The library at the far end of the keep appears just as abandoned as everywhere else, but Simon makes sure of it by checking every corner. Light fades as the hour grows late, and without Zeff's magic keeping torches burning in the sconces all around the keep, lengthy shadows are everywhere.
Simon places his pack and the books he's been studying onto the large oak table, and begins searching the shelves for a particular tome while Raya settles into one of Zeff's reading chairs. The temporal projections are still about, but Simon has warded the library so Zeff can only conjure them out in the hallways, and the heavy door and thick wood paneling of the library mercifully muffles the sounds.
Simon finds the book he's looking for, and flips through the pages quickly, nodding emphatically as he does so. A few minutes drag by, and Simon puts the book down, drumming his fingers on the library table and looking thoughtful.
"My lord?" Raya asks.
Simon sighs. "It seems if this magic is to work, I'll need a gemstone to act as a conduit. I saw one that will suffice in Zeff's lab. I'm debating if I should leave you here now to get it, or if we should resign ourselves to spending the night in the keep."
Neither of those prospects sounds at all appealing to Raya. "My lord, maybe I could go with you to the lab?"
Simon shakes his head. "This room is already warded. I don't have enough energy left to keep you safe on the move. I can only protect myself."
Raya nods in understanding. She doesn't want to be left alone, but the sooner the collar can come off and she can leave the keep, the better. She gives her consent for Simon to go retrieve the gem, and Simon takes a few minutes to gather up the weapons and supplies he thinks he may need, and leaves on his mission.
Left alone, Raya's eyes flutter from shadow to shadow, as if Zeff might be lurking in any one of them. She's being ridiculous, she knows. Simon would not have left her if there was any real danger. The wards are up. She's safe.
Safe, and more importantly - she's alone. She's been at Simon's side, stewing in her own juices for hours and hours since her aborted orgasm attempt from the vibrating pipe, clit throbbing from the lingering effects of the rousal, pussy pulsing from the humiliation of having to sit naked by the handsome paladin's side while watching the pornographic projections of her past self.
And now - a few blessed moments of privacy.
Egged on by the sound of one of her projections cumming loudly just outside the library door, Raya spreads her legs and slips a hand down to her sopping wet crotch, and throws back her head and moans lustfully at her own touch. Almost immediately she feels the orgasm starting to build. She rubs her thumb over her clit, and just like that she's nearing the edge.
The human body just isn't meant to take this much arousal without any satisfaction, Raya decides. It simply isn't right. She's been operating in a fog of lust all day, unable to function properly, unable to think of anything but her slutty wanting pussy. Finally, finally - the torture is ending. She's still in the keep, the collar is still around her neck, Zeff is still alive, but at the moment those are lesser problems beside the all-consuming need to cum. Everything will be ok once she gets her orgasm, and oh god, she's
so
close now.
But the collar... why is it so tight? Tight, and getting tighter by the second, cutting off Raya's air supply. Desperately she claws at the leather band, frantically trying to slip a finger between it and her skin. She can't breathe, but just as she's starting to feel faint, the collar loosens slightly, and Raya chokes in a strangled breath.
What the hell? The collar only acts like that when she's disobeyed some command. But she hasn't; there's nobody around. Is Zeff doing something to her?
The collar is back to normal now; still snug as it always is, but no longer painfully so, no longer interfering with her breathing. Raya shrugs it off. A mystery for later, when she can think clearly again. And speaking of which...
Raya closes her eyes and leans back with a moan, as her hand returns to her pussy, stroking and playful. Even getting almost strangled hasn't made her pending orgasm fade by much, and it takes very little for Raya to get the fires stoked again, to get herself built right back to that edge...
This time the collar's tightening is more sudden, and even more powerful. Her neck is being squeezed so violently it feels like her head might pop off. Raya collapses onto the floor, scratching desperately at the unyielding collar, until finally it loosens just as Raya is sure she's going to pass out, leaving her gasping for breath on the cold stone floor where she's fallen. The fucking collar! Why won't it let her orgasm in peace?!
And suddenly Raya knows. The words echo back to her, from what seems an eternity ago, but had only been this morning. Simon waking from his rest and catching Raya in the act, trying to jill herself off after her sex-charged dream.
"Please can you try to refrain from this... getting yourself off?"
The words resound through her memory like a death sentence. She hadn't consciously registered it at the time, but it had been a command - or at least, enough of one that her cursed collar seems to be enforcing it.
Raya feels tears suddenly well up, still lying there on the floor, still catching her breath, her pussy still pounding with need, dripping onto the stone. That damn paladin. It isn't enough that he's not willing to properly fuck her like any decent hero would, he has to deny her masturbation too? It's all too much.
There's a loophole; there just has to be. How long has Simon been gone? Not more than a couple of minutes. Raya still has time. She looks frantically around the library for some inspiration. And then she sees it, tucked into a corner. The device that's the answer to the dilemma.
