Sisterhood - Temptation Ch. 42

Katharina took a few steps through the tunnel and then into a momentarily dazzling brightness. She blinked and found herself in the shower room that adjoined the testing chamber. Her eyes adjusted and the sense of brightness passed. The light was perhaps not so much brighter than in the pool chamber, and it was pleasantly diffuse, but it had a constancy that was for a moment quite jarring after the flicker and haze of candlelight through the steam of the baths.

Katharina noticed that she was not alone. A Sisterhood girl was naked and showering under the bank of showerheads to her right. The girl was pale and slim, and her arms were raised behind her head, wringing the water down through her hair as she leaned back into the shower stream. Her pose bared the smooth skin of her armpits and lifted her breasts high on her chest. Her face was partly obscured beneath the steamy spatter of water, and before Katharina could guess whether she recognized the girl, she heard steps at her back and felt a hand on her waist.

"Katja," Ivy's particular loud drawl sounded at Katharina's shoulder just as she turned.

"Oh," Katharina startled. She turned and found she was caught unprepared for Ivy's reappearance, unsure how to greet her friend. A kiss felt presumptuous, or rather at odds with the lingering confusion that nagged her about what had happened in the pool chamber. "Hi. Ivy."

Ivy's hand withdrew and as Ivy seemed to mumble something she was in turn interrupted by yet another loud voice from the opposite end of the chamber.

"Katja!"

Katharina turned first to the girl who she had seen showering, but it was not her who had spoken. The girl's eyes were still closed and her face was dripping with water. Instead it was Lia who was now hurrying towards them, having entered through the opposite archway. Lia was waving enthusiastically at Katharina as she trotted across the puddle-strewn floor in her high heels. She was otherwise naked, and was leading a shorter dmurrhisi girl behind her, also naked, with very long, straight black hair that hung forward and partly obscured the shy smile on her face.

"Hi. Lia," Katharina waved back, a little dazed by the sudden reappearance of her two friends each immediately after the other. She felt a faint pang of relief at the distraction that Lia provided, at not having to decide now in haste what to say to Ivy.

Lia glanced over Katharina's shoulder as the two of them leaned forward to exchange kisses on the cheek. "Oh Ivy, you're here too!" Lia cried delightedly. She squeezed Katharina affectionately on the arm and then skipped round to greet Ivy in turn.

"Lia," Katharina heard Ivy mumble with what sounded like a grudgingly conceded enthusiasm.

Katharina stood before the dmurrhisi girl that Lia had led in behind her. The girl looked up and met Katharina's smile with a hesitant flicker of nervous laughter. She was petite, quite slim, with slightly darker skin than either Lia or Katharina herself. On the girl's forearms and at the corners of her upper lip was a darkening of fine black hairs, and at the crux of her thighs was more, thick and glossy but shaped into a trim patch.

Before Katharina could greet the girl, her attention was drawn by an abrupt silence. The sole running showerhead in the room fell quiet with a dull clunk. Katharina looked to where the other Sisterhood girl had been showering, and as the girl straightened up to sweep the water from off her arms and shoulders, Katharina finally recognized her. Lena's dun blonde hair was darkened by the damp of the water, and flattened across the sides of her skull and the back of her long neck. Lena smiled cheerfully in their direction but said nothing.

It was Ivy's loud voice that broke the short silence that ensued, "So, Lia. Forgotten your manners?"

Lia looked down, examining her own body with a puzzled frown on her face. Then she looked up at each of the other girls in turn, "What? Come on. You're all naked too. It's allowed here, isn't it?"

Katharina laughed. She looked back at the dmurrhisi girl and flashed her a smile of acknowledgment, "Lia, I think Ivy means it would be polite to introduce your friend."

"Yeah Lia," Ivy snorted, "Please tell me you do remember her name."

"Oh. Right," Lia grinned. Then her smile fell when she turned to look at the girl, "Yeah of course I remember her name."

The girl's shoulders shook as she burst into a splutter of laughter, "That's right, you do."

"Uhh," Lia groaned, "Come on people, don't mess with me. I'm tired. I remembered it before."

"Lucie," it was Lena's calm, purring voice that replied. Lena strode over, inclining her head to wring out her hair, then stood behind the girl, setting her hands on the girl's shoulders, "This is Lucie and she is a guest here this evening. I hope you have been looking after her Lia."

Lia's legs stiffened as she startled, seeming to notice Lena's presence only then. "Oh. Hi Miss Lena," she giggled.

Ivy rolled her eyes, "Fucking hell. Such an embarrassment."

Lia scowled at Ivy, "Okay okay. Sorry I'm such a dumb ditz."

Lena squeezed Lucie's shoulders and began to knead with her fingers in a very gentle massage, "You have many very useful skills Lia. And you are not dumb."

Lia's shoulders sank with a sigh, "Huh. Thanks Miss Lena."

Lucie's cheeks creased with the tiny dent of a dimpled smile. She reached out and clasped her hand around Lia's dick. Her voice was quiet, and was carried on a burble of giddy laughter, "Yeah. You have lots of really useful skills."

Katharina watched Lucie's other hand snake down the front of her own body and into the short, thick crop of hair around her pussy. She clasped a clump of it between her fingers and began to stroke herself as she pumped slowly on Lia's rapidly stiffening dick.

Lia closed her eyes and murmured, her hips thrusting gently forward into Lucie's grip. Then Lia's eyes flashed wide and she seemed suddenly to rally her cheer. A broad grin spread across her face, "Speaking of skills... Hey Miss Lena, check this out."

Lia pulled herself free of Lucie's stroking hand and whirled around to face Ivy. She suddenly flung her arms around Ivy's shoulders and pulled her in for a tight hug, wrapping her thighs around the flank of Ivy's body.

"Lia!" Ivy growled, "Get off! Fuck!"

Lia chuckled and tightened her embrace, clasping herself to Ivy's body as Ivy grunted and squirmed, trying to free herself. Lia's eyes closed and her jaw clenched. Then her hips began rocking and thrusting, rubbing against Ivy's hip. Katharina clapped her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter as she watched Lia's dick thicken and throb, pressed upright against Ivy's stomach, then begin gushing a long stream of cum as Lia groaned and gyrated.

"Uh, yeh, Ivy," Lia moaned.

"Fucking... get... off!" Ivy screeched from behind gritted teeth. She twisted and shook her shoulders, bending to try to throw Lia to the floor, but Lia hung on as her dick continued to spurt, smearing cum across Ivy's stomach and her thigh, and flinging several long jets of it to the floor of the shower room.

"Gah," Lia gasped. She let go and sprang back, then straightened up, picking tousled hair from her eyes to smile triumphantly, "Skills."

Ivy looked down at her cum-smeared skin. She lifted her hand, about to wipe herself, then withdrew it, "Ugh. Lia! Gross."

Lia turned her grin to Lena, "Record holder."

Lena ceased her massage of Lucie's shoulders and let her arms drape over them from behind, "Dare I ask what record exactly?"

"Ambush. Quickest time from contact to cum," Lia replied.

Lena nodded towards where Ivy was positioning herself under one of the showerheads, "On Ivy specifically?"

Lia scrunched her lips and seemed to ponder, "Um, no I guess that's not specifically in the rules, no." She glanced over at Ivy and Ivy scowled back. Then when the shower began to run and the spatter of water sounded on the tiles, Lia leaned forward and chuckled, "But she is the most popular target."

"I think it's because she really only offers token resistance," Katharina added, chuckling, "You know, for show."

Lena laughed, a rich purr of amusement that Katharina found very gratifying. Lena stepped out from behind Lucie's back and clapped the girl affectionately on the shoulder, "Well Lucie, I see that the our girls' antics don't faze you. Good for you. I hope Lia really has been looking after you though. You know, as one of the novices at the ball this evening, she is duty bound to service your every whim."

"Hmm," Lucie hummed. The dimples in her cheeks deepened and she looked up at Lia, "Well, I think I was promised a... um..."

"Yes?" Lena smiled.

Katharina noticed that Lucie was still idly stroking herself, her fingers flat and wedged between the creases of her thighs, pressing into the mound of her pussy. "A..." Lucie giggled suddenly, "A gangbang. Lia promised me a gangbanging, if I remember correctly."

"Oh yeah," Lia chuckled. She turned her neck to look over at Ivy, who was swiping her hands across her body beneath the shower, grumbling as water trailed across her face, "Hey Ivy, you coming to the spa?"

"The spa?" Lucie sounded excited.

Katharina smiled at her, "I think that's where a lot of the, um, gangbanging happens."

Lucie looked up at Katharina. She removed her hand from between her legs and reached out to brush it along the underside of Katharina's dick, which Katharina could feel was slowly beginning to swell with warmth. Lucie's fingers were moist and slightly cool on Katharina's hot skin. "And you and the other girl," Lucie glanced over at Ivy, "You're the gang?"

"Um," Katharina croaked. She tried to stop herself from staring at Lucie's sweet smirking face and her naked body, but succeeded in turning away only after her eyes had darted down to the girl's slim stomach. Katharina looked round at Ivy then at Lia.

"Yeah, you coming too Katja?" Lia hopped on her toes and then swiveled towards the archway that led into the pool chamber, looking back at Katharina expectantly.

Katharina couldn't decide whether she wanted to accompany Lia or not. Lucie was very pretty, and Katharina could feel her own body already betraying the swell of bare lust she felt at the thought of sex with her. But there was Ivy, too. Katharina both wanted and didn't want to be with Ivy again. Her own reaction to the idea seemed to flip and evade her each time she attempted to examine it. She wasn't sure whether Ivy would even want to go with Lia and Lucie. Katharina might be left alone with Ivy if both of them declined the offer, but she couldn't decide what her reaction to that idea was either. Too, it seemed rude to refuse Lucie, a guest.

When the rush and spatter of Ivy's shower ceased and Katharina heard again the quiet drip of water, she hurried to reply, but was cut off.

"Katharina," Lena said. She spoke plainly, neither asking a question nor making an admonition, as if simply to capture Katharina's attention.

"Hm?" Katharina saw Lena looking at her with a simple smile on her face, maybe the faintest crease of a frown, examining her.

Lena stooped to look Lucie in the eye, and held the girl's shoulder as she spoke, "Lucie, Lia will see to it that you get everything she promised you, and no doubt more besides. However, Katharina and I have some business that will take us away for a moment. Katharina?"

"Right," Katharina nodded hesitantly.

"Though not for too long I think," Lena continued, "You might see us again later."

"Okay, well," Lucie's dimples faded. She looked still cheerful, animated by mirth, but her lips gathered in a pout of chagrin, "I hope so. I've got some more whims too. For after."

Lena stood straight. She patted Lucie on the shoulder once more, seemed for a moment to dither, then set her palm on Lucie's cheek and turned her face for a kiss. Lucie's body stiffened, then relaxed, and a quiet gasp of excitement slipped from between her lips as Lena clasped them in hers.

For a moment Katharina watched the kiss, aware of Lia and Ivy standing nearby, and not wishing to turn to look at them. But the moment was brief. Lena pulled back and held out her hand to Katharina, "Come. Bye girls. Have fun and look after our guest."

Not wishing to appear to be being led away, Katharina skipped forward in one quick stride to fall into step alongside Lena's sudden march. It was only when she and Lena reached the threshold of the archway into the testing chamber that Katharina finally gave in to the urge to look back. She saw Lia and Lucie already exiting through the opposite archway, Ivy just behind them. Ivy turned at the same moment and their eyes met just before Lena pulled Katharina through past the curtain.

The image of Ivy's face, her expression, lingered at the back of Katharina's eyes for only a few seconds before fading away. Frustrated, she found when she closed her eyelids that she had been unable to fix it there. There had been a smile, perhaps. Imploring, regretful. As the image dissipated, Katharina found she could not distinguish memory from imagination.

Katharina opened her eyes and noticed Lena looking sidewards at her as they made a left turn and continued to stride up the central gangway of the chamber. "Forgive me, Katharina. Did I judge correctly?"

"Thank you. Yes, I think so," Katharina sighed, "Maybe more than anything I just needed a decision making for me,"

Katharina scowled, chiding herself. She disliked her own passivity, and she felt particularly awkward confessing it to Lena. But she found Lena's manner, and above all her rich, slightly husky voice, a comfort. Both of them barefoot, the padding of their feet was lost against the faint sighs and whispered chatter of the testing chamber.

Lena turned away from Katharina to look ahead. She spoke softly, "I thought so. You must of course do what you want. But..."

"But...?"

Lena looked briefly over her shoulder, "If I were to stick my nose in and offer unsolicited advice, I would say that you can safely let her stew for a while."

Katharina hesitated, unsure how much she would be betraying in her reply, and whether it mattered, "Ivy?"

Lena nodded, "She is a good girl, and quite able in her own peculiar way. But you can be firmer with her, Katharina. To be part of the Sisterhood, its heart I mean, you must learn to read others. And to help them too."

Katharina felt an excited smile tug at the corners of her mouth, "Manipulate them, you mean?"

Lena nodded again, "That is a more honest term, yes."

It was with a tiny pang of shame that Katharina realized how quickly she warmed to the notion, and how readily her imagination began turning it over, spinning it into fantasy. Herself as a shrewd manipulator, the kind of benign but deadly seductress that she imagined Lena and Vera must be. It felt at odds with how she saw herself, but not so much so that she couldn't make it fit, somehow, as a future to aspire to. She had made it to the North Wing after all. She was here.

"That sounds a bit callous," Katharina ventured.

"Not necessarily," Lena shook her head, "You can manipulate a girl into discovering happiness. Even if she resists it at first."

"And she will thank you for it afterwards, is that it?"

Lena seemed to smile to herself, with only one corner of her mouth, and then blew a quiet huff of wry amusement, "No, not usually. But she will at least be happy."

They reached the far end of the chamber and stood before the archway. Katharina had not paid close attention to the rows of beds as they had walked. She looked now and saw that those nearby were open, and unoccupied, the sheets ruffled and strewn. It was quiet. The whole chamber was quieter than it had been earlier.

Katharina looked at the curtain across the arch. On the other side was the chamber that had been arranged as a dressing room, which she had earlier passed through with Anna. She turned to Lena, hesitated, "Um, was there actually something? Or should I just leave you to whatever business...?"

"I do have something to attend to, yes," Lena replied, looking back along the row of beds behind her, "But I must prepare first. And you could help me Katharina. If you don't mind, that is."

Katharina stopped herself from responding immediately. She paused, and smiled, "Of course. Please, I'd be glad to."

Lena swept aside the curtain with her forearm and ushered Katharina through. They stood on the other side, and the curtain fell into place behind them, cutting off the sound of the testing chamber. Katharina saw again the space that had been arranged as a dressing room, for the girls who would soon be offered in the amphitheater just beyond. The dressing tables and their chairs still stood aligned in a shallow arc. On one of them was the chunky oval bottle of perfume from which Anna had earlier doused herself.

Lena strode past between two of the dressing tables, and Katharina followed. They stopped at the two wooden doors in the rear wall of the chamber. The door on the right was ajar. Katharina leaned discreetly to peer round the frame and look inside, but could not see the bed. It was quiet. Most probably Louise would have released Mari by now, and the room would be unoccupied.

When Katharina looked away from the open door she saw Lena smiling at her, curious. Lena said nothing and set her hand on the handle of the other door on the left, and swung it open.

The room that they stepped into looked a little smaller than the bedchamber next to it. But as she looked around Katharina judged that it must be the same size and shape. It appeared smaller only because every wall was lined with tall stacks of shelves, wardrobes, and clothing rails packed with variously-colored dresses and other items. There was no bed here. The center of the room was open, and the floor covered by a scuffed woven brown carpet across which were scattered a few stray threads of color that looked like the remains of embroidery. At the carpet's center stood a body-length mirror fixed to a wheeled frame. It was only when she looked into the mirror that Katharina became aware again that both she and Lena were naked. She could not recall it having occurred to her as they had crossed the testing chamber together.

Though a bed was absent, the twin dressing tables that in the other room stood at either side of the headboard of the bed were there, in approximately the same position. Lena turned to one of these and bent to look at herself in the mirror mounted behind the dresser.

"So," Lena glanced up at the far wall, "There is I think about another hour before coven meets. I should prepare quickly. Katharina, we have the same size feet, I have noticed."

"Oh," Katharina looked down at her bare feet, pale against the carpet.

"Be a sweetheart and fetch me a pair of high-heeled shoes," Lena flicked her hand to point as she opened a drawer in the dresser and peered inside.

"Right," Katharina skipped across to the short stand of shelves that Lena seemed to have indicated. On the bottommost shelves were arranged an array of shoes, each aligned neatly with its partner, all with heels of varying sizes, some pointed, red, black, other colors, some gilded with streaks of glitter. On the top shelf and on that immediately beneath it the order gave way to a jumble where piles of unpartnered shoes had been dumped on top of each other in a tangle of straps. Katharina surveyed, intimidated by variety, "Um, any preference?"

Katharina heard Lena rummaging in the dresser behind her, "Elegant. Tall. The sort that look good, but are almost impossible to actually walk in."

"Your, um, business doesn't involve standing around then?" Katharina chuckled.

There was a pause and then a very faint huff of wry laughter, and the sound of the dresser drawer closing, "Katharina, what are you implying? Anyway, I said almost impossible."