Chapter 99 Popcorn.

Chapter 99: 99 Popcorn.

I took my time learning her. It was confusing to say the least.

Juniper’s body wasn’t built the way a human woman’s was, but the fundamentals were there, just configured differently and nestled where scales gave way to soft heat.

She was so sensitive that her whole body reacted to every touch, her coils rippling gently whenever I found a good spot.

She was so sensitive that her whole body reacted to every touch, her coils rippling gently whenever I found a good spot.

Her breathing went ragged and her forked tongue kept flickering against my neck, my jaw, my ear, both tips working independently and driving me absolutely insane.

When I finally pressed into her, her coils tightened around me.

The sensation of being inside Juniper while simultaneously being wrapped in her from every direction was overwhelming.

Every thrust was countered by subtle movements from her lower body, her coils adjusting to match my rhythm and adding pressure and friction I couldn’t have gotten from any other position with any other woman on any planet.

She pulled me deeper with her body, literally, and the squeeze that resulted was enough to make my vision blur.

"Oh," she breathed. And then, much less composedly: "Ahh! Oh, that’s... Grey..."

"I know."

"You can’t possibly know. You’re not the one being..." She lost the sentence to a sharp gasp when I hit a particularly good angle.

Her coils clenched and I felt the pressure from my ankles to my shoulders. Her hands gripped my back and her nails, which were longer and sharper than a human woman’s, raked lines that could benefit from Ayra’s healing magic later.

We found a pace that worked. There was nothing frantic about it because Juniper didn’t do frantic.

She did thorough. Every movement was felt and responded to, which was very on brand for the party’s resident scholar.

When I cupped one of her breasts and thumbed the nipple while I was inside her, her whole body constricted around me and she made a noise like all the air had been forced out of her lungs at once.

"I’m going to..." she started, and didn’t finish because she was already doing it. Her coils locked around me and her back arched, pressing those magnificent tits against my chest while her inner walls squeezed me in rhythmic contractions that made holding on for even a few more seconds genuinely heroic.

Her forked tongue lashed against my neck with both tips curling, and the sound she made was quiet and almost surprised, like she hadn’t actually expected it to feel that good.

I finished inside her about ten seconds later. There was no version of reality where a man survives that kind of full-body serpentine squeeze without completely losing it.

Her tattoo blazed, possibly the brightest of all three, and the release pulsed through both of us.

I felt the magic of the ritual channel through the act, through us, the same way it had with Elsa and Ayra but stronger now because this was the final seal.

She didn’t let go for a long time after. Her tail stayed wound around my legs and her head rested on my chest. I could feel her heartbeat through the coils as it slowed from racing to resting.

"Thank you," she said into my collarbone. "For not making it all about the logistics."

I laughed. "There were some logistics."

Her forked tongue flicked against my neck, which shut me up immediately. "Hush, my Champion. My... love."

The final bond locked in and the whole circle blazed with light. All three connections flared at once, and the full weight of the completed ritual hit me.

Grey 2: Revenge of the Sith, fell at last like a soldier who’d given his last breath to the call of duty as energy rolled through me. Warmth poured through every muscle and every bone. My vision sharpened and my hearing expanded. I could taste the night air on my tongue, electric and clean, and my whole body felt like it had been plugged into a wall socket in a good way.

The blue window appeared:

[ RITUAL COMPLETE

• Champion’s Resolve acquired.

• Passive ability: Resistance to magical effects.

• Enhanced regeneration under moonlight. Permanent.

All base stats +1.

• STR: 20.

• DEX: 17.

• CON: 16.

• INT: 11.

• WIS: 11.

• CHA: 11.

Emotional Bond Link established: Party members can now sense each other’s general emotional states. ]

STR 20. I stared at that number. I’d have to test the limits later.

Juniper read the notification over my shoulder through the bond. "It worked," she murmured. "We did it."

"I got a stat boost from sex and you’re running the math."

The corner of her mouth twitched. "Someone has to."

Then a second notification appeared that I hadn’t expected:

[ SYSTEM NOTICE ↓↓↓

Champion stat increase has been detected. (↑↑↑)

Cavalier Bond propagation is currently in effect.

CLEMENTINE KIM—GREATER STEED:

Bond Scaling recalculated. Congratulations. All physical stats adjusted upward.

• STR: 16 (+2).

• DEX: 16 (+2).

• CON: 16 (+2).

New passive unlocked: Steed’s Resilience.

Effect: Enhanced durability and partial magic resistance while bonded. Bond Status: AMICABLE. ]

I read it twice. The ritual hadn’t touched Clementine directly.

She’d been fifty yards away eating popcorn the whole time, but my stat increase had cascaded through the Cavalier bond and dragged her numbers up with it.

The System didn’t care that she wasn’t part of the ceremony. She was bonded to me, and when I got stronger, so did she.

She was going to pretend not to care about any of this, and she was going to be secretly thrilled, because who wouldn’t want to get more powerful out of nowhere?

From the porch, maybe fifty yards away: "Are you weirdos done with your pagan orgy or whatever? I made popcorn, ya fuckin’ heathens."

All four of us turned our heads. Clementine stood in the porch light with a bowl of popcorn in one hand and the other hand on her hip.

"Popcorn sounds good," I said way too hoarsely to sound cool.