Chapter Xv Making New Arrangements

This is a rewrite of a previously published work. There is a lot of new content in it, but it is not wholly new content. There will be new chapters coming.

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Emilia broke her spell, releasing whatever magical hold she had over me.

And Shari, who walked up to me. She moves like Carmella. Both walked with grace and direction, with no wasted effort. The Ipet-Mau was far more lithe than the First Knight was; she was a little shorter than Meryl. Even more so in the flat sandals she wore versus Meryl's heels. She stood exceptionally close to me, pressing her arm into mine.

I stiffened and met the gaze of the other three women, all of which were staring at the two of us. Meryl and Emilia both looked guarded, though there was a twinkle in Meryl's eye that I couldn't quite understand. Carmella regarded us with idle curiosity. Then she walked over to the bed and gathered the woman's weapons. Shari cried out and stepped towards the First Knight, who loomed over her by a head and a half. "I... I need those."

"No, you don't. Johann should be more than sufficient to protect you for the time being. They'll be kept safe until then." Shari's ear twitched in annoyance, and she looked away, her fluffy, white tail swishing through the air violently. Carmella and Meryl left the room, Shari's weapons in hand. Emilia stayed behind. She stood before the new woman, puffing out her considerable chest, and stood as tall as she could. Which was not very, but it was the thought that counted. She stood a little more than half a head shorter than the dark-skinned Ipet-Mau woman.

"If you do anything to endanger any of us, I will destroy you entirely. There won't be so much as a white hair left of you." My mouth fell open. I don't know what was more shocking. The fact that Emilia, the sweet, if stern, Emilia had said that. Or the fact that I believed her. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that she could. Unlike the First Knight, I'd never seen her wield a weapon, nothing more martial than a knife. She hadn't put away her holy symbol, though. I eyed the crystalline droplet of blood, trying to imagine what her goddess might let her do if she was so inclined.

"You sure talk big, little girl," Shari said, her pupils narrowing to horizontal slits; her tail swishing back and forth rapidly. She leaned down to meet her at eye level. "I have no intention of doing anything to harm you. Any of you." She glanced back at me. "I just want a little of what you have."

Emilia frowned, considering the woman. Neither of them blinked. But eventually, Emilia turned on a heel and left the room, only giving me a passing glance. She did have a soft smile on her lips as she did so. I'm so confused, I thought. Once the door closed, Shari pressed against me, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her sharp, pointed nails pressed into my shoulder uncomfortably. I tried to squirm out of her grip, but she was stronger than I expected and kept me in place. "Now, now, Johann. You're supposed to keep a close eye on me, remember? Orders directly from your queen."

"I don't know why you're acting like I trust you any more than they do," I said, forcing my voice to be as cold as possible, pushing her away. She pouted at me but sat on the bed.

"You seemed comfortable with me when I was a cat," she said, examining her nails. I tried to get a read on her, but she was somewhere between apathetic and miserable and I couldn't figure out which was true. "Do you prefer that form? I was hoping to get a chance to... talk with you."

"I was comfortable with you because I thought you were a cat!" I exclaimed. Everyone here is crazy. Including me. Maybe especially me. "Not a cat burglar!"

"Thieving is just as honest as anything those women do," Shari said testily. I considered her, trying to see her logic. I couldn't. It was alien to me. But I got the sense that this was the first fully honest thing she'd said since Emilia broke her spell.

"How do you figure that?" I asked, leaning against the headboard of the bed, not wanting to be too close to her.

"Politics," she spat, disgusted. She dropped her hand and met my gaze, irritation plain in her features. "Nothing more than forcing everyone to be bound by the rich and powerful. And what do they do in return?"

"Build roads and wells. Even schooling." I shrugged. I had learned exactly how taxes were used. Here, at least. Not all countries used their taxes wisely, but in my studies here, I thought most of what we did was a good use for the funds. I continued on, "Meryl's even implemented a program to help those in need get housing and food."

"And she keeps around a giant knight to threaten everyone else into compliance," Shari countered. It took me a moment to realize who she was talking about.

"Carmella? She's not like that. She's... strict, but we have to have some laws," I replied, considering the First Knight. "Besides, she's the only reason I'm still around to watch you at all."

"What do you mean?" Her tone had softened a little. I sat down on the bed next to her.

"She's the one who taught me to fight. Without her, I would've died in that fight against that idiot noble." I pursed my lips, thinking about everything that had led me to this room, to this moment. "Well, actually, I don't think I'd be here at all. Just back home in my village, making sure people's horseshoes were fitted properly. Still. My point stands."

"And how well do you fight?" She asked, quizzically.

"Better than some, nowhere near what she can do." I smiled a little wistfully. "She's amazing."

"Hmm." She laid back, stretching out on my bed. When did I start thinking of it as my bed? I asked myself. I shook my head. "And what about the Blood Cleric? Is she also woefully misunderstood?"

"Blood Cleric?" I asked, frowning. "Emilia? She's a maid."

"A maid who wields the symbol of Thrista and casts divine blood magic," Shari retorted, condescension creeping into her tone.

"Blood magic?" I thought about it. She had healed me, but that hadn't involved any of her blood. At least not that I could remember. Then again, there was a lot of my blood to use. If it was necessary to use blood at all. I shook my head again, dismissing these thoughts. "I guess she's a cleric of some sort, but I don't know. Blood cleric makes her sound so... Dangerous."

"You are surrounded by dangerous people," Shari replied, meeting my gaze. "Are you that blind to it?"

"Right now, I'm alone with you." I tilted my head, giving her a clear view of my throat. "Does that mean you're dangerous?"

"Of course I am. Were I inclined to, it wouldn't take me more than a moment or two to end you," she said casually. I took my dagger from the sheath on my belt and offered it to her. "What's this?"

"Evening the odds." I shrugged. I wasn't afraid of her. Not in any real sense. And the shock and irritation was draining out of me. "Doesn't seem fair that if you attack me, you should do it with nothing but yourself."

"You have to be the most naive man I've ever met," she muttered, pushing the knife away from her face. I replaced it on my belt and leaned back next to her.

"Or I'm just not afraid of you," I replied easily.

"I thought I was some evil cat burglar." She was pouting.

"Burglars aren't scary. Lady Carmella is scary. Or at least intense. Meryl can be. Emilia is..." I tried to find the words. I didn't want to just say demanding or capable. When nothing better came, I just gave up and continued, "something else. And you've had your chance to kill me. Hell, as a cat, all you had to do was sit on my face, and I would have suffocated."

"Sit on your face?" She asked, a cat-ate-the-canary grin spreading across her face. "I wouldn't want you to suffocate that way. You have a job to do if I'm sitting on your face."

"Stop it with the innuendo." I responded dryly, getting up. "I have more than enough trouble with the three women I am beholden to already. I don't need to add to it."

"I assure you, I'm worth whatever trouble I bring." I watched her for a moment or two longer before shaking my head.

I wandered out of the room, and without prompting, Shari followed me, a step or two behind. Just like when she was a cat, I thought a little bitterly. Her following me around really fucks up my plans. I'd wanted to take Emilia out on a late-night date. She's been distant lately. I wanted to see if I could figure out why, if it was something I'd done.

But now Shari and I were tied at the hip. At least until she proved to be trustworthy. Or Carmella executed her. I'd rather that not happen, but it's out of my hands. I walked to the washroom and started to close the door, but Shari barged in after me and smiled.

"Uh. Could you give me some privacy?" I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my tone and only partially succeeding. "I'd like to bathe."

"You'd leave a potential enemy of the state alone for that long?" Shari asked, pretending to be scandalized. I rubbed my temple, trying to fight the tension building in my head and neck. "I could be away with half of the royal treasury! I think I should stick with you. I can't imagine your queen would be happy if I did something uncouth." She licked her lips.

I let out a long breath and shook my head, turning my back to her and stripped to the waist. I'd wash my lower half later. I glanced back, and she had slipped out of her strange armor and stood in front of me, unashamed. My eyes widened. And met hers. And I saw nothing else. I tried to see nothing else. I may have seen something else. She grinned at me, looped her fingers in her skirt, and pushed it down in one smooth motion. My eyes didn't track the motion. They wouldn't dare.

"Johann, you're staring. If you don't stop, I'll think you'll want to take my innocence," she said, feigning a demure tone. I came back to myself, knowing that my face was scarlet, and turned from her. I definitely cannot strip down any further now. I coughed and took a few steps further back.

"I think your innocence is safe from me. If such a concept even exists with you, Miss Ahtri." I tried to tamp down on my quickly arising desire, unable to find anything douse that particular flame.

"Shari," she whispered from right behind me. I swallowed hard and froze. She wrapped her arms around me and pressed her very full chest against me. Bigger than Meryl's. Probably in the same realm as Emilia's. I tried not to think about it.

And while I was trying not to think about it, she stole my belt. I don't even know how she did it. One moment, I was wearing my belt, and my breeches were firmly in place. In the next, she had the belt in her hand, and my pants were around my ankles. I turned and lunged for the belt, and she danced out of the way. I slipped and fell hard, barely managing to avoid crushing my length, which had stretched out in anticipation of more attention from the pretty catgirl. Pretty? I chided myself, gritting my teeth.

She stood above me, and when I looked up, I could see everything. She was hairless everywhere except for her head and her tail. I swallowed again. She put a foot on my shoulder and gently kicked me back, brandishing my belt. "Is this what the knight taught you? I can't say I'm impressed. Not by that, at least."

I traced the trajectory of her eyes and found them resting on my crotch. I blocked her view with a forearm. "There must be something in the aether here, a curse or a hex or something," I muttered bitterly. "That's got to be it. Something that makes everyone ridiculous and horny and dumb as a box of rocks."

"That would include you, my dear Johann," she said, grinning, as she tossed the belt to the side.

"Obviously, it includes me!" I replied in a harsh whisper. "I'm surrounded by three women constantly vying for my attention, and somehow I still want more," My whisper had deteriorated into a bitter mutter. She leaned down in front of me, gracing me with a full view of her... everything. Again. I looked away.

"You are a greedy man," she whispered sultrily, putting a finger on my face and pulling it back to her. I grimaced. "Greed, when directed properly, is good, Johann. And when your bounties are freely given, all the better. Don't shirk a gift out of propriety. Embrace what's in front of you."

"That's nice and all, but it's not how the world works," My voice was barely a soft whimper.

"And what do you know of the world?" She asked, taking the trousers still wrapped around my ankles and tearing them away. "Your queen knows how the world works. So does the Blood Cleric. The knight obviously does." She traced a lacquered finger down my throat. I felt my lips part and couldn't will them closed again. "But you seem to think that the world operates on some fairness dictated by the universe. You defend people because you think the world should be better." Her claws bit into my shoulder a little bit. "But that is not how things work. The people with power take what they want. The people without power vie for it to take what they want. It is a game. There are winners and losers."

"That's how people choose to make it," I said, meeting her eyes directly for the first time since she'd bent over me. She didn't shirk away from my gaze. "We can choose to make it better. It'll never be equal, but we can make it better." I gestured between the two of us. She considered my hand for a moment.

"And you think denying what you want will do that?" She asked, wrapping her hand around my throat. I swallowed hard. My mouth was dry. My pulse was racing. My heart hurt when I looked at her. She was different from the other women who had claimed me. And I guess I have to accept that she has laid a claim to me, I thought nervously. Her sexuality was a weapon. Meaning she was never unarmed. I tentatively reached out and rested my hand against her cheek. She nuzzled into it, her eyes closing gently. Just as the cat had. Gods, this is weird. After a moment, she opened her eyes. She leaned closer, hovering over me, whispering against my lips, "I am a thief. I take what I want. I don't always want a lot. But I always get it."

"And what about what I want?" I whispered back, shakily. She leaned in, pressing her lips against mine hard. I kissed back, my brain muddled entirely by desire. She broke it after a moment, a little breathless. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she leaned in again, but I pushed her back and scrambled up to my feet, my lust narrowly missing her face as I did so. She watched me, amusement twinkling in her eyes.

I got over to the bath and turned the knob. Something that almost every bathing room in the castle apparently had. A waterfall of steaming hot water poured immediately from the faucet. I ran my hand underneath it, trying to focus on anything but the naked cat woman staring at me. I tried to think about how the tub worked, but all I could come up with was Magic and Who cares? There's a pretty girl here. I heard her pad her way over and looked up as she sat on the tub's edge. She stroked under my chin, her nails scratching the flesh under my beard. My eyes closed against my will. I felt like the cat at that moment.

"I can see why they like playing with you. You try so hard," she emphasized the word. I squeezed my eyes closed tighter and tried to ignore her soft caress as she continued, "to control yourself despite everyone and everything telling you that you should just give in."

"I have lots of thoughts that would be easy to give in to," I said breathlessly. "And I'd be a far worse person were I to."

"Far freer, too," she added, swinging her legs over the tub and dipping her feet into the water. She sank to her shoulders, lifting her hair out of the way. As she did, she moaned in pleasure. Loudly. Which I'm sure was more for my benefit than an honest expression. Not that I didn't enjoy it. I let out a strained breath. "If we're not going to do anything, could you at least wash my back? It's so much more difficult in this form."

I clutched at the loofa and spread some soap over it, squeezing it tightly, trying to reign myself in. Shari leaned forward, and I pressed into her. She glanced back at the loofa. "Do we have to use that, Johann? I'd much prefer your hand."

"I-I'm told that you'll get cleaner with this," I managed, through a stammer. " It applies the soap m-more evenly."

"Being a little dirty doesn't bother me at all. And I find that thing grating," the Ipet-Mau replied before snatching it from my grip with her pointed fingers and tossing it to the side. I rolled my eyes and soaped up my hands again before pressing my fingers into her tight shoulders. She wasn't tense, exactly, but I could quickly feel the strength in these muscles. She sighed softly in relief and glanced at me over her shoulder. "Isn't this so much better?"

I thought it wiser to keep my mouth shut. I worked down the catgirl's back, getting her sides and every nook and cranny I could find. She let me have access to the whole of her with no concern. I gathered water and rinsed off her back, and she shivered, her tail swinging. The fur was hanging heavily, but she didn't seem to mind.

"Don't cats normally hate water?" I asked, more for something else to focus on that wasn't... her. Or at least the sight of her in front of me.

"Not when I'm like this. It's a lot worse in my other form. It feels a lot heavier, and it makes me cold and clumsy." She ran her fingers over her bare arms, taking a special effort to put herself fully on display. I looked away. "Like this, I still feel smooth."

"Yeah, I was surprised... by everything... but especially by how hairless you are in this form. I'm pretty sure I have more than you."

"I work hard to maintain that." Shari turned to me, eyes bright as she gauged my reaction. I don't think she ever stops playing games. "Do the other girls not?"

"Uh... Carmella is carefully trimmed. Emilia is basically entirely hairless too, but I think that's from being a half-elf. Meryl grows it in a little. She maintains it carefully. Usually in a pattern." It felt weird talking to her so candidly about these things. But I did find I wanted to talk to her, even after calming down a little more. She was comfortable somehow. I must be losing it, I thought.

"And which do you prefer?" She asked airily, putting on an effect of apathy. Which, as dumb as I might be, I didn't fall for.

"Whoever I'm with," I said simply.

"Your queen has made a politician out of you, I see," she said, frowning. She took my still soapy hands and pressed them to her stomach. More out of instinct than active decision, I started massaging it in. Before I realized what I was doing, and stopped.

"I'm pretty sure you can wash this yourself," I muttered, starting to pull away.

"But this is more fun," she purred, arching into my fingers. I sighed and continued. She smiled at me. And literally started purring. as I made my way up and over her stomach. I stopped short of her chest, and she opened her eyes, watching me. She squeezed her chest together, muttering softly, "I think I've discovered the secret to your heart, dear Johann."

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about. But you can take care of the rest yourself," I managed. As I pulled my hand away, my voice was even stable near the end. I grabbed some more soap and scrubbed myself clean quickly, refusing Shari's help when she offered it. Not that that worked. She pressed herself into my form, a rumble coming from deep within her chest. I swore I could feel every part of her form in perfect detail as she crushed herself into me.

I quickened my pace, which was only made more difficult as she wrapped her arms around me. I tried to remove her and escape, but she was not only strong but slippery now. After what felt both too quick and an eternity in and of itself, I rinsed myself off and toweled myself dry. She did the same, humming to herself.