Chapter 1
"So you've come," someone rasped behind her, followed by a soft, hollow chuckle. "Never thought the likes o' you'd ever sink down here with us rats."
Camouflaged by the inky darkness of the alley and her own deliberately black clothing, the Princess Terindra of the Royal House of Arbigahl turned gracefully on her heels, casting a withering stare at the one-legged man who sat atop a large pile of rotted crates. Hers was not an interesting face, a beautiful one, but there was something intangible in her air that could make a man melt with desire or make his blood turn to rivers of ice-and usually at the same time.
"Remember who's paying who, Rinn," she told him, smiling angelically at him beneath her halo of red-black hair, looking obtusely non-threatening in the half-light. "And remember who can sentence you back to the prison camps with barely a yawn."
A threat, sharp as any razor, hid itself just beneath the polite veneer of her words, and Rinn sensed it deep in his bones. A chill passed through the wizened man as her eyes met his. They were sharp pools of deep hazel and liquid amber, alive with hunger, ambition, and a multitude of things that were beyond him to understand. He swallowed. The princess looked particularly fierce this morning.
"Of course, my lady."
Terindra raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Then, tell me of my sister's presentation to Lady Tuscine yesterday," she asked.
"There 'as a grand banquet, and--"
"I was there, Rinn," she interrupted. "Tell me what really happened."
Rinn glanced up at her, sighed, and began again. "While I was restin' in the kitchens, I overhead the pages gossiping about how Yasmina accepting Lady Tuscine's son as her first concubine would bind their houses and provide Yasmina with personal resources, while protecting Tuscine's estates, as she has born no daughter to inherit."
Terindra's bright eyes narrowed dangerously. "So now Tuscine wants to become a part of the game. Well then, she and her armies are welcome to it. We'll see who wins at the end." A dark light filled her eyes, and for a moment
Rinn almost wished he were back in his drudgery as a prisoner, instead of in the service of this young chit of a girl who seemed to carry the authority of a thousand years in her eyes. Terindra wanted power very, very badly, and he only hoped that she would not destroy the world in the process of getting it.
Then she spun on her heel, impossibly graceful, and smiled crookedly at Rinn. The dark angel was gone, and back in its place was the charming, witty princess with the wine-colored eyes. He could only scowl, not wanting to show any of the anxiety he felt whenever Terindra seemed to change like that.
"Next week again, Rinn," she said, tossing two gold pieces at him before she stalked out of the damp alley, eventually disappearing into a secret back entrance to the Royal Gardens.
The ambassador the Empress sent to the court of Kahlzistan should be arriving there soon. It was intended that a marriage be arranged between the eldest daughter of the Ambassador, and the Prince of Kahlzistan, Estaldo. What the Empress doesn't know, is that Tessia, the eldest daughter of Ophelia, the Ambassador, is an agent of Terindra, since their days as young girls under the strict rule of the clerics. Terindra had needed to do a lot of convincing to get her to sacrifice her freedom to become a wife, as the northern barbarians called it. The younger daughter, Lobella, is a sheep, fit only to decorate a corner somewhere.
It was going to be a good day, Terindra knew, though not because of the weather. In fact, when she last looked out the window, the sky was actually quite dismal, a gloomy purple-gray left in the wake of a noisy monsoon. She strolled down the marble-lined corridors of the palace wing that she shared with her sisters. Terindra smiled to herself, thinking of the report she'd just received from Kahlzistan.
"Princess Terindra," a pair of guards simultaneously greeted her, opening the doors to her sister's antechamber.
"Stop fussing, Tofellin," She could hear Nadora admonish, as she and Sepha, their mother's seamstress, struggled with the girl to get her to fit into the gown she would wear for the eldest princess' alliance feast. "Stay still!"
"Tofellin," Terindra called out in a crisp voice, masking her face with a small smile. The girl turned and saw her, her yellow hair doing little to mask the rush of color to her neck.
"My dear, please stop this nonsense and get yourself fitted."
"Yes, my lady," the girl replied in a half-mumble, going limp and allowing herself to be carted off by an irritated Sepha. Tofellin was a young lady in service to the princesses, who was to have a part on the ceremony.
Nadora, meanwhile, sighed loudly and flopped ungracefully into a high-backed chair. She rubbed her hands together and looking at her elder sister with a skeptical expression. "Here to get fitted, Indra?" she asked dryly.
"Hardly, sister," Terindra replied, seating herself across from her. "I came to ask you something, is all."
Nadora frowned, her mannequin face easily showing her wariness. Hers always was an open face, which was why Terindra trusted her. Nadora was straightforward, if nothing else. "What is it?"
Terindra shrugged, noticing for the first time the bolts of fine cloth that lay scattered about the room, obviously borrowed from Isadora's own supply. "I received an invitation from Merchant Stollerin this morning," she said, not caring to mention the other letter that she had just received. "He's coming to his river palace again."
"Spare me, Indra!" her sister exclaimed, displeasure and something like nausea clouding her young face. "I despise the and I hate his idiotic river festivals. Every year he just ends up charming another poor girl out of her right mind and into his bed."
"Nadora," she replied in a mockingly sweet tone, "you know that's not nice."
A length of ruby-red ribbon found its way near her head, and Terindra batted it away easily, laughing despite herself. "It's not my fault, Dora. Mother's ordered me to go after Tessia's festivities are over. And you're coming with me." She smiled differently now, a darker, hungrier smile.
Nadora sighed, burying her head in a bolt of green silk in frustration. "Sometimes I wish I was never born into this family," she half-shouted, her voice muffled by the cloth.
"So do I, sister," Terindra said, rising from her seat and turning for the door. "But we have to make the best of it now, don't we?"
Terindra returned to her own rooms, and found her personal maid waiting there for her. She bowed to the floor, saying, "My Lady, if it please you, I was given this message for you." She offered a plain roll of parchment, sealed with unmarked wax. "It was given me by one of the laundry servants, who said she was approached by a kitchen girl, who was given it by a delivery slave."
Inside, Terindra found a note inviting her to meet with somebody at an inn in the city that night. The note hinted at information of great value to the Princess, and was signed with a sigil known to her through her street rat, one used by smugglers. Beside it was a glyph denoting nobility. The association is not one ever publicly admitted to exist.
It was nearly dinnertime now so Terindra decided that it was time to start on into town. Carrying her usual dark hooded cloak, she quietly slipped out of the castle. The sun was just beginning to set as she strolled along the dirt road that led into town. As she did so she draped the cloak around her shoulders, concealing the rich garments she wore below. Terinda then slipped her infamous auburn hair beneath the frayed edges of the cloak. As close as she could ever be to looking common, she strode down the hill that led into the city.
People passed by her but no one recognized the features of one of their elusive princesses. As she came to the welcoming inn, she stopped a moment to pull the hood farther over her already concealed face. Opening the door, a feast of sights and sounds greeted her. The inn smelt of whisky and broth, with a homely quality that one usually finds in the company of strangers. She scanned the room and her eyes set on a squirming balding man sitting alone. Bingo, she thought as she took in the rich quality of his clothes and his unease in the lower quality establishment.
Terindra walked straight towards him and gracefully sat in the chair across from him, "I hear that you have some information for me?" She purred, turning on the full effect of her innocent looking cerulean blue eyes.
The man looked to be in his late forties to early fifties. From his rosy cheeks and pudgy body, it was evident that he enjoyed life in all its forms. Clearing his throat, he says, "It's about Bransford."
To Terindra those three words made her mind reel. It had been quite the scandal when the handsome rogue had escaped her mother's side. Terindra decided that this might not be a spoof after all. "What about him?" she asked sweetly, masking all the turbulent thoughts inside her head as she leaned back in her chair casually.
"I need your help in finding him, you see... he's my Lady's son. We've heard that has become a pirate and might be captaining a ship stolen from your mother." He adjusted his collar, perspiration showing gleaming at his temples. "You can't imagine how sorry my Lady is about this, the disgrace that has befallen her family. She offers to provide you with finances and information in exchange for arranging a few permits and a little, let's say, blindness, among the Navy to allow them to hunt down my son. She can't stand the disgrace any longer..."
Her eyes, already tearing over with boredom from this sob story, helped her as she grabbed the man's hand and said quietly, "I'll do anything I can, with two conditions, though. One is that this arrangement must be kept in secrecy. From now on, there will be no meeting in public places. The other one is that if ever I need a favor, I would love to be able to count on you?" She trailed off, looking at him as if offering friendship.
"Oh yes, of course!" he replied, while painfully squeezing her daintily offered fine-boned hand in agreement.
Her revulsion at being touched by this pitiful man, almost caused her to jerk away as she escaped his clutches and said, "I'll leave you to eat your supper now, I have to be going."
She pulled her hood closely around her, and swept out of the bar. Terindra pondered her newfound source of power as she journeyed back to the castle.She found herself breathing just a little fast, and realized that she was excited. Finally, all her games at spying outside the palace were paying off. The others thought that nothing ever happened outside, but they were wrong. Everything happened outside! Everything real. She stopped, realizing that she didn't want to go back to the Palace. The thought was stifling. She wanted, she wanted something different, something untamed.
She turned toward the docks, looking around her as she went. So many buildings, she wondered what went on in all of them. It had never occurred to her to wonder before. They all must have their purposes. Somebody had ordered them built. Suddenly she wanted to know. Wanted to know it all, what everybody did in all those buildings, with all the meetings and business that went on in this city. She came to a side street and turned down it at random. It led to a small courtyard surrounded by old buildings. A private place. Something about it called to her. She determined to build her own life, a secret life. A real life. She turned back, making a note of where it was, and headed deeper into the warrens of warehouses that crowded the streets between here and the docks.
A noise came from ahead and to her right. She wandered that direction, and the traffic on the street increased, until she realized that most of those on the street were leading slaves, either toward or from the large open building ahead. There were large men with whips posted at the open front doors, and she could see more toward the back, but they didn't seem worried about the people passing freely in and out. They watched inside the building, not for trouble outside. When she reached the door she suddenly realized why. It was the slave market. She had never thought of coming to such a place, but as she gazed around, she found herself interested.
The main space was taken with walkways before long cages with rows of slaves on display, as the potential buyers walked along inspecting. The center was an open area where individuals and groups of slaves could be paraded for auction, but private sales were happening, also. She strolled along, moving back past the common laborers offered at the front toward the skilled workers and specialized slaves offered in smaller pens toward the back. Merchants had desks set up near the groups of pens they were using for their wares. Most glanced at her and ignored her. She didn't have the entourage that would accompany somebody with he means to purchase these more expensive wares.
She moved further back, and found an area of more carefully guarded and heavily bound slaves, both men and women. They appeared to be warriors, probably prisoners of war being sold to pay for their keep. They stared at her sullenly as she walked by, no sense of proper behavior for a slave. She headed back out of that area, and came to a pen with a single man in it. He was chained more heavily than all the others, arms held away from his body toward the wall, chains running behind him and up to the ceiling. He wore shreds of what were once nice clothes, and tossed his black hair out of his blue eyes to grin at her. Grin at her! This slave in so many chains he could hardly stand for the weight of them, grinned at her. She grinned back, feeling the excitement grow.
A woman cleared her throat behind her. "No, loitering, missy. He's an expensive one, and dangerous. Not for the likes of you!" A whip streaked out between the bars and licked across his shoulders, leaving a line of red crossing the others already there. He jerked and the chains rang against each other. "None of your insolence there! Eyes down!" The slave merchant motioned at the guard with the whip again when the slave had the temerity to look straight back at Terindra.
"How much for him?" Terindra turned the full force of her eyes on the merchant.
The woman backed as step without quite knowing why. "This man has escaped three times since his capture! The only reason we caught him is that he stopped to help another. He was seized during a border raid with Kahlzistan, but he bore no credentials or identification. So he came to me! A fine specimen, and well worth the three hundred Impress asking price!" She started to turn away, knowing the young woman alone could have nowhere near such an amount.
Terindra answered, "I'll take him." She knew it was an outrageous price, but wasn't interested in haggling with the smelly merchant. "You will keep him for me until I send for him. You will hear from Lady Tordin." Terindra drew a Goddess coin from her belt, worth five hundred Impresses. "This should pay for his keep. There will not be another mark on him when I receive him." She turned her gaze on the woman again, and the merchant nodded as she looked from the coin to Terindra's face. Terindra dropped the coin into her palm and turned away, mind already working on new plans.
The lissome boys twined around each other as Terindra leaned back on her cushions, observing Lady Tordin closely. Her wine glass had been kept full throughout the evening, as Terindra had instructed, and she had not been shy in emptying it. Which was not to say she was drunk, but appeared nicely malleable. Terindra gave an exaggerated yawn, just as the boys reached a particularly titilating part of their act. As expected, Lady Tordin responded by leaning back herself, affecting not to be near as interested in the performance as she had been a moment ago.
Terindra said, "My apologies for the quality of the performance. There is only so much one can do here in the palace, you know. One must keep up appearances." Terindra waited for the fading lady's response. How much leading would it take to bring her onto Terindra's team? Not much, she was sure.
"Oh, appearances are so important, my dear. But they can be constraining at times, I agree." Tordin heaved a sigh, her ample breasts not quite popping out of her strained bodice.
Why did women of her age and size insist on such styles, as if squeezing into them made them suitable? Oh well, at least they led her where Terindra wished her to go. "I imagine sometimes," she breathed in a low voice, conspiratorily, "that I have a place, a secret place, a private place. One where I can do what I choose, and appearances be damned! Oh, such dreams I've had." Terindra now allowed herself to stare at the boys on the floor, winding together to the end of their dance. She allowed speculation to show on her face, encouraging her jaded companion to imagine what lascivious pleasures might be had in such a private place.
Lady Tordin licked her lips, her face slightly flushed under the powder.
Terindra added, "Of course, I could never purchase such a place myself! It would be known in an hour! It is so confining, being a princess!" She pouted, ever so slightly, waiting for Tordin to take the bait.
She took it, hook, line and sinker. "You poor child, missing out on the freedom and pleasures that should be the birthright of a girl your age! Perhaps I might offer some small assistance? If you were to desire to fund such a secret place, I might arrange its purchase, under another name of course. But for such a place to be truly the place of your fantasies, it would take a good bit of funding, my dear, and gold is often tracked as carefully as princesses!"
"Do you really think we could do such a thing?" Terindra was enjoying herself. This game of the insipid princess usually gave her a bored headache, but this time it was a game of her own choosing, and she found herself actually enjoying leading the old cow by the nose! She flopped back on the cushions again, giving another slightly wistful sigh. "Oh, it would be such fun, to have a place of my own to slip away to! If only it could really happen. But you're right, how could I finance such a thing without it being noticed?" She rolled up on her side, looking earnestly at Lady Tordin. "If I found the money, would you really do it? Could you really hide the purchase of a whole house, so neither of us was connected to it? It would need to be a large place, and we would need to staff it with house staff, slave handlers, and guards. And of course, slaves! How could we do all that secretly?" She carefully plastered on a hopeless yet wistfull expression.
"Oh my dear! It is done all the time! How else would we women get the leisure we so deserve! I could arrange it easily! Still, as I said, the money is the thing. For such a large venture, surely it would be difficult to hide the expense from your own household!'
From her mother, the woman didn't quite dare say. "It would be difficult. I must think on it. Perhaps there is a way." Terindra lay back to plan, knowing the evening a success, and Lady Tordin firmly recruited to her plot. Of course, she would have to die once everything was in place. But that could be dealt with later.
The grapes were firm and juicy, as lucious as everything else about her new house. Terindra stretched luxuriously in the silken pile of pillows, all subtle ambers and siennas to surround her with warmth. The eunuchs brought in her new slave, freshly delivered from the market. They had brought him directly to her, as ordered, the stink of the slave market still on him. His chains clinked and the house slave hurried to place rugs ahead of them so they wouldn't scuff the fine parquet of the floors.
His calm gaze raked her indolent pose and she smiled, anticipating the enjoyment of training this one. "Attend me. He is to be kept in chains at all times, no less than three handlers when out of his cell. This one is wild, and any damage to him or to any other of my property caused by incompetent handling will be dealt with severely. Bathe him and keep him fit, exercise to maintain tone, not great bulk, I like him just as he is. I will inspect later." She waved them out, enjoying the rage in his eyes as he was prodded away. Oh, this would be fun!
First however she must return to the palace. It wouldn't do for her absence to be noted too frequently. She stood and strode to the front door. Her maid met her there with a cloak and they exited to the waiting coach, kept ready. Terindra kept herself from sneering at its plainess. One day she would go where she would in style, without this secrecy unless she chose it. For now she must go un-noticed. The doors closed securely and she settled as best she could on the cushions as they rattled over the cobbles.
A summons waited in her room, to attend the Empress immediately, in her private rooms. Now what could this portend? The note had arrived only a brief time ago. Terindra rushed the maid through preparing her for the audience as she thought about it. There were no great plots afoot that her informants had uncovered. No new tidbits about the pirate that had been her mother's courtesan had surfaced recently. Her vapid sisters were involved in their plans for the summer season. Lady Essellan was obligingly dying of withdrawal from the subtle poison that Terindra had been feeding her during their frequent meetings, and Terindra had been sure to show the apropriate sympathy as her condition worsened from lack of the drug. What could the Empress want?
The long walk to the Empress' private wing of the palace gave her no new insights. She arrived finally before the great arched doorway that lead to the personal rooms of the Empress of Arbigahl. Gold chased, with ornate carving of heraldic beasts and classically proportioned men surrounded scenes of past victories of the Empire. The guards opened the doors as she approached and she strode into the reception chamber, as ornate and uncomfortable as such places usually are. A slave stood across the chamber, carefully tended muscles rubbed in golden oil to make them gleam. He opened the door and knelt as she swept past into the next chamber.
This was a more inviting room, and so more dangerous. Two soft cushioned divans stood across form each other, inviting comfort and relaxation - deadly when dealing with Isadora. Sideboards with various wines, juices, and delectable offerings stood along the wall with another of the golden slaves to attend them. The Empress Isadora, her mother, reclined on a wide divan, her fine gauze robe draped around her still lovely form. One of her favorite slaves knelt near her feet, rubbing them with scented oils as she read a scroll.
She looked up at Terindra's entrance and gestured at another slave, who offered the princess a tray of glasses to choose from. She chose a cool fruit juice and at her mother's nod took a seat on another divan. Isadora placed the scroll on a small table and gazed at the man rubbing her feet. "It is nice to have your own stable of such excellent stock. Returning here at the end of a day to be pampered by my own chosen people among my own things and decor is a great comfort to me." Her gaze swung to Terindra who sat still under that penetration look, suddenly unsure if she would leave this room alive. Isadora would tolerate no sloppy plotting among her daughters. If she knew... she obviously did. But Terindra's recent activities were no direct challenge to the Empress, or to her sisters. How did she know?
Isadora motioned again to her slaves and they rose and silently left the room. Terindra still said nothing, unsure where this was going. Then Isadora smiled. Amazingly, it was a satisfied smile, as if some secret goal was achieved. "Very well done, my dear. Worthy of one of my daughters. None of the others has been half so subtle! I've waited long for one of you to show any intelligence! Yasmina has the ambition, but her methods are about as subtle as an axe, and she has no apreciation for the balance of power. Nadora is a lovely little bird flitting and chirping with not a thought in her head. You, my dear, are dangerous."
"Mother, I'm sure Yasmina will learn as she runs her own estate. Her marriage will surely help. And Nadora will make an advantageous marriage. Your daughters will do you proud!" Terindra hoped the note of pride was the right tact. She still could not see where her mother was going with this. She obviously knew about the house, but was she angry?
"Astute observations, as usual. It is not them that I am presently concerned with, however." Isadora sipped from her cut crystal goblet, gazing at Terindra over the rim. "You have made a step toward independance. Very well, you shall have it. But it comes with a price. You wish your own residence, then reside there. You may take your personal staff from the palace, and you will recieve an allowance to replace the expense of residing elsewhere. You are, after all, a princess of Arbigahl, and will reside in a style suitable to our image."
Terindra silently thanked her training as a girl, or surely her jaw would be hanging open. It was the last thing she expected from her mother. It was, it was, what was it? It was exile, of a sort. It seperated her, at least temporarily from some of her informant network. It gave her independance, but the full price would be figured later. Why would her mother do this? "Mother, I'm grateful for your understanding of my young woman's desire for a certain independence." She cursed herself silently for the self description. Her mother hated to think of herself as aging. "I would not wish to leave your side, though, if you have any need for my unworthy services? Surely there is some small task I can oversee for you, to repay your generosity?"
Isadora smiled again, then laughed out loud! "You are my daughter in truth! No, I do not wish to openly give you any responsibility in my service at this time. Instead, we will allow the rumors of a disagreement between us to flourish. There are many plots against the throne at the present time. There has been no war in some time, the markets have been good, and the noble women are bored. When they have nothing else to occupy their minds, they plot. If they see you as disaffected with me, they will come to you with their plots. Your sisters may also take the opportunity to remove a possible rival. Well, Yasmina may. Residing in your own house will make you appear that much more approachable. Of course, you will be that much more vulnerable. Therefore, I have another gift for you." She gestured over Terindra's shoulder.
Terindra wasn't sure how many more of her mother's 'gifts' she could survive. She looked in the direction indicated and gasped at the nearness of the woman standing at her shoulder. This woman had entered so silently Terindra had no idea that they were not still alone in the room. And the woman was so dark! Her skin was like polished mahogany. A nomad from beyond the mountains! She wore unusual garments, loose for easy movement, and yet tailored to her body so they were silent and did not risk snagging on anything. She had crossed harnesses hung with several scabbards, empty of course in the presence of the Empress. Ternidra looked back at Isadora in question.
"Yes, she is a nomad. She is a security expert, and will be in your employ at your new residence. You will have need of her skills. She is very loyal. I saved her from the degradation of belonging to the infidel males that trade along the southern coast. She was formidable then, and I have given her the best training available since. She will serve you well." The Empress eyes gleamed as she read Terindra's face. She was obviously amused with the situation. "Go now. You have much preparation to make for your move. Remember to look angry as you leave!"
Terindra thought that would not be difficult. Her mother gives her freedom in one hand and takes it back with the other, assigning this walking blade as her 'security expert' indeed! Spy and guard, more likely, to make sure Terindra couldn't get too much freedom! And to set her up as bait! Well that could present some interesting situations. She couldn't of course, participate in any of the plots that were brought to her, but they might present opportunities, none the less.
She strode briskly through the halls of the palace, the priceless paintings and sculptures on display lost on her as the thoughts spun through her head. She stopped in her own doorway as she realized what she was seeing. Her belongings were already being packed by her servants and slaves. They saw her expression and knelt in a flurry. "Lady, we were told to pack by the Empress messenger. Please Lady, did we do wrong? We can restore everything!" her favorite maid glanced up from the floor fearfully. Terindra smiled and the maid shivered. "No, finish the job. I will be well satisfied to leave as soon as may be. In fact, I shall leave now. Come, and the rest of you finish and come as swift as you may. Be sure to leave nothing behind!"
She turned and the warrior stepped back nimbly, bowing out of her way. The worn leather grips of her blades were restored to the scabbards of her harness. "Come, and you can begin your duties at my new home." Ternidra looked a moment more, appraisingly, then strode to the carriage courtyard used by the royal family. This time, she would take her own coach. No more skulking in that run down rattle trap!
The heat of the water slid softly around her limbs, relaxing her from the tensions of the afternoon. Yes, it was good to be in her own place. She had never realized the tenseness of knowing that others resided all around her and might intrude at any time. She felt more relaxed than she could ever remember, knowing she had no need to hurry, or return, or hide. The maids' hands ran firmly over her skin, cleansing her and massaging with scented soaps and bath oils. Her favorite sandalwood rose in the steam. "Aah, that feels so nice, Milanda. Is it not good to be here at last?" She glanced up at the magnificent slave chained to the wall. He looked even better, cleaned and oiled, hair combed down around his shoulders, beard scraped away. The tooled leather manacles attached to the chains anchored in the wall gleamed with oil in the lamp light.
He had been warned not to speak to her unless she requested it, and the warning had come with a graphic example of the punishment for disobedience. Arbigahl slave master were experts at inflicting pain with out mark or injury. She watched him as the maids' hands worked up her thighs and soft fingers explored her sensitive regions. More hands massaged her breasts and stroked her arms as she reclined in the pool. Her breath came a little faster as they aroused her and relaxed her at once. She enjoyed the sensations with no sense of urgency until she decided she wanted more.
"Come, girls, we shall celebrate our move tonight!" She kissed them each thoroughly, then moved away. His eyes followed her as she rose from the water. The maids dried her with soft warm towels. She moved to her bedchamber. It was a large open room, with a balcony opening to her gardens, still being planted. It would be full of lovely perfume when the flowers bloomed next year. For now there were dried aromatics in bowls around the room and a small fire of scented wood in the fireplace. The bed was huge, with silken sheets and mounds of pillows, gauze draperies hung from the bedposts and over the closed glass doors to the balcony. She had never had such sheer space in her suite at the palace!
Milanda put on a robe and opened the hall door. "Firoll, we're ready to move him now!"
The new slave was brought in, chains jingling softly between the leather manacles, a yard long metal bar fastened to the center of the chain so that he could be held securely out of reach if needed. His wrists were fastened to the wall brackets before the wrist locks were opened. He was never unchained during any transfer, as she had ordered.
Terindra reclined on the bed. She whispered to a maid, and the girl hurried from the room. The others joined her and continued their ministrations, tongues joining hands on her breasts and thighs. "A little this way, Zilla!" She moved so she could see the huge slave watching her. His eyes followed as she stretched on the sheets. Milanda, her favorite maid, was suckling on her right breast, the whole aureole in her mouth. The sensation ran through her, bringing an answering fire from her groin. The other maid, Zilla, stroked her thighs, fingers just brushing the soft hair at their apex. Terindra encouraged her to move between her legs and begin licking her. She gasped as the warm tongue parted her lips and made the first stroke up to tiny hot coal at the top.
The slave looked away, obviously trying to avoid being drawn by the scene before him. Terindra bet with herself on how long it would take his attention to be riveted to her. Zilla's talented tongue was moving slowly and firmly up and down and she breathed along with the rhythm, letting the sensations move through her, building slowly at their own speed.
The door opened and her other maid returned, the slave she had sent for following Merrith obediently. The maid dropped her house robe and joined them on the bed, moving to Terindra's other breast, pausing to share a kiss with Milanda. The bedslave, a man she had been gifted with at puberty, shed his brief wrap and moved to stand where he could be seen. He began stroking his penis to erection, as he knew Terindra liked to watch him do.
This time, however, she barely glanced at him, watching instead her new slave. He was glaring at her, unable to ignore what was going on, and unable to stop his own reaction. She shuddered at the sensations the three women were giving her, Zilla's tongue moving faster now, Milanda and Merrith moving over her body with hands and mouths, skilled in pleasing her after years in her service.
Watching the man chained to the wall, though, she wanted more. She motioned them away and called the bed slave to her. She rose and bid him lie on his back. She climbed atop and straddled him backwards, facing his feet and the fascinating man who's erection now swayed stiffly out in front of him. His rage was almost palpable on the air. Terindra watched the chained slave and slowly licked her lips as she reached between her thighs and positioned the bedslave's cock at her entrance and then lowered her hips, slowly sheathing him within her. Milanda lay at the foot of the bed before her, gazing at their union and grinning up at her lady. Terindra leaned back and planted her hands on the bed to either side of the slave beneath her, arching herself so Milanda's tongue could reach her clit as the slave slowly fucked her from underneath.
She stared at the chained man, imagining that it was him on top of her. She watched his enraged fascination as the cock pumped in and out of her, and the tongue lapped at the shaft and her clit. She moved faster with the slave's thrusts, feeling the tension build and her breasts bouncing. The walls of her pussy tightened, sending waves of sensation every time she sank down on him, the tongue meeting her clit with electric rushes. She locked eyes with the man as she climaxed, screaming and bucking, pushing for more. She sat forward, pushing Milanda out of the way and held the slave's knees as she bore down hard on the dick inside her. It drove her to the final shudders of her orgasm, making her hips twitch with pleasure. She leaned forward, lifting herself from the wet shaft. The bedslave knew better than to cum inside his lady, allowing her to finish before leaving discreetly to finish himself.
Terindra laid back on the bed, letting the maids cleanse her with warm wet cloths, while she watched the man chained to the walls. It had been good, but she still felt less than satisfied. She rose and walked to him, noticing his erection bobbing as it decreased. His eyes followed her warily. She ran a hand down his smooth, hard chest. "You shall give me so much more pleasure, when you are ready. Do you want me now?"
"I want you all right, but you wouldn't enjoy it as much as you think!"
She smiled at his expression, then laughed. Lust, anger, defiance all mixed there. "Merrith, would you like to have him?" She turned and looked at the girl, red curls fanned on the bed where she lay, waiting her mistress's desires.
The girl smiled and rose, walking gracefully over to join them. "If my Lady wishes, I would take him! I fear releasing him, though. How would you wish me to do this, Princess?"
His eyes were wide now. Terindra reached down and fondled his returning erection. "No, you are right, we cannot risk loosing him just yet. Turn around and you can back up to him. Zilla will support you."
Zilla hurried to them, and the two girls embraced and kissed. Zilla sank down to her knees and her talented tongue went to work, preparing Merrith for a good fucking. Terindra turned from them and saw the slave watching them, a hungry look on his face. He caught her eye and again rage appeared there. She squeezed his cock and the look was replaced with confusion and despair as he groaned in spite of his determined silence. She stroked him, his smooth warm skin feeling good in her hand. She reached her hand to Merrith's hip, guiding her back until she was bent over, arms around Zilla's shoulders and pussy just ready to back over the large penis of the wild slave.
He closed his eyes and Terindra guided her further back over his member. His hips thrust forward and Merrith groaned as he filled her. His arms strained against the restraints and muscles pumped as he tried to move forward. His eyes opened and stared at Terindra, and he grinned at her as Merrith rocked back and forth, impaled on him. He thrust as well as he was able, chained to the wall, eyes on Terindra. She felt herself becoming aroused again and he saw it in her face. His grin grew larger and he pumped again and again into the maid. The insolent man thought he actually had some control here! It was time for his first lesson.
She motioned behind her back at Milanda, who hurried out to retrieve the bed slave. Merrith groaned and rocked harder, mouth joined to Zilla's as she became more and more excited. Terindra watched the slave closely, letting him enjoy himself, but not wanting him to get too far. When she saw the tension build in his eyes, she reached down and separated them. His startled expression brought laughter from her as she sent Merrith to bend over the bed, and gestured to the returned bed slave. He moved behind Merrith and entered her, fucking her slowly and soon returning her to the same rhythm she had been at.
Terindra turned and smiled at the chained man, who was glaring again, erection glistening with Merrith's juices. "The only pleasure here is at my command, slave. But it can be great pleasure, indeed!" She returned to the bed and sat on the edge. "Milanda, come, I've found this rather arousing myself! I knew he would be fun to train!"
"Yes M'lady, I believe he will be well worth the time!" Milanda smiled she knelt at Terindra's feet. She buried her face between her mistress's thigh's and her tongue went directly to her clit, flattened and circling to bring her lady to full arousal quickly.
As Merrith's groans increased, Terindra nodded permission to the bedslave to reach his own satisfaction. Merrith's groans became cries as the slave drove into her, now eager himself for this rare treat. The bedslave pumped into Merrith a few more times then froze, with only his ass cheeks flexing as he spewed his seed into the maid. The man on the wall grimaced, forced to watch again as Terindra herself moaned, the other maid's tongue driving her to distraction. She still wanted the huge man inside her, and as she felt herself nearing, she saw his erection slowly fading. She pushed Milanda away at the last minute and rose.
She drew Milanda with her as she stepped to the chained slave. She turned and backed up to the man, determined to feel him inside her. MIlanda knelt and supported her lady as Terindra placed one hand on her maid's shoulder. She reached beneath herself until her fingers found his cock. She guided the head of his manhood to her folds and impaled herself on his thick cock, driving herself onto it as she fingered her clit. She was determined to reach her own satisfaction before his.
He filled her completely, sending waves of pleasure through her as she pushed back on him. She could feel him stretching her and pushing deeper inside her than she knew she could take. Then she felt herself bloom with orgasm. She drove back against him one last time before stepping forward and pulling off, leaving him gasping with his hard cock, wet and unfulfilled. She walked forward and turned, collapsing on the bed, and grinned up at the chained man. He groaned and closed his eyes, then leaned back on the wall. Merrith came and stroked her as Zilla and Milanda cleaned them both, the soft cloths comforting.
"You two enjoy yourself with my bedslave, too. I want everybody here satisfied tonight. And he will watch it all. It will give him some incentive to learn as he begins his training tomorrow."
The two maids smiled, knowing the abilities of the royal bedslave, trained almost from birth for this.
Terindra watched as they played. The chained slave slowly lost his erection, despite the games he was forced to witness. He stared instead back at her. She wondered at his thoughts, aside from the anger he was obviously feeling. Would she ever be able to enjoy his attentions without fear? The thought of this huge man atop her, unrestrained, brought a thrill to her that she could not deny.
She had him returned to the slave barracks when the girls were done, and slept with thoughts of his training still in her mind.
Continued in Chapter 2
World of Cypheria - Terindra's Story - Chapter 1
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