But they really had only a moment’s wait, as a small window at the top of the door opened and a middle-aged man peered through its metal bars. “What business have you with the Queen?”
“I am Anandra of Basthar, and I come with a message for the Queen.” Anandra reached into her bag and pulled out the sealed message, tilting it up toward the guard’s face so he could see the seal, presumably.
“You may enter, then. I will see that you are escorted to some temporary quarters while you wait for the Queen herself. It should be no more than two sun-falls or so.” The small window was shut once more, and then Iris heard what sounded like something heavy and solid being moved, and the right-hand door swung open with a loud, steady screech accompanying its exceptionally slow movement.
“Welcome to Queen Yez’s castle,” said a curvaceous, blond woman in a long, pale-pink gown. She was very attractive, Iris thought, and so was her ample cleavage. Had it been magically enhanced? It was rather disproportionate. Not that she was about to complain about the free show or anything, although she did her very best to keep eye contact as the woman introduced herself and began to lead them down a huge stone hallway. “I am Keni, and I welcome you here. Refreshments will be delivered to your room, and we will ring the bell to wake you, should you need to rest after your lengthy journey. I hear that the Basthar territory is more than a day’s travel from here.”
“Much more than a day’s travel,” Anandra told Keni.
Iris looked around her as they followed Keni down the hallway. Tapestries hung from the walls at even intervals, showing many different creatures of the world and men and women wearing crowns. Would one of the women be her grandmother, with her grandfather next to her? Then, on one of the tapestries, she saw a woman with long brown hair who looked like her grandmother might have looked when she was much younger.
“Is that Queen Selehn?” she asked Keni.
“Yes, our good Queen Selehn. I was born after her reign, but Queen Yez has had nothing but wonderful things to say of her during the glorious sun-cycles of her rule.”
Ah, apparently the help had to kiss up to the current Queen, because Keni didn’t sound entirely like she meant it when she called the Queen’s reign “glorious.” However, Iris could have doubted the truth of her words because she was just fatigued from the day’s long walk. They hadn’t even stopped for lunch, and now she was either in desperate need of a nap or something to eat. “These refreshments, will they include food?”
“Of course, that can be arranged. Would you like a full meal? It is almost time for dinner, after all, although we eat later here than most do in our land, for the Queen’s schedule is always very full. She manages it extremely well, though, exceptionally so, at least according to me.”
They had taken two left turns while she and Keni had been talking, and now they’d reached a long, torch-lit hallway with very few windows. Keni stopped at the third door down and took out a key from her skirts, unlocking the door and swinging it wide open. “One of the Queen’s butlers will get you some lovely food and drink very soon. Will you be wanting some alcohol?”
Iris felt like she needed it, but she wanted to stay as clear-headed as she could over the next two sun-falls, however long those happened to be. She wanted to experience her last hours with Anandra fully, without anything getting in the way of her choice to be as present as she could be. Nor did she want to have sex under the influence, if that was part of how they spent their final hours together. “No, thank you,” she told Keni.
“The food will be delivered behind the small door to the left of the bed. It should take only a brief time for it to arrive, as I have already sent psychic word to the kitchen of what you will require.”
“Psychic word?” Did that mean she was aware of Iris’s thoughts about her breasts? And if so, was she insulted?
“They’re real, by the way,” Keni said, and laughed. “I’d let you feel them to prove it if you didn’t already look so taken with the woman beside you. You’re pretty cute, I must say.” She giggled and then turned and trotted back the way she’d come, her laughter managing to travel down the hallway and straight into Iris’s ears for longer than she might have liked.
“Now that was embarrassing!” Iris rushed into the room in an attempt to get away from the woman’s wicked giggling as soon as she could.
“Embarrassing for you, entertaining for me.” Anandra swatted her on the butt and swung the door shut behind her at the same time. “I think you should be punished for thinking such rude and dirty things. I also think you should be punished because I happen to believe you would have taken her up on her offer had you come here alone. You’d be groping her tits right now, perhaps rolling one of her nipples around in that pouting mouth of yours.”
“I am not pouting.” But Iris knew she was, and she also knew when she was beaten…but she knew when she wanted to be beaten sexually, too, and exactly where she wanted those strikes to land on her flesh. “Does that mean I’ll be punished physically, then?” A small clanking sound came from their left, and Iris saw a bell swing back and forth next to a metal handle sticking out of the wall. “Never mind. Food first. As hard as it’ll be to wait for you to punish me, I’ll need all my strength to take whatever you give me, and I’m famished at the moment.”
“I am as well. Let’s see what this castle thinks is worthy to feed to commoners such as ourselves.” Anandra walked over to the handle on the wall and pulled it, revealing that it was attached to a small, rectangular door that swung out into the room about a foot. Behind it was a large tray, holding two bejeweled glasses full to the brim with cherry-red liquid, a plate covered in grape-like fruit, cheese, and sliced white bread, and a second, smaller plate holding what looked like chocolate truffles. “Apparently they think well of commoners here. Shall we eat in the bed or at the table?”
The hallway leading to the room hadn’t even begun to betray how fancy the rooms along it were, Iris thought, as she considered where to sit. This one held a bed, a large sitting room with a red-cushioned couch and matching chairs, and a door that probably led to the bathroom. The bed was a four-poster, with a red lace canopy, red satin sheets, a lace-edged, red comforter, and enough red satin, heavily tasseled pillows to fill up Iris’s apartment back on Earth. “Who would need that many pillows? Is this an orgy room or something?”
“I bet you wish it was, based on what that psychic woman had to say.” Anandra chuckled, but Iris shot her a look.
“You’re the only one I wish was in here right now, just so you know. The only one.” Iris knew she was pouting again, but she couldn’t help it.
After sitting on the couch with Anandra and devouring over half of the food, though, she felt far less like pouting and was even smiling when Anandra reached up to her face and ran her fingers down her forehead, across her cheek, and then to her lips. Then she spread Iris’s lips with her fingers, slowly opening her mouth with two fingers, then three, and then four. Iris did her best to suck on them, but her mouth was so full it was somewhat challenging. It was a challenge she was very pleased to accept.
At the same time her mouth was stuffed full of Anandra’s fingers, Anandra began to talk dirty to her, making wetness begin to pool somewhere besides her mouth, her cunt growing moist and warm as Anandra spoke. “Do you like having your mouth spread wide, like a little slut?” she asked Iris. “Do you like having me take control of it, choosing what goes into it and how long it stays inside?”
Iris grunted in assent as best as she could manage with her mouth so full, but Anandra seemed to understand what she was trying to say. “Good. Very good.” She slowly pulled her fingers from Iris’s mouth, sliding them down her face and letting some of her saliva moisten it as Anandra’s fingers traveled over her chin and down her neck. She let her fingers linger between Iris’s collarbones for a few moments, and Iris’s pulse quickened. Her cunt began to pulse, too. Her clit was most likely hard as hell right then, just from these few subtle movements of Anandra’s hand.
Anandra continued moving her hand down then, over the crevice between Iris’s breasts, down and then up again, underneath her shirt. She shoved one cup of Iris’s bra aside, grasping her breast in a tight and sudden squeeze of her fist. Iris swallowed hard, but she kept silent throughout the pain, and Anandra had a pleased expression on her face. Her stars even seemed to shine brighter. Good, this was doing it for her partner, too. She hoped Anandra was as wet as she was, as ready for things to continue heating up.
Anandra pulled her hand out of Iris’s shirt then, letting go of her flesh, and Iris sighed at the sudden relief from the pain. “Too much?” Anandra asked, and Iris was quick to shake her head, quick to show Anandra that she could take it. And she knew she could take more, too.
“I’m good,” she added.
“Yes, you are.” Anandra’s voice sounded remarkably gentle then, not at all like she was trying to take control, not at all like only moments before. Iris thought she saw Anandra’s eyes get a little wet, and it looked like maybe she was fighting off tears.
But then Anandra cleared her throat, rising from the couch, and pointed to the bed. “Take off your clothes and get on the bed, but place your panties on it beside you.”
Iris was quick to do as she was ordered, even though she wanted to take her time, even though she wanted to make these last moments together take as long as possible. But her hunger for Anandra, for pleasing her, and for her own chances at coming overtook her hunger for lingering over this moment. Besides, as much as she wanted the sex to last, she wanted some time in Anandra’s arms after they were done, because that was more important to Iris right then, even more important than following Anandra’s orders. She would follow them, of course, because she’d found she loved to do so as much as she loved Anandra…or at least close to that second love’s immeasurable amount.
“What now?” Iris asked. “What do you want me to do next?”
“I am overjoyed that you’re so eager, Iris. I’ll tell you what to do next,” Anandra said, placing one steady foot after another in front of her as she rounded the couch and headed to the bed. “Next, I just want you to lie still and let me do as I wish.”
“Of course, Anandra. I’ll do anything you want, anything at all.” Iris’s breath caught in her throat for a second as Anandra reached the bed. She was just so striking a sight, with her white hair, which Iris now knew held some metallic glints in its shine, her luscious, dark skin, and the stars sprinkled generously across every inch of her. Iris had even noticed a few on her cunt’s lips by now, and one happened to sit right on her clitoris. Iris chided herself for not paying enough attention to the stars’ placement, for not memorizing where each and every one lay, and she realized now that she didn’t even know if their glow had always brightened when Anandra was turned on, or if it just happened when Anandra was with her. She didn’t really want to know the answer to that question, though, especially since now Anandra would have plenty of time to find other women who could make her stars glow the same way Iris had. To possibly make them glow brighter than they did with her.
“You know, my sweet, my stars have never shone as brightly as they do with you. It is strange…but not bad,” Anandra added quickly, “not bad at all.”
“Are you psychic now, too?” Iris joked, but underneath the joking was a feeling of relief that she had this special effect on Anandra. It was wonderful, knowing that she apparently did something for her friend that other women hadn’t been able to. It was good to know this, but Iris only had a few seconds to linger on this revealing information before her mouth was suddenly stuffed full of the panties she’d placed on the bed. They were the second thing her mouth had been filled with in only a few minutes, and while she didn’t mind them filling it up, she preferred Anandra’s fingers. Because they belonged to her lover, of course, because they were part of her body.
Anandra climbed on top of Iris now and then shoved her legs open. “This time, since it will probably be our last, I will get you off first. And I demand that you come more than once.”
Iris made what she hoped would come across as a sound of delight, but it was hard to communicate clearly around a mouthful of panties. Then other sounds came from her, ones that she knew communicated something else quite clearly: that she was melting against Anandra’s tongue, as it slipped across her clit in its usually perfect fashion. It felt just as good as it always did, as it always had. But although Iris was trying to concentrate on Anandra’s tongue on her clit, to fully feel her hands spreading her thighs wide, it took her a while to come back to this moment of pleasure. She didn’t want it to end, and so when her orgasm began to climb, higher and higher, she pleaded throughout its body-quaking, shimmering intensity, pleaded with whoever or whatever guided this world to let her stay here with Anandra. To not allow this to be their last time together. To not make her have to choose between never seeing Anandra again and facing Tressa.
It was an impossible choice, a cruel one, but after her third orgasm had come and gone, and after the fourth one had finally swept her thoughts away from her future, she collapsed onto the bed and realized she still couldn’t fully talk herself into staying. She was just too terrified of the evil ex-Queen. And what good was she to Anandra dead?
On top of that, she knew Anandra liked her, liked her a lot, but she had to be honest with herself: she didn’t know if Anandra wanted her to stay. She had said no such thing, but when Anandra removed the panties from her mouth and frowned, Iris wondered if her unhappy expression and wet eyes earlier were her friend’s way of telling her to stay. If Anandra asked, Iris couldn’t possibly say no.
Instead of asking her to stay, Anandra asked her for an orgasm, and Iris gave one to her gladly. She was more than ready to give her a second one, but instead of allowing her to, Anandra changed position, moving her body down Iris’s until their faces were almost touching. She stared into Iris’s eyes for one long, intense moment, then placed her lips where her cunt had just been, kissing Iris deep and long. It was a tender kiss, much more tender than usual, but her frown returned as soon as she pulled back from Iris’s face. “I would assume that our time is almost up. We should get dressed so we can look proper for the Queen. I’m not sure if I can get something nicer to wear out of my bag, and besides, I don’t think royalty should get to see me in something more special than you’ve seen me in. But you will need some new panties.”
Iris found herself smiling easily at Anandra’s comment. Apparently she could still smile without too much trouble, but doing so would get a lot harder once she was gone from this land. Anandra drew some burgundy, lilac-trimmed panties from her bottomless bag, and they got dressed again in silence, barely looking at each other as they covered up each bit of skin. Iris knew her clothes from this world wouldn’t blend in all that well on Earth, but hopefully she could somehow be sent back to somewhere more familiar than that field she’d woken up in. She still didn’t know how she’d ended up there, nor did she know how she’d wound up in Oria, but she was almost positive by now that Tressa had something to do with it. Well, whatever Tressa’s plans for her were, they weren’t going to happen, because Iris would be long gone by the time Tressa was able to make her way to the castle.
Just as they finished dressing, a bell near the door rang four times, the sudden sharp sound making Iris jump a little.
“You aren’t nervous, are you?” Anandra asked her. Iris shook her head. “Of course you are. All along, I told you that my tutor could get you home, and now your grandfather has planted the idea in your head that he won’t be able to. I still believe he can, though, because my tutor was the best in the land for many sun-cycles, and may still be today, although I hadn’t heard of your grandfather before I met you, and his powers…if he spoke the truth, of course.”
“You’re accusing my grandfather of lying? After all he did for us?” Iris almost placed her hands on her hips, but instead she stomped over to the room’s door. “He’s obviously trustworthy.”
“Eithe
r that, or you are too trusting,” Anandra said haughtily.
So this was how things between them were going to end. With a petty fight and some hard, mean words. It made Iris more comfortable than she had been about leaving, as they continued to argue, waiting to be led to the Queen’s quarters. Iris slung her bag over her shoulder and crossed her arms, as she and Anandra ran out of things to say. That had never been a problem before, not even with Anandra’s lack of interest in talking at the beginning of their journey. Even then, it hadn’t been impossible to draw her out of her shell, and drawing her out of it had only become easier as they spent more time together. If Anandra wanted to climb back into her shell now, if she wanted to slam it shut, that was just fine by Iris.
A brief knock on their door came shortly, and Anandra said, “You may enter.”
It was the same maid as before, Keni, but her assets did nothing for Iris this time around, nothing at all. She was too angry to feel sexual toward anyone, and she had no trouble at all keeping her eyes on the maid’s face. “I will lead you to the Queen’s quarters. She has been busy all day, preparing for war against Tressa’s rebuilt armies.”
“So it is true, then,” Anandra said. “We ourselves have seen a woman who was called Tressa by someone we met, but I was not sure until now that it was truly her.”
“You weren’t?” Iris huffed at Anandra’s words. She’d never experienced this kind of rudeness from Anandra. It was almost as bad as Jane had been, and she had no room in her life for another Jane. When they reached a large, open door, Anandra turned to Iris and said her name, once. She said it in a far kinder tone than she’d been using during their fight and walk down the castle’s halls. “I’m…I’m sorry we have to part like this. I will be heading straight home as soon as my message is delivered and after I have contacted my tutor. He’s a very busy man, but he’s very curious, too, so he should be happy to make time for you very soon. I will arrange a place for you to stay here, I promise.” Then she gestured to the open doorway. “Ladies first.”
Out of This World Page 18