The throne room was spacious and warm, windows open to let in a warm summer breeze that smelled of green growing things. The stone was clean, scrubbed, and aesthetically appealing to Nakteti's eyes. The stained glass windows, showing the victories of Her Grace Khoonkeenadee over her foes. A formerly clear window had been removed and a frame was being put up for another stained glass window.
Nakteti had seen it. It was of Nakteti herself standing next to an ornate sarcophogus with a nimbus of light around her, to show how Nakteti had brought Major Devon Carnight's injured mortal coil to the 'love and light' of his elder sister.
At first, Nakteti had not understood the reasoning behind making a stained glass window so large, so ornate, showing a stylized representation of what had happened. Now, sitting in the smaller throne next to Duchess Khoonkeenadee and looking at the other windows, the tapestries, the tattered banners of defeated enemies or celebrated legions, she understood.
History was in those windows.
Duchess Khoonkeenadee was wearing a leather skirt, reinforced with softly glowing bronze, leather boots topped with fur, a tiara of some type of metal Nakteti wasn't familiar with, and little else. She had just passed her two infants to a servant to carry the sleeping babies to a nursery and had not bothered covering herself.
Nakteti found it odd, after being on Terra and then Pubvia, that Duchess Khoonkeenadee (Call me Keena) almost aggressively displayed her mammary glands as if she was daring someone to take offense or try to correct her.
The whipcord thin male Terran by the door suddenly banged his staff on the floor.
"His Grace, the Duke Tangerran, armored fist of Wrath of King Aragantoo," the Terran said.
The doors swung open to reveal a tall, heavily muscled Terran male in fine clothing, with three armored men on either side.
"TROLLOP!" the unarmored man shouted, pointing at Lady Keena. "VILE SEDUCTOR!" he stomped toward the throne, his armed and armored men hanging back at the doorway, moving over to one side where court functionaries had cleared out.
"Duke Tangerran, how lovely to see you," Lady Keena said, her voice a soft warm purr. "You seem discontent."
"You dare spurn my generous offer to make you a concubine of my stable?" the man roared.
Nakteti frowned. Despite the ferocity of his tone and words, there seemed to be something else at play that she wasn't privy too.
"And be one among many?" Lady Keena chuckled. "Not hardly."
"But there you sit, your loins ungirded, your breasts exposed for all to see," the Duke said, pointing first at Lady Keena's crotch and then at her breasts.
In response Lady Keena slowly uncrossed her legs then crossed them again, making sure to spread them wide in between, all the while smiling.
"Flaunting your body like a common trollop!" the Duke said.
Nakteti expected him to start foaming at the mouth.
"We both know there is nothing common about me," Lady Keena laughed.
"SLUT!" Duke Tangerran shouted, his face red and almost shaking with rage. "WANTON HARLOT!"
"You seem discontent," Lady Keena said.
"You flaunt your womanhood before Lady Nakteti of the Tnvaru Clans, expose thyself lewdly and without shame! STRUMPET!" the Duke shouted.
Nakteti stared with fascination at the bulging veins on the Terran male's forehead.
"You give all of us a bad appearance with your common trollop behavior! What shall the Tnvaru Clans think of us, as if we are primitives, because you can't cover yourself properly and instead parade lewdness and degeneracy about with wanton sluttish pride," he shouted.
"You do seem quite discontent," Lady Keena said, slowly uncrossing and recrossing her legs.
Nakteti watched the man's face turn even deeper red, almost purple.
"HARLOT!" he shouted.
"Perhaps we should speak more privately, give you a chance to calm down," Lady Keena said. She stood up, waving her hand negligently. "The Duke and I shall be having a private discussion."
"Since this involved my people, perhaps I should come with you," Nakteti suggested, standing up. She was worried that the Duke would do something violent, crazed, if left alone with Lady Keena.
The tall Terran woman looked down. "Are you sure? These private deliberations and discussions can get quite physical and strenuous," she said.
"Slut," Duke Tangerran growled.
"I am sure. I represent the Tnvaru people," Nakteti said.
"You seek to contaminate her with your wanton filthy ways?" Duke Tangerran snarled.
"Are you sure you wish to accompany us to private negotiations?" Lady Keena asked, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. "They can get quite... in depth, often probing things you might not expect."
"Of course," Nakteti said.
"Hussy," the Duke growled.
"There may be depths to explore and the negotiations might become quite excited," Lady Keena said, her eyes sparkling. "You might find yourself overwhelmed by intensity."
"I represent the Tnvaru people. I will not shirk or shy away from difficult and challenging things," Nakteti said somewhat stuffily.
"Very well, follow, if you dare," Lady Keena said. "Thrice warned and my duty is done."
Nakteti followed the enraged Terran male and the smirking Lady Keena out of the room. As they walked up the stairs Nakteti noticed that Lady Keena was wearing no underclothing, no modesty clothing, under her skirt, and her loins were visible from the stairs below.
"HARLOT! Not even modesty clothing to cover your shame!" the Duke yelled.
Upstairs led to a hallway, which led to an ornate door.
"After you, Duke, Matron," Lady Keena smirked.
Nakteti lifted her chin to show her confidence and went into the room.
Lady Keena chuckled and shut the door behind her as she entered.
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Nakteti darted out the door, slamming it shut as the Duke yelled out "VILE TROLLOP!" and Lady Keena cried out "EMASCULATED WORM!", cutting off their words and the sound of sweaty flesh slapping against sweaty flesh.
She put her back against the door, her breath heaving and her eyes wide at what she had just witnessed.
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She fled down the hall to the stairwell, hurrying down it despite the fact that stairs were much higher than she was used to. When she reached the bottom she ran down the hallway, going around a couple of corners before stopping.
She realized she was lost.
Nakteti's mind was whirling as she wandered the dimly lit halls. It made no sense to her, what she had witnessed. Their words were entirely at odds with their actions.
The door had barely closed before the Duke had attacked Lady Keena, lunging at her, grabbing her and lifting her feet off the floor to deny her leverage, his arms around her. Nakteti had seen his fingers sinking into Lady Keena's flesh even as the duke had accused Lady Keena of being a vile strumpet.
It had taken Nakteti a few moments to realize what she was seeing.
And she had fled.
Her ears were flush with blood, heated from embarrassment.
A servant came around the corner and stopped, bowing slightly.
"Lady Nakteti, can I be of service?" the male Terran asked.
"Yes. Alcohol. Alcohol and a snack," she said. "Away from others."
The Terran bowed again. "A servant's area is only a few paces away, if that is acceptable," he said.
"Please," Nakteti said.
She still remembered the way that the Duke's fingers had sunk deeply into the flesh of Lady Keena's mammary as he twisted it, his other hand grabbing her short hair to pull her head back to let him bite her neck even as she had ripped his shirt off in one convulsive yank that Nakteti had thought was an attempt at defending herself.
The servant poured her a stiff drink and set a plate of cheese and sliced and diced meats in front of her, then bowed his way out, leaving Nakteti sitting on a high stool and staring at the wall.
It took a few drinks from the harsh alcohol and a few bites of cheese and meat for the shakes to leave. She sat in the dim light of the servant's area, using one of the short pointed pieces of wood to stab at the cheese and meat and nibble on it.
She was on her third drink when she heard the sound of boots rather than the soft shoes and slippers of the servants.
Lady Keena walked in and paused, one hand on her hip as she stared.
"I did warn you," Lady Keena said, smiling.
Nakteti closed her eyes and shuddered.
Lady Keena poured herself a drink and took a long pull off of it, smacking her lips appeciatively.
"Whiskey from the Blue Hills Forge Hall," she said. "Dwarven make. Tribute to my magnificence."
Nakteti just nodded. When she looked up she saw the fading bite marks on Lady Keena's neck and breasts and looked back down.
"I don't understand," Nakteti said.
Lady Keena set her glass down, then speared a piece of meat with the short pointed wooden stick and lifted it to nibble on it, looking at Nakteti intently. Nakteti shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable under such a predatory gaze.
"Are you bred?" Lady Keena asked.
"What? How do you mean? My mother bred with my father," she started.
Lady Keena laughed. "No. Are you a virgin, dear?"
Nakteti stared at the floor. "No. I was pair bonded twice by the Central Population Authority Computer, but never had children."
"Do your people have breeding cycles?" Keena asked, spearing a piece of cheese. "Is it instinct, painful, pleasurable, what?"
"What does any of that have to do with anything?" Nakteti asked.
Lady Keena chewed on the piece of cheese for a moment then speared another piece as she swallowed. "You're not familiar with Terran breeding, are you?"
"No," Nakteti said.
"You watch the edited movies, where they remove the sex scenes. Standard practice, I know I wouldn't want to see a Treana'ad matron going at it," Lady Keena laughed. She looked at Nakteti. "Human impulses are: survive, breed, eat, kill. Breed is pretty high up there, to the point that it can overwhelm other impulses."
Nakteti nodded. "Well, yes."
"Is arousal a feature of your genitals? Does genital stimulation produce arousal?" Lady Keena asked.
Nakteti looked away. "We cycle."
Lady Keena smiled again. "We do for ovulation, but copulation, sexual intercourse, is not dependent upon ovulation for humans."
"Really? So the two of you weren't just overcome by some breeding impulses in the hallway?" Nakteti said, attempting to put a sarcastic spin on it.
Lady Keena, however, completely missed the sarcasm.
"No. For humans, sex is done for recreation, out of boredom, out of spite, to establish dominance, for love, for affection, to ease another's emotions, hell, even out of punishment or battle fury," Lady Keena said. She speared another chunk of meat. "Thank the Gods."
"But why... why... that?" Nakteti asked.
Lady Keena ran the point of the short thin wooden stick around the edge of the plate. "I needed something from Curtis. He's been doing this longer than I have and we have a long history together," she said. She suddenly laughed. "He's the father of eleven of my children, I am the mother of six of his children."
"Your poor birthing organs," Nakteti said softly.
Lady Keena laughed, putting one hand on her scarred belly. "Oh, I'll admit I'm sore. He's vigorous enough to blow out your back and has a dong large enough to destroy your pussy, but..." her eyes twinkled mischievously. "it's so much fun doing it."
"But why? Why the insults? The anger? Calling you names in your own throne room? Why?" Nakteti asked.
Lady Keena chuckled and chewed on a piece of meat, topping off Nakteti's glass then her own.
"Because he and I have played that game for over a century. We both get a thrill out of it. If he came to my throne room any other way, people might be suspicious and start wondering why I wanted to see him," Lady Keena said. She slapped her belly again. "Everyone knows I run bare bellied and hot..."
"Bare bellied?" Nakteti asked.
"I don't use birth control of any kind, I don't have any safeguards on my womb, and I don't hold back on my lusts and carnal impulses," Lady Keena said. Her face suddenly got serious. "I do not deny what it means to be human, and part of being human is yearning for another's touch and the womanly pleasure of a swollen belly. It is as much a part of being human as caving in someone's face with an axe or sword. It's all blood, thick, rich, red, hot, steaming blood."
She waved her hand in the vague direction of outside the keep as well as patted her skirt over her crotch. "Blood makes the grass grow, Matron."
Nakteti looked at her glass for a long moment. "But why?"
Lady Keena took a sip off her drink and set the glass down. "Because Curtis is a former cyberneticist, former Space Force military doctor, before he came here to be Duke Tangeeran, before he donned plate mail to become the Armored Wrath of King Aragantoo."
Nakteti looked up. It was hard to imagine the large Terran, covered in thick muscle and swirling tattoos that glowed and moved, to be anything more than some barbaric warlord.
"Inviting him as Curtis would be insulting him by ignoring everything he has accomplished here," Lady Keena said. "Crafting insults to bring him here to publicly denounce me, then having a private discussion with him, that is acceptable to his honor and pride and reputation. The discussion came after you had fled, but I knew we would have honest discussions."
Nakteti suddenly understood.
"I will do anything to succor my baby brother. Curtis wants another child, from my womb not a steel womb, and has wanted another one for about five years," Lady Keena said. She gave a wide smile. "Now he has something I want. Eventually I would have borne him another child. He's an excellent lover and a stimulating opponent as well as a doting and wise father and patron to his children."
"You're all crazy," Nakteti said softly.
Lady Keena laughed. "Of course we are, dear."
"We're human."
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Nakteti watched as Duke Tangeeran stood at one end of the cryopod, his hands on the slightly rounded top. He was stripped to the waist, sweating profusely, his eyes closed. She watched his muscles twitching as a pair of Lady Keena's maids kept wiping his down with soft cloths.
A year ago and I would not have understood what I am seeing, she thought to herself. She knew he was using mental focus to control nanites that were examining Major Carnight's brain and body. The blue nimbus around his hands was to show he was at work, programmed into the nanites rather than being an unavoidable side effect.
After a few more minutes he stepped back, letting the maids wipe him down. He was actually steaming from the heat his body was putting off, the sweat evaporating into the cool air.
Nakteti wanted to start questioning the human male but held off, instead sitting silent on the chair at the side of the room next to Lady Keena's larger chair.
After a moment the Duke sat down on a stool, picking up a mug of thick brown alcohol and taking a long drink off of it. He wiped his brow and sighed, lifting the tankard to rub his forehead with it.
Finally, he looked at Lady Keena and Nakteti.
"Who decided to put him in cryo-stasis instead of just bringing here still active?" Duke Tangeeran asked.
"I did," Nakteti said, sitting up straight and lifting her chin.
"You saved his life," the Duke said, slumping again while a maid gently rubbed cloth against the flesh of his back. "By hours at the most, more than likely by minutes."
"Can he be helped?" Lady Keena asked, staring at her fingernails, looking remote and uncaring.
"Yes. Not many people could do it, but I can," the Duke said. "Without transferring him to a new body or relying on his busted SUDS."
"What do you need?" Duchess Keena asked.
"Time, magic," the Duke replied. "I will need a week, maybe a bit longer."
"You have a month," Duchess Keena said. "A month where you shall toil to succor my baby brother during the day, and serve me between my thighs at night."
"Trollop," the Duke growled.
Nakteti was paying close enough attention to see the sparkle in his eyes was humor, not rage.
"Do you want to be a prisoner or a guest?" Duchess Keena asked. "Last time, you were my prisoner, but I don't want to spend the time defeating your armies or bodyguards."
"Guest is fine," the Duke said. He took another drink off his tankard then stared intently. "How are the children?"
"Fine. They're coming back to see you. They've missed you," the Duchess said. She tapped the arm of her chair. "I've commanded all the children to return," she looked slightly pained. "Eight of my children were on Terra when the Lanaktallan attacked. I do not know if they have survived."
"You're their mother, I'm sure they're just fine," the Duke said. He stood up and rolled his shoulders. "All right, first thing's first, I need to make sure he doesn't suffer tissue or hardware rejection."
Nakteti just stayed silent, watching.