The sight of the building burning down around Brenna stayed with Myanna all the way back to Willowridge. The horizon had glowed orange for quite some time before they vanished into the forest. The retreating army was in bad shape, reflecting not only Myanna’s physical state but the mental and emotional state she was in. She rode in one of the medical wagons, her legs dangling off the back as she leaned against the side. The wagon rocking over the rough terrain wasn’t enough to pull Myanna from her thoughts as she stared into the distance.

Soldiers marched alongside the cart in loose formation, exhausted and discouraged. Belias had not informed anyone of Havoc’s death yet, wishing to wait until they made camp in a safer location. Myanna knew his real reason was to wait until she and him had a chance to get the story straight. Clearly, he wanted some of the credit for the trophies they were taking home. In truth, the remains of the succubus were certainly within his right to claim. Myanna couldn’t deny that Vylshiya would have killed her had the ritual master not intervened. But she failed to understand why the head of Havoc and how he met his end factored into his plans.

When they eventually made camp, Belias sought her out almost immediately, instructing workers to have a tent for her near his. It was also the first time that one of the few remaining healers had a chance to have a look at her. Her body, wrapped in bandages, was poked and prodded at by the novice healer as Belias waited impatiently at the tent entrance for several minutes before they were finally left alone.

Myanna had little to say to the man. Instead, she let him talk, which was usually the way he liked it to go. He outlined the sequence of events as he imagined them, massaging the facts in ways that skirted the truth without lying outright. Doing so with someone like Olcaru would put them both at risk for punishment. They had to present a version of events that made it seem like they had worked collaboratively rather than how things had gone. Despite the ritual master’s insistence, Myanna wasn’t confident that Olcaru would care either way. She was a chaotic creature by nature, and finding out that they had managed to survive the rapidly changing circumstances might have been a good thing.

The cuirizu didn’t protest. Some of the pain and numbness was beginning to ebb, and she didn’t want to trade it out for an argument with Belias just yet. She agreed to his terms and interpretation of events with only a few conditions.

“I noticed the final component of the ritual you provided me,” Myanna commented as she reached for one of the meat skewers the healer had brought with him when he’d first arrived. They weren’t as hot as before, but the seasoning was still good, and the meat was fairly tender. “Soul gems are not easy to come by.”

“I have confidence in your resourcefulness after re-establishing the alchemy laboratory so quickly,” Belias responded. It would have seemed like a compliment to anyone else, but for Myanna, it was more like a taunt. He wanted to remind her at every turn that he had the upper hand.

Myanna took a bite of the meat, chewing it slowly as her gaze remained fixed upon the man. His confidence slowly melted into awkward discomfort while she took her time chewing.

“What?” he asked, his voice slightly strained. “If you’ve something to say, then say it.”

“You’re going to give me the soul gem,” Myanna demanded with a calm, level voice. “And you’re not going to complain about it.”

Belias scoffed, placing a hand on his chest. “What makes you think I would have such an item in my possession, much less that I could spare?”

“Your familiar,” Myanna grunted before taking another bite from the skewer. Belias stared at her blankly, failing to maintain much of a poker face with how much he was beginning to sweat. The cuirizu pointed at him with the skewer. “Cacodaemons’ main function in Abaddon is providing their superiors with soul gems after they’ve consumed other beings. I suspect it’s why you chose one as your familiar and why you keep him a secret.”

Belias bristled at the accusation but didn’t deny it outright. He was smart enough to realize that they had entered negotiations rather than a phase of idle threats. Glancing over his shoulder, presumably in the direction his familiar was floating around unseen, the ritual master let out a dejected sigh. “Fine, but I would appreciate it if we could keep that information between us.”

“I’ve no problem with that,” Myanna replied, finishing the meat from the skewer before tossing the little wood stick onto the ground. “No one needs to know where I got it.”

“Good,” Belias said, backing away from her at a shuffle. “You’ll find it in your quarters shortly after our return to Willowridge.”

As he stepped through the flap and into the camp, Myanna considered what Vylshiya had said about the wards and protections of Willowridge. Belias was confident that he could get in and out of her quarters without incident, which lent weight to what the succubus had intended as an insult. She didn’t do much warding with her magic but decided it was time to start. Fenan was skilled with wards, so perhaps Myanna could propose a trade with the shackleborn when she returned.

Traveling back to Willowridge took more time than she had anticipated due to the varied state of the individuals composing the army at that point. Each time they stopped to make camp however, their few healers were able to distribute spells and potions strategically so that their pace the following day was a little better. By the time they began marching up the final stretch of road, Myanna was mostly recovered from her injuries. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to save the leather corset she had grown so fond of. Another one would have to be made.

Myanna settled back in quickly, burying herself in her work at her earliest opportunity while preparing everything else she needed for the ritual to restore Drusilla. True to his word, for once, Belias had seen to it that the soul gem was left for her in her quarters during her work hours.

“How do you know it will work?” Drusilla asked from the other side of Myanna’s office. The cuirizu had brought in an additional chair for her to occupy when feeling weak. It wasn’t often that she had to use it, thankfully. “It could just finish me off right there, couldn’t it?”

“I had Quintus look it over,” Myanna assured her without taking her eyes off the symbols she was copying. “We agree that the ritual will do precisely what Belias says. Using a soul gem is unorthodox, but it will be more than enough for the task.”

“So it will mend what Tobias did to me?” Drusilla pressed, hope creeping into her voice.

Mending wasn’t precisely the right word for the process, but Myanna was at a loss for a better one to use at first. “Think of it more like a reconstruction.”

Drusilla leaned forward in the chair as she adjusted her spectacles. “How is that different?”

“It’s not going to make you what you were before he got his claws into you,” Myanna explained, finally taking her eyes off the parchment to look back at the blonde woman. “It’s going to fill the holes in with something else, preventing your further deterioration in the process.”

“Like brick mortar?” Drusilla theorized.

“More akin to a different kind of brick and mortar to fill the holes in an existing wall, but yes, you could think of it like that,” Myanna agreed with a short nod.

Drusilla shrugged after a moment of consideration. “So long as the wall is fixed, that’s my only concern right now.”

“As is mine,” Myanna replied, turning her attention back to the notes. “Everything should be ready in a few days. I had to prepare some of the components from scratch, but Quintus assures me that you’re in no immediate danger.”

Drusilla returned to her duties in the laboratory shortly after, leaving Myanna in relative silence as she went about her work. Though her focus was on the ritual, there were more than enough additional tasks in the lab to fill her time. Within minutes of their return to Willowridge, word of Havoc’s demise spread. To the surprise of all present, Belias had offered the head of the Judge to Olcaru herself during court. Though Myanna had not personally attended, Belias had been sure to describe how Havoc had met his end in excruciating detail, so much so that Myanna received comments from others in the corridors during her walks to and from her quarters.

Sweetening the pot was the news of Vylshiya’s death shortly after Havoc’s, along with the triumphant return of Sano with the army that had repelled the Obsidian Court army they had met in the field. The loss of Belias’ forces was hardly seen as such, considering what their enemies had lost. Brenna, being important only to Myanna at the time, wasn’t counted among their own losses in any meaningful way beyond the cuirizu’s thoughts before she settled down to sleep.

“You lay a hand on my brother again, and I’ll have to put you in your place physically,” Sano warned her one evening. His eyes gleamed like those of a ferocious predator in the dim lighting of the corridor. Myanna turned and faced him, wearing her most convincing expression of impassivity.

“Excuse me?” the cuirizu scoffed, adjusting the satchel hanging from her shoulder. “Your idiot brother started it. He’s lucky to be alive.”

Sano was much faster than his large, muscular frame implied. Slamming her back against the wall with one hand around her throat, he leaned close to her with his fangs bared. “Listen well, Myanna, I don’t care what the circumstances were. My warning stands all the same. It is only because of your victory over Judge Havoc that I have decided to spare you.”

Though her heart threatened to leap straight out of her chest in terror, Myanna offered the therian a calm smile. “Are you sure? I can think of a few other reasons you might want to keep me around.”

Sano’s gaze faltered, looking down at the firm grip the cuirizu had between his legs. His aggression was tied closely to his libido, which Myanna knew she could use to alter the nature of their encounter if she couldn’t diffuse it outright. The girth of his hardening cock strained against his trousers as she massaged him firmly.

“You think to sway me by offering me some pussy?” Sano scoffed, though the look in his eyes told her it was working. She could practically taste the aggressive lust in the air now that the offer had been made.

“No,” Myanna confessed. “But I think it might provide you with the outlet to see reason. I was in a position to do far worse to him. Instead, I let him off with a slap on the wrist because it’s what you would have wanted. He has to be taught, after all.”

“Your lessons are neither wanted nor needed,” Sano growled, though his grip around her throat had grown much weaker.

“Of course,” Myanna agreed. “Allow me to make it up to you.”

With her other hand, the cuirizu pulled the simple cloth of her pelvic curtain to one side, exposing the neatly trimmed pussy waiting beneath. Sano accepted her offering without another word, pressing her back against the wall as he pulled his cock out of his trousers. Lifting her from the ground like a plaything, he impaled her on his long throbbing cock and ravaged her there in the hallway. Though Myanna would have preferred to have played this card with the therianthrope at a later time, she couldn’t afford to let him nurse a grudge.

True to his nature, Sano was not gentle with the cuirizu, pumping her mercilessly without concern for her enjoyment. Myanna met the pace of his hips as best as she could, but he wasn’t looking for an equal partner. He wanted a cum bucket. She was there to be used in order to do penance. She clenched and squeezed around him with practiced ease, honed over the course of years. Few could hope to match her skills with cunt or cock, but most of it was lost on the beast between her legs pounding her.

It wasn’t unpleasant for Myanna, far from it. The raw, unbridled power of the Therian was an experience unto itself. Not many males she had been with could leverage such savagery and strength during such a carnal act. He tore clothes from her, gripped her breasts tightly, and bit her neck. Though he eventually let her down, it was only to turn her around and take her from behind, where he pulled roughly at her corset piercings. It provided her with a delicious cocktail of pleasure and pain that brought her to the brink of orgasm.

“Oh, fuck!” Myanna gasped. “Harder, fuck me harder. I can take it.”

Sano didn’t have to be asked twice, sinking his claws into her as he ravaged her. The climax for the cuirizu came hard and fast, crushing her senses and banishing any thoughts of the calculated risk she had taken from her mind. The throaty, whorish groan she let out for him as she tightened around him was enough to bring him over the edge as well.

“Cum inside me,” Myanna moaned, reveling in the tension that directly preceded the heat of him filling her. Her back arched violently as he bucked violently behind her. The moment of shared carnal bliss didn’t last, but for the time it did, Myanna found herself caring about little else besides the jizz flooding her cunt and the beast holding tightly to her as he emptied his balls.

Then, abruptly, he pulled his cock from the warm depths of the cuirizu to shoot a few lingering ropes of cum onto her ass. A parting reminder, on his part, of what her place was and that he could use her like this any time he wished. Myanna peered at him over her shoulder enticingly. The conflict about whether he should have her a second time played clearly in his eyes.

“Come on,” she whispered as her hips swayed from side to side. “It’s yours for the taking.”

“Another time,” Sano growled regretfully. “I came only to issue my warning, and you’ve delayed me while I’m awaited elsewhere.”

The therianthrope took a moment to compose himself, restoring his previous state of dress and smoothing out his mane of hair before leaving Myanna alone in the corridor. She waited until the sound of his footsteps vanished into the distance before sinking to her knees on the cold stone floor. With a smirk, she fished an empty bottle from the satchel she’d dropped and carefully scraped Sano’s spilled seed from the soft, round cheeks of her ass to place within it. Vylshiya had used cum as a spell focus to follow her around, so Myanna was confident she could find a use for it as well. If she couldn’t sway the Beast of Barenshal with sex the next time he grew angry with her, she hoped to have a backup plan that wasn’t getting her throat ripped out.

Sano had left the cuirizu with a much larger sample inside her, but Myanna decided to wait until she returned to her quarters before dealing with it. The damage to her clothing from the encounter was significant enough that she would need to change as soon as possible.

“Right there in the hallway?” Onesa asked, her nose wrinkled with a sneer as she came off the wall of Myanna’s bedchamber. “Why?”

“Sano looks like a man, but he’s ruled almost completely by the beast within him,” Myanna explained, setting her things on the new vanity the dark elf had provided for her. Indeed, nearly everything that filled her bedchamber had been supplied by Onesa and her family as part of the payment they owed her for assisting with the cult of Liderce. “Appealing to it means you have to meet it on its terms, which are often immediate.”

“Ugh,” Onesa grunted. “You let him finish inside you?”

“Of course,” Myanna answered from behind the changing screen as she extracted the remains of Sano’s jizz inside her into the bottle. Once satisfied that she’d retrieved all she could, she stoppered the bottle up where the preservation rune etched into the top activated. It wouldn’t last forever, but it would last long enough for her to put it to use. “The more I take with me, the more I have to work with.”

Myanna stepped out from behind the changing screen, completely nude, “I don’t think you would refuse me in a similar situation.”

Onesa stared at Myanna in complete silence as her eyes wandered over the nude form of the cuirizu. Myanna knew how much Onesa wanted the fiend to take her, though they had not been presented with the opportunity until now.

“Perhaps,” the dark elf responded. “But it’s hardly the point. It wasn’t me; it was you and him.”

“Are you jealous?” Myanna inquired curiously. It wasn’t a response she had expected from Onesa, of all people. “You’ve never taken issue with who I fuck before.”

The dark elf shook her head, prying her eyes off the cuirizu to avert her gaze. “I don’t know. Maybe. I think it’s just him, specifically, that I take issue with. I know you did what you had to, though.”

Myanna frowned, tilting her head to the side as she slowly ran the fingers of one hand down her chest. “I’ve more than enough energy remaining to claim what I am owed from you. You needn’t worry about that.”

Onesa closed her eyes and let out a long, dissatisfied groan. “I’m afraid I can’t. I only came by to see if your new accommodations were to your liking before I departed. I’ve a mission to attend to.”

Glancing around at the new furniture that filled her bedchamber, Myanna’s eyes settled upon the large four-poster bed that had replaced the modest single she had been getting by with before. “I’d be happier with the bed if you were in it.”

“When I come back,” Onesa responded, her voice slightly strained. “I cannot afford any more delays.”

Myanna sighed, half-tempted to hold the dark elf down as Sano had done with her and take what she wanted from her. If Onesa said it was important, then it likely was. Whether the orders came down from the matriarch of her house or Olcaru, both held more weight than Myanna’s need to claim her long-awaited prize of elven cunt.

“Very well,” she relented, holding her hands up. “I’ll take you at your word. But once you return, there will be no more delays. You belong to me.”

A shadow of a smile pulled at the corner of the dark elf’s lips as she approached Myanna, a satisfied glint in her eyes. The cuirizu took hold of her by the leather chest plate and pulled her close in a brief demonstration of her superior strength. If she couldn’t claim the whole of her that night, she would at least steal a kiss from her to whet her appetite. Myanna held the dark elf close for a long silent moment as their lips pressed together, parting and allowing their tongues to explore one another before prying themselves apart.

“Mm,” Onesa moaned, breathing much faster than a moment ago. “I’ll have to hurry back. When is the ritual? Will I miss it?”

“Unfortunately,” Myanna confirmed. “I’m performing it tomorrow. Drusilla should be made whole by the time you return.”

“Even more to look forward to, then,” Onesa remarked as she regained her composure. With a nod, the dark elf excused herself from Myanna’s bedchamber, leaving the cuirizu alone for the remainder of the night.

Myanna sighed, falling into the soft bed that the dark elf had procured for her as the echoes of arousal ran through her mind. She’d gotten her hopes up before even knowing why Onesa had come to speak with her. But there were other things to concern herself with now. Rolling over onto her back, she reviewed her agenda one last time.

A few batches of potions and other things had to be completed swiftly during the daylight hours, preferably before noon. Then, she would spend the rest of the day setting up the ritual. Everything would begin an hour after sunset. By midnight tomorrow, the danger for Drusilla would be passed, and Myanna would have her primary candidate for breeding available once more. Just the thought of it being so close at hand caused the cuirizu to become horny all over again.

Rather than try to force it from her mind, Myanna shifted to her dual aspect and began stroking her hot, hard cock. She’d earned a little relief for herself.