Chapter 50: Talents, Lovers, and Compromises

Belinda woke silently. She felt no urge to make a sound, though she did flutter her eyes. Other women—including her mother and her sister—were still laying around her. She was tired, but an important urge drove her to understand her surroundings before she allowed herself to relax.

Claire…

The love of her life was there, so close, being held by someone that Belinda had never seen before. Her black and red hair was pretty, and something about her looked vaguely familiar, but not in any way Belinda could easily understand.

Her mind, and her thoughts, were too slow for that.

White haired women moved towards the front door—Belinda’s front door. They were in her home. The doorbell was a familiar one, a sound that meant she needed to claw her way out of bed and see who was at the door. Someone else getting it—someone who wasn’t Vivienne, processed as wrong on a level that Belinda was too sleepy to know did anything but bother her, discomfort tingling through her.

What’s… happening…?

Claire and the black-and-red haired woman were speaking, but it was too soft, too quiet for Belinda to hear.

Don’t like… not knowing… when it’s my Claire…

Patricia was in the doorway.

Belinda felt gears grinding inside of her chest, and between her ears. The sound, the strain, made her thighs clench and her teeth grind together. It was too difficult to stand, even harder to think clearly enough to realize a solution to her predicament, but she was able to lay in wait.

If Claire needed her, she would be ready.

They continued to speak, louder, but only the keywords hit anywhere close to some place Belinda could follow.

“…understand… power play… unmarked… Weaver… fair game.” Patricia motioned to her crotch, and Belinda squirmed. “…checked myself… daughter… natural…”

The black haired woman was suddenly behind Claire again, holding her in a way that made Belinda want to growl, or at least whine. Want to be a good girl… to be a good daughter… don’t… want… this… don’t… want… Claire… taken away…

“…Claire is… daughter… best for her… take her out of town… important… meet… people… learn… Nightingale…”

Going to take Claire…!

Belinda whimpered, and finally found the strength to move. Women were on top of her, and below her, but that didn’t stop her from pulling her way out.

“Can’t… take Claire…”

Patricia smiled at her, but Belinda wasn’t looking at her. She didn’t care what she had to say—even if she was just giggling and being nice. She wasn’t the one threatening to take Claire away, and that meant she wasn’t something, or someone, that Belinda needed to worry about. It was almost as if Patricia didn’t exist.

She stared right at the red eyed woman, and tried to speak as clearly as she could.

“Don’t… need… Claire…”

Claire spoke, but Belinda couldn’t hear her.

As though there was a clock taller than a skyscraper straining to move parts that hadn’t been properly maintained for a millennia but needed to move, a scraping of metal on metal made Belinda’s eyes roll up into her head.

She could hear the parts straining against each other.

Twitching.

Clenching.

Tick…

Tick…

Tock.

Gray spread out across the world, and Belinda rose up to her feet. The red-eyed woman wasn’t speaking. She wasn’t breathing. No one was. No one was doing anything to get in her way, and Belinda only had eyes for Claire.

“I love her… You can’t take Claire from me…! Not when she finally told me that she loves me, too…!”

No one responded, and the sound of her voice seemed to ripple through the air. Belinda wasn’t concerned at the lack of response. All she cared about was that her words be heard, understood, and known.

She pulled the red-eyed woman’s arms off of her Claire, and grabbed Claire’s arm. Yanking, she pulled her lover over near a wall on the other side of the room, and then fell at her feet. All of her submissive programming from her mother’s trap, all of the bliss she’d felt under Claire’s passion, all of that was still there.

Nuzzling at Claire’s knee was what she wanted, and in her place, kneeling, she let herself indulge in her deepest desires.

Color returned to the world, and the women around Belinda spoke, but she didn’t care.

The clockwork inside of her moved again, and so much rust felt broken away. Belinda felt safe, secure, and loved as she nuzzled Claire. The smile on her face was one of pure joy.

Can’t take my Claire away…

No one…

Ever…

Belinda purred, and tuned out the rest of the world besides the most important woman in her whole world.

Claire.

“So I get that it’s funny, but it is obvious that you two know what just happened…!” Claire whined louder. “Weaver, Nightingale… One of those girls with… What do those girls call it…? Yuri goggles…?”

Both Patricia and Carnelian suddenly wore concerned looks. Carnelian shook her head, her eyes wide. Patricia tugged at her neckline, clearing her throat.

“…Okay…” Claire coughed. “So we’ll talk about that one another time… circle back around to it, but…” Claire pet Belinda’s hair for a moment before she pouted again. “I really don’t understand what just happened!”

The knowing looks that Carnelian and Patricia shared between each other just made Claire’s frustration that much worse.

Even Carnelian’s identical twin Mins were giggling.

At least my pile of hotties isn’t in on the joke… Claire grumbled under her breath. I have no idea how it would feel if Michelle knew what was going on while I didn’t. That would just be… She struggled to find the right phrasing, and then gave up. Massively insulting.

Neither of her parents are Weavers…

I think!

After petting Belinda’s hair again, Claire took a few steps forward—

—Only to end up in the same place where she’d started.

Belinda was in a slightly different position as she nuzzled at Claire’s knee, but otherwise things were the same as the moment before. “O-okay… That’s… very disorienting…!”

Carnelian snickered as Patricia walked up to stand right beside her. “She’s clever enough to stumble upon tricks that took me years to figure out, but this is mystifying her… and how long has she known her little friend there…?”

“Probably most of her life…?” Patricia shrugged, snickering the slightest bit herself. “Do you think she’ll keep trying to move, and if she does, what do you think Belinda will do about it?”

“I don’t know, but I won’t lie…” Carnelian chuckled. “I am curious to see…”

Claire puffed out her cheeks, pouting as she scowled at the two women.

“You’re both being… very…” She struggled again, glaring at them with an increasingly flush face. “Mean…!”

Claire lifted her leg, but this time she found herself sitting on the couch. Her legs were together, and Belinda was laying with her head in Claire’s lap. She purred up at her lover whose eyes were looking increasingly hazy each time this bizarre occurrence had her moving around the room.

Patricia and Carnelian quietly laughed.

Claire groaned, shaking her head. “I… Mommy… Patricia…?” She reached down, gently trying to push Belinda off of her. Like a contented cat, Belinda simply purred and nuzzled more into Claire’s lap. “This is starting… It’s a little… much…? It’s like… Like…”

“If you don’t want to lose your mind for a little while…?” Carnelian chuckled. “I’d stay right there, and pet her hair. Assure her that you won’t be going anywhere.”

“But… I want…” Belinda tensed in her lap, and Claire bit her lip. “What… you said… it sounded… kinda… neat…! I’d… bring her with me, if I could…! I just… I want to… see things… I want to… experience… cool stuff…!”

Carnelian and Patricia looked to each other again, and maintained the gaze for only a moment before they started to laugh.

“Five seconds before she makes it happen again.” Patricia spoke up, pulling out her phone.

“Two.” Carnelian countered.

Claire quietly screamed. “I’m going to go where I want to go and—ah—ahhhhh… o-oohhh…! Wh-what…?!”

Somehow, between her words, Claire’s legs were suddenly apart, and Belinda was between them. Claire’s panties had already been lost somewhere in the pile, and Belinda was dutifully licking and sucking at her lover’s sex.

Another blink, and Claire was laying back across the couch, Belinda’s lips wrapped around one of Claire’s nipples, her own leg draped over Belinda’s shoulder. Her dress was down around her waist, vinyl bunched up tight as Belinda moaned and nibbled, her eyes fluttering and her body squirming.

She’s only… been touching me… for a little while but it feels… it feels…

“Fuuuck…!”

Claire screamed as she came, grasping desperately for anything to hold onto. As she settled into her afterglow, her mouth hung open, her eyes gazing almost blankly through the ceiling.

Belinda purred, and though she never seemed to move, she was suddenly positioned with her head over her lover’s lap.

“Should we tell her…?” Patricia leaned against Carnelian’s shoulder. “She could end up very dehydrated if we don’t… step in…? Tell her to reign in her mouth and reassure Belinda…? I think if her mind was working she would be more than happy to travel with Claire…”

“How often do you get to see this?” Carnelian gestured at Claire and Belinda, snorting as she shook her head. “Do you really think Belinda will let her dehydrate?

A sound like a chime filled the room.

Claire was now holding a bottle of water.

Patricia opened her mouth to say something, anything, and then let it fall shut and shook her head. “Forgive me for my nurse instincts?”

“Never.” Carnelian wrapped an arm around Patricia’s shoulder, gently kissing her cheek. “Those instincts are protecting my daughter. Keep them strong… Though I won’t lie, I am tempted to toss a pillow at her head…”

Claire whined.

Bottle… in my… hand…? I…

“Belindaaaa…!” Claire whined. Her body was still throbbing with the pleasure of a climax that built up inside of her in mere moments yet felt as though she’d been teased, even edged and denied, for so much longer than what she could remember. Her toes curled, and she whimpered as she wiggled under her lover. “I… when you… do that… it’s really hard to think…”

She unscrewed the cap, and swallowed a mouthful of water.

Down in her lap, Belinda was still smiling peacefully.

“You really don’t understand it yet?” Patricia looked almost concerned all over again as she wrapped an arm around Carnelian’s waist, rubbing her cheek into the red-eyed woman’s closest.

“No…!” Claire pitifully whined. “I don’t understand why yuri goggles are such a thing eith—”

Carnelian’s hard glare shut up Claire without a sound, or even a gesture.

“That is a very serious topic, young lady, and I will expect you to respect your mommy when she tells you this.” She shuddered, kissing Patricia’s cheek again as she squeezed the woman closer before shuddering. “Do you think there are any of… them around the campus…? Alexis didn’t report any of them to me, or Harmonia, but I think she was very focused on Claire…”

“Mm… I think there might be one or two, mostly just there for school…?” Patricia shrugged. “They would understand what was happening, to their credit… They might think it was a little…” Patricia smirked. “…bizarre, but…”

Claire stared in absolute confusion as the Nightingale and Weaver kissed, their bodies turning towards each other. Breasts squished against breasts, hips grinding into hips, and Claire shuddered with a whine.

I have… no idea why… what…

How…?

Claire fluttered her eyes, biting her lip.

“Belinda…?” Claire slowly stroked her hair. “I love you, and no matter what…? You’re going to stay with me… got it…?”

She squirmed in Claire’s lap, slowly shifting to face Claire with a bright smile. “No choice in the matter… I spent a long time wanting you, loving you… and now that I know you love me, too… Now that we’re together…” She wiggled, kissing at one of Claire’s thighs, and then the other. “I don’t care if you have sex with other girls. I don’t even care if you date them… You can have time alone with them even, as long as I know where you are…”

Belinda fluttered her lashes, and Claire squirmed.

“I am never going to feel so far away from you…”

She kissed at Claire’s thigh, and then suddenly after another chime, Belinda was instead sitting in Claire’s lap, looking down at her. Their noses were touching, rubbing so gently.

Patricia and Carnelian whispered into each other’s ears.

Belinda kissed Claire’s lips.

“Never again.”

Claire blinked, and stared with an open mouth. She was overwhelmed, but processing Belinda’s movements, processing the sensations that she felt as though she’d felt, but hadn’t felt, it all made Claire dizzier, and dizzier.

She laid back, slumped against the couch, staring up at Belinda in a daze.

“Belinda, dear?” Carnelian smiled at her as she looked over. “Glad you’re a little more awake. For what it’s worth, I have no intention of taking her from you. You will of course… share? I can afford you and your lover opportunities… to make her happier than she could be in any other circumstance.”

“And without my training?” Patricia held a hand to her own chest. “You know it’s just a matter of time before she breaks something again and has no idea how to fix it…”

Belinda kissed at one of Claire’s cheeks, and then the other. She squeezed at Claire’s hips, using the grasp to pull her lover up off of the couch just high enough to squeeze her bare ass. Claire whined, but remained staring at the ceiling, her eyes still blank, her lips still slightly moving without any words, or even sounds, escaping them.

Patricia and Carnelian watched Belinda for several moments, nestling, and kissing, as they waited for her response. If they were at all alarmed then it didn’t show on their faces, or anywhere else.

After Belinda was done kissing Claire’s lips, she turned towards the two older women, preening. “Mm… If I kept Claire from someone like you, she’d never forgive me, and I need her to love me, too, or this doesn’t feel… right.” Purring, Belinda nuzzled into Claire’s breasts, kissing at the soft, smooth skin in front of her lips. “She has a lot to learn… especially if she can’t figure out that even time can’t keep me from her anymore…”

Both of them nodded, smiling just as cheerfully as Belinda.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Belinda.” Carnelian held a hand over her chest. “I’m Carnelian—your girlfriend’s third mother. I should have known that there was something very special about you when Michelle told me how much you love my Claire.”

Claire groaned as she heard her name, and Belinda blew cool air across her nipple.

With another groan, Claire settled back down into the couch under her.

“And I should have realized anyone who would hold Claire like that was someone special.” Belinda yawned, and closed her eyes. “Doing that time stuff didn’t wear me out, but we had a lot of sex earlier. Sorry you missed out.”

Carnelian looked to Patricia and both of them grinned.

“Oh don’t worry.”

“We’ll make time to fix that.”

Patricia grinned.

Carnelian scowled and pointed at the door.

An hour later, all of the women Alexis gathered were awake. Elizabeth, Lauren, and Vivienne were in the kitchen, preparing food for the group. Fiona and Michelle were kneeling together with Minerva and Minuette, quietly discussing their obedience.

Alexis was sitting on the couch beside Claire, her legs crossed over Rachel’s back. Belinda was sitting possessively in Claire’s lap, arms around her neck, head nuzzled into her shoulder.

Claire was still a little hazy around the edges, but Belinda was wide awake.

Carnelian and Patricia sat on a pair of nearby chairs.

“So, we should discuss what’s going to happen from here.” Patricia smiled. “Naturally, I will be training Claire… but nothing says a Nightingale can’t learn how to get nice and knotty.”

Alexis’s cheeks burned. “I wish you would quit saying that. I also wish that we could eat the cake I bought for Claire before waiting for dinner. I’m hungry now, and this is a once in a lifetime experience…!”

“And we’re going to set a good example for Claire by, even on such an important day, still eating a decent dinner before having cake.” Carnelian smiled sweetly. “If you’re so eager to stick a utensil into something, I’m sure that one of the Kims has a sex toy or two you can borrow to achieve a similar effect. Or you could just be patient.”

Huffing, Alexis crossed her arms over her chest.

Smiling sweetly, Belinda reached over and softly stroked her hair.

“But of course, you’re right.” Carnelian smiled. “I think this could be a good excuse for us to grow our factions… closer. They used to do it by marrying bloodlines… I see no reason to treat this any differently. I will share with Claire… you will share with Claire…”

“And thankfully with Nightingales having a nonaggression pact with all of the other conspiracies?” Patricia smiled warmer. “Basically anywhere she goes, she’ll be welcome. Maybe she’ll even get to learn the secrets of Darkest Lipstick or the fencing styles of La Maupin…”

Carnelian raised an eyebrow. “Please, do not convince my daughter to learn how to burn down a convent.”

“Only one member of La Maupin ever burned down a convent in modern history.” Patricia cleared her throat before sipping a glass of water. “Unless you believe rumors that I am unable to confirm, or deny, as a neutral party in the dispute.”

“I think the worst part was that they tried to claim there wasn’t even a convent there in the first place.” Carnelian snorted. “Then why did we have the habits, Patricia? Why did we have the habits?!” Her serious expression of distaste only lasted for a moment, soon dissolving into laughter as Claire looked to Alexis in confusion.

Alexis shrugged. “This is why I don’t get into politics.” She gestured to Patricia and her mother with a huff. “I just show up, make women cum, tie their brains into knots, and move on.”

“For now…” Carnelian whispered under her breath.

Alexis raised an eyebrow. “What was that, mother?”

Carnelian smiled sweetly. She looked directly into Alexis’s eyes, and her daughter looked back as if stubbornly daring her to repeat herself.

Claire cleared her throat.

What do I say to make… them… both… stand down…? She looked worriedly to Patricia, but the blonde shook her head, waving her hand as if to tell Claire to push that thought away.

“You are, I think, an evening star.”

The words seemed to strike Alexis right between her eyes. She groaned, her lids hooding as she slumped back into the couch. Her lips barely moved enough to let her speak.

“The fairest of… all… the… stars…”

Claire giggled, blushing as she stared at her “napping” sister. Alexis was still wearing the sweater dress that showed so much of her breasts, and slumped as she was it presented a beautiful view. “Shouldn’t she be… awake… for this…?”

Carnelian giggled. “She’ll wake up eventually when I don’t keep telling her more things to consider… or because I’ve said that. Anyway… Patricia is right. You will have a unique opportunity to learn things I could only dream of… perhaps we could even use this to start a greater collective of conspiracies… truly make this world a lesbian paradise…”

“Ohhh… That sounds…” Claire clenched her thighs, and fluttered her eyes. “Really… hot…? Uhm… but… that’s the future…” Claire took in a deep breath, and anxiously exhaled. “What happens to… the women Alexis… gathered up… and… my mom… M-Mae I mean…”

“Relax, my little Claire.” Carnelian smiled smoothly. “She is your mommy, just as I am. Technically, if we’d wanted to fetch Mae back, our grace period ended… five years ago…? And you already shaped her to your whims—or started to. I’ll be teaching you how to tend to her knots properly, and once I have…” She gestured vaguely towards Belinda. “She’ll be in your hands—same for Sophia. I’ll want to visit time to time… but we can work that out in due time.”

Claire smiled.

“Mae was wrong about you.”

Carnelian chuckled.

“She was wrong about a lot of things… but not how much it’s worth protecting your smile. As for the others… Patricia, would you like to weigh in?”

Patricia sipped her water again, giggling. “Well, Belinda belongs to Claire. I think that might go a bit both ways now, but… Belinda was in her care when I found them together. That means that by all rights, taking her with Lauren? Was a faux pas.”

Carnelian frowned.

Claire squirmed. Is she angry at me because I’d already… sort of… claimed Belinda…? Is she going to stop loving me now, is she—

“Please forgive me, Claire.” Carnelian’s frown shifted into a look more full of regret than frustration. “I had no clue I’d be stepping on your toes. There are… codes of conduct. I might casually dominate Alexis, and I think it might be fun to see how you and I can play, but… I never meant to take someone so important to you. To make amends… keep her sister and her mother as well.”

Patricia giggled, and Carnelian raised a black eyebrow. “Do you really think you could keep them if Belinda wanted them near her?”

Carnelian shrugged, smiling sweetly. “Who can say? But I’d rather not posture with my daughter like that. Keep two families together—everyone wins. The best compromises make everyone happy, so everyone wants to stick to them.”

Alexis groaned, fluttering her eyes. She opened her mouth, ready to speak, but quickly closed it again and sunk back into the couch. The way her arms crossed under her chest both drew Claire’s gaze, and made her look incredibly petulant. She didn’t mutter under her breath, but the look on Alexis’s face screamed that she wanted to.

Claire blushed, and leaned over to kiss her sister’s cheek, and then Belinda’s.

“So that’s the Guests, and the Kims…” Carnelian held up her hand, tapping idly at the tips of her fingers. “Michelle and Fiona are Weaver property. Michelle underwent the lathe and does not have the mark… but Fiona does. She’s been properly initiated. She stays with us.”

Fiona quivered mid conversation, shuddering and clenching her whole body.

“Are they going to drop out of school, or…?”

Alexis smirked. “They’ll have very busy weekends, and whenever they don’t need to study they’ll have other… matters to attend to… but Weavers still go to school. I just take my classes remotely while I’m traveling around… and I took this semester off—in preparation for this. It felt more reasonable to expect Harmonia would let me take this assignment if I wasn’t up to my tits in homework.”

“But you will do your homework, won’t you?” Carnelian smiled. “After all… mommy’s house…”

Belinda and Alexis both groaned. Their eyes glazed. They focused in on Carnelian, eyes fluttering as they responded in the same exact moment.

“Mommy’s… rules…”

Claire quivered. “That was… sexy… but… that’s good…! I’d miss my friends…”

Carnelian smiled. “Don’t worry, you won’t be losing anyone. At most, they might need to take a little trip here or there… as for your professor, Miss Quinn? She’s Alexis’s property, but your sister seems very keen to share…”

Alexis cleared her throat. “And there’s Elizabeth. She has minimal strategic value for the moment, and I did convert her specifically for Claire. She could be repurposed, but it just makes more sense for my sister to keep her, so… she’d fall into my property, too, but that can be my lasting gift considering uh… my own… clumsiness.”

“Aw… You’re so sweet…!” Claire kissed her sister’s cheek, quietly purring. “You did a great job with her…! I think we’ll all be getting a lot of fun out of her…”

Alexis blushed, returning the kiss to Claire’s kiss before catching her lips for another quick kiss. “And that should be… everyone..?”

“Well you’re forgetting one person!” Claire grinned brightly, and everyone in the conversation looked to her uncertainly.

Alexis twisted up her face, and looked around the room, counting on her fingers. “The only people left are… the Mins…? Sis, there is no way she’s going to give them to you. She might let you play with them, and being a Nightingale it would be a big political no-no for her to use that to tie you up in knots, but… that doesn’t mean she needs to give them to you.”

Claire pouted.

“Do you really think I’m so unreasonable that I would expect to get them? Come on!” Wrapping her arms around Alexis, Claire pulled her sister’s head down onto her own shoulder. Belinda shifted her weight, nuzzling into Alexis’s chest. “Mooooommy… Can I keep my big sister?”

“Claire!” Alexis whined loudly, reaching up to adjust her glasses. “That’s… You are such a spoiled little…!”

The other women laughed louder as Alexis wiggled in place, pitifully pouting.

“Sorry, Claire.” Carnelian grinned. “She belongs to me… I’ve done entirely too much work there, and invested too much time, to just give up my precious eldest daughter, no matter how much she might prefer I hand her leash over to you.” Alexis whined loudly as Red eyes hooded low. “However? If you can help me find out how whatever the hell a Labrys does actually works… I’ll give you deeper access than she’d give you on her own.”

Alexis whined. “Hey! I should get a say in—”

“Deal!” Claire beamed as she squeezed Alexis tighter. “So, sis, wanna go out and get axey with me?”

“How do you even know what a labrys is?!” Whimpering, Alexis hid her face in Claire’s neck. “Belinda… Protect me from your girlfriend. Take her up to your room or something… I won’t stop you!”

Belinda peeked up from Alexis’s chest, hooding her eyes as she wiggled her ass, still wrapped up in shining black latex. “You couldn’t!”

Alexis huffed. “I’ll get a girlfriend who can draw on how hard I can make her cum to… to…” Alexis whined, looking desperately around the room. Everyone waited patiently, except for her mother.

“What will she do, ‘lexi?”

Alexis whined, her voice suddenly so much softer, and so much quieter. “She’ll… You’ll…” She nearly whispered, her cheeks a deep red. “…I don’t need a girlfriend, only slaves…”

Claire huffed, squeezing her sister tighter. “Well you threw a surprise party for me today, so you’d better reconsider that really quick, because I am not your slave, and I’m pretty sure that Belinda likes your tits enough to be okay with me dating you… though I think you might need to spend plenty of time with her, too!”

Belinda nodded, her face carefully positioned between Alexis’s breasts so each nod brushed her cheek against soft, round breasts. “Preferably in a sweater like this… or topless. I’m not picky, but unless you want me to get tick-tocked off…”

Alexis groaned, and hid her face deeper in her sister’s shoulder.

Claire grinned. “So I think that is everyone… and Patricia… I’m happy to be your apprentice, really…! Happy to be a… part of the Weaver… alliance…? However this works! I guess that means there’s no more serious business, just… Everything worked out for the best! And now my nightmares will go away on their own!”

Carnelian cleared her throat. “Actually, your political position will be very important, so I’m going to need to insist you actually return to therapy. We have some in-house, so to speak, and I’ll naturally forbid them from weaving you… though Nightingales know a lot more about therapy than a Weaver would, I imagine.” She motioned to Patricia, sipping at her own water as she crossed one long elegant leg over the other.

“She’s not wrong. Therapy, no more putting off your meds…” Patricia smiled apologetically when Claire whined. “We’re not trying to gang up on you. You had an… unintentionally traumatic experience, and this whole mess had to be traumatic because of how poorly Mae equipped you to be ready for all of this. We can’t undo anything that happened, but we can all work together to make sure that going forward, things go… better.

“And any Nurse who doesn’t allow others to treat her injuries…?” Patricia raised a brow. “She will only hurt others that much worse—no matter how much good she intends to do.”

“Plus…” Alexis hugged her sister back, lips pressing into her cheek. “We love you. I can only speak for me, and for… our… mommy…” Carnelian quietly squealed, and Alexis blushed. “And probably your girlfriend here… and definitely Elizabeth in the next room… but… you’re an amazing woman, we all want to have you healthy and happy for a long time. Every time anyone says… anything, or looks unhappy, you obviously worry they hate you.”

Alexis stared into her sister’s eyes, and Belinda shifted to do the same.

“Let’s… fix that, huh?”

Claire flushed, and nodded slowly as tears filled her eyes. She needed to clear her throat to find her voice. “That sounds… really good…?”

“Then it’s settled…!” Carnelian chuckled. “We’ll eat our fill once food is prepared… Then we’ll have the cake Alexis was so kind to procure… and once all is done, Claire, we’ll fetch your mother, instruct you on proper care of a renegade…” She hooded her eyes. “And then you’ll be left… relatively… to your own devices. But I’m not going to leave my estate nearby… not for some time. And even if I do on business…?

“Alexis is going to help me keep an eye on you from afar. If anyone ever threatens the happiness of my precious daughter, or her lovely friends…?”

Snap!

Carnelian’s hand rose, and in almost no time at all, one of her Mins stood at either side of the sitting Carnelian.

Belinda wiggled her hips. “It’s tempting to move them into opposite corners of a room, but it feels unnecessarily mean.”

Claire whimpered and huggled Belinda close. “Don’t do that…! …unless you make it so that will turn them on first, or make them more obedient to my mommy first…? They’ve got all kindsa threads stretching between them, and—”

“That’s how you did it?!” Alexis groaned, slapping her forehead. “Neither of them is Minerva or Minuette…!”

Patricia shrugged as Claire looked in her direction.

Carnelian grinned.

“Like I said, Claire…” The red-eyed woman stroked the white hair of her gorgeous attendants. “You are a very bright woman… and I think that we can make a very bright future working together.”

Claire smiled brightly, nodding as she hugged her sister and her girlfriend close.

“A bright future, for every woman… whether they know it’s what they want, or not.”

Carnelian’s grin deepened as she raised her glass to press it against Patricia’s, and the two older women swallowed what remained of their waters in one long gulp.