Chapter 300

Who ever said Natalie wasn’t a clever strategist? This woman was obviously a hard nut to crack, and all it took was—

A supernaturally enforced sex encounter, plus a few careful words while the girl was heavily flustered. But still. Natalie deserved some credit. She’d found a way to get Vanetta to talk about herself.

Vanetta’s stroking continued, up and down, the slick and bumpy sex toy caressing Natalie’s cock. The paladin was content to sit back and enjoy it.

‘What do you want to know?’ Vanetta had asked.

“Anything. Nothing serious, if you don’t want. Just, like I said, I don’t actually know much about you.”

She wasn’t trying to pry into Vanetta’s secrets in a moment of vulnerability. Yes, she had used the situation to encourage the girl to open up, but not in any exploitative way. Natalie just wanted to learn a few things. Not secrets. She knew Tenet’s top performer, a girl with scars across her face and a shrouded past, had plenty of those. But Natalie genuinely wasn’t interested. Well, she was. But not right now.

“Like, do you have any hobbies?”

“Hobbies?” Vanetta seemed surprised by the question. Maybe expecting a more serious topic; she likely knew her past was a subject of interest. No doubt, Elida had pried into it a number of times. There was a flicker of wariness in her eyes, but it disappeared. “Hobbies. Do you have any? Besides the academy, and delving?”

Natalie laughed. “I guess not. Tenet doesn’t give us enough time to have hobbies. I guess me and Jay used to hike a lot, run around and explore, but that was an excuse to find trouble more than anything.”

“Jay. That’s ... Jordan?”

It was maybe an inappropriate time to be talking about her best friend turned major-crush, seeing how she was being jerked off by another girl. But Natalie’s life had been ten sorts of ridiculous since arriving to Tenet, so she took it in stride.

“Yeah. On my team. Dark hair. A rogue.” She paused. “Like you, actually.” But Jordan’s hair was longer, and she had green eyes, not gray.

“Your not-girlfriend,” Vanetta added dryly.

“We’re not— It’s not even— She doesn’t— this isn’t about me,” Natalie huffed.

She was glad her stumbling amused Vanetta, at least. The rogue’s lips twitched.

“You’re not what I expected, you know.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Nothing.”

It was a very strange backdrop for this conversation, the way Vanetta was milking the pocket pussy up and down Natalie’s length, slick and slippery with lube. They talked quietly, and Natalie did her best to keep her voice steady, not wanting to give away just how good it felt. The chat was a good distraction, at a minimum.

“I guess ... I do have one hobby,” Vanetta said quietly. “But I’m not very good at it. It’s just something I do.”

“Oh?”

“I draw. Sometimes.” She shrugged, casually, but Natalie knew the admission was anything but casual. This wasn’t a girl who opened up about much of anything. “I’m not good. But when there’s a spare moment. When I’m not training or delving or in class. I guess I sketch, here and there.”

Natalie considered that. “That makes sense, actually. You’re obviously good with your hands.”

Her stroking stilled, and she glared, which wasn’t a response Natalie had expected. Then she understood.

She laughed. “It wasn’t an innuendo. I meant it. You’re an assassin. And I’ve seen you playing with your dagger. Those tricks you do.” When she sat around, sometimes she danced one of her weapons between her fingers and hands with the grace of a street performer. “I wasn’t saying—” she laughed again. “Good with your hands in that way.” She grinned. “But that too, now that you bring it up.” She thrust her hips slightly up to emphasize the point.

Blushing hard, Vanetta resumed her stroking. “Sorry. I just thought—” She cleared her throat.

“Could I see, you think? Anything you’ve drawn?”

Vanetta hesitated. “I ... don’t know.”

“No pressure.” She left it at that. She really didn’t want anything of Vanetta’s she wasn’t willing to share.

“This is really helping?” she asked. “Talking about myself?”

Natalie paused. “Sort of? I guess it’s also distracting me.” She laughed. Then, the short amusement quieting, she became more serious. Her heart started to beat faster, and refocusing on the heat of the moment, the way the slick noises of Vanetta jerking her off filled the air. Intimacy following intimacy of a different kind.