“Mmmn mmfffr!!” Bella has a firm grip. Her fingers grip Redana’s cheek and jaw snugly, stifling further response as she lectures her princess on what’s going on. And of course, Redana realizes with a sinking heart: of course Odoacer is going rogue. She’s not stupid: she’s seen (some of) what the Admiral has tried to do. She knows she’s supposedly a prize. Well, the joke’s on the Admiral: she has no intention of being a damsel in distress today.

She grabs Bella’s wrist and pries her hand free, having figured out that just shaking her head was getting her held tighter. (The hand relents, but rests against her jaw and throat stubbornly, threatening to silence her again. Is Bella still sore over how Dany had to make sure she wouldn’t call for Mynx?)

“Then [i]help[/i] me,” Redana pleads. “Together, we can do anything!” Even to her, it sounds desperate and childish, an echo of their games. “We can run away,” she yields, as Bella vaults an overturned cart, “but with Epistia, and Alexa, and Vasilia and Dolce! You’ll love Dolce, he’s so sweet and soft and...“

Aphrodite’s slender fingers undo a button, already twisted on its side and half slipped free by Bella’s exertion, and Redana glances down. Soft. Bella is soft. Not just her fur, which is silky and so good for running fingers through, but. Every step sends a ripple through her. Color rises to Redana’s cheeks as she stares, wide-eyed, thoughts arrested.

Bella’s buds strain against that soaked top, shockingly dark and firm. Why is the sound of her heart reverberating in her skull? She’s bathed with Bella before, she’s always treated her pet with respect and never treated her like a, like a concubine, or a trophy, she’s her best friend so stop [i]staring[/i] and why does her mouth suddenly feel so empty? Why is that a sensation her flushed, hot body chooses to focus on?

“Hold on,” Bella says, and before Redana can react they’re already jumping from a high place down onto a lower street, and Bella’s hand is on the back of her head pulling her close and tight and the world is, for a moment...

Soft.