The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Vale was happy to be home. Vale was happy to be in the place that gave her the most peace. It was late, but not too. There were still initiates and a few others milling about. Some specifically liked to study and practice during the quieter hours and she found that beneficial herself at first. It helped her focus solely on the work. Later though, Mistress had insisted on whatever distractions she could create. “There weren’t often times,” Mistress told her, “where the situation will allow you the ideal calm to do what needs to be done, so you have to create a place within yourself that it always there no matter what goes on around you.”

And she was right. Crafting that place and building upon it over years had saved her life. She was awake now because there was so much to explore for her that she was genuinely restless. So restless that she wasn’t sure where to begin, Find the smallest steps first and climb from there. Such worked for many things and she saw no reason not to begin with one of the issues closest to her.

It had to be done though. Sylanna had avoided her with zeal. That was fine in those first days because Vale had been in something of a state of confusion regarding recent events since their return, but it couldn’t be allowed to fester, particularly now that she had some clarity and because Sylanna had expanded the scope of her avoidance to everyone. No one much lamented that, but there were louder whispers of her leaving and, worse, that she was engaging in the darker arts once again.

That was impossible, Vale knew, as she was part of her being taken and changed. Sylanna couldn’t go back, but the why wasn’t any student’s business. General knowledge of the particulars would have only made her life here a different kind of difficult. Rumors festering didn’t help either.

She resolved that now was the time to deal with what she could. Making her way to the farthest of quarters, she paused as she passed one of the larger study rooms to see Delvine at work. She watched her dust the books by rhythm and rote and then proceed to wipe down the tables and Vale could not help but be touched by sadness as she approached. The others had been returned home in the days that followed, convinced that it had all been a fever dream, their minds eager to latch onto such a notion so that the hazy recollections made any sort of sense.

This one though, was all but lost. Deres and Mistress had done their best, but there wasn’t much to salvage. “Hello, Delvine.”

She stopped what she was doing and turned. “Hello, Vale. Is there something I can do for you?”

She waved that away. “Not at all. It’s late and I saw you working is all.”

She looked around the room, her confusion evident. “Yes. Things need to be done.” Delvine looked suddenly hesitant. “Is that all right?”

Vale was quick to reassure her. “It’s fine. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t working too hard.”

Delvine looked away to appraise herself again in detached fashion. “I’m not tired.” Looking at Vale again, “Things need to be done. Is there something I can do for you?”

The talisman was secured and the depths of its power would be explored in careful fashion. That was its future, such as it was, and this was about it for her as well. This was all she would be now. After the talisman finished with her, directed by someone with nothing but anger, rage, need, or whatever it was that drove him and no sense of the power he had, there was precious little left to rebuild. There were fragments of memories and the sense of self that a child had. She could only function in a world that asked little of her. She would need care and direction her entire life. Vale only hoped that somewhere within, was that sense of wonder that came with innocence and few cares. She hoped that somewhere there was some fragment of honest satisfaction with what her life was now.

“Don’t stay up too late. You need your rest.”

“I understand, Vale. Thank you. I’m going to go back to work. Things need to be done and I’m not tired.”

Her expression mostly blanked before she turned back to the tables. Vale let her be and moved through the corridor until she was truly alone and she spent those few dozen steps contemplating where to begin, and resolved that she’d taken the first steps, literally, and she’d let Sylanna take the next.

She looked down to see light flickering from the bottom of the door before she bothered to knock. Even so, the silence that followed lingered so long Vale almost decided she was being ignored.

“Come.”

She opened the door to find the blonde look that was her current preference. No one here, save Vale and Bryana knew her true appearance, and that was the way she preferred it. It invited talk as to what was beneath, but she could handle whispers and rumor. It was better that way.

The room was quite bare, which didn’t surprise because, to Vale, Sylanna never seemed the type for conspicuous consumption There were no pictures or other decorations on the walls. There was a desk and the bed, though the quilt was quite ornate and, Vale, supposed, qualified as decoration. There was a mirror that took up much of the wall over the desk She did seem to mix various herbs and spices into the lamp oil to create scents and this one was a woodland spice and not at all unpleasant. Some used scents to help in meditation and it did not at all surprise that she was one of those that would.

She took a deep breath. “I like it.”

“Mokshul root and Kabin spice.” Another pause. “I like it, too,” she said before trying not to wince at the awkwardness of the statement. “Obviously.”

“May I come in?”

Sylanna nodded and, as Vale turned to close the door, Sylanna moved to sit on the bed so as to yield the seat, turning it toward the bed. Sylanna found the sense awkwardness only escalating, feeling a growing desire to flee the room; anything to avoid being where she was and feeling what she felt. Even so, dancing around the situation was cowardly and she had thought herself cowardly enough of late for holing up in her room in regards to Vale. She deserved better.

So when Vale was settled, Sylanna was succinct. “I am ashamed of my conduct in the cabin. I took advantage. So, how ever you feel I might properly atone for my conduct, it will be done.”

“Perhaps you could tell me why, and we could go from there.”

“It was a moment of weakness,” she spat, thinking back on it. “You were under the influence of magic. My rational mind knew that. I wanted to clear it from you. I offered to. In the end I begged to. But the words you spoke and the look in your eyes and I…”

“What was it?”

Her mind was back there. “Your touch was so gentle. You told me that you didn’t care about the spell. You asked me to show you my true face. You said you wanted me. And...I knew it was fake. I knew it was a product of the spell. But I was weak. I allowed myself to believe that there was truth in that moment for no other reason than…”

Her voice was soft so that she might not break what waited at the edge, “Sylanna?”

“I wanted to feel wanted. For a moment, I could lie to myself and tell myself that I was. I regret my weakness, and while I often consider apologies meaningless social niceties because they do not undo the damage done, I am sorry, and I leave it to you to decide what the penance should be. What do you wish me to do so that you may feel whole and at peace about what happened between us because I very much value your presence.”

That did surprise Vale and she made no effort to hide it. “Seemed to me that all we have done is annoy one another.”

“Yes,” she admitted. “But we have a passable working relationship. More so, I think, after recent events. I know that there is no one else here, save Mistress Lia, that would be open to a working relationship of any kind, and she has enough responsibilities to contend with in addition to having no particular fondness for me, with good reason.”

“Playing a role in kidnapping a child she loves will do that.”

“Granted. My position here would be completely untenable without...someone.”

“No one else will have you, is that it?”

“Essentially.”

“Thank you?” A grin found Vale’s round cheeks thinking of their first meeting. When she noticed Sylanna looking at her in somewhat bewildered fashion, “I’m not sure how desirable I should feel given that you made a point of calling me a little sow the first time we met.”

“Please,” Sylanna groaned, “The comment was meaningless beyond its intent to vex you and take you off balance so that I might escape.”

“And you thought it would because…?”

“You know how the world works. It tries to suggest that only certain types of people are desirable. Blue eyes. Blonde. Thin. Breasts that make it almost impossible to walk. Depending on the part of the world, the ideal may change a bit, but the result is the same. If people don’t fit that ideal and they know it, they don’t like it pointed out to them.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“You know it is and you use it yourself when it suits you.”

“And when was that?”

“Do you not recall a magic-drunk slave trader?” Her voice went to exaggerated highs, “Oh, my, yes, Lord Solos. I will let you lead me anywhere and do anything so long as you fuck me because obviously I can’t get any on my own.”

Vale blushed as Sylanna continued. “You used his perception to get closer and do what needed doing when you know the truth: that there is almost always someone who wants what you have to offer. You seem to never have any problem finding men that like what you have, and that seem to suit your own particular needs.”

“To begin with, it’s not as if there have been many men. Beyond that, what would those ‘needs’ be, and how would you know about them in any case?”

“Initiates talk, not that I give credence to any such gossip. All guilds thrive on it and it travels with the air. But I hear your suitors of the moment seem to have a commonality when it comes to a substantial endowment.”

Vale burned.

Sylanna enjoyed the sight. “You know that you are attractive in your own right even if men don’t always turn when you walk by, and you don’t seem to need them to.”

“And I am attractive to you?”

“You are,” she said definitively. “For me, sexual release was in some ways like seeing to my other needs in the most expeditious, practical manner possible. As long as the other met certain basic requirements, such as an affinity for soap on their bodies, I was and am very open when it comes to particulars.”

There crept into her voice, an uncharacteristic tenderness. “But you are wholly attractive. Your eyes are bright and have a depth. The softness within you extends to your body. It is a pleasure to touch and your full lips a pleasure to kiss.”

“I remember you being quite fond of me. I believe the first thing I was more or less aware of was your fondness for my...rump, was it?”

Sylanna’s eyes went wide and it was her turn to burn, but Vale had no desire to watch her squirm on top of it. “I was not out of the haze, but I believe you shared your own awareness when you…”

“When I touched your runes,” she finished. She should have known. She would have known if she had been in complete hold of her own faculties. “If you had said something, I would have…”

“I didn’t want you to. In the moment, I didn’t, and hindsight hasn’t changed that. Perhaps I found you attractive as well.”

She decided that there was no room for playing with words. “I found you attractive as well. Your body is beautiful, if unconventionally so. You’re intelligent. You’re strong-willed. You’re just strong and I respect that. I like that. You’re comfortable with your power. And, with that, in that haze, there was your desire and your touch that came with the magic filling me with an aching desire for sex, and I had no desire to stop you.”

“I realize why it’s uncomfortable for you, but, when it’s just us alone, and only if you like, you can surrender the veil spells. As I believe I’ve made clear, I like how you look.”

She hesitated. “If you’re certain.”

“I am,” she said, taking hold of her hand. “Show me.”

With a flutter, that hand took a bone white pallor with a gray contrast as the rest of her shifted to her true appearance.. “Happy now?”

“I said you didn’t have to.”

“I know.” The hand came away. “Speaking of power, have you discussed with Mistress what happened with you and the talisman? It speaks of a great gift and a great power. Mistress told me that it wasn’t your first experience with memories and dreams.”

That was true. She very much remembered being on the floor of a small home, half dead because enemies of a potential client decided to send a message and Vale just happened to be there. She remembered trying to weave a spell upon the man that set the attack into motion. Lust, confusion, and fear at facing the man who almost killed her combined and twisted to make him a prisoner in his own mind, destined to relive every vile act he’d ever committed from the victim’s point of view unless he had the strength and self-awareness to repent and free himself. So far he had not and no one in the asylum he called home now expected him free himself from his prison even if they’d understood its nature.

“No,” was all she actually said to that. “When Mistress returns, she wants to begin to explore the depth and breadth of what happened in earnest.”

“There are many avenues to that level of the mind. I can teach you all I know of how to entwine magic such as mine with your own skills as you did with Solos. But the will to bind so many suggests great talent in that regard, and talent well beyond mine.”

“Bother you much?” she joked.

“Denna Vale, it would be my honor to teach you what I know and explore your power with you, if you would have my help.”

“I’d like that.” Another decision made, she pressed forward. “With all of that out of the way, would you like me to stay?”

She liked the notion. “Would you like to begin now? Like you, I enjoy working at night.”

“I mean, that I like the men that I like, but, I can be attracted to anyone that can be attracted to me. What I remember of the night in the shack was enjoyable, and I believe that perhaps I might like to remember the whole of the experience, particularly when you are the first woman I’ve been with. Sylanna, I would like to stay.”

She punctuated the next question by dropping her gown over her body to display her breasts and their softness in full. “Would you like me to stay?”

She was at a loss just then. She enjoyed the experience and that had indeed been part of what fed her shame afterward, but, she had tried her best to bury her feelings and believing that that might be possible when Vale knocked on her door. Now there was the same need that she felt in that little shack in the nothing. “I...Are…”

Vale finished for her, “I’m sure. I want to stay. Do you want me to stay?”

She looked upon that body, and felt stirrings within that had nothing to do with practicality. It wasn’t just a basic need to be sated in an almost clinical fashion. And there was nothing within those currents roiling within that wanted to be calmed quickly. She ached for it all to last.

Sylanna extended her hand. “Very much.”

Vale took her hand, noting that it was cool to the touch in a way that she hadn’t remembered before, not that she remembered much from that night beyond a seemingly endless rush of sensation. Sylanna took note of it, “Another of my...differences.”

“It’s not unpleasant.” And it wasn’t. It set the nerves to singing in that welcome way of stepping from your stuffy home into a gentle, cool breeze. It was surprising, and welcome. The differences added excitement to the moment, as though there wasn’t enough that came with leaning into another woman for the first time in memory. Indeed, it added to the moment.

Their lips met and their tongues entwined, the gentle pops of their lips parting before coming back together the only sound in the room beyond their breathing as Vale settled against her. This part was one of the parts of now that was beyond Sylanna’s experience. Sating her desires was often a fierce, fast experience, her body wanting to reach that peak quickly so she could move on. Not that she was ever selfish in that regard. Even seeing it as clinical, she was always fair in the exchange, as she left them satisfied as well, if for no other reason than, if she passed through that way again, they would be a reliable outlet.

But Vale settled over her with the intent to stay awhile and it thrilled Sylanna more than any of the frantic trysts of before. Sylanna’s hands were there to meet her just under her breasts before bringing them up to make her jump by flicking her nails at each nipple, making her jump. She watched the other simply feel. “Nervous?”

Vale quivered again, “Worrying about the claws.”

“They aren’t exactly claws, dear,” hearing her words as the tease that they were. “And, I’ve seen the squirming before, you like it.” The playful look that Vale gave her in response that compelled another kiss, “Again, you are not my first woman.”

Vale pounced, coming forward nibbling roughly at Sylanna’s neck while her short fingers made shorter work of the ties at Sylanna’s gown, so that she could heft those full tits, flicks of Sylanna’s nails inviting squeezes and bites from her in return. She moaned, “Leave marks, Vale. Leave them and leave as many as you like.”

Vale pulled back so that they were nose to nose, “We both seem to like to nip, but, Mistress of the Veils, who will see?”

“No one will see,” she said softly but firmly as she ran her fingers through Vale’s brown hair. “Only I will know. They will be mine.”

“And mine.” They kissed as Denna’s hand slid down the cool skin, feeling the dense muscle beneath. “How will you stand knowing I have marked you?”

“I will thrill at looking upon them. I will thrill at knowing you left them to me.” Sylanna’s eyes, more reminiscent of feline than fully human, widened as she felt Vale’s palm press against her clit. Her hips thrust to meet the presseure almost of their own accord. She looked down to see the bulge of her hand under the fabric as it began to make small circles against her engorged clit, then threw her head back in lust, her hips lifting in rhythm giving herself to Vale’s fingers.

The lines her body made in that pose reminded Vale of a lewd sculpture, and that was all the temptation she needed, though the wanton, weak look that came with her surrendering herself to that rhythm was a lovely addition.

Vale’s lips met hers again before drifting left and, over her jaw and down her neck to find the spot that called to her. Feeling it, her teeth touched the skin with more than a little force and the piercing whimper Sylanna let loose made her nip again and again as the thrusting of her hips made the bed creak, the sounds together filthy in her ear, made all the more so by the fact that her hand was so wet now it felt like there was no friction between it and Sylanna’s mound.

There were the sounds of the bed straining, Sylanna’s pleasure, and wet on wet as Vale sucked and nipped and bit her way down the slowly. Vale added obscene sucking to the chorus, taking her time. When her mouth followed the outer curve of her left breast and worked to leave another mark of her passing, Sylanna surrendered with a wail Vale, for a moment, feared could have woken the dead, and it turned out to be quite a benefit for Vale to be in the most remote part of the hold.

Her hand rose from Sylanna’s pussy and she ran her hand over the other’s face and Sylanna grabbed it and cleaned it with her long tongue took while Vale’s drew a serpentine path down the cool skin, imagining that the contrast of temperature was even more compelling to Sylanna just then.

Her tongue went down her belly as she pulled the gown down over Sylanna’s hips before Sylanna lifted and kicked her way out of the remainder. Vale kissed the inside of each thigh before choosing not to deny each other what was to come. Her tongue was tentative at first, but when she tasted the flowing juices, she dipped in for more immediately. It was like milk from the Goddess. It was warm, spicy and, oh, so sweet and she licked until the whole of her face under her nose was soaked with it.

And she wanted to taste more.

As she licked, Sylanna lifted herself onto her elbows. She floated on the sensation, but, on as much of the edge as she was on thanks to the frenzied mouth, she looked down and she saw that pretty mop of curls and those green eyes looking up at her that were, in the moment, the sexiest things she’d ever seen. She could see the teasing control in them. She could see the smile in them. Vale was there because she wanted to be. Vale was licking her wanton pussy just as wantonly because she chose to.

Tomorrow would take care of itself but tonight, now, Vale wanted her. That set her to panting, her mind unable to keep up with the rush of a body anxious to orgasm. The tip of Vale’s tongue flicking left and right as rapidly as possible led one hand to Vale’s hair and her ankle to rest on Vale’s back to change the tension points in her body to bring her next orgasm forth. And then she came with feeling just as intense and beautiful as the last and just as loudly acknowledged.

Rather than be fatigued, the afterglow excited her. She moved swiftly to take Vale in her arms her hands caressing firmly, feeling that softness give under the pressure. She liked it. There was a femininity in it that Sylanna sometimes felt as though she sacrificed even though she thought that, in many ways, she’d bettered herself more.

Sylanna turned Vale as they kissed deeply and backed her into the headboard and the wall behind it. Vale grabbed either side of the headboard as Sylanna ripped the rest of the gown from her body. She leaned in to scent Vale’s hair as the other spoke, “That was a perfectly good gown, too. Do that so I’d have to stay?”

“Perhaps I did it so that to see if you would dare pad naked back to your room and risk being seen coming naked from mine.”

Vale seemed unconcerned, “I would simply tell them that you cast a wicked spell upon me. Who will they believe, I wonder?”

A spark of current went from her fingers to one of Vale’s runes with raised brows and a wry grin from Sylanna.

She jumped. “Ow. I thought it wasn’t in you to unnecessarily harm others anymore.”

“It is, but I can cause as much pain as I like.”

“You can just tell them you now have an affinity for meaty little sows.”

She saw the grin that came with it. “Will you ever let me live that down?”

“I mean that...if it excites you, you can keep using that if you’d like.”

Sylanna eyed her as her fingers traced Vale’s runes, “I think it is you that might like that.”

“It wouldn’t bother me if it excites you. If it adds to the animal of it for you...”

“That explains much.” She sent currents of pleasure through Vale’s guild markings now.

Vale’s eyes closed and she breathed deeply, “What does that mean?”

“Your taste in men. I have seen the ones that attract you. Men that are the height of masculinity. Bigger. Stronger. Capable of taking what they want even if they won’t.”

“Capable of dominating you.”

Vale closed her eyes, breathing, jaw quivering at the feeling.

“Controlling you. Using you.”

She breathed harder, opening her eyes and looking up at Sylanna.

“For the right one that makes you feel weak as they make you wet you can just be an aroused, submissive, soft little sow. Those words of degradation reminding you of the place that you like with the right other, is that it?”

“Here you are, naked, standing on your knees, arms spread, submitting yourself so that I might give you pleasure as I did in the shack. The sounds you made when I touched you with magic, I will never forget them.” Her fingers traced the tribal marks on the belly that marked her as a member of Vestrix first. No matter how she moved on in life, the marks of the first guild always remained. “You remember the sounds too don’t you, Denna, even if it still seems a dream?”

Vale sighed.

“You do.” She came closer, kissing down her cheek, her teeth grazing as she moved down. “I could make you forget men, Denna.”

Vale turned into the touch as she breathed, the two of them, for a moment, cheek to cheek, “With one of your dirty little corruption spells.” She bit her lip and whimpered as she was fed more pleasure.

“Oh, that is tempting, my little bit of fuckmeat. And I could. Turn this and twist that, and you would never have a moment’s want for a cock again.” Sylanna took those sweet lips one more time for a long kiss that ended with a loud snap. “But that wouldn’t be quite as much fun as leaving you with a choice. Filling you with so much pleasure that you choose me over them.”

Vale grazed Sylanna’s jaw with her lips. “Or I could just find a mage with a long, thick cock.”

“You could,” she agreed, but I think we both have our own urges that are secret to others. As I might now very much like a meaty little sow in my bed,” another wave of pleasure made Vale moan, “perhaps you like the filth of laying with someone like me...someone that others would see as more creature than woman if I ever dared show them. Young Vale laying naked with a beast. Are you certain that does nothing for your cunt? I’m not. I have shown you and you did not flee. You are here, now, beautifully naked in my bed because you sought me out.”

“Now it’s at hand, Vale. Do you want me to feed the kitten , hmm?”

“Yes,” she hissed.

“Tell me you want me to do it.”

Vale met her gaze, “I want you to do it.” She took it a step further. “I...don’t think it’ll feel the same if someone else does it.”

“It will not. I promise.” With that, Sylanna’s fingers traced Vale’s markings and she watched with a heat that was almost as intense as it would be if it were happening to her as she heard Vale giggle, then saw her crack a smile as Sylanna shifted her weight to place her thigh firmly beneath Vale’s mound.

One hand fed the runes while the other gave Vale’s ass a firm smack that the other barely seemed to notice, though it had the desired effect of pushing her forward just enough to show the animal part of her brain that there was more pleasure to be had, and Vale responded by grinding her wetness into the welcoming thigh, and the abandon with which Vale devoted herself to it caused Sylanna to see full well what she could do with a hard cock inside her.

The grunting sounds Vale made moved her as well and Vale’s first orgasm was long and drawn from deep within, coming out as as desperate whine. Sylanna played with her power over Vale in the moment, testing intensity, gauging the places pulses and intensity that would most please her. Her own breath shivered as she watched Vale’s head go back slowly until she was staring blankly at the ceiling, her smile wide, her hips bucking and her heaving chest releasing the sound of another perfect orgasm.

“Feels good to let go, doesn’t it, Denna? Let go and have a wicked beast tend to your needs.” Her lips close, breathing into her ear as the tip of her tongue followed the curve of her ear. “So good.”

Vale twitched at the sibilant sound in her ear and it did not go unnoticed, “Ssssoooo dirty. Ssssssssooooooo taboo. Ssssssooo shameful.”

Vale’s mouth fell open.

“My wet, needy, ssssssssexy, hot, ssssweet. You are sssssafe with me. Even if I were as I was before, one that sssssoooo sssurrenders to pleasure with me would be ssssafe and content.”

Her hips could not stop and sweat covered her, but the pleasure was so beyond word and thought that she began to weep.

“Oh, you I would return for.”

Teeth went to her neck to make her marks, to leave reminders of their time that would linger. When she would bite and suck, Vale’s breath would lock as her pleasure went ever higher.

Path carved, Sylanna nestled herself between Vale’s legs and licked with abandon, her fingers leaving the runes on Vale’s body to claw those thighs, Sylanna’s world distilling down to become nothing but Vale.

The intensity ebbing enough for thought to come back in reasonably coherent threads, though still consumed with heat. When her hand touched that cool flesh, Sylanna’s hands went to Vale’s back and urged her belly to the bed. Once there, Sylanna’s chest chilled the sweat at her back as lips kissed shoulder and Sylanna’s knees parted hers. “Come to the beast, Denna Vale, to fulfill your filthy needs and know that she will. I did not lie, it will be sssssssoooo pleasing for you to have any other wants that you like, but that you still come to me.”

“Magic can do much. I can do much. If you need that fullness between your legs in order to be sated, I can give you that feeling. If you must feel thrusting against your body and aching need to do it, I can do that. The need of another? The need is there now and it has been since you cradled my face in your hands.”

“Feel.”

Vale’s green eyes bulged, she clawed the bed, her teeth bit, and she groaned from her belly as she tasted the quilt.

Sylanna cradled Vale, her hand cupping that plush ass as Vale’s head rested on her shoulder, letting the moment be for as long as it could.

Vale wondered, “Are you cold?”

“Do I feel cold to me? No. You may part from me if I’m making you cold if you wish.”

“No,” Vale said, letting her hand caress Sylanna’s breast. “It’s fine.”

“I hope you remember this night,” Sylanna said wryly.

She looked lost in thought before concluding, “There are still blurry parts. Well, if nothing else, I’m certain that there will be more fuel for whispers come morning.”

“I don’t care,” Sylanna said plainly, turning to Vale, kissing her with near reverence because she would savor every bit of the night. “Truly. Even if I valued their opinions of me so very much, that would not extend to what I do in this room that harms no one. Tell them what you wish, or tell them nothing and let them wonder according to what would best serve your own reputation and your place here.”

“I do have a request though. If you wish for this to be forgotten, all I ask is the courtesy of notice. If you choose to continue and you suddenly find the love of your life and wish to stop, all I ask is that you be respectful enough to tell me so, so that I am not left uncertain as to the status of things.”

“Do you honestly believe that would simply pretend that this never was with no thought to you?”

She measured her words with care, as always.“You are a caring soul, Denna. No, I do not believe that you would do that. I simply want to make it clear that I accept this for whatever it is. If it is just tonight, so be it. If you wish for us to have this as a means of mutual release, I would welcome that, too. As I told you, I value you and our relationship. I leave it to you to decide what you want or need this to be.”

She let the weightier words be. “I did all right for one of little experience then?” She was somewhat surprised at the response and didn’t hide it. “Is that a smile? Are you smiling at me? You are. Are you ill? Should I get help?”

The smile broadened before she clamped down and banished it. “Silence, Vale. As to your original question, zeal will almost always make up for a lack of experience.” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “And you have much zeal.”

“When you literally taste like a syrup…”

“That was a side effect of my work,” she defended. She took tighter hold of Vale, “but no one has ever complained, so there was no need to concern myself with it.”

“Fortunately for me. Though I fear it could be addictive.”

“It would only be so in your mind. And only if you decide you wish to taste more.” She hated the next words, but they had to be said. “If you wish to go…”

“I wish to go to sleep,” she said, lifting herself to slide under the quilt. It was soft, warm, and had just the right amount of weight to it.

“Are you certain?”

“I am.” She winced as she shifted, “as soon as I can find a part of me without your teeth on it.”

“As if you bite meat like a vegetarian.”

Vale chuckled as she settled under the blanket. “Good night, Sylanna.”

“Good night, Denna.”

With little more than a thought she snuffed the lamps before she put herself under the quilt as well. For a long time, she dared not move. At first she told herself it was because she was being solicitous, allowing Vale to settle into sleep before shifting about. This was unusual enough. At this point she was done and gone. Once the needs of both were met, there was just no reason not to part. The truth was that, not only did she want to stay, she wanted to do something and she feared it as she feared very little. She feared what the response of Vale’s barely conscious mind would be.

Tell her that you will accept whatever this is and yet you hide from knowing what it could be. Coward.

Finally, having enough of wondering what might happen and of berating herself, she turned and drew closer to Vale, her slender arm wrapping around her, daring herself to draw closer. She did.

A Vale in some state of sleep, ruled by instinct over thought, did not shy away from the touch or jump awake at the coolness of Sylanna’s skin against her own. Sylanna pressed closer and Vale pressed back before adjusting her body a fraction more before slipping back into sleep.

Acceptance.

At first she was disbelieving, but it was so, and to Sylanna it was no small thing. The most primal parts of Vale felt safe enough here with her so close that she could still sleep.

She’d settled back. She found comfort. Some of that no doubt came with having traveled and endured together, but this was different. Sylanna softly caressed Vale’s hair, careful to keep the rhythm so it would comfort and not disturb. If tonight was all there would be and she truly slept, her eyes would close and, in little more than the space of the blink of those eyes, the night would be over.

So she put herself in the mage sleep so she could have every moment of Vale there in her bed.

And allowed herself to dream.