyx kisses me hard from behind.

“I love you, Hattie,” she manages through kisses. “I do.”

The words make pleasure explode through me. As the world-shattering orgasm pulses up and down my body, the only thing in my brain is her name.

“Alyx!” I moan.

“Hattie,” she grunts, yanking me back and forth against her hard. “My Hattie.”

I return to myself; Mae does, too, with a big grin on her face. “Wow. You know, I was gonna make you two audition, but I think that counts. Yeah. Yeah, actually, that counts.” She climbs onto me, lays a palm over Alyx’s chest, and pumps her full of sedatives. While I’m still recovering from the vision, she slips her blouse off and leans forward, face hovering above mine. “I’m thinking maybe three’s not so complicated after all. It’s not like, six. That’d just be unmanageable. But three? I can do three.”

My hands wrap around her hips and finally, finally, finally, Gods, it’s actually happening, I’ve waited so long and now I don’t even care that I have to share. “Let Alyx wake up, then.”

“Oh, Hattie, you sure? Vila’s gonna have you shovelling hay in the Diligence Compound every spare second. Classes are back tomorrow…” She leans in close, hot breath on my ear, “and then Alyx is gonna have a lot more time with me than you.”

Well, she has a point. And when I do have time with Mae, Alyx will probably be there, too — not that I’m complaining. But it’ll be nice to have Mae all to myself; this might be my only chance. “Okay. Let her rest.”

“You rest too, sexy,” she says, sliding my underwear off and slowly trailing down my body until her head’s between my thighs. She bites the skin, gently, playfully, and I twitch. Her breath rolls over me; her tongue brushes against me. “I’ve seen what you like, Hattie. You just lie back and I’ll make you feel so good — since you’ve been so patient.”

And she does. The reports are true, she’s — well — she’s amazing at this. I don’t know if it’s her Restoration magic or just the all-natural type of magic that clings to her and everything she does, but she has me on the cusp of an orgasm almost immediately and holds me there, so I’m riding atop a wave of unbelievable, mind-melting pleasure, feeling constantly about to tip over the edge but never actually falling.

“Holy- holy shit,” I manage, overpleasured tears wetting my lashes. She smiles against me with a thrum of sensation that makes me gasp.

I float, whimper, clutch the sheets. I’ve wanted this so badly, for so long; and it’s better than I ever imagined. I have to stop my thighs from tightening around her perfect head, scared of hurting her.

When her head comes up her fingers take the place of her tongue almost immediately, so there’s not even a break in the wall of pleasure that is my current reality.

“You’ll notice you haven’t cum yet,” she says, looking up at me and dimpling.

I moan against her fingers, it turns to a whimper. She’s definitely using some freaky Restoration magic on me.

“What- what do you want?” I manage — aware of how these things go with Mae, by now.

“Oh nothing big. I just need you to promise me something.”

I whimper again, desperate to cum. Doesn’t she know I’d give her anything she wants? The whole denial routine, it’s cute, I’ll admit, really cute, and it’s driving me insane right now — but it’s totally unnecessary. How could I ever say no to her?

“Just, be normal to Syrene, okay? Pretend nothing happened.”

Fuck.

“Mae- You know I can’t- ahh,” her fingers press harder against me and I collapse into whimpers, somehow even closer to cumming than I was before but still unable to tip over the edge. “Okay, okay. I won’t — ahh — I won’t hurt her, physically-”

“Not good enough. I want fucking smiles Hattie. I want you to pull her chair out for her in class. Your behaviour reflects on me.”

“Mae-” Her request is so outrageous, I have so many problems with it, so many things to say — but still, the only thing I can manage is her name. My overloaded brain wants to shut down, instead it’s forced to remain in overdrive, pleasure neurons firing like they never have before. Another name comes to me. “Alyx… Alyx!”

“I know,” says Mae. “You don’t worry about Alyx, I’ll deal with her. In the meantime,” she smiles and ducks lower between my thighs, “I’m going to get back to work down here. When you’re ready to cum, you just tell me what I want to hear, okay?”

And Godsdamn it, she does it too, her tongue such euphoria that it circles back around to pain. I cry out. Alyx’s hand tightens on my arm, but Mae, too quick for her own good, shoots another bolt of sedation through her without even lifting her head, and the deer slumps into me, closer than before, her smell doing crazy things to my already blissed out brain.

“I promise!” I cry at last, tears running down my face, no longer aware of what I’m even agreeing to. “I promise!”

Finally, finally, she lets me cum. I float in a timeless, painless euphoria where the only thing that exists is the smell of these two women who I love. The intensity of the orgasm leaves my legs shaking uncontrollably as Mae climbs onto my chest with a grin.

“Thanks so much, baby,” she says.