Otter leaned forward in the tub, letting Rua run a cloth along her back. She made all the right noises. A soft sigh here. A small inhation there. Nothing too exaggerated. It all sounded natural, and while some of it was, it was all very carefully choreographed. Otter knew all her steps before she made them.

  Rua looked as if in a trance, somewhere between mystified and terrified. Her focus was entirely on the job set out for her, and her entire world was on Otter’s back as she worked, both completely entranced at the bare skin in front of her, and too afraid to look anywhere else.

  “Right there,” Otter said as Rua pressed against her left shoulder bde. “That feels good.”

  Rua paused for a brief moment, startled out of whatever reverie she was in, and then doubled down on her effort, as if she needed to make up for hours of lost time. It was a little too rough for Otter’s liking, but she wasn’t about to start criticizing and risk breaking Rua from her spell.

  She just closed her eyes, and let herself ride the wave. She didn’t realize she was drifting off into sleep until a spsh roused her. The water hit her face, warm, but not hot. How long had she been in that state?

  Rua had an intense look on her face, her eyes focused, her mouth just slightly open as if she wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

  “Yes?” Otter asked.

  “I… I need to change the water. You… you had a lot of mud on you.”

  “Then by all means.”

  Otter leaned back, kicking one foot up onto the edge of the tub and watched Rua, who gulped. She reached for the glyph stone that controlled the water, not pulling her eyes away.

  “You’re going to get your clothes wet,” Otter said.

  Rua gave a panicked gnce at her hand and the stone, but it wasn’t so submerged into the water that she’d get her sleeve wet by pressing it.

  “What?”

  “I’m going to pull you in here in a second,” Otter said. “Would you rather be clothed for it, or not?”

  “But… I… I only agreed to wash your back.”

  “But you’re dirty, too. You also need to be cleaned.”

  “I can wait my turn, it’s fine,” she said, but her expression looked halfway caught between wanting to run away, and wanting to join in.

  She pressed on the glyph, her hand missing it twice before tapping it, and the water began to vanish, taking the mud with it.

  “But you’re absolutely filthy. And a good girl stays clean, doesn’t she?”

  Rua froze, like prey having caught the sound of something it knew it should flee from.

  “The Dreamer made you a promise,” Otter said.

  She honestly felt both aroused and guilty for invoking this, but she couldn’t let Rua dictate the pace of their retionship. For one, she wasn’t the one in control, and for two, if that was allowed to happen, things would never get anywhere. Rua was just so firmly against the idea that anyone could find her attractive or loveable, and whoever had contributed to that, Otter would make pay, but that was a problem for another day.

  “What was that promise?” Otter said. When Rua looked unsure of how to answer, she continued more firmly, “I said, what was that promise?”

  “That… that she’d find someone for me. Someone who would take care of me. Someone I could…” Her voice faltered and fell to a whisper. “... submit to.”

  “She meant me. You know that, right?”

  Rua gave a small nod.

  “Good. Then, here’s my first order. The Thread of Fate that I bound us together with… I want you to focus on it. I want you to look into me, as much as you can.”

  Otter suspected Rua had explored their bond a lot more than she had. She seemed entranced by it at times, at a tangible source that could confirm actual affection directed at her. That someone cared for her.

  Thread of Fate was different than Otter’s other skills in that she still wasn’t entirely sure what it did. There was no innate knowledge upon using it, but there was an instinctual level to it. She somehow knew that if she focused on it, poured her own feelings into the link, they would shine all the brighter.

  So she did just that. She thought of her gratitude for Rua saving her life when they met. She recalled every single time Rua was gruff with her, and every time she became meek. She thought of meals by her firepce, and her fond annoyance at getting constantly flicked for every little lie she told, intentional or not. She thought on Rua's bravery, and her willingness to fight to make others see that not just she was a person, but everyone else in this game, and how despite having the power, not going on a murder rampage to stop a possible tragedy in the making.

  Otter barely knew Rua, but it felt like they’d been together for years, not just a day and a half, because of the link. And she sent all of that to her. She wanted Rua to see all the things she liked about her, from the mundane things like the way she had a small, sly smile when she thought no one could see, to the zy yet scary way she held herself when violence was about to happen.

  Rua soaked it all in, her eyes misting over with tears. It wasn’t the reaction Otter expected, but then Rua closed the distance between them, and suddenly it was all lips and tongue, and a little bit of teeth, and that was a nguage Otter spoke very well, and knew how to respond.

  And as they kissed, Otter could feel Rua’s affection back. And not just affection, but desire. Otter had restrained herself from transmitting that as much as possible, not wanting to scare Rua, but apparently that had been unwarranted, because what Rua threw back at her was like a furnace in her mind of heat and need for something to fuel it.

  So Otter fueled it. She sent every bit of desire she had been harbouring for Rua right back, every dirty thought and fancy that had crossed her mind since coming to know her. She imagined gently making love to Rua in her bed, and then switched it up to a fantasy of roughly taking her and fucking her on her kitchen table. She thought of ideas of just ying in the grass, holding hands and kissing, and finding creative uses for her threads and having Rua at her mercy, which she would refuse to show.

  There was no way Rua could see the actual images. The link didn’t work like that. But she could feel it, could bask in the pure sexual energy being directed at her.

  Otter broke off the kiss, leaving Rua positively mussed. She wasn’t a great kisser – Otter had pns to show her the ropes as often as possible – and it showed from how there was just an absolute mess of drool coming from one side of her mouth. Her eyes were half-lidded and gssy, and Otter wasn’t sure how much rational thought was going on behind them.

  “This is the part where you get undressed,” Otter said.

  Rua made a noise of confusion, blinking, but not entirely comprehending.

  “Strip,” Otter said, invoking as much command in her tone as she could. “Strip, or you’re doing naked undry tomorrow. I might just make you do that anyway.”

  Something came back in Rua’s eyes, some glimmer of recognition, and she jerked her top off in a series of clumsy motions. Otter watched her all the while, turning the glyph stone back on to add new water to the tub. Her eyes focused on Rua’s absolutely magnificent muscles as they were bared. She had the kind of build that looked soft but toned, and Otter knew that it’d undergo a radical transformation if she so much as flexed even a little, showing far more hardness than expected. A hardness matched only by her own, which had emerged at st, and which Rua stared at in noiseless wonder.

  Otter ran a finger along her own length, and then shook her head, “Maybe ter, if you’re good. For now, finish and get in here.”

  Rua nearly fell over in her haste to get the rest of her clothes off. There was a wildness to her eyes, an animalistic desire that completely funted itself over the in-control stoicism she normally dispyed. Water went everywhere as she all but threw herself into the tub, leaning into Otter and kissing her jawline.

  “Easy,” Otter said, letting loose a small ugh. “You’re so much more eager than I expected.”

  “Mine,” Rua said, a hint of a growl at its edge.

  “Yes. But you’re also mine.” She lightly poked the end of Rua’s nose. “Now, what do I do with you?”

  Rua reached for her cock, but Otter swatted her hand away.

  “None of that.”

  That seemed to defte Rua a little. She looked small for a second, and there was the barest of flickers of something nasty through their link.

  “What was that?” Otter said, trying to focus on it.

  “What was what?” Rua said, a bit of a sulk to her tone.

  “That thought. I felt it for a second. Tell me.”

  “Make me.”

  Otter briefly entertained the thought. Rua wanted to submit, wanted to be owned, but most of all, she wanted to be loved. And Otter would be damned if she fumbled their first time together just because of a passing desire.

  “No. Just, talk to me, for a bit.”

  She leaned forward, and gave Rua a quick peck on her lips, and then motioned for her to turn around. Rua looked unsure, but did as instructed, facing away and sitting down, and Otter pulled Rua into her, wrapping her arms in a soft hug, and then pced a few chaste kisses on Rua’s neck.

  “We need to talk,” Otter said. “I want to talk. With you.”

  Otter had never been good at this part, but not for ck of trying. She never could seem to find the right words, usually only the wrong ones, but this day, she somehow nded on the correct ones.

  “You… you wanted to use that skill. On that Criobani.”

  Jealousy. So, that’s what it was. Not over another woman specifically, but for wanting to share the link with someone else.

  “I didn’t want to use it,” Otter said. “I… just had this feeling.”

  “Feeling?”

  “That it’d work. That… her armour was taking up a piece of her soul. You said if we disconnected her from it, freed her, she’d die. And part of me just… knows that, if something were there to catch her… she’d be fine. I don't know. It seems sad to me, that someone made her a weapon and then discarded her.”

  “Is that all?” Rua asked. “It’s not that you saw another option, and just wanted to…”

  Otter squeezed her a little tighter, and sent what affection she could through the bond. “No. You’re stuck with me. I mean, I’m poly, so, I might get another girlfriend or two along the way, but I don't even know this girl. And I'd never take another without talking to you about it first.”

  “Talk,” Rua said, some humour returning to her voice. “Is that what we did before you had me spank and then finger your old lover?”

  “Hey, you started spanking her first. Don’t put that one on me.” Otter ran one hand up and down Rua’s abs. They felt every bit as good as she'd thought they would. “And it goes both ways, you know. If you want to pursue something with someone else, you can. You just have to talk to me first.”

  “Oh, then I can message Sami?”

  Something in Otter’s heart clenched a little at that, but Rua ughed, and with that she knew everything was going to be okay.

  They spent some time just sitting there, Otter gently stroking one hand up and down Rua’s abdominals, occasionally pnting a kiss or a soft bite on Rua’s neck. Finally, Otter couldn’t restrain herself any longer, and moved one hand to cup at Rua’s breast, gently rolling a nipple with her thumb.

  “What do you like?” Otter asked.

  Rua made a contented noise, but no response.

  “Soft and gentle,” Otter said, continuing her ministrations, and then pinched down on Rua’s nipple between her forefinger and thumb. “Or something a little more rough?”

  Rua hissed a little and positively squirmed in her grasp. “I’m… I’m a… ah, what was that word you used….”

  “A virgin?” Otter said, a little bit of pyfulness in her tone. “I thought you said you didn’t like the idea of people prizing them.”

  “It is stupid. But… I want to be prized.”

  “You are, virgin or not. You’re mine, just as much as I’m yours.” But those words, that Rua had confirmed what Otter long suspected, set her into a near frenzy. She’d always thought the obsession with virginity and purity was ridiculous, but now, with her cock pressed into Rua’s back, there was just a sudden desire to pnt her fg, so to speak. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I… I don’t know. I think I like both.”

  “I can do both. But since it’s your first time, I think I’ll be gentle. I wouldn’t want to break you right away.”

  Rua shivered at that, and Otter ran a long kiss along her ear, taking the lobe into her mouth and sucking on the edge. All the while, she pyed with Rua’s breast with one hand, while running her other up and down along her abs, sinking further with every pass. Rua opened her legs, and Otter wasn’t sure if it was a conscious choice or not, but she knew an invitation when she saw one.

  Her hand dipped lower, pying with Rua’s lips, running one finger along them, and Rua let out a pitiful noise. Otter didn’t make her plead, or beg, although she knew she could, if she wanted. But that wasn’t the kind of experience she wanted to deliver, not this time. This wasn’t about her own gratification.

  She teased Rua a little longer, gentling nibbling at her ear while she stroked along her nether regions, and then slowly inserted a finger. Rua held her hand to her mouth, covering it as she made a whine, but Otter pulled it away with her free hand.

  “None of that,” Otter said. “I want to hear you.”

  Rua gasped as Otter slowly worked her finger inside her tight channel. She stroked slowly and lovingly, getting accustomed to the feel of Rua and how she reacted. It was easy. Rua was just so responsive, just as easy to please as she was eager. It didn’t take long before Otter added a second finger, and began to work at her clit with her thumb.

  She moved her fingers in time to Rua’s breathing, which was becoming increasingly more frantic. The noises she made as she became more and more undone were hypnotic.

  “Give it to me. It’s okay. Just let it go.”

  Rua made unintelligible noises, low but wild, and her head flopped backwards into Otter’s shoulder, and then lower, in between her breasts. Water spshed from the tub, as she flopped, and her mouth worked, as if she were trying to speak, but only sounds could come out.

  She was getting close to her peak, and it had been easy to get her there. None of the usual buildup required, and Otter realized betedly it was all thanks to the link. She knew she could be exploiting it to find Rua’s weak points, but hadn’t wanted to ‘cheat’ in this encounter. She hadn’t understood that Rua was just as capable of using it to please herself, honing in on the desire Otter was feeling and using that to amplify her own.

  Otter knew she could still drag this out. Tease Rua and edge her and keep her from falling into bliss. Make her absolutely beg for it. And Otter would do that exact thing, but ter. She’d already made the decision. No, there would be no waiting.

  “You can let go now. I’ve got you.”

  Otter curled her fingers just so, alternating between a steady pumping rhythm to pressing down on Rua’s walls, and applied pressure just so on Rua’s clit, and just like that, Rua went off. Everything in her rippled in a wave, and her eyes rolled back into her head. She made a long, self-satisfied groan, her body going stiff, and then all at once turning into putty in Otter’s hands.

  She could easily work her into another one, she knew. Probably set off multiples. But no. She’d promised gentle.

  "There's my good girl. You did a great job. Just rest now."

  They id there in the tub for some time. Otter picked up the wash cloth, and wiped at Rua, waiting for her to come back to herself. The orgasm had hit Rua hard and drained her, left her dazed and disoriented. Likely a side-effect of ‘cheating,’ although part of Otter wanted to cim it was because of her efforts. Maybe it was both.

  The focus came back to Rua’s eyes, and Otter smiled down at her. “Welcome back, beautiful.”

  “Mmm. Is it always like that?”

  Otter chuckled. “That was me being nice and showing you mercy. Wait until round two.”

  “Round… two?”

  “That was just a little bit of finger py. Now… now, I’m going to fuck you.”

  DorenWinslowe