History of Beauty

by Meraki P. Lyhne

  That was for later, though. But how much later? How long would it take a Royal to get red eyes with all the high doses he got on a daily basis?

  Once done, he left what he’d used there to be taken care of by someone else. That was a part of being a Royal that he didn’t begrudge. The thrall girl stood outside, apparently waiting to remove the pot and cloth.

  “Thank you,” Elakdon said.

  She smiled.

  There was no reason to be an ass just because he was finally freed from that kind of chores. At age eleven, he’d been an asshole about it. He’d even been spanked by Father for saying a thrall could do it. Elakdon had felt like a thrall, waiting for the full moon to relieve him of manual labor to teach him pride in one’s work. But how Father treated thralls was still way worse than he did a petulant Cub.

  It had worked, he hoped. He certainly treated thralls a lot better after that.

  Nol-Plydon had taken a seat on the first spot next to the high chair at the end of the longtable. And lo and behold, the table in front of him had been cleared. Well, Styrk said Elakdon always ended up on the table, and there was apparently a lot of truth to that. So he slipped out of his pants and draped them over the armrest of the high chair. He then slipped out of his tunic and spread it out on the table, figuring the planks cold that early in the morning. In fact, it was too cold to be naked, too, yet the thought of whatever the old King had in mind warmed him.

  He felt a flush spread on his body as Nol-Plydon sat back and patted the table.

  Elakdon straddled him, placing his ass on the edge of the table.

  Nol-Plydon looked up at him, hunger burning in his golden eyes. He then stood so that he was between Elakdon’s legs and leaned in to whisper into Elakdon’s ear, yet his tongue snuck out and flicked an earlobe, making Elakdon gasp. “The taste of a dose will reveal many things about the Cubus you’re with. The sweeter it tastes, the more compatible you are in feeding. If you ever find a truly sweet dose, he or she will be as close to your basic feeding pattern as possible, and even the Royal trait of being into everything will be overshadowed. It will be you.”

  Elakdon drew back to look at the old King, not understanding what he meant. The diverse feeding was him.

  “One day, you might understand. As it is, the sweetness of a dose can also be caused by love. If you ever encounter a dose that tastes sour or…spoiled. Do not bed that Cubus. Keep an eye on them. Some of them are the ones who can feed on horrible feelings. Never feed them your dose. Something is wrong with them. Some of them can even poison you if you feed on them.”

  That was new. “Is that why you merely want to taste me?”

  “No. You cannot be of the bad line if you are a Royal.” Nol-Plydon looked off in a moment of thought. “I hope, at least.”

  “And if I don’t taste good to you?” Elakdon almost felt nervous.

  “You will, simply because the Queen loves the taste of you. Had she found your dose to be displeasing, my arrival would not be to celebrate your rise but to crush it.”

  That statement shocked Elakdon.

  “For the good of your people.” Nol-Plydon cupped Elakdon’s face and raised his gaze to meet his own. “Not all our responsibilities to our people consists of pleasure. We must lead by example and sometimes punish to set examples. I am to help teach you that as I have more experience with it, my age taken into consideration.”

  “How old are you, if I may?”

  The old King smiled. “I am almost five hundred years old, making me the longest living Royal so far. The humans have learned that striking us is how to get to the heart of a Cubi Kingdom.”

  With what moved in on them, that terrified Elakdon.

  “But for now, young Prince. Let me taste you, then forget all while you enjoy my skills.” The lust was back full flame in Nol-Plydon’s eyes, and he leaned in for a kiss that deepened. Then he withdrew his tongue and waited, and Elakdon released a dose with bated breath, more from nervousness than lust. Nol-Plydon pulled back, apparently savoring the taste. “Oh, young Prince. By the taste of you, you and I will have a lot of fun feeding.”

  Elakdon relaxed a bit, smiling.

  Nol-Plydon put his hands on Elakdon’s shoulders and gently pushed him back to lie on the table. He then sat, and Elakdon felt like a specially prepared meal as he laid spread out for the old King to feast on.

  Considering the eagerness and skill of the mouth descending on Elakdon’s sensitive area, the King definitely enjoyed him, and the moan as he took Elakdon deep, blew all worries of being the human’s main focus to eliminate out the door. He sailed away in the skillful mouth on him and the hands massaging and finding erogenous zones.

  When a tongue slid into his cock, the surprise and new experience made him convulse on the table, and the foreign sensation was so filling and pleasurable that he came immediately.

  Nol-Plydon sat back and laughed loudly. “I see I have something to teach here.”

  “Please do! Oh, sweet Freya, that was fantastic!”

  The old King stood and leaned over Elakdon, pressing himself flush against him. “You may practice on me, later. I shall help by giving you pointers.”

  Elakdon managed to nod, and that was about it.

  “Now, I can hear your stomach’s call for attention to be filled.” Nol-Plydon pulled Elakdon up, but he was far from ready to leave the table. Now he understood what Father meant about pride being what carried him to his seat alone.

  Father grinned as Elakdon plopped down on his seat, but he didn’t say anything. A thrall served Elakdon breakfast, and he ate the hearty meal with the thoughts about the taste of doses occupying his mind as the orgasmic thrill slowly drained from his body.

  The news of humans going after Royals, meaning he was a high target now, took over soon after, ruining his appetite at the end of the meal.

  “I see I managed to put thoughts in your head,” Nol-Plydon said. “I did not intend on ruining your appetite as you will need your strength and wits about you.”

  Nil-Savadin put her hand on Elakdon’s. “We have planned on including you in our knowledge of what goes on at the moment. What measures we have already taken, what has been set in motion, and what we had planned to do now, except your rise has put that on hold.”

  “Why put it on hold? I cannot be crowned and be sovereign before my eyes turn green.”

  “You will learn nothing while we wait if we do not include you, and it is not in the interest of your people that you rise to a Kingdom that you don’t feel you helped build for your people,” Nol-Plydon said.

  Elakdon nodded and stood. So did the King and Queen and, to Elakdon’s mild surprise, High Father. He followed to a table away from the many Cubi enjoying breakfast or the company of their House family.

  “I have been asked to stand by your side in everything until you have chosen your Ilkil and Lokil-Nol. Also, because I know everything relevant to the humans of this area, and I will share all that with you.”

  “Thank you, Father.”

  Harrodon smiled and dipped his head. He then gestured for Elakdon to take a seat first. He did, and the rest sat down, too.

  “Your High Father told me about an idea you have for reuniting the humans and Cubi of this area,” Nol-Plydon said, leaving it hanging open for Elakdon to pick up on. What irritated Elakdon a bit was that neither the King’s tone nor expression alluded to what he thought about the idea.

  “Yes. Lokdon has been spying on what goes on in the Earl’s house, and I fear that with the threats lurking in the peripheral, the Earl will turn to the religion that favors male power to gain strength to move against what he feels is a force subduing his area. We have the strength to subjugate this area, but I feel allies are more valuable. Not just for us or for humans because we feed better if the humans don’t need the dose. But for the gods, too. We need to band together to fight this force subjugating not only the Succubi and human women, but a force that tries to erase our very way of life and our gods.”

  No
l-Plydon nodded to himself, thinking. “How much will you give the humans in return for their support in this cause?”

  “Each area will likely want something different, yet I don’t know enough about human politics to guess at what that might be, but I’m sure land, power, and gold will be the three things most often asked for.” Elakdon sucked his teeth in irritation that all looked like they agreed. “I will not buy loyalty as I don’t believe it to be a commodity that can be bought. Like honor. You either have it, strive for it, or fake it.”

  Nol-Plydon smiled, and Elakdon suppressed his happiness at apparently having given a good answer to the question in the old King’s eyes.

  “Will you then subjugate the ones not willing to merely aid against the new God?”

  “No. That is the way of the new God, but I will not support an area that doesn’t, and…I don’t know if removing the Cubi from those regions would be good or bad for us, but I do know that where the Cubi live, both humans and Cubi prosper.”

  Again, Nol-Plydon’s brows revealed a split second of being pleased with the answer.

  Elakdon wondered what part of the answer the old King found worthy of such a silent praise.

  “The areas you then abandon will be prone to seek power elsewhere,” Nil-Savadin said.

  Elakdon thought about that, his gaze landing on the Tafl game etched into the tabletop. “Father, can you reach the bag?”

  Father chuckled and grabbed the bag hanging on a post. He then emptied the pieces out onto the table and set up the game. Having the board filled out, Elakdon stared at it. He’d never been good at that game, yet one aspect of it lurked in his mind. At the moment, his thoughts worked faster than his ability to put words to them, which was why he needed the visuals.

  Yggdrasil now decorating the end of his new Hall, carved by Styrk, stood out to him.

  “I don’t know how to phrase this, so please help me. But one piece can only be taken if it is surrounded, yet an empty corner can be a trap, too.”

  “And a King must be surrounded by double of the opponent’s pieces to be taken down,” Father added.

  “But your lands don’t fit a square,” Nol-Plydon said.

  “No, and we have waterfronts,” Elakdon said. “A lot of them.”

  “They can be the traitorous corners if we gain enemies with ships,” Father said.

  “In my lands, I have moved the Cubi around to fortify my borders. They will be moved again now that you rise, and I will move some here to fill your lands, as will Nil-Savadin. Other than fortifying your own borders, you must fortify within as the land is shared.”

  Again, Yggdrasil stood clear to him, yet the shape or construct of the ash tree didn’t help him. The idea of whatever the tree represented stayed just out of reach, apparently not ready to be revealed by the gods.

  Elakdon placed the pieces on the board to fit what he was trying to convey.

  “You are in danger here,” Father said, pointing. “From that piece. You may have surrounded it, but it can threaten you here.”

  “Yes,” Elakdon said. “So that piece must be subdued.”

  “Ah!” Father sat back. “You try to convey a battle plan in the extent our locations are compromised due to a human force within the fortified borders.”

  “Exactly.”

  Nol-Plydon sat forward, looking at the pieces. “How will you do that?”

  “I am not skilled in neither battle nor tactics, and I know too little about human politics to answer that. I don’t have the necessary knowledge.”

  “Do you possess the heart to go through with it?” Nil-Savadin asked.

  So many different scenarios lined up along with a string of what-ifs. It was difficult to answer, as his knowledge limited his imagination to what she could mean. But one lesson Father had once shared after a punishment was that it was the plight of all to stand up for a friend.

  “I don’t believe I have ever been a coward when a friend asked or merely needed my help without asking for it. I don’t know if I have the heart for certain actions, but I will always strive to be a man who helps those in need of my help.”

  Father grinned. “I shall share a story about Elakdon from when he was five.”

  “Oh, no,” Elakdon whispered, horrified at Father’s idea.

  “No, no, I think the story speaks for itself and your thoughts about yourself.” Father sat forward. “Elakdon was five, and he had that very morning been spanked by me for something or other, I don’t remember. I only remember it because of this later occurrence. Another Cub, a few years older, was being teased by the other children, and I had just rounded the corner to witness this when I saw Elakdon sprinting toward them, not even noticing me as he went. He came to a halt between them, his back to the Cub being bullied, and he stood there, head high and chin out and glared at the two older children.

  “One of them shoved Elakdon so that he accidentally stepped on the toes of the Cub he was protecting, but Elakdon didn’t step down. He regained his balance and glared some more. It amused the older children, and they shoved him again. And again. And again. And every time, Elakdon would stand his ground like a silent wall.

  “Finally, the boys decided to go each their way around that silent wall, and that’s when he attacked. Once divided to go around him, he sent the girl through them and went for the back of their knees, sending both flat on their faces. He used that moment to take the girl’s hand, and they sprinted off together while the two older boys were getting to their feet.”

  “Nice strategy,” Nol-Plydon said, nodding impressed.

  Elakdon had no memory of the occurrence, though. Only a friend he’d made around that time. “Was that Pundin?”

  “Yes, the two of you became very close friends for many years.”

  Elakdon remembered her well, but not how they’d met. She was a year older than him, and she’d been sent off to a High Father to the west of them a year before. Now he missed her.

  “I was so proud of you that day. And it was not the only time I saw you stand silently between parties of opposition. Your mere presence as you grew taller earned you many kind words from the ones you chose to stand in front of.”

  “I remember those instances very differently,” Elakdon said.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. I remember being teased with being too afraid to hit back.”

  “Oh, I do remember your mother tending to more than one bruise and bloody nose, but you never backed down, even after they hit you. Your strength was never purely silent because your mother tended to their bloody noses, too. But you never backed down, and you never ran away even after a bloody nose. As long as someone needed you between them and trouble, you would stand tall and with your chin out like it was there only as a marker for their attention and thus not on the one you sought to protect.” Father put his hand on Elakdon’s, looking proud. “When you said you had to go earn the Earl’s respect, even if I think him unworthy, I came to think of this trait in you. Even if he will not cooperate, I know for certain that you will stand there like an impenetrable wall between him and your people. You always will because that is the kind of man you are.”

  Elakdon felt emotional knowing that he’d gained Father’s respect for being what he’d always been told was the bravery of a chicken.

  He then noticed how the others looked at him, and there was more than curiosity in the way they looked at him.

  “You wish to make a common ground for humans and Cubi to unite this village, yes?” Nol-Plydon asked.

  Elakdon nodded.

  “Have you thought about what to do if he declines this?”

  “Too many aspects came up, yet I tried to find the extreme reaction to the extreme of his possible actions. Everything else is a balance of that.”

  “And your extreme reaction?”

  Elakdon looked at High Father. “You have lived here for many years, right?”

  “One hundred and thirty-two years have I been High Father here, yes.”

  “We ar
e in a weak position here. Too far from the sea, no boats to speak of.”

  Father gaped. “Will you have me move?”

  “If needed be.” Yggdrasil shimmered to the surface again, a branch waving with purple leaves. “Nine,” Elakdon whispered.

  “Nine?” Father asked, but Elakdon was lost in the vision of a tree with many colored leaves.

  Then he stood and stalked off to his Hall to stare at Yggdrasil.

  “Nine!” He turned, finding the King and Queen and Father having followed. “I will have nine Grand Houses, each House Father or Mother governing nine roots of their House. None but us will know that each area of nine houses has a governing House.”

  “That will be very small Houses,” Father said. “Your people are not many.”

  “We will be many,” Elakdon said, feeling the need to grow. It was like when he felt the need to claim Foldon. “We shall build in the crown, stem, and roots of Yggdrasil. In every area. Make me fortresses, one for every High Father and High Mother. Make them big enough to be only half full so that every House may grow its population without the humans knowing it.”

  “As I said, strong Royal instincts,” Nil-Savadin said.

  The comment brought Elakdon out of his thoughts, and he turned to see the two Royals smiling at him, and Father looking impressed.

  “Indeed, you will,” Nol-Plydon said. “I have brought seven hundred Cubi to add to your population. But with the Queen’s comment, I wonder…” The King put his hand on High Father’s shoulder. “May we have words with the young Prince alone?”

  Father bowed, then left the hall while Nol-Plydon and Nil-Savadin stepped closer.

  “What feeling coursed through your body when you said that?” the King asked. “What urge did you have?”

  Elakdon swallowed, thinking he tasted dose.

  Nol-Plydon smiled wider. “Has the Queen told you that we may force a change?”

  “Yes. I didn’t want to mention it when Father sat at the table, but…if the humans look to corner a Royal, I was thinking about building grand halls, letting them think I am there. But those grand halls will be protected not because I’m there but because it is where we take the ones we subjugate. The most beautiful of their sons and daughters will become my people, and they must be protected until they are over the feeding frenzy and ready to move into the Houses.” Elakdon pointed to Yggdrasil. “They will be the pillar of Yggdrasil.”