We decided to spend the night in the sisters’ castle, and return to Frostreach in the morning. One glass raised in Ebonheart’s name became two, and then more, as we took a moment to shed the tension from the day’s battle. No matter the outcome, having a flight of dragons swoop down upon you was not something that even the sturdiest soul could survive unshaken.

The damage to the Will of Winter and Kobold’s Guile was light. Both ships were enchanted to have immunity to fire. That was not an overly common enchantment for a ship to have, but it was far from unique, especially when a ship is made of wood, or unmelting ice. They did not have the same resistance against other elements, however, so this was a case where a dragon with acid or lightning for breath would have fared far better than one with fire.

The cannons had proven their worth, doing what would have taken a team of mages to accomplish. But their slow firing time definitely showed when it came to actual combat against living creatures. They were best suited to combating other ships, or defensive points.

The Hidden Palace of House Faydark was not a ship, but a floating island. Whatever magics it used to remain in the air were kept far from the surface of the island, and the walls above ground were of conventional make. So, the damage to the walls could be repaired, in time. Fortunately, none of the valuable weapons had been damaged.

Unfortunately, the battle had shown that the castle’s weapons and defenders were ill suited to fending off an attack by a single powerful enemy. While it would take an army of normal humans to overrun its walls, creatures who were an army unto themselves were able to shrug off most of its attacks with ease. If Vestele had not gotten lucky with her spell, Kulrys would have likely destroyed the island, and killed both of the sisters before any of us could have intervened.

And if the island had fallen, then Kulrys would have turned his attention on the rest of us. Or the dragons would have moved to trying their spells and claws against our ships, instead of their breath. We did not, after all, defeat most of them, but convinced them that defeating us was not worth the cost.

Perhaps that is why I found myself at the veiled curtain that served as a door to their shared chambers that evening. Or maybe it was the drink. Either way, here I was.

Through the veil that kept some sliver of mystery while offering an implicit invitation, I heard two voices moaning in pleasure. The sisters were having fun, it seemed. Knowing by now that they did not mind having someone look in on them, I gently pulled the curtain aside, to see what was happening. But what I saw was more shocking than I had imagined.

Writhing black tentacles filled their luxurious room. But it was not the Black Tentacles spell. No, these tentacles were not trying to crush the life out of the sisters. Instead, they played over their naked bodies in ways I had never seen before. Dim memories of my last life came to the surface. Older girls on my soccer team talking about some cartoon porn movie they’d caught their boyfriends watching. I hadn’t understood at the time what they were talking about.

Even now, with my admittedly better understanding of the pleasures of the flesh, I wasn’t convinced of the appeal. The tentacles writhing about, gripping, binding, penetrating all their holes… I couldn’t understand what they saw in it. But their moans, muffled by the tentacles in their throats, made clear how much they were enjoying themselves, especially since I knew that the tentacles could not hold Siora unless she allowed them to.

The scene was erotic in a way that nothing else I had seen before was. Perhaps it was the fact that the sisters were clearly having a very good time, coupled with the sheer wrongness of those tentacles doing that, but it felt like something taboo, just watching them. Without meaning to, I found myself biting my lip as I watched, one hand moving beneath my nightgown as I did so.

Maybe I made some noise, because Siora’s eyes turned my way. She couldn’t say anything, with the tentacle in her mouth, but the way a tentacle pulled back the curtain, let me know I was invited. Still, I wasn’t certain if I wanted to jump into all of that. Laying with my beautiful lover and her sister was one thing. Tentacles was something completely different!

Perhaps Siora recognized my hesitance. She motioned with the staff that was still in her hand, and the tentacles pulled back in an area. They did not disappear, but they all bent away, creating a path I could walk on to get to the sisters. I had to smile at that. They had always been good about not trying to push me into things I wasn’t ready for, despite the fact that they hid nothing about the ‘indulgences’ they enjoyed as followers of the Succubus Queen.

Tentatively, I took a step forward. The tentacles did not snap back to try and ensnare me, so I took another, entering the chamber fully. Slowly, I made my way to where Siora and Vestele were suspended in midair, their bodies slick with sweat and writhing in pleasure as they let the tentacles go about their perverse work.

As I approached, the sisters cried in unison as the tentacles pushed them to another climax. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of them they’d had. How long had this spell been active? But before I had time to wonder about that, the tentacles gently let the women down to the ground, and disappeared. The spell was over.

“Ah, Mel,” Vestele coughed as she tried to use her voice for something other than moaning. “We didn’t expect you to come by. Would you like a turn with the staff? I promise you, it is everything Sanvi promised and more. When Siora holds the staff, she can control the movement of the tentacles, making them even more effective.”

“Um, no. Thanks, but no. I am not nearly so adventurous as you two are, I’m afraid. The, um, ‘party’ with the demons was one thing, but I’m definitely not looking to add tentacles to the mix. Sorry.”

“Mm, don’t worry about it, Mel,” Siora said, as she stretched, and pushed herself off the floor. She had that ‘just fucked’ glow about her, like her sister did, and was distracting as hell. “We’re just glad you aren’t the poor little prude you were when we first met. Blushing at the barest hint of what we did.”

I flushed slightly at the memory. “Well, excuse me for not being followers of a literal succubus demon goddess! And I still had things I was working through from my last life!”

“I know that, silly. We’re just teasing you. But seriously, we are glad that you came out of your shell. We didn’t want to push you, since we knew you’d been through a lot, with the reincarnation, but it isn’t healthy to go constantly denying yourself pleasure.”

“And I thank you for not pushing. Though I admit it always surprised me. I would have thought you’d be trying more to ‘corrupt’ me.”

Vestele laughed. “Ah, that is a common misconception about our Queen, and succubi in general. A succubus does not force someone into corruption and vice, as a rule. The true power one can get from corrupting someone does not come from raping them into submission. While that can be a fun way to deal with enemies, it is not how you draw someone into offering up everything they have, and are.”

Siora nodded, and continued her sister’s lesson. “That is why a succubus is known as a seductress, not a rapist. The point is in offering up temptations, and guiding someone into traps of their own making. Simply dominating a pure mortal’s mind and having my way with them would be enjoyable, certainly, but it wouldn’t taint the soul to the same degree even as just putting them under a charm, and then persuading them to enjoy themselves. Even better is when you don’t use magic to alter their mind, so that they don’t even have that excuse when they eventually realize what they’ve done. Their self-recriminations drive pure souls to falling all the faster, then.”

“Huh,” I said, taking a moment to think things through. “I’ll admit, that makes sense. Much like how I’ve run Frostreach by offering incentives for people to join Auril’s faith, or at least not work against me, rather than forcing compliance.”

“Yes, that is a good example,” Vestele agreed. “You definitely impressed us with that move. Oh, it lessens your power in the short term, certainly, but without that coercion, you remove a wedge that outsiders could use to drive your nation apart, in hopes of causing a rebellion at a critical juncture, possibly even getting individuals to sabotage the defenses from within.”

“Indeed,” her sister grinned. “And it helps with foreign relations, as well. Without the card to play of offering freedom from your ‘tyranny’, I doubt that Zadkiel is having much luck in drumming up support for his army. Oh, there will be zealots, of course, but without a good portion of the nearby nobles supporting him? He’ll have a far greater task ahead of him trying to get an army formed and supplied, much less getting them up to Frostreach.”

I chuckled. “Of course, magic makes many things possible. Though trying to teleport an entire army is not something most beings are capable of.”

Vestele nodded in response. “Yes, teleporting an entire army is all but impossible. Portals could do the job, but they are static, and have to be built on both ends. Another possibility would be to use Gate spells. You’d need at least two, one to get to another plane, and a second to get back, but it would allow you precision in where you wished to go. And you could get through large numbers of troops, if you held it open long enough. But even so, that is the work of an extremely high-level caster, using spell slots that could be put to far better use, and there is still a limit in how many troops could get through before the caster was forced to let the spell drop.”

As she spoke the last word, Vestele licked her lips, and walked up to me. Suddenly, I realized that the sisters, near perfect copies of each other, were both standing quite close to me, and neither one had bothered putting on any clothes after their… exertions. As either arm got pressed between luscious mounds, I found my breath catch, as my brain tried to reboot.

“You know, sister, while our darling little Mel might not be interested in trying out the tentacles, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a bit of fun, no? She definitely didn’t come here just to talk about how to get armies around without walking. It has been a while since we showed this queen what we can do.”

“Mmm,” Siora said with a grin, as her hand rested on my backside. “Yes, and if what I saw while she was watching us is any indication, I bet she’s already wet and ready for us. We just need to pull off this little gown of hers, and we’ll be all set.”

The next thing I knew, I was being guided to the bed, and somehow my gown had been left behind. I put up only a token resistance as the beautiful women pressed me down to the bed, and lay on either side of me. After all, with everything that had happened, first with Indsamling and now with the dragons, I had a lot on my mind. Some… companionship would be just what I needed to clear my head. But I was not used to someone else being in control. It, well, it wasn’t terrible.

As their fingers began exploring my body, I just laid back, and gave my self over to their ministrations. I didn’t want to fight them on this. Certainly not now. I gasped as the sisters each took a nipple in their mouth, and began sucking on it. It was going to be a great night, I was certain of it.