Author's Note

Welcome to the first entry of Eros in the New Year! As the chapter number implies, this story arc takes place immediately after chapter 37 of Feathered Hearts - Continuation and Chronicles and will basically fill in the gap between chapter 37 and the future chapter 38, which will pick up after the events of this arc.

Don't worry, I won't keep you more longer, so let me just give the content warning:

Chapter contains: Involuntarily stripped and aroused griffons along with one ibex buck and drakina, magical breast, cock and ball enhancement, several slowly developing scenes running the gamut from FF to MM and MMF, a lot of fantasy fodder, previously ignorant griffon eaglesses and tiercels discovering the joys of boobs and teatplay, two Paladin tiercels and two Raven eaglesss turned gay for each other, and Gilda actively and openly fantasizing about her comrades.

Thanks as always goes to prereaders Weschel, AJ_Aficionado, Silentwoodfire, Twink_bug, and Silverblade5. They seemed to enjoy this, so hopefully you will too. Mood music? Hmmm... how about an hour of the Hypersonic flight scene from Top Gun: Maverick? Seems perfect for a chapter about communing with and confronting occasionally painful memories.

"Talk to me, Goose..." It was a surprisingly emotional scene. Top Gun: Maverick was an awesome story, and you can bet I'm going to be drawing on more of that movie's music later in C&C when we reenter battle.

37.4 - Queen's Gambit: Empathic Experiences

“Very well, then. Now that we are all far more comfortable with our surroundings and each other, it is time to continue the negotiations,” Queen Lepidoptes announced with a very satisfied smile on her pony-like face.

“Thanks in part to the love collected earlier from Grizelda Behertz and Marco Lakan, to say nothing of the Starshina and Centurion before that, I am not just fully charged but overcharged with love despite this taxing spell, which can greatly boost our physical and magical strength. But can also be unhealthy to us for anything more than short periods of time,” she paused briefly to note.

“So, I shall spend some of that power now by sharing the Centurion’s memories with all present. You wished to show your comrades and commander what happened, Grizelda Behertz? I daresay they are far more open and amenable to what they will see now. So if you are still willing, and with the help of the Starshina’s spell, I will grant that request right now.”

“No!” Cipio shouted again, his voice near panic even as his hips gave an involuntary thrust.

“Ancestors…” Gilda ignored him, starting to wonder how often she was going to use her forebears as an invocation that day, since she hardly ever did so before. But she couldn’t help it as she felt a fresh wave of anxiety and fear wash over her along with a wave of weakness at her remembered passion, strangely uncertain of whether revealing her memories under the light of the Queen’s “Sexual Singularity” spell would make things better or worse.

“With respect, Queen Lepidoptes, as everyone now knows the power of your mating magic and how hard it is to resist, I’m thinking it may not be necessary now…” she said somewhat wanly with a wary glance at an equally uncertain Karin Kazal, and this time, it was both Giraldi and Fortrakt who reached out to steady her as she began to sway in her sitting position, drawing their eyes as her impressive breasts wobbled in mirrored tandem on her belly.

To her surprise, their talons found her shoulders and wingbase, and far from offended by the untoward contact, she leaned into their equal parts steadying and sensual touch as she felt a wave of warmth go through her, her body drinking in their affection as they gave its erogenous areas a caress and squeeze.

“I must agree,” the Starshina replied, suddenly staring not so much at Gilda as Fortrakt’s talons against her body. She could feel them shaking as they intimately touched her, planted firmly on his shoulder or directly beneath her right wing against her quivering muscles. “If all present now understand what not even we did at the time—that we were under the influence of Changeling mating magic, which is not easily resisted, especially in our vulnerable emotional state—that is good enough for me.”

He bowed before the Queen, and for a moment, Gilda swore that the eyes of Miles Fortuna flickered to his exposed hindquarters. She seemed to be taking in his gourd-sized sac which protruded considerably from the back of his body. But then she just as quickly tore her eyes away and shook her head hard, only to find that no matter where she looked was a scene of sexual excitement, whether the self-pleasuring Obsidian Ire or her two cavorting subordinates.

And that was to say nothing of the Paladin and Magus trio on the other side of the room. They continued to quite openly and explicitly enjoy each other’s company, with multiple talons of the Paladins happily inserted into the latter’s nest and sphincter.

“With respect to you both, I must disagree,” the Queen replied after bowing her head back, casting a spell on the three to unknown affect except for an audible groan from the eagless mage. Her hindquarters wriggled as she tried to work the probing digits in deeper, only for her magic to take over and pull them into her; her erotic orifices stretching so wide that they took the long and thick tiercel talons all the way to their base without injury.

“For although some of the Centurion’s comrades have voiced support, the Tribune has not,” she then noted, earning a cringe from Cipio even as his eyes were now locked on the sight of Gilda being felt up as her two best friends and comrades pressed closer. They began to rub her sensitive flying surfaces directly; a glance to her right showed Fortrakt looking amazed that she was allowing it.

“Even aside from the lesson in erotic empathy he requires to fully understand that his desires are not unnatural or even that unusual among griffons, he needs to see your command and combat skills up close and not from a distance, Grizelda Behertz. Needs to see how effective and honorable a leader you truly were, and part of that honor is how you repaid both the Starshina and the Ancestors themselves for saving you. In fact, I would say the same to the rest of you,” she further said as she looked over the room.

“As I sense some of you still harbor doubts or distaste over the Centurion’s actions, it is time to dissolve them completely. For only then can she be absolved, and her judgment and leadership truly trusted in your collective eyes. Still, I will not force this upon the rest of you,” she decided. “As unlike our own memory sharing magic, the Starshina’s spell does not require the inclusion of all, anycreature other than the Tribune who does not wish to participate may remain apart from it.”

A sudden silence was heard in the room, or at least a relative one to Gilda’s ears as the moans and wet slurping sounds of talons and tails inside of nests slowed. But to her surprise and a certain amount of additional anxiety, nocreature voiced an objection; not even a self-pleasuring Obsidian Ire, though her snout opened once or twice as if to speak. It was the same for the Tribune’s protective detail, with the two Paladins glancing at her and whispering to each other.

Despite the lack of objection, the Queen chuckled. “Though I could simply say that not saying no means yes in this instance, I think not. I will not include any of you in this spell without explicit permission,” she told them all. “Again, only the Tribune is required to participate, but for the sake of the Centurion’s honor, I respectfully request that you all take part. Now what say you, my honored and increasingly impassioned guests? Yea or nay?” she prompted them all.

The request caused Gilda to tense, which she knew both Giraldi and Fortrakt could feel through her trembling form, her tail now twitching as much from anxiety as arousal. Still, nocreature immediately replied, and in the end, none spoke until Fortrakt did. “With respect, Queen Lepidoptes, I already promised the Centurion I would participate,” he seemed to remind himself as his talons continued to roam freely over her torso, threatening to dip lower on her belly towards her still-untouched breasts. “So, I will.”

She gave him a nod of acknowledgment. “Very well, Decurion. But as everycreature’s secrets are being revealed, I expect you to reveal yours as well,” she warned him.

HIS secret…? A sorely stimulated Gilda didn’t get a chance to wonder before he answered wanly.

“By your command. But I don’t know its origin or nature myself…” he offered weakly, to which Queen Lepidoptes only shook her head reproachfully.

“Be that as it may, it is notproper to keep such secrets from your comrades, Fortrakt Gletscher. Especially when you might have already used your new abilities on them, whether intentionally or not. And you, Galen Giraldi? Are you ‘in’, as I have already learned humans say?” She turned to Gilda’s former First Spear next.

“I am…” Giraldi’s voice sounded both excited and uncertain as his talons momentarily stilled against her. His gaze glazed over for a moment, going distant as if in fantasy; as she watched he closed his orange eyes and began stroking her spine to whatever he was thinking, causing her hindquarters to involuntarily arch hard into him in an old cub reflex she thought she’d lost long before. “But may my Uxor forgive me, it is not because I need any further convincing that the Centurion’s actions were honorable.”

Despite her ongoing anxiety, she trilled softly at his strangely sire-like ministrations, feeling her rear rise further off the floor with each caress until she was forced to stand again with her tail held high over her back. Hearing her keening tone, he paused and pressed close against her as his final stroke of her spine left his talons resting right on her left flank; his digits stretching out towards her aroused and eager openings. They didn’t quite reach them but edged close enough that she could keenly feel their presence and even a slight stretching of the swollen and sensitive surfaces towards them, inviting entry.

“No?” The Queen prompted with a knowing grin. “What, then?”

“No, Queen Lepidoptes. As I already know her combat and leadership quality, and now accept that she could not have easily resisted the spell she was under, I find it is her encounter with the Starshina that I am most interested to know,” he admitted in some wonder.

“Really?” Gilda and Karin Kazalchorused as the former looked at him in surprise despite the stimulation, her breath catching as she felt the tips of his talons tantalizingly near her most intimate orifices. They tugged gently at the receptive flesh to stretch the openings, which she felt keenly as a fresh wave of weakness washed over her along with intense erotic sensations, threatening to make her legs buckle again. “You want to feel what I felt with him?” In the state she was in, she found the idea incredibly heady.

“I do indeed,” Giraldi granted. “Perhaps it is just my earlier experience with witnessing and outright feeling the Centurion’s submission to her ‘human herd’ that leaves me wanting more. Or perhaps it is just a selfish desire on my part to experience sex as an eagless again. But either way, I wish to know how and why it happened. How she perceived and enjoyed it. How such implacable enemy races could bond to each other in such an unlikely manner, let alone amidst battle—if you’re willing to share it, that is.”

He hastily bared his throat at her even as his other set of talons trailed down her side to find her flight muscles and begin expertly kneading them, leaving Gilda in delight and no little envy that his Uxor got to experience his well-practiced touch so often.

“You flatter me as well as her, Optio. And perhaps it is just the state I am in, but I admit that I, too, am curious to know what was going through her head as it happened,” Karin Kazal granted as he watched Gilda be felt up in what she took to be equal parts eagerness and envy. “How she perceived me. What she felt for me. And even how well my magic and malehood did in pleasuring her,” he admitted with a sideways and slightly embarrassed glance at her, to which she looked up at him and blushed back.

“If you’re worried that you didn’t satisfy me, I swear to the Ancestors that you did, Starshina,” she told him with a bared throat. “I can only hope that I was equally enjoyable.”

He stared at her in disbelief for a moment. “By the Ancient Rams themselves… you even need ask, Grizelda Behertz?” He levitated himself off the floor with his magic to show off his ibexian phallus to her, rearing up in the air. To her astonishment, it gained another two uncia of length and girth as she watched, though its base bulged faster than its tip, which pointed directly at her. And remarkably, it kept pointing at her even when he turned himself slightly to the side, like it was attracted to her.

“Ancestors…” Though his magic did not visibly reach for her, Gilda felt herself tugged towards him enough to take a halting step towards the ibex buck before catching herself, and to her surprise, so did Miles Fortuna, her equally wide eyes fixed on his phallus as it swelled towards Saddle Arabian stature.

But Karin Kazal didn’t notice her, his dilated orange pupils fixed firmly on Gilda. His face remained lit up from above by the swirling singularity that remained firmly in place between his twin horns, which almost seemed to have taken on a darker hue than the others in the room.

“By the Ancient Rams themselves, this is what the memory of our time together alone is doing to me—just as with the Senior Stave, that is my magic automatically acting on my body, not the Queen’s!” he admitted in wild-eyed wonder.

“The more I think of you, the bigger I get. And for as ambivalent as I felt immediately after our encounter, I find I have no regrets now—save that I did not have my full power available to pleasure you properly. To show you what an Ibex buck can truly offer an eagless.” He bowed his head and brightly glowing antlers in regret at her.

“If you did, then it would never have happened, because for you to be at full power would have enabled you both to escape the dragon easily,” the Queen remarked easily, earning a blink from Gilda and an equally startled look from the Starshina. “In that instance, you would have simply teleported with her all the way back to the hill. That would have in turn deprived my Hive of the power boost you both gave us, and left us potentially much more vulnerable in battle.”

“You are correct, of course,” Karin Kazal admitted as he floated down to the floor and sat back, turning something close to contemplative for a moment even as his organ hung high in the air in front of his forelegs, oozing onto the floor. “I believe I know better now why the Centurion considers the experience to be ‘Ancestor-sent’, for it seemed to have served the interests of all of us—for it would seem that circumstances required it and the Gods themselves ordained it. So be it!” he suddenly decided, turning his full attention to her.

“Then know, Grizelda Behertz, that if given the chance, I might well wish to do it all over again! Even right now!” he said in a suddenly husky voice as his restored aura abruptly reached for her with several tendrils of aura, only for them to be blocked by those of the Queen.

“My sincerest apologies, Starshina. But I cannot allow you to do that—at least, not yet. For the Centurion is still harboring doubts and is uncertain about what she wants. I know you mean her no harm, but you must respect her wishes and wait for her to allow it.”

“By your command…” he said almost forlornly, then presented the back of his antlers in what Gilda now knew was the ibexian expression of contrition. “Forgive me, please, Grizelda Behertz. As I lack the Queen’s empathic abilities, I cannot know your state of mind without resorting to some very intrusive mental magic. So believe me when I say that you are now the last creature I would ever wish to wound.”

“Apology accepted…” she told him weakly. She half-wished he hadn’t been stopped, still feeling the strange tug towards him.

The Queen favored him with a nod. “I know, Starshina. Your emotions are an unrolled scroll to me now more than ever. But worry not. You wish to have another eagless encounter? I daresay you will experience one before this day is done.” She gave a lazy look and grin at Miles Fortuna, whose eyes went wide at the implication as she took a ragged breath.

“Centurion? I do not wish to accidentally hurt you or your relationship with Marco Lakan either. If you are feeling uncertain, I will withdraw.” A suddenly nervous Giraldi offered, though he couldn’t quite seem to move his talons away from her hip.

“Me too!” an equally anxious Fortrakt immediately offered. “Uh… do you want us to stop, Gilda?” As taken with her as he suddenly was, he forgot her officer title.

“I…” Her initial inclination was to tell them yes, with part of her still wanting to save herself strictly for Marco and her human friends, who she had promised herself to when they were healed. But the words died in her throat, and nothing escaped it except a passionate and keening trill that urged even more contact from them.

Whether due to the Queen’s influence, or her own need for comfort, she couldn’t help it—then and there, she needed to feel their affection. Needed to know that she still had their respect and friendship. And under the light of the Queen’s horn, needed to feel it sexually.

Thus, she gave the only answer she could. “No. Please continue…” she invited them both as the two tiercels gave a surprised glance at each other over her back but obeyed, starting to feel her up with far more urgency and eagerness, suddenly unable to get enough of her.

“I could say that I want to save myself for Marco, but for fighting at my side and saving me repeatedly? Ancestors know you both earned me no less than he and the Starshina did,” she had to add, and found she very much meant it as she willed their digits inwards, towards her waiting and welcome orifices, the lower of which she could feel oozing a steady stream of honey over the nub that sat at its end.

“So touch me. Take me. And when the time comes? Tuck me…” she surprised herself with the invitation. “Anywhere but my nest, that is. That’s reserved for Marco alone.”

“By your command…” they chorused in husky tones, and to her delight, they obliged her with Fortrakt taking a ragged breath as he joined Giraldi in reaching inward enough to tug at the sides of her slit, spreading her opening wide. Their sharp tips might have hurt her sensitive flesh, but to her surprise, they didn’t even prick her; their touch was intensely pleasurable instead of painful as first two of Fortrakt’s talons, and then one of Giraldi’s, slipped wetly inside her sex.

Their touch elicited a sharp squawk and buckle of her front knees, leaving her forequarters lowered and hindquarters raised high as the Queen turned to her left next.

“Very well then. And what of the rest of you? Diva Desiderii? Do you and your betrothed consent to be included?” The Queen addressed them directly.

Startled by the question, the three looked at each other again, tiercel talons suddenly stilling inside the two eagless openings they were probing. There were already three thick digits in her nest and two in her tail, stretching them ever-wider while their owners’ earth griffon spears were likewise held in eagless foretalons, being slowly stroked to even greater length and urged towards orgasm again.

They whispered to each other so quietly that Gilda couldn’t make out the words over the clicks of beaks as they kissed and the slick sounds of rigid phallic flesh sliding against each other. But whatever they discussed for the next several seconds, they nodded and allowed the Senior Stave to speak for them.

“Though I do not fully trust Ibexian magic and have no particular need to know the Centurion’s pleasure, my beloved husbands-to-be wish to experience it so they may better pleasure me,” she announced with a very happy sigh, which earned her a fresh series of nips and licks as the two males held her haunches high and worshiped them.

“I assured them that it was not necessary given how many times they have brought me to ecstasy already, but they insisted. And for myself? After slandering us by claiming we were abandoning Queen and Kingdom, I wish to witness the Tribune’s reaction from the inside,” the leopard-spotted eagless admitted with an evil grin that was promptly copied by her Paladin paramours.

“As do we all,” the one with leonine hindquarters agreed. “I find it a fitting punishment for his many affronts, to force him to feel the pleasure he fears.”

“Agreed, brother,” the equally big tiger-striped male concurred with a kiss of his new male mate. “And whatever you do, Tribune, try not to imagine yourself in place of the Centurion. Or taking the place of our new wife,” he then added as the two resumed pleasuring the Magus eagless, using their tails to hold her haunches up and away while their free talons settled on her mammaries to begin working all four at once.

Their statement and actions earned a ragged breath and near-whimper from the Tribune, whose hips bucked again. But the Queen simply nodded and continued polling the room, turning back to her right.

“Very well, then. First and Second Scimitar? Are you willing?” she asked the two Raven eaglesses next, to which the two paused their erotic efforts. They pulled back from each other slightly, though they took pains to keep their mammaries in contact, slowly rubbing their bottom set against each other as their talons remained firmly affixed to the top set, gently squeezing and kneading.

Either due to distraction or pleasure, they released each other’s breasts long enough to clasp talons while they held an unspoken conversation, with the serval-spotted one on the bottom speaking for them. “We’re ‘in’, Queen Lepidoptes. Much like the Optio, we now understand and agree that the Centurion could not easily have resisted this—especially if she didn’t know what was happening!”

“For which we now forgive her to feel the power of Changeling mating magic—considering what we are now doing, to still fault her in spite of it would be utter hypocrisy,” the ocelot-spotted one on top granted with a chuckle that was shared by most of the room. “And perhaps it is just the state we are in, but much like the Optio, we, too, now wish to know what she felt in the company of such an unlikely creature, let alone a mortal enemy!”

“If you wish to know what she felt, I would be quite happy to oblige you both!” Karin Kazal half-promised and pleaded, only to earn another warning glare from a now-standing Obsidian Ire despite the tail tip still firmly embedded between her legs.

“Be patient, Starshina. I know you feel left out, but your time will come. All that leaves is you, Obsidian Ire. And if you will forgive me for saying so. I sense a deep longing within you,” the Queen observed.

Looking up, the drakina visibly hesitated for a moment, several emotions suddenly apparent on her warm and blood-flushed face. “Well. I said earlier that I was not interested in experiencing another creature’s rutting? For reasons I would rather not get into, that was in fact a lie,” she admitted, gaining everycreature’s immediate attention.

“You speak of a longing, Queen Lepidoptes? I admit it is there. The real reason I did not wish to experience the Centurion’s sex is somewhat more… personal. I was simply afraid of it evoking bad memories, but as I think about it… that is a poor reason to refrain. Unlike the Tribune, I am no coward! So perhaps it is time, under the light of this sensual spell, that I face my fears fully.” She stood up straighter as she spoke.

“I’m in, but not to see her leadership and combat skill, which I already know well. Much like the Optio, I wish to know what an eagless feels. And perhaps then, if I do…” Her eyes went distant and tail started moving more quickly for a moment into and out of her before she caught herself. “Well. Then we will see.”

“Very well, drakina. Then it appears all will participate. But I must ask your comrades to leave you alone, Grizelda Behertz, for at least a few minutes,” the Queen said with a wry look. “For now, I need you to be focused, not felt up.”

Startled, Giraldi and Fortrakt instantly snatched their talons away and stepped back from her with a hasty bow, leaving Gilda feeling bereft of their tingling touch and on the verge of fainting again for no longer having their steadying presence or digits inside her sex. But this time, it was the Queen herself who braced and calmed her through a gentle but persistent pressure on her mind and emotions, slowly quelling her racing thoughts and heart. Her arousal remained, but this time, the Queen made no effort to either alleviate or take advantage of it.

“Starshina? Your spell, please,” the Queen requested. “Simply share it with me telepathically.”

“By your command…” he said weakly, clearly struggling to focus himself through the haze of his own potent lust, which Gilda judged had found a focus in the form of the two cavorting eaglesses before him. But he also kept throwing furtive looks at an equally entranced Miles Fortuna, whose brown eyes had alternated between his enormous erection and Gilda’s felt-up form. She seemed to visibly slump as the Queen ordered it stopped, only to blink in surprise at her own reaction.

I bet she’s envious, Gilda thought with a weak attempt at a grin, still trying to mentally steel herself. She suddenly wished Giraldi and Fortrakt were still touching her, wanting their reassurance and comfort as her earlier acts were laid bare before them as explicitly as possible.

But she knew she couldn’t just then as the Queen absorbed the spell quickly and broke the link to Karin Kazal. He staggered slightly when their connection was broken, accidentally backing towards Miles Fortuna before he sat hard on the floor. The impact caused his long and tapered phallus to bounce hard off it and fling droplets of seed a surprising distance, with several finding their way around the form of Obsidian Ire to rain down on the three eaglesses around him.

Though Gilda would have taken more note of Miles Fortuna staring cross-eyed at the large drop of clear fluid that had landed directly on her beak, she had no chance before the Queen spoke again.

“There. I have the incantation. Quite remarkable, actually—we never saw a need to develop a more limited variant of our memory-sharing magic since it comes so naturally to us,” the Queen mused. “My compliments to the Capricorn Conclave, Starshina, for inventing such an un-instinctive spell based on an entirely different magical method than our own. And yourself for being willing to share it.” She favored him with a nod.

“Пожалуйста,” he replied in his native tongue, which hung out of his mouth and appeared longer than Gilda recalled, though she could keenly remember how strong and dextrous it was.

“In truth, I am not supposed to know it—only the highest echelons of the Conclave are normally allowed to learn or perform it—but that is unimportant right now. It is but one of several Adept spells I have pressed into service these past two days for purposes other than those intended…” He shook his head and gave a soft chuckle. “And though the Conclave may be less than pleased that I divulged it, consider it a diplomatic gift to a foreign royal. And repayment for our rescue.” He bowed his antlers to her.

“Then I will accept it in that spirit,” the Queen replied amicably. “Very well, then. The first stage of this sharing is for me to absorb your memories, Grizelda Behertz. Are you ready?” she asked Gilda directly.

Though she swallowed, she nodded, trying not to sway or let her anxiety otherwise show again. “I am.”

“Then let us begin…” the Queen said as Gilda once again felt the Changeling Monarch’s presence envelop her mind.

To Gilda’s surprise, her initial experience with the Ibexian memory sharing magic was far different than the one she had with the Changeling variant.

In the latter’s case, she was fully aware of all the other minds linked to her and their thoughts—except when it was her own memories replaying, that was. But even then, she retained some peripheral awareness of what was being mentally said to her, even if it was difficult to hold onto it for more than a few seconds or recall it afterwards. But this time…?

This time, the Queen began by opening a link to her and her alone, gently requesting entry to her mind and memories just as she had before. Granting it quickly—perhaps because of greater trust and familiarity, it seemed much easier than before—she felt all her memories of the day earlier replay rapidly without any background chatter to interrupt it, or provide some measure of the passage of time like there had been previously.

In fact, there was no mental conversation to speak of this time—at least, not until the Queen herself spoke after her replay concluded. Such an amazing progression of events, many of which not even I was aware. You are as brave and bold in battle as any griffon, Grizelda Behertz, and none—not even the Tribune—will be able to dispute that, she told her as the replay ended. I see that you also fretted at the start whether you were truly worthy of your new rank? Be assured that you are one of the finest young Centurions I have ever seen.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, Queen Lepidoptes. Gilda found herself with an uncharacteristic urge to hug the insectile alicorn ruler, but she didn’t know how from inside the spell, where the Changeling Monarch was just a warm and welcome presence in her mind.

In response, her mental vision swam. You are very welcome. But if it is an embrace you wish… the Queen’s thought trailed off as Gilda suddenly found herself in a small sunlit room surrounded by varied Changeling and griffon finery, facing the sitting and smiling Queen. The Changeling Monarch then opened her forehooves in invitation, to which Gilda uncharacteristically leapt into her hug like a cub finding her mother after being separated from her.

It was something she would never have done with her real mother, given how distant and standoffish both her parents had acted over the years—which, as Gilda thought about it, went a long way towards explaining her own lifelong aversion to open affection and physical contact. But now…?

Now, she soaked up the Queen’s presence like a sponge, unable to quite suppress the feeling that she had finally found the maternal figure she’d always wanted. And perhaps never knew she needed.

Her thoughts able to be read directly by the Changeling Monarch under the influence of the ibexian magic, the Queen simply held her close and laid her head atop Gilda’s, the feeling as real as if it were happening outside of their minds.

I am Mother to many, Grizelda Behertz. But I will certainly not object if you wish to see me as yours, given I find you a fine griffon and a worthy daughter, the Queen told her. Your affection is but another form of love for us, so I can feed on it just as readily as the events outside. But lest you think this is a one-sided arrangement, we can give love back as readily as we take it, she told her, holding and rocking her gently like a cub in her arms.

Which was exactly how Gilda felt in that moment, going back to her long-ago youth and all the affection that was withheld from her by her tradition-worshiping parents. In fact, in her mind’s eye, she was a young cub being held and cradled by the Queen, who sang softly to her in the suddenly-intelligible Changeling tongue as Gilda drank in the parental attention, feeling warm and safe in her presence.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for everything you’ve done for not just the Kingdom, but for me and Marco… she thought to the far older female, wondering then how old the Changeling Monarch truly was. But doesn’t giving love back cost you power? Are you weakening yourself by doing this? she suddenly worried.

I am nearly one hundred thirty years old. And worry not, Grizelda Behertz, she reassured Gilda. For the greatest insight of my life, and the one I teach to all young drones, is that to give love is to create more of it. That to share it enriches not just the Hive, but all our sources of love, from individual Griffons and Caleponians all the way up to the Griffon Kingdom itself. That, in my view, is the true role of our race in the world, even if it is not an opinion shared by other Queens and Hives.

Gilda could only nod thoughtfully, finding that the outside excitement of her physical body was just a distant echo at that moment. That after a week of wild emotional swings and an entire day of unrelenting combat, where the fates of not just herself but many others hinged on every decision she made and order she gave, it was simple comfort and warmth that she wanted most just then.

She felt the Queen smile in response. And that, Centurion, is a major reason we live among you. For it is a way of life that griffons themselves practice, given it is ingrained in your very beings to give as good as you get, whether in love or friendship, betrayal or battle. To serve your nation as much as yourselves. That is ultimately why you not only survive but thrive as not just individuals, but as a society. And it is a quality that I hope your race can better teach ours in turn.

Betrayal… Despite the compliment to her race, an image of Rainbow Dash flashed through her head again along with a wave of mingled anger and sorrow.

Surprised, the Queen quickly followed her thoughts to their source along the trail of memories that had floated to the surface of Gilda’s mind. Ah. On the subject of betrayal, I see that a very painful one exists in your past, and with a rather famous pony, no less. Well, this is one lesson I will now offer you, Grizelda Behertz: what you feel is simply love lost. And love her you did, she said as Gilda felt herself tearing up at the certainty of it. She couldn’t help it, with all her emotional armor stripped away as assuredly as her physical kind had been.

I can tell that you loved Rainbow Dash as you have never loved another creature before or since. It is the rather unique love of foals for their friends, or cubs for their comrades, the Queen noted. A love that can only result from learning and growing together for years on end, sharing joys, sorrows, and even various adventures. It is a love as deep and abiding as any adult kind. And a love whose loss leaves a deep wound in the heart, if not a scar on your very soul.

Rainbow… Gilda internally cried as she never had before over the loss of her best friend, all her teenage anguish remembered in an instant. Why? Why did you do that to me? Dump me just because of one bad day?

There, there, the Queen said in the manner of a mother, mentally holding her closer and rocking her like a small cub. Which in Gilda’s mind she remained, somehow the same age in the vision as she was when meeting Rainbow so many years earlier.

As you are both adults now instead of hot-tempered teens, I daresay it is a relationship that can yet be mended, once the war is won. I would even offer my help, if you wish? Queen Lepidoptes suggested idly, then chuckled at the thought that flashed through Gilda’s mind of it happening through intimacy, followed by an equally strong shudder of revulsion.

No, not like that! In fact, I would not recommend that as too much too soon tends to reopen emotional wounds, not heal them, the Changeling Monarch noted. Nevertheless, I am glad you shared this hurt in your heart with me, Grizelda Behertz. It lends much insight into your character, including just why you are so adamant about standing by Karin Kazal. Why you were so afraid of losing Marco Lakan over what happened. And even why you fear losing the friendship of your current comrades, both of whom you not just respect, but love.

Love… Gilda echoed again, her mind shifting from her old friends to her new as her mental form in the presence of the Queen suddenly became adult again. Do I…? She sensed she was both asking if she did love Fortrakt and Giraldi, and if she dared act on such a love even if she did.

Once again, the Queen smiled. Indeed, if not in the same way you love Marco Lakan. Your feelings towards the Optio are akin to the love of a cub for a parent, wanting above all else his approval and trust. While for the Decurion, it is the protective love of an older sibling for a younger one. The kind of love that seeks to teach and nurture, where even teases are meant affectionately, she recited easily, causing Gilda’s beak to mentally fall open as she processed the ideas and found them to be true.

By all the Crows of the Kingdom… you’re saying that they’re FAMILY to me? Gilda paraphrased with her thoughts in disbelief, uncertain if that made things easier or harder.

In essence, yes. For all you have been through with them in both war and peace, I would say you are now kindred in all but blood, the Queen confirmed. It is a very common thing that happens among soldiers who survive combat together, never mind the longstanding teacher-and-student relationship you already had with both. But even were they truly your sire or sibling, that does not in any way preclude intimacy with them, she told Gilda easily, causing her to suddenly feel faint.

I sense your surprise at my statement. Taboo it may be, but you would be amazed by how often it happens, both among siblings and even between parents and cubs. How often even familial love can turn into physical intimacy, she further mused. To us, it is neither wrong nor unnatural, as long as it is not coerced or forced. In fact, some of the most potent love imaginable comes out of such unlikely unions, for the very reason that it IS so taboo. But I will not dwell on that now, she decided, leaving Gilda reeling anew.

The question of whether to consummate that love for your comrades is yours alone, Grizelda Behertz. Only you can decide if it is what you truly want. I trust you to make the correct choice regardless of my influence, and I trust them to respect your wishes either way. But even before that, it is time to share your memories with all, the Queen reminded her, at least momentarily stalling Gilda’s flights of erotic and strangely incestuous fancy. Are you ready?

Gilda exhaled heavily in the vision she found herself in, feeling an echo of it from her physical form. Yes, she said, mentally stepping back from the Changeling Queen before bowing low to her. And thank you again, Queen Lepidoptes. For everything. More than anything else, I needed to talk about all this.

It is my pleasure. And for the sake of my Hive as well as yourself and your comrades, I hope the pleasure will yet be yours as well, she replied with a wry note as she broke the connection, leaving a newly unsteady Gilda back in her own body again. The sudden lack of the Queen’s presence caused her to sway badly for a moment before Giraldi and Fortrakt leapt to her side to steady her once more.

“Are you all right, Centurion?” Fortrakt asked cautiously as his talons seemed to automatically find her shoulder and flight muscles again. “You kind of zoned out there…”

“Yeah…” she shook her head hard, then raised both sets of talons to rub her throbbing temples. “Sorry if I worried you.”

“Not at all,” Giraldi said. “With your permission, may we…?” Her breath caught as she slid his talons back towards her hindquarters again, but the Queen stopped him.

“I must ask that you do not, Galen Giraldi—at least not yet. I have the Centurion’s memories, and it is time to replay them for all. To that end, I strongly suggest that everycreature sit or lay down,” she warned them. “The reason is that those of you unfamiliar with this form of magic may accidentally thrash or lash out during replayed combat sequences. So just as before, I warn each of you that what you are about to experience is neither real nor happening now. But that makes it no less intense.”

“With respect, Queen Lepidoptes, what we’re experiencing now is pretty intense…” Miles Fortuna pointed out slightly wanly as she continued to eye Karin Kazal’s stature.

“Indeed. But much more is to come, so I suggest you put some distance between yourselves and stop any sexual contact for now,” she further advised, earning some startled looks. “Needless to say, it is not a good idea to be indulging in intimacies when combat scenes are playing, and I will instruct my drones to restrain anycreature who loses themselves in such memories and starts lashing out.”

“By your command,” the two Archons and four Silencers chorused as the pair of Paladins and Magus reluctantly disentangled themselves and moved apart, though they kept their erect wingtips touching as they sat down with the Magus between the two males, whose doubly-enhanced organs continued to drool a seemingly endless stream of seed onto the floor below.

The Queen then turned to an excited but nervous Gilda. “Centurion? Since I now have your memories, there is no need for you to participate in my sharing of them with the others. As such, I will exclude you from the spell if you wish.”

Though she hesitated for a moment, Gilda shook her head and even gained a sly grin, deciding there was at least one very good reason to participate. “I thank you for the offer, Queen Lepidoptes. But as I’d like to see and feel their reactions to it—especially the Tribune’s—please include me.” She bared her throat at the Changeling Monarch.

“As you wish. In truth, I look forward to his reaction, too,” she added as an aside with a glance at the Tribune, to which he could only shiver and whimper. His hanging but hexed spear suddenly engorged further at the Queen’s words, looking to Gilda like it was trying to shatter the enchantment preventing his climax through sheer force of inhibited orgasm.

But though the glowing ring seemed to stretch and show a crack briefly—or did Gilda just imagine it? —it held to his mingled relief and frustration.

“Very good, Tribune. I can sense your breakthrough approaching, almost despite yourself,” the Queen smiled approvingly at him. “Just one more push should do it, and the Centurion’s memories should provide it. It is time. Is everycreature ready?” she asked again, receiving a series of alternately eager and nervous nods.

“Very well. To minimize personal discomfort, please relax and allow the spell to take hold of you,” she advised as the Queen projected her presence outward again, allowing Gilda to witness individual threads of magic reaching out from her horn, connecting the Queen to the heads of everycreature else in the room one by one.

Either by chance or by design, the very last one she emitted found Gilda’s head, causing her eyes to shut and head to loll forward as she surrendered herself to the Queen’s magic for the third time that day.

Yet again, Gilda found herself somehow sharing space with several other minds, both familiar and not. But this time, either due to a shallower connection or a different form of magic, she had little inkling of what they were thinking or experiencing except for a strong sense of their emotions, which did seem to leak through the link. These included everything from shock and surprise to outright amazement, and finally ecstasy as her time with the Starshina—and everything that led to it—was finally shown to all.

It all passed by in a surprisingly short amount of time for the many hours of her memory the Queen was sharing, giving her audience precious little chance to react to each event as they unfolded.

Gilda wasn’t sure if it was deliberate on the part of the Queen or just a side effect of the different spellwork. Either way, it didn’t detract from the intensity of the replayed thoughts, emotions and sensations she experienced yet again, though it was a slightly surreal experience for her seeing them from the outside along with the rest.

The Queen was quite thorough as everything was replayed starting from their departure from Arnau onward, meaning her mental spectators were spared neither the agony of her struggle to save Marco’s air coach or the near-ecstasy of her first encounter with what the Tribune had termed her human herd, beholding for the first time the impressive cider-boosted stature of their males along with the massive chest-mounted mammaries of their females as Tara’s ‘tits’ grew to impressive proportions that even dwarfed those of the eaglesses in the room just then.

And that was to say nothing of how good the three humans smelled to her and how well they could use their soft and fleshy fingers to produce pleasure, causing tiercels and eaglesses alike to understand for perhaps the first time just why she had fallen so hard for not just Marco, but all of them.

Though his thoughts remained muted, she even felt a growing sense of respect and even outright awe from the Tribune himself. First as he beheld her combat and command performance as the events of the day unfolded, culminating in how she conducted herself through the flight from Bale and then into the myriad battles around the Lake where she had to deal with grounded and airborne threats alike.

And also how readily she seemed to fall into sexual experiences by accident, including finding her face buried in ibex balls or again on the verge of rutting publicly with her human herd; the latter occuring when she found herself beneath a blanket in a very compromising position with all three. Especially with Tara, who she had somehow undressed in her sleep and awoke to find her talons deliciously cupping the human eagless’s large and beautiful breasts.

Gilda was gratified at the disappointment she sensed from all that she hadn’t continued the encounter, even as she was annoyed with herself for not allowing it. But then she was just as quickly reminded of how quickly combat had come after that, and how little it then let up.

The defense of Bale was replayed along with her flight from it, followed by arriving at Lake Languid. Through her memories, Cipio and the others saw how a now far more confident and determined Gilda neatly melded the myriad capabilities of her mixed force into a coherent and nearly impenetrable defense, able to repel against even the worst assaults the Cloven could throw at them.

And more to the point, how quickly and fluidly she thought, especially under the cider influence, which enabled her to process information and fight at speeds more worthy of the Ravens than a simple Auxiliary Guardsgriffon.

Especially once her experience with the Starshina was concluded and she felt well and truly sated for the first time in days. And on that note, she found herself tuning into the others as much as she could, trying to discern from their emotions alone their reaction to seeing her seduce the Starshina in the wake of escaping the corrupted dragon.

Though their thoughts remained muted, she sensed their fear of seeing an adult drake approach as heart rates sped up and a sense of utter dread filled them along with her. Sensed that they, too, would have prayed to the Ancestors for deliverance when faced with such an inescapable and unstoppable threat. And sensed their shock and relief to see her rescued by the Starshina just as she had been, followed by the honor they granted him at the seemingly sacrificial act—and her for trying to save him in return, even though she wasn’t sure she could.

They experienced her fatigue and the screaming of her muscles as she struggled to stay ahead of the pursuing dragon, followed by the sight of human missiles streaking up from the plateau and then arcing towards her as whatever heat-seeking sorcery was in them homed on the corrupted drake’s fire-filled chest.

She didn’t see them hit as her vision was tunneling due to her body running out of air, which she was now taking in in great gulps that still seemed woefully inadequate to the task. But she saw the flash an instant before a deafening explosion rocked her, the shock wave flipping her over repeatedly.

Now able to look at it from outside her body, she realized that a stunned Karin Kazal had lost his hold on her, but the imparted momentum of the missile strike sent them both skipping across the roiled surface of the water until they skidded to a stop in the entrance to the cove; their bodies ending up in a heap as a wave like an ocean breaker washed over the shoreline and deposited them deep inside.

She’d barely had time to register it all before the trauma of the close call and the overwhelming fatigue of her pounding heart and adrenaline-exhausted body claimed her, causing her to pass out where she lay.

To Gilda’s surprise, it was a struggle for her not to succumb to it all mentally again, resisting the urge to fall unconscious. But there wasn’t enough time as she quickly came to in the Queen-aided replay along with the Starshina.

Belying their close call, the pair exchanged a sharp series of insults as he berated her for suicidally flying into the canyon while she responded in kind, demanding to know why he’d risked himself to save her. But his reply was cut off when they realized how compromising their position was, with Gilda’s face firmly nestled between his oversized sac and sheath, suffusing her nose with his masculine scent.

A scent that somehow stimulated both her hunting and mating instincts, swiftly turning all her earlier battle lust into a far more conventional kind. A scent belonging to an owner whose rescue she simply couldn’t ignore—that honor itself demanded she repay in full. Especially in light of the oath she’d made to the Ancestors to never again turn down a worthy partner if they granted her deliverance from the dragon.

Regardless of its source, a sense of overwhelming and irresistible arousal quickly overtook them both, aided in no small measure by the cider effect that was boosted to an unknown degree by the Changeling enchantments present in the cove. Witnessing it from the outside as she was unable to previously, Gilda was able to appreciate how quickly her antipathy and anger towards the Starshina were converted to outright passion, and how despite what she said before, her feelings for him were in fact sharpened by her earlier outright hatred for him.

It can even happen among those beings who despise each other, which is itself a form of passion, she then recalled the Queen saying, finding herself fully understanding and accepting her words in that instant.

One thing that did change while watching from the outside was that with her mind linked to Queen Lepidoptes, she was able to understand exactly what Karin Kazal was saying to her when he spoke in his own tongue, worshiping her with word as well as deed.

“You are a goddess! More beautiful than any Ewe!” She was able to interpret his Ibexian words as easily as if he’d spoken in Aeric or Equish. And far from calling her a sheep, she now knew from the Queen’s mind that ‘Ewe’ was in fact a reference to the deified wives of the ibex forebears—The Ancient Rams of the Rodina. Theywere a group revered no less than the Gryphon Ancestors while Rodina was simply the ibexian word for ‘homeland’.

It was an education she never thought she would receive, let alone be able to appreciate; the experience made doubly delicious to know that he saw her—a griffon! —as even more desirable than the demigod жены of their Ancient Rams.

Wait—how did she know that Ibexian word for wives?

She didn’t have much chance to dwell on it as the scene swept her up in it for a third time. But no longer anxious, she exulted in the incomprehensibly illicit act along with her comrades, sensing their understanding and outright amazement slowly dawn at how it had unfolded.

In the end, the surprise and overwhelming excitement it brought to all, as well as an impressively strong sense of longing from Miles Fortuna and the pure delight of Giraldi to experience sex as an eagless yet again, both reassured and immensely satisfied her. Fortrakt’s open exultation helped as well, though it seemed to be most intense at the most taboo acts she performed and when the danger of discovery was real.

As for the others, she got the distinct impression that through his own amazement and arousal, Karin Kazal was noting carefully what she liked the most of his magical touch, and where her most sensitive spots and areas were. In contrast, the reaction of the three Ravens was appreciation and awe at how passionately and skillfully the Starshina made love to Gilda, including a strong sense of outright pining from Miles Fortuna to what Gilda guessed was an intense desire to be in her place.

And then there was Obsidian Ire, who seemed to be most openly marveling at the feel of Gilda’s mammaries, noting with surprise how deliciously sensitive the unfamiliar anatomy consisting of mounded masses topped with taut teats truly were. Their feel was also noted appreciatively by the two Paladins, who Gilda could sense likewise taking careful note of how an eagless could be stimulated and enjoyed for the betterment of sex with their future Magus Uxor.

On the other side of the room, Optio Virgo was lost in her own rapture along with Gilda’s, her normally sharp intellect reduced to a mental sponge soaking up all the unfamiliar but exquisite sensations the shared memories held. Gilda could detect great wonder and joy from the other eagless, along with amazement that such intense sex could happen in the middle of such a desperate struggle.

All that left was Tribune Cipio himself, who she was gratified to feel was on the verge of climaxing to his inherited sensations repeatedly. She sensed him frequently urging more from the scenes Gilda found herself in, especially those when she was in a decidedly non-dominant position or on the verge of surrendering to her human herd after the opening battle against the Cloven. He once again seemed especially enamored of Tara, as the emotion Gilda picked up from him when she laid talons on her human “girlfriend’s” bare breasts was one of pure envy and longing.

By the end of it, she caught bursts of pure pleasure and outright ecstasy from her audience as each except the Tribune climaxed in turn to her being with Karin Kazal, to Gilda’s great delight. And yet, even when the erotic action was finally over, the Queen didn’t end the spell. She continued to replay Gilda’s memories to the point that she found and spoke with Marco, so they could all see how she did the honorable thing and just how difficult it was for her.

Through her, they could even sense her deep love for him, and her fear that she had just lost him through her own unplanned indiscretions. Through her, they heard the arguments of the Marines and Tara as they tried to calm Marco down and preserve his relationship with Gilda, leading to some surprise and even a sense of amazement that from the arguments they made or the stories they told, the humans really weren’t unlike griffons in terms of culture.

Most notably in their ability to celebrate survival with sex, to judge by the tales the two male Marines related, which elicited a strong sense of occasionally rueful agreement from Giraldi and the other griffons. And even Obsidian Ire, Gilda couldn’t help but note to some surprise, but her sense seemed far sadder and more regretful than the others, completely belying her prickly personality.

Gilda also knew her gratitude and interest towards Tara was showing strongly in her thoughts, and she took no little satisfaction in noting that it was shared. She sensed a renewed longing for her from not just Fortrakt but the Tribune, and to Gilda’s surprise, she realized that it wasn’t just due to a simple physical interest in her exotic hairless body with smooth soft skin, wide hips, or especially her large chest-mounted teats as she had thought earlier.

No, it was because she was in some ways the mate he always wanted, and not just for being sexually open or otherwise willing to try new things. It was that she stood up for Gilda and was fully understanding of what had happened. It was that she tried to play peacemaker instead of hectoring or belittling him as his own wife had so often done over his poor performance in rutting, suspected infidelity, or inability to rise any higher in the ranks for fear of the greater scrutiny it would bring.

His feelings of outright yearning towards Tara only grew stronger as she decked Marco for not listening despite her badly wounded leg, reminding him that the cider was in her too. Every griffon male, Gilda noted in delight, was instantly and quite strongly attracted to her as well for acting like an eagless in that instant; even Obsidian Ire seemed to appreciate the human woman’s determination to defend her griffon friend.

In the end, her actions worked as the hard hit to his chin finally seemed to break through Marco’s intransigence. They could feel her relief and joy to know that she hadn’t lost him, and how fervently she intended to keep her promise to both him and Tara that she would make it up to them later.

She got a strong sense of approval from her audience at not so much her promise as the honor she showed in making it. The replay might have again ended there, but Queen Lepidoptes instead continued it as Gilda was warned that the Cloven were coming again and she rushed upstairs through the abandoned hive to the plateau.

When she wondered why the Changeling Monarch wasn’t stopping it, the Queen herself answered, her voice sounding in Gilda’s head as she addressed all present. Though I could terminate the replay as the Centurion’s full experience is now known, I will continue it so the Tribune can see the terrible tactics the Cloven employed. As effective as they were, they are certain to be tried again, she explained swiftly, and this time her audience felt Gilda’s despair and terror as a flood of Cloven parasites swarmed the hill.

She recalled only too readily how they would have been overrun then and there if not for the appearance of a Changeling force disguised as a reinforcing century of griffon troops. Gilda could sense the surprise and appreciation of both Cipio and the two Paladins at how well the drones copied not just Fortis Knight form but their defensive shield wall tactics, then their shared dread as the brief rescue was followed swiftly by the appearance of the area’s Cloven Overlord, whose mental assault forced her faltering defenders to their knees.

As Gilda beheld her own memory of staring up into the smoke-filled sky, she shivered at the chill on her very soul she felt then. Her thoughts from that moment shared with all, they knew as well as her that this time there was no escape.They were there along with her as the many regrets of her life, both recent and longstanding, flashed through her mind, able only to offer up one final prayer to the Ancestors that their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.

And for the final time, her prayer was answered when a shield fell over the hive followed by the materialization of Queen Lepidoptes herself to stand between them and certain death. Gilda barely had enough time to register her appearance and realize her identity before the entire hive of Changelings erupted from the bottom levels of the hill to surprise the Overlord and crush the final Cloven assault. Shock, relief, and finally outright awe dawned on her as she understood that they’d been using the abandoned hive as camouflage for their real one, followed by a growing sense of anger as she learned just how they’d been used by Cipio.

Though she might have again left it there, Queen Lepidoptes continued to show her memories through the point that Gilda reached her resolution to challenge him, and then her mind was released along with the others as the playback ended.

It was over. And with her actions finally laid bare and explained fully, Gilda found her legs trembling again, but this time out of a simple sense of relief. Not just for it all finally being out in the open, but the understanding and acceptance she had felt from friend and ally alike to finally see it unfold, and all that led to it.

Her eyes fluttering as the spell was lifted, she felt herself being steadied by the Queen’s magical aura, which stayed with her like a comforting wing over her back.

She leaned on it heavily, both physically and mentally, her legs and still-stiff wings shaking like she’d just flown a five-hundred-league race. And she wasn’t the only one, she quickly realized, as all the others were alternately swaying or outright stumbling where they sat. Even Obsidian Ire was suddenly leaning heavily back against the wall again, smoke pouring out of her heavily flared nostrils and agape, panting snout as if she’d just breathed fire for a second time. Which she had, Gilda belatedly realized, to see another scorched area on ceiling above the large adolescent drakina, though thankfully, nocreature had been hit by her flame.

“And there you have it,” the Queen pronounced calmly despite the apparent damage, this time taking a drink of the fizzy switchel-like concoction herself and licking her lips languidly. “You now understand all that occurred and how it happened through the Centurion’s eyes. Now have seen the Centurion’s combat and leadership qualities firstwing. Now know for yourselves how powerful and ultimately irresistible our mating magic is. And thus, why neither she nor the Starshina could ultimately fight it,” she outlined, pausing for what Gilda guessed was to let the words sink in.

“So now I ask each and every one of you: is Grizelda Behertz dishonorable? Did she in any way shirk her duties by spending five minutes with the Starshina? Was she betraying her race and Kingdom? Or in being with him, did she swear an oath to the Ancestors themselves and keep it—as not just they, but our Hive Mother and perhaps the Ancient Rams of the Ibexian Rodina seemed to ordain?”

Though she was certain of the answer, Gilda held her breath as nocreature immediately spoke, still slowly pulling themselves up off the floor and panting heavily like they were coming off an orgasmic high instead of combat action. Which all of them in fact were, she belatedly realized, as every eagless except herself had collapsed on the floor panting in a pool of their own fluids.

A trail of glistening lines and spots behind them indicated they had squirted hard from their sexes repeatedly, while every single griffon and ibex male in the room seemed to have erupted at full Changeling-boosted force from experiencing eagless sex. But as they had all been facing inward, towards the center of the room, where Tribune Cipio magically hovered a short distance over the low stone table…

She beheld him with his beak agape, his still-hexed cock throbbing hard as he floated before them, his glassy eyes wide as his entire body visibly trembled. He was covered in multiple crisscrossing streamers of mingled buck and tiercel seed, painting his entire naked body from beak to wing and tailtip with narrow lines of glistening essence.

They were illuminated clearly by the shaft of sunlight that came through a crystal in the ceiling, showing that several such spurts had uncannily targeted and hit his spear, his sac, his open beak, and even the puckered opening beneath his tail, leaving them all coated and dripping.

“And what about you, Tribune?” the Queen then asked, turning her gaze on him and gaining a sly smile when she saw his state. “Do you now accept that not only were the Centurion’s actions honorable and her leadership incredible, but that your proclivities are anything but unusual among griffons? Or will you still fight the evidence of your own urges and senses, even as you find yourself at the center of one of those Neighponese comic scenes you devoured in your youth… just as you always secretly wished you would be?”

“I… I…” Cipio began to shake as he took a long but ragged intake of breath. His body tensed and his spear swelled further as his seed-covered sac partially retracted into his body. His hips began to move and his floating phallus along with it, not so much rhythmically as spasmodically as he fought desperately for relief, no longer caring about his state or who was watching.

At first, the magical restraint around his male organ held. But with each increasingly powerful thrust, it began to give way, stretching around the rapidly inflating bulb at the base of his spear before it started to audibly rip, crack, and finally outright shatter as he arched his back and gave a loud feline yowl, the hex evaporating into wisps as his bulb expanded to maximum width and his long-awaited climax hit.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” he shouted as his spear repeatedly erupted with more force and volume than Gilda thought possible, proclaiming the liberation of his body and soul to the entire world of Tellus.