Chapter 163

“Faction?” Sol blurted out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just—curious.”

Honesty, at least in some regards, might be Sol’s best way out of this. She didn’t have ulterior motivations behind trailing after Lucinda; it had been purely a desire to learn more about someone she perceived as interesting.

Unfortunately, Lucinda had her own ideas why Sol had followed. In retrospect, Sol couldn’t say she was surprised. Of course a woman of this strength—though exactly what her strength was, she didn’t know—would have enemies, people working against her.

The difficulty of Sol’s situation, then, would be convincing the woman she really was some unentangled stranger. Not her enemy.

“You were curious,” Lucinda said. “Am I supposed to believe that?” Bored brown eyes flicked up and down Sol’s body as she squirmed in place. The violence had passed just as abruptly as it had come: now, Lucinda simply kept her pinned. Not gently, since it was still very much with a firm hold around her neck, but considering the enormous strength that laid behind Lucinda’s grip, ‘gentle’ by some frame of reference. She was clearly tying not to break her.

Then, with Sol’s heart still slamming, adrenaline coursing through her, and pinned into the wall by a woman who oozed danger, her face close enough that Sol could make out the specks in her irises, something inside her stirred. An emotion.

One that was completely inappropriate, considering the circumstances.

Maybe it was her brain confusing signals. The intensity of the situation, her slamming heartbeat mistakenly being interpreted as excitement of some other kind. An excitement that Sol had been exploring constantly in her recent adventures.

Maybe it wasn’t even that odd. Lucinda was a beautiful woman—if unconventionally, as an older adventurer, scarred, and with features hard as steel.

Likely, it was both of those excitements at once, working in tandem: Lucinda’s intense eyes locked to her own, her body pressing into her, and also the danger Sol was in—the threat of being held by the neck by a woman who could probably tear metal with her bare hands.

Whatever it was, heat rushed through her. Her body reacted, and she paled as she realized what was happening, pants quickly growing strained as her terrified excitement confused itself for arousal.

Maybe it had been a bad idea to enjoy Zoey’s growth potion in casual use. If she hadn’t taken it earlier, then at least there wouldn’t have been any physical clues to give Sol’s thoughts away.

Sol knew that with how tightly Lucinda was pressing into her—trying to intimidate her, which was working, but also having another effect—that the stiffening between her legs wouldn’t go unnoticed. So she needed to distract her. Or distract herself, maybe.

“I-I saw you in the inn,” Sol said, the words tumbling out of her—now from embarrassment as much as adrenaline. “You’re obviously someone important. So I followed you. I’m sorry—I really shouldn’t have. But it was just curiosity. Genuinely. I don’t know who you are. Or what you mean by ‘factions’.”

Lucinda observed her. Sol could tell the excuse hadn’t done much to convince her. She opened her mouth to reply—

Then paused.

Oh, no.

She’d noticed. How couldn’t she, considering Sol’s size, and how close the two of them were?

The woman’s brow furrowed. She looked down between their bodies, confused at the stiffness poking into her.

Sol panicked. What was she even supposed to say? To excuse this?

She barely knew humans well enough to have a regular conversation, much less talk her way out of this one. Unfortunately, she did understand society enough that she could recognize just how ridiculous—and mortifying—her situation was. The awful middle ground.

“Is that—” Lucinda started incredulously. “Are you—are you hard?”

She reached down between Sol’s legs and cupped her, disbelievingly verifying that the stiff mass poking into her was, indeed, girl cock. Lucinda groped around, and not in any sensual manner, but to make sure she had it right—in complete disbelief. Shamefully, Sol’s body reacted: her back arched, and she pushed her hips forward, basking in the firm pressure Lucinda’s hand provided. A groan escaped her. The adrenaline and terror that had come with being caught was mixing in a potent way, and she’d never been good at resisting human emotions.

Lucinda snapped her hand back, eyes going wider and wider—the boredom in her expression finally breaking. Shock wasn’t an expression the experienced wayfarer wore often, Sol could intuit: and that made this twice as embarrassing, really emphasizing the shame of Sol’s situation.

Lucinda released Sol and took a step back, eyes locked on the bulge in her pants—even now failing to understand what she was looking at. The woman seemed at a loss for words. Sol was, too. She stayed pressed back-first against the wall, chest heaving as her heart pounded, face burning red and her cock angrily twitching her pants.

“You have a cock?” Lucinda asked. “And why is it hard?”

Sol scrambled for a way to explain herself. “You had your body pressed into me,” she said, “and—well, this is a very exciting situation. Not like that, but—nonetheless. I think it got confused?”

Lucinda gaped at her.

The woman organized her thoughts in short order, finding her composure despite the oddity of the situation. Her expression settled into that unperturbed boredom from earlier, though it seemed feigned, now.

“Well,” Lucinda said dryly. “You have, at least, convinced me you’re not one of theirs. They’re a little more ... professional.” Her eyes flicked down to Sol’s straining bulge, and Lucinda shook her head. “Why did you follow me?”