The next few minutes were a blur as we arranged the moonlit picnic. In truth, I’d not attended one before now, and I wasn’t sure if I was doing things right. But given my Lady’s gentle smile during the entire process, I believed that I was making her happy.

My unease over the events of the previous day was still deep in my chest, and I did my best to force it down, to little success. I wondered how she felt about me, after I botched our important meeting and trashed her room. Did she still want me to stay? Was she going to send me away?

“Iris dear, are you all right? You seem… distracted.”

I swallowed, and realized I couldn’t hide my thoughts from her perceptive gaze. Looking down at the blanket, I opened my mouth to speak when I was interrupted by a familiar sounding voice.

“Thought you might be up, Mistress. I didn’t expect to see little Iris as well.”

Turning my head, I looked upon Lilia, the head maid clad in her own nightgown. Unlike mine and Azalea’s, hers only reached her calf, leaving the lower half of her legs exposed to the night air. It didn’t seem to bother her one bit as she joined us on the picnic blanket and leaned against Azalea’s shoulder. I turned my head away from the display, as the jealous longing from before welled up in my chest again.

I could feel both of their gazes on me, and Azalea let out a little giggle. Lilia was the first to speak up. “She looks so cute when she’s disappointed, look at her ears drooping!”

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I felt my fur covered ears, only to notice that they were in fact bent down in disappointment. I quickly looked away from them, and bit down on my lip before wincing as the developing fang dug in.

“Uhm… I-I’m glad you like them so much…?” I asked, uncertainly.

“Awww and now they’re twitching! She’s adorable~” Lilia smiled brightly, and my cheeks burned hotly. The head maid leaned in closer to her mistress and cast a wicked smirk. “I can see why you couldn’t hold yourself back around her.”

Azalea returned the smirk with one of her own. “Not like you resisted her either.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t jump straight to kissing her either!”

At that, Azalea’s cheeks turned a bright red and she cast her gaze to the side, admitting her defeat against her head maid. Just who was in charge in this scenario? Lilia stood back up, and looked down at me with the same gentle smile she’d given me upon our first meeting. The mention of the kiss felt like a stone in my heart, and I found myself bowing my head apologetically to the maid.

“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to kiss her.”

Silence filled the moonlit garden for a moment, and then Lilia burst out in her addictively lyrical laughter, and turned to the mortified Azalea.

“Did you hear that Mistress? She didn’t Mean to kiss you~”

The dejected woman’s disguise had fallen away, and her tail curled down sadly to her side, where she held it close to herself like a pillow.

“I-I see… did you not enjoy it then?”

My cheeks flared up at the question, and I looked between the two of them, attempting to hide my expression and clearly failing at it.

“W-Well I wouldn’t say I didn’t enjoy it, it’s just that well… you’re both together right? And I-I don’t want to cause any problems for people who have been so kind to me.”

My hands immediately went to my mouth, and I felt my pupils dilate as I realized what I’d said. They were both going to think that I liked Azalea after all. And well, I did. I liked them both to be honest, but they both had each other and-

Lilia’s strong grip settled on my shoulder, and I looked up to her again. Her disguise had fallen as well, and I saw her true form. She still had her blonde hair and pointed ears, but a single horn stretched out from the top of her head, her bare legs were bound with lean muscle, and she had the barest hint of a black feathery down on her ears, neck and legs.

“Oh Iris, you don’t have to worry about a thing. We Both like you very much, isn’t that right Mistress?”

She turned her head to look at Azalea, and the pink woman nodded her head.

“We would very much like it if you stayed here with us. We’ve both become… attached to you.” Her gaze averted, then took a deep breath and continued. “We are uncertain of where things will go from here, the future holds many possibilities that we cannot possibly predict. The one certainty is that we want you to be a part of it, Iris.” She extended a hand out towards me, and Lilia turned to me with a gentle smile.

I felt a pressure at the edge of my head that clamped down hard, forcing more tears out of me. They accepted me, they wanted me here, even after all that had happened. I wanted to reach out, to accept their offer, but more feelings lodged themselves in me, that I had to give voice to.

“I’m… I’m sorry that I need so many reassurances, it’s just… hard to accept that this is real, and that you’re all so accepting of me.”

The familiar sensation of guilt came back, poisoning my thoughts, and casting doubt on the kind words being offered. Just how long would they continue to tolerate my damage and outbursts until they got tired of me?

They both looked to me with eyes full of sympathy and sadness, which only made my heart ache all the more. I was a sad, lonely reject, and they were happy together. They didn’t need me to ruin things for them.

Azalea looked hesitant, but Lilia stepped forward and smiled down at me.

“You’re a sweet girl Iris. I see the years of hurt and heartache surrounding you, but it cannot hide the caring and adorable girl I see on the inside.” She smiled, the moonlight only making her glow all the brighter. “And just like the Lovers, we will be here to watch over and support you, while you heal and recover.”

I restrained myself from biting my lip again, I could feel my ears droop and my tail fold closer to me. “How do I know you won’t get tired of me later?”

Lilia’s gentle smile only grew as she leaned forward and placed a gentle hand on my head. “If you start going down a bad path, we will be there to steer you.” Her expression took on a stern appearance as she kept her hand on my head. “You are not your hurt, Iris. We can help you with it, if you’ll let us.”

I thought back to all my encounters since coming to this manor, how I’d experienced more sadness, hope, joy, love and anger than ever before. “I’m… I’m afraid of how much hurt there is, and I don’t want that to spread to any of you.”
The head maid’s smile was gentle as she stroked my head affectionately. “That’s why I know you’re a good girl. And why I wanted to take care of you the moment you showed up on our doorstep.”

My eyes welled up with more tears as I finally relented, and leaned my head into the head maid. Her strong but gentle hand stroked the back of my head gently, then rubbed my ear affectionately, prompting a whimper to slip from my lips.

“And… I’ll get to keep wearing pretty dresses, and be called Iris whenever I want too?” I looked up at Lilia, feeling that pit of fear once again.

She booped me on my nose, and I squeaked in response. “Of course, silly girl. You’ll be our beautiful Iris, for as long as you want.”

Azalea, who had been standing in the back, approached now to catch me in a hug opposite to her maid. I could really get used to these group hugs, they felt amazing.

“As for what happened in the office the other day, don’t worry about it. That was my mistake for taking things too quickly.” The Lady turned her head away, as Lilia shot her a knowing smirk. The head maid turned her gaze onto me and considered me for a moment.

“There is something else I’d like to discuss at some point, but by no means does it have to happen right now.” I perked up and turned to look at Lilia. “I’d like to know more about what causes those reactions you have, so we can better handle them in the future.”

Azalea and Lilia both looked at me, and I looked down at the picnic we’d set up, taking a sandwich and biting into it. The talking had distracted me, but I was still feeling very hungry. The pit of fear in my chest was widening as thoughts turned dark, and returned to the Academy where everything had gone so horribly wrong. I didn’t want to keep it locked up inside any longer.

Azalea approached and placed a gentle hand on my head. “You look terrified… you don’t have to share it right now, but if you’d like to, we’d both be happy to listen.”

I swallowed, and my voice caught in my throat, before forcing it out. “I… I want to talk about it. We might be here for a while though.

Both Ladies smiled, and settled down on the picnic blanket. “The night is young, we have an array of tea and snacks, so feel free to talk as much as you’d like Iris.”
I stared down at the sandwich in my hands, and my grip tightened.

“All right, let me tell you about my time at the Academy.”

Violet_Velvet

Thank you for reading Chapter 15! Hope you have a great day!