The Reborn Witch had a nice 'Tea Time' with the Dragon Queen today-Chapter 40: Steamy Bath Runed! A Reunion unwanted?

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

The shower room's steamy silence was hanging by Demond's sanity, the warm water tapping a symphony with their breaths, rising and falling like a crescendo of desire. The witch, still with her back against the dragon, now pulsed a heartbeat to match the drums of this musical tension. Her thoughts, a swirling cauldron of lust and spite, boiled under the promise for the dragon's 'naked night', and the distant humming of Adrei's amusement.

The former old man sighed, she dipped her palm into the water, the heat dispersing as her cold mana touched it, the small whirlpool created between her skin and the surface, the water droplets on her skin shimmered with a hint of frost. She had to admit, even if it was just a small tease, Adrei had a way of getting under her skin, and not just with those damned cherries.

...right. She's a woman now...an odd sense of curiosity piqued within her. The reincarnator with a perfect taste in literature, but a questionably precipitous taste in partners, she mused internally. Her hand slowly moved down her body, tracing the new curves that she had never felt before. The water rippled with her movement, the dragon's eyes following the line of her arm, the curve of her waist, and the way her hand stopped at her hip, her thumb brushing over the glossy skin.

She heaved a deep deep sigh, her shoulders slumping. It's not like she hasn't thought about it before. The curiosity of her new form was as constant as the her desire to meet Leona again, but carefulness has always been her virtue. Her hand hovered over her new body, the anticipation a silent whisper in her mind.

A water droplet dripped, from her nose to her chin, then down towards the 'hidden valley'. The witch gulped, the tickly sensation swirling like one tiny nail as it seeped deep into her skin, yet the naughty droplet dribbled down as it was eager to explore downwards, a marvellous, excited adventure eager to hug the 'cave wall' it'll have the pleasure to enter.

A moan of frustration echoed behind her, the steam around her coiled around her frame, as if resounding a predator's gaze of indomitable will for tiding against a flood of frustrations. That's when the witch knew, Adrei was just as curious as her, curious...as in like a protagonist viewing her woman, willing to pin her down and stab her own flag of exploration.

Maybe...it is fine, a little fine to inch closer? The bottoms of Demond shuttered like a car with a malfunctioned engine, the bathtub a road to a dark, unforgiving place she was unwilling to stretch into. Yet behind her was surely an abyss that would all the more willing to swallow her whole, and even a century old pride has its limit, for the leeway that a single defeat does not equate to a embedded future.

...no no no no. But isn't this only giving privileges to the dragon behind her? She hasn't returned all the groping flavours yet, not until then! The witch gasped as she heard that damning, amused chuckle again, her hand retreating back up to her neck and then back to her thighs. She had to find something to distract. Something to regain the slightest sense of male dignity she had left in this non-consensual marriage.

"Adrei...uh..." the witch's thought drifted back to Manasseh the merchant, as her years of war veteran experience scoured for the cunning vampire's evasion of her tracker, before her mood dampened at the thought of the dragon's amusement, the heat calming down to a mere simmer that the Tyrant would scoff at. "Remember Manasseh? You ensured that she will not blow this town up to a macguffin, so tell me why she's not been captured yet?"

The dragon's mused brows furrowed, her amusement momentarily forgotten. Her eyes narrowed slightly, the steam swirling around her as she considered the question. "Lady Adil would have her consideration...is what I would like to claim, but alas, there seems to be other issues she is busy with, something of a more immediate concern than a simple merchant causing havoc in her domain."

"A havoc? She has her men killed a dozen already, so probably not." Demond said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. The mention of Manasseh brought back the bitterness of her carelessness. "Adil is not this slow before. Something is definitely up."

Adrei's tail stopped swishing, the playfulness draining from the steamy air as she leaned closer to Demond. "You suspect something?"

The runes around the bathroom's whitestones shimmered a faint boue, the water vapor around them thickening into snows. The witch's eyes narrowed, as she glanced at the runes one of her icicles had carved out, which has been fixed by Adrei's magic.

In that dent, scar of white and blue coiled around, snaking the room in a serpent's protection. Demond stared at it, her mind racing as her eyes focused on not the rune, but the memory of the first time she had laid eyes on it. It was an overwhelming purity, one that has watched over Rouen for the past twenty years since the druid left her greeneries that have turned into graveyards for her sister.

That's right...come to think of it, she hasn't inquired her about the runes she has only seen for the first time in fifteen years she visited her, and by then urgent matters rushed at them like vampires and marriage. Then...

Demond took a deep deep breath. As she stretched out her palm to the wall, the master of mana could feel the faint pulse of power beneath the stone. So now...she has to trace the source.

She didn't wish to suspect her old friend, in fact this is something she expected she will joke about when she saw her again, but the sense of urgency that has been missing from Adil's actions was too stark to ignore.

"Uriel's eyes. Judgement in bound. For this sinner she sound."

The icy silence was palpable as Demond's words hung in the air. Adrei's relaxed demeanor was replaced by a more serious gaze. Her tail swished again, as the water beneath the witch trailed of a slight chill. The dragon knew that tone, the tone of the mage who has seen the darkest corners of the world, and be one of the only survivors.

"Sorrows to be born. Families she has sworn. Ice of Wraith shall be torn." Demond's palm on the wall glowed of the northern ice, her eyes glittered of the frozen beasts, and her heart pulsed of the runic drums behind the wall.

"For all that should be revealed. Night and day, in shadow none...shall be concealed." The witch's mind sunk into the runic wall. The chant was no mere words of power, but of a judge's verdict. The runes grew clearer in her sight, their mana resonating with hers, a silent call to order amidst chaos.

The murmurs of the runes grew louder in Demond's mind, echoing like the whispers of a long-forgotten spell. Her eyes narrowed as she focused, her hand pressing against the cold stone. The warmth of the bathwater was a stark contrast to the icy presence seeping into her. Adrei, sensing the shift in her wife's demeanor, wrapped her arms around the witch's waist, holding her gently.

"Hic...what is this...?"

For the first time in her witch form, in her near-century old mental state, Demond was truly, utterly shook, cries of the runes piercing through the veil of her thoughts like the shrieks of the damned, she felt it resonating, echoing, the disgust she knew all too well.

Then, among the seas of cries, pain, sorrows and joy, all murmured into one, one single voice stood out. A whisper, faint but clear, filled with the essence of regret and despair, dozens and hundreds and thousands of voices cluttering together, for announcing a single truth.

"When dawn falls, may La Llorona see for us all..."

And yet, the voices came to a silence, the runes on the wall fading back into the stone as if they had never been there at all. Demond pulled her hand back, the chill retreating from her fingertips. She turned to face Adrei, her expression a mix of shock and horror.

"Adrei." Demond's voice was a shiver in the quiet, the only sound her gasping breaths. "I need to see Adil. Now. That...stupid old druid! After all these years..."

"Demond..." Adrei's grip on her tightened, concern etching her features. "What did you see?"

"Not see. But I sure as hell...well, hear it." Demond's voice was a tremble, her eyes wide as the dragon looked at her. "The runes spoke. La Llorona, the Vampire Sovereign without Eyes. Adil has...damn it! She has no idea what she has brought in to her town!"

Adrei frowned. La Llorona, the foolish vampire ancestor that has been buried in history. The bile of tar clumped in her scaled throat as she recalled an unpleasant sister's words, but her disgust died down as she watched the unsettled look on her wife's face. Demond's eyes searched hers, the panic in them was as palpable as the steam in the air.

Without a second thought, the dragon pulled the witch into a warm embrace, her scales the witch has been used to now, but the comfort was as foreign as the warmth of a dragon's heart. Her arms were tight around the smaller witch's body, the water sloshing around them as she petted the witch's back, their nakedness together forgotten amidst the gravity of the revelation.

The icy gusts around the witch's body abated as Adrei's warm embrace enveloped her. The dragon's scaled arms were an ironic mellowness to the sharpness of the runic whispers, a bastion of comfort that the witch hadn't expected to find in this unfamiliar form. Demond's breath hitched as she leaned into Adrei's chest, the heat of the dragon's scales a balm to her trembling heart.

"Demond. Do you have a method to disable the runes in the town?" Adrei's voice was calm, the kind of calmness that belied her fiery wrath, yet her hatred for the undeads brushed aside any joking tones she had.

"Absolutely not. It is all over the town. This body...admittedly contains more mana than my whittled one, but..." The witch took a deep deep breath, her mind storming among the chaos for possibilities, the water splattered onto Adrei's scales as she clutched the dragon's arms tightly.

"Right, the seal! That unifinished circular seal Adil requested me to complete when we arrived! We need the temporary protection it provided as soon as we can for the civilians!" Demond's voice grew more urgent, the tremble fading away, replaced with the fiery resolve of the mage who has literally gone through hell and back.

"Adrei! Go meet Adil and ask clearly what is in those runes, and I'll go complete the seal now!" The witch's voice was a command, the kind of order that once accompanied her companions into death without hesitation. She pushed away from the dragon's embrace, the water splashing against Adrei's chest as she stood up. Her legs wobbled slightly, but she steadied herself, her eyes flashing with a resolve that the dragon found familiar.

Right. That's the way she faced the tyrant back then, unyielding alone even when the world was against her. The dragon nodded, her eyes never leaving Demond's. "I'll go, my love. I assume the seal is no problem for you?"

"Ha. Of course. It was interrupted when Manasseh's guild was attacked, but it's a small matter for meto complete the seal within tonight, so that none more is dying because of me again!" The witch said with a steely determination in her voice, her eyes glinted with a hint of the cold northern star.

As she was about to leave the bathroom, wetted and unclothed, Demond felt a gentle tug from Adrei's tail. The dragon then stretched her mana into being for the silks of clothes, weaving them onto her body with a tenderness that made the witch's cheeks warm. Soon, her body dried under the fabrics of lurid comfort, and she was clothed once again. The dragon's magic was something she had always found fascinating, something that oddly micmiced her power to weave tales and draw characters into beings.

The witch smiled, as she watched the hat once again weaved itself into existence. The hat was peculiar, a mix of elegance and whimsy, with the golden star that had the same color as her husband's eyes. She felt it's weightlessness on her head, and the fabric felt like a kiss from the dragon's own mana, gentle yet firm. She blinked, her cheeks coloring slightly.

"Leave Lady Adil to me, my wife. And sleep well after you finish the seal." Adrei's words were as firm as the scales that armored her, and Demond felt a flicker of comfort knowing her husband would handle the situation.

The peacekeeper's disgust for the vampire melted surprisingly well with her satisfaction in the witch's trustful gem-like eyes. The dragon cupped her chin, the palm of her hand fitting perfectly to the witch's cheek. Her thumb brushed over the apple redness, as she stated one, final declaration.

"From the greatest of monarchs, to the lowest of undeads, all shall forfeit the rights to touch Rouen except you and me."

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A gust of flowerly scent wafted through the garden as Adil stepped out of the basement stairs. She looked around, the moonlit garden was not a comfort to the darkness of the basement she had just left, but rather a fragile reminder of what had been. The fresh air that would have clashed with the flesh's stench from her home-turned graveyard was instead filled with the sweet smell of lilies that have been planted by her daughter. A new life of hers, saved by an old friend, she thought with a sigh.

Her eyes wavered at a near spot of lilies her child used to attend to. Doubts seeped deeply into her vein as she seethed her rotted teeth. What used to be a reminder of what's lost, now a reminder to what's to be protected. She leaned down, her finger twirling at the pedals, pedals her sister would gasp at her not to play with, pedals her child would pluck at when she's naive for her Druid's rooted tradition.

An familiar scent intermingled with the lilies, one that has the ferocity of the Tryant, yet carried an odd gentleness that Adil scoffed at for countless times. The hold on her scepter tightened as she turned around, the hooded figure coming out of the basement, her white cloak fluttering with the same grace of the snow that now scowered the Northern Iceland.

The scales beneath the cloak shimmered under the graceful moonlight, in contrast to Adrei's red eyes that burned like embers, yet the gentleness inherited through sisterhood remained, a twisted bond that Adil knew was untouched by anything but an obsession for peace, a dire pursuit of knowledge and a promise to an abandoned grave.

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