"So Princess Emily, I've been more than enough accommodating now. What is your ambassador party's true intention?" Leslie asked Emily, as they were both sitting in the Holy Palace's Guest room. It was a nice parlor room that had a black obsidian tile floor, with white bone walls. Skull Glowstone lamps, and plenty of Tables and Chairs if one needed to host a large group.
Leslie and two of her Handmaidens were present on her side, while there were Emily and her two servants on her side. The air was a bit... tense between the two. A light scent of Moon Catcher's dust was in the air. A favorite of Leslie's... for reasons she wouldn't tell people, not in the know.
"I guess as for the Consort, you get access to all that good stuff, Am I right?"
"You could say that."
"You already know why I'm here... If you are who I believe you are..."
"I'm Consort Leslie, Consort of my Grace, the Holy Witch King; just what are you trying to get at???" Leslie narrowed her eyes into slits. She looked to be smiling, but to Emily, she was creepy as a demon's smile.
"Need I remind you that I am a guest of your Kingdom, and I demand respect?" Emily said with an air of confidence and power that befitted her status as a princess. So far only Leslie had called her Princess, and only at this moment did anyone in Deagoth know that Emily was the favored daughter of the Spider Queen of the Grand Tomb of Neolith.
"When have I ever disrespected a guest? This is my Grace's, my Love's, Kingdom, and I would not see that it would do such a thing... But I find your lack of response to my question troubling, little spider"
Emily shuddered, [What?!]
Emily was known as the little spider in her family. Her Mother-Queen gave birth to her last and it became her nickname within her family, and the higher priests of their faith, The Faith of the Spider. How did the Consort of Deagoth know?
"Remind me of the question?" Emily asked, unsure of her self.
"You know very well the question. What are you and your people of the Grand Tomb of Neolith doing here in Our Kingdom?" Leslie's patience was quickly running out.
"We uh... We are here to negotiate a treaty, trade agreement, and a joint military training program."
"I think you left something out, little spider... You left out how you plan to steal my husband, The Holy Witch King... Is that right?" Leslie's tone had been even throughout the conversation, even jovial, but her face had been icy for a while. Now her voice took a dip when she mentioned, 'steal my husband.'
From birth to now, Emily had never been talked to like this. She felt threatened. Obviously, she had been enduring, as at first, she felt slightly afraid of this Consort who knew too much, but now her temper was getting the better of her.
With a final snap of judgment, "YEAH! That's right! I'm here to court your man! You haven't married him yet! You're just a consort! My Uncle has four wives! Maybe you will be one of many! For all the spider knows, I will become The Holy Witch King's first wife, and I will manage you!" As Emily was yelling at Leslie how she felt, she had got off her chair to stand to make a point... The problem was that she was standing at the same height she was when she was sitting. Comical.
"Ah, so now you finally tell me the whole truth." Leslie smiles while she watched the little skeleton get back on her chair. "We can finally have an open conversation."
Emily was struck slightly off-guard; she figured that now that she had revealed what she was really here for, then she would have been thrown out. This Consort Leslie was... Interesting and slightly scary.
"Errrr. I suppose so." Emily responded while both of her Servants were perspiring... They just knew Emily had dropped the ball, but this seemed like it might be salvageable.
"Princess Emily, Can we get a private conversation?" Leslie asked politely, and with an actual smile. This was not that joker smile from earlier, but an actual sweet smile. It was bright and gorgeous to Emily... Pissing her off...
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Emily was a skeletal undead supremacist, she felt like all other undead were less than Skeletal undead, even the ones from her Grand Tomb. The Grand Tomb of Neolith had a class system. Skeletal nobles were the highest class, then the skeletal citizens as the first class that held minor offices and business owners, then there were those that were in transition to becoming skeletal as the second class who held the ability to become skeletal citizens, and then there were free zombies, as the third class. These Zombie undead who had worked long enough to but their freedom, they could later, if enough money permitted, start the transition to becoming Skeletal Undead, but this only happened to one percent of the freed zombies. The lowest class were just Zombie undead, this included geist, and whatever other foreign undead unfortunate enough to be caught in the web of the Grand Tomb of Neolith. Zombie undead were the working for of the tomb, and they would tend to the glowmoss farms, and spiders. They would also work at digging new tunnels for the Tombs, maintenance, and cannon fodder for the armies of the Grand Tomb.
"I'm not sure if I feel like I would be safe to have a one on one conversation with you," Emily said in a perturbed voice.
"Oh? You think your little Knight rank servants are going to save your smelly bones if I wish to keep her soul for a night lamp?" Leslie said in a sing-song voice as if she was talking about how she might go to the food market quarter and pick up something to eat.
Emily stiffened. Her biggest trump card was the two Knight Rank spider Knights that were her servants. They were given to her as a present by her mother-queen when she turned thirty this year.
"Princess Emily, Your safety is also our priority, until my Grace, my love, The Wholly Witch King sees you in person. Until then, it would take more than just your Tomb to attack to bring us down."
Emily thought for a moment, and so she waived her servants to go wait outside. The servant known as Chrisy leaned down to whisper, "are you sure my Lady?"
"Yes, for now."
"Your will be done." Both Servants walked out of the room, followed by Leslie's servants.
As the doors to the guest hall closed, Leslie cleared her throat, much to the cringing of Emily. Emily believed that bodily sounds were grotesque, and only the pure bone frame of a Skeletal undead was perfect.
"Princess Emily, you believe you have a chance with my husband... Why is that? I don't see how you would get this chance. Did you know I tried to curry his favor for a little over a thousand years?" Consort Leslie laid out the truth.
"Maybe it's because you're a Zombie undead?" Emily was baffled, but from seeing his consort, maybe that's why?
"What?"
"Yeah, I mean The Holy Witch King is a Skeletal Undead, right?" Emily had heard but never seen him. One of the reasons the Grand Tomb had changed gears, besides the civil war that ended in the Tomb, but because The Holy Witch King was a Skeletal undead. Have a powerful Skeletal undead could quail some of the lesser zombie undead that was trying to rebel.
"...yes..."
"Then maybe it's due to your excess flesh..." Emily looked to Leslie's hands, and pointed out, "See your hands are perfect! Your bone color is even more white than my own... Jealous! But seriously... Has The Holy Witch King ever stared at your hands?" Emily asked this while feeling sure that it was the truth.
Leslie paused... She stared down at her hands, as she flexed his hands and admiring their bone with color, as she made various hand gestures while searching her memories... Shocking Leslie, she remembers the bath she had given her love!
She remembered that right before the bath, he had stared at her ivory. It wasn't shortly thereafter that he was waiting for the Officials to make it to court did he ask her those weird questions... Then in court, she announced her to be his consort!
[BY THE ABYSS! She's right! My love has a Bone fetish!] Leslie felt weird about this revolution. She had always been confident in her appearance. She had always been told she was beautiful like her mother and was adored by plenty of people before she came to the capital to pursue a career as an Official. This might explain why he never made Verruca his Consort, as she didn't have any bones showing. She was a through and through Zombie undead... A massive fleshy Zombie undead!
After a few moments of silence, she actually gave into Emily, "You might be right... He did stare at them right before he made his announcement!"
"So if he only likes those pure bones, just what do you think he will feel when he sees a princess like me?" Emily flipped her white hair behind her shoulder. That's right, with Emily taking off her traveling veil, she had long straight white webby hair, almost like spider webs. Leslie finally took notice of Emily's hair. She had been sitting here with deeper conversation, but Emily's snooty mannerisms brought attention to her hair. Leslie knew that among the Skeletal undead ladies of the Grand tomb wigs had become all the rage. The more natural one looked the better it was, and more fashionable it was. There were freed zombie undead just because the zombie undead ladies sold their hair to the nobles for good money.
"We will know when my Grace, the Holy Witch King returns," Leslie spoke.
Emily, while not as observant as Leslie, noticed that she didn't say her love, just her Grace... [Interesting.]
Leslie called for her Handmaidens to come and show Princess Emily, and her servants to their rooms. Leslie wanted to return to her own office, and ponder. The thing that weighed most on her mind, while she was madly in love with The Holy Witch King... Just how much did she know about him. Did he really only make her consort for her hands... Should she make a transition to becoming a Skeletal undead? But how would that work for her? She didn't even know if she could become a Skeletal undead.