the Leathermines

Back to Chapter 14

 

Thank you for finding this and reading.  If you are unfamiliar with the Chronicles of the Midlands, Start with Chapter 1 of The Slave Warrior.

 

The Peaches were now in full protect mission mode.  

Laun dressed the part of the Princess Heir of the Midlands and made herself a target, whether on the arm of King Ifahyd or by herself.  She rode through the arbors, one of the dancers dressed as a servant beside her, drawing out an assassin who died far too quickly.  Edgar and she walked through portions of the main building they were sure they were not supposed to be in, Laun and he talking of home and family as if their argument had never happened.  They had the assassin following them followed, and taken down, with much more information brought out of her before she was able to take her own life.

The Peaches moved through the Royal Estate, finding places they blended in as they watched.  They followed.  They headed off and warned.  They became visible, yet invisible guardians, a force outside of the Royal Guards to keep the Rosemond King, and their own Mistress, alive.

Girl had attached herself to King Ifahyd.  The lost nail dressed her in a servant’s tunic and veil, the first full clothing Girl had worn in close to two years.  She became his shadow, being attentive to him, serving him as she could, and servicing him when Laun was not with him.  Girl had been the bottom rank of the Peaches, and as such had been the one to take the edge off of the men and women when the carnal interfered with the missions.  Ifahyd had the look when he was keeping to himself in the Royal apartments, Girl had offered herself and it didn’t take him long to take her.

She had knelt at his feet, offering him a bowl of small, shelled nuts.  He had taken the nuts, but had not looked away from her.  Girl had pulled on her veiling, uncovering her head and then had uncovered more of herself.  He watched her, ignoring the bowl in his hand until he moved and just dropped it to the floor.  She was not perfect.  She was not lithe and subtle.  She was there and was naked in front of him, only the metal guards around her wrists covering any of her.  She stood and turned, sitting lightly on his lap and making Ifahyd’s manhood want to take her.

He had picked her up and taken her to the edge of the bed, her ass in the air as he fingered her.  It had been a well used hole, loose and soon very wet for him.  He did not have to do much more than pull the layers to the side and push himself into her.  Kneeling in back of her, he held her hips and stroked into her, not concentrating on anything but his own pleasure.  Even with his companions and concubines, Ifahyd looked for their pleasure, wanted to know that he could make them feel good.  This Girl he was shoving himself into did not need that consideration, and somehow Ifahyd knew that.

Girl had gasped and moaned and bit her lip as she felt his full length go into her.  A wistful thought went through her as she tried not to think of her upbringing.  Her family had been minor nobility, before she was brought to Blue Master.  She had heard rumors that the Bedral family were all well endowed.  She now knew it from the pain of him hitting the bottom of her as he pushed in and the pleasure as he drew himself out.  She had been taken by Erin once when he was impatiently waiting for Laun to finish with a meeting at the Sand Castle, the push and sigh rough and violent as he held her by the neck against the tiled wall in the bathing chamber.  That had left her sore for days and Girl could feel that she was going to have to be careful walking and sitting for a while once the King had finished with her.

Ifahyd was close to his peak and he suddenly felt ashamed for using her that way.  He reached round and found her nub, the jerk back into him telling him that he had hit it right the first time.  She soon was face down into the bedding trying not to make more than a moan as her climax rolled through her, the sound and motions pushing him over the edge.

He did not pull out.  He knew that Laun had been taking mother’s bane after being with him, even though she had not said anything.  He had pulled out several times while he was with her, knowing that she wanted to keep from having another child, but he liked being as deep as he was right then, his seed finding places within Girl that no one else had found.

It had taken the edge off, calming him, as Girl had intended.  She had to rest for a while as the unexpected orgasm made her body warm and a bit unsteady.  She dressed when she could and followed the content looking man out of the Royal apartments.

With Girl a step behind him, Ifahyd walked through the grounds on his way to meet Laun at the stables for their scheduled ride that morning.  All business of the realm was put off, mostly under the guise of mourning, but everyone knew that there was more going on.  The Ambassadors and Merchants and the Council all gave Ifahyd slack, and kept away from the Royal estate to not be implicated if he was killed.

Laun raised her hand as she saw Ifahyd walking towards her.  She then saw the flash of Girl as she ran and disappeared behind an artfully mounded pile of rocks with native shrubs in it.  There was the sound of metal on metal as Laun dropped her calm demeanor and ran towards the fighting.

Several of the Peaches came to find Girl breathing heavily and crying while still holding the killing strike in the gut of the blonde against the rocks.  The blood from the last breath out of the assassin was slowly going down the chin of the dead woman.  The plain onyx hilted knife was on the ground, the blade fallen from the assassins’ hand covered with the assassin’s own blood dripping onto it from her opened gut.

Laun didn’t care that Girl was covered with blood as she held her, more tears coming out of Girl into Laun’s tunic.  The soldiers took the assassin’s body away and the Peaches surrounded both Laun and King Ifahyd as Girl let out her sorrow.

Ifhayd was shaken.  He had not seen the danger until Girl pushed him slightly and went after the woman who had appeared in the gardens.  He had seen the assassin pause, a questioning look on her face before there was a struggle. The action stopped and Girl had won, Ifahyd watching as the determination on the victors’ face changed to sorrow.

“I knew her...  She...  We came to Blue together.  We...  We were Sisters.  They were my family...”  Laun held Girl as more sadness came out.  Snatches of her regrets came out, Laun not saying anything, but holding Girl as the first kill as a Peach reverberated through the blonde, severing her ties completely with the training from Blue Master, and the group she had felt as family before her capture.

It was the first time Girl had broken down since she had come out of the Chamber of Death.  It was the first sadness Laun had seen from her.  Girl had broken herself with her actions, and Laun thought she knew how to bring Girl back again.

Laun signed for a blade.  A plain eating dagger was given to her and Laun nodded.  She pushed at Girl slightly making her sit up, their tunics peeling off from each other with the blood wetting them both.  Laun put the tip of the dagger on her chest and moved Girl’s hand to the pommel.

The people around them held their breaths as Laun quietly said, “I did not let you die when we captured you.  You have just killed one you held in your heart.  I give you the opportunity to take my life to even things.”

Girl looked at the blade against Laun’s chest, the tip already cutting into the blood-ruined fabric.  Her hand was the only one holding it there.  She looked at the edge, sharp and glinting.  She felt her self push slightly, seeing the muscles along Laun’s jaw tighten as the bade bit in.  Laun did not try to stop her or defend herself.  She was true to her word as she ever had been.

The blade was out of Laun’s chest, much to the relief of the Peaches surrounding them.  Girl looked at it and then held out her hand.  Her left hand, the one with only two full fingers on it.  She put the red-smeared tip to the stump of the one finger and looked at Laun.  “Mistress, I would rather cut my own finger off than hurt you.”

Laun smiled.  She signed for one of their carved blades, the one from Yevette’s boot being handed to her.  “Then you need to mark your kill, Girl.  And choose a name.”

There was a sucking in of air from several people.  Ifahyd knew he was seeing something private, something that he should not be watching.  Something that showed him that the object of his desire was even more than the layers he had uncovered had shown him.  That everyone around his Midlands Rose had their own layers, and were fiercely loyal to her.  The knife that was handed to the one known as Girl looked like it was an assassin’s blade like the one that was now crusted with sand in the blood, forgotten in the rocks behind them.  But it was different.

Silar came and took Girl’s arm, steadying her as she stood.  They left, going the direction of the barracks, the place the bodies that had been accumulating in the Royal Estate were being held until they could be disposed of.  The King’s eye followed them until Laun motioned for help up.

Laun was shaking.  The tremble in her hand made the small bracelet shake, the metal dangles hitting and creating a small sound.  Edgar was at her side, holding her as they started to walk towards the stables and shade.  The people around the King motioned towards the stables and he started walking, seeing several of them go in different directions and disappear into the grounds.

Laun was stripping off the ruined clothing as she stood by the water trough.  The guards and stablehands had turned away, most with shock on their faces.  Laun’s people paid her body no mind and helped to get the blood off of her before a length of cloth was draped over her to hide her body.  Not before Ifahyd had another look at her scars.  There was a drip of blood from the bottom of the scar that had been delicately turned into the peach branch, as if the branch had been freshly cut from the tree and the blood was the sap.

“You are well, Majesty?”  Edgar was at the monarch’s elbow.

Ifahyd turned, dragging his eyes from Laun.  “I... Yes, I am well.  I have had attempts before, but this...”  He turned and put a hand on Edgar’s chest above his heart and relaxed into the Midlands man slightly.  “Your household is unusual, Lord Edgar.  I am glad that you are here.”

Edgar put his hand on the mans shoulder and found that action let Ifahyd relax more into him.  They were almost the same height, Edgar just slightly taller than the Rosemond King.  Ifahyd’s head went to Edgar’s shoulder, his arm going around Edgar’s waist.

The Lord of Salam-Dir had male lovers, Fount was his Husband and Love.  It still made him pause as the man now within his arms started to sob.  Edgar’s voice was calming as he rumbled out a few low words, telling the King that he was safe with those words and his arms.

Laun watched for a few minutes.  She had a flash of envy, but of which one she was not sure.  To have the strength of Edgar, the stability that Ifahyd needed to be able to show vulnerability.  Or to be the one in her Lord Husband’s arms, hearing the rumble in her chest and womanhood, being comforted and feeling secure.  She found that it was both, and neither at the same time.

Drinking water was found and given to Ifahyd, the simple act of sipping on the water helping to bring his focus back.  He sat on one of the benches outside the stalls and tried to not see the blood that had been over so many of those around him.  He sipped and knew that Laun’s people had soiled themselves to keep him safe.  There was nothing he could do to repay them for his life.

His mind had wandered.  He knew that because the barely covered Laun was kneeling in the dust at his feet, looking up at him with a tilt to her head and an underlying grimness that was disturbing.  He put out his hand and touched her cheek, the smile he sought blooming on her pink lips.

“Majesty, the Captain of your Guards wishes audience and to escort you to your rooms.”

Her voice was quiet, but it flowed over him, calming him further and yet making the back of his neck prickle as if a storm was close on the horizon.  She stayed on her knees, a small movement bringing her lower lip between her teeth, enchanting him.

She was not a royal right then.  She was a servant, a slave, a red scarf.  She could have offered herself with the elite red scarf phrase and it would not have been out of place, and he would have taken her right there.  She was a protector, an assassin, his guardian.  He knew that, even though he had not asked, she would throw herself between him and danger.  She was a woman, a mother, a wife.  He wished she was his alone.

“Captain...”  He drew his eyes from the woman kneeling in front of him and to the man standing a few feet away, his helmet under his arm and a blood stained parchment in his hand.

There was a nod of a salute from the man.  “My King, we stripped the last assassin and found this.  It is the first evidence of a warrant.”  He stepped forward and offered the parchment to Ifahyd.

Laun moved and stood to the side of the Rosemond King.  She glanced at the writing and recognized a few words, but could not read more than that of the low-class language.  Ifahyd, read the stained missive and grimaced, and not just at the blood on it.

“This says, my Love, that both you and I are targets for the next Blue Master.  We are...  The completion warrant.”  He looked up at Laun and saw her close her eyes for a flash before she looked back into his.  “I did not know that Blue Master had died.”

Laun tried not to laugh.  She glanced at the Captain and saw sweat, and not just from the heat.  She sat next to Ifahyd and put her hand gently on his arm.  “You have had a most complicated and yet sheltered life, Iffy.  There are people around you who are not what you have been led to believe they are, and some you knew all your life.  It is not my place to pull the veil, but you need to know who Blue Master was.”  She looked up at the Captain and saw a slight ‘no’ movement of his head.

Ifahyd turned Laun’s face around to him again and looked into her eyes.  “Was.  Meaning your knowledge is current.  Meaning that you and your people are not of Blue Master’s.  Meaning you are...another...?”

Laun flicked her eye around and knew who could hear, and it was far too many people.  She reached out and put her finger under Ifahyd’s lower lip.  He nodded understanding the need for secrecy, or at least discretion.  She reached down and pulled the draped fabric to the side showing her breast.  He felt a pulse through his manhood as he looked at the breast, the gold and green in her nipple, the flesh cut to show the shape of a flower-

The Captain saw and understood before his King did.  He went for his blade at his side and found a hand holding a sheathed blade, an onyx handled blade studded with peridot, on his.  It was Laun’s own blade within Edgar’s hand, and it was a warning, not a threat.

“My Lady is our leader, and she is for your King, not against him.”

Ifahyd raised his hand and the Captain staid his hand, and held his temper.  “Captain Jost...  I will ask that our Lady and Lord Salam-Dir be escorted to the companions’ courtyard before coming to dinner tonight.  Treat her Highness and her Lord as you would me.  I will ask for escort to my room, but not just yet.  I-”  He looked around, seeing the layers of Rosemond and Midlands protection surrounding him in the stablehouse shade.  “I will be safe here.”  His eye lit on Verat and then back to the Captain.

The Captain saluted with his bunched fingers to his forehead.  He stood and put his helmet back on, his almost clean-shaved head showing scars below the dark blonde stubble.  There was a salute to Laun and Edgar and a motion for them to follow by going ahead of him, as was tradition with military units.

Laun was feeling unstable on her feet, but had Edgar’s hand under hers as they went back through the Royal Estate’s grounds and into the building.  The Captain did not say anything as they went through until they stopped at the entrance to the companions’ courtyard.

“Lady-”

Laun turned and faced the soldier.  The drape was covering what was needed, but she saw his eyes going to what he had seen beneath before.

“Lady, if I think you or any of yours is behind the attempts-”

Laun dropped her hand from Edgar’s arm and held her hands out to the officer, palms up and open.  “He would have already died if I had wanted him dead.”

He nodded and looked at Edgar.  “The King is not weak.  But, his tastes are known.  Have been used against him in past.  Lovers have tried to use themselves to great advantage.  Appointments have been made that went against protocol and tenure because of his...tastes.”

Laun looked at the Captain and then Edgar and had a flash of Ithian go through her mind.  It would make sense with what Erin had intimated over the last two years.  Laun knew that Ifahyd had male lovers in the red scarves.  She thought and saw that he had tried to be even with his attentions between Laun and Edgar.  He had been trying to get both of them into bed.

“Captain, what happens will be between the King and whom he decides to bed.  There is little advantage to us with information that people already know.  The information that I need can only be from the mouth of your Master.”

He turned and blinked.  “Ma’am?”

Laun made a sign with her hands that was known as ‘under the rose’ as she said, “Silver.  He must know what hides in the grey in Rosemond.  If he doesn’t, he does not deserve his own reputation.”

The Captain smirked.  “Yes, Mistress Peach.”  He saluted with the bunched fingers and then made the grey sign for ‘sister’ before he motioned to the courtyard.

Word of the latest attempt had already spread through the Royal Estate.  When Edgar and Laun appeared within the open courtyard, the red scarves who had been lounging and resting for the evening ahead gained energy to surround their Sister and her Husband.

There were dry kisses from some of the companions to Laun in greeting, touches to Edgar and smiles.  Laun dropped the drape, the stain of blood still across some of her chest.  There were a few apprehensive sounds from those around them, but only gentle hands drawing her to them.

Edgar was soon as naked as his Lady Wife, all genders of concubine and companion around him.  Edgar tried to keep an eye on Laun, but the insistent hands of those around him soon caught all his attention.

They were both washed and drawn into the cooling pool.  Edgar had tried making love to Laun, and others, in the spring on Salam-Dir’s Hill, but it never was more than something that was before fucking on the sandy edge to finish.  The talents of those who had surrounded him were soon put to the test as two of the concubines took turns going below the water to take him into their mouths.  They were good and Edgar could hardly tell when they switched off if his eyes were closed.  He now understood Laun’s like of the water, now that he had experienced that.

The Lord Salam-Dir was drawn to the edge of the pool, his manhood bobbing in the water as he walked.  Several of the companions leaned against the side of the pool, offering themselves.  Edgar looked at them and felt a greedy need go through him.  The young noble woman he had taken back to the yurlodge had been...all right.  Not experienced and not relaxed.  He had finished himself off with Girl and had been somewhat satisfied for the night.  Edgar now had very experienced, very willing red scarves presenting themselves to him and he wanted them all.

Water is not the best lubricant.  Edgar knew this and pushed the woman he had chosen for firsts up over the edge of the pool.  His face was in her light brown fur, gasps coming out of her that were real and not for show as his tongue made sure that she was wet and ready for him.  He stood and pulled on her, impaling her when her ass was just over the edge.  She was warm around him and he felt her trying some of the hip moves that Laun used to get him to quicken.  He put his hand on her stomach and just held her down as he drew back out of her.  He was going to take her slowly before going to the next one.

Edgar’s hand went out and pulled in one of the companions and started kissing him.  There was a surprised and then delighted noise as Edgar held the man’s neck.  This was a young man, his skin clear and soft with just a hint of roundness to his ass and belly.  Edgar’s hand went down the youth’s back and held onto his ass, holding him to Edgar’s side as he stroked slowly in and out of the woman.

Edgar growled when the companions’ hand went down and held his balls.  The sensation of being held and then gently pulled on made him want to let go and pound the woman until he came.  That was not what he wanted to do.

A small sigh came out of the woman when Edgar withdrew.  His hand went to her womanhood, fingering her nub as he kissed the man tight to his side.  Laun had been a good teacher in a way, making him be able to pay attention to multiple partners and not slow down.  He was tested, though, as the hand that was on his sac started to stroke his shaft, knowing how to use the foreskin as he moved.

He needed the release.  Not like this.  Edgar moved and climbed onto the edge of the pool.  He laid back and pulled on the woman.  She rolled over and tried to straddle his manhood, but that was not what he wanted.  He directed her and was soon lapping at her womanhood as she knelt above him.  Edgar stroked himself until he felt a mouth and another hand on him.  He let himself go and enjoyed the mouth of the man as he used his mouth on the woman.

A cooling sensation went through his cock, startling Edgar and concerning him until he felt legs to either side of his hips.  He was oiled and he felt someone over him starting to press down onto his cock.  He growled again, holding onto the thighs of the woman above him as he felt the tightness of an ass around him.

The slap of a cock on his stomach was hard to ignore as Edgar’s manhood was being ridden.  What he wanted was happening, without asking and without having to think about anything but the moment.  Edgar started to suck and bite on the cunt on his face as the man on his cock stretched himself around him.

Edgar heard and felt the man falter as his hand went to himself, his own peak coming to him soon.  The woman was moaning and he could feel little quivers deep inside her telling him that she was going to be much wetter, soon.  Edgar’s own climax was hovering, the need to let his seed loose in the man on him fighting with the want of the others to come to their own peaks, first.

She called out and Edgar had to grip her thighs to keep from being smothered as she peaked.  Her fluids were thin and ran down over him in little spurts until she rolled off of him to the side.  Edgar could see the man on him and it was not the one who he had gathered to him in the pool.  It was one he had seen at Laun’s side under the dining tent when Ifahyd was occupied by the noble women from Rosemond.  He was beautiful and had a look on his face that showed a bliss that pushed Edgar over the edge.

Edgars hands went down and held onto the man on him.  One hand was on a hip, one on the manhood that had been slapping on his stomach.  Edgar felt the ring in the concubine’s manhood and moved below it, stroking along that shaft as his own was going up into the man.  He felt the pulse of the cock in his hand and was soon covered with the sticky seed of him.

The concubine fell over into Edgars’ chest, small sighs and moans coming from him as Edgar sped up his thrusts.  He held onto the ass of the man and gripped hard as he felt the first push over his peak go through him.  There was growling and then a bellow telling all the courtyard that Edgar was orgasming.

It took a while for Edgar to control his breathing.  He did not know if the man still on his chest knew the Midland’s tongue, but Edgar talked in his low rumble when he could, thanking the concubine for the pleasure of his ass.  There were sighs from the man before he lifted his face to Edgar, kissing the Lord Salam-Dir gently.  Edgar smiled up into the young man’s face and then grimaced as his cock started to slip out of he man’s ass.

There was an, “Aaaahhh...” from the man at the sensation of Edgar’s cock coming out, some of the mingled seed and shit following.  Edgar tried to rise, but the man held him down with a kiss.  Hands and cloths were on them, cleaning what could be, even as Edgar held the man to his chest, kissing him more.

Edgar was content.  He did not wish to move, and did not wish to move the man on top of him.  They fit well like that and the Lord Salam-Dir wanted to enjoy it for just a little longer.  He denied himself often, ether because circumstance was against him or because Laun was in one of her moods.  It was good to have what he wanted.

Edgar looked around and could not see Laun.  He did not want to panic, but with the assassination attempts, he pushed himself up, the concubine sitting up and then moving off of him to kneel next to Edgar.  He looked and finally saw Laun in the middle of one of the groups along the edge of the courtyard, her concentration on one of the women at her side, a gentle hand stroking the dark woman’s face as low words were being spoken.  The concubine at Edgar’s side looked over and smiled.

“Our Sister found Gretchen.  She had been badly taken by one of the noblemen a few days ago and has not been herself since.  None of us could console her.  I do not know how our Sister saw, but she stopped Nemek in mid stroke to go to her.”  He turned, looking at Edgar with his dramatically purple-shaded eye cosmetics around both eyes.  “She has the gift.”

Edgar was sitting, one arm leaning on a raised knee as he looked at the concubine.  “My Lady has many gifts.  Many of them she freely gives away.”

Edgar saw how the rumble went through the man.  There was a slight closing of the concubine’s eyes and he took in a breath through slightly parted lips.  “Baynim, thank you.  Our Majesty had not taken me for so long... I-”

A hand was on the back of the neck of the concubine, drawing him to Edgar and pressing him to the older man.  He kissed and was kissed and then looked into the concubine’s eyes.  He heard something Laun might have said coming out of him, it feeling right as he said, “I am honored that you would be with me after having been a favorite of the King.”

There was a blush over the lightly tanned face close to his.  “I know that you will be with him tonight and...by being with you...”

Edgar heard the longing, perhaps the love that the concubine had for the King of Rosemond.  Then it struck him what the man had said.  Edgar blinked and covered his slight confusion with pulling the man to him again and kissing him while he thought.

Laun already knew.  She always knew about things like that.  Edgar should have seen, with the small touches and the look in Ifahyd’s eye since they had arrived in the Royal Estate.  Edgar had not been looking for such things.  Had not seen it as it was presented, even before Laun had argued with him and locked herself away in the Royal apartments for those days.  Now he knew, and Edgar was nervous.

There was a sigh from the concubine as Edgar became gentle with him again.  “Baynim, thank you again.”  He pulled back slightly and looked at where his fluids had covered Edgars stomach and looked back up at the Lord.  “May I wash you?”

Edgar nodded and moved back into the pool.  None of the others approached as the concubine gently washed the Lord Salam-Dir, caressing the older man and seeing another rise in him.  Edgar had to steady himself and made himself go down again, the touches of the trained red scarf hard to ignore, but needfully so.

There was a slight pout on the concubines’ face.  Edgar held his neck and looked into the eyes of the man who was so willing to be taken again.  “I need to save some for his Majesty.”  There was a giggle and Edgar had to hold himself still as the concubine disappeared under the clear water, his mouth taking Edgar in and holding him until Edgar was sure he was going to drown.

It was a thrill, having those attentions.  Edgar wanted to continue, but knew that he would be completely spent if he did.

The concubine came up and smiled.  He wanted Edgar again and was being as tempting as he could be.  Edgar took one of the concubines wrists and held the arm behind the willing man.  There was a strong kiss before Edgar said, “Not now.”  He smiled, kissing the concubine again, showing the promise of later.

Edgar was clean.  His hair was clean, his skin was clean and the stubble that had been on his face had been scraped off.  He stepped out of the water and found he dried in the air quickly.  The lost nail was near the pool, draping and tucking a length of sheer fabric around Laun.  Another dresser came to Edgar, holding out a few garments for his approval.  He really didn’t care, but he saw that he was offered loose pants and vests, arms and chest to be bare.

Laun was the red scarf of the two.  Edgar felt out of place and wondered if he should even be there.  He had wanted to be with Laun on the trip, knowing she would be away for so long, he could not face not having her at his side.  He was seeing other parts of her, seeing how she worked on a mission, even though he had trained her and seen some of it before.  She was focused, but she also used herself to get information, as a weapon.  Edgar was not sure if he could do that.

He finally waived at one of the pants and one of the vests and the dresser nodded her own approval.  A thin split tunic was put on him before the pants and vest, covering him enough that the metallic trim along the vest did not scrape on his skin.  It felt good, and the open chest had the air to keep him cooler.

He did not have long hair, but it had grown enough in the month since they had left their mains that one of the companions came over and offered a selection of beaded thongs that could be braided into the hair.  Edgar almost said no, but then looked at the beads closer.  One of the thongs was strung with black and green, a flash of gold and silver between.  He picked that one and she was able to braid it through his hair and have the end hanging down behind his right ear.  It felt odd, but it also felt good having her hands on his scalp, the little pulls exciting in ways he had not known before.

As he was sitting there, another one of the companions came up with a small box of cosmetics.  Edgar cringed.  He felt as though he was being made up to play alongside Aldemars troupe at a Festival.  He paused, he thought, and pointed at the greenish kohl for around his eyes, to match the beads in his hair.  He held still, the glass rod feeling cold as it was drawn along his eyelashes.  The companion blew on his face lightly to get some of the extra off, a smile on her face as he opened his eyes.

Even with the beads in his hair, a small head veil was put on him, wrapped and then held in place with folds and a circlet, showing the beads behind his ear.  Edgar felt a bit of an itch to touch his face, to pull the accessories off of him, but he restrained himself.  This was not for him.  This was for Laun and for Ifahyd.  And the mission.

There was a small chime that went through the courtyard.  There were sighs and a few grumbles, but most of the people in the courtyard knew that meant they had a limited amount of time to get ready to be the entertainment for the nobles at dinner, and beyond.  Edgar received several dry kisses from the companions who were helping him, a nod from the dresser to show she approved of his selections.  Edgar stood, feeling the difference the garb of Rosemond on him, and the attitude he felt he had because of it.

Edgar, for the first time, really felt like he was a Lord.  He felt like he could be Royalty.  Edgar was the Lord Salam-Dir, Royal Consort of the Princess of the Midlands.

He had a broad smile on his face as he turned looking for his Wife.  She was still surrounded by those helping her to prepare for that night, but her profile through the veiling was unmistakable.

“Your Highness, may I escort you?”

Laun laughed at Edgars voice.  She turned and held out her hand, saying, “I would be honored, Lord Salam-Dir.”

His mouth was open.  He took her hand and kissed it and then pressed it to his forehead.  She was his Wife and he had watched her grow into the woman she was.  He did not have to declare his pledge of honor to her, but as she was presenting herself that night, he could do nothing but.

She was covered from head to toe with layers artfully folded, covering and yet revealing in ways Edgar had never seen before.  She moved and the silk and cotton hissed as it moved against each other.  There were glints of silver and jewels in the folds, the largest he could see being her three pointed crown.  That was not the focus of the outfit.

There was a split in the folds that went all the way from her neck to her knees.  If she stood still, you could see a little cleavage, but when she walked, you could see skin all the way down.  At least it looked like it.  Edgar knew that she had not shaved and had to still have the... No.  She had let them shave her.  There was a small sheer skirt that covered, giving just enough modesty to let people think they could not see what they were seeing.

She moved and pressed herself against him.  He had become hard and could not control it.  There was a flash of coldness in her eye as she looked up at him, but Edgar wasn’t sure he had seen it right when she smiled and all he saw was heat and passion.  Her lips were presented to him and he took her to him.  He pressed into her and he felt her heat and a moan.  He wanted her, right there with all the red scarves watching.  He couldn’t.  Not right then.

She laughed and ran her thumb over his mouth.  “We need to fix that.  I don’t think that is your color.”  He saw that she had been wearing a rose-tinted lip coloring that was now smeared slightly, and he assumed was on his own lips.  The color was perfect for her and reminded him of-

His hand went between her legs and he was able to slide his fingers along her smooth lower lips.  She was very ready and shuddered against him as he played with her for just a few strokes.  He could not continue without having her, ruining her presentation with a push and a sigh.  He released her, a sigh coming from her before she stepped back.

She did put on one more layer, something that was sheer and seemed to cover most of what had been put on her already, making her seem plainer, duller with it on.  Edgar knew what she had underneath, both the clothing and herself.

They were both touched up before Edgar took Laun’s hand and the courtyard seemed to flow out and towards the dining tent for evening meal.

 

Onto Chapter 16, Where the Princess and her Lord Companion Seduce the King of Rosemond