Echoes of Spring Ch. 02

"And what, Erika?" Severia chuckled.

"An' the man's wife comes home! An' she's a li'l shocked, right? I mean, who wouldn't be? But I show her my rose, tell her it's normal, an' she eventually came around to an understandin'; that her husband and his bestie were a bit more than friends. Now, most'a the time you'd think this story ends with her runnin' out of the house. But here in this tale, I proselytize; I tell her that lust makes us blind, that we've no control over our desires, but we can make the world a better place through our actions. An' then... she joined us!"

"No!" Severia exclaimed.

"Yeah! I taught 'er all the things I was doin', how best the men liked it, and so on. Then, I let her take over, an' she was the one that brought both to spring! All over her face, I might add," Erika beamed before murmuring, "I gave 'em back half their donation after that. Din't seem right to keep. I hope they're still doin' alright."

Eric cleared his throat. "That's an... interesting tale, Erika, but I find one fault with it," he said seriously as he less-than-subtly adjusted his crotch. "You said back in Moradria that adultery was one of the deadliest sins, yet there you partook."

Erika shrugged. "'Tis not adultery if ya do it with a Rose, Eric. I'd never have any business otherwise!"

"Preposterous," he scoffed. "So, what, the church that preaches about adultery says their own priestesses are exempt? No conflict there, clearly."

"Don't get all mighty on me! I'm jus' a humble lass doin' her part," Erika playfully replied. She had to hastily change the subject, knowing that further discussion on the matter might lead them back to what they saw in Moradria. "Your turn, Sev. Sluttiest thing."

Severia bit her lip as she grinded against Eric's cock. "Likely the time I sat on the lap of my future lord, all while he played with my womanhood."

Erika glanced at Eric's hand, finding it buried just where Severia said it was. "That doesn't count, and you know it!" she giggled. Severia waved her off.

"Fine, fine. I've one sluttier, anyway. Unlike you, I was cooped up within the Temple for most of the year, so it's not by coincidence that that's where my story takes place. It's an interesting locale, the Temple of Lassinia. Think about it; a couple dozen souls in close proximity, never allowed to tell another a single lie. Tensions flare sometimes. People's desires are made known. And so I..." she coiled a lock of hair around her finger, "sought to seek out a few of those truths, with a lie I told only to myself."

"How romantic," Erika cooed with an unadulterated sarcasm.

"That lie was a blindfold, wrapped around my eyes as I laid stark naked on my bed. My Temple-mate Silvia got the word out of my situation, the specifics of which I do not know, but the gist being the absolute truth; that I, Severia, was now open for any priest who found me fascinating, but I did not want to know their... names... ohh... right there, m'lord," Severia moaned, arching her back whilst Eric pleasured her.

"Oh, goodness!" Erika blushed. "Well go on, go on!"

"Calm yourself, honey, I am," Severia breathlessly chuckled, despite Eric's best manual attempts to make her story impossible to tell. "So... so. So, I had my reasons for this. A novice priest... fuck," she moaned, "a novice priest had been showing much... interest in me; an interest that I wanted stopped. Him seeing me filled with the seed of his fellow priests? As good a plan as... as any, I thought then in my haze. Bear in mind, this was after months of bedtime loneliness."

Erika giggled, taking another swig of her wine. Severia's ability to tell a story through her gasps and groans was truly impressive.

"What I did not anticipate, however, was, mmh... was how many priests fancied me. This was during the winter months, fortunately, so there were only a few lodging at the Temple then. And... and, anyway, from under my blindfold I realized that most all of them had turned up," Severia whispered, her enchanting eyes now clenched shut, her breaths now shallow. "I knew this from... from their laughs... their hands all over me... their... their... ah! When I was speared over and over and again! And what a joyous night it made!" she whined. "Almost as joyous as this one will be, I think! M-My lord, I can't take this any longer! Let me have you!"

"Finish your story, and I'll let you," Eric whispered in her ear, barely audible to Erika but a few feet away.

"Yeah! Finish it, ya slut!" Erika happily agreed.

"What do you wanna hear?! That I was bursting with their seed?! That I didn't get a wink of rest 'til the sun came up?! That!" Severia arched her back, her fingers tensed around the bottle she held, "That I was sore for the whole of two days?! Or, maybe... ahh!" she yelped, flinching in climax atop Eric's lap. "Or... or maybe you want to hear that the novice took me sometime that night, and yet he still fancies me," she groaned.

"Hehe! Still sounds a good time. Looks it, too," Erika husked, biting her lip as she watched Severia's breasts heave. "Your turn for a story, Eric."

"Not yet. My lord shant speak until I have him inside me," Severia adamantly demanded, twisting around atop Eric's lap.

Severia lifted herself from Eric, reached down to position his cock appropriately, then slowly impaled herself on him, gasping with delight when her pussy was finally filled. Erika felt - and noted - the pang of jealousy then, but didn't say anything of it. She even let her friends have their silent moment of passion, watching on as Severia rode Eric's cock at an ever-increasing pace. Eventually, Erika piped up.

"So... the story?" she murmured.

"Huh," Eric exhaled. "Probably... probably this one. The story of me fucking my former companion as a Priestess of Fiona watched on," he answered with some difficulty as Severia fell on him once more.

"Doesn't count," the girls laughed and moaned.

"Does it not? I've been married. I've no good stories like that," Eric groaned, his hands roaming up Severia's trim waist as she rode him.

"You weren't married the whole of the year. Only a season," Erika cutely replied.

"And still I've no stories. Hard to be so free when your whole life's under a looking glass. I... mm, slept with Jenna, the town mage, in exchange for a collection of talents from the Age of Kings. Over candles. It was the only way she would give them up and, uh... it was almost romantic?"

Severia stayed her hips with Eric buried to the hilt inside her, her chest gently heaving from her efforts. She and Erika shared a look, then, a look of playful candor.

"So... are you saying you whored yourself out for coin, my lord?" Severia asked, completely deadpan.

"W-What?! No! I didn't whore," he denied.

"Really? 'Cause that sounds jus' like whorin'," Erika giggled.

"I didn't whore!" he still denied.

"Think ya did."

"No, I did not. They're artifacts, not currency, and besides; only women can whore," he gruffly retorted, incorrectly.

"Aw! He's so innocent..." Severia cooed, placing her hands on Eric's shoulders as she started pumping on his cock once more.

"He is!" Erika agreed. There were priests of the same denomination as her, albeit called Cardinals rather than Roses.

Her friends soon lost themselves to passion once more, as Severia rocked on him. Eric couldn't make up his mind on where to hold her. His hands roamed all over her form, teasing her nipples, squeezing her tits, helping her ride him by clutching her waist. Eventually, his hands found her ass. His muscles flexed as he seized her, lifting Severia with a strong grip as she moaned and gasped into his shoulder.

Erika had to speak before she was forgotten of entirely. She said the first words that came to mind.

"So, um, Sev... h-how d'ya find his pecker?"

"Ohh... it's just divine..." Severia gasped through trembling lips. "He's so big... and touches me in all the right places... oh! But, my lord, how do you find me?"

"Terrifying," Eric answered instantly, their eyes then locking for a moment or ten. Severia softly, breathlessly laughed, leaning into him to nuzzle her nose against his.

"What frightens you?" she whispered, flashing him a teasing smile as she slowly milked his cock.

Eric gulped; and only then did Erika realize that her friend was using her magics again.

"I don't know. Every time I think I understand you, you find some way to prove the opposite. You always tell the truth but, still, you're an enigma. A book with no cover, written in Kinglish," he murmured, gazing into her eyes. "You know, I thought you a virgin when last we met."

"Heh. Well, I'm glad you find me so interesting, my lord," she whispered. "I share similar feelings for you." And then, to Erika's surprise... she kissed him. Deeply. Heartbreakingly.

"Sev..." Erika piteously murmured. Her friend only parted from Eric's lips after another three moments, yet continued to ignore her as if she didn't exist. What Erika didn't realize, however, was that she hadn't said anything at all.

"Take me to bed, my lord," Severia husked so perfidiously. "This water isn't doing us any favors."

"Y-Yeah. Right. I was gonna say the same," Eric replied, gripping the sorceress's ass with both hands as he lifted them both from the water. "Hold on tight." Severia wrapped her legs around his hips, her arms around his chest, and was giggling with an unabashed joy as Eric stumbled towards her things, all while ensuring his cock never left her pussy.

Erika didn't feel quite like watching after that. Her stomach was churning, perhaps from wine or, perhaps not, and her head was spinning like mad. Huh. Spinning.

"Still have that blindfold, slut?" she heard Eric ask from somewhere else, far, far away.

"Never leave the Temple without it," Severia soon laughed as the world spun ever faster. "Are you my priest? Should I confess my sins to you, my sweet, handsome lord?"

"No way. We'd be here 'til autumn if you did. Here, let's put that on you."

Erika thought of breaking it up. She thought of admitting her true feelings to Eric, and of telling Severia that she was a heartless bitch for coming between that. These were only fantasies, though, and Erika wasn't in any position of moral high ground, or justified in laying claim to Eric's cock.

Eric wasn't hers, she thought as the world twirled, twirled, and faded away. She set her wine down in the grass with a trembling hand, and rose from the pool to collect her clothes.

"You said you can't a tell a lie, slut?" Erika heard him ask as she pulled on her dress.

"That's right, sweetie," the witch husked like a tart.

"Then tell me something. During the expedition, when you entered my tent saying you forgot your compass... were you trying to bed me?"

"My lord, I... uhn!" she moaned. "I-I was! I admit it! I could only think of the naughty, terrible things I wanted to do with you that night!"

Erika almost hurled. She slipped on her boots as quickly as she could, hearing only whispers, giggles, and more sighs thereon. She didn't wait around to hear what came next. She left the lovers alone, deciding to spend some time beside the cold, dark river instead.

-=-=-

Erika found the courage to return to camp a quarter-hour after Severia's cries died off, but her courage only existed through vengeance. Severia had betrayed her trust. Eric had betrayed... whatever. Something. Something she couldn't put to words. Something only her heart could know.

He would be chastised, berated, and torn apart like the simple man he obviously was. The base man he'd hidden from her behind a cloak of nobility and chivalry. And Severia, why, she would be demolished with cold, hard truths laid bare, as no scorn were as powerful as a priestess's wrath!

Erika found Eric alone beside a middling fire, cooking his quarry from the hunt. He was wearing only his pants; another awful reminder of his act of betrayal. She trode towards him with a righteous fury, recalling all of the hurtful words and idioms she'd practiced.

Yet, he gave her the grandest smile when she trudged near; a smile that washed away as soon as his gaze met her squint.

Then... none of it mattered anymore. And just like when Sarah jumped into the arms of her Brian, or when the infinite girls of an infinite loves jumped into the arms of their men, Erika dropped her anger to jump into Eric's. She may have squeezed too tightly. Only time would tell.

"I know you're a lord," Erika murmured into his naked chest. "I know you're a lord, an' I don't think myself your equal. So... this might sound a bit mad, but... are ya mine, Eric?"

"Yours?"

"Yeah," she whispered, letting him go just far enough so she could look into his eyes. Those calming, familiar eyes. "Like... if I were ta ask ya to do summ'n ya didn't like. Would you do it?"

"Without question. Erika, I'm sor-"

"Why?!" she quavered. "Why would ya listen to me? You should know better. I know ya know better..."

Eric shook his head. He didn't reply right away like she'd wished he would, yet at that moment she would have traded all the world for an answer. Ten seconds felt like a season. Twenty, an eternity. She reluctantly let go of him when he pulled away.

Eric shifted his gaze towards the heavens, and pointed at the brightest star in the sky.

"Because you're like my north star. Ever since my life unraveled, you've always been there for me. Where anyone else would have taken advantage of me, you've instead always been true. You're the starshine in my life when all else is gloom. And... when I see you smile," he swallowed, "I feel like the luckiest man alive, just because I witnessed it. It's so sincere. My only regret is that it doesn't last forever. That, for you to be allowed to twinkle, there must be shadows between your radiance. Is that a fair enough reason?"

He had to do it again. He had to go and tie Erika's tongue into a knot. Make her chest thump. Make her hands sweat like she were looking down into the abyss. She couldn't let this moment pass. Not like last time.

"I love you," she gasped. And winced. "Um. I-I think. You make me feel... stuff. Stuff a lass like me shouldn't ever feel."

Oh gods! That's not what she intended to say! 'How Best to Drive Him into the Arms of Another,' a book by Erika from Limena!

"I'm sorry I slept with her," Eric muttered as he stared up at the stars. He was changing the subject. Erika didn't blame him. "I wasn't thinking clearly. Look, Erika, I don't know you as well as you give me credit for, and in truth I wasn't sure how you'd react. But, give me another chance, and I'd've refused. In fact, that's what I'm doing from here on out. Your smile's more valuable to me than any summer fling."

Erika exhaled with absolute relief. "You're amazin', Eric. I forgive ya for nothin'. I told ya to do it."

"And yet, all of me but my cock knew it a bad idea," he sighed, returning his heart-pounding gaze to her. "You're my north star, Erika, but sometimes north isn't the true path forward. Learning not to blame the advice you're given is something you pick up when you're a lord. So, I apologize."

"Then... then I forgive ya," she whispered with wide, happy eyes. Any last shred of self-doubt within Erika's heart was suddenly annihilated in totality. What a man, her Eric was.

Eric crouched beside the fire and grabbed two of the three skewers of meat. "Well, now that that's settled... are you hungry? I think it's time we shared some supper; perhaps with your butt on my lap this time."

"Mm-hmm!" Erika grinned. Bunnies were some of the gods' cutest creations, sure, but they also smelled quite tasty when cooked over flame. And the prospect of spending some quality time with Eric? 'Twas like a wish come true.

Eric stood up, pushing both of the skewers her way. "Great. One of these are for Severia, but uh, I'll be over here - avoiding her," he smirked. Erika took only one of the suppers.

"An' I'll serve 'er, but I'mma come back to retake my throne," Erika winked, glancing down at Eric's crotch. She spun away from him before he could reply, jaunting as gaily as ever towards Severia's bedroll nearer the hot spring.

Erika found her friend lying down on her bedroll, smoking, and reading a book as a shining orb of light fluttered behind her head. She was entirely naked but for a black blindfold which she now wore as a necklace. Severia shut her book as Erika neared.

"Hail, Erika! You missed quite the show," she laughed at her all-too-smugly. The sorceress found her way to her feet, holding her pipe between two fingers. "You know, you don't look so well. Why the long face, honey?"

"Nothin', Sev. Brought ya some eats," Erika meekly lied.

"Hunted and cooked by our vigorous lord, no less. Thank you."

Erika wasn't sure what came over her then. She'd intended to just pass along her supper and skip back towards Eric. But, with a trembling hand, she smacked Severia hard across her stupid face, forcing her pipe to fall to the grass.

"Erika! What the hells?!" Severia snarled, bringing a hand to her reddened cheek.

"It's over, Sev. You're not havin' him tomorrow," Erika shakily told her, squinting into her thin, smoky eyes.

"And how is that news?! That was our compromi-"

"Shove it! No more word games, Severia. He's mine, not ours, that'll never happen again, an', if you can't handle that, then I ain't travelin' with ya! Here's your fuckin' supper," Erika exclaimed, tossing the skewer onto her bedroll before spinning and stomping away. "Goodnight, bestie."

"Erika..."

"An' Merry fuckin' Midsummer!"