Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Aftermath Liora, the youngest, trailed behind, her eyes wide and curious. She stopped right in front of Sol, tilting her head. "So..." she chirped, sniffing the air innocently. "Lifting stones makes the room smell like... warm? And strange?" Sol forced a stiff smile. "It’s a very intense technique, Liora. It heats the blood. The smell is... the weakness leaving the body." Veyra, who had been the last to enter, snorted derisively as she closed the door behind her. She was the shortest of the three but packed the most attitude... lean, wiry, with eyes that seemed to constantly look for a fight. "Weakness leaving the body?" she mocked, dropping a bundle of firewood near the pit. "Sounds like an excuse for not bathing. You smell like a rutting beast, Sol." Sol shrugged, his eyes inadvertently tracking the sway of Veyra’s waist as she bent down. Even in this primitive clothing... rough leathers and woven fabrics... the shapes of their bodies were undeniable. One down, he thought, his gaze flitting from Veyra’s sharp curves to Arelia’s stoic, motherly figure. Three to go. "I was just about to wash up," Sol said smoothly. "Once Aunt is done." As if summoned, the leather flap at the back of the hut pushed open. Lyra stepped out. The chatter in the room died instantly. She had scrubbed herself raw. Her skin was glowing, wet and rosy from the cold water and the vigorous friction. She had put a new tunic back on, but her hair was damp and loose, cascading over her shoulders. But it wasn’t her cleanliness that silenced them. It was her aura. Gone was the weary, hunched woman who had trudged home with a basket of dirt. In her place stood a woman who looked... unburdened. Her shoulders were dropped, her posture loose and languid. Her eyes, usually sharp with the stress of survival, were soft, hazy, and lidded with a lingering, dopamine-drunk satisfaction. She looked ten years younger. She looked like a woman who had just been thoroughly ravished. "Mother?" Arelia asked, pausing with a tuber in her hand. "You look... different." Lyra blinked slowly, her gaze drifting across the room. She didn’t look at her daughters first. Her eyes went straight to Sol. A shiver of secret intimacy passed between them... a look of shared, dirty knowledge that only they understood. Sol saw the flush rise in her cheeks as she remembered the "poison" splashing on her neck just moments ago. "I am fine," Lyra murmured, her voice huskier than usual. She walked over to the hearth, moving with a fluid, swaying rhythm that she didn’t usually possess. "Better than fine. Sol... he helped me." Veyra’s head snapped up. "Helped you? With what?" "My shoulder," Lyra said dreamily, touching the spot where Sol had ejaculated onto her skin. She had washed it off, but the phantom warmth clearly remained. "He has... powerful hands. He removed a knot that has been plaguing me for seasons." She turned to Sol, a soft, submissive smile playing on her lips...a smile that was entirely out of character for the stern women. "Thank you, Sol," she whispered, the gratitude genuine and laced with a subservient undertone that the Ash Gray energy had wired into her. "You are... very good at fixing things." Sol leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms to hide the fact that he was getting semi-hard again just watching the change in her. "Just doing my duty, Aunt," he replied, his voice calm, though his eyes gleamed with a predator’s satisfaction. "Family helps family." Liora giggled. "Well, whatever you did, Mother looks like she drank a whole jug of berry juice" "It feels like it," Lyra admitted, sitting down on the furs near the fire, her movements loose and heavy. "Arelia, you cook tonight. I... I just want to rest. My body feels... so pleasantly heavy." Arelia frowned, exchanging a worried glance with Veyra. their mother never skipped chores. She was the hardest worker in the village. For her to sit down and ask to be served was unheard of. "Are you sure you aren’t sick?" Veyra asked, narrowing her eyes at Sol again. "First Sol is sweating like a pig, acting weird, and now you are... melting." "I am not melting," Lyra sighed, stretching her legs out... a movement that caused her wet trousers to cling to her thighs. She didn’t seem to care about the impropriety anymore. "I am relaxed, Veyra. Let it be." Sol watched the scene unfold with dark amusement. The energy cost had been high, leaving him drained, but the result was worth it. He hadn’t just gotten off; he had fundamentally altered the power dynamic of the house. Lyra was no longer the sole authority figure. She was his first subject of conquest, and it was working. And as he watched Arelia bend over the fire to hang the pot, and Liora bouncing on her toes, and Veyra glaring at him with that fiery, challenge-me look... He knew it was only a matter of time before he "fixed" the rest of them. "I’m going to wash now," Sol announced, pushing off the wall. "Don’t start eating without me." He walked past Lyra to get to the back. As he passed her, he let his hand brush seemingly accidentally against her shoulder. Lyra flinched, not away, but into his touch. A small, almost inaudible whimper escaped her throat... a reflex. Sol smirked. Broken in perfectly. ... Sol slipped into the small, enclosed bathing area behind the hut. It was little more than a screened-off patch of gravel with a drainage ditch, but right now, it felt like a sanctuary. He splashed the cold water from the reserve jar over his face and chest, scrubbing away the sweat and the lingering, musky scent of his aunt’s arousal. As the water ran down his skin, he took a moment to assess his internal state. The hollow cavity in his chest was aching... a dull, empty throb that echoed against his ribs. He had pushed the Ash Gray energy to its absolute limit to rewrite Lyra’s perception during that intense climax. He was running on absolute fumes. A faint dizziness tugged at the back of his skull, warning him that if he pushed even a fraction harder, he would likely faint face-first into the mud. "Not that I need it right now," he whispered, wiping his face. "The seed is planted." He leaned against the rough wooden wall, letting the water drip from his hair. His mind drifted back to the day’s chaotic events. First, the wilderness. Even though the memory of sprinting away from a snake like a frightened toddler was a bit embarrassing for his ego, the result was undeniable. The moment he had commanded that neon viper... the way its malice had turned to terror... it proved that this energy was far from its final form. It wasn’t just about seduction or rewriting logic; it was about imposing his will on reality itself. "There is so much potential there," he mused, clenching his fist. "If I can control a beast, what else can I control?" Then, his thoughts drifted to the women. His tryst with Evara, followed immediately by the intense "therapy" session with Lyra. Even though he hadn’t fully succeeded in penetrating them... cockblocked by a knock and a superstition... he still felt a deep, vibrating sense of satisfaction. He wasn’t in a hurry. He had all the time in the world. He didn’t just want to bed them; he wanted to slowly explore, use, and corrupt these tribal women until they couldn’t imagine a world without his touch. He wanted to dismantle their taboos brick by brick. "Slow cooking," Sol smirked. "Just like the soup."