Doop

Can just imagine all the girlies on tiktok going "I know this is a bit controversial but I honestly love using limestone as a gastrolith. Not only can you readily forage it but they are just so pretty when smoothed out after regurgitating them"

have a peanut but-

oh no im sorry

I dare not breathe as she drags her tongue, rough and wet, across bare skin, down my neck and across my shoulder. The lick is saturated with her magic, and it leaves a trail of tingling skin as her power seeps into my flesh.

"Do you still not yet understand why I might want you?" she asks me.

"N-no," I reply, my voice small and unsteady, barely more than a squeak.

She nips my ear, razor-sharp teeth pressing dangerously close.

My hand slips, and the strings of my harp let out a discordant screech that brings a frown to her face. I don't know that I want to find out what happens if she stops finding my music to her liking.

"Pardon?" I ask as I do my best to recover.

"I have known many musicians who would sing to music such as yours, yet you are silent. Why?"

She cocks her head to the side to better fix one of her gleaming eyes on me.

I want to reply that many musicians do not sing, but that is not the answer to the question she is asking. I have no doubt that she possesses some magic that can see into the very heart of me.

I decide to be honest. I do not want to find out what happens if she catches me in a lie.

"I do not care for my voice," I admit.

"Why?"

I feel my skin crawling with the weight of her attention, the power of her magic.

"My voice is too deep," I say, barely louder than a whisper. "Too rough."

"Do you find my voice too deep?" she rumbles, amused.

I shake my head, powerless under her scrutiny.

She grunts a self-satisfied sound, and reaches out a claw to carress my face.

She cocks her head in that appraising way of hers and grins, flashing her razor sharp teeth. 

I face the mirror to examine the jeweled collar that now rings my neck. The fine silver filigree and chains shine bright against glittering sapphires and opals. It is the finest thing I have ever worn, worth more than I have ever owned.

A rustle of fabric behind me makes me turn and my body betrays me by letting out a soft gasp. 

She has produced a gown of shimmering silk that gleams with an opalescent sheen. It is just as fine and beautiful as anything else I have seen in her hoard.

My heart begins hammering in my chest as she settles back onto her haunches to watch me with that hungry expression of hers.

Almost unbidden, my hand reaches out to touch the smooth fabric of it. A familiar gnawing need starts up in the core of me. The heat of her magic flares in response and I jerk my hand away. Letting her place her jewels on me is one thing, but this…

Her eyes gleam knowingly.

“You want this,” she purrs. It's an observation, a suggestion, and a command all at once.

I stand there, frozen in indecision, torn between the comfort of the familiar and the thrill of the unknown.

“You are allowed to want things,” she says, rising to her feet and pacing around me. The scales of her snout brush my ear and her hot breath caresses me as she whispers, “you are allowed to have the things you want.”

I dare not move as she raises one of her talons to the collar of my shirt. She slices the fabric with barely any effort at all. Terror and arousal seize me. Despite the implicit threat of her claws and her teeth and her magic, I want this. I want to want this. 

Scraps of my old life literally fall to the floor around me and I somehow find myself even more exposed and vulnerable than before.

For reasons I can't comprehend, she rumbles in appreciation at the sight of me.

Then she nudges me towards the gown and I stumble into motion. With shaking hands I pull the gown on. When my hands falter, attentive claws assist. She treats me and the down with the same delicate care that I've seen her handle her other treasures.

Her other… treasures.

I have become part of her hoard, haven't I?

The thought does not distress me as much as I expect it to.

The closeness of her, every one of her breaths on my back, sets the magic she laid in my skin ablaze. I feel it seeping into my bones, wrapping itself around my soul. I don't know what it will do to me, but part of me is growing more and more eager to find out.

Finally, she gently turns me to face the mirror.