Page 164

I sat down on one of the couches in our suite. In the time that we left, only two hours ago, the room had been emptied and cleaned up. There wasn't anyone at the desk this morning but that's not much of a surprise between the brothel being closed last night and the early hour. Despite that, most of the women in the brothel were currently having sex and exploring their new bodies right now. Oceane and Grace were in Oceane's office but their emotions were currently closed off from everyone, they weren't as active as most of the girls though so they were probably just talking or working. Sibyl and Raya were still out, likely working on tracking down a carriage for me like they offered.

"Bella, Mimi, please close your bonds off to others for a while. All of us need to talk privately."

I sighed and snapped up a large [Zone of Silence] around the pair of couches. With the way things are going maybe we should get Mimi to carry around something like them, they're coming in handy for as often as we have to have meetings like this.

"So," I said. "Are we all on the same page that the likelihood of that prophecy being about me is very very high?"

There were nods of agreement from everyone except Silva. "How sure are you?" She asked. "You said you weren't a demon, wouldn't that would automatically disqualify you?"

I shook my head. "He said Lilith was 'born' a demon with twisted horns. I'm not a demon anymore but I told you before, I used to be a demon until my actions spurred my origin title to change that. Potentially with the influence of Sorsette, I'm not sure. My powers don't corrupt people from my perspective but they do transform them and give them added power." I chose to skip over the 'harem of slave wives' for a number of reasons. "And just last night we finished 'raising' an army of loyal succubi."

There was a silence as my friends digested my words.

Morrigan was the first to break the silence. "The next part of the prophecy is your 'army' apparently sparking rebellions and that being the catalyst for the gods getting involved. Would we even be able to stop it anymore? It's kind of out of your hands now, isn't it?"

"Would we want to stop it?" Torien asked.

There was silence as we all looked at Torien.

She shook her head. "Sure. Rebellion could be bad if the rulers of this country were just. But you've made it clear many times, Lilith, you do not agree with this country's, no, this aristocracy's ways. You've made promises to free us from slavery, two members of a tribe of beastkin that were once raised to be assassins. You took in Silva, a woman who murdered a noble. You befriended and saved an intelligent monster and altered her race so she wasn't our enemy. All of these actions put you on a collision course with the nobles of this country and many others in this region eventually."

"But the war of the gods..." Bella whispered.

"Should we even support the cruel gods who would step in to maintain the status quo of slavery?" Torien asked coldly.

Morrigan rubbed her face. "A second war of gods could kill everyone though. All of the gods talk about how close we came during the first one."

"Gods that benefit most from things as they are now," Silva added.

"Careful, you two," Bella whispered. "Let's not risk drawing their attention and ire by going down that path yet."

"What about Sorsette?" Morrigan asked. "She has always been the most opposed to slavery and yet she made sure all of the gods teach everyone about the first one. Isn't that a warning? That it isn't worth it?"

I shrugged. "She is the goddess of knowledge though. Even if she's against the status quo, it's not like we can take 'spread this specific knowledge' as a direct sign she would be opposed if it came down to it. Theo suggested the first one was indirectly caused by her."

Morrigan cupped her chin. "I suppose that makes sense, though most people interpret that action as her attempting to make sure that it never happens again."

"Well," Torien said, "As the priest said, there's no timeframe on this. He suggested that the 'Order of Lilith' would have to spread across the land first. It's possible the events we're talking about are far into the future. There's no timeframe to suggest that any of this will happen in our lifetimes, if that's the case, then how could we even stop if if we wanted to? Should we just not do anything if we have the opportunity because it might trigger a war sometime in the future? That was the priest's issue with the prophecy in the first place. It was found on an ancient tablet, it could be mistranslated or the events might not be certain."

I leaned back and thought out loud. "In stories of earth, prophecies often happened whether you tried to avoid them or not. Not trying to get involved is just as likely to cause the events as trying to stop it. Besides, what am I supposed to do at this point? It's not like I can take back the succubi transformations, I couldn't do that if I wanted to. They have free will and they're going to 'spread out' on their own whether I like it or not at this point. I get the impression that the 'don't work against me' part of the oath wouldn't go as far as stopping them from trying to have children or create new succubi. Assuming we can reproduce naturally of course, I'm not actually sure if that's possible or not." That comment caused a few blushes but I didn't dwell on it. I sighed. "I honestly don't know what to do."

"Should we attempt to stay out of the politics of it?" Bella asked. "I didn't think we had any goals to attack the kingdom."

Torien pointed her thumb at me. "Would we be able to keep her nose out of everyone's business? She already has the stated goal of getting us out of slavery, the only way that happens is if we do something political. Even if you don't take that goal into account, she's already made political friends with the daughter of the former baron, apparently a secret noble from the Northern Greens, and most recently the current ruler of this barony and head of the Morkinnen church here. She's also had the direct personal attention of at least two gods. All of that in the short time since this world traveler woke up on this plane." She turned to look at me. "Sorry, Lilith, but you attract trouble like a monster lure."

Silva cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Honestly, if you ask me, all of the trouble that's been going on in the kingdom of Torlimal was going to happen with or without Lilith's involvement. The Baron was assassinated before Lilith came here. Unrest among slaves, slavers, and slavery abolitionists have been brewing for years now. My reasons for killing that noble aren't unique ones, the only difference was that I actually succeeded. I'm sure there are already groups trying to find a way to kill the young king, especially since he doesn't have an heir yet. Even if Lilith becomes the one that lights the tinder, this kingdom is already a bonfire waiting to ignite. You shouldn't let a prophecy kept by a bunch of insane zealots stop you from doing what you think is right. The only reason those fanatics aren't called a cult themselves is because they've entrenched themselves into too many countries at this point."

Morrigan sat forward. "Lilith, we're headed to the capital soon anyway, since Theo is planning on getting us into the Library of Sorsette maybe you could try and commune with her there. You already have her attention, maybe she could share some of her wisdom on our... predicament. Or if we do want to stop a second war of the gods, tell us what we even can do to stop it. Most gods won't speak with mortals that seek them out all that easily but Sorsette is more likely than most of the other gods and you're kind of a special case, surely she would share some of her wisdom with us."

I nodded. "There's not much else we can do and I wanted to see the Library of Sorsette anyway. It's worth a try."

Bella rubbed her face. "I didn't know what I was getting into when we first met." She scooted a little closer and leaned against me. "I can't say I'm unhappy with how everything's turned out so far but boy are you exhausting," Bella said with a teasing grin. "Running from high-level demons one day and learning about end-of-times prophecies the next."

I smiled wryly at her and pet her head. "Maybe all of us could use a break. Spend a day or two having some alone time with each of you."

Bella shook her head. "As much as I love the idea, we're already running behind. Besides, the city is still partially in ruins and I'm afraid if we stay any longer the guards will rope us into another raid or something. I think all I want is... something smaller and more intimate tonight. I don't think I can handle another orgy..."

"Oh uh..." I hesitated. "Well, I kinda already promised I would invite Grace to bed with us tonight..."

Bella sighed. "Alright, that's fine. But just her tonight okay? As much as I love spending time with Morrigan, Mimi, and some of the other girls, I've been missing you lately... I don't have the confidence to compete with dozens of women attempting to get between your legs."

I caressed Bella's cheek and she leaned into it. "I'm sorry Bella, things have been so crazy lately."

She smiled and held my hand against her face. "No need to apologize, I assumed this kind of thing was going to happen the first time I read over [Sexual Appetite]. As long as you indulge me when you can, I'll continue to be happy."

I leaned forward and kissed her. "I love you, Bella."

She smiled. "I love you too." She turned to Morrigan and Mimi. "I love you two as well. You have just had more time for me lately," she said with a teasing tinge to her voice.

I dropped the [Zone of Silence] from our room and relaxed open my bond with the other succubi now that we were done discussing the more sensitive subjects we learned today. Nothing big seemed to be going on, most of the girls were still enjoying each other. Other than some of the people being shuffled around, it didn't look like much had changed during our discussion.

"How about we all relax and rest while we wait for Sibyl and Raya to get back with news on that carriage?" I asked.

My girlfriends gave nods of agreement. Silva shifted her weight. "If that's the case do you mind if I go downstairs to get something to eat? The more I spend time with all of you the more I realize I'm going to be on my own when it comes to eating."

I chucked. "Of course, sorry for not paying more attention to that... You don't need to ask though Silva. You can just say what you're going to do and I'll tell you if it conflicts with something going on, no need to ask permission all the time."

"Right, it can be hard to drop the habits that got drilled into me," she replied. "I'll be downstairs then with my girlfriend." She wrapped an arm around Torien's waist and pulled her close, causing her to let out a cute little 'eep' sound.

The two of them left the room leaving the four of us alone.

"Mimi." Through the bond she read my intentions and removed everything but my underclothes without a word. She also stripped out of everything, leaving only her nude golden skin revealed.

"Mimi, can you do me too?..." Morrigan asked.

"Sure," Mimi replied with a bright smile. She stepped slid closer and tapped her, leaving the catgirl in only her underclothes as well. Through the bond, she also noticed Bella wanted help and stripped her down as well without having to ask.

I picked Bella up and held her to my chest before pulling her into bed with me, Morrigan quickly took the spot on my other side, and Mimi crawled on top of us as she usually liked to do. Her ability to manipulate her weight or mass or however it worked always came in handy when she wanted to lay on top like this.

I nuzzled the side of Bella's face before turning and planting a kiss on Morrigan's forehead. When I turned back to Mimi she took the opportunity to give me a bit of a deeper more passionate kiss. I could tell through the bond that she wasn't feeling as lonely as Bella has been, she's been enjoying herself with many different people since we've come here, but there is always something special about spending time with the three of us for her.

I squeezed the three of them against me and lulled myself into a nap. Enjoying my girlfriends lying against me.