To those who did not read Queen Yavara: Adrianna’s Story, I’ve included a synopsis of it below. The story was a novella that detailed Adrianna’s transformation and evolution of character, and encompasses chapters 28 through 34.
Adrianna’s Story synopsis
Adrianna employs her skills as a commander to rule over the wild population of tribespeople and Ardeni immigrants. She earns their respect through a brutal show of force, and in turn, proves to the other hybrids that she is capable of being governess, even if she reluctant to do so. There are seven other hybrids that Yavara changed. The women turned hermaphrodites are: Eva Alecia, Furia Agustinia, Alexa Jenania, and Kiera Lestria; the men turned women are: Faltia Dafian (formerly Faltias), Soraya Poneria (formerly Soren), Brianna Dedaclia (formerly Brian), and of course, Arianna Alkandra (formerly Thomas Adarian, whose family name was stripped of him by Yavara).
After Adrianna meets with the population on their first day, the hybrids pair up, and explore their newfound desires and sexualities. Soraya realizes she’s a masochist, and so pairs up with Eva, the sadist. Alexa and Faltia had always been attracted to one another when they were rangers, and so they couple. Kiera and Brianna are likeminded free spirits, and they find sameness in one another. Adrianna finds a shy girl in Furia, one that she can give comfort to, and in turn, be comforted by. Furia also has a massive cock, and I probably spend too much time describing it.
The next day, Adrianna begins to delegate power to the other hybrids. Faltia becomes the watch commander, as she was a company commander when she was a ranger. Brianna becomes the populations director, as she has excellent interpersonal skills. Soraya becomes the first scribe, as she is bookish, and it was her former position when she was a ranger. Alexa becomes the lead engineer and architect, as she has an astute mechanical mind. Eva becomes outreach director, for she’s excellent at putting on a show. Furia is assigned to help Brianna, because Adrianna does not yet know her skillset, and thinks she needs to be bolder. Kiera is made agricultural liaison to Arbor and the nymphs, who plant the fields and raise the crops at unnatural speeds.
Arbor worries after her favorite daughter, Rose, who has exhibited signs of the corruption, a disease that turns nymphs into succubi. She tells Kiera that no hybrid may touch Rose on pain of death. Despite this, Kiera and Rose form a friendship. Meanwhile, Alexa and Faltia go into town to recruit new members for the city watch and construction crews. Eva assists in their recruitment efforts by offering Soraya up as a sexual reward to anyone who signs up. Soraya wholeheartedly agrees, but Faltia is disgusted by it… at first. As Faltia struggles with the temptation of sucking the entire city dry, Furia struggles with the idea that Adrianna doesn’t trust her as much as she trusts the other hybrids. Setting out to prove her new girlfriend wrong, Furia confronts Certiok Terdini, the she-orc princess, and Brock’s daughter-in-law.
Certiok seduces Furia against Furia’s own will, but the tables are turned when Furia’s incubus genetics take hold of the enterprising she-orc. Adrianna comes upon the pair, and through sexual grandstanding and lecherous combat, Adrianna and Certiok form a tenuous partnership. Certiok says she will only help Adrianna govern the ungovernable tribespeople if she bears Trenok’s child, and Adrianna, seeing no other choice, agrees. Meanwhile, Faltia and Alexa succumb shamefully to their slutty desires, and exuberantly assist Soraya and Eva in the endeavor of blowing the entire city. Brianna and Kiera soon join the fun without any trepidation. When Certiok leaves to join the town’s debauchery, Adrianna tells Furia in secret that Elena Straltaira is alive, and that she is in love with Leveria. She makes Furia swear that if Yavara ever invades the Highlands, that Furia will help Adrianna kill her.
After six days, each of the hermaphrodites has impregnated their respective partners. Adrianna, who is saving herself for Trenok when he arrives with the tribespeople of the Ten, is in a state of hyper-ovulation, and cannot think straight. Arbor tells her it is Adrianna’s succubus genetics that are the culprit, and she will go insane with desire if she doesn’t get knocked up. The hermaphrodites feel the effects of the hyper-ovulation within themselves, but it is tempered by their incubus genes.
Faltia tries to discipline her new soldiers before the coming of the ten tribes, but struggles with making orcs listen to her. She goes to Eva for advice, and Eva decides the best course of action is to tie Faltia to a cross and have her whole platoon take their turns. Faltia disagrees initially, but she’s easily persuaded. Brianna and Soraya use similar methods to bond with their employees. While Kiera and Rose are alone, Rose makes a pass on Kiera. Kiera leaves, fearing Arbor’s wrath, and Rose is gravely disappointed. Adrianna worries that Furia doesn’t exhibit the same boldness as the other hybrids. Having exhausted all other options, she takes Furia to Eva so that Eva can teach Furia how to be… “bold.” Eva tries to seduce Furia, and Furia objects, believing that sex between other hybrids is cheating. Eva tells Furia that hybrids are different, that they are faster, smarter, and wiser than most people, and so they are above the fetid bonds of monogamy. To prove it, Eva rapes Furia in the ass. Now, that probably wouldn’t go over well with most people, but Furia fucking loves it. Furia comes to the self-realization that she is powerful and controlling, and she turns the tables on Eva. Eva delights as she’s horrifically sodomized, and concedes that Furia is that alpha of the group.
Meanwhile, Adrianna suffers greatly from her hyper-ovulation. Fearing that she will try to sate her appetite and ruin her deal with Certiok, she locks herself in the castle. Certiok realizes that Adrianna will be of no use to her if she’s a manic, blubbering fool, for Adrianna will need to be at her keenest when meeting with the matriarchs of the Ten. She gets the others for help. When she arrives at Eva’s tent, she finds that all the hermaphrodites have broken their vows of monogamy, and are fucking each other. Furia is the most sexually dominating, then Eva, then Kiera, then Alexa, who learns that her male homosexual side is very submissive, and nearly as masochistic as Soraya. Brianna, Soraya, and Faltia bear witness to the orgy, and they realize they feel no jealousy. They all agree to go back to the castle and help Adrianna. Since Adrianna can’t take seed into her womb, an anal orgy ensues, and they fill her rectum with countless loads before plugging it up.
The next day, Trenok leads the tribes into Alkandra. The tribespeople are marvel at the wonders of architecture Alexa has created in such short time, but Trenok is focuses only on his hatred for the man (now woman) who killed his mother. He is shocked by Adrianna’s beauty, and by the way she tactfully outmaneuvers the matriarchs’ attempts to bring her down. He admires her, and it scares him, so he challenges her to a duel. Adrianna is too fast for him, and she toys with him throughout the battle before bringing her blade to his throat. Instead of making him surrender in humiliation, or forcing him to accept death, she fucks him in front of everyone. Trenok succumbs to a lust the likes of which he’s never felt before, and he forgives Adrianna.
Later that night, Certiok and Adrianna trick the matriarchs into giving up all their power, making Adrianna and the other hybrids the official rulers of the country. Trenok confides in Adrianna that he’s glad she bears his child, for he knows now that the time of orc tribes is over. Arbor finds Rose in a manic state, nearly dead with her desires. Arbor makes love to her child, knowing now that Rose has become infected with the corruption. She vows to find a way to save her.
After two weeks, Prince Matthew Dreus of the Lowlands arrives in the Alkandran Bay to become Alkandra’s first ambassador. After several days at sea, he establishes contact with his father, King Albert Dreus, via magical mirror relay. Mirror relays work much like phone towers, where mirrors “see” each other over distance to communicate messages. The Alkandran Horn, a massive peninsula that juts from the eastern coast of Tenvalia, prevents mirror communication to Ardeni for nearly a week. Matthew’s father tells him that their ambassador to the Highlands, Fran Wentz, was murdered, likely by Leveria’s assassins. King Dreus expresses concerns that if Yavara’s army prevails in the Tundra, that she will become too powerful. His greatest concern is that Elena Straltaira has returned to Bentius, and is acting within the Noble Court. The Straltaira family is third in line to the throne behind Tiadoa and Ternias; Ternias, who has the tentative backing of King Dreus. King Dreus tells Matthew that he will send assassins to Bentius if Yavara wins the battle.
Adrianna appoints Furia as head magistrate, reasoning that Furia is fair and just, and always seeks to do what is right. Furia appoints the tribal daughters of the matriarchs to be her law students, and naturally, she creates a sex cult with them. All of the hybrids get their bodies tattooed with their escapades, some of them covering their entire flesh in the orc fashion. Brianna is showing off her new anus tattoo to Adrianna when Prince Matthew arrives.
Prince Matthew is naturally taken aback by Alkandra, which has grown impressively under the care of Alexa’s engineering core. Adrianna gives him a tour of the city, and after seeing too much debauchery, he flees in a panic attack. He finds himself in the company of Alexa, who immediately recognizes his homosexuality. They form a bond, and Alexa helps him come of his shell. Eventually, Prince Matthew turns into a total man-whore, gets fucked by all the hermaphrodites, and whole-heartedly accepts his role as a true Alkandran diplomat. As he’s getting plugged, Adrianna decides to go out onto the town by herself, and have some fun. A few hours later, she finds herself passed out on a casino table, and Certiok is there to scoop her up, and walk her to bed. Along the way, Certiok notes that Adrianna has a new tattoo on her back. Adrianna tells her that the tattoo is of Sherok, Brock’s wife, who Adrianna murdered when she was Thomas Adarian. When Adrianna wakes up the next morning, Yavara is sleeping in her bed.
In the final chapter of Adrianna’s Story, Adrianna and the rest of the hybrids walk on eggshells around the emotionally unstable Yavara. Yavara tries to ignore their avoidance, but it hurts her greatly, as she views them as the only family she has now that Elena is (to her knowledge) dead. Kiera goes off to find Rose, and instead finds Arbor. Arbor regretfully confesses that she cannot save her daughter, and so beckons Kiera to have sex with her so that she may finally change into a succubus, and end her torment. The rest of the hybrids and Yavara go to the city arena, where Yavara shows herself to be callous and easily manipulated by the will of the crowd. Adrianna worries that this bodes ill for the war with the Highlands.
Later that night, Adrianna and the other hybrids all marry each other in a drug-fueled ceremony. Arbor acts as the priestess. A very drunk Yavara crashes the wedding, and in her grief and jealousy, takes control of Adrianna’s mind, and begins to slowly kill her. Arbor decides to let it happen, as she fears what Yavara might do to her children if she intervenes. The other hybrids all try to tear Yavara off Adrianna, but it’s not use. Yavara is the most powerful being alive, and their fists and knives mean nothing to her. Adrianna and Yavara have a mental conversation, and Yavara realizes almost too late what she has done. She allows herself to be beaten nearly to death by the other hybrids before she slinks off into the darkness. Adrianna goes to comfort her, and confesses that Elena is still alive. She does not tell Yavara that Elena has fallen in love with Leveria. Yavara is so relieved by the revelation that she forgives Adrianna for all that she’s done, and Adrianna forgives her. They make love, and in so doing, the find their love for each other.
And so, Adrianna’s Story ends.
Part Eleven: Stalemate
Chapter Thirty-Five
FIELD MARSHAL SHORDIAN
I looked through my telescope out over the Highland Rift. Though the Highland Kingdom border was technically drawn just east of the marshlands, geologically, this was the beginning of the Highlands; a three-hundred-mile-long cliffside that marked the uplift of the Highland Plateau. Legend said it was created by some heathen god ten-thousand years ago. I thought it was more likely the result of sediment erosion.
“She crossed the marshlands.” General Florence Krakis said beside me.
“That, she did.” I concurred, closing the telescope.
The cavalry commander watched the Alkandran horde flood the flatlands below, their banners stretching from horizon to horizon. “It’s an invasion.” He muttered.
“Not yet.”
“What do you mean?”
I gestured broadly to the enemy line. “Do you see how they’re stretching themselves so thinly? One arm of the horde is moving north, one arm is moving south, and the head is staying here. They’re matching our forces at North Fort, South Fort, and Mid Fort. If they were inclined to invade, they’d bunch between the forts to minimize the effectiveness of our counterattack.”
“You’re saying they followed us across the marshlands just to form a line?” Krakis raised an incredulous brow.
I nodded. “An all-out assault while we’re at full strength would be a pyrrhic victory at best, but if he draws our lines thin and whittles us down by the day, come midwinter, there will be mile-long sections of the Rift we won’t be able to cover.” I assessed the rows of engines that stretched along the top of the ridgeline, “This army is the full strength of the Highlands, but Alkandra is yet in its infancy. Their numbers will swell as ours dwindle. Time was never on our side in this war, but now it’s our greatest enemy. Brock knows this.”
Krakis shifted uncomfortably. “It’s a stalemate then.”
“For now.” I grunted, spitting over the edge, “Our fate’s in the hands of politicians now. God help us all.”
ELENA
Leveria had the names of the ten major houses written on parchment and laid out in three piles on the table. In her pile was Tiadoa, Xantian, Shordian, Droughtius and Straltaira. In Ternias’s were Ternias, Huntiata, and Jonias. Between them were only two pieces of parchment: Feractian and Feltian. A pile of poker chips represented the scores of minor nobles, but in the grand scheme, they meant very little. They were just numbers, and so were given no names.
“After his son’s disgraceful defeat and suicide, Lord Droughtius abdicated his position to his granddaughter, Sofia, and she has ambitions of her own.” Leveria muttered, taking Droughtius’s name, and moving it to the center pile. “Xantian has been a reliable ally, but I soon won’t be able to keep ignoring his requests to help him with his dwarven contracts, and he’ll seek other avenues.” She moved Xantian’s name to the center pile. “That leaves me with just your mother and my husband.”
“Mother abdicated to me this morning.” I said.
Leveria flinched in surprise. “What?!”
“She did it in a letter, which is just like her.” I rolled my eyes, opening the missive in my hand, “She left for the estate last night without saying goodbye. Since you didn’t win the battle you bet the entire country on, the Straltaira coffers are empty, and the peasants are wondering about their pay. She needs to secure the home front, so I’m to represent my family in court.”
“You did it far better than her anyway.” Leveria smiled, “You were already the representative in all but name. Now with you able to make official proclamations, we can really start corralling some of these nobles.”
“Uh-huh.” I said, and casually leaned over the table, ***********ed my name from Leveria’s pile with a single finger, and slid it in front of me.
She gawked at me, a look of utter betrayal on her face. “You fucking bitch.”
“I thought you’d be proud of me setting out on my own.” I pouted my lips.
“I fucking made you!”
“And you created a monster.” I giggled, poking Leveria’s nose.
Her pale face turned so red that I thought she might pop. She was absolutely adorable for a murderous psychopath. “Elena,” she hissed, “if you don’t put your name back in my fucking pile—”
“You’ll do what?” I grinned, “Threaten me with wildly-creative torture deaths?”
“I’ll skin you alive in the city square, and make you wear your hide as a suit! I’ll cut off your cock and nail it to your forehead, then I’ll ride you like a unicorn! I’ll shove hot knifes up your cunt and carve out your womb, then I’ll climb inside and make you give birth to me!”
“That last one was new.” I giggled.
“Do not fucking betray me, Elena!” She snarled, “You’ve seen what I do to those who aren’t loyal!”
“And I’ve always been loyal—to Yavara—as I told you from the beginning.”
Leveria took two deep breaths through her nose, and let them out through her mouth, calming herself. Her rages were always a little tongue-in-cheek to mask her loss of control. I knew that scared her more than anything. She’d always been so measured and precise with her emotions, but since the day Yavara had won her battle, she’d been prone to wrathful outbursts. She eased herself against the edge of the table, and donned her analytical mask, studying the new layout like a chessboard.
“Who do you have in your pocket?” She asked.
No one I thought bitterly, but said, “You know I won’t tell you.”
She smirked at me. “So you do have someone. That’s good to know.”
“I will neither confirm, nor deny.”
“Never mind, you have no one.”
“You’re so sure?” I asked with a raised brow.
She snorted. “Careful, Elena. Knowing your own weaknesses is a stateman’s greatest strength, and you have become very arrogant.”
“It’s my bravado that’s charmed the Noble Court.”
“It’s what you do behind the scenes that matters.” Leveria muttered, “And we still don’t know the breadth of Ternias’s conspiracy. How many of these names in the middle secretly belong to him?”
“He plays things close to the chest, but we can make assumptions.” I said, “He was a staunch proponent for war, and that has weakened him. His support from Ardeni is not as strong as it once was, and he can’t guarantee his factors the money that would’ve come after reclaiming the Midlands. With the coffers empty, Huntiata’s city watch has gone on strike, and Huntiata has lost faith in Ternias.” I plucked Huntiata’s name from Ternias’s pile, and placed it in the middle. “If what I gleaned from my sources is correct, Jonias’s loyalties run deeper. She intended on marrying Ternias once he got the crown.”
“Stupid slut.”
I chuckled. “Yes, she is. Ternias may have an ace up his sleeve, but I think it’s more likely that whoever he had before the battle is now gone. Much like the rest of the country, the Noble Court has been thrown into chaos.”
“And now that you’re freelancing, you’ll seek to pull nobles from me.” Leveria said, then looked up at me, “So, are we going to address the elephant in the room then?”
“The familial line of succession.”
“With you at the head of your house, that puts you third in line. As you said, the country’s been thrown into chaos. Who knows what could happen?”
“That is something I can guarantee won’t happen.” I laughed.
Leveria smiled with her lips, but not with her eyes. “There have been whispers from some of the minor nobles. Whispers of vassalage. As the war rages on, and we stress the citizenry to the breaking point, the whispers might be given voice from someone who matters. Will it be you, Elena?”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Don’t act like the thought hasn’t crossed your mind.”
“My only position will be for peace.” I said, “Vassalage is not an option, nor is me sitting on the throne, as absurd as that is.” I twisted my name on the table, pointing it toward Leveria’s name, then Ternias’s. “Whichever one of you stubborn fuckers finally decides to call for peace will get my support. I won’t threaten your throne, Leveria, but I will make it quite uncomfortable.”
She laughed. “Don’t be naïve. A unanimous vote of no confidence has never happened by one side convincing all the nobles to vote against the crown. It happens by getting enough nobles that you can kill the rest without consequence. Whoever you throw your support behind, the other will die.”
I smiled crookedly at her, “I can be heartless.”
“Not that heartless.” She said softly, and brushed my pinky with her own.
I scowled at her. “We agreed to keep things separated.”
“You’re a solo act now. In this game you’re about to play, there are no rules. The dirtier you fight, the better your chances of surviving. And I fight very, very dirty.” She hissed. Her eyes traversed the length of my body, resting on the bulge in my dress.
“Is court adjourned?” I asked, arching by back to present my body.
Her eyes met mine once more. “You betrayed me today. If you were anyone else, you’d be begging for death right now. I think I’m owed a little something special tonight.”
I stared into that cruel sapphire gaze, that imperious, beautiful face, and my cock grew rigid against my satin dress. I knew what she wanted from me, but even if I was half dark-elf, it scared me. And yet, I loved her, and her perverse sadism was part of that love. Ever since she’d inflicted her horrors upon me in the catacombs of Castle Thorum, she had held back on her worst desires. She had let me be dominant, she had let me abuse and ravage her, and she had loved it, yet I knew the dark corners of her mind still held fantasies that she wanted to fulfill upon my flesh. In truth, those horrific nights in the catacombs had changed me in dark ways too. Agony, terror, blood. Pleasure.
I took one breath, then another, and whispered, “Go get your knives.”
YAVARA
I scratched the fox behind the ear, and she nuzzled her head into my lap with a growl. I stroked her down the spine, and she looked hopefully up at me. I shook my head, and she whimpered, and rested her head back. Ever since I’d left Alkandra, I’d kept April with me, safe from Brock, and safe from her own unnatural desires—those desires I’d carved into her mind. I didn’t know if I could undo the damage that I’d done, but I was going to try. I owed it to April, and I owed it to Adrianna. I owed it to myself to prove that I wasn’t the monster I feared I was becoming.
“There, there,” I whispered to her, “it’s alright.”
“Great Froktora, great wizard, great queen,” Gorlok Hertaki said, prostrating before us, “I have come at your behest.”
“You have come in chains, coward.” Brock said gruffly beside me.
“Coward?” Gorlok inquired at the ground, “Am I a coward for surviving? Is that my crime?” He looked up at Brock, “I charged headlong into that attack, and when we engaged the flank of the elven cavalry, and I turned to call for reinforcements, why did the centaurs just stand there and watch us?” He snorted, “I’m no fool, Froktora. I knew in that moment that my fate had been sealed. Then I learned later that the other chieftains and their heirs had all died gloriously in battle, and you call me a coward.”
“I’ll tear your bones out!” Brock roared to his feet. I put a hand on his thigh, and guided him back down.
Zander tapped his staff on the ground. “We lost tens of thousands on the battlefield, Gorlok. Do not look for a conspiracy where there is none. Chieftains lead their men, and so they are the most likely to fall. The centaurs you called for aid had been given orders to act as support, not reinforcements; you were mistaken. When you broke off your attack, you risked the elven cavalry summitting the hill and seeing the hidden force there. Had they not decided to pursue your cowardly flight, the whole battle may have been lost.” Zander turned to me, “I think you should have him executed immediately.”
“Send him into exile.” Brock growled.
I stroked April, and considered the orc before me. Gorlok was right, there had been a conspiracy. Zander and I had meticulously planned the battlefield deaths of every chieftain of the Ten and their heirs to secure my power over the horde. Brock had hated the idea; it was why he voted for mercy even though he despised Gorlok.
“Gorlok Hertaki, I bid you to stand.” I said. He did, his chains clanking. “Your actions on the field were cowardly and put the whole horde in jeopardy. For that, I strip you of your title, I erase your family name, and I sequester all lands that you claim. You are Gorlok of Alkandra now, and you will burn your tribal tattoos from your flesh.”
“I would rather you just kill me.” He grunted.
“That would be a pity.” I replied, “For my army would lose its greatest warg-rider. You may not be a chieftain, but you will still be a general, and when the war is over, you might find that the fair rulers of Alkandra treat their heroic generals very, very well.”
His lip curled at the thought. Ever since Trenok had come back from Alkandra and recounted his tale, legends of the hybrid’s angelic beauty and demonic deeds had been told around the campfires, elevating Adrianna and her compatriots to the status of sainthood amongst the orcs.
Is it wise to let him live? Zander asked in my mind.
It was you who told me to spare Adarian and turn him into an asset.
There was never any risk of Adrianna inciting rebellion.
Gorlok is no headstrong fool. He’ll play ball to get ahead in the new world. Find use for him, Zander.
Gorlok grunted, and rose to his feet. “If that is your verdict, Your Highness.”
“It is.” I said, and nodded to the guards. They unshackled the orc, and he was escorted with dignity from the tent. I turned to Zander. “Is that the last order of business for today?”
“Drake Titus wants to know when his next delivery is ready.”
I frowned. “He’s getting impatient.”
“You did make a promise, Your Highness.” Zander said, “It’s best that you don’t get too attached.”
Brock grunted next to me. “The sooner you get them out, the better. If the horde learned what you were really doing with those Highland officers, there would be riots.”
“Which is why we are doing it in secret, Brock.” Zander said.
“We’re doing a lot of things in secret these days, Wizard.”
“Enough.” I said, raising one hand. “Zander, are they ready to make the journey?”
“They are fully-developed.”
“And we’re going to just throw them away to Drake Titus.” Brock growled, “It only took eight of them to build Alkandra from nothing, and now you’re—”
“If you think this decision is easy for me, Brock, you are mistaken.” I said sharply, “Every hybrid I create is like a child to me, and I have given fifty of them to Titus already! We all must make sacrifices in war, as you well know.”
Brock clenched his jaw, but did not respond.
“Zander, you will prepare the hybrids for their journey.” I said, then turned to Brock, “And you, my Froktora, will come with me.”
BROCK
The Highland Rift towered over everything. It was a great wall that stretched from horizon to horizon, every inch of it fortified. Ballista, trebuchets and catapults loomed threateningly atop its ridgeline, and the glint of golden helms could be seen watching us from above. Even with the Dark Queen and all her great power, there was no way to assail the rift without taking massive casualties. Still, it was doable. Tens of thousands would die, but the Highlands would be mine—or Yavara’s. I had told her as much, but she insisted that we spread the lines out and bleed the Highlanders for a season before we think about an invasion.
Think about an invasion. I thought bitterly to myself. With Elena and Prestira dead, I had hoped that Yavara would have no compunctions with finishing this war once and for all, but she was delaying the decision. Maybe it was for the best. After what Trenok had told me about Adrianna and the other hybrids, I knew my title of Froktora would mean next to nothing once the war was over. And then what? Would I spend the rest of my days in bars and brothels, fat and pissing on myself as I boasted about deeds no one gave a shit about anymore? Would I stand in the arena and try to recapture old glory as a gladiator? That would’ve been very appealing to a younger me, but not now. I hadn’t clawed my way to the top of a kingdom just to become a celebrity. I had grander ambitions in mind.
Yavara surveyed the causeway that led to Mid Fort, her hands resting impatiently on her hips, her perfect ass painted with black leather armor.
Ask her, you coward. Came the voice in the back of my head. Grow a sack, and fucking ASK HER!
But I couldn’t. There was a coldness to her now, a levelheadedness that tempered my confidence. She was no longer the carefree girl who would make rash decisions on the whim of the moment. She’d changed since coming back from Alkandra. She’d stopped drinking, she’d stopped rampantly fucking, and she’d stopped partying until dawn. It worried me. The Dark Queen was supposed to be chaotic and hedonistic, engaging in self-destructive revelry because she was indestructible. Now she was as calculating as Zander, and I knew I was not the answer to her equations.
“Why have they not sent an emissary?” Yavara asked, “Surely they’d want to open communications.”
“Peter Shordian is an old-school tactician.” I said, “He has the high ground, and he wants you to know it. An emissary will arrive, but only at his time.”
“All this military posturing is so fucking pathetic.” Yavara sighed, “Why does everything between men have to be a dick-measuring contest?”
“If that’s how wars were decided, we would’ve already won.”
She smirked over her shoulder at me. “Are you so sure about that?”
“Line me up shaft-to-shaft against any elf.”
“There’s a very fine line between machismo and flagrant homosexuality, and you walk it precariously, Brock.”
I grabbed her leather-clad ass, and pushed my middle finger into her crack. I felt the supple flesh where she kept the cutaway in her armor, and penetrated her favorite hole. She sighed splendidly, and leaned against me, subtly arching her back so that my finger could slide deeper. All around us, the army mulled about, but none could see what I was doing to their queen in broad daylight, and I knew the idea turned her on, for I felt the wetness dripping down her taint.
“If you were a man, my queen, you’d be the most notorious faggot on Tenvalia. No woman should garner so much pleasure from where she shits.” I growled lowly in her ear.
She purred in response, wilting against me, my words arousing her almost as much as my exploratory finger did.
“Now,” I said lowly, “do you want to tell me what happened in Alkandra?”
“Nothing.” She moaned breathily.
“You were never a good liar.”
“I’ve never lied to you.”
“But you are now.” I pressed against her vaginal floor from the wrong side, and her knees buckled, “Why?”
“You’re awful inquisitive today, Brock.” Her breathing was becoming rapid, “And you have me at a bit of a disadvantage.”
“Are we sparring with words? What does advantage matter?”
“I have always been forthright with you.” She gasped, “Just because I have a secret, doesn’t mean I’m being deceptive!”
“What happened between you and that whore-governess that’s put you on edge?”
“That ‘whore-governess’ is the mother of your grandchild.”
“Whore-governess, whore-queen; what does it matter?” I growled, pushing and twisting my finger until her rectum was seizing around me with pleasure, “Your kind are all the same in the end. You’re as weak to my finger now as you were on that first night we met, only now you’re not pretending you don’t love it.”
With a whine of immeasurable stress, Yavara gritted her teeth, and thrusted her hips forward. My finger popped free from her ass, and she stumbled as though struck, her legs shaking. Never since I’d known her had Yavara willingly ended an act before orgasm, but she did now. Her face was flushed, her eyes were wild, and her breathing was heavy with desire, but she stayed her compulsions, and straightened.
“I love you, Brock, but if you ever try to coerce information from me again, that finger will be up your own ass, and it will be removed from your hand.”
“Of course, my queen.” I said, bowing my head, “I only wished to know the source of your anxiety so that you could share the burden with me.” I gave her a rueful look, “I don’t want you to think you can’t trust me. I’ve been with you since the beginning.”
Her expression softened. “You’ve been my most loyal man, and it’s not that I don’t trust you; it’s that I don’t know if I can trust myself.” She looked up at causeway that led to Mid Fort, “I know what you want me to do.”
“It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“It does. What you want is what the horde wants. Even in Alkandra, the people cheer for conquest, invasion and vengeance.” She tilted her head, studying the ramp, “You were right about me, I am weak to desire. Even before I became a dark-elf, I was weak to my compulsions. Before sex, it used to be killing that I loved. What does that say about me, I wonder? I’d killed scores of beasts before my seventeenth birthday, and yet I thought Leveria was a monster?”
I just grunted uncomfortably. When Yavara brought up her sister, it was almost always for a moment of introspection that I couldn’t help her with. I knew she feared being compared to Leveria, and I knew in those moments of fear, that she wished I were Elena, or maybe even Adrianna. There was a bond between dark-elves that no one but them could understand. She had hated Thomas Adarian as I had hated him, but she loved Adrianna in a way that she could never love me. It didn’t arise a jealousy within me, but set a cold sorrow in my gut. I glanced at the kitsune fox panting contentedly beside Yavara’s feet, and knew why she’d taken her gift back from me.
“You think it’s weakness to follow the will of your people?” I asked her.
“It’s weakness because I would do it to feel good, not because it is right.”
I pointed at the ridgeline. “The people on that side of the rift will never allow us peace. If you think orc hatred runs deep, then think on your own nation’s odium. A thousand years of occupation, of culling us like wild swine, of keeping us broken and stupid while the rest of the world moved on. They will never settle for peace, my queen. They will never negotiate. They will wait until you’re not watching, and then they’ll cut your throat. Alkandi negotiated a peace deal with the Highlands after her defeat at Castle Thorum. Five-hundred years later, they killed her in her bed.”
“So we should do the same to them?”
“You know I speak the truth. In the end, it’s not about vengeance or justice. It’s about survival.”
Yavara chewed on her lip, and muttered, “There might be a way, Brock, but I have to make sure it’s true.”
“What?”
She shook her head, and tapped her foot as she regarded the fortress. Then she let out an exasperated sigh, and growled, “Good Mother, I’ll just fucking do it myself.”
FIELD MARSHAL SHORDIAN
I had watched Princess Yavara Tiadoa grow up. The whole kingdom had, and she was the delight of a nation. From the adorable adventurous toddler, to the stunning bow-wielding warrior, we’d all marveled at the Highland’s prize jewel. It made the cut that much deeper when we found out who she really was. The last time I’d seen her, she was charming the Noble Court before her solo adventure to the east. Well, that was the last time I’d seen her as Princess Tiadoa. The last time I’d actually seen her was when she was a screaming angel of death hovering over the battlefield, raising her arms in victory as we fled for our lives.
As I watched her through my spyglass from atop the rift, she seemed less like the dark angel. She was in a discussion with Brock, an argument by the irritated tilt of her posture. Then she walked away from him, and meandered to the bottom of the causeway. She looked one way, then the other, then feigned a yawn, and with her cupping hand concealing her muzzle, she snuck her forefinger into her right nostril, and picked her nose. For about thirty seconds, she struggled to flick the booger from her finger. It was passed from her thumbnail to her index nail, refusing to fly off. She finally resigned herself to wiping her hand in the grass, then yelped and started upright when a bullfrog leapt from the spot. She stumbled back, fell on her ass, then hastily got to her feet, whipping her head around to see if anyone had been watching. I chuckled to myself. Her face slowly turned, and from across half a mile of distance, those orange eyes fell on me. I wasn’t chuckling anymore. There was a flash of black, and she was gone. I readjusted my focus on the spyglass, and my entire field of vision was filled with a blazing orange iris.
“Field Marshal Peter Shordian,” the Dark Queen said, “it is rude to spy on a woman.”
I slowly lowered my spyglass. I didn’t feel terror; I never did in the face of death. The terror would come later in the form of panic attacks that left me in a puddle of cold sweat. I suspected there wouldn’t be a later for me, so I just nodded curtly to my harbinger.
“My apologies, Your Highness. I was merely scouting the enemy.”
Yavara chuckled, “If I knew I had a secret admirer, I would’ve worn something more fun.”
I glanced down at the ample exposure of cleavage she had in her leather one-piece, then gave her a frank look. “I don’t know much about women’s armor, but this seems wholly impractical.”
“A woman’s greatest weapon is her beauty.” She looked to the side, “You can tell your mages to back off. I mean you no harm, and there’s not nearly enough of them to make a damn bit of difference if I did.”
I raised my hand, and the surrounding warlocks took a tentative step back. “What is it you want then?” I asked.
“It is custom for entrenched armies to open a line of communication with each other. Since you have not yet done it, I decided to extend the gesture.” She held out her hand, “I believe you have a hand mirror at your hip.” She pointed to the Jonian Spire behind me, its silhouette barely visible from so many miles away, “And I believe it connects to that tower, and that tower connects to another tower, and so on and so forth until we reach the last tower at the top of Castle Bentius, where my sister now resides.”
“You would be correct in believing that.”
“And I assume you have a mirror in your tent.”
“I do.”
“And so that makes this one an extra.” She smiled brightly.
“It does indeed.” I said, and handed it to her.
She took it graciously. “Thank you, Peter. When this war is over, I’ll make sure it’s returned to you.” And then she leapt off the side of the cliff, dove head-first into the ground, and landed on her feet ten stories below me.
General Krakis stepped cautiously beside me. “Did you see—”
“Yes.” I said, “I saw it very well.”
He shook his head, a bewildered expression on his face. “Someday, I’ll sit with my grandchildren on my knee, and recount the story of this war. And when they ask me about the Dark Queen, how will I tell them that the only thing I know about her, is that she bleaches her asshole?”
LEVERIA
“Torture me.” Elena whispered, her voice shaking.
She was spread out on the bed, her wrists and ankles bound to the posts, her magnificent body naked and vulnerable. I’d already placed the clamps on her nipples, and had roped her breasts until they were but purple bulging globes, now separated to display her sternum. Her delicate pussy lips were pulled outward into grotesque triangles of flesh by the clamps I’d placed there, the cold metal biting into her, opening her curtains to expose her moist ruby insides. Her cock was dark with pressure above the ring at her base, squeezing until delicious frosting bubbled from her tip.
“Hush, little bird.” I muttered back to her, laying a dollop of gel on my leather-gloved finger. The gelatinous succubus extract already shined from her tortured nipples and cock, heightening the sensations, suffusing pain and pleasure until she couldn’t tell which was which. “This will loosen you up,” I said, placing my index finger against her puckered pink anus, and pushing inside. She mewled pleasurably as I rotated my finger in her, found her prostate, and pressed against it until her cock was dancing sporadically. When I was sure she’d soaked-in all of the gel, I removed my finger, her anus greedily gripping its exit with a pop.
I hummed musically to myself, and opened my cutlery box. These were the knives I had used on Elena the first time we’d met as enemies, all of them honed to an exact sliver, but there were also other tools.
“This,” I said, pulling out a pear-shaped tool, “is a dilator used by physicians to extract babies stuck in their mother’s wombs.” I smiled in remembrance, “Funnily enough, it was last used on my own mother.” I looked up at Elena, and saw the beautiful harmony of fear and excitement on her face. I lowered the contraption to her anus, “I got it all the way to four turns with her, but you’re made differently. I am curious to see how much you will open for me.”
“Do it!” She moaned.
“Patience, little bird.” I chuckled, “We have all day to break you. No one is going to save you from me.” I pressed the dull metal point against her sphincter until she uncoiled and swallowed the pear. She hissed, her hips winding to take it deeper, her rim pulsating around its meal. I twisted the knob, and the petals of the pear began to open. Elena’s hiss turned to a gasp, yet she was still within the realm of just pleasure. I twisted the knob again, and her breath caught, but she wasn’t clenching. I twisted a third time, and she whimpered. I could see clearly into her smooth rectal channel, the tender bore of anal flesh wet and pulsing, the sweet stink of her wafting into my nose. I resisted the slutty compulsion to get on my knees and taste her decadent filth, and instead, twisted the knob a fourth time.
“Oh god!” She cried out, her legs flexing, her hands balling to fists.
“There is no god here; only me.” I said gently, and twisted the knob a fifth time.
She gritted her teeth, and whined a tortured plea from between them, but though her eyes swam with tears, they also sparkled with terrible ecstasy, beckoning me to turn the knob one more time. I did. Her rim was stretched into a gruesome white ring, twitching with the miniscule clenches of her taut muscles. Her pelvic floor was more hole than flesh, and the hole was so large that I could’ve fit my hand inside it without touching her walls.
“Yesssss,” She hissed nearly silently, “yessssss, yesssss, yesssss.”
“Oh, you like this?” I smiled, and reached into my box once more. I pulled out a dildo, a rather innocuous looking tool were it not for its cartoonish size. Elena’s jaw dropped.
“I had it custom made.” I smiled, pleased by her reaction, “I based it off the de***********ion you gave me of Brock Terdini.” I pressed the button on the bottom of the toy, and dull grooves ribbed the entire length of it in a spiral pattern. I watched her eyes go wide, and my grin broadened. “Let’s see if you were exaggerating about him after all.”
Her fleshy curtains were saturated with arousal when I pressed the girthy tip to her slit. She watched in rapt silence as I angled it, and began to penetrate her. Her inner-lips stretched into a gripping cuff, the membranous flesh indenting every time a groove moved beneath it, and every time that happened, a little spasm shot into Elena’s belly. She mewled for the first four inches, whined for the next four, then sobbed for the last four, her legs quivering uncontrollably, her juices flooding from her to run down her squished taint and pool into her open anus. I couldn’t help but gawk at her pliability. The toy would’ve split my womb, but she took the entire thing deep inside her, her petals mouthing uselessly around the base. I pressed the button on the bottom once more, and the spell was triggered. The dildo began to rotate inside of her.
“No, no, no, no!” Elena wailed, though I knew she meant the opposite. I took a step back to admire the scene, the complete ruination of her femininity, her holes yawning grotesquely, mutilated for such vile pleasures. She thrashed in her binds, her cock pulsating and leaking, her pussy frothing around the thing inside her, her anus clenching in its reamed state, and her lush mouth screaming for mercy that she did not want.
“Mercy?” I chuckled, reaching into the box once more, “My dearest little bird, we have just begun.”
I had a bag of magical metal marbles, and I fed them into her ass until the bag was empty, and her ovoid anal receptacle was filled with them. They rolled on their own accord within her, churning against the flesh, always seeking to move deeper. Her cock began to spurt with ejaculate, but the flow was stymied by the ring, only allowing a little to run down her shaft while the rest was backed up within her. She began to cry out then, her watery eyes pleading with me, her face a portrait of hellish pleasure.
“Please, Leveria!”
“Please?” I giggled, “When I was cutting pieces off you in Castle Thorum, you never once begged me. Perhaps I should’ve used a different tactic then, hmm? I do love to hear you beg so much.” I reached into the box, and pulled out the scalpel, “I would hear you beg harder.”
Her eyes widened at the sight of the blade, and she swallowed. I waited for her to say the safe-word, but she bit down on her fear. I loved her for it. Since that day when we first uttered those three fateful words to each other, we had spoken candidly of our feelings and desires. Even with Father, I had never known an intimacy so great. Elena would whisper of her darkest thoughts and fantasies, and she would listen as I confessed mine. In truth, I was never ashamed of what I desired. I was a sadist, and not of the banal rope-and-leather brand, but of the true kind, the kind that society would institutionalize and lobotomize for everyone’s safety. I was in control of it, of course, but it did linger in the back of my mind. Only Elena had seen it and survived, and she accepted it as part of me—as part of the woman she loved. Oh, love, love, love; was there a more dangerous intoxication in the world? For as I stared into those beautiful blue eyes of hers, I knew I would die for her a thousand times just to know that she would hold me. It was pathetic, really.
I untwisted the knot that held her left breast, and the roped coil unraveled. Her tit deflated from its bulging globe, the purple hue becoming a pleasant flush. I let her enjoy the sensation of release, then I straddled her belly. I felt the pleasured convulsions of her sculpted abdomen against my slit, and my heart quickened as I lowered my face to within a few inches of her left nipple, and brought the scalpel forward. The nipple bounced with her heaving breaths.
“Relax,” I whispered softly, “if you don’t relax, it will only hurt. I want you to enjoy this pain.”
Her breathing eased, and the breast relaxed on her chest. I gently pinched the nipple, and placed the edge of the blade just outside her areola. I sliced. She gasped. The sliver of metal broke the flesh like butter, but I did not press deeply. I only drew a small line from the edge of her areola, then pulled away. The line became red, and then the red began to pool, and dribble. I watched it in fascination, then lowered my tongue to the drop, and cleaned the wound. She shuddered, her eyes closing, her teeth pressing into her bottom lip.
“Again.” She whispered, her voice so small, but so tense in her mouth.
I drew another line next to that one, and she inhaled sharply through her nose. The convulsions in her belly became more violent, and I felt the tension in her back as she suppressed the urge to thrust against the violation of her holes.
“Again.” She whispered.
And again, and again, I cut her. My blade sliced shallow lines all around her areola, each one dealt slowly and meticulously, drawn out to make her suffer such sweet pain. Blood dripped down upon her heaving bronze belly, ran through the lines of her abdomen, flowed between my legs, and wetted my blushing pussy. Though my body teemed with unspeakable arousal, I took my time with her, never rushing, making her feel the evolution of each cut until the circle was complete. She gasped and hissed the whole time, not sounding anything more than a whimper, yet the sensation coursing through her would’ve made almost anyone else scream. I stared transfixed at the design I’d made in her flesh, then I drew my eyes slowly to her face. It was a portrait of masochistic ecstasy, reflecting the precarious balance of her control. She was so tense that she would burst at even the slightest provocation.
“Beg, little bird.” I hissed upon her lips.
“Please, Leveria,” she croaked, “make me come!”
“More.”
Her bottom lip quivered, tears ran down her cheeks. Oh, it was so beautiful. “Please let this undeserving whore come! I’ve been good! I’ll always be good to my mistress!”
I hovered my lips over her nipple, and blew gently on the scored flesh. Her tongue came out of her mouth, mindlessly seeking my kiss, the tip curling to beckon me up to her face.
“Please!” She mouthed.
“Tell me you love me.”
“I love you!”
I never tired of hearing it. I wrapped my lips around her nipple, and sucked sensually from the circle of wounds. As I pulled with my lips, I reached back, wrapped my hand around her shaft, and slid her cock-ring halfway up. I was nearly launched from the bed. She shrieked, bucking and heaving in her binds, her hips twisting in a feminine samba as she thrusted in masculine ascension. I drew upon her nipple with a final slurp, and with the iron taste of her blood fresh in my mouth, I rotated on her belly, locked my lips around her shaft, and sucked the ring the rest of the way off. Her shrill tenor changed to a soprano note, and my throat was filled with an hour’s worth of tortured release, her cock pulsating as it vomited thick honey into my belly. I came like that, my arousal so great that I didn’t even need her touch to compel my climax, and my eyes rolled back as I writhed atop her, drinking from her loins without a thought in my mind. I swallowed each load, my back arching in ecstasy, our bellies touching, feeling the convulsing muscles beneath silken flesh and leather.
“Your Highness,” Sir Raftas’s voice came from the door, “you have a summons from the field marshal.”
And I was brought back to pitiful reality. With a muffled harrumph, I slurped the last of Elena’s seed, swallowed, and dismounted her. I donned my eveningwear over my leather zip-up, and headed for the office.
“Are you just going to leave me like this?!” Elena gasped, the metal balls still churning in her anus, the dildo still rotating in her pussy.
I grinned over my shoulder at her. “Did you think you were getting off that easy, little bird? We have all night.” I giggled, “I’ll be back in five minutes.”
I waited for her to scream the safe-word, but still, she kept her lips sealed. I gave her a loving smile, then walked into my office. I dismissed Sir Raftas and Sir Bortan, and sat before the mirror. Any news from the front was usually bad news, but at least Field Marshal Shordian had the decency to make sure I heard it first before his generals sent the info to their noble factors. I adjusted my hair in the mirror, cleaned off my smeared lipstick and reapplied a coat, then palmed the glass.
“Hello, Leveria.” Yavara said. I could still see my reflection in the mirror, and though I’d just peed myself a little, my face remained remarkably impassive. I tucked my chin to hide the fact that I had just swallowed bile, and smiled to hide the way my jaw was clenching.
“Field Marshal Shordian, you look different.” I said casually, “Whoever barbers your hair made you look like a stupid cunt today.”
Yavara smiled. “Not even an errant blink. Bravo, Leveria.”
“Should I have reacted differently?”
“Considering that I routed your army ten days ago, and am now holding your field marshal’s personal mirror, I’d hoped for more of a reaction. How do you keep such composure? Even when I sabotaged your wedding dress, I didn’t get so much as a gasp.”
“So that was you after all.” I inclined my head, “Where is the good Lord Peter Shordian? If you killed my uncle-in-law, Eric will be very upset.”
“Huh. You know, it didn’t even occur to me that he’s my uncle by marriage.”
“The only relative you have of that age since Father is dead.” I said coolly.
Yavara blinked, trying admirably to keep her face impassive. “Should I be sorry for your loss?” She finally asked.
“He was your father too.”
“But he wasn’t my lover.” She narrowed her eyes at me, “You killed him, didn’t you?”
“He died doing what he loved. Now, where is Shordian?”
“Up there, no doubt watching me from his spyglass.” Yavara said, and angled the mirror over her shoulder. The battlements along the rift were still there, and Mid Fort was still standing. I let out a long slow breath through my nostrils, and felt some of the terror leave me.
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” I asked.
“Oh, I just wanted to catch up with my dearest sister, see how you’ve been doing.” She grinned, sitting on the grass, “It must be very stressful to be on the losing end of a war you started.”
I snorted, and began drawing patterns on the edge of the glass.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“Disconnecting your mirror from the relay.”
“What?!”
“Did I stutter?” I smirked at her, “We have nothing to discuss.”
“We have nothing to discuss?!”
“Unless you’ve called to announce your unconditional surrender, the forfeiture of your lands, and to turn yourself in to face Highland justice.”
“I beat you, Leveria!” She snarled, “I’ve driven your army back to its border! I’m on the very footstep of your kingdom with the largest horde on Tenvalia! With just one word I could end you, and you think we have nothing to discuss?!”
“It sounds like you just want to gloat. Well, go on, little sister, now’s your moment.”
Her jaw twitched, the words locked in her mouth.
I smiled with faux sympathy. “This didn’t go quite as planned, did it? I’m sure you had a thousand lines carefully practiced in the mirror, but I just don’t care. It was nice talking to you. Now, goodbye.”
“Where’s Elena?”
My finger hovered over the final sigil. “Elena is many places. Some of her is in the furnace of Castle Thorum. Some of her is on the floor of the dog kennels. Some of her is probably in the Bentius Bay by now, but the rest of her is in the dungeon.” I sneered, “There will be a bit less of her there after tonight. I could send you some of her if you want.”
Yavara smiled back. “You’re lying, Leveria. Adrianna told me about the mirror call.”
“Adrianna saw Elena from the neck up. I was hoping you’d be there so that I could show you what she looked like from the neck down.”
“I confirmed the information with my Lowland ambassador. Elena is operating within your court. You used her to legitimize your invasion.”
“And now I’m disposing of her.”
“Well then, let me see her. Surely you’d take great pleasure in causing me such pain.”
I didn’t answer her. There was a part of me that wanted nothing more than to wheel the mirror into the next room and show Yavara what I’d done to her lover. But Elena would not forgive me for it, and in the end, I knew her love for Yavara was still greater than her love for me. That knowledge dealt me a very unique kind of pain, and I wished I could delude myself with my heart, but my rational mind was always at the forefront of my being. I was terrified of Elena seeing Yavara once again, but it would happen inevitably. My only chance at controlling the situation was to facilitate the reunion myself.
I stood up from the chair and walked away.
“Leveria!” Yavara snapped.
I looked over my shoulder at her, and said, “I will inform the ambassador that you are waiting for her.”
YAVARA
I waited for agonizing minutes. When ten minutes passed, I wondered if Leveria had left her mirror on just to torment me. When twenty minutes passed, I was certain of it. It was easy in that time span to fill my mind with terrible thoughts. Maybe Adrianna had been lying? Maybe Leveria had been telling me the truth, and what would come from that door at the back of the room would be a disfigured horror of torture. Would it break me to see that? Would the combination of Leveria’s smug smile and the monstrosity she’d made of Elena drive me to madness? What if she—the door opened. A figure wearing a red satin dress stood in the threshold, her platinum hair tied in a bun. I wondered for a moment if Leveria had simply changed her outfit, for I recognized the dress as one of hers. Then the figure stepped from the shadows, and her flesh did not lighten in the candlelight; it was bronze and rich, and canvased a face I’d loved all my life.
It was like I was in the room with her. We stared at each other from across it, not moving for an eternal moment. She took a tentative step forward, then another, then another. She eased herself slowly into the chair. She wore ruby lipstick, blush, and dark liner around her eyes. I’d never seen her in makeup before, and she was so beautiful that she almost didn’t seem real. She wore the dress like she’d been born in it, and it hugged her curves generously, the satin fabric moving like liquid across her toned shoulders.
“Yavara?” She asked. I never thought I’d hear that voice again. In my nightmares it was shrieking in the throes of agony, and somehow that horrific fabrication seemed more real than the soft query she’d uttered. Just a question after all this time, like she’d caught me daydreaming, and everything that had transpired since that fateful day had been but the transient machinations of my mind.
“Elena?” I asked back.
She reached out, and touched the mirror. “You’ve put on a few pounds.”
“I uh… I guess I haven’t had the best diet. Orcs don’t really eat vegetables. Not a lot of exercise either. When you can fly everywhere, walking seems kind of pointless, so my only workouts have been sex, and you know… I go to bed earlier than usual these days. I’ve uh… I’ve also been drinking a lot. Not recently, I quit, but I… I was drinking… quite a lot. They say stress leads to weight gain, but you know… I’ve been trying to, uh, keep everything chill. So… uh… yeah… Wait, did you just call me fat?”
She bit her lip. “Not fat, just… puffy.”
“Puffy.”
“Like someone stuck an air-hose up your ass and gave it a few pumps.”
I broke into a smile, and that smile turned into a laugh, and that laugh turned into a sob. Before I knew it, I was weeping, and so was she. The tension melted away from us, and the month of hell I’d gone through seemed to seep from me. I didn’t know how long we laughed and cried, but my voice was horse by the end of it.
“Oh…” I groaned, wiping a tear away, “you’re still such a cheeky bitch.”
“My mouth has gotten me into some trouble over here.” She grinned impishly.
“When Prince Matthew told me—”
“Prince Matthew? As in Prince Matthew Dreus?!”
“The very same. He’s the ambassador to Alkandra, and—”
“You have an ambassador from the Lowlands?”
“Well, we had to put someone in that massive embassy Alexa Jenania built, plus the—”
“You have an embassy?!” Elena exclaimed, “And you said Sergeant Alexa Jenania built it?!”
“Ok, pause.” I laughed, “We obviously have some catching up to do.”
The following two hours were spent taking turns recounting our stories. I told Elena how I’d recruited the nymphs to take Castle Thorum, and how Zander had freed Arbor from Elena’s enslavement. Elena asked about her slaves, and I had a runner fetch them for me. Elena recounted how Prestira