Chapter 40. The Enchantress Who Studies Me Like a Rare Butterfly

Chapter 40: 40. The Enchantress Who Studies Me Like a Rare Butterfly

She floated into the room more than she walked. Her long hair was a deep lavender, flowing past her waist like water, and a pair of branching deer antlers curved up from her head, decorated with delicate gold ornaments that chimed softly when she moved.

Oh god... love at first sight instantly, like I did with every SSS-Rank beastwoman here, but damn... she has a different kind of aura and charm!

She wore a wide black witch’s hat, tilted just slightly, and a long robe of deep violet embroidered with swirling patterns of stars and constellations, trimmed in gold.

A glowing purple gem hung at her hip. In her hand was a tall staff topped with a tiny, flickering flame of violet fire.

And there were lights.

Dozens of small, soft, drifting lights, pale gold and blue and lavender, hovered around her like fireflies, bobbing gently through the air as if they’d followed her in from some enchanted forest.

One of them drifted up and touched my nose, and I swear it giggled.

She had a calm, gentle face, with large, luminous eyes the color of a twilight sky, and a faint smile that suggested she knew a very good secret.

But that’s not the only thing that’s large... her tits... they are massive too, alright.

God... I love women with big tits, especially when they’re beastwomen as well.

"Good evening," she said, in a voice like warm honey. "I am Sylvara Moonveil, the Evernight Enchantress."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all."

She turned first to Millie and inclined her head in a respectful bow. Then she looked at me.

And she smiled.

It wasn’t a cold smile, or a cautious one, or maybe not a polite one.

It was bright, interested, and very slightly teasing, and it hit me like a warm bucket of water. There was no hatred in it at all.

I thought it was going to be something repetitive like Velora, but thank god... she looked chill.

She looked at me for a beat too long, the way you’d look at a rare butterfly that you hadn’t expected to find on your windowsill, with her head tilted and her eyes alight with something I could only describe as scientific fascination.

’Oh no,’ I thought. ’Oh no, no, no... I’m already super in love with her...’

’I’m so fucked...!’ I thought while having to control my cock from raising from its sleep.

My mouth was open. I know it was... because I could feel the cold air on my tongue.

"Hello," I said. "Ehem... I mean, yo! I’m Leon."

"You must be Miss Moonwitch." There it is... the usual me who loves to crack jokes came, not at the right time.

There was a long silence.

"Moonveil," Sylvara said gently, with a hand pressed to her mouth to hide a laugh. "But I do like Moonwitch, though."

"Please feel free to use it."

"I’m so sorry."

"Don’t be... I find it charming."

Behind me, Millie tugged on my sleeve.

"Leon," she whispered, in a voice that was definitely not as quiet as she thought, "you’re staring."

"I’m not... I’m just... admiring the antlers." I frown to look at her antlers. "Professionally."

"They’re very nice antlers you got there, Miss Moonveil."

"Thank you," Sylvara said, with a small curtsy.

Millie didn’t look angry. She looked like she was struggling not to laugh, her ears twitching, her hand covering her mouth.

She leaned in close to me and murmured, very softly, "I don’t mind, you know... As long as you never lie to me."

I looked down at her, and for a second all the nonsense drained out of my head.

"I won’t," I said quietly. "Not ever."

She smiled and squeezed my hand.

Sylvara crossed the room, with her little lights trailing behind her, and knelt in front of Millie. She laid her staff on the floor and took off her hat, which sent a few of the lights tumbling away in confusion.

Then, very gently, she touched two fingers to Millie’s forehead.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then her eyes widened, and the faint violet glow in them deepened.

"Oh," she breathed. "Oh my... I can feel it."

"It’s so faint, like a song heard through a wall... There’s an echo of the old moon in you, little one."

Millie held perfectly still. "Do you know what it is...?"

"Some of it." Sylvara withdrew her hand and sat back, and her eyes were soft and full of something like wonder. "My own magic comes from a distant branch of the same lunar well."

"It is nothing like yours, but it is a cousin... I heard the name of the Lunhare queen once, when I was very young." Sylvara smiled. "She was spoken of with great love."

Millie’s eyes shone.

"I would like to study you," Sylvara said, "if you will let me, that is... And I would like to protect you."

"Both, if possible."

"Thank you," Millie whispered.

Sylvara rose gracefully. Then she turned and looked at me again, and I realized she’d been wanting to do it the whole time.

"And you," she said, in that warm, curious voice. "You are a very unusual soul for a human..."

"Yep. I get that a lot."

"I mean it literally... You feel like a guest from somewhere very, very far away..." She stepped closer and tilted her head. "I have lived for more than three hundred years, and I have never felt anything quite like you..."

"It is quite delightful to have a human as unique as you...."

I think I stopped breathing. I also think, though I can’t prove it, that Elsbeth coughed in a very particular way in the corner, and I decided not to look.

I should note that Sylvara was not in love with me... That was perfectly clear.

She was fascinated, which is a different thing entirely, and the way she said it, with her head tilted and a sparkle in her eye, felt less like flirtation and more like a scientist about to open an interesting box.

I found that I didn’t mind that at all. Well, of course, she’s fucking beautiful and looks totally like a MILF!

Velora, on the other hand, made a noise in her throat that sounded like a tea kettle about to blow.

...

The meeting that evening lasted three hours, and I understood about a third of it.

Elsbeth and Velora ran the planning, and they were terrifyingly efficient.

They argued over routes with the quiet intensity of two chess masters, tracing lines on a map with their fingers while Magnara grunted at the occasional detail.

I sat in the corner next to Millie and tried very hard to look like furniture.

The vanguard would leave at dawn.

Velora would command twenty riders of the Nightclaw Guard, all mounted and fast, the elite of her house. Elsbeth would ride with them as a guide, along with Sylvara, Bonette, and Millie, and, over Velora’s very loud objections... yes, me.

The route would go through the eastern valleys, a three-day ride at a hard pace, to the border of the Northern Wolf Clan’s territory.

The main column, with Magnara in command, would follow several days later with the full weight of Elarune’s response.

"The girl stays," Velora said flatly, for the third time.

"The girl is going," Bonette replied, with a stubborn, quiet steel in her voice. "The princess must be present at the Moon Shrine if the seals are to be dealt with properly..."

"It cannot be done at a distance."

"I am not responsible for the life of a princess."

"Then I shall be."

"I want to go," Millie said.

Everyone turned to look at her. She sat up a little straighter, and her ears stood up, though her fingers were twisting the hem of her dress.

"It’s my choice," she said. "I’m not just a thing to be moved around..."

"I want to help Elsbeth’s clan, and I want to see the shrine! Please let me come!"

Velora opened her mouth to argue and then closed it again. After a moment she made a noise of profound disgust and turned back to the map.

"If the trail has leaked," I said into the quiet, "then the guild might be tracking her."

"We should do something about that, or they’ll just end up in Elarune, which is worse."

Velora gave me a look like I had spoken in a foreign language that happened to be insulting. "That is the first sensible thing you have said."

"Sylvara and I can place a temporary veil on the princess," Bonette said. "It will not be perfect, but it will blur her trail."

"That will have to do," Elsbeth said.