Naeku watched the process with fascination. This was the first time she’d seen it happen in person, and it was happening to her aunt, who she’d always considered a strong and fiercely independent person.
A part of her felt excited at the prospect... and Erik could feel it through their bond.
He chuckled and retracted his hand after he felt a new bond form in his mind. Leia panted softly from the intense and new feeling of having her will chained to someone else. Unlike the bond he created with his wives, this bond didn’t create a mutual feedback of emotions, so Erik was the only one needing to compartmentalise a large influx of emotions.
Fortunately, he was an expert at that by now.
Still, that was not to say Leia didn’t have any influx of emotions. As always, the Bond of Service created an instinctual sense of belonging and reverence between servant and master.
Leia looked up at him with wide eyes. "Daddy..." she muttered softly, seemingly at a loss for words.
Naeku groaned and rolled her eyes immediately. "Gods, I really wish you’d stop calling him that. It’s just as embarrassing as when Emily does it."
Erik glanced at her with some amusement. "Embarrassing... or exciting? You realise you’re blushing right now, don’t you?"
Naeku flinched a little. One of her hands quickly touched her cheek, as if she hadn’t realised, but quickly recovered to glare at him. "W— Whether I’m blushing or not has nothing to do with anything! I’m never calling you that! I have no Daddy issues! We have a good relationship and I have no strange thoughts about him, nor do I wish to replace him!"
Unfortunately, Erik simply smirked at her with calm amusement. "That’s quite an unprompted tirade you went on, Naenae. Someone might suspect there’s more going on there..."
He cocked an eyebrow. "You know, some people like the Daddy roleplay exactly because of how wrong it is, rather than for any of that complicated reasoning."
Unfortunately, all his logical reasoning got him was a death glare, so he chuckled and quickly focused back on Leia. He’d get Naeku on board eventually...
"How are you feeling, Leia? Any regrets yet?" Erik asked Leia, who was still hugging his right leg.
His question caused her to finally shake free from her daze and blink several times. Then, slowly, the bright smile returned to her lips. "Of course not, Daddy! I belong to you, a— and honestly, this feels right... I feel... I feel safer and more protected than I ever have before! Even if that might not make sense..."
Smiling, Erik leaned forward to gently grasp her chin, his thumb pressed against her lips, and looked into her eyes. Intensity radiated from his eyes. "Of course it makes sense, little Leia. I’m both possessive and protective of what belongs to me. Just remember your duty, and I’ll take care of you."
With a strange mixture of teasing and innocence that somehow reminded Erik of Emma, Leia angled her head down to suck his thumb between her lips again. "Don’t worry, Daddy..." she muttered hoarsely, lust burning in her eyes. "I know my duty~ My body exists to please you and accompany your mother, Daddy~"
"Heh," Erik chuckled, pleased. "You’re not wrong, but"—he turned a little more serious—"I hope you still see my mother as your friend, not just your new duty."
Leia giggled, her tongue twirling around his thumb, her eyes sparkling with joy. "She’s just as important to me as you are now, Daddy. The best duties are the ones you enjoy doing..." She winked mischievously and started sucking his thumb a little more lasciviously. "And I enjoy both of my duties, hehe~"
Next to Erik, Naeku rolled her eyes again. She was still getting used to this new Leia, but she knew it made her feel strange...
Suddenly, Leia made a curious noise. Looking down, Erik saw she’d noticed the two names etched around the base of two of his fingers as they grabbed her chin.
"Daddy, what’s that...?" she asked innocently, still speaking around his thumb. "That’s... Nora and Anne?"
Realising something, she perked up excitedly, his thumb slipping out from between her lips. "Will you etch me on your fingers, Daddy?!"
Erik blinked. Taking back his hand, he looked at the two names as his expression took a quick turn to something more... grave. "No, I will not," he answered without hesitation.
"O— Oh..." Leia muttered, rapidly deflating with a sense of defeat. "I— I understand, Daddy... I’ll work hard t—"
Erik sighed and shook his head, interrupting her. "No, you don’t understand. With you included, there are now five people bearing my and Elora’s Bond of Service, but only Nora and Anne are represented on my fingers." As he spoke, he continued looking at Nora and Anne’s names sternly. "Do you know why that is?"
Obviously, that was a rhetorical question, but Leia still shook her head, not yet feeling any better.
"It’s partly because they requested it and I decided their recent sacrifice deserved it," he explained with surprising gravity. Even Naeku looked surprised. She’d noticed the names before, but hadn’t asked about them yet... though now that she saw his reaction, she wondered if she should have asked earlier.
"But mostly," he continued gravely, now clenching the fist with their names. "It’s to remind myself of why they are my fingers."
Naturally, Leia and Naeku still looked confused. Finally taking his eyes off his fingers, Erik now sternly looked into Leia’s eyes. "I won’t make you one of my fingers, because it would defeat the point of our deal, and it would hurt my mother."
Confusion grew. "Stop beating around the bush!" Naeku complained impatiently. "I hadn’t heard about this yet! What makes them your fingers, and why are you being so weird about it?!"
Sighing, Erik finally got to the point. "Nora and Anne have... their own personalities, their own wants, desires, and everything that makes them people rather than robots or automatons... but since recently, all those things now solely revolve around me."
Sternly leaning forward on his knees, Erik pointed at Leia. "The Bond of Service compels you to obey me, and now that you can’t go back anymore, you can only trust that I won’t make you do anything you’d hate me for, or go back on the deal we made. Which I won’t, for the record."
He cocked his head slightly. "But if you became one of my fingers, none of that would matter anymore. For Nora and Anne, it goes further than me ordering them to jump, and them asking how high. That’s the level you’re at."
His voice went down another octave as he wanted to really impress upon them the gravity of what he was talking about. Or, rather, the gravity that he ascribed to it.
"Nora and Anne are at a level where I could ask them to slaughter a village of innocents, and they’ll ask me how gruesome I’d like it to be before setting upon their task with blissful smiles..."