Ring~
The sweet chime of the tiny resin bell was like sweet, pulsing honey over Senya's brain. He couldn't remember what he'd just been doing. The ringing covered up anything that had come before, trapping him purely in the moment, glazing him in timeless pleasure.
Ring. Ring. Ring~
"
Gooood
boy." Sylvia giggled down at him. "Isn't that nice, sweetie~?"
"I... gguhh..." Senya nodded dreamily. He barely noticed the discomfort of his knees pressed against the living room floor. His hand was wrapped around his cock. He couldn't stop pumping. Good boys pumped. "Uh-huhhh..."
The Thriae alchemist gave him a wicked smirk. "Good boy~!" She raised the bell and gave it another dainty little
ring
. Senya moaned as the pleasure coursed through him, bucking into his hand, drooling insensibly. " Teehee, you're taking
soooo
well to Bell #3, aren't you?"
"S-Sylviaaa..."
Sylvia beamed. "Should we move onto the fourth bell~?" She reached for that leather case, and Senya's heart gave a thrill. "Or does this trigger still need more...
attention~?
"
"P-Pleeease," he whimpered. Pump pump pump. "I-I--" He didn't know what he was pleading for. "I, ah..." It just felt so...
good
... and his warden collar hummed so nicely around his neck with every ring, proof that Sylvia was starting to get a feel for its special resonance...
A loud, sharp knock pierced through the dripping goop of his thoughts.
Sylvia looked up sharply. She smiled. "That's enough for today."
Her hand shot right in front of Senya's--
*SNAP*
* * *
"So, looks like you were having fun," Valina chirped.
Senya blinked slowly. He found he was being led by the hand away from the Thriae cottage. He could dimly hear the beembos cackling above, and feeling a wetness, he slowly raised his hand to his cheek.
Oh. There were...
"Mm-hm." The catgirl giggled, flashing him a little feline smirk. "Looks like
she
was having fun, too~"
Senya's cheeks burned. He dropped his hand from the glossy honey-gold lipstick stain. His face was covered in them.
"Hm." Valina was side-eyeing him. "You've been visiting Sylvia a lot lately."
"I... I guess so." Senya bit his lip, trying to clear his head a little. He couldn't quite read Valina's tone, but he could tell there was something laced beneath her words. "I-I mean, she's just, um... wanted me around a lot lately. And it's good to keep her happy, considering how helpful she's been lately."
"Mm-hm. Well, hey, good thing the collar protects you from permanent stuff!" The catgirl's tail flicked along his arm. "Otherwise I might begin to think you were getting, you know... hooked."
Senya squirmed. "Uh... r-right."
The collar did protect him, right? From Sylvia's honey?
Sylvia could be trusted, right? He was pretty sure he remembered that.
"S-So." He cleared his throat, feeling strangely compelled to change the subject. "Um, you interrupted us early."
"Yeah." Valina smiled up at him, ears folding back slightly, then leaned in close. Senya shivered as she purr right in his ear, "You seemed disappointed~! Weren't you happy to see li'l old me~?"
Senya squeaked as he felt her hand slip between his legs.
Oh. Valina was... jealous.
"Maybe you need to spend some more quality time with
Kitten
," she cooed, nipping his earlobe. He yelped, his cock throbbing involuntarily against her hand. "Heehee! Oh, you
liiike
that? I'm much hotter than those other cuties,
aren't I?
"
"V-Valina," he whined. "I-I--"
She pulled back with a satisfied little smile, then kissed him on the cheek. "Maybe we can make some time tonight. Don't worry, Senya." Her tail flicked rapidly, as if barely able to contain the catgirl's intense need for mischief. "I won't keep you up
too
late."
But Senya's sort-of girlfriend was wiggling like she was about to pounce.
"But yes," she said, turning away and continuing to lead him down the hill. "I did call you out early for a reason. The Ward has a new guest."
"A... guest?" Senya missed a step and nearly fell. Valina easily caught him and forced him steady. "You mean another, ah, prisoner?"
She
mrred
in agreement.
"Ah. So I'll have to..."
"Mm-hm~"
Senya's face grew hotter. He was glad Valina couldn't feel him twitching, or her jealousy would probably reach new heights of wickedness.
Most catgirls weren't very good at commitment. Fey who spent too long in the Verdant Ward seemed to develop some very atypical behaviors.
"S-So, who do we have today?" Senya asked. "High Fey, or...?"
He knew better than to name specific examples. Last time he'd asked if it was a slime girl, she'd decided he had a 'craving' and started taking him to visit their slime girl tenants for the next five days in a row. His brain still felt a little goopy when he thought about it too long.
Valina just smiled at him, waiting. When he didn't fall for the bait, the catgirl pouted and turned back. "Mothgirl."
Senya blinked. "Mothgirl?"
"Mmrrr~"
Senya stopped walking, staring at the departing catgirl in puzzlement. But Valina wasn't slowing down, and as always, he soon relented to letting her drag him wherever she pleased.
The Verdant Ward was architecturally quite similar to the Ambrosia Ranch. There were still fences, there was still a barn for the holstaur, and there was still a central farmhouse. The farmhouse was mainly used to house visitors nowadays, of course, since the warden rarely 'needed' to sleep in his own bed nowadays (in the opinions of the fey residents, at least). He only got to sleep there when Valina wanted him for the night, and he didn't get much sleep when she did.
The one major change was the outer perimeter. Although the great enchanted wall still stood tall--the sigils slithering across its silver bars were necessary to maintain magic like his collar--the lightning house that stood just within the gates was quite new. In a sense.
The lightning house--a squat hut-like dwelling hammered together out of sheets of thick copper--served two functions, according to the Crows. First, in a crisis, it could be used to signal the other functioning Wards. Second, something about its construction uniquely subdued fey that entered it. Valina herself had to don special bell earrings--Senya tried not to twitch at their soft chiming--in order to enter safely.
Senya's ancestors had destroyed the original lightning house soon after taking over the Ward and turning it toward private enterprise. The new one had taken months to rebuild.
The interior was small, but quite cozy. Pink and white throw pillows were scattered across the lush red carpeting. Flower pots hung from the ceiling, their colorful flowers spilling down from their pots to catch sunbeams shining through the many cracks in the roof. Senya recognized morning glories and sweetpeas from among them, but others were a mystery to him.
What resembled a large birdcage rose in the center of the room. It was more an emergency precaution for the more hazardous fey, although its silver bars were set widely enough that a smaller prisoner could probably slip out between them if they wanted to.
The buxom woman lounging inside was in no danger of fitting between those bars.
She was also, Senya noted, heart racing, certainly not any kind of hazardous
fey
.
The 'mothgirl' had bright pink skin and long flowing blonde hair that twirled in ringlets like trails of smoke. Large fuzzy antennae arched from atop her head, and her single-color eyes were large and dark, with just the faintest indications of concentric circles warning of potential to erupt into shimmering spirals at any moment.
She was wearing a pair of expensive-looking blue slippers. Senya wasn't really looking at them, though.
