“Whoa!” That was Kam.
“Where have you been . . .” And that was Zuran. The two were inside Guy’s room. “Wow, that is big.”
“Shut up! Just shut up about it!”
Guy covered his junk, then made his way to his clothes, got dressed, and slipped into his equipment. The trench coat came on last, then he placed Asteria’s Sword back on.
“We got to leave now!” Guy said to the two. “The imperials know I’m here.”
“Yeah, heard them running out of their rooms,” Zuran said. “Woke us all up.”
“Kam, lead the way.”
“Right this way then,” Kam said, moving to the door. “Caves to the east should take us to South Town. Assuming the sentinels are not blocking it, of course. I hope the management does not care for me no-showing in the morning.” Kam stopped and grinned as he entered the hall. It looked like he heard something that piqued him. “Eh, wait here for like ten minutes.”
“What’s up?” Guy asked.
Kam held the grin. “There is something I need to get a handle on.”
“Why must it be so dark in here?”
Wylume beamed, not that Emperor Jaxin Autumnfall could see it. The good emperor had accepted Serzax’s invitation to drink wine in his chamber and unwind. Jaxin ambled toward Serzax’s chair and bookshelf, trying his best to make eye contact with the black-hooded man seated there holding a PDA that brightened his face with a blue glow.
Serzax gave the PDA a rest, placing it on his table, and tilted his gaze to meet the fae emperor’s frayed face. “Ah, Jaxin, it has been a while,” he said.
“My mind has been occupied as of late,” Jaxin said, folding his arms across his burgundy robe, decorated with gold and platinum medals.
“Yes, I could imagine with your daughter missing,” Serzax said.
Wylume stood with the two men, wincing in the surrounding darkness. “And my bride . . .”
“Rest assured,” Serzax said. “We are doing everything in our power to find where the bandits have taken your daughter Averyl.”
Jaxin grunted. “Have the bandits issued any requests for ransom, Serzax?”
“Nothing.”
“Well, Emeraldal Riversong and her squad killed them all,” Wylume said.
“There had to have been another who escaped with her.” Jaxin groaned and looked for the wine. “And they have yet to contact us with demands.”
The emperor found the wine bottle on a dining table ahead and poured himself a glass. It did not sound like a full one. Wylume grabbed the bottle, grimacing at how light it felt when he held it up. Empty, good thing I asked the servants to bring us some more.
Wylume put the empty bottle down, faced the two, and added, “If that is even their plan.”
“Huh? What else could it be?” Jaxin drank and turned to where he assumed Wylume stood in the darkness. “They gain nothing by keeping or killing Averyl.”
“Unless it is the Firethorn Kingdom,” Serzax mumbled.
“Even then,” Jaxin said, then emptied the red juice into his mouth. “Firethorn has much more honor than that. They would not recruit human criminals to carry out their desires. And even if they had, and the bandits chose to do something horrible to Averyl, Firethorn too would grieve as much as I would. Firethorn would not do anything that would put Averyl at risk.”
Jaxin groaned again, and looked at the floor.
“We will find her,” Wylume said and held Jaxin’s left shoulder. “And, when the marriage is complete, I will get her pregnant, and offer our firstborn son to you.”
Serzax laughed. “A half-breed human.”
“It will still have my blood,” Jaxin said. “Fae and Autumnfall blood. Give it a few generations to breed out the human blood.”
Serzax stood from his seat, walked to the dining table, and reached for the wine bottle. Now he was the one groaning. “Is there no fucking wine left?”
“I requested another bottle,” Wylume said to him. “It should be here in a few moments—”
A knock on the chamber door thumped, its echo drawing the attentive eyes of the three most powerful men on Faeheim.
“Ah, perfect timing,” Serzax said, smiling as he spun to his chamber door.
Wylume looked at the door, frowning. “Yes . . . too perfect . . .”
“You may enter,” Jaxin shouted.
The door opened, shining light into the chamber, forcing Serzax to turn his black-cloaked gaze away. A servant stepped through the light carrying a tray with clean wine glasses and a decanter full of wine, its red liquid swaying about as she walked. She was a pretty fae, no older than seventeen, wearing a standard servant uniform, a long dress exposing the whole shape of her rear torso, right down to the lower back where the ends of her wings draped.
“Wine?” she asked.
“Ah, yes, right here,” Wylume said, narrowing his eyes as he watched the servant girl enter. She was not the servant he requested to deliver the wine refill. The servant stopped at the table, placed the glasses and decanter on it. Wylume stood behind her. “Am I to assume you are new?”
She folded her hands over her apron, turned to Wylume, and lowered her head to bow. “Yes, milord.”
“What happened to the servant I had made this request to?”
The servant rose from the bow. “Why, she asked me to do this, since I am new.”
“Well, new girl,” Wylume said and grabbed the decanter, “drink with us.”
The servant looked at him with eyes wide in shock. Wylume poured her a generous glass of wine. She gasped. “Me?”
“Yes, to celebrate your first day,” Wylume said, returning the decanter to the table and offering her the full glass. “It would be an honor if you drank the first drop of wine.”
She bowed again. “I appreciate the offer, I really do.”
“But?”
“I have other duties to attend to.”
“Such as?”
She looked to the side as her face became drenched. “I . . . um . . .”
“Oh, just drink with us,” Wylume said. “It shall not be an issue, is that not right, Emperor?” Jaxin opened his mouth to speak but Wylume’s actions cut off the emperor’s words. He grabbed the servant’s trembling hand, forcing the glass into it. “Now, drink it.”
Jaxin spoke up. “Wylume—”
Wylume silenced the emperor with his left hand held out to him.
Back to the servant, Wylume saw the crimson glass shake in her anxious hands. She looked at the wine like it was a monster and back at Wylume, then bowed while offering him the drink back.
“I cannot,” she said. “I am sorry.”
“Wylume,” Serzax said, his voice growing concerned. “If she cares not to drink—”
“Why do your hands shake?” Wylume cut in as he took back the glass.
She was breathing rapidly now. “I . . .”
“Just take a sip then.”
Wylume grabbed her jaw, held her face straight, and forced her mouth to open, then angled the wine glass’s edge to her shaking lips. She screamed and wiggled to break free. Wylume’s high strength stat would not allow it—
Two men barged into the chamber uninvited.
Their drawn daggers caused Serzax and Jaxin to amble backward. And Wylume? He just smiled at the two dagger-waving men as he turned away from the servant he was gripping. “I fucking knew it . . .”
Wylume released the girl and smacked her face with his palm. The force of the hit threw her to the floor. Behind him, he heard the two dagger men charge in yelling grunts aimed at Wylume, Jaxin, and Serzax. He had seconds to act.
With the servant on the floor, wailing in pain, Wylume stomped his boot on her belly, forcing her mouth to open wide when the wind got knocked out. He tipped the wine glass and its red fluids gushed over her screaming face. The two intruders were close now. Wylume let go of the glass, then yanked his sword, the Nocturnal Blade, from his back, and spun and cut into the first man’s neck. A dead body missing a head
hit the floor. The head had rolled under a table with its eyes still open.
Wylume jumped from the second intruder’s dagger and readied Shockwave Slash. The Nocturnal Blade brightened with astral energy. With that built-up energy, Wylume made a fast slash across the blood-soaked burgundy carpet and unleased a shockwave of dark elemental energy. The shockwave was a purple and black blast that struck everything in Wylume’s path, namely the last dagger-wielding man. It only cost him 25 MP. The energy collided with the man, hurling his body into the air, sending it crashing into the wall, and then slumping to the floor. He never got up. Wylume was not sure if he was faking it or not since the affliction had not tainted the man, and therefore he had no HP. Wylume stabbed the man’s chest six times, further bloodying the carpet.
The servant gagged as her body convulsed like she was suffering from a seizure, her face red from the wine he poured over it—wine that entered her mouth. Wylume returned to the table, grabbed the decanter she had brought in, and threw it down at her head, shattering it. Wylume, Jaxin, and Serzax stood watching as the servant coughed for the last time in life, then stopped twitching and breathing. A dead fae woman covered in wine and glass shards gazed up at them.
Jaxin stepped back from the body. “What the . . .”
“It was poisoned,” Wylume said, then nodded to the headless man gushing a stream of crimson gore from his neck. “The resistance has infiltrated us.” He gestured to the second man he stabbed to death.
“How do you know?” Serzax asked.
He got his answer from a woman’s scream.
Ahead of the open door stood a servant holding a tray with wine glasses and a full decanter. It was the servant Wylume had requested, and her terrified eyes would not leave the sight of the three dead bodies.
Wylume grinned at the newly arrived servant. “Clean up this mess, will you?—”
She dropped the tray, shattering everything on it, creating a circle of wine below her shaking heels.
“Clean that up too.”
“The resistance . . .” Jaxin grunted.
Wylume crossed his arms and met the emperor’s shocked face. “Perhaps now you see why I believe there will be no demands of ransom?”
“You have saved my life, Wylume,” Jaxin said. “Praise be to Asteria for bringing you into my service.”
“Yes . . .” Wylume drawled. “Praise be . . .”
Chapter Thirty
Subdue the Stalwart – Quest Complete
Obtained: 1000 Experience Points
Xanthe has attained level 6!
Xanthe grinned as she collected the reward from the floating screen. A new one appeared immediately afterward.
Star Paladin Suppression – Quest Failed
She grimaced. It was a branching path, and she made her choice: let Guy escape at the cost of failing the quest Leafblade gave her. The imperials she manipulated with her dance had left her alone to search for Guy; they likely had forgotten she was there. The new magic that the affliction gifted her dances was incredible.
Averyl was lying awake on her bed when Xanthe returned to their suite. The alerted imperials must have woken her. Averyl’s eyes never moved from Xanthe. She was still naked and could find nothing to wear.
That’s because I left it in Guy’s suite.
She would sneak out to grab it, but heard the steps of searching imperials in the Inn halls. It was best to wait for them to pass. By now, the imperials she allured with her dance would snap out of the trance, report Xanthe’s involvement, and search her room. If they did that, they would find her secret tied up on the bed and kill Xanthe.
And probably the entire city too.
Averyl’s cute face was red and had been since before Xanthe returned. She had a feeling it was because the window was open. Walking to it, Xanthe noted that her view from the window gave a full perspective of the yard she and Guy stood in, naked. It also would have given Averyl a perfect view of the nude dance Xanthe performed to distract the imperials.
“You were watching me dance just now,” Xanthe said, turning to her.
“Forgive me,” Averyl said. “The men in the halls had woken me. I moved to the window to see what was going on. And I . . . I could not look away . . . Never have I seen a woman so bold . . . so confident . . . do something like that in public.”
During which, Xanthe had allowed Guy to escape. His words had tamed her distraught mind, revealing that she was acting like a slave to Leafblade and his men. Serving them drinks and food while offering her nipples for their hands to play with as she sat on their laps and stroked them, all while knowing the imperials got those services for free. The owner would not dare charge men from the empire, men who had the power to turn the city into ash without a moment’s notice. Xanthe had had enough of Holt. She was not a pleasure temple slave anymore. She would find another way to learn of the identity of the imperial general—
Averyl’s fingers touched and glided across Xanthe’s stomach, as best they could since Xanthe left Averyl tied up. Her fingertips eased slowly to Xanthe’s navel.
Xanthe pushed Averyl to the bed, climbed over her, and stripped the young fae princess of her dress. Her thin undergarments came off next and hit the floor beside the bed. Averyl did not resist. She just lay back with her bound wrists on her belly. Xanthe lowered herself to Averyl’s head, sniffed her cherry hair, shut her eyes, and moaned. She wanted her. She could smell it; all shadow angels could. It was the cause of the shadow angel rumors, the belief that they could turn women into whores.
Xanthe got on her knees, sinking them into the bedsheet beside Averyl’s thighs. She angled the black fuzz between her legs to hover over the red patch of hair between Averyl’s. Next, Xanthe reached for the bindings around the princess’s autumn-orange-colored wings and removed them. Averyl’s fae wings spread out across the bed’s sheets. Xanthe inched her fingers to the rope around Averyl’s legs—
“No, please,” Averyl said. “Leave them on.”
Xanthe grinned at her. “Very well, princess.”
Averyl gestured her head upward. “The bedpost.”
So, Xanthe grabbed the bindings around Averyl’s wrists and tied them to the bedpost.
She glanced at Averyl’s pale, naked skin, now red all over. She fondled Averyl’s breasts, then licked circles around the right nipple. Averyl’s moans were music. When Xanthe grew bored with that, she angled her hand between Averyl’s legs, found the red patch of hair between them, and toyed with her bits down there.
Averyl quivered and squealed when the surge of orgasmic lust hit. Xanthe did not stop, and the bound woman experienced climax after climax, her throbbing hole caressing Xanthe’s fingers that pushed deep into and out of Averyl.
Now it was Averyl’s turn to make Xanthe wail. She sat up from the fae and went to reposition herself so that her swollen labia would be over Averyl’s mouth.
“Be careful!” Averyl gasped. “Do not fall over—”
Xanthe fell off the bed’s edge, backward.
She was not paying attention to her surroundings, tumbled upside down, and landed face down, arse up.
Down on the floor lay a single black feather. Xanthe picked it up and held it, grimacing. It must have fallen from her wing when she fell. She offered the feather to Averyl. “Take this.”
“One of your wing feathers . . .”
“Could be a good luck charm. It is not cursed, and honestly, if I were, then you’re already in trouble.”
Averyl held the feather as Xanthe cut her loose from the ropes—wrists first, legs second. The flesh on Averyl’s limbs had turned red and had a noticeable imprint, thanks to the bindings. Averyl was free now but did not leave. Xanthe shrugged and climbed into her bed. Averyl trotted over and joined her, cuddling and pressing her perky, hardened nipples against Xanthe. She still held Xanthe’s wing feather.
“Come with me,” Averyl whispered to her. “We can escape this world together.”
“No. There is another enemy from my past I must di
spatch,” Xanthe replied. “A general from the empire, I just do not know who.”
“Leafblade.”
Xanthe opened her eyes wide in shock, spun around in the bed, and linked her gaze with Averyl’s. “Are you certain?”
“My father placed him in command of acquiring shadow angel slaves to build farms and villages on our world.”
“And the best way to gain slaves back then was to send soldiers to my world and take part in the crusades.”
“Leafblade was the general who oversaw Autumnfall’s contribution in the crusade against the shadow angels.”
Xanthe smiled and ran her hand across the pale flesh on Averyl’s backside, then across her wings. She brought her fingers to her nose to take in the scent of a fae. The smell moistened her parts below—
Kill Slather’s Superior – Quest Updated
- Discover the identity of the imperial general Slather took orders from during the crusades. [Completed!]
- Find a way to get close to Leafblade, then kill him.
Leafblade was her true target all along. There was no doubt now, the White Dragon was a sentient being watching and guiding Xanthe.
Averyl’s Request
Objective: Escort Averyl to one of the two star-dwellers in the city of South Town.
Issued by: White Dragon
Reward: 1000 Experience Points
Accept quest? Yes/No
She hit Yes, and then . . .
Report Averyl’s Sighting – Quest Failed
That did not surprise her at all.
“That star-dweller I was with,” Xanthe said, holding Averyl close. “I believe he is going to meet with his people. A captain named Ulysses Archambeau, who has a ship in the city of South Town.”
Averyl gasped. “Take me to them, please. That ship would be my only way to another world unless another team of star-dwellers arrived.”
According to the conversation Xanthe had overheard, there was also a second star-dweller ship in South Town. Guy had reason to believe that the second ship might not have been his people. It might have been a trap to ambush Ulysses Archambeau.
Star Paladin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 1) Page 22