The Heartstone Saga by Archibald Bradford (short novels in english .TXT) 📕

in her eyes the pain of the mother she once was, the pain Jonathan uses to twist the hearts of so many of our sisters... But it was gone a breath later, nothing but vengeful wrath existing in its place. The kindest thing we can do for our enemy is end her.”

Queen Julia’s head dipped down firmly in agreement.

“After what was done to my Avita...” She had to pause to take a breath to compose herself before continuing, knuckles white on the sword at her hip; “I will focus on saving the lives of the monster girls in their sway rather than seeking vengeance, but the Chimera and her bond must die for their crimes against my house.”

It was not so much a declaration of what should be as it was a demand or even an order of what must be, from the Antlion Queen to the Valkyrie.

In the midst of this though, Nina was growing impatient.

“We keep saying that. Again and again. But she keeps being not dead. It’s pissing me off, so let’s stop yammering about it and figure out how to go and make it a thing.”

Volka nodded.

“We must bring the fight to them. Too long have we been on the defensive, with terrible consequences. But with the arrival of the Longinus legions and with the brave volunteers that now stand beside the Aegis, we can finally end this.”

“Even if we found out where they were, Evadne will see us coming.” Miranda warned; “From everything I’ve heard she seems to be able to pop in and out of darkness without warning.”

Again Volka dipped her head.

“Yes, but Milly faced her before and gravely wounded her. And from what I’ve seen for myself she is barely hanging on. Powerful, but dying. Entropy will eventually consume her utterly.”

Abruptly Olena the Witch stood up and headed towards the stairs, seemingly intent on leaving while a great many eyes watched.

Oddly though, Volka ignored her and kept right on talking.

“So she will face us, she cares more for our deaths than she does her own life. It is what she wants. Or rather, it is what her master, the demon that has consumed her soul, wants. And at least if we go out to meet her, then we can spare the non-combatants in Garland from further suffering.”

While the conversation shifted towards more practical matters, Nameless and his other bond-mates waited, not having much to offer beyond support to Volka.

But as she was passing them Olena paused, her strange green eyes looking Nameless over intently as she fingered with a bone needle.

“Your blood...” She murmured, her brow furrowing quizzically.

“Um, can I help you?” He replied quietly, his eyes darting towards where Volka and Booker were still talking.

She shook her head quickly, casting off the distraction of his words.

While she pondered him though, Nina had come over, her hammer at the ready.

“Yo, blackie, you see the golden lady with the nice tits, she’s talking so you should-”

Abruptly Olena turned away from Nameless and swooped towards the Gigas.

There was no other word for it, she swooped.

She rapidly moved forwards while bending at the waist until her face was right in front of Nina’s, rocking the giant back on her heels.

Her glowing green eyes darted back and forth between Nina’s, and oddly the Gigas began to faintly tremble.

They held that pose for several seconds, until Olena turned back to Nameless and seized him by the arm, turning his wrist as she examined his bracer.

“An interesting charm, but where did you get it?” She asked him intently.

He didn’t try to pull his arm free, though his posture definitely became defensive.

“It was a gift from a friend.”

“This... friend, was she a Witch that didn’t like you? Or was it someone else, someone who maybe had a series of misfortune befall them all at once before they parted with it?”

“What? No!”

“Hmmm.” She pursed her lips and released him.

“What is this all about?”

“There is a curse upon this object.” The Witch stated simply.

His jaw fell open and he looked at the bracer as if he had just discovered it was made of spiders.

“The h-hell are you talking about lady?” Nina asked, displaying uncharacteristic hesitance in the face of the other monster girl.

“Just as I said. A curse. Pay it no mind.”

Erica’s tail had puffed up at the dire words.

“Pay it no- how are we supposed to ignore something like that?!”

Olena sighed.

“When it comes to curses, intent is everything. For what purpose do you wear this bracer?”

“To protect the hearts of monster girls.” Nameless said immediately.

“Not to enslave them?”

“Of course not!”

“Then as I said, pay it no mind.”

“But... a curse?” Ophelia asked nervously.

Her heartstone was set in one of the bracer’s indentations; after their apartment was destroyed she had taken it out of her teddy bear in order to avoid getting separated from it again.

“Don’t concern yourselves with it, it will only trigger on those that deserve it.”

“Deserve it according to whom?” Volka asked from behind her.

It seemed the meeting was breaking up into several smaller ones, and so the Valkyrie had come over to investigate what had caught the Witch’s attention.

“Clint...” Milly said suddenly.

They all turned to her, most with puzzled expressions, though Nameless’s eyes widened as he realized what she meant.

Despite still being unnerved by the Witch, Nina crossed her arms over her breasts.

“What the hell is a ‘Clint’?”

“The guy that whipped Milly, and me. He was arrested, a couple times actually. Milly threw him off a bridge.” Nameless shifted his weight onto one foot as he remembered the details surrounding the unpleasant man; “After that Paul had, uh, words with him about how he had treated her. He gave me this to keep everyone’s hearts