For a noble to abandon her humanity, humanity must first exist.

Vakenroth drifted overhead. Watching Valentina with the woman below. They spoke words that the dragon could not hear over the wind. They shared a touch that he could still see. Was this some agent of Valentina’s brood?

Some elaborate attempt to escape? Vakenroth didn’t fully understand human fashion. But he did not think this to be so. The fabrics this other woman wore were too poor to suggest royal blood. Though her form still looked familiar.

There was no sound of protest from Valentina.

Even as the other led the princess into that hut.

Vakenroth could see no more of what occurred. Not unless he ripped or burned that roof free.

He did not need to remain in the sky. Yet he did not wish to wander far enough that he could not hear Valentina’s screams.

He did not think Valentina in much threat. With that belt of hers, she could crush even a knight in steel. She was safe, as long as she didn’t remove it. And his chosen would not be so foolish.

But they would soon require food. And so Vakenroth set to hunting. To find some mammal whose screams could be quickly extinguished.

---

Valentina could hear the donkey’s cry even from inside the hut. Vakenroth had found new prey. She gave a silent prayer of gratitude that this time it wasn’t human.

Gesch saw that face crinkle up. But she did not understand it. The older woman assumed it fear. “The dragon didn’t get a child this time. We should be safe for the day.”

This time. Valentina tried not to think about the times before. How many people had gone missing from this gathering alone. From all the little towns and hamlets in the regions. Others had suffered from Vakenroth well before the crown of Acre had acted.

Gesch continued to scrub. Brushing free the caked on fluids. The vileness of consummation. What she had assumed a horror. An act that Valentina herself had enjoyed. Initiated. Made all the worse.

Valentina tried to dismiss her thoughts. The war inside of her head. Even now, there was a dragon nearby, keeping faith with her. Her savior from the dangers of her family. And the dangers of her family made manifest.

It was easy to divide the world up between monsters. Between the cruelty of kings and that of dragons. There she would choose dragons every time, without hesitation. But there were people in this world beyond Dragons and Kings.

Underfoot.

The driver, who was devoured when he tried to flee.

The unnamed children who had been taken in attacks before.

Vakenroth was a monster. A terrible flame that devoured seemingly all but Valentina herself. And he was now her flame. “Mine.” She mumbled, adrift in thought. A flame that she could try to direct as she wished.

But she had never seen the kindling before.

Not this close. Nor had she expected it to be so kind.

Gesch stared at her. “What did you say?”

“More.” Valentina lied. Looking down to Gesch’s arm, still reaching between her thighs. That powerful muscle. That strength. Wanting some fragment of it. Perhaps the whole of her sexuality had been defined by envious lust. Wanting to fuck what she wished to become.

She moved. Making her desires clearer. Grinding herself against Gesch’s hand. Feeling that hand let go of the wash cloth. Feeling fingers move in to caress her. Fingers not unpracticed. Fingers with greater skill than Valentina had ever felt.

“You are mad.” Gesch remarked, with a smirk. But she didn’t stop. She understood well the madness that ran behind Valentina’s eyes. To revel and glory in what was once stolen away. To reclaim yourself with hunger twice burned.

And while Gesch might have restrained herself. While she had tried to treat this lost noble girl with respect. There was a lust still underneath. An awe, perhaps, a respect at what Valentina had endured. A curiosity at just how much the noble could handle. Gesch pushed two fingers slowly inside of Valentina.

Two fingers, the girl accepted eagerly. But it was the press of palm that truly drove Valentina wild. That had her thrashing there in the bath. Pushing herself against the older woman. Of all stimulation, Valentina decided she enjoyed the external the most. To push herself against something pleasant.

Something strong.

Whether matron or dragon.

And she felt that strength pushing back.

“You don’t have to...”

Gesch tried to state. To make clear that such fucking wasn’t required for her aid and hospitality.

Valentina didn’t have the time for pity. For false restraint. Instead, she reached out in displeasure, biting down on Gesch’s arm. Making very clear that the older woman was exactly where Valentina wanted her to be.

Biting hard enough to pierce skin. Though Val was weaker still, Gesch was not clothed in dragon hide. “Damn girl!” Gaesch called out. “Did you go feral in your time away?” But that was no true protest. Instead, the older woman pushed her arm back against Val, letting the princess cling to her.

And redoubling the grinding of her palm against that clit. Leaving Val squirming in the water. Teeth still locked onto the older woman’s arm. Valentina was far weaker now, even weaker than when she had first been **** away. And so her clinging was hardly the demonstration of mastery she might have intended.

Hardly the **** grip she had subjected her dragon to.

Yet living, still she gripped.

Enjoying a hand far more dextrous than any she had ever had.

An arm far smaller than that which she had become accustomed to. Yet still satisfying all the same. Pleasure went through her as a series of shocks. Her mind jumping from thought to thought, diverted with each bump and grind.

The question beneath it all. What did Valentina want? She had jumped into the bath of the first woman to show her kindness. She had enthralled the dragon assigned to her doom. Both of these acts were defiant. A betrayal of the expectations that had been laid before her. But was there more to either of them?

Vakenroth in many ways, was the first thing, the first being who was ever truly hers. That she had any control over. Any agency to manipulate. Yet even now, she might be rising his anger. Would a dragon see such a coupling as a betrayal?

Valentina didn’t know.

And perhaps that’s why she pushed herself against Gesch’s arm so eagerly. Why she bit so hard against Gesch’s arm to draw blood.

Though this time, Val was careful enough to not consume Gesch directly. One marriage was more than enough already. Not that Gutaniz peasants followed such customs.

Finally, that orgasm rocked through her body, causing Valentina to cry out. Loud enough that even a dragon could hear.

“Quiet. No attracting the beast.” Gesch cautioned Valentina. Following up the pleasing touch with a light admonishing swat across Valentina’s mons. One that by Valentina’s moans was not entirely unwelcome.

“I reckon that you are clean enough.” Gesch shook her head. “Your highness.” In a mocking tone, not truly thinking Valentina royalty in truth, but teasing the girl’s privileged upbringing. “You seemed to have needed that. Perhaps just as much as I.”

A peculiar statement.

In that Gesch had received no pleasure herself. Little touch, more than a clinging girl and biting teeth.

Valentina took her time to recover, breathing heavily, squeezing Gesch’s arm. Finally letting go with those teeth. “Thank you.” She said quietly. A newfound meekness reaching her. “I... needed that bath, I think.”

“You did. But we aren’t hardly done. I’ll need to soap up your hair if we ever hope to get it clean.” Gesch admonished, grabbing the rough soap once more and working up a lather. The soap she used upon Valentina was harsh. Cheaply made. The worst that Valentina had ever had used upon her.

And after the long absence, an incredible luxury.

Valentina closed her eyes. Laying back and letting go as Gesch started to scrub again. For a time, there had been the illusion that Valentina would clean herself. That there was nothing sexual to this bath. That illusion was long fallen.

Valentina gave a pleased sigh as she felt Gesch’s strong fingers move through along her scalp. As the older woman untangled the knots and snarls of hair. Before that same hair bound itself into a nest.

It took more minutes than Valentina cared to count. The whole time she relaxed. She gave in. And the gratitude to her host showed. She didn’t hear any more from her dragon. But that silence was likely a good sign.

A better sign than Vakenroth burning the house down with the two of them inside.

“Right. I think that’s done enough for now.” Gesch said with a sigh. She washed her hands off again in the water, to try and get anything lingering away. Drying her hands off with a rag.

“Though, I still best get you some dinner.” Gesch moved back to the fire, putting on another pot. “You came to me barely fed. And not in any state to hunt or scavenge. Do you even know yet what plants are safe to eat out here?”

Valentina shook her head. What little food she had was raw meat. And unless her cloak had protected herself from the perils of that, she would suffer in the long term. Maybe she could cook what Vakenroth brought her?

Valentina slipped free from the bath and started to dry herself. Still leaning against that tub to stand. While she had enjoyed the moment of it, she did not desire to linger in weakness, and pulled her tunic and cloak back over herself before she was fully dry. Latching that belt into place and feeling her strength return.

“You aren’t going to let me wash them?” Gesch asked with some judgment, while starting to add root vegetables and jerky to the pot.

“You would prefer me linger naked?” Valentina replied, with a rising bite to her words.

“Maybe.” Gesch chuckled in admission.

Valentina rolled her eyes. “I will take time to wash them soon enough.”

“As you will.” Gesch replied, adding what seasonings she could afford to the pot.

Valentina’s eyes wandered through the dwelling. A hut perhaps? Something more established than that, but hardly the solid construction that she was used to. Not the full of a house, but more permanent than not. A home, one that Gesch had lived in for some time.

And there were pieces here. Of a life uncomplete. A set of men’s clothing. For a moment, she thought they might have been Gesch’s own. Valentina had wondered if the charcoaler had lived a double life, blending in as a man for some social benefit. A deception that would have amused and encouraged Valentina.

But the clothing wasn’t the right size for Gesch. A little bit bigger still. It had belonged to a man, who had been here recently. Yet in Gesch’s words, there was no worry of his return. Of being intruded on. Valentina hoped to find some evidence of infidelity in her casual search. Some way to dismiss this figure in Gesch’s life.

But there were too many signs of him remaining. Nothing disposed of. It was all kept the same. As if Gesch was waiting for this man to return. And yet, he never would. It wasn’t a complicated mystery. Valentina just didn’t like the conclusion. Gesch’s man, her husband perhaps, the one she had built this home in.

He had died.

And considering Gesch’s words. He had gotten killed by the dragon. Vakenroth had been through here before. He had known the fires of the charcoalers, he had known that this wasn’t an army.

The dragon did not study humans casually. He gained knowledge on those humans who had amused him, like Valentina. And he had gained knowledge on those who were his prey. Like Gesch’s man, her husband perhaps?

And he likely didn’t care. All was flesh before him. Dragons devoured their own regularly enough that it became an act of courtship. What significance was one human more than another? A human over a donkey? When Vakenroth had returned recently, he had human flesh and scraps of cloth on his teeth.

And at the time, Valentina had felt aroused. Saw it as a symbol of power. A thrill of violation. Yet here she saw violation’s cost. It wasn’t just ‘a peasant’. A peasant had a name. “What was his name?” Valentina asked, the words leaving her lips before she could pull them back.

Gesch stirred the stew and didn’t answer for a time.

Valentina didn’t press.

“Atta. His name was Atta.”

The peasant was named Atta.

Valentina chewed on her own lip. How did one mourn? How did one relate to loss? She had not lived long enough to encounter tragedy beyond her own loss, her own betrayal. She had no siblings who had died. No parents either.

And the loss of either, she might have celebrated.

She shook her head.

Perhaps not the loss of her brothers. Their cruelty was more passive than the rest.

“I am sorry.” Valentina said. Tasting the words. Unsure of them. By her upbringing she was a monster, unused to human mores. Human loss. She did not become more alien by bedding a dragon.

A noble was already inhuman.

“You didn’t kill him.”

Gesch replied. Testy. Not enjoying the conversation. Bitter at her husband’s ****. But still, not blaming the lost girl she had found, the lost girl she had bedded. “I don’t need your sympathy.” She continued.

There was a hardness there that wasn’t before. But it wasn’t full anger. Not at Valentina. Anger at the world, perhaps. Anger at the idea that her husband’s **** was so quickly forgotten. Considered unimportant.

And that anger rolled around to Valentina. That she might be so disaffected by such suffering to not understand it. But Gesch’s hard gaze lingered on Valentina for a while. Staring at her. Valentina had known hardship.

Terrible hardship. She still wore the bruises of it, even after the cum had been scrubbed clean. She was alien to the horrors and suffering common to Gesch’s class. But Valentina had found suffering of her own.

Gesch sighed.

“Stew is nearly ready. Maybe later I’ll talk of Atta. But do not ask me of him until I am ready.” She nodded, and filled a wooden bowl with the heated food. Setting it down at a table for two. Tucked away at the side before filling her own bowl.

Valentina nodded. Asking nothing more, moving to that table with relative ease, before sitting and starting to dig in. She had never tasted a meal such as this. But it was rich in ways she had never experienced. Even the roots adding a luxury to the meal that she had been denied under Vakenroth.

The heat of it.

The actually benign cooked of it.

A luxury of a peasant stew that she spooned quickly.

That she lifted to her lips and drank from the bowl.

Not caring about the heat.

Gesch had only taken a single sip by the time Valentina was done. She watched the girl in some wonder. “... I reckon you will be having seconds then.” And then she laughed. Val wasn’t the solution to her problems. Val wasn’t Atta returned. But Val was an entertaining diversion. A girl who had been under rocks, who did not know Gesch at all.

A girl who needed help. And in helping Val, Gesch had the chance to ignore her own pain. At least for a time.

Valentina nodded. “If I can?” She asked, once again taking on that sheepish deference.

“You can. I’ve got plenty of potatoes and jerky stored for winter.” A pang across her face. A bounty stored up for two mouths. Now feeding only one. Gesch raised herself up to take Valentina’s bowl and refill it. Making sure to gather up more of the softened jerky and roots to truly satisfy the girl.

And as she moved, she thought. Perhaps having Val around wouldn’t be so bad? A balm to loneliness. A distraction. A girl to help and a good deed all the same. And perhaps, were Val willing, the girl could use her tongue to distract Gesch from her loneliness.

Until the girl got her strength back, at least. Though there was some danger to Val. Gesch didn’t know who the girl was. But there was enough to be certain that Val was important. That noble upbringing. That terror that she had lived through. Someone had been powerful enough to steal away a noble’s child and bring her ruin.

Surely both noble family and despoiler would be looking for Val now.

There was great risk there. Less risk, perhaps if Gesch turned Val in. Perhaps even a reward. And maybe if it was only to return Val to her family, Gesch would have considered it further. Yet, Gesch could not be certain that it was not Val’s own family who put her through such torment.

Gesch shook her head and brought Val her bowl back.

Gesch wouldn’t send someone to that hell.

Nor take that risk. Val could stay for a time.

Val ate slower now. More measured paces. And Gesch ate as well.

Dinner met its end. And night approached. There was no sign of the dragon. Perhaps he had flown off with his own dinner completed?

Gesch showed Val how to scrub and clean her tunic. To clean her cloak. Yet through it all, Val kept her belt on. An odd sight. The noble wearing only a kidney belt and outdoorsman’s boots. But Gesch did not ask any question yet.

It took effort. But the clothes were cleaned and dried above the fire. The two women slept in Gesch’s bed. They did not fuck again.

By the time Gesch woke, Val was gone.

The girl had stolen Gesch’s soap. And left behind gold coins in thanks.

A stolen fortune beyond Gesch’s imagining.

Gesch was offended still.