The discomfort of the ride back to Badyron was compounded by Ravyn’s silence and sideways glances in my direction. She melted into the corner of the carriage, seemingly trying to shape herself to the angles of wood and leather. Her hands sat balled into fists in her lap and her skin still looked concerningly pale. Ball perched on her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek like a worried guardian. Ravyn offered him a scratch here and there, moving as if by automation and not a conscious effort.

We’d offered her potions, snacks, and Cannoli’s [Stabilize] ever since the Spell had worn off, but Ravyn was having none of it. So instead, we did our best to occupy the time with broken conversations and awkwardly avoiding one another’s gazes.

“S-so, if using the scroll is that worrisome, should we wait until tomorrow night?” Cannoli asked. Buttons perched in her lap, cocking his head in the same, curious way Cannoli did.

“It’ll be late by the time we get back anyway,” Keke agreed. “It would be best to rest up, I think.”

I nodded. “Once we jump in, there’s no backing out.”

Another long pause.

Ravyn broke it, her voice cracking and hoarse. “Ara ara. I’m fine to do it tonight. The less time Celestia has to react, the better.”

Keke crossed one shapely leg over the other. “We need time to get set, though. Like packing what we need—”

Ravyn rolled her eyes and cut in. “Mou ii. What could you want to pack from this miserable shithole?”

Keke leveled her gaze. “Food, for starters. We don’t know if we’ll be welcomed into the other taverns after we do this. We’re going to have Ceres and the man with us, after all.”

“There are also a few potions and tinctures in the house I’d like to, um, take with,” Cannoli murmured.

The ghost of a grin parted Ravyn’s lips. “You mean ‘steal’?”

Cannoli blanched. “N-no! They would be used a-and they’re for the guests anyway! Right?”

The carriage hit a steep divot in the road. We simultaneously jolted from our seats, then grimaced. Cannoli’s right hand shot forward to steady Buttons and her left gripped my thigh, assumedly to steady herself.

I cleared my throat and rested my hand on hers. “I think you can take whatever you like from the house. Within reason.”

She looked from my face to our hands, then back again. A brilliant smile that warmed me to my toes broke on her face and she nodded. “I won’t take anything we don’t need.”

“Hm,” Keke hummed impatiently, tapping my shin with the toe of her shoe. “The next problem is finding two girls for you to impersonate.”

Oh. Yeah. That’s a thing. “Waiting outside the mansion probably isn’t the most reliable way to do it. Especially in broad daylight.”

“What are we going to do with them?” Cannoli’s smile faltered. “You won’t hurt them, will you?”

“Baka, no.” Ravyn shoved a hand in her [Cat Pack] and withdrew one of the bottles filled with milky white liquid. “A little of this in their tea will put them out for a few hours, at least. The question is who.”

Ara and Amira would be too obvious. It was a given that Celestia’s watchful eye would be on them at all times. No matter how much I would have loved to trust Felsi or Notch with the task, they seemed questionable allies at best.

Keke twitched her ears and narrowed her eyes. Cannoli hummed a tuneless melody and stroked Buttons from head to tail, her thumb moving similarly across the back of my hand. I picked at a stray thread at the knee of my jeans while my thoughts teetered between Cannoli’s skin and the task at hand. Ravyn replaced the bottle in her pack and reformed to the corner.

“What about the two girls on the dock? The ones that greeted us when we got here?” I remembered suddenly. “They both seemed like they were on Celestia’s shit list.”

“Wouldn’t that mean she’s paying close attention to them?” Cannoli asked.

Keke’s eyes flickered to Cannoli and my hands, a frown tugging at the corner of her lips. But she leveled her stare to ours and shook her head. “Not necessarily. She seemed more annoyed with them than keen on their progress as maids.”

“The bitch is mortal, just like the rest of us,” Ravyn spat. “She’s only got two eyes to monitor this place. She can’t watch everything at once.”

I pictured Celestia sitting in a room, sipping a cup of tea, her face lit only by two dozen monitors fueled by security cameras set up on every corner of Venicia. Big Mistress is watching. “Actually, how does she monitor these Enchantments?”

“It depends on the Enchantment and the [Class]. However, if I were trying to watch a whole fucking town, I’d link each Enchantment to a dot on a map,” Ravyn explained. “As if you were watching the place from Ball’s point of view.”

I thought I remembered seeing a map like that in Harry Potter. But, I’d watched the movie only once and might have been more focused on trying to put my arm around the girl I was with than the teenage edge-wizard. But I digress. “Can she see the names of everyone?”

Ravyn shrugged. “Maybe. Depends on the skill of the user.”

“To be safe, we should probably assume that she can, then,” Keke said.

Cannoli squirmed uncomfortably. “Then, would she see two sets of the dock girls?”

“No. Because we’re not Enchanted, remember?” Ravyn replied.

“Wait. Cannoli makes a good point, though. That means we need to leave them somewhere that makes sense.” I squeezed her hand and she giggled. “If we’re going in at night, that would mean in their homes.”

Keke leaned forward and clasped her hands between her knees. “But we don’t know where they live. And I don’t see a late-night visit to muddy their tea going over well.”

Ravyn stared out the window, eyes locked on the rolling landscape slowly passing us by. She sighed, then said, “We should do this during the day, then.”

My heart sped. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Everything we’ve done so far has only set the bitch on high alert. We’ve paid too damn much and spent too much time in this goddess-forsaken place. Let’s not fuck it up now.”

“Then, we should plan this to the last detail,” I said. “If we run into trouble, then we can improvise. But let’s at least have a few backups for that.”

The girls nodded and I ran a hand through my hair. My stomach was twisting with uneasy knots. We were really going to go through with this.

As we guessed, we arrived back in Venecia after the sun had set and the evening’s chill had set in. I shivered as we made our way back to our temporary estate.

“My, you were gone for quite some time, Master and Misses,” Ara greeted us at the door with a bow and a mischievous smile. “Did you enjoy your time?”

“Yeah. Just fucking peachy,” Ravyn snapped. “Can you and Amira make us food or do we need to dig through the trash like peasants?”

Keke hid a laugh behind a cough. Cannoli’s hand slid between my elbow and my waist, and she silently clung to my forearm. Was that her racing pulse I felt, or was I imagining things?

Ara’s smile faltered. “We’d be delighted to,” she said through clenched teeth. “A few moments while we’re in the kitchens if you please. Take your ease in the dining hall. Formal attire is unnecessary at this hour.”

“Oh, you’re too kind,” Ravyn said, her voice overly pompous.

“Ravyn,” I cautioned.

Ara bowed again without another word and disappeared through the expansive hallways and into the kitchens. We made our way to the dining room and sat in exhausted silence until the food arrived. Ara and Amira remained silent and stalwart as we ate, then wished us a good night when we made our way back to our rooms.

Keke kissed my cheek and disappeared behind her door. Ravyn shuffled into her room without a word or a parting glance. Cannoli lingered at my side, timidly bouncing from one foot to the next. She bit her lower lip and looked up at me with expectant, shining eyes.

Her heart really is racing as fast as mine.

I took her hand and led her to my room, closing the door quietly behind us. Once we were alone, she stood on her tiptoes, twined her hands around my neck, and pulled me into her kiss. Her lips were even softer than I remembered which seemed impossible. She tasted like the strawberries we had for dessert and the sweet scent I always picked up on her skin.

Recalling her last request for a long makeout session and cuddles, I wasn’t sure what all was off-limits this round. The last thing I wanted to do was make her uncomfortable, even if the desperate voice in the back of my head kept screaming at me to rip her clothes off.

Without breaking our kiss, she walked me back toward the bed, perching on the side and situating me between her thighs. She dropped her trembling hands to my wrists, guiding them from her shoulders to her chest.

“You sure?” I murmured against her mouth. The plush curve of her chest beneath her top rested against my palms, rising and falling with her shuddering breaths.

“Yes,” she whispered, arching her back against my hands.

I gently kneaded her breasts, growing more frustrated by the moment with the thin fabric blocking me from her flesh.

“Harder,” she purred, breathless.

Woah. Alright. “Then take this off.” I tugged at her top.

Cannoli pulled back from our embrace and whipped her tunic over her head before moving to unhook her bra. She froze, her wide-eyed gaze carefully studying my face.

“We can stop,” I said quickly. “Don’t do anything you don’t want to.”

The blush in her cheeks deepened and she shook her head, strands of white slipping over her shoulders. “N-no. I want this more than I can say.”

“Just tell me what to do,” I replied, running my fingers through her hair.

She stripped her bra and looked up at me sheepishly. “I-I know they’re not as big as Keke’s or Ravyn’s, b-but—”

“You’re perfect,” I marveled. The gentle ascension of her chest peaked with perfectly pink nipples before rounding into the curve of her taut stomach. Her hip bones poked above the hem of her skirt, guarding the last of Cannoli’s naked form.

“You’re not just saying that?” Cannoli whispered.

I shook my head. “No.” I kissed her, cradling her lower back with one hand and cupping one breast with the other. I massaged her skin and drew moans from her throat, pausing only to tease her nipple between my thumb and forefinger.

“Mmh. . .That feels really good,” Cannoli crooned, sliding her hands beneath my shirt. “Take yours off, too.”

“Alright.” I tossed my shirt to join hers.

Cannoli stole long glances at my abdomen and hips, then licked her lips. My heart skipped. She traced the outlines of muscles I myself was still getting used to and I shivered.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she asked.

“Mmhmm.” I drank in the picture of her on the bed, her hand on my chest. The feather-light sensation of her fingertips traced goosebumps along my skin.

Cannoli chewed her lip. “I, um, don’t really know what to do from here.”

I took her free hand and kissed her palm. “What do you mean?”

“Like—hng!” she squeaked as I sucked her fingers. “T-this is how kittengirls are made, right? B-but, Keke hasn’t been pregnant. And, um, I probably shouldn’t get pregnant yet. So, what else can we do?”

I nibbled her fingertips, winning another pleasant squeal from Cannoli, then chuckled. “Do you want me to lead?”

Cannoli gasped and quickly nodded. “I-if you don’t mind.”

But I still don’t want to go too far. “If you don’t like something, say stop. Okay?” This probably isn’t the time for safe words.

“Alright.”

I gently laid her down on her back, moving onto the bed at her side. I knelt on the comforter, slowly losing my logical thoughts to the beastial need throbbing between my legs. I mapped the topography of her body with my fingertips, relishing her quivering form. “Do you ever touch yourself?”

“W-what?” Cannoli flushed.

I descended to her hips, beneath the hem of her skirt, and caressed the thin damp fabric between her legs. “Like this,” I growled.

Cannoli gasped and shivered, her thighs parting to accept the delicate stroke of my fingers. “I–mnf!–yes!” Her answer hitched with the moan in her throat.

“What do you think about when you do?” I barely recognized my own voice. I’d never asked a girl questions like this before. But the craved glimmer in Cannoli’s ruby eyes fueled my own desires like matches to a bonfire.

“That’s embarrassing!” she squealed.

“I mean, I can stop.” I shrugged and drew my hand away.

Cannoli snatched my wrist and looked at me with an expression I’d never seen on her face before. A mix of desperation and depravity so deep I could drown in it. “Please don’t.”

I hooked my thumb through the seat of her underwear and shifted it to the left. The heat of her swept over my hand and her thighs trembled. “What do you think about, then?”

“Y-you,” she said, voice barely audible.

I delicately stroked her folds with my middle finger. She cried out. “What about me?”

“You…touching me instead,” she admitted.

I parted her skin and rubbed the length of her searing clit. “Like this?”

Air hissed between her teeth as Cannoli grasped my thigh with one hand and the comforter with the other. “Y-yes!”

I slipped the first knuckle of my finger inside her, letting her panties rest on my hand to free my thumb for other attentions. “What else?”

“Matt… I-I couldn’t—”

I slid two fingers into her depths, massaging her clit with my thumb while I watched her beautiful face. She was a tantalizing blend of embarrassment and longing, forcing her eyes to stay on mine instead of rolling back into her head. Her hips rolled against my hand and her grip tightened.

“Y-you holding me down while you do it.” The words came in a rush, as if connected together in a sound instead of a sentence.

I corralled her wrists into one hand and pinned them above her head, slipping another finger into her yielding body. She brought her feet to the edge of the bed, letting her knees butterfly out to spread her thighs further apart. “Like this?”

“Mmh, yes!”

I withdrew my hand to her desperate whimpers of protest, tearing away her skirt and panties to leave her naked on the bed. “You’re beautiful, Cannoli.”

Cannoli squirmed beneath my grasp, toes curling as she returned to her previous position to give me easy access between her legs. “Please don’t stop,” she whimpered.

I plunged my fingers back into her, rewarded with a satisfied squeal. I leaned in and teased her nipple between my teeth and with laps of my tongue. Every muscle in her petite form tensed, rigid with pleasure, and her hands writhed in mine.

“I-I’m coming!” she cried, her back arching with the climax.

I thrusted my fingers as far back as her body would allow, seemingly bottoming her out with just my hand. Her strained cries echoed against the walls and the evidence of her pleasure dripped down her inner thighs.

Just as I released her wrists, she wiggled her hips from my hand and sat up on the bed, trembling.

“Are you alright?” I asked, worried that I may have hurt her.

“More than that,” Cannoli purred. “You should feel good, too.” She dove for the button of my jeans, clumsily unhooking it before unzipping the fly and tearing at my pants.

I helped her efforts, discarding my jeans and my boxers to the side. I sat on the bed and she situated herself into my lap, her back facing me. My erection stood stalwart between us and I cleared my throat. My confidence was beginning to fade.

“If you don’t like this, tell me, alright?” Cannoli said.

I mean, how many things can we do in this position? I wondered. “Okay.”

Cannoli’s long, swaying tail curved around her back, then wrapped around my shaft. It was a strange feeling, definitely different from what I was used to. Like a downy, fluffy Fleshlight. I didn’t hate it.

“That’s new.”

“Is it alright?” Cannoli asked, apparently returned to her constant state of one-step-from-panic.

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

And then she started to move her tail. I had clearly underestimated how dexterous their tails could be. She’d wrapped me from base to tip, encasing me in a velvety, firm grasp that toyed with my skin and teased the sensitive head with the tips of her fur. I leaned back on my hands and watched her efforts with curiosity.

“Does that feel good?” Cannoli murmured.

“It does,” I said, unable to help my surprise. “It feels really good.”

Cannoli giggled. “I’m glad.”

“Can you squeeze harder?”

Her eyebrows raised. “I think so.” She did.

I groaned. My thighs tensed and the feeling left my feet. “Yeah, like that.”

Cannoli continued to pump me with her tail. She blushed and avoided my gaze. “Y-you can come on me. If you want.”

“Would you like that?” My excitement resummoned my confidence. I ran my fingers down her spine and she shivered.

“Yes.”

“Then go a little faster.”

Cannoli increased her pace and I gripped her hips, sinking my fingernails into her skin. She dragged me over the edge with her tail, continuing to pump me despite the hot seed painting her back and tail. For the full duration, she watched me. Wide eyes seemingly memorizing me as I did her.

“Matt,” she murmured as I caught my breath.

“Hm?” I brushed her hair away from her shoulders, admiring the graceful curve of her spine.

“I love you.”