Meanwhile, at the BloodStar Empire capital, within the walls of the BloodStar castle, Ramses and Zara patiently waited for Constance to finish her last meeting for the day.
Ramses stood with his arms crossed outside of Constance’s office as both he and Zara stood across the hallway. Zara scoffed, “How dare she make us wait. We are the king and queen, are we not?”
Ramses plainly replied, “We are. But she is working diligently, and she is finishing work that we assigned her.”
Zara nodded, “True. To be honest, I am not sure where she gets the energy. She has been meeting with Clan leaders from Khan Island and faction leaders from here within the capital quite literally all day. And yet, I can hear her joyful and energetic voice bounding from within still.”
Ramses laughed, “She is a task master to be sure. I am beginning to wonder if it was she who previously ran the BloodStar Empire while Victoria and Xenia took all the credit.”
Zara smiled, “And yet here we are, prepared to take all the credit for her hard work. I suppose it’s inevitable. As leaders we receive credit for all that is good and blame for all that is bad.”
Suddenly, Constance’s door opened as she and a tall, muscular man from Khan Island stepped out.
Constance shook his hand firmly and smiled while nodding and maintaining eye contact with her guest, “I’ll see to it that all of your demands are met. And you see to it that your men are aligned with my agenda. It’s a match made in heaven!”
The man smiled back as he shook her hand in return, “It’s a deal!”
Before finding the time to turn towards Ramses and Zara, Constance noticed Vega walking down the hallway. She run-skipped towards him, “Vega! Darling! What are you doing here?”
Vega smiled at her, “I just decided to stop by to give you a kiss before heading to my meeting. Unlike you, I have only the one meeting to attend to today.”
Constance and Vega embraced in a full tongue kiss as Ramses and Zara looked on. Zara rolled her eyes, “She is making us wait. Again.”
Constance broke their kiss of and playfully hit Vega on the chest, “You had better get going. You have 5 minutes to get into place!”
Vega nodded and started walking backwards as he blew her a kiss, and Constance pretended to catch his kiss and held it tightly against her heart as she smiled at him. He then turned and made his exit.
Constance stood looking down at her hands with a huge grin on her face at her hands which had caught Vega’s kiss. It wasn’t until Ramses interrupted her that she snapped out of it.
“Mistress Khan.” Ramses approached her followed by Zara.
Constance turned and with a huge energetic smile welcomed them, “My king and my queen!” She performed a deep, formal curtsy and bowed her head before standing back up, “Please follow me.”
They all stepped into Constance’s office where Ramses and Zara took their seats across from Constance at her desk.
Ramses began to speak; however, at that very moment, her phone began to ring. Constance motioned with her finger to indicate ‘just one second’. She had a big smile on her face as she picked up the phone.
“Hello, Constance Khan speaking.” Constance fell silent and turned her body away from Ramses and Zara as she nodded to herself.
She then said, “He will be in place in five minutes.”
Ramses and Zara eyed each other with annoyed looks; however, Constance then said, “I’m afraid I must be going now. I have an audience with the King and Queen in my office at this very moment.”
Constance nodded and smiled, “Uh huh. Will do. Bye Bye now.”
Constance hung up the phone and looked to the king and queen, “I’ve spoken with quite literally a hundred people today, and they are all absolutely enamored with you both. That is the mark of great leadership!”
Zara leaned forward without a smile, “Thank you for your kind words. Please give us an update on your progress.”
Constance nodded, “Why of course. I have recruited almost all. Almost every single one. Of the small clans and small factions within both Khan Island and the BloodStar Empire.”
Ramses shook his head, “Yes, yes. We have noticed the small ones. And we have also noticed that you have recruited almost none of the larger ones with more powerful leaders.”
Zara chimed in, “While your progress and your pace are impressive, we do worry about the lack of major players falling under your wing when it comes to military might in our empire.”
Unphased, a smiling Constance answered their concerns, “I have been doing this for a very long time despite my young age. Trust me. The sway of numbers will eventually have an effect on the less numerous, but more powerful, large factions and clans.”
Zara eyed her, “How can you be sure?”
“I can’t be sure. But what I can be sure of is that inviting a powerful leader to my office to explain to him or her how I am even more powerful is a surefire way to lose support.” Constance moved a long strand of hair that had fallen in her face then continued, “Trust me. I have made that mistake before. In this very office.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Ramses waved his hand, “Fine. We will wait to see these effects. In the meantime, we would also like to discuss your request for access to Xenia’s quarantined fighter jet. It is full of state secrets, and we would like to keep them that way. Secret.”
Constance’s face lit up with excitement, “Yes! Do not worry, the details of the jet will remain a secret. I promise.”
Zara frowned, “What are your intentions with it? You can’t use it. It requires BloodStar ki to use to its fullest, and Ramses and I are not nearly strong enough to use it properly.”
“I plan to study it, and I plan to make it usable for anyone with ki. Not just BloodStar ki.” Constance twirled her hair smiling as she waited for a response.
Ramses and Zara looked to one another and nodded. Zara then said, “You may have access to it, but you may not move it from the hangar, and you may not take any schematics with you when you leave.”
“Deal!” Constance nearly shrieked with excitement as she was granted access to Xenia’s fighter jet.
Ramses then pointed to a stack of papers on Constance’s desk, “Okay, we had better get to the boring stuff. Let’s review the reports district by district.”
Constance picked up a towering stack of reports and eagerly stated, “I think you will find my organization and thoroughness to be surprisingly impressive. Let’s get started!”
_____________________________________________
Elsewhere within the castle, Vega stood at the foot of Constance’s bed in her assigned bedroom for the duration of her stay in the empire.
He stood nervously waiting for his meeting to begin as Constance had instructed him. Then, suddenly, a tall, black, elliptical rend in space opened up with flickers of electricity as he heard a voice call from within, “Step through General Vega Magnus.”
He obeyed the voice’s instructions, and he stepped through the void portal. He alighted from the other end to find himself in a dungeon with blood and body parts littering the filthy ground.
“Welcome to Bella Domina, Vega.”
Vega looked in the direction of the voice to see a blood-soaked Xenia laying naked on a stone table. Nero stood behind the table, and Vega took note of his bloodied body as well; however, he did not remark on any of the gruesome details he took note of.
Xenia leaned up and stood from the table, “Excuse my mess. Nero and I are to be engaged, and we are in the midst of a violent and sexual 24-hour escapade.”
Vega nodded, “Congratulations to the both of you. You will create a new standard for the term ‘power couple’.”
Xenia laughed at his comment, “Oh Vega you flatter us, but you are quite right.” She walked right up to Vega and pushed herself up against his body and grabbed his arms, “How is Constance? Is she being treated well?”
Vega was nervous yet also aroused as he used all of his concentration to remain focused on Xenia’s question, “She is being treated quite well. No one suspects a thing.”
“Tell me, how much of the empire does she have under her control now?” Xenia smiled at Vega as she stood only inches away from his face.
He nodded, “She has almost full control over all of the small factions and clans from within both Khan Island and the BloodStar Empire. She has met with all of their leaders, and she has performed Shadow Slave on all of them successfully.”
He paused and then continued, “However, she cannot go after the larger, more powerful leaders as she does not have the ki to do so. Her ki is spread thin, and she exerts herself massively to maintain her grip on me.”
Vega spoke matter of factly without regard for his own situation.
Xenia then reached her hand into the air next to her. A small void portal appeared, and she reached into it and pulled out a fabric sack cinched closed by rope at the top. She held it up, “Then she will need these, won’t she?”
Vega nodded, “She has sent me in her stead to retrieve the Bloodstones while she meets with the king and queen. She will need them to maintain her ki levels as she controls more than three-quarters of the leaders under Ramses and Zara. They as of now suspect nothing.”
Xenia handed the sack to Vega and said, “Tell her she is doing a wonderful job. I am pleased to hear that my empire will soon be mine again.”
Xenia then smiled, “May I give you something to deliver to her for me?”
Vega nodded, “Of course my empress. Constance has engrained in me that her word is second only to your own. She has also engrained in me that I am ultimately your property.”
“Perfect. Then listen closely. I want you to deliver this gift immediately upon your arrival back in the BloodStar Empire. I don’t care, and in fact, I especially hope that it requires you to interrupt her meeting with Ramses and Zara.”
Vega nodded; however, before he could speak, Xenia grabbed the back of his head and began to kiss him. He could feel a tingling pain on his lips as she kissed him, and just as the tingling began to be overrun by pain, she stopped.
“Give her my kiss as soon as you return.” She opened a portal for him, “Now go!”
He wasted no time stepping through the portal finding himself back within Constance’s bedroom. He threw the Bloodstones onto the bed, and he immediately made way to Constance’s office several levels down the grand staircase.
He marched towards Constance’s closed office door and without hesitating for a single moment to ascertain whether her meeting was still in progress or not, he walked right in with purpose.
Ramses and Zara both turned around to see who would be so bold as to interrupt them without knocking, and they were both shocked to see General Vega Magnus walk in. He didn’t even spare them a glance as he made his way behind the desk towards Constance. It was clear to see he was on a mission.
He picked up Constance out of her chair and placed her on the desk, “Forgive me, but I have direct orders to deliver a gift to you.”
Constance knew exactly what he meant; however, both Ramses and Zara looked on with disgust assuming it was some kind of fantasy role play between the two lovers.
Constance merely nodded, and Vega began to kiss her. Constance immediately knew the kiss was a gift from Xenia as soon as she felt the tingling pain on Vega’s lips.
She grabbed his shirt and pulled him on top of her as she leaned back onto the desk knocking stacks of reports to the floor as she did.
Constance could hardly contain herself as the tingling pain began to build on her lips. She paused only for a moment to face Ramses and Zara, “Could you give us just two seconds.”
Constance knew this affront would make unwanted waves, but she indulged in it anyways for she knew it was exactly what her empress wanted. Furthermore, Constance was incapable of turning down a kiss from her empress even if it was an indirect kiss.
She immediately went back to kissing Vega in front of them, and Zara stood up in rage, “We will not be disrespected like this, of all ways!”
Ramses grabbed her hand as he stood, “Come on. This meeting was all but over anyways.” Ramses knew that Constance had not directly caused this commotion; it was Vega. And he wasn’t keen on making a stand against a Heraklinos Empire General while he and Zara still sorely needed Heraklinos aid.
Ramses and Zara stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind them. As they walked away, they could hear the echoes of Constance’s growing screams and moans as they could only assume the kissing had progressed to impulsive sex atop the office desk.