The room was quiet, eerily quiet, which was a bad sign. Little Mouse knew only of a handful of times when the Mistress had been so quiet. Fury and anger were loud, very loud, they were roaring and crackling flames. Not this quiet, not this silence. It was unnerving to her, unnatural. She would have avoided the door entirely if she didn’t risk disobedience by doing so.

Little Mouse approached the room carefully, opening slowly. There was a lone occupant within. The Mistress sat next to the house’s window, her perfect glorious naked body floated under the moonlight, her wings spread wide behind her and still, the room sweltering with her power. It seeped through Little Mouse’s skin, a sweet poison. The maiden moaned and fell to her knees, flushed and becoming hotter by the second.

“So I had not been imagining it, it did not affect him at all.” The Mistress declared, frowning, her body quietly gliding over Little Mouse as the maiden wriggled and groaned, desperately fighting against the feeling seeping into her. “Or perhaps not quickly enough.”

With a snap of her fingers, the feeling was gone.

Little Mouse laid on the floor, panting. “Th-thank you, Mistress.” She whimpered, breathless, hands clenching the hem of her dress. “This servant begs for forgiveness.”

“You did as you were told flawlessly, Little Mouse, as always. This is a reward.”

The Mistress purred, lowering her heel so it may touch Little Mouse’s stomach. The small maiden squeaked and muttered thanks with breathless gasps. The effects of her Mistress’ powers might have dissipated, but her body was still aflame with blissful sensation.

“What… what should I do, Mistress?” Little Mouse panted, wriggling under the weightless heel of the Succubus.

“Continue observing them, of course. That brute did something drastic, and the situation might change depending on how the Earl responds.” She spoke with an amused hum. “Meeting Rick in person didn’t bear the fruits I’d hoped. But it was worth the risk.”

The Mistress was not angry? Little Mouse felt elation within her heart. She smiled brightly and nodded in affirmation, wriggling further until the Mistress lifted her foot. The Succubus landed back on the floor, languidly returning towards the window, her steps light. Her gaze was distraught, a perfectly manicured finger caressing her lips seductively.

“But something is missing.”

Little Mouse had managed to recover herself enough to stand back up, keeping herself bowed as she flattened her dress.

“Tell me, Little Mouse, are you sure he barely had an aura?”

She quickly checked her memories as best she could. “At first I’d thought he had none at all. But that was because White Claw’s aura was overwhelming.”

“I felt it too, quite the… beast. Continue.”

“I spied on him while he was outside of that overbearing aura’s range, and his aura was almost invisible to my senses.”

“And last night?”

That gave Little Mouse pause, and she quickly grimaced. “I am sorry, Mistress, I’d been too focused on the wrong things. This servant begs for forgiveness.”

The Mistress scoffed, and a simple gesture of her hand indicated the dismissal of the matter. “If you did not pay attention to it, then you must not have been able to sense it.”

Little Mouse hesitated. “… ‘it’, Mistress?”

“Something most… tasty.” She spoke with an amused grin, reaching out for the window and opening it with a push. “I am feeling peckish, make sure to inform little Nico I might be late.”

“Yes Mistress.” A bow. “And if Nicolas has to depart to work in the castle?”

“Don’t rouse suspicion, stick to your roles.”

With a flick of her wings, the Mistress flew out of the window and into the darkness. Little Mouse waited for her to depart before closing the window, but making sure not to lock it. THAT had definitely made Mistress mad when it had happened and it was something she would not want to repeat.

Carefully, she inspected the room for errant trash or stains. A couple deep sniffs and she confirmed that Mistress had certainly been in a good mood. With nothing to clean or tidy up, she hurried downstairs. After the work in the castle and before Nicolas came, she had to check up on the owners to make sure they were healthy.

The human male and the Ingenue were currently laying naked in each other’s arms. They were both asleep, exhausted. The smell of sex permeated all around the room, Little Mouse started working. First check that the restraints are well placed, then check on the Mistress’ bracelet to confirm it’s been charged up. Once those were secure, she knocked both of them off of the bed, changed the sheets, and pulled them back on top. A check of their pulse, and a little healing spell for the bruises on the man’s hips. She hurried out with the dirty sheets and returned with water and food for when they woke up.

The two would undoubtedly consume the food before getting back to focusing on each other’s pleasure and nothing else. The Mistress’ curse was still strong, it would last perhaps another week before it had to be renewed. Little Mouse sighed, remiss of the days when it was her who was cursed, wriggling and gasping and moaning.

Maybe Mistress would find what she’d been looking for, and she’d reward Little Mouse in celebration. She sighed wistfully at the prospect, shivering at the echoes of pleasure.

The knock at the door drew her to the front of the house. She quickly rinsed herself with the scent remover and closed the guest room. Her fingers brushed against the doorknob as she cast a spell of silence, one of the few the Mistress had deigned she’d need to learn for her work.

At the door was Nicolas, the young man pale and drenched.

“Sir Nicolas!” With a squeak, Little Mouse helped him inside, hastily pulling him to the fire. “Dry up, I will bring something warm and towels.”

“Th-The mistress.” He stammered.

“Is not here.” Little Mouse proclaimed from the kitchen, grabbing everything she could carry and taking it to the man she was bonded to but did not serve. “What happened?”

“Just a mishap, a kit learning her abilities. It-It’s not important.” His declaration came with shivers, stripping naked in front of the fireplace and drying up as best he could. “I have news! Important news!”

Little Mouse hesitated, frowning ever so slightly. Nicolas might have been a human, but his presence in the Earl’s castle had remained away from many of the important places where maidens with hearing like her own could pick up on secrets. She glanced at him while nodding.

“Must the Mistress be called? Is it an emergency?”

Nicolas grimaced at the question. “It’s… important, but not urgent, maybe, I’m not sure if it’s urgent or not. But the Mistress will most definitely want to know about it. And promptly.”

He smelled excited, happy, doubtful, afraid, and his heart was beating so fast he might as well be running. “Tell me.”

“He scared Deneva.”

Three words, and they gave Little Mouse pause. “He scares me too, most of the time. He smells of Sabertooth all over; she never lets him go out without her scent all over him. Ever. Her fur gets on everything too.”

“No, you don’t understand. The knights won’t stop whispering about it.” He grasped her shoulders, looking into her eyes intently. “Right in the middle of a deadly fight with White Claw, and with just one look, a human made Royal Knight Captain Deneva hesitate.”

Little Mouse’s eyes widened.

“Then the mistress…”

“She might have found the one she’d been looking for.”