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“Aw, an’ here I thought I was gonna be the only one out and about tonight.”
Caras looked up from his campfire. The voice was feminine, sugared with a musical country twang and as bright as the sun. But the speaker lingered at the edge of the firelight, clad in a jetblack cloak that covered all but one trailing lock of red hair. The cloak’s darkness faded into a misty gray towards the feet, but he couldn’t tell if that was a deliberate dyeing choice or just natural wear.
“Good evening,” he said politely. Not wanting to be rude, but also not wanting to be stupid, he added, “Why do you stay in the shadows, Miss?”
He saw painted dark red lips curve upwards from under the hood. “Well, sugar, any gal knows better than to sit at the campfire of a stranger. Especially on a dark, lonely night like this. Not even knowin’ his name… golly, anything can happen, can’t it?”
As her meaning sank in, Caras bit his inner cheek. “Of course. My apologies, Miss.” He rose to his feet and sketched a bow. “My name is Sir Caras, Vagrant Knight, at your most humble service. The people of the town can vouch for me, I’m sure.”
“Oh. A knight.” He could hear the smile in her words now. “Now, that’s a whole other kinda , isn’t it?” She took a step forward and pulled her hood down. “You’ll keep little old Maye safe out here, won’t you, sugar?”
Caras swallowed.
The woman at the edge of the firelight had the sort of face you couldn’t breathe even around. Her hazel eyes reflected the firelight with their own kind of heat. Her wavy shoulderlength red hair, styled in a fashionable bob that nicely framed her plump cheeks and heartshaped face, seemed to glitter and glow like molten copper. It contrasted beautifully with her golden ant earrings, their teardropshaped honeypot abdomens made of glittering amber. Her full, luscious lips were still lifted in a smile, but those long lashes hung low as she seemed to inspect him.
She swept the stray lock of hair back, then made her way to the fire. She took a seat across from Caras, her cloak pooling around her like pouring oil, and raised an eyebrow.
Callis realized he’d been asked a question.
“Yes! Ah, of course, Miss.” Callis quickly sat back down as well. He smiled reassuringly, reaching over to pat the bundle that held his sword. “I wouldn’t be much of a knight if I couldn’t protect a fair maiden on the trail, could I?”
“Of course you wouldn’t.” She giggled, her clear delight assuaging his nerves at the obvious flattery. “I can tell already that you’re a good boy. You’d take good care of me, wouldn’t you?”
Callis felt his cheeks heating up. That was a little more… flirtatious than he’d expected. “I, ah… yes. If we ran into trouble. It’s my duty as a protector of the common folk.”
“Mm.” She smiled sweetly. “Am I common, then?”
“That’s… that’s not what I meant.”
“Oh, I know.” Her eyes sparkled. “I’m just bullyin’ you. And awful bad, too.”
The wind picked up, blowing smoke and cinders directly into Maye’s face. Her lovely face screwed up in discomfort, and she quickly scooted to the left around the campfire to escape the smoke.
The cute, human moment helped shake Caras out of his flustered paralysis. “So, what, ah, brings you out here on a night like this?”
“Oh, I’m lookin’ for makewell.” Maye rolled her eyes and blew a stray lock from her face, then scooted a little farther as the wind continued to blow towards her. She shrugged partway out of her cloak, revealing a pale pink sweater beneath with a… generous Vneck.
“Makewell?”
“Pitcher makewell. Oh, the sap’s what I need for a poultice, but it’s always such a chore to get. Always surrounded by bees and wasps an’ the awfulest of things in the daytime.” She smiled brightly. “Makewell preys on eusocial insects. It makes ’em think they’re returning to the hive, so they bring lots of nectar an’ prey right back down the pitcher.”
“I see.” Caras nodded slowly. “I didn’t know makewell was… carnivorous.”
She giggled. “Neither do the bees.”
Suddenly, the wind picked up around them. Maye shivered, clutching back at her cloak, and scooted a little bit farther to her left. She was getting awfully close. “Shoot, it’s really cold out tonight, ain’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” Caras prodded the fire with his stick, trying to expose the coals to fresh tinder wood. “Especially since you’re not exactly dressed for it.”
Maye didn’t immediately respond.
Caras blinked. His head shot up. “Oh! Ah, that soundsII only just meant”
“SirCaras!” Maye swatted his shoulder playfully. “Don’t tell me a purehearted knight like you noticed.”
“Well, I, ah.” Caras squirmed. He wasn’t actually sure what the mood was right now. Was he supposed to smile along, the slipup forgiven? Was she still expecting him to keep apologizing? He rubbed his cheek, eyeing the fire. “I… it’s a little hard to not notice, I suppose.”
“Hm.” Maye smiled up at him with a funny expression, teardrop amber earrings catching the firelight like little embers dancing around her head. “I suppose it is. And these don’t make it easy, now, do they?” She reached up and squished her boobs together with a giggle.
“AAheh! No, they… certainly don’t.” Caras kept his burning face firmly pointed towards the fire.
“Hee. That’s okay, sugar.” She released her chest. “Not your fault. It’s only natural.”
Caras felt like he should be more relaxed. The awkward moment had passed, hadn’t it? But his heart wouldn’t stop racing. He just smiled and nodded and kept his eyes pointed downward.
“Mm. In fact, y’know, this is why I always say…” Maye gave a leisurely stretch. “… boys can’t be knights.”
He managed a chuckle at the joke. “Well, I suppose, ah, many people… might…”
He trailed off.
Maye was still smiling.
She wasn’t laughing.
There was an awkward pause.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked.
“Oh, nothin’ too serious, sugar.” Maye pursed her lips. “Just that, you know, it’s got to be hard, isn’t it? Bein’ all purehearted and chivalrous around a gal like me. I’m only wearin’ a lowcut sweater, nothin’ that revealin’, and you still can’t help but drool over me.”
“II” Sir Caras felt his cheeks reddening. “I’m not… drooling.”
“Of course not, sugar.” Maye’s voice was candysweet and distinctly condescending. “You’re doing so well, carryin’ on a whole conversation with me. Barely even staring!”
“I’m not staring!”
“But it’s sohard, isn’t it?” Maye twirled that rebellious lock of red hair. It looked like gleaming copper wire was being spooled around her finger. “I mean, a boy like you, talkin’ to a girl like me… with gifts like these…” She pushed out her chest with a wicked grin. Her breasts bounced and jiggled against the thin, stretching fabric of the sweater. Caras almost thought he could see nipples tenting the cloth for a moment, before he remembered he wasn’t staring. “You’re bein’ such a brave boy, holdin’ out the way you’ve been.”
“I…” Caras shifted slightly. Thick, rich, sultry notes had trickled into Maye’s voice. He didn’t know how to… handle that. Handle this. He wasn’t used to girls being this forward with him. “That’s a little, ah, harsh, isn’t it? BoysI mean, men, we aren’t that”
“Weak?” she cut in, blinking innocently. “Easy? Perverted?”
Her lips and tongue caressed the words like sweetmeats, her breath lovingly encircling them like the sweet little gasps of a lover. Caras was starting to feel hot.
“Golly, now look how red you are!” Maye cooed, scooting in towards him. “You must be gettin’ nice and warm over here. Mind if I steal some of that?”
She was getting very close. Caras flinched back, the beating of his heart accelerating. “BBut I”
“You don’t want me to freeze, do you, sugar?” She looked up at him with big, pleading eyes. Blink. Blink. “You wouldn’t be so unchivalrous as to leave a gal in the cold? And me being so wispy and vulnerable to frostbite~”
She scooted in until she was right next to him. All he had to do was glance down to peek right down the neckline of that stretched sweater. He could feel her thigh squished against his leg. Maye was… soft. Very soft. Not wispy at all.
And she smelled nice, too. Her hair smelled like… like roses and apples. He wondered if the rest of her smelled like that. He needed to stop wondering that. He needed to push her away.
“Anyhow,” she went on with a smirk, and he realized too late he’d been asked a question, “I reckon you’re not gonna tell me you get too hotandbothered to offer a li’l body heat to a bonny lass in need, are you? Since you’re so sure boys are cut out for the knight thing.”
Caras’s breath caught.
“But.” Maye leaned up and rested her chin on his shoulder, smiling up at him with those big, glimmering green eyes. “If you can’t handle me…”
“I”
“If you think boys are too dumb an’ weak an’ pervy to handle gals being pressed up close…”
“Iyou really”
“Then push me away.” She licked her lips. “Prove me right, sugar.”
Caras’s whole body felt like it was on fire. His head felt muddled, his words tangled in knots. He struggled, sputtered, searched for a retort.
And Maye clearly took his silence for the only kind of consent that mattered.
“Ooh, you are warm~!” Maye cooed, nuzzling up close. Her boobs squished around his side as she pressed in and wrapped both arms around him, pulling him into a tight, unyielding hug. “See, this is what a boy knight’s job oughta be. Just keepin’ pretty girls warm. That’s not sohard, is it?”
She was putting an awful lot of… focus on that word. Caras’s breaths felt shallow and weak. “RRight. II meanthat’s very, um… you’re being awfully…”
“Prejudiced?” Maye giggled, hugging him tighter. “Ooh, it’s sooo awful, isn’t it? How girls like to talk ’bout boys like you. But… you ain’t stopping me, are you?”
Caras hesitated, then reached up to push her away.
“‘Cause that wouldn’t be chivalrous,” Maye went on sweetly. She grinned wickedly at him. “An’ stoppin’ me would be admittin’ I’m getting to you, sugar.”
Caras stared into her eyes and felt a shiver run through him. It wasn’t from the cold, and they both knew it. He saw Maye’s grin widen.
“This is what I’m talkin’ about, honeybunch.” Maye giggled. Her voice became a sultry coo again, almost right in his ear as he tried in vain to pull away. “Boys always think they’ll be the best knights. They’re so big andstrong, aren’t they?” Her fingers played across the buttons of his doublet, fingertips teasing over the tight fabric. “But put them around a pretty gal with big tits and they just seem to get so… awfully… dumb.”
Caras squirmed. Why… why was he letting her get away with this? He tried to move his legs, to scoot back, but they felt like they’d fallen asleep. He rubbed his calves, struggling to wake them up…
“And you don’t seem to be breakin’ the stereotype,” Maye sang, “now, do you, hon?”
“II”
“Boys just loooove provin’ me right.” That cute, breathy little twang sent tingles through his mind. He realized her hand was on his thigh. He hadn’t even noticed that. He was too busy staring into her deep, pretty green eyes… no, hazel… wait, were they glowing?…
“Every boy thinks he’s an exception,” Maye said smugly. “Every boy thinks he’ll be the one knight who can resist. But I bet you’d admit yourself that you just can’t.”
“II wouldn’t.” Why were his legs so asleep? Why were Maye’s eyes so… pretty…
“Oh no?” Maye’s eyes flashed between colors. Caras felt dizzy. “Wanna prove it to me, baby? Wanna make a bet?”
Caras went very still.
Danger. The sense was primordial, fundamental, a prickle at his neck, a quickening of his heart, a flighty lightness to his heels. But Maye was there, too, rubbing his neck, rubbing his thighs, everything felt so weak and powerless, his every limb felt heavy and tired and disobedient… and her smell was there, too, her sweet applerose perfume filling his lungs and soothing his fears…
“I shouldn’t,” he whispered, only realizing how pathetic it sounded when he heard it aloud.
Maye licked her lips. There was hunger in those eyes. Danger. Danger danger danger.
“I won’t,” he said, more firmly.
Maye leaned in close. Her lips tickled his ear, and for a moment, he couldn’t see her eyes, was free of that strange light.
Her breasts were squished together against him. She was so soft. So warm.
“Sugar, she cooed in his ear. Her accent made him tremble with pleasure. “You ain’t scared of little old me, are you?”
“NNo.”
“All you have to do is just not agree with me.” Her voice, so sweet and innocent, was like thick, gooey honey trickling into his ears and covering his brain in sugar. “Just hold onto those big, strong convictions. They’re not so weak, are they?”
“Nnnn…”
“I’m just a girl,” she halfmoaned. “You can handle me. You wanna prove me wrong~”
“WWanna…”
She planted a little kiss just below his ear, and his thoughts dribbled into goo for just a moment as the wetness, the softness of her lips pressed against his open mind.
“Prove me wrong,” she purred. She pulled back, lashes fluttering. “Show me how strong men are.”
“II didn’t”
“Just hold on for a minute,” she said, her voice like circling silks, “and that’s all it takes. If you still don’t agree by then… I’m yours.”
His heart was pounding too loud to hear his thoughts. He stared down her sweater, then back up at her, shaking it off. “I, um… and if I, um… lose?”
Her eyes sparkled. “Why would you?”
He licked his lips. “I. I, ah…”
“If you lose, you can go wherever pleases you.” Maye smiled brightly. “I promise~”
He hesitated a moment more.
“Go on, Sir Caras. Show me the peerless incorruptibility of a true knight~”
Everything was tingling and dreamlike. He stared at Maye, struggling to separate imagining from reality. She was so pretty, and so unbearably smug.
He could prove her wrong. He could. She couldn’t… make him change his mind, could she? He knew some women liked to bluff about that sort of thing. Pretend they had powers, to scare or… impress people.
But Maye was just some random village girl.
Her eyes shimmered and sparkled. Her fingers ran through his hair, delicate, soothing.
“Okay,” he whispered. “II’ll prove it.”
Maye’s smile widened. She stroked his hair and leaned in close. “Then let’s seal the deal with a kiss.”
Something about that should have made him nervous. But he was the wrong kind of nervous. The kind that sent his heart racing, the kind that made him freeze up, the kind where he couldn’t bear to look away from Maye’s pretty glowing eyes, her plump, painted lips…
She leaned in closer.
He leaned in to meet her…
“So easy.”
Her words filtered into his consciousness a second too late. He blinked rapidly. “Wh”
Their lips met. Pleasure took hold of his thoughts. Maye’s lips smacked against his, decadently soft.
Her fingers laced into his hair and pulled him in. Her tongue probed and slipped inside.
Despite his best efforts, Caras’s initial halfprotests quickly melted into moans. The tingling, dreamlike pleasure seemed to deepen. It felt like he was falling, as slow and weighty as a feather but still falling, falling down…
Her tongue played with his, darted in and out. She sucked on his upper lip, her every act towards him wet, indulgent, and so… sweet…
… just like her lipstick…
The kiss seemed to stretch on for hours. The first kiss melted into a second. The second melted into a third. And then another, and then another. Every time he moaned, or flinched, or cried out, he’d hear her giggle, and she’d press the advantage, milking out whatever reaction he’d let slip. Every time he swayed, she’d push in closer, as if sensing weakness. She pushed him back, pushed him down, down, down…
And he fell.
The tingling swelled around him. Distant, sibilant whispers seemed to ring in his ears, and he was drowning under a thick, echoing fog. Everything felt so good. He felt so… contained, so warm, so cozy, so dizzy and tingly and lost.
He tried to keep his eyes open. They kept drifting shut without him noticing, though, and every time he managed to open them again, Maye’s enchanting, intoxicating gaze would be lying there in wait. he would stare into those beautiful hazel eyes, and they would flash fiery green, and then their lips would draw halfapartand then she would press in to kiss him again, giggling, drawing out the breathtaking, minddissolving kiss until his eyelids fell once more.
He could barely remember how he’d gotten here. The kisses were everything he could think about right now, and all he could do was accept it, accept it all. He moaned in helpless bliss.
“Mmhm~” Maye agreed, the triumph in her little hum impossible to miss, even now.
But he was past caring. He’d never… imagined a kiss could feel this good. This was like the kisses he’d dreamt about when he’d never kissed a girl before. He still didn’t have that much experience. Was this what they were supposed to be like? The tension, the panicky thrill, the softness, the sweetness, the wet, indulgent intensity, the way his mind tingled and buzzed and wobbled andmelted and…
“… mmmwah~!” Maye at last broke off with a sloppy pop of her lips and beamed at him. As his eyes slowly opened, her lashes fluttered low. “There we go, sugar! One minute, starting now.”
Caras’s world swam in front of him.
It took him a moment to even remember what she was talking about. He still felt a little bit under. Like he’d fallen too deep and needed a moment to… climb back up. He blinked rapidly, shaking himself. What a cheap trick. “YYes. Yes, well, I… I don’t see how…”
“Who’s stronger?”
A smile sprang to his face. “Girls are always stronger!”
Maye’s grin widened.
Caras’s words echoed back to him. His smile melted away, and his eyes widened.
“Wait,” he said.
“Oh my goodness, you already lost!” she crowed. She cupped his chin and planted a sticky kiss on his cheek. More pleasure poured into him at the brief touch. “Aww, you only lasted two seconds, too. Golly, boys are just toooo cute.”
“BButyou”
Her lips quirked. “Oh, alright. Tell you what, sugarI’ll give you a second chance.” She smiled brightly. “Who’s weaker?”
Bubbled popped in his brain. Another smile slipped out. “Oh, boys are much, much weaker!”
Immediately after saying the words, his cheeks went scorching hot. Fear and humiliation blossomed inside him, and Caras squirmed back. His head was spinning. Whatwhat was he
Maye burst out giggling. “Oh~! Oh, youradorable smile! You’re so excited to know how to answer a question right, aren’cha, cutie?”
“Yeno! No!” Caras blinked rapidly, trying to pull himselfgirls are strongeraway from Maye, somehow unable toboys are weaker break Maye’s dainty hold on his chin. “Iwhat did you do?”
“Mm. A third chance, maybe.” Maye’s eyes sparkled. “Just to be absolutely sure~”
“No”
“Who,” she cooed, darting in close and planting a wet kiss on his neck that briefly turned his thoughts into heavy, plodding ooze, “is smarter?”
Caras tried to steel himself. He tried not to answer. Tried to control the answer he gave. But as her question spilled from those pretty lips, all the words in his head just seemed to, fall away and his mind suddenly went… not blank. Soft. Malleable. Like soft clay having new words written into it. Or hard clay with inscribed letters now having ink poured into those onceunseen cracks.
ero
