“...and so for the sake of all of us… our city… my Sobella goes into the mouth of hell. Her flesh will shield us from harm, her will, protects us from the wrath of nightmares… our children will sleep without fear of invasion..” The Prince stopped his speech. His lips moved, but he couldn’t carry on. His noble posture at the rail, the raised up cup of silver with wine as red as the blood that flowed through the demon-elf he loved, it all froze.
His fingers fumbled, the silver cup fell down below and clattered on the floor. Rasgen clutched the rail hard, hunching over, his noble posture gone, and with it, his Princely air, he became not his office, but the man who lived it, grieving his beloved. “Damn them! Damn them straight to hell!” He shouted with wild hatred, unable or unwilling to lift his head.
There was little enough shock to be had, and more than a few sympathetic looks. Sobella however, looked behind her to a servant, and the young woman attending the upper echelon was quick to the wordless command. She scurried to a tray, poured another cup, and brought it to the demon-elf lover of their prince.
She took it from the servant and came to his right hand, she took his arm at the wrist and brought it up, placing the cup within. She then leaned close to him, so close that her horn graced his head as she whispered into her ear, “Toast my life. Please.” She begged with quiet desperation that made him recall their first moment alone.
The way she’d danced and sung in his private quarters with the pasted on smile of the professional courtesan, a practiced and consummate actress as much as a musician and dancer. When she’d knelt at his feet, her shocked face when she waited for the inevitable hungers of a young man, and he shocked her to the core by saying, ‘Does it hurt?’ Of an injury to her ankle she believed she’d hidden.
He cast off the thought, and forced himself to straighten up.
“To Lady Sobella, whose single life saved thousands more.” He cried out the toast across the room and raised the silver cup as high as he could. He was joined in the gesture and the echoed sentiment by the whole of the gathering, including the one at his back who he was counting on for revenge.
The gathering went swiftly after that, the guests getting thoroughly drunk, and more than a few, men and women alike, snuck off with a member of the opposite, or in the case of some of them, the same sex. ‘Drunk as some of them are, if they can manage what they’re going off to do, Pasenian men are more vigorous than I initially credited them with being.’ Nua chuckled at the observation she’d made and lost herself in thought at how strangely free the people around her seemed to be about so much.
She barely minded the conversation around her otherwise as the old ministers got steadily more drunk, their elder family members, adult children, wives, they were no different in that. But it was not until Minister Ulmin passed out at the table, his head slumping forward with a heavy ‘thud’ that the Prince rose again.
“Time to go.” He said, and waved over a servant. “Have the guests tended to later, give those who wish it, beds for the night.”
Sobella stood, and the Prince swayed faintly on his feet. “Contessa, could you help me get my Prince back to his room?”
The buxom youthful wife of the minister gave an arch smile that ripped away Nua’s brief confusion that ‘he doesn’t seem that drunk’.
“Should I join you later… or…” Nua felt the brief thudding in her heart at the appraising looks she got from the trio.
“Do whatever makes you happy, remember, you can die tomorrow, so enjoy today, in whatever way that means to you.” Sobella’s eyes were heavy lidded and her full, throaty voice ripe with invitation, but Nua responded only with a slow and slightly regretful look on her face and said…
“I will have another drink or two, and join you later.”
“As you like.” The Contessa winked, and enjoyed the pretense that, to Nua’s eyes, looked like it must have been a frequently played game, as if they were ‘not’ planning on an orgy of frenzied lust, but were only going to innocently take him to his quarters.
It was a laughable pretense in Nua’s mind, and as she thought about it, probably theirs. ‘I wonder if that’s how it began, and they’ve just been playing at the same game ever since?’ She turned the rhetorical question over in her head, then smirked at herself as she accepted another cup from the servant, and whorled it around in her slender deadly left hand.
She looked down into the deep red wine of the dead city, and out at the mix of snoring… or groping, wealthy guests of the city on the edge of death. She had still not sipped from the new cup, when the pair of women passed through the exit door ‘helping’ their Prince.
Her hand unconsciously reached behind her, put her fingers between the gaps in the wood, and touched the back that had once been hideous and mutilated.
“Is the chair not to your liking, my lady? I can fetch another…?” The pretty, youthful human girl asked, looking faintly nervous under Nua’s penetrating eyes.
“Tell me, girl. Am I beautiful?” Nua asked the question with a measure of curiosity.
The blunt question froze the girl’s face for a moment, but intuitively she looked up and down the close fitting traveling clothing, and then lowered her eyes. “I have no experience with my own sex… so I have nothing to compare to, but yes, Duchessa. You have long, strong looking legs. Your arms look delicate, but smooth and powerful. You bear the shape of some of our city’s greatest women athletes in our games, and you have a lovely, defined face that shows so much expression… and that long golden hair, like a waterfall of gold tumbling down… yes, yes I think you are exotic and lovely… especially dressed as you are.” The answer was far more than the simple ‘yes or no’ that Nua expected, and she mentally rolled her eyes.
‘Right, I’ve ‘got’ to get used to how open these people are about everything. If I’d asked Raymond that, he’d have just said yes, if I’d asked the Dark Savior that, her wife probably would have slapped her ass, but she’d have been short and blunt too… culture shock, it’s even worse than with the bloody minotaurs.’ She thought and gave a pleasant smile up at the servant girl.
“Thank you. It’s nice to hear that. The chair is fine, I was just thinking of something.” She waved the girl away and took a sip. ‘That’s gone now, my Teacher took away my ugliness and marked me herself… marked me with the beauty of his Majesty’s symbol.’ A fragment of her wondered if Solution had done that to mark her like ‘property’ and whether or not she should care about that if it were so. ‘No. That’s just how she is, and that’s her version of showing ‘favor’ to me. Pass through her pain, and come out stronger and more beautiful than before in every way.’ It was a recurring thought and had been for years. Never once proven false, she instinctively reached down and touched the bone hilt of her favorite knife. ‘Pharmakia, if only I could have killed you myself.’ She gave a pleasant laugh like silver bells, brought the cup to her lips, and drank till it was empty.
Nua looked then to the walls where the many candles were starting to burn down. ‘In a few minutes I’ll be in the dark with a bunch of drunk men and women as lusty as they are. I should probably get going, it’s been long enough… I think.’ She took a breath and set her silver cup delicately back down on the table and took the stairs down.
Men and women passed out left and right, one had to have their face lifted out of a soup bowl by an observant attendant so that they wouldn’t drown, a particularly drunken and enthusiastic couple of middle years and less than prime flesh, lay beneath the table. They had passed out together, his pants around his ankles, and herself snoring and drooling over his expensive shirt.
‘Frantic.’ Was the word that came to her mind, the musicians were long departed, leaving only the sound of snoring and the clipping noise of her feet on the polished and perfect wooden floor. ‘They’re all so frantic to experience anything, any pleasure… despair and happiness… they fight the former with the latter, and wallow without any hope that tomorrow will be better than today.’ She took a deep breath and opened the door, it groaned against her arm, but submitted to her strength with relative ease. ‘My god, my god, the day you come to them in arms and wrath, they will give their hearts to you as much as I.’ Nua closed her eyes briefly to pray for them, a faint sound of grunting and mewling began behind her as some couple managed to get themselves going despite their intoxication.
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She paid it no mind, and found herself face to face with the scraggly blonde boy from before. “Did everything go OK, lad?”
He gave her a gap toothed smile and nodded, “I did alright, Duchessa, thank you.” He bowed as a gangly youth did, awkwardly in imitation of more practiced adults.
“Good man.” Nua said and touched the top of his head with her right hand. “You’ll be fine, just keep at it, and you’ll be an expert before you know it.”
He blushed at the feminine touch and straightened up, “Of course, my lady.” his voice cracked a bit when he tried to make it more manly, and Nua did her best to suppress a laugh, keeping her face neutral.
“Lead me to the Prince’s quarters, he ordered my appearance this evening, and I’d rather not keep him waiting.” Nua explained as the door closed behind her, and she did not see the eyes that twitched with anger at her back before the door cut off the view of her.
The red face of the young boy went even redder, she watched him instinctively look her up and down. ‘So the Prince clearly has a reputation.’ She shrugged it off without a second thought, it was no surprise, given what he’d said before, and what she’d seen. The young boy, still flushed in the face, took a hesitant step, and then a more confident one. A moment later his stride was steady and familiar, guiding her down the winding halls of the palace aglow with candle lights until they reached the stairs.
“You’ve done this a fair bit, I take it.” Nua said with some amusement.
“Oh yes, my lady. I’ve been working here at the palace for a long time, since my mother died.” He explained without even a tearful look.
Nua lowered her eyes to the young man’s shoulder, away from his face as the echo of their steps on the stone, spoke around them. “Oh, I’m sorry, would it be wrong of me to ask…”
“Drowning. She got drunk in the lower district during a bad rain, or so I think. She used to do that, but always came home before the storms, then she didn’t, it came early. I found her body in the alley next to the tavern she used to go to.” The boy shrugged off the sympathetic look, his cracked voice was small then, but she couldn’t find real sorrow in him over it.
“I’m sorry, and your father?” Nua asked gently.
“He’s the Prince, my Lady. That’s why I got this work. I got my mother’s hair but…” He stopped with one foot on the stair and turned to face her, letting Nua appraise him more closely.
She subtracted years from the life of the Prince, tried to imagine him as a gangly youth, and found the boy might as well have been his twin. “Oh.” Was all she said.
He gave her a cracked, toothy smile, “I know, Duchessa, it seems odd to you, must not do things this way back where you’re from. But I can’t inherit the throne, and he didn’t want to leave me on the street when he found out about me, so…” He let out a single ‘ha’ like laugh. “Don’t feel bad, my mother spent the silver he gave her on the stuff that killed her. I don’t think he knew I existed until a year ago. Lots of nobles don’t even acknowledge what they put into their maids. So you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
It took a moment for Nua to understand what he was implying, until she recalled with dismay the evident ‘cover’ of her visit. ‘Ugh. Just go with it, Nua, no sense in being a prude.’ She gave a quick swallow, “Ah, thank you. I’m sure he’s very generous… that sets my mind at ease. Can we continue?”
“Ah, oh, of course, of course. Forgive my rambling, Duchessa.” He gave the stammering apology and a half bow that almost bopped Nua in her breast in the small space of the winding upward stairs, and then hurried ahead.
They walked in silence the rest of the way to the upper floor and down the hall to the Prince’s chambers.
He knocked on the door, and there was a faint sound of movement within.
“Enter.” The Prince’s voice called out.
Nua looked over at the gangly youth and took out a coin. “You’ve been a help to me, thank you.” She extended the gold piece and put it into his free hand.
“My Lady I can’t…” He stammered down at it.
“Don’t spend it if you don’t want to, just keep it as a reminder of your good service, and my wish for your good fortune.” Nua said and reached for the door.
The young man blinked several times at the gentle voice of the slender elf, and rushed down the hall toward the stairs as fast as he could.
Nua opened the door and came into the room, it was as rich as she expected. Purple sheets over a fine mattress, deep purple silk curtains over the window that let light stream into the room. ‘He really is a serious man.’ Nua thought, noting that the angle of the bed and the window meant that light would directly strike a sleeping face when the sun rose in the morning. ‘The better to get more work done. I really hope I don’t end up having to kill him to get what I want.’ Nua reflected, against the wall hung fine paintings reflecting bright shades of flowers, nature, and smiling and laughing faces caught in celebration. ‘Those in hell, paint paradise.’ She dismissed the pitying thought to speak to them.
The Prince was without his shirt, and Sobella wore nothing, more importantly in Nua’s mind, they were not alone.
“Contessa Lodira… I… wasn’t expecting you.” Nua said of the woman who stood a few feet away. She wore a deep maroon robe over what was obviously naked flesh otherwise. The entire room still bore the scent of sex, and the normally beautiful straight black hair of the demon-elf, was a tangled mess.
“I hope this is alright…” The Prince said with a deferential voice and a downcast look to her that she didn’t think him capable of for anyone or anything but circumstance. “Loddy is… how do I put this…” He looked over at the woman a few feet away, seeking answers.
“I was his first love.” Contessa Lodira said bluntly, “Some things aren’t to be, but that didn’t change anything, I know everything about him, and eventually learned everything about her. If something is going to hurt her, I won’t stand by ignorant.”
“So… you told her?” Nua gave a deep and unhappy frown.
“Forgive me, I did.” Sobella said and bent deeply at the waist, “I just wanted her with me, so there was no way to not say anything. I’ll be dead soon… so the number who know your secret won’t change… and it might make it easier for me to bear.”
Nua let out an exasperated sigh and crossed her arms in front of her chest, her eyes swept the room from one shamefaced look to the next, tapping her foot unhappily, the luxuriant blue carpet absorbed any sound and bent under her repeatedly displeased weight.
“The problem with trusting people is that sometimes that means you end up having to trust people they trust, and god alone knows how many people that can turn out to be.” She threw back her head, sighed, and dropped her arms defeated so that her hands clapped against her powerful thighs. “Fine, but I want your oaths that nobody will know what I’ve done. Not even your husband.” Nua stared pointedly at the one the Prince fondly referred to as ‘Loddy’.
“I barely talk to that doddering codger. Let alone confide in him.” The Contessa grumbled.
Nua continued her penetrating silent stare.
After a minute, the Contessa rolled her eyes, “Yes… yes I swear it on my beauty, may my face rot and tits droop if I lie to you and break my word.”
“Good enough.” Nua replied to the vain but amiable contessa.
“What do I do?” The naked Sobella asked with a darting look from Nua to the bed.
“Lie down there, you might as well be comfortable. Now what are the preferred ‘cuts’ of meat from people for the Tlalmok.” Nua felt a little green, but suppressed the rising bile that tried to rise in her throat with the question.
“The emperor… the emperor will eat my… my…” Sobella could not speak through the lump in her throat and brought her hands up to cover her ruby eyes.
The Prince spoke up with a bitter, hateful voice that belonged more to a broken man than the ruler of a great city. Sobella’s back arched as she began to weep, and the Contessa came to her bedside, then sat and took Sobella’s palms into her own without a word.
“Her uterus and womb… where the future of our people are formed. His sons, will consume her breasts, where the children of men are nursed. It’s part of their custom. If Sobella were already with child, then the fetus would go to the emperor as well. The rest will be divided up among those he favors most.”
“I see.” Nua replied, her jaw tightened, she swallowed the disgust she felt rising in her a second time, and then went to the opposite side of the bed. She removed her glove, baring the white metal hand. “I don’t know how this will feel, but… I won’t make it worse than I have to.” She said while looking at the open ruby eyes of the lovely purple skinned demon-elf.
Sobella gave tentative, tiny nods while Nua placed her left hand over Sobella’s belly, pressing it down lightly.
With great regret, Nua closed her eyes and spoke to her partner. ‘Alright, Yersin. Lay your first curse, this one to kill the emperor. Hide it well.’
‘What do you take me for?’ He said with a grim voice.
Rasgen watched the glowing dark glow pulsing from his new Duchessa’s hand, Sobella grimaced and a faint, tiny cry came from the lips he loved, a thousand times he’d touched them to his own, and now they shook in pain, he felt his heart racing as his promise to protect her or die was ripped away by the curse that would be her only revenge.
Sobella’s small, slender fingers clenched, one into a fist, the one that held onto Loddy, squeezed so tight that the skin grayed faintly from the pressure, but he saw no sign that it hurt their lover. The contessa simply continued to hold on.
‘It’s done. What next?’ Yersin asked, and felt himself be drawn away from where he touched.
Sobella squeezed her eyes tight when she felt the curse-bearing hand of the foreigner press down the soft flesh of her breasts. ‘I admit, her touch would have been a pleasure, but… I would have asked her to keep her glove on that one.’ She managed to tease herself as the grim palm pressed to her flesh, and she felt pain rip through her dark, sensitive nipples to the flesh of the breast she’d hoped would one day nurse the child of her Prince. ‘Now it bears only curse… not milk for my child… but poison for my killer’s children. That will do.’ Sobella let out a faint wailing cry when it began on the other breast, and it seemed to drag on for hours.
In reality, it was no time at all, Nua stood up straight and put her glove on again. “It’s done. If I could do more… if I had armies that could match them, if I had… I would…” She turned her face away toward the door she’d passed through to join them. Judgement came from their eyes, or so it felt.
‘You’re being irrational. They’re not doing that.’ Nua told herself this, and faced them again to bow. “You, Sobella, are among the bravest women I have ever met in all my life.”
“I don’t feel brave…” She said from the bed, she sat up and brought her knees to her chest. “I just want to live… I don’t want to die… I don’t want that to be all… I want a baby, my home, my Prince… my… Loddy… I just want life… no… I don’t feel brave at all.” She pressed her forehead into her knees while the Prince and the Contessa joined her on the bed and Nua stepped away, back toward the door.
“I know, Lady Sobella.” Nua said with a bitter smile, while she pressed the handle down on the door, where it gave a faint click of submission to her wish to leave. “And that’s what makes you so very, very brave. Goodbye, I’ll leave you all alone now, I’ve done what I came to do here.” She exited the room, closing the door behind her, her ears twitched at the sound of a muffled ‘Thank you’ that could have come from any or all of them. She said nothing in return, as nothing about what she’d done, felt in her mind like something anyone should be ‘welcome’ for.