Heroes of Veritas: Bardic Inspiration (Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Sweet but a Psycho

The party spent a comfortable night camping in the woods, with Elise playing softly as they sat around the campfire enjoying the provisions she’d brought with them, telling each other stories and generally enjoying each others’ company. When it was time to douse the fire and get some rest, Elise curled up into her sleeping bag between Ichigo and Mercenades, warm and content.

Ian, or perhaps Astredian, was not so lucky. After eating that first chocolate, the guild commander found himself plagued with tantalising visions of a woman who, currently, wasn’t there. He saw, or rather felt, just what it had been like to make her laugh and blush, and could now remember just how good it felt to have her cheek resting against his chest as they lay in bed together at night, talking in hushed tones over the day’s events.

Ian had been in relationships before. At least, he thought he’d had relationships with those women. Well, they were more like girls than women. His fresh recollections of his time with Elise had shifted his standards for what constituted a relationship, and what he wanted from said relationship. He wanted to know what it was like to share things with a woman who actually gave a s**t about him, and from what he could tell...Elise cared. From the little snippets he’d seen, it seemed that even when things were complicated, they managed to work through it together. Even when he had nothing to offer her - no money, no reputation, not even a guild hall to hang her hat in - she stuck around. In this life, it looked like they had built the Dire Beavers together with Moltar and Pita.

Ian tried to ignore the remaining chocolates, took a cold shower, and even tried to distract himself with tedious file work. But, his resistance was weak, and before long he ended up binging on the rest of the chocolates. He needed to know more. 

This only made his problems decidedly worse, as many of the new memories he gained were of a decidedly dirtier nature. Ian struggled to sleep that night. Even after he finally broke and tended to his own needs, the paladin was woken repeatedly by dreams of what he’d like to do to the pretty little troubadour now that he knew just what she was into.

“I’m going insane,” Ian muttered to himself as he stared up at the ceiling, his body covered in sweat. He swallowed as a more insidious thought crept into his mind. What if he really was losing it? What if were those chocolates drugged? Was Elise trying to torture him? She had been suspiciously nice the morning she left, after being so angry the day before. 

That was annoying though, because it wasn’t his fault that this was happening. He didn’t ask to show up here; it’s not like he wanted to die. He’d loved his other life. Well, ok, being honest his old life was ok. It might not have been the greatest, but he certainly wouldn’t have given it up to come here… Maybe. Magic was pretty damn cool, and totally worth starting over in this new, adventurous life. Cool, and powerful. Powerful enough to f**k him up if it was used against him.

Ian grit his teeth a little. Those memories, if that’s what they were, had felt pretty real...but he couldn’t be sure. He would need to have some words with Elise when she got back.

Unfortunately for the guild commander, Elise’s party took their sweet time getting back to the village of Pounce. Having woken late and traveled at a leisurely place, it was well into the afternoon when they reached the outskirts of Veritasia City. Though they’d bathed in the river the night before, the troubadour was still sore and covered in road dust, and decided to split off from the group and hit up the Misty Mermaid before heading home.

Part of her was also, probably, wanting to avoid the guild hall - and Ian - for just a little longer. This was not because she had drugged her guild commander, of course. Elise was many things, but she wasn’t actually a psycho.

By the time Ellie got back to the guild hall, the dinner was already in full swing, the hall full to the brim with guildies. In fact, the hall was a little more festive than usual - Hattie having taken some time to decorate it for Sweethearts Day with strings of heart shaped paper cuts.

The troubadour thought she’d timed her return perfectly; she could grab a quick bite to eat, then duck into Pita’s room to start reading the slim volume that Ichigo had presented to her that morning, and avoid all the hubbub. The catton cleric had given copies of his new book to the whole party as a Sweethearts Day gift, and in turn Elise gave him a bag of catmint cookies.

Echo and Jasper also got some sweets, and though Mercenades was disappointed not to be given something she brightened considerably when Ellie told her she and Moltar had planned something special for her. She just hoped that Moltar actually did manage to take her hint and throw something together with the chocolate dipped strawberries she made.

Elise loaded a plate up for herself from the feast of sweets that Brida had put on in celebration of the holiday, and quickly retreated to Pita’s room. Despite being newly single, the troubadour was determined to enjoy Sweethearts Day. She changed into a silky navy blue nightie with its matching panties, and lit a few candles. Then, she laid back in the pillowy bed and started reading. As she read, she fed herself chocolate covered cherries, and fresh strawberries that she dipped into a little cup of freshly whipped cream.

Soon she was lost in the story, and completely forgot that it was Ichigo who had written it. If she’d remembered, she surely would have been embarrassed by what happened next. At the moment, she was too distracted by the hot s*x scene that was unfolding in her mind’s eye to be embarrassed. Elise bit her bottom lip, sliding one of her hands up her thighs.

Elise’s hot little hand was soon rubbing circles over her sweet spot through her panties. Knowing that she was going to end up soaking them if she didn’t do something soon, she pulled the panties down her legs, letting them drop to the floor as she continued playing with herself. 

While her right hand was tending to her nether region, she used her left hand to tweak one of her n*****s. She pinched hard, twisting a little until she squeaked, gasping free the breath she’d been holding. Astredian had always been afraid to pinch or spank her too hard, but Ellie had always liked a little pain with her pleasure.

“Mmmm…” Elise hummed softly to herself as her breath started growing more erratic.

Just when she was starting to get close to her climax, three fingers of her right hand thrusting deep into her core as she used her left hand to play with her clit, there was a knock on the door. 

Elise looked up, eyes going wide as she dropped the end of the nightie that she’d stuffed into her mouth. Her mouth went dry as she realized that she’d forgotten to lock the door. Before she could say anything, the door of Pita’s room was thrown open.

The troubadour yelped a little, yanking her hand away from her tender bits as she took in the man standing backlit in the doorway. It was Ian, and he had a thunderous expression on his face - which twisted when he took in just what it was that she’d been doing when he walked in on her.