the Leathermines

Back to Chapter 44  -  The Beginning of the big work, the Chronicles of the Midlands, starts with The Slave Warrior, Chapter 1 - Please consider Tribute, as the Web Mistress is in need of chocolate

 

There was soft light in the room and soft footsteps on the wood.  Ifahyd opened his eyes and had to think for a moment where he was before he moved.

He rolled onto his back.  It was a good bed, but he missed his at the Estate.  He was not used to being surrounded by people, but it was strangely comforting listening to the sighs and snores around him.

He looked and saw Laun was gone from between Edgar and himself.  He looked and saw several figures moving in the room.  He had to prop himself up further to make sense of it.

Four figures.  Each with knives in their hands.  Moving together, a deadly dance between the beds.  They were all naked, two men, two women.  They made little noises as they moved, quiet focus sounds as they battled invisible foes.

They all stopped at the same time.  They held position and then relaxed.  The larger Prince Fallion made a few posture changes on the smaller Princess Laun, the blonde a pace away making a few extra practice moves from a certain section several times.

They paired off and Ifahyd saw them do the same form, but both sides.  The women were the attackers, the men the defenders.  The knives flashed in the low light and Ifahyd’s heart jumped when he saw how close the bare steel came to the skin of the woman he wanted to take as a lover.

“They do this every morning.  Go back to sleep,” Edgar mumbled before turning over.

Ifahyd lay down, but there was something in the way the footsteps went, knowing that there was an armed practice going on while most others slept that kept his eyes open.  There were other noises that were making his mind not drift, sounds of the others around him and a light sound of water on glass.  He knew he would want to go riding after a rain at the Estate.  Here, it would not be the beauty he wanted to ride through, just mud.  There was a pause in the footsteps and Ifahyd looked, seeing the four all still at the same time.

They relaxed and he saw smiles in the growing wet light.  The Princess put arms around each of her people, giving and getting embraces.  The Prince held her last and longest, saying something into her ear.  There was a sigh and low talk.  She kissed him and put her head on his chest.

The blonde stroked Laun’s arm and she turned.  More low voices and Ifahyd saw Laun nod.  The three went to one of the small beds and Laun lay back, one on either side of her.  Heads were on her breasts and a gasp and sigh was easily heard by the King.  The fourth person who had been practicing with them came back from the Main room and saw the three.  He paused and then sat on the bed next to Laun, a hand on her stomach.

Ifahyd had to sit up a little to look and see if what he saw had just happened.  They were in a warriors grip as she lay there, talking low with her people as they were pleasuring her.  No, not pleasure.  The Prince raised his head and she nodded, a quick peck on the lips given before he stood and went to the other room.  Laun held her breast for a moment.

Gem was finished suckling and kissed her Mistress.  “Should we let the servants in?”

Laun shook her head and glanced at the bed in the middle of the room.  She saw the Rosemond King, up on his elbows and looking at them.  “Not until his Majesty is done and dressed.”

Gem looked over and smiled.  “Fell asleep on him?”

“Well, not on him...”  Laun giggled and pulled her girl to her, giving her a big kiss.  “I should probably finish what started last night.”

Evan was still grasping her arm.  “Mistress, should we do ...stuff while you are busy?”

Laun saw the tiredness in him.  “If you need to go back to sleep, do so.  I have no idea what will happen today and I know my damned body got me up far too early.”  Evan nodded and moved off to one of the unoccupied small beds.

Laun stood and stretched.  Her bladder had woken her.  Her stumbling around had woken the others.  It was a good practice and something she hoped they would get back into.  Using the live steel made it have a different feel, but the three assassins were always kind to her and no one was even slightly nicked.

Laun crawled to between Edgar and Ifahyd.  The King pulled the cover back over them and lay down, looking at the woman beside him.  A strand of hair had pulled from her braid, trailing down her cheek.  Ifahyd moved it with a finger off her face and behind her ear.  He kept his hand there, caressing her cheek with his thumb.

“Did you dream, Princess?”

She smiled and blinked.  “I don’t remember dreaming.  No one has ever asked me that before.”  She put her hand over his touching her face.  “And yourself?”

“They pale to the reality of you being next to me.”

Laun giggled slightly and closed her eyes.  “It is a little early for such talk, Iffy.”

He moved his hand from her face down her neck.  Her hand moved with his, not guiding, just moving.  He felt the slightly slick skin between her breasts, sweat and milk layered on her.  The blanket moved with their arms, exposing them to the morning air, letting him see her relaxed in front of him.

His hand went down to her stomach and then past.  She lifted her hand from his as his fingers tried to slip into her hidden womanhood.  He felt her hand on him and there was a smile on her face before she opened her eyes again.

“Shall we try again?”  Her voice was low and he could hear a tone that could have been seductive or dangerous.  The way it went through him, it was both.

He did not talk, but he told her much as he moved the blanket, covering the shoulder of Edgar as Ifahyd moved around to between Laun’s legs.  She moved over slightly and felt herself, a slight dryness under her fingers.  Ifahyd smiled and his face was between her thighs, licking and helping the fluids of her womanhood come out.

He moved up her, leaning on her slightly as he paused at her breasts.  He held them, licked at the nipples, tasted a drop or two of her milk.  She sighed and he felt her move her hips slightly under him.  Her thigh rubbed against his manhood, the softness catching him and he moaned slightly.

She was smiling when he lifted his face from her breast.  She put her hands on his back and he felt encouragement in the gesture, without pulling or grasping.  He was between her legs, her center open to him if he wanted it.  He moved slightly further up her and his shaft was on her lips, the head nestled on her fur.

“What can I do to pleasure you, Princess?”

There was a look on her that he could not read, but she smiled and said, “You already have, your Majesty.”  She giggled slightly and he found it not coquettish but alluring.  She moved her legs, her hips and, though she was below him, he found that she had control of his manhood.  There were small movements and he had to keep himself from just thrusting into her.

He let himself do it.  His shaft went into her and her back arched.  There was a gasp and some panting from her, closed eyes and head back as they started to move together.  Her hands were on his arms, gripping him as he found the bottom of her womanhood.  Again, it was encouraging without pulling at him.

She moved under him, meeting his thrusts.  She sighed and moaned.  She opened her eyes and looked at him, smiling and not turning away from him.  She raised herself to meet him with her legs, pushing his thrust deeper and further than he expected.

Laun felt a change in his stroke, saw his back start to arch.  She was feeling good, but she was nowhere near a peak.  She moved her hips, tightened muscles inside of her and saw his reaction.

He had to stop.  He had not expected her to be able to move like that, to cause his sac to tighten and his manhood to throb.  She had brought him close to the edge and he had to.  Had to.

Her voice cut through his concentration.  “Remember, outside of me.”

It made him want to go deeper into her.  Let loose inside her in crevices that she did not know she had.  He thrust into her and saw her face as a pulse went the length of his shaft.  She could feel him and wanted him, but there was concern with her eyebrows coming together over her gold-flecked eyes.

He withdrew slowly, the feelings making him want to just pound into her.  He rubbed his shaft on the outside of her womanhood, his own hand around the head, but it was not the same as being inside of her.  It did not take more than a few strokes and he was biting back a bellow, thick ribbons of his seed coming out of him and landing on her belly and the undersides of her breasts.

Ifahyd sat back on his heels and leaned on her bent legs as he caught his breath.  Her own hand was on her nub, a finger slowly rubbing up and down as she watched him.  “I’m sorry, Laun.”

“For what?”

He motioned to himself and then to her.  “I could not bring you to your peak.”

It was a source of pride for him.  Laun had wondered why he had not finished himself last night, but now she understood some.  He had been trying to bring her to the edge before he went over it himself.  She sat up and put hands on him, looking into his eyes.

“It didn’t happen this time.  It isn’t that I have less respect for you because of it.  You had fun, right?”

He blinked at her.  He nodded and saw the blonde standing by the bed, a cloth in her hand.  “But that shouldn’t matter.  I should have-”

Laun put her fingers over his mouth.  “It does matter.  I recently have been told that I need to stop proving myself.  Who are you proving yourself to?”

He leaned into her fingers and kissed them.  “I have not failed to bring a woman to orgasm in years.”

Laun had a cloth in her hand and was cleaning herself off.  It was pragmatic, but it made him feel as though she was cleaning him away.  She saw the look and tilted her head.  “Iffy.”

She handed the cloth off and went to her knees.  Her hands went to his and she sat, just holding his hands and looking at him.

He was suddenly nervous.  She was calm, attentive, holding his hands as if she were a sister consoling him.  She was young, and yet her face had the light concern of someone who had years of hearing other people’s troubles.  They were both naked, but they could have been in court garb for all the modesty she showed.  Her mood had gone from playful and willing to solemn and calm without a moment to adjust.  She had training in many of the greyworld disciplines, Ifahyd wondering how many.  This delicate young woman before him was at least ten years younger and yet she scared him.

Her voice was soft, mellow.  Her eyes were clear and unblinking as they looked at him.  “Ifahyd, you are a great man.  A King, leader of the Kingdom of Rosemond and the Island Principality.  You were raised to head the greatest noble house on the continent, the Royal household of Pearl and Ruby.  You have a great navy and army at your whim.”  Her hand reached and gently touched his cheek with fingertips.  “But remember, you are still a man.”

She sounded like his mother, Queen Consort to his Father.  She would talk to him, support him, advise him after he had taken the throne.

“You have needs, wants.  You have places inside yourself that you do not want to admit are there.  Do not be afraid of them, embrace them and let them work for you, not hold you back.”  She looked at him from her slightly tilted head.  “A noble who wishes to give pleasure is rare.  I will encourage you, but you also need to know that sometimes, just existing with you may be the pleasure you provide to someone.”

He shook his head and said quietly, “It is how I was raised.  The little we can comfort when we can...”  He felt something in him tremble as she drew her hand along his cheek.

Her eyebrow twitched up.  “You have.”  She raised his hands to her mouth, kissing each one before lowering them both again.  “Yesterday, I was in a dark hole.  I felt useless.  I was forced to go to evening meal and I met you.  You deigned to talk to me, allowed yourself interest in me.  I feel honored that you would do so, that you would go so far as to wish to be with me at all.  That comforted me.”

He blinked.  “I have been told much about you and you are different-no, more than described.  I am the one honored with your touch, Highness.”  He brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back, and then kissing each knuckle until he turned her hand over to kiss her palm.  He saw ridges in her soft hand, more of her scars, and kissed them.

“Thank you.”

He looked up at her.  “For what?”

She smiled and he felt his stomach tighten, his heart jump.  “For being you.”

He wasn’t sure how to take that, but he smiled back at her.

She leaned back a little and cleared her throat.  “Majesty, I just heard the eight bells call.  If I know my Father, he will be dropping by to annoy me in about half.”

Ifahyd looked at her and nodded.  “Ever practical.  Killian told me that about you.”

Laun looked past him and nodded.  “There is hot water if you wish to wash.  I do not have a change of clothing for you and there is not enough time to send for something.”

He kissed her palm again and shook his head.  “I can survive going back to my rooms with the garments from last night.”

Laun lifted her hand and motioned to her blonde servant.  “Gem will attend you.”

He turned and saw her, the blonde hair and blue eyes most of his countrymen had.  He nodded to her and turned back to Laun.  “May I attend you later?”

Laun looked at their hands still clasped.  “Sir, I would like that.  I do have a few errands to attend to myself, and I do not know what Falmir has in store for my time.  I would like to spend more time with you.”  She looked up and he saw a wickedness that made him wish to have more time with her right then.

Ifahyd reluctantly dropped her hand and turned to the doorway.  Gem had his clothing neatly folded in her hands and waited.  He climbed down and left the bedroom, Gem closing the door behind them.

Laun felt a hand on her and she leaned back into Edgar’s arms.  He nuzzled into her hair and kissed her cheek.

“That was a good way around not telling him they have been faking it.”

Laun laughed.

 

Chapter 46 Falmir drags Laun and her people out to tour the Capitol City