Ecdysis

Chapter 35. Dirty Little Secrets

Isra Enoch Haleh

She took a glance outside of her workshop and, seeing as no one was paying attention to her, closed the gates. While the place was originally built with a wide open entrance, the recent scrutiny from her own House forced some additions. The front was still open so she could have fresh and cold air, but Wrena had built a solid wall all around it.

Tall enough to keep everything hidden from passers-by and solid enough not to leave any gaps to peep through. Isra went around and covered the inside with tar just in case.

Erf had grumbled something about a fire hazard, but she assumed he was in a bad mood back then. The fire was not a hazard in the smithy but an expectation! Besides, Isra wasn’t reckless — she knew plenty of spells and tricks to smother fires and anything wooden was a good distance away from the furnace.

She welcomed the solitude. In the last few days, there was more and more commotion within the estate and across the entire Manor. And the rest of Samat, most likely: the Divine Ritual was quickly approaching.

She scratched at the base of her horn and shook her head. It might’ve started already without her notice.

Isra had more important things on her hands right now.

The so-called blast furnace ran for a day and a half. It ate through all of the ‘coke’ they managed to produce beforehand and the entire storage of charcoal they had available in the estate. It did provide barrels upon barrels of white-hot liquid metal, that was subsequently cast into ingots as large as her arm.

Isra glanced at the large stack of ingots and grinned thinking of all the things it promised. Despite being short steel.

As far as she understood, the second furnace collected heat from the fire, away from burning coals, and melted short steel into a large puddle. There it would churn and boil, and burn away all those things that made it short first.

And then Erf, once again, did something she didn’t expect: he wasted good steel on her.

Rather than wait until it was all done, he instructed her to tap off small batches of metal at regular intervals. He even brought a water clock for that. And then he instructed her to write down the interval numbers and anything else that she could see about the puddle when she tapped another batch. Not for himself — this knowledge would later become Isra’s first manuscript on metallurgy. For her and her family.

Isra was extremely grateful that Yeva agreed to help her. How she did it with a blindfold on was a mystery even for her, but Isra didn’t pry. She could write well but not while handling liquid that scorched your face and showered the area in white burning sparks. Stung like wasps, they did.

Erf called it a ‘scientific method’ and promised to get her some fire armour.

Isra told him to dunk his head in cold water: the last thing she wanted was a drop of molten fire getting stuck between her skin and layers of clothing.

It didn’t matter how he called the process because she knew of it. Isra worked for years before her teachers stopped giving mindless tasks that taught the body, and not the mind. She was a mastersmith, but even Esmat would be willing to make nails and hoof shoes just to learn from a daimon.

Isra stilled and tried to feel any nearby Spark: there were none.

Knowledge was only the beginning. Each tap gave her an ingot of steel, different steel. The first ones were brittle and the final ones resembled the steels she was usually working with. And then there were blanks cast in the middle of the process.

Her fingers caressed the most prized possessions in the smithy. A scant few ingots that sang to her when she struck them, that sent the brightest sparks far and wide when they were cast. Steel that would fetch its weight in gold if she were to sell it on the market to a knowing smith.

She would not dare. They were hers! Well, Erf took a small sample from each ingot to do his experiments, but the rest were hers.

Taking another glance around, Isra pulled a heavy pouch out of her sash. A gift from Yeva for those armoured gloves.

Her fingers caressed the somewhat rough surface as she marvelled at the sight. According to Yeva, it was leagues ahead of anything on the market. It was runed too, just for her convenience.

Feeling giddy, she quickly attached it to the cogs and axles of her workshop. The main axle was already turning at full speed: before coming here Isra opened the wickers at the fancy waterwheel. All she had to do right now was throw a belt between and the machinery would spring to life.

Isra looked at it moving faster and faster, the wooden axles squeaking from strain, as her thoughts took a wrong turn once again.

She knew that she was supposed to do something else right now. Erf has stressed time and time again how much sparks could tell about the contents of a metal blank.

Isra swallowed as she stared at the moving gift. She needed to do…something.

Another frantic glance around her workshop and she tugged at her apron, pulling it upward. With a shaky breath, Isra grabbed a nearby beam and lifted her leg, bringing herself closer and closer.

A small touch and the feeling of vibration flooded her body, from the tips of her horns to her core. She bit her lip, forcing the erupting moan to stay inside. The sounds of machinery weren’t loud enough.

Oh, it was a gift of gifts!

Isra panted harshly through her bitten lips as she let it do its wondrous job. She would need to make something for Yeva in turn. A beautiful trinket, perhaps, or some task. It was worth it.

She would use her best steel for it too! After Erf’s spark notes, however.

But first.

Isra licked her lips as she pressed her other hoof to the spinning grindstone. It was made out of new ‘alumina’ and was further reinforced by runes.

This was the best hoof treatment she had ever had. Nothing else could work so well with wermage hooves.

XXX

I leaned on the nearby pillar as I watched my wife get dressed. Well, getting dressed by a horde of servants, that is.

Anaise’s usual dress was immaculate but today was a special occasion. Today was the day of her Entrance Feast where she would welcome her family while the family would welcome the new addition into their ranks. A grand ceremony that would span most of the day. Even other Manors were invited.

And then she would march across the city to the Palm of Judgement and offer her tribute to the gods of Emanai.

It was no wonder she was getting dressed to impress.

And impress she would. Even servants were gasping at the deep blue of her flowing kaftan, embroidered with gold and encrusted with precious gems. Gasping and avoiding, lest they mar the priceless cloth.

Needless to say, the speed of her hair getting set and braided suffered as a result.

But Anaise bore with it with a stoic face. This wasn’t the first time she had to do something like this. Besides, the two large mirrors not only helped Anaise to appreciate her current splendour but sped up the overall process too.

I also did my best to entertain her with some small talk. A moment of peace away from the hectic schedules of our previous days. Anaise’s attendants were largely part of the estate but some were part of the Manor proper. As such, I didn’t wish to converse about our private matters with so many people around.

Anaise didn’t care as much. I was caught unawares multiple times when she would casually mention our nightly, and sometimes daily, activities without any care about giggling and blushing maidservants. Truly a different concept of privacy even for the likes of me.

“Thank you, girls. Leave us.”

That didn’t mean Anaise would talk about everything in their presence. Our relationship was not even an open secret among the Manor anymore, thanks to Domina. Her comments, while personal, weren’t strictly private.

“Something on your mind?” I asked her as I walked closer. On my way over, I picked up the last one of her ribbons that wasn’t braided into her hair and resumed the task myself.

She sighed. “The day is finally upon us, but my heart is restless. Tell me, Erf, what is it that you truly seek?”

“I assume ‘your hand in marriage’ isn’t what you are asking about?” I raised my eyebrow.

She glanced at me through the mirror and patted my hand on her shoulder. “I appreciate the words, love, but what I wish to know is what would you fight fate for. And what would make you throw away everything and take a different path. Is it that Divine tree that you seek? Lif?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “She isn’t divine and I hope that you will not give her such ideas in the future. While I do wish to find her, there are boundaries that prevent me from doing it immediately.”

“You need wealth? Our Manor can fund the expedition once everything is settled!”

I shook my head. “I didn’t mean physical limitations but moral ones. The things that keep me on my current path. The reason I seek Lif is the exact reason that I’ve sought out my family. It would be the same reason if you, Yeva, or Irje would go missing or require my help. And I cannot pursue one at the expense of others — just as I couldn’t accept you by casting away my sadaq, I cannot drop everything and head out for my tree ship.”

“But you eventually accepted me.”

“And I will eventually find my ship. One way or another. But I will do so in a way that would cause you no undue grief. For me to give up everything and choose a different path is tantamount to becoming a completely different person.” I shuddered. “And that is one of my greatest fears: I’ve already changed so much that my mother doesn’t recognise me anymore. To lose everyone else… I don’t think I wish to experience something like that.”

“But what if you are met with an unstoppable force?”

“Anaise.” I pulled one of her locks away and kissed her earlobe, making her shiver. “Have you forgotten who you are dealing with? A murk that was on the verge of facing against all of Emanai for the sake of his family?”

The werfox squirmed in my arms, “That is different; you were seen as a daimon.”

“I didn’t know that at that time.” I kept tickling her with my whispers. “Yet I still planned on the possibility. I try not to be stupid or rash and I will not meet such an unstoppable force head-on. Even if you have the sharpest sword or the heaviest hammer in the entire world, your swings would be useless against a mere river passing by.”

I got a mouth full of hair as her tail slapped me in the face. “Stop it! You will mess up the dress!”

“As long as you stop being silly again, Anaise. If there are problems in the future — we will face them. Together. Because that is what sadaq is for. I am not a prize that you might lose, nor am I a fool who is willing to discard what he has for some glitter elsewhere. I am your partner — working together is what partners do. Against all odds.”

The tail wrapped around me and threw me at a nearby couch. With a low growl, the huntress was immediately upon me, sizing her prey up and down.

“What about the dress?” I teased her.

Her eyes narrowed. “Aren’t you my partner, dear?”

The tail reached down and carefully pulled the hems of her dress up. “You should work with me on this problem, then.”

Anaise grasped my hair and pulled me inside. Past the clothes that we couldn’t rustle or stain. Foregoing the undressing that would make her late to her Feast. Avoiding the impossible problem altogether.

I delved right into my own Feast. Tasting the most exquisite honey: willingly given and mutually desired. There was no need for foreplay — she was wet, hot, and eager already. There was no need to tease — this wasn’t just one of our usual ‘sexcapades’. She had a need and I was here to fill it.

Anaise moaned as my lips enveloped hers, as my mouth gently sucked on her petals just enough so they would open up. And would present her most sensitive spot to the entire length of my tongue. My hands wrapped around her and did something she could not: pull me even closer.

I set a quick pace as my tongue slid across her nub again and again. The fastest way through the emotional funk was done with other emotions, not words of encouragement or worse — reason. And I was going to flood her body with feel-good chemicals fast and hard.

She gasped in her release as her legs shook around me, spread wide to give me all access I would ever need and to ensure nothing untoward would happen to her fancy dress.

“Feeling better, love?” I murmured as I nuzzled into her thigh, basking in her heat and tiny shivers of satisfaction.

“No. Not yet,” Anaise panted. “Get out.”

She released me from under her skirts but, before I could say anything, a finger landed on my lips.

“Not a word about this,” she hissed, beet red. “You hear me?”

“Says the Lady who would comment about her favourite positions to a blushing maid?”

“This is this and that is that!” Anaise eloquently refuted. “Just shut up!”

She stilled and glanced around, her ears twitching in all directions. Seemingly satisfied with her findings, Anaise stretched her arm and slid a nearby wardrobe right in front of the entrance.

Her other hand pushed me into the sofa.

“Wha—?”

“Your khalat is a mess now,” she murmured, pulling on my sash. Her frantic movements caused her to make mistake after mistake. “You will have to undress anyway.”

I tried to assist her, but she growled at me and simply yanked my khalat apart, and hiked my undertunic high.

And then she loudly swallowed seeing my still-raging boner.

“Ana-”

“Be quiet!” she hissed.

Her delicate fingers wrapped around my shaft and pulled it towards herself. She bent slightly down, but then flinched and glared at me. Glowing red.

“Don’t look!”

I suppressed my chuckle and deliberately glanced away. One doesn't laugh when a lady holds his dick. At best the fun would be over immediately. One also tries to sneak peeks but I wouldn't.

Because across from us was a huge mirror.

It was a good thing that her tail wasn’t braided or otherwise decorated because now it was a mess. I couldn’t pull on it properly today but her high-strung emotions caused it to twitch and sway with abandon.

Especially when she tried to touch my tip with the tip of her tongue. While her eyes were squeezed shut.

I moaned approvingly as she did, encouraging her to do more. Not that I had to try hard. I could feel her emotions racing through her body. Her first time giving a blowjob. An unthinkable deed for a noble wermage.

It made me feel like an excited teenager in turn. Painfully hard and desperate for her to get on with it. Yet afraid that I was going to bust my load as soon as she did more than a kiss.

I held myself back as she grew bolder with her actions, as the tip of her tongue started to explore further and further, as it became more than just the tip.

But there were limits too.

“Come on,” I groaned, gently stroking her burning cheek. “Kiss it, please.”

Another glare was sent my way but missed its target.

Anaise huffed but I felt her lips gently pressing on my tip.

“Irje wasn’t lying,” she murmured after licking her lip. “You already taste sweet. Nothing like the stories I’ve heard.”

“There is more,” I panted. “Don’t you dare to stop now!”

She glanced at me, surprised. Then she looked away. Unfortunately, she saw the mirror while doing so. “Oh? And what if I do?”

“That would be teasing!” I complained. “It’s unfair.”

“You mean the thing that you keep doing to me?” She smirked as her hand started to stroke me up and down. “How is that unfair?”

“Please!”

“Tell me, Erf,” she murmured into my shaft. “You said that Matriarch wants a few of your children. Not one — multiple.”

“Yes?” I carefully spoke. Her other hand was suspiciously close to my balls, gently caressing them. For a first-timer, she had quite a repertoire under her sash.

I swallowed. I would find Irje and spank her ass raw for this.

“This means she isn’t just looking for your knowledge but seed too. Is your seed special, oh my daimon?”

“Damn it, Anaise! Suck it and find out yourself!”

“Trust me, Irje had told me plenty about that.” Anaise grinned and took me in her mouth…only to immediately pull out and leave me hard and aching in the cold air.

I groaned.

“Will our children be like Yeva? Smart but with a dim Spark? Or do you have some other tricks up your sleeve? Something that my grandmother undoubtedly picked up on?”

“I will tell you what I told her: I don’t know yet. But I will tell you more: I have more tricks than you could imagine. I might not be familiar with magic but I am the master of genetics. The craft that deals with seed and offspring. I might not make myself into a wermage but I can make it so that our children would be just as strong as you are.”

I rolled my eyes and tried to glare at my excited fox. Where did her previous bashfulness go? “And if you stop teasing me and start sucking, I will tell you yet another tiny detail that you probably haven’t picked up on.”

Ah, there it was. The cheeks were bright and red again, but the temptation was too strong. I hissed as her lips slid down on my shaft.

“Mmph?”

“Go on, oh dear Lady of the House. Start sucking this murk off properly.”

Oh, the glare and the blush were outright atomic.

“That is the payback, dear. Tease and be teased. So? Are you eager to hear the secret?”

Anaise growled on my shaft but started to move up and down. What a beautiful sight it was. A high and noble lady, dressed in luxurious silks of blue and gold, bobbing her head up and down.

And she was afraid that I would ever leave her.

“Mmph!”

“Ah, sorry!” I chuckled. “You already know that my body is strong and quick. Strong and quick as that of a wermage. But I am not. And that strength is not magical. Now, what do you think would happen if you have both?”

She paused for a mere second and then I got my answer. My hint lit another spark in her desire. This wasn’t about making me feel good. Anaise loved my answer and she was eager to show just how much she loved it by the only method available to her.

I bit my lip as the pressure started to build up again. “There is more…”

“Mmph!!?”

Thankfully, she didn’t stop, but her eyes were on me.

“My brain is wired differently now.” It was getting hard to talk. “There are parts that are essential to a Navigator en route, but were generally useless here. Parts that are designed to do nothing but math. Advanced math. Surfaces that curve past two or three dimensions. Numbers that extend beyond-”

I couldn’t finish my thought as I erupted into her mouth. Anaise coughed in surprise but kept her lips tight around me as I twitched in my release, making sure not to spill a single drop. I lay there, drained, with a mess for clothes, and the fox that was sitting on top of me with her mouth full. Staring into the distance, glass-eyed.

She swallowed loudly as her eyes focused on me once again.

“Erf.”

“Anaise?”

“Not a word about this.”

“Of course. I am aware of how something like this could affect your reputation.”

“No, Erf. If what you said after is true, I will suck you in the middle of the Feast without any complaints. Besides, Irje didn’t lie: you do taste rather nice so I can’t even call it a chore. The things that you mentioned about children — not a word.”

“Beyond sadaq?”

“Beyond sadaq.”

Anaise sighed. “I was afraid to talk about children, you know? You have Irje and Yeva, who are eagerly waiting until you are free, yet I was still struck by indecision. Unable to commit fully. This isn’t just about their strength — Spark alone is an important aspect of being wermage. If it came to a decision whether to choose you or have wermage children, I…”

“It is not a question you need to bother with, Anaise. I promise that your children will have Spark. And you should have spoken to me about it directly, so you wouldn’t have to wait until I blurted out the solution in the throes of passion. Just as I said before: this isn’t about me against you — this is us against a problem. And just like that, it became so much easier to solve.”

“Yes.” She smiled brightly at me. “That problem is no more. Instead, it has become our most guarded secret ever.”

Yeva

She had found herself with a rather uncomfortable revelation.

“Who does she think she is? Just because she was the first to spread her legs for a new master somehow makes her better than us?”

Yeva cringed and shook her head. These two servants were nothing but smiles when she was close but, once she managed to walk further away, their masks were off. Didn’t people know that blind people had good hearing? Or previously-blind?

“You act as if you did not expect this,” Shahin observed.

Was this the curse of nanites? To build rapport with wer and wermages at the cost of murk relations? Not Shahin specifically — she was a snake and with obvious motives to be on her good side. But Isra was slowly turning for the better, and she didn’t have many issues with Wrena, Viter, or Keivan either.

While all these slaves that she previously worked with had nothing but distaste for her.

Yeva pursed her lips. “I am a murk, just like them.”

“Wrong. You were just like them, except not anymore. You are a wife of a master now. The one he holds dear. When they look at you all they see is a failure.”

“Failure?”

“Yes. Failure. Their failure. For missing the opportunity to better their lives. Looking at you, they see what could have been them if they were fast enough to seduce Erf. But you stole that spot.”

Yeva scoffed. “Most of them never stood a chance. And I am trying to better their lives, yet they won’t let me.”

The scales rustled. “Truly? What a stupid decision. You should better my life, instead.”

She bristled. “Yours? Why would I do that?”

“Exactly. Why would you do it? Why would you help them? That is what they ask themselves, you know.”

“I thought you offered your skills as an envoy? Where is that help of yours?”

Shahin shrugged. “I am helping you not to waste your time. There is no quick trick to make someone change their opinion about you. If I knew one, I would not be in my current situation, after all.”

Despite her distaste for the snake, she couldn’t fault her logic. Yeva sighed and looked around. Viter was walking silently behind them as a request from Erf: the place was hectic with the Ritual and Feast preparations and she did notice once or twice someone watching her from afar.

But there was less fear in her heart nowadays. There were bound to be eyes on them and to fear them was to live in fear forever. Shahin was merely first among many.

Yeva idly wondered what took Shahin so long.

“Do you seek more of my insights?” the lamura spoke up. “While I am willing to stay around and assist, the kilns are waiting.”

“Ah, yes.” Yeva reached into her sash and pulled out a small pouch. “Could you make a new batch of flasks for Erf? There is a recipe inside. No need to rush, however: the Feast is almost upon us and you likely need time to get ready yourself.”

Lamura bowed. “Of course.”

Yeva nodded and stood still, listening to Shahin slithering away.

Viter coughed nearby.

“Yes?”

“I am not prying, but… I think I’ve seen her sending missives outside quite regularly now. I fear that she isn’t honest.”

“Oh, but she is honest,” Yeva murmured. “Not to us, but that isn’t that big of a problem. Because we do know where her loyalty lies. I know that Esca will have that recipe before the sun reaches the ground. I also know that they won’t be able to reproduce it.

“What I gave her was just a taste. And a small reminder to her Manor that they need us more than we need them. She probably knows this as well for she isn’t stupid. Yet she will act as I expect her to, nevertheless. Exactly because she is loyal to her clan.”

“That’s too complicated for my taste.” Viter shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure that you know. Perhaps do something to her messengers.”

“Thank you, Viter, but that would be unnecessary.”

After all, the secret was knowing when and where to apply the force. Yeva didn’t see herself as an expert but she was willing to put all her effort into practice until she was. She had to learn fast since her teacher still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

The first step was to know the enemy. Their likes and hates, fears and desires.

Even tiny little cravings.