Chapter 13

I stepped into the satrap’s palace of the city of Ari-La-Lasha and stretched my arms behind my back. The palace itself was one gigantic edifice of ludicrous imperial expense, and it actually made me feel just a little bit uncertain about how stupendously fancy the Starshrike was. But the Starshrike had been hand-crafted by the Third Unconquered, and not built on the back of the enslaved peoples of Ari-La-Lasha and the surrounding cities and towns in the Burning Sea. Right? I’d have to check to find out.

But even with that disquieting thought in the back of my head, it was hard to not feel just a wee bit smug, looking around myself at the palace. The white walls, all made of the solid bone of the deep desert worms, carved with bas relief images of the Regency and its splendor. There were glittering gemstones for the eyes of every single little legionarie and shin high Infused Knight that made up those huge panoramas, gleaming almost as brightly as the golden floors and the silver ceilings. Light was captured from the Sun overhead via massive magical mirrors that bent and scattered the light around the palace, filling it with a glowing splendor that managed to be bright and eye-catching without being eye-searing.

The throne the satrap had sat upon until quite recently was large and silken and carved into the shape of several snarling monsters – a griffon, a dragon, a sheep, and a snake – which served as the armrests and the backs of the throne.

I smiled as I walked towards the throne, Chirp and Xora walking up behind me to my left and right. But then a pair of darting shapes shot over my shoulders and I blinked as a brilliant flare of blue and orange-white light filled the air. When it faded, the two forms – a fox and a cat – had become the form of the Rose and Ceaith. The Rose was naked, his fox tail mashed up against Ceaith’s side, while Ceaith tried to sprawl sideways in the throne. This had been the same goal that the Rose had had, so the two of them had their backs together, squirming and hissing at each other.

“My throne!” Ceaith growled.

“I’m the Princess,” the Rose said, his voice haughty and arrogant.

“Bitch off you fuck!” Ceaith snapped, putting her hand up and mashing it against the Rose’s face. “You can only grind against me in your girl form.”

“Nahh!” the Rose spluttered.

Chirp glanced at me and smiled, their eyes sparkling. “I guess you can say that they’re getting on like ... cats and dogs!” They said, winking at me, then making a small finger-crossbow with their hand and firing it at me.

“Foxes aren’t dogs, though,” Xora said.

“Oh...” Chirp looked crestfallen.

“I mean, how do we even know what dogs are?” I asked, hurrying to cheer Chirp up. “Four legs, paws, sounds like a dog to me!”

“I am not a dog!” the Rose said, scoffing.

“The dickhead doth protest too much,” Ceaith said, grinning wickedly. She planted her feet against the armrest, then pushed herself up, so that her back was pressed against the back of the Rose’s neck. She arched her spine, so that she was almost folded in half, allowing herself to almost lock her eyes with the Rose’s. Instead, she ended up looking right at the Rose’s sleek, masculine chest. “Considering what you’re willing to stick your-”

The Rose slid a single thumb along his side. The rose tattoo that was invisible in his male form glowed into existence, and with a shimmer of light the Rose of Versail was transformed into the equally beautiful Princess Jaquline. This meant that Ceaith’s eyes were locked right onto the second largest tits in our little party – Jaquline was bested in the bustiness department by Xora, but only by a smidgen. This had the same effect on Ceaith’s snark as running headlong into a warstrider did to a cavalry regiment.

“ ... your ... boobs ... are soft and ... nice...” Ceaith trailed off, her eyes going unfocused.

“Ladies!” I said, mock severe, putting my hands on my hips. “Please! No fighting in the throne room!”

The two of my wives glared at me. I was saved from their verbal – and possibly physical – mauling by the doors to the throne room banging open. That sound brought in with it the nearly delirious sounds of the citizenry of Ari-La-Lasha celebrating the return of the Unconquered and the defeat of their Regency overlords. It was honestly slightly embarrassing how easily Ari-La-Lasha and the two other cities that had been guarded by the remains of the loyalist Legions had been taken. With their cavalry and their warstriders taken by the Piss Boot Legion in the Battle of Three Passes, the infantry and their remaining officers had sat down behind the walls, giving us free reign to take advantage of the cavalry and the well drilled, well trained infantry that Ejana had picked for this sortie.

I had let Ejana take the lead for the initial spree of sorties, where she had quickly snatched the desert towns and oases from the control of their local garrisons. There, Ceaith had whispered into my ear about what she remembered about the desert tribes and the villages, while Chirp had been bundled into the local costume for a sari and paraded around on a huge comfortable salon chair. Apparently, half the desert tribes saw a sari – especially a Lunar sari – to be good luck and sign of an effective ruler, and they had chafed under the gender restrictions that the city-folk had adopted so willingly. So Chirp, blushing furiously underneath their tall cylindrical hat and in their flowing, silken robes, had sat behind me as I had knelt before various old and tough looking desert folks.

In the end, getting them on my side had been embarrassingly easy.

“We shall not bow to you, Unconquered,” the old, wizened man who served as the speaker for all the chiefs said. “For we only bow to the Sun himself. You may-”

“Oh, that’s fine,” I said.

The wizened old man had blinked. “And we shall no longer send our young women to be slaves in the city brothels.”

“You were doing what?” I asked. “No! Of course not, you don’t have to ... why did...” I glanced at Ceaith, who had been eating an apple at the time.

“Huh? Oh, it was part of the surrender contracts,” she said, licking her fingers clean of juice. Which was by far, the most common action I’ve ever seen Ceaith do. “After the Regency glassed them.”

“No!” I looked at the chieftain. “No, the surrender contracts are null and void as of this instant. All you must do is pay a reasonable tax, uh, and not attack the cities, or their caravans.”

The chieftain frowned. “Yes, Unconquered.”

It was only three days later, after we had finished encircling the third city and locking down the last of the garitroops for a long siege, that I had been interrupted mid fucking Chirp. They had been on their back, their thighs wrapped around my back, my cock deep in their ass, when the tent flap had swept open and a young desert tribesman had bust into the room. “Holy Unconquered-” he had started, spluttering, then trailing off. I had glanced over my shoulder as Chirp tried to hide their face under a pillow while still subtly thrusting back against me.

“What?” I asked.

“I ... m-my ... grandfather...” The tribesman stammered. “H-He sent me to ... to ... apologize...”

I blinked, my hips still frozen mid thrust. “For what?” I asked, blinking, as a single bead of sweat dripped off my balls.

“F-For doubting you?” the tribesman blushed, his eyes trying to not look at where Chirp and I were joined.

“He doubted me?” I asked.

“Yes!” the tribesman exclaimed. “Our entire tribe was ready to fall upon your camp with our wyrmblades the instant you reneged on your promises. They were so extravagant! So ... so...” He trailed off, blushing at my look of complete confusion.

“Why would I, like, go to all the trouble of bringing your, ah!” I shuddered as Chirp’s hips bucked a bit against me. My head ducked forward and started to slowly thrust into Chirp again, my balls swaying and slapping against their back. Chirp bit down on the pillow. Hard. “Ah, of bringing you and your tribes, mm, to the negotiations and then just lying to you?”

The man had slowly dropped to his knees, his eyes shining. “You truly are the Unconquered.”

“Uh, yeah?” I asked – still a bit confused. And distracted.

Thus, with the loyalty of the settlements surrounding the cities, the siege began. And it ended nearly a day later with the arrival of Ceaith and her sister, Thally, into the planning tent. Ejana had been laying out the basics of the siege: We had just barely enough troops to surround each city and, using my unconquered magics, we could defeat any sortie they sent out from their gates. But the cities each had skyships that they could use to bombard our camps and our fortifications. Fortunately, those skyships were each docked in their port, unwilling to go out in the face of the Piss Boot Legion’s artillery.

“So,” Ejana said, frowning as she pointed down at the map. “Each city has a year’s worth of supply. That would be fine – if we had a year to waste. But the news will be getting back to Samsara before then. We’ll be facing their reserves, and as many Infused Knights as he can pull from the other Legions and-”

“Sup bitches,” Ceaith said, pushing her way into the command tent. Behind her, two guards were looking around in shock, as if they hadn’t figured out where the voice had come from. They exclaimed, reached for their swords, and I held up my hand to forestall them.

“An interesting way to refer to the Unconquered’s chosen warmaster and his sifu and your husband,” Ejana said.

I realized, then, that Goat was lounging in the edge of the room, smoking on one of his pipes. He grinned at me. “I’m here once you’re done. You think just being on a camping is an excuse to get away from my training, sunboy?”

“Yeah, as I said, bitches,” Ceaith said, reaching back. She gently pushed the smaller, darker skinned, carbon copy of her – her sister, Thally. Thally looked as if this would be the very last place that she wanted to be in her life – but she squared her shoulders as Ceaith smiled at her. Thally’s hand went to her throat, which I noticed had a jagged, pinkish scar from below her jaw to the other end of her jaw. She opened her mouth and a voice that wasn’t a voice came from inside her. It was soundless, but words still came into my head.

I know a way into the capital. Into Ari-La-Lasha. There’s an old aqueduct that I don’t think the Satrap has filled in. I used to play in it, when I was young.

Ejana grinned. “An aqueduct you say?”

I grinned back. “ ... what’s an aqueduct?” I whispered.

When Ari-La-Lasha had fallen to the squad of Infused Knights led by me and my Lunars – it had been almost bloodless, as the garrison troopers had simply seen our flaring anima and flung their weapons down in a terror – the two other cities had been bombarded. Not by vortex arrows or mana bombs. No. We captured their skyships and with the help of Chirp and Xora and Ceaith and Jaquline, I had scribbled out a plea to the citizens and the troops to lay down their weapons, to cast off the reign of the Regency, and to accept the rule of the Unconquered.

The skyships had soared over the two cities, dropping copied pamphlets down onto the heads of the citizens.

Ejana had told me that it wasn’t going to work.

Well.

“But...” Ejana had looked up from surrender message and then over at the infantry that had marched from the eastern city to the gates of Ari-La-Lasha. “But ... but ... I have a low opinion of garisson troopers, but...” She looked at me.

I grinned at her. “Unconquered.”

Ejana had the same expression she had had then on her face now as she walked towards me from the front doors of the Satrap’s throne room. It was somewhere between irritation and mild awe and a slow, growing, glimmering hint of hope. Real hope. It was the same excitement that had burned through her eyes as she had exulted after the victory in Harpy Pass. She stepped up to me, shot an amused glance at the still deeply contested throne, then bowed low to me. “Unconquered,” she said. “Our rosters are overflowing with volunteers. Every teenager and twentysomething in this city wants to sign up for your army and to march on Samsara. The cities are burning with excitement. With the supplies here and the support of the desert tribes, we could even support a recruitment of a new Legion.”

I nodded. “Would the Legion be ... uh...” I stepped backwards and sat myself down before the throne, not wanting to disturb my two Lunars. This ended up feeling a lot more natural for me: Half naked, an eastern peasant sitting on the steps leading to a throne. It was less surreal than actually sitting on a throne my own skinny self. “Chirp, what’s the word for being as good as the others?”

Chirp sat down beside me, leaning up against my side. “On par?”

“That was it!” I said, nodding to Ejana.

She shook her head. “They’d be pure infantry – we don’t have the raptors and the horses to mount them as cavalry. And that’s including the fact that cavalry is ... well, it requires training. They won’t have magitech weapons unless you’ve unlocked the ability to shit those out at will.” She snorted at my shrug. “But having a Legion strength of infantry, especially after they’ve been bloodied and trained isn’t anything to sneeze about.”

I frowned. “And what about our northern forces?”

Ejana shook her head. “The couriers are slower than your magical marches, Unconquered. There’s no way for them to get here. But I trust the men and women I left up there. They’ve kept the Fae at bay.”

I nodded, slowly. “All right. How long will it take to train them?”

“Using our Infused Knights? Three months,” Ejana said, nodding to me.

I rubbed my chin. “Three months ... will Samsara deploy an army against us by them?”

“A forward element? Maybe,” Ejana said. “But not the full mass of their Legions. I am almost certain that, after word of this victory reaches the Ninth, they’ll stay out of this. The question is what the Mongoose will do.”

“The who?” Xora asked.

“He’s the general in charge of the First Legion – they’re kept there because Mongoose Stone is too loyal to the Unconquered for the Regent’s taste,” Ejana said.

I nodded. “All right.” I stood. “Three months will give us time to raise the volunteer legion, to prepare the skyships we’ve captured, to repair the warstrider we captured...” I smiled. “I am going to authorize you to expend the funds we have captured in the treasury as you see fit, Ejana, to hire auxiliaries from the desert tribes. They ride something, right? I remember hearing one of them saying they ride things ... and we need more cavalry, so, you know. That’s a great idea.”

Ejana pursed her lips. Then she bowed to me. “Yes, my Unconquered.”

She turned on her heel and walked off – her head held up proudly. I smiled.

“I think I’m doing pretty good at this whole solar king business,” I whispered to Chirp.

“Yeah!” Chirp said.

“That makes me nervous,” I said.

Ceaith snorted. “Are we going to have this conversation again, sunboy?” She asked, sprawling backwards onto Jaquline’s lap, the more buxom Agate reached down to caress her fingers through Ceaith’s wild mane of brown hair. “Gods above and below and by the dragging tits of the Waste that Wends, you’re going to hit your limit on neurotic worrying and break to pieces over it. So, just, revel in the godlike power and, you know, do guy stuff.” She flicked her fingers at me as if she was flicking water in the nose of a balky pet.

“Guy stuff?” I asked.

“Oh!” Xora exclaimed. “You could go shopping.”

“It feels weird to go shopping in a city I conquered,” I said, biting my lip slightly. “Won’t everyone be a bit nervous around me?”

Xora blushed. “R-Right.”

“Uh, did you not hear them chanting Ia ia ia ia ia for the past five hours?” Ceaith snorted.

Chirp blushed. “It is true. They have been chanting that a lot.”

Xora gulped. “R-Right. Lets not go outside.”

“What if I gave you your makeover?” I asked, smiling at Xora.

“Nooo!” Ceaith groaned, melodramatically. “Don’t ruin her.”

“She’s not ruined if she looks more girly!” I said, angrily, my arms sliding around Xora.

“Listen, Ember, you’re a guy. You wouldn’t get the exquisite gay agony of being bent in half by a woman strong enough to just snap your spine.” Ceaith closed her eyes. “One day, I will get Xora to just ... step on my back.”

“I am not doing that,” Xora said, her cheeks darkening even more.

“Yeah,” I said. “Besides, if you want a big buff lady to bend you in half, seduce Ejana.”

“I triiiiiied...” Ceaith groaned. “Heterosexuality was wasted on that beauty.”

Jaquline, at that moment, looked so intensely smug that it spoke louder than if she had started to do handstands while singing ‘i fucked Ejana the Black Rose, I fucked her hard, I fucked her sweetly, I fucked her discretely.’ Ceaith glared at her. “You’re lucky you’re a girl right now,” she muttered.

Which, of course, reminded me...

I blushed. “Well, uh ... maybe ... we could go to that, uh ... what was it called again? The place i-”

“The Brothel of Impossible Lusts?” Ceaith asked, her voice dry. “The place you oh so subtly asked me about?”

I had been very subtle! I had noticed the golden, phallic tower and said: So, Ceaith, quite a, uh, bu-

It’s the Brothel of Impossible Lusts, she had said as we had walked through the reveling city. You fucking dork.

I flushed. “Well, it’d be rude to conquer a city and not visit the Brothel of Impossible Lusts.” I nodded, slightly, my plan solidifying. Ceaith narrowed her eyes at me – and I felt as if she was trying to pierce my deceptions and see through to the heart of my scheme. I crossed my arms over my chest – and slowly, the two of us began to glow. Blue fire crackled along Ceaith, while golden flames seared along mine. Her soulgem and mine both began to shimmer brilliantly. I started to sweat. Ceaith gritted her teeth, glaring at me.

“G-Guys!” Chirp stammered. “You don’t need to tap out your mana pools!”

Ceaith sagged back, breaking eye contact with me. “If your secret plan is to try and slip your dick in me while I’m blindfolded or something-” She said, her voice a quiet growl.

“I’d never!” I said. “Gods, Ceaith. I’d only do that to Chirp, cause Chirp likes it.”

Chirp squeaked. “W-Wha ... I ... don’t ... not un ... dis ... like it!” They spluttered.

“Well, good!” Ceaith stood.

“Wait, I thought you liked d-” Xora started.

“I’m complicated!” Ceaith snapped. Xora flinched back and Ceaith’s ears drooped, her tail drooping a bit more. “Sorry, honey...” She knelt down, then wrapped her arms around Xora’s shoulders, nuzzling against the long blue-black sweep of Xora’s hair. Xora began to pet Ceaith gently, her head shaking slowly.

“It’s okay,” she said, grinning. “Your bark is worse than your bite.”

“I’m a cat you dumbass,” Ceaith muttered into Xora’s neck.

“Ia! Ia! Ia!”

The crowds that were chanting weren’t specifically chanting at me. Per-say. For the past hundred years, the religion of Ari-La-Lasha had been distorted and shaped by the whims and wants of the Regency. Veneration for the Sun and the Unconquered, two things that were quite popular in the Burning Seas, had been shifted to local deities that supported the regime. If a deity had tried to stand between the Regency and their endless thirst for gold, rubies, deep desert sands, siltpowder, and the constant streamer of distraught slaves, then the Regency had had them eliminated by a shock-squad of Infused Knights and replaced with a more plaint god.

Well, that had changed.

Overnight, hidden symbols of the Sun, of past Unconquered – mostly of the Good King Bahul – had been brought out and now the city was sinking into an orgy of religious ecstasy.

And, uh...

“Ia! Ia! Ia!” This chant was less a chant and more a rhythmic moan, sang out by a buxom, brown skinned priestess, her hands and knees pressed to the gilded edges of a makeshift alter. A massive, bull headed man was slamming a cock that was nearly as large as mine into her, setting her entire body to rocking in time with the wet slurp and slap of fucking. I blushed, then whispered to Chirp.

“Is that ... that how you worship me?”

“Me? I don’t never not do ... uh...” Chirp’s cheeks burned. “Wait, you mean ... a general you. Right?”

I nodded, grinning at them.

“Y-Yes, in some areas,” Chirp whispered.

“Nice,” I said, smiling, while Ceaith rolled her eyes and Jaquline licked her lips as she eyed the bullheaded man, clearly impressed. But then the five of us reached the front doors of the Brothel of Impossible Lusts. They were tall and narrow and made of solid gold, with various erotic delights etched into them. Men and women engaging in acts that were so depraved that I wasn’t sure I even had names for them – strings of anal beads slipping free from mewling women, while men were suspended above massive artificial cocks held by leering, four armed devils. Clouds of penises, flowing above dancing girls and men, raining their cum down upon their heads. I blushed, starting to feel a bit uncertain about setting foot inside of the Brothel.

But then the doors swung inwards with a groan, revealing the entrance corridor. It was lit by the ruddy red light of a thousand small votive candles which were sat along the walls. Some were cupped in the hands of beautiful godesses carved out of ivory, while others rested on the erect cocks of gargoyle like creatures, and other still were placed upon the out thrust breasts of sensual snake people. The corridor itself was tall, the candles not illuminating anywhere past our heads. The ceiling seemed dark and distant, and as the door swung shut behind us, I felt as if we had stepped from the brightest day to the darkest night.

A soft rustling of feathers filled the air as I walked forward, my Lunars behind me. The end of the corridor opened into a circular room, with a large fountain in the middle of it. Dark, wine colored water sprayed from the fountain, whose centerpiece was an abstract and beautiful geometric pillar done in tile and white marble. The edge of the fountain was clearly carved for seating, and beyond the fountain were yet more candles, spilling lights on several doors. Each was closed. Then, from the shadows, stepped ... a woman.

She was beautiful and she stopped my heart in my chest in a way that had become as familiar as a well worn handle. But that didn’t make it boring or tiresome. If anything, the thrill that buzzed along my spine, tingling and crackling, was even more excited, knowing that at last, my searching had ended.

The woman was, in a word, matronly. Easily ten or twenty years older than even the oldest among us, she had long, raven black hair that was tied behind her head, cascading down the fine curve of her back, accenting the hourglass shape of her figure. She wore a deep red robe, which clung to her pale skin and showed off a great deal of her expansive chest, which showed just a bit of a sag. Her forehead had a small pearl set in it – a brilliant point of white light. Her eyes danced as she smiled at me.

“Ah, my Unconquered,” she crooned. “I wondered how long it would take for you to arrive here.”

She bowed. “I am Tayar An – your Pearl.”

I gulped. “H-He ... hel ... hello!” I stammered.

“Still stammering?” Tayar asked, her eyes sparkling.

“He’s a major dorkus,” Ceaith said, grinning wickeldy.

“How sharply barbed,” Tayar said, her voice soft. “Being surrounded by the demands of this harsh city must have cut you deep, my Lapis.” She walked forward, placing her hands on Ceaith’s shoulders. Her eyes looked as if they were deep pools – ones that you could use yourself within with ease. Ceaith tensed up, her tail freezing behind her. “I believe you need the gentle touch of one my finest girls. Please, go through that room, and you shall be seen too.”

Ceaith shivered from her head to her toes. She bit her lip, then glanced at me – her blue/green eyes filled with nerves. I nodded to her, giving her a shy little thumbs up. Ceaith’s brow furrowed and she shook her head, muttering. “God, you fucking dork...”

She turned and walked off as Tayar swung her gaze to Chirp, who froze. “Ah, a saris...” Tayar crooned. “Terrified of yourself, I see.” She reached out. “Go through that door. You’ll ... enjoy it. Slip your leash, my Ruby.” She leaned forward and kissed Chirp’s forehead. Chirp didn’t look eager. Chirp looked terrified. But Tayar pushed them gently forward, towards one of the other doors. Chirp glanced at me and I gave them two thumbs up. Chirp smiled, shyly, then stepped inside.

The door swung shut.

“Your needs are simplest,” Tayar said, looking at Jaquline.

Jaquline chuckled. “Oh, you think you can-”

Tayar jerked her thumb over her shoulder at a third door. “There are thirty two kitsune in that room that have been lathering themselves with sunflower oil – an aphro-”

Jaquline was gone. She was gone so fast that Tayar’s hair flapped slightly in the wind of her passage before settling. Tayar chuckled, softly. “-disac,” she finished. Her eyes settled on Xora, who had half dropped into a defensive stance. Her eyes glittered. “You already know what is waiting for you in the last room, my sea-sister. My Amethyst.”

Xora blushed. “A make over?”

“Yes,” Tayar said. “I have summoned one for you. He’ll be exceptional.”

Xora glanced at me. I gave her a thumbs up.

Xora smiled, then leaned over and kissed my cheek, hard. Then she started through the door.

“Wow, you’re good,” I whispered, looking at Tayar. “I ... how ... what...” I paused. “Wait, duh! You’re my Pearl! Pearls are all about passion and lust and adoration! No wonder you knew what everyone wanted!” I beamed at her.

Tayar chuckled. “I have made some of a study of it, ever since I was chosen.” She sat down on the edge of the pool. Her eyes met mine and she breathed out a slow sigh of relief. “I admit, I was a mite terrified the instant the walls fell and it was known that you were conquering the city. I hoped that my long training paid off.”

I grinned, sitting down next to her. “You’re a natural,” I said, my voice soft. My hand settled onto her shoulder, squeezing gently.

Tayar looked distant. I wasn’t sure which animal she had aspected after – at least, not until I leaned in close and saw that the nearly midnight black hair that flowed from her head was intermixed with feathers of a similar color: Dark, sharp, and smoothly intertwined with her hair. I shivered slightly as she looked up at the darkened ceiling. “I worked quite hard at becoming a natural,” she said, then pursed her lips as my hand slid from her shoulders to her arms. “Unconquered, do you really think that I would keep you here with me when you were so sorely needed?”

I blinked. “Zuh?”

Tayar jerked her head to the door leading to Ceaith’s room.

“Huh?”

Tayar’s eyes sparkled. “Ceaith needs one woman right now. And she doesn’t work for me.” Her hand cupped my cheek.

I blushed. “R-Right...” I paused. “A-Any advice?”

“Just be yourself,” Tayar said.

“B-But-”

“Do you really think that yourself is only masculine?” Tayar asked, chuckling. “We’re none of us so simple.” She smiled at me, then, her momentary sadness passing, like a cloud before the all mighty power of the Sun himself. “Go on.”

“Right!” I stood, then focused, pulling the glittering gemstone of the she/her pronouns from my soulgem. They glowed in my palm and I pursed my lips, gritted my teeth, and clenched my fist.

Ceaith had a fifty fifty shot of either laying around like a cat or pacing in circles like a cat. The coin flip came up pacing – and I found her walking back and forth beside the bed in the small room that had been set aside for her. The room itself was all blue and red. There were sapphire colored silk sheetings sweeping down from the four posters of the bed. The colors made the place feel like sunset – a feeling only enhanced by the candles that flickered in a boarded up window. The walls were tiled and the floor was carpeted, and the whole room felt as if it was brushed with elegance and refinement. The air smelled faintly of spice and musk.

Ceaith tensed at the faint sound of my footsteps, jerking her head up. “Fina-” She stopped as I stepped from the shadows to the light.

My skin was still dusky red. My hair was still black. But there, things changed. My face was feminine and sleek, my chest was sporting a pair of large, firm breasts, my dark red-black nipples already achingly hard. I was still wearing my loincloth and nothing else, leaving me feeling far more naked, without actually being more naked. My cock was gone. In its place was an eager, hot pubic mound, my lips growing more and more moist by the second. And my guess had been right. Becoming this, becoming a woman, voluntarily rather than having it foisted upon me by the fae...

It made a world of difference.

“Ember?” Ceaith whispered.

I stepped up. My hands took her hands, my voice soft. “Impressed?”