Augur

I woke up to Cindy lazily nuzzling me in her sleep, the tiny demon fully under the blankets, with her head buried in the crook of my arm. She must have sensed me stirring and responded instinctively by shoving her face against me, because as far as I could tell, she was deep in the throes of Sloth otherwise.

I took a few moments to disentangle myself from her when I heard the sound of someone moving around in the kitchen. Once free of the sheets - and the tenaciously clingy Sin Demon - I tossed on some clothes and walked out of my bedroom.

Aubrette was standing in the middle of the kitchen, pouring coffee into two cups. Her auburn hair was damp, but no less vibrant or gorgeous as it cascaded down most of her back in wild little ringlets and curls. She was very obviously freshly out of the shower, and the scent of whatever she had used to clean herself, combined with her natural fragrance of fresh plants and sweet strawberries, filled my tiny apartment.

She was also wholly unclothed. She noticed me the moment I opened my bedroom door, but rather than making any more to cover herself, she turned her head to address me, she called out over her shoulder, "I will have your coffee ready for you in just a moment, my Lord." I noticed that even as she spoke, the parts of her back and neck I could see flushed a bright red color to match the hair concealing it, but her motions remained smooth, measured, and graceful.

I took the seat on the sofa closest to the little table which presently held my laptop, made myself comfortable, and waited, watching with interest while she finished her preparations and brought over my coffee.

The redhead held a cup in each hand and as she walked over from the kitchen, I saw that the blush extended to her chest - her breasts were flushed crimson. Her nipples were also stiff enough that she was either cold, or enjoying herself. I accepted the cup she offered me, and did my best to keep my eyes

mostly

on her face as I took my first sip, before finally speaking, trying to keep my tone light. "Good morning. I'm... I'm not complaining, at all. In any way. But I am curious about, well..." My gaze flicked down over her naked body as she stood in front of the couch. "Why exactly you're naked. Again, no complaints, just wondering."

The blush the Sidhe woman was showing intensified, to the point that I was a little concerned for her, but when she spoke her voice was even. "You ordered me to strip last night, my Lord. You never gave me permission to put my clothes back on, so I thought it safer to remain unclothed until I could get that permission." She moved to seat herself on the couch, taking the cushion opposite me, then took a dainty sip of her own coffee. Coffee was apparently something that existed in Faerie, but was a luxury there reserved for the elite. That meant that prior to her exile, she enjoyed the privileges of being a Noble Sidhe in service to the royal court of her kingdom and she was in a position to drink coffee - just not every single morning.

I noticed that she did not, in her explanation, actually

ask

for that permission. She was also clearly embarrassed by her unclothed state, but wasn't attempting to hide herself or edge towards her bedroom now that I was up and about. I'm not always the most insightful man, but given her behavior the day before, I decided to let this particular experiment play out for a while.

I did check in just a little, though, because while I was pretty sure I wasn't making any major missteps, I was also inexperienced enough that I wanted to double-check. "I understand. And you... you're still keeping that second order in mind, yes?" I was referring to the second of two permanent orders I had given her: the one where I had told her to inform me if the discomfort she got from obeying any order of mine outweighed the excitement.

She bobbed her head quickly at me which did fascinating things to her chest, and said simply, "I am, my Lord."

I took another slow sip of my coffee and watched Aubrette do the same. Or at least, I stared at Aubrette's full breasts as she lifted her cup to her lips, I will freely admit I wasn't really aware of what she was doing with her coffee. Eventually I dragged my gaze away, looking up to meet her clear blue eyes. She was still blushing, but her full lips were curled up into a slight smile. I cleared my throat, took another small sip of coffee, and spoke. "Well... I should check in with you after last night. I know... I know that was a little outside of what we had talked about, but..." I trailed off, shook my head quickly when I realized I didn't know how to finish that sentence, and instead just asked, "Are you doing ok today? Any regrets, or things you want to change, or would have changed?"

The Sidhe woman's eyes closed, and she took a deep breath, then let out a happy sigh. The blush had begun to fade from her chest, and her voice was steady as she responded, "Yes, my Lord. And no, my Lord. That was... exactly what I hoped for and more. I would not have thought to ask for it, but neither would I change anything about the evening."

The flush suddenly returned in force as she added quietly, "Except perhaps to be closer. And to be permitted to... lie against you after."

A wave of dismay hit me like someone had dumped cold water over my heart. I had all but chased Aubrette out of the room the night before, after only a few minutes of attention. Granted, she and I had both clearly been exhausted, but she deserved more than water and a chocolate chip cookie.

I quickly set my coffee down, turning to face the redhead and addressed her as earnestly as I could. "I'm sorry, Aubrette. Of course you're allowed to snuggle. Do you... do you still need that? Do you want it?"

She nodded sheepishly, and I immediately motioned for her to put her own cup down, shifted a little on the couch, and beckoned her over. She complied, and a few moments later she was curled up in my lap on the couch with her legs to the side, her neck pulled in tight to put her head on my chest and her still damp hair starting to slowly soak my t-shirt. My arms were around her shoulders, one hand gently stroking her head, while her hands were tucked up in front of her. Feeling her curl into a tight ball as I embraced her, I felt suddenly very protective of this strange, beautiful, magical woman.

We remained that way for what must have been fifteen or twenty minutes, before eventually Aubrette shifted to smile at me, saying a simple, "Thank you, my Lord." I squeezed my arms around her for a moment, then released them, and she sat back up. We both reached for our coffee cups, and we both let out a laugh when we realized what we were doing. The whole moment felt intensely intimate, for reasons that had little to do with the redhead's nudity. In fact, it felt in a very real way to have been more intimate than anything Cindy and I had done, and I had been cumming inside the little blonde Sin Demon's mouth or pussy on a literal daily basis for months.

I took a large gulp of my coffee, now cooled to the point that I could do so safely, and proclaimed, "I have some work to do today, but I also have an assignment for you. Give me a couple minutes to get it ready, and I'll explain it."

I then opened up my laptop, made sure my printer was powered on, and pulled up a bookmark I had saved on my phone. A couple minutes later, I handed Aubrette seventeen pages, freshly printed and still warm, and a pencil. Then it was my turn to blush.

"This is a... list of kinks. Of things some people like to do, or watch, or have done to them. I want you to fill it out, as completely and honestly as you can." I paused, took a breath, and added, "I'm going to do the same thing. It's one of the things I read about yesterday that people in a power exchange relationship should do, and it makes sense. Now... here's the tricky part. Because of how you came into my life, we're already in the relationship, and I still really don't want to force you into anything, so I'm also going to order you to only show me the results you're ok with me seeing. I know that's not exactly an easy distinction to make, but... try."

Strangely, it wasn't the list, or my order that gave Aubrette pause. The redhead raised an eyebrow at me, her voice musical and curious as she inquired, "Mortals are able to exchange power through their relationships? I knew that Wizards could bind others with a Geas or their own Glamours, but I was not aware that these practices were common."

The Fae woman's misunderstanding pulled a guffaw out of me before I could choke it down, and I nearly spilled my coffee. Eventually I managed to shake my head and explain, "No, that's... not the kind of power they're exchanging. Many humans are... well... like you, in that being humiliated, or controlled, makes them horny. They seek out humans who enjoy humiliating or controlling them. Or hurting them - some people are sexually aroused by receiving or giving pain. The relationships they make with each other are called power exchange relationships, because one human gives that power to the other." I paused, realizing that for the High Sidhe woman who had

literally

given her power to me, that was probably still unclear. "It's not... it's not binding, the way yours is. Not exactly. Humans can take their power back. Sometimes. Look, I'm not an expert, but I would be happy to spend some time reading up on it, and talking over the topic with you."

That explanation, stumbling though it was, seemed to sate Aubrette's curiosity for the moment, and we sipped our coffee in relative silence - the Sidhe reading through the papers, me checking my emails. It was nearly surreal - I had only met the redhead a few days prior, and now she was seated naked on my couch, the blush having faded from her face, looking perfectly happy and content. More, I was just... comfortable having her there. That actually gave me pause, and I stopped reading my emails to ask about it. "Aubrette, I'm... again, I'm not complaining here, I'm just curious. Is something about your Oath to me making me comfortable? Or some of your Glamour?"

She nodded her head almost immediately. "Yes, my Lord, most likely. My Oath included swearing my magic to you. You own my Glamour, so it is no surprise you would feel comfortable with it. When you accepted my Oath, it bound itself to you until such time as you release it."

I blinked at that, having not really expected that answer. Eventually, though, I shrugged and turned back to my phone. Maybe I shouldn't have been comfortable with it, but I was having a hard time convincing myself of that fact. A beautiful woman had given me part of herself, and what was wrong with that?

About an hour later, Cindy emerged from the bedroom. While the little wench could - and would - happily slumber the day away in the embrace of Sloth if I allowed it, I had given her a standing order a month or so back which forced her to rise if she had been asleep for more than ten hours at a time. I had gotten tired of having to fight to get her conscious enough to comprehend my order to wake, but had discovered that if the order was there before she fell asleep, it would cut through the Sloth and get her up. True to some of her earliest promises, she didn't even seem to mind - she beamed a bright smile at me as soon as her eyes landed on me. Then they took in Aubrette's state of undress. As Cindy walked over to the kitchen to get herself coffee, she stripped off her shirt and dropped the pair of panties she was wearing on the floor without prompting.

I laughed at the Sin Demon's antics, a warmth of affection for the magical women glowing in my chest.

********************

I eventually ordered both Aubrette and Cindy to put clothes on. It was difficult enough to concentrate just knowing there were two drop-dead gorgeous women in my apartment, let alone having them naked and sharing the couch with me. Both had obeyed without complaint - though my Sin Demon stuck out her tongue at me - and we got on about our day.

My agenda was pretty simple for the day. I had some things I needed to read ahead of time for an appointment the following day, and I wanted to study and practice some of the rituals in the tome. The consultation I was studying for was going to be a quick one - the local business director for a nearby branch of a large corporation had heard about me, but only had fifteen minutes to actually talk, so they had violated all sorts of corporate policies and sent me a dump of information to read through ahead of time. I felt... dirty... at contributing to the corporate culture even in this kind of indirect way, but the payday was good enough that I had agreed to go through with it.

The study was something ongoing. I had barely scratched the surface of the magic contained within the book Mycah had used to start the ritual which summoned Cindy to our world. The handful of rituals I

had

managed to work successfully though were amazing. My whole life, I had thought of myself and my family as being, well, the have-nots of the magical world. I didn't know exactly how our Gifts worked. They were passed on to children, but I had no idea how far back they had stretched, and if there was a grand patriarch or matriarch somewhere in the past who had been powerful enough to found this dynasty. Today, though, the wisdom every single member of my family had whispered to me was simple: Avoid notice. You're the small fish, and if you catch the attention of the big fish, they will gobble you up.

The book promised to maybe change that. I didn't think I'd ever be able to match some of what the Wizards of legend - and my family's stories - would do, but maybe I'd be able to raise myself up to the point that I was something other than a bottom-dweller.

Deciding to get the unpleasant work done first, I read through page after page of emailed PDFs, Excel sheets, and Word documents on my laptop. Aubrette sat with my cell phone in one hand on the opposite side of the couch, using it to look up terms from the checklist she wasn't familiar with, and occasionally reaching down to mark the papers. Cindy had pulled a blanket around herself and occupied the middle of the couch, watching someone stream their drawing on Twitch, somehow absorbing bits of Pride as she did so.

I was about halfway through my own 'required reading' assignment when Aubrette held the stack of printed paper over to me - reaching right over Cindy to do so. My eyebrows raised in surprise, and I looked up from my laptop, accepting them but not looking at them immediately. "You don't have to tell me all of this immediately, Aubrette. Remember, only the things you're comfortable with."

To my surprise, the Sidhe sounded confident when she replied, without any of the hesitation she sometimes showed around sexual topics. "I know, my Lord. You have already shown yourself to be more accepting than my previous lieges ever were. I see no choice but to reveal every part of myself to you and simply beg you to use me and my service in the way you best see fit. I am yours, my Lord, however you will have me."

I blinked in surprise at the sudden declaration, and was trying to form an appropriate response when Cindy ruined the moment - just a little - by adding, "Plus she's super wet at the thought of you finding out just how perverted a slut she really is."

That brought a frown to my lips, and I was about to admonish my Sin Demon for her crass words, but I caught Aubrette rubbing her thighs together in response, so I let it slide. Instead, I simply gave a shorter version of what I was trying to say in the first place, deliberately ignoring the little demon brat. "Thank you, Aubrette, for your trust. I will try to be the Liege you deserve. And the one you want."

That said, though, I needed to finish my paying work before I got to more fun topics, so I set the papers aside, rubbed my temples, and pulled up the next spreadsheet. As I let myself get absorbed in sales figures and supplier rates, I also privately vowed to myself not to let the corporate world get its hooks in me.

********************

An hour later, I was done with my reading, and pretty sure I knew enough that I'd be able to get whatever questions my customer wanted answered pretty accurately when it came time to meet.

I also had a headache. I stood up, got some water, and stretched, then paced around my apartment a little to clear my mind. Then I looked at where Cindy was still curled up in a lump in the middle of the couch and my face lit up in a grin. A slightly pained grin, but a grin just the same.

"Cindy, my ever enthusiastic evil... ingénue." I stumbled over the last word in my alliteration, and she pounced on that immediately.

"That starts with an 'i'. Also you can't have an evil ingénue, that's an oxymoron. If anything, I am your cute compliant carnal cumdump." She only turned her face when she was done speaking, and that was to flash a bright smile at me. "What can I do for you, Master? Along those lines...?"

I laughed and resumed my spot on the couch, stripping off my shirt. "Come rub my shoulders and my head. I need to clear my thoughts and relax before I try anything from the tome." Even as Cindy stood to obey my command, I closed my eyes and put my arms out to either side to relax, kicking my feet out ahead of me as far as they would go. Soon enough, I felt dainty, but inexorably strong fingers rubbing in slow circles at the base of my neck, beginning a massage there and starting to slowly work up. Only a few moments after that, my eyes shot open in surprise when I felt another set of hands begin rubbing at my feet.

I hadn't noticed Aubrette getting up when Cindy did, but she was now kneeling at my feet, giving me a foot massage while my Sin Demon worked my head and shoulders. I raised an eyebrow down at her for a moment, and got a gentle smile in return. Shrugging, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to be pampered.

About twenty minutes later, I decided that having a pair of beautiful women just... touch me, even in a non-sexual context, was one of the best things to ever happen.

Eventually, I had to admit to myself that I was probably as relaxed as I was going to be, and if I allowed my vassal and my bound demon to continue, I would just fall asleep and get nothing done. That was... tempting, but I was excited enough about learning new rituals that I forced my eyelids open and mumbled, "Enough. That's... that's enough. Thank you both."

Aubrette gently lowered my foot to the ground, while Cindy stretched forward over the back of the couch to plant a quick kiss on my cheek - and reach a hand down to tweak my exposed nipple. I yelped and turned around to glare at her, but then laughed at the innocent expression she was wearing. She simpered and in her husky voice said simply, "Ingénue, remember?"

I didn't really have room in my apartment that I could use as a 'ritual space' or anything like that. There just weren't enough square feet available. At least... until Aubrette came along. When I explained that Cindy and I were going to go find an empty parking lot to study in, she asked, "Why don't I simply create a temporary space for you?"

I blinked, then smacked my own forehead lightly. Why

didn't

I just have Aubrette create a space?

It turned out that maintaining an empty additional room for us to use was not something that the Sidhe would be able to do long-term, but she could manage it for short stints while we practiced as long as I was willing to feed Cindy some additional Sin to compensate for what I drew through the bond to pass on to Aubrette through her Oath.

Trying to follow - let alone make sense of - the flow of magic through our complicated three way link was enough to make my head spin a little, so I pushed that aside, and trusted that the magical creatures bound to me would help keep everything working as needed. It would probably mean I'd have to spend a little extra time during the day topping Cindy off, but that was a "sacrifice" I was eager to make.