“You’re missing an arm!” Mera cried, scrambling out of the embrace of Vicky and Jakira. She dashed across the room, her tiny frame practically bouncing as she reached Chrysanthemum.

Chrysanthemum didn’t flinch. She was awash in a flood of happiness, her multi-faceted eyes glittering with delight. The reports she’d received upon returning had made her nearly chitter with excitement. She had so many plans—plans for the girlfriends to do the romance if they wished, plans for everyone to have the happy as much as possible.

“Is no problem. This one has lost limbs before. Will grow back in fifty or sixty cycles,” Chrysanthemum replied, her voice calm yet humming with pride.

The squishy cute human leapt forward, arms wrapping around Chrysanthemum’s legs as if she were clinging to a tree for dear life. Her small hands reached eagerly toward the stump, her wide eyes filled with concern.

“Does it hurt?” Mera asked softly, her voice barely more than a squeak.

Chrysanthemum’s hearts—well, what passed for hearts—melted completely. Goodbye hearts, she thought. The squishy cute human was too much!

“Only smalls. This one is used to it. Is what happens when this one needs to fight rot creatures. And fight them this one did! Got many pools! Less rot creatures in future! Has the big victories! Much celebrate!” Chrysanthemum said, her voice rising in excitement, almost like a trill of pride.

“Are you sure?” The repulsive-yet-still-pretty scaly hyoomee—half out of the queen’s bed already—asked, her concern tugging at Chrysanthemum’s attention.

“No! The girlfriends stay in the bed… this one joins? Please? This one has wanted the cuddles and the romances all the time when away. Missed the hyoomee girlfriends many many much,” Chrysanthemum said, her tone practically vibrating with longing and joy. She leaned down just enough for Mera to nuzzle closer, her stub of an arm already starting to thrum with regenerating energy.

“Well, come on then,” said Vicky hesitantly.

Chrysanthemum’s antennae twitched, and she let out a chitter so full of delight it nearly echoed. With no warning, she scooped up the squishy cute hyoomee into her arms. The little one squeaked, kicking her feet, but was laughing even as she clung to the queen’s neck.

Chrysanthemum rushed to the bed with all the eagerness of someone who had been away far too long. Nowhere else matters! Only here!

She claimed the very middle of the mattress, lowering her weight with a soft thump and leaning back so her large abdomen became a cushion. Then she placed the squishy cute hyoomee between her legs, nestled close against her thorax, where she belonged.

Her remaining right arm wrapped around the pretty scaly hyoomee, and two more swept Jakira in tight against her side. No one was left out. All her girlfriends belonged here.

“This one likes this best. Best home come. Yess, yessss,” Chrysanthemum chittered, her whole body shivering with happiness, her carapace clicking softly from the joy coursing through her frame.

The squishy cute hyoomee burrowed in shy and safe. The scaly hyoomee chuckled low, melting into her side. The tusky hyoomee huffed, pretending at protest but not resisting at all.

Here, wrapped together, there was only warmth, cuddles, and romances. Truly, this was best.

 

---

 

“Your Majesty, the courtiers have noticed you’ve been getting rather… close… to the swarm emissary,” one of the nobles ventured, bowing but keeping his gaze sharp.

Queen Gloriana the Eighth raised her chin, cool and imperious. “What would give you that impression?”

The noble’s eyes darted to her side. “Well, you are currently nestled up to her and stroking her… ah, carapace?”

Gloriana blinked, then turned her head. Sure enough, her hand was absently running along the smooth, iridescent plates of Skitherix’s thorax. The emissary leaned into it ever so slightly, multifaceted eyes gleaming with amusement. This damned temptress!

Gloriana snatched her hand back as if burned, straightened her back, and summoned every ounce of regal composure. “I was simply… demonstrating diplomatic warmth. Nothing more.”

“Awww, I was enjoying that,” Skitherix hiss-chittered in her tongue, voice low and sultry, each syllable vibrating in Gloriana’s bones.

Several courtiers exchanged uneasy glances, some biting back whispers. A few flushed, as if the swarm emissary’s tone had reached them as well.

Gloriana cleared her throat, face heating despite herself. “Emissary, please. We are in court.”

Skitherix’s mandibles parted in what was unmistakably a grin. “I like court very much then.”

The noble coughed delicately into his sleeve. “Your Majesty, the optics…”

“Silence,” Gloriana snapped, though her voice wavered more than she wished. She folded her hands neatly in her lap, as far from Skitherix’s carapace as she could manage. And yet, the memory of that texture lingered against her palm, a temptation hard to banish.

Of course, no one else in the chamber knew what Skitherix was saying; only Gloriana wore the translation earrings. That was both a blessing and a curse.

“Did you have anything else to report?” the queen asked, tone smooth as glass.

“Ah, yes,” the noble said, shuffling a few parchments in his hands. “Our scouts have observed movement in the northern ranges. The Queen of the Swarm personally led an incursion against the corrupted.”

Skitherix immediately bolted upright at that, her mandibles clicking in sharp interest, multifaceted eyes glittering as she hissed something under her breath. Gloriana felt the subtle ripple of the sound through her bones, though she kept her face composed.

Her frown deepened. The swarm queen only marched in person every few years. For her to move now… the threat must have been dire indeed.

“What were the results?” Gloriana asked.

“As far as our scouts have gathered, very successful,” the noble replied. “There are significantly fewer corrupted in that region now. Some detachments of the swarm remained behind to ensure the stragglers are eradicated.”

Skitherix made a pleased trill, her thorax vibrating faintly. She leaned just close enough for Gloriana to feel it in her shoulder, as though to share the satisfaction privately.

Gloriana’s lips curved in the faintest smile. “Good. Very good. Perhaps we should prepare a gift. Something to… mark the occasion. Something she may enjoy alongside her… ahem…” Her eyes flicked, for just a heartbeat, toward Skitherix before returning to the room. “…her companions.”

The noble hesitated. “You mean her—ah—girlfriends, Your Majesty?”

A murmur rippled through the chamber. Gloriana ignored it, lifting her chin in regal defiance. “Yes. Her girlfriends.”

Skitherix’s countless legs rippled in a wave as she gave a low, approving chitter, the sound reverberating through her many-segmented body and said something Gloriana did her best not to blush at in front of her court. Gloriana kept her chin lifted and did her absolute best not to let heat creep into her cheeks at the utterly crude thing the envoy had just suggested.

“Send forth a variety of our finest meats, produce, tableware, and linen. I know not what would be of interest, so best send a variety,” declared the Queen, her tone steady, regal.

From the coil of her gleaming body, Skitherix lifted her forward segments, antennae curling eagerly. “Ooh! Paints! The swarm loves paints!” Her voice carried a strange, layered resonance, as though spoken by a chorus of mandibles.

Gloriana allowed herself a small, measured nod, ignoring the ripple of unease among her courtiers. “Good idea. Do that too.”

The noble, hunched with his slate and quill, froze mid-scratch. He looked up with cautious confusion. “Ah… forgive me, your Majesty. I do not understand the envoy’s request.” His bow was deep, deferential, but his voice betrayed a nervous tremor.

Gloriana blinked, realizing. “Of course. My apologies.” She adjusted her crown with calm poise, then repeated more plainly, “Send a variety of paints as well.”

The noble bowed once more, relief written on his features. “As you wish.” He resumed his frantic scribbling, the sound of the quill rasping across slate sharp in the sudden quiet.

Skitherix’s iridescent plates shifted, flashing violet and green as her body gave a low, satisfied rumble. Gloriana could not help but suspect the envoy had intentionally engineered that little exchange, just to watch her court squirm.

“Very well. This session is dismissed. All may return to your posts,” commanded Gloriana the Eighth, her voice calm and imperious.

The courtiers and advisors rose, bowing before shuffling out of the chamber. The great double doors closed with a heavy thud, leaving only the Queen and the towering, iridescent millipede that coiled comfortably beside her throne.

Gloriana’s head snapped toward her the moment the hall was empty, cheeks flushed crimson. “You cannot say things like that in front of my court!” she hissed, fingers clutching the armrest of her throne hard enough to whiten her knuckles.

Skitherix tilted her head, antennae waving lazily. A ripple of legs shifted across her long body as she emitted a chorus of hisses and chitters. “Why? They can’t understand me, only you can, my love,” she replied in that layered, teasing voice, every word deliberate.

“It was difficult to even maintain composure! Please, the rumors are bad enough as it is,” Gloriana said, sinking back into her seat, her crown tilting slightly as she slumped. The weight of her role and the ridiculousness of her situation pressed down on her in equal measure.

Skitherix leaned closer, plates along her body gleaming with shifting rainbows under the torchlight. Her mandibles clicked in mock solemnity. “Oh, ashamed of me, are you?”

Gloriana’s eyes snapped up, fierce. “No. Of course not. It’s just that I am expected to take a husband. And having to deal with that on top of being seen so close to a woman of the swarm… it is a great deal to bear.”

The massive envoy coiled around the dais, body curving in a lazy loop. “Well,” Skitherix said, a playful trill in her chittering voice, “being more open about our beautiful relationship would solve at least one of those problems, would it not? And why fret over a husband? Just lay your eggs and have some human male fertilize them.”

Gloriana bolted upright, scandal written on her face. “That’s not how humans and demi-humans work, and you know it!”

Skitherix’s body rippled with amusement, the sound of her chittering laughter echoing through the chamber like dozens of tiny instruments.

Gloriana buried her face in one hand, groaning. This woman will be the death of me, she thought bitterly, though the treacherous curve of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.