Empire Builder 2

by Dante King

  Ben propped himself up on his elbows. “I think I can still manage. You’ll have to come closer though.” The orgasm he’d only just experienced had been intense. But the sight of Imogen naked before him was enough to make him feel ready for another round instantly.

  Imogen nodded and climbed onto the bed, looking at Ben the whole time for approval. Ben pushed himself up onto his side next to her. Firmly guiding her, he laid her down on the bed next to him.

  He got onto his knees and straddled her waist. His cock drooped between her legs. Ben shuffled forward until the tip of his member touched Imogen’s dripping pussy.

  At the first contact with her juices, Ben’s shaft quickly throbbed back to life, stiffening. Imogen let out a soft cry of surprise as she felt him against her.

  Her entrance was soaked. After everything they’d done, she was properly prepared. His cock was stiff and thick, but he was certain that she was now ready to take him.

  Ben thrust his cock against her, parting her lips. It was slow going, as her pussy was still tight, but with the lubrication, Ben was eventually able to slip inside. He felt her stretch around him, Imogen taking soft pulls of air, her eyes wide. She let out a low cry and bit her lip.

  “Does it hurt?” Ben asked.

  “A little,” Imogen said. “I can manage, don’t stop.”

  Ben continued. A tear ran down Imogen’s cheek as Ben’s shaft plunged deeper inside her. She clenched her jaw, but the smile in her eyes told Ben that the joy of their union outweighed the discomfort. Her moans carried only a hint of pain as she experienced her first time with a man.

  At last, most of Ben’s length fit inside the mountain nymph’s tight channel. Ben gently rocked back and forth, sliding his shaft in and out. Their juices combined to make a slick wet sound as their hips collided.

  Ben felt the oread’s swollen nipples rubbing against his own. Her stomach squirmed under his as she writhed with pleasure. Her eyes gazed deeply into his, her mouth open in a slight “O” of surprise and delight.

  Imogen’s moans grew louder as she approached her second orgasm. Ben sensed inside himself and realized that he had a certain amount of control over his own climax, evidently one of the perks of his reincarnation. He consciously relaxed that control, bringing his own orgasm closer. If he joined with hers, they would have the best chance of conceiving a child and granting the oread’s desire.

  Again Imogen’s fluids mixed with Ben’s own, increasing his sensitivity to the friction of her walls against his shaft, until he was overwhelmed by pleasure. He grunted as the tension built, in time with Imogen’s moans.

  The mountain nymph gripped Ben’s shoulders, digging her fingers into his flesh. Her body stiffened as she rode the wave, which hit Ben at the same time. Ben’s seed released into Imogen’s womb, pumping out in hot bursts that seemed never-ending. The pleasure was incredible, and all Ben could do was grit his teeth hard and grunt, his cock pulsing amid her velvety walls.

  When Ben was left with nothing else to give, he collapsed, lowering his weight and rolling to the side. He withdrew from Imogen, and they both lay panting. Sweat trickled down Ben’s back from the exertion. Beads of sweat glistened on Imogen’s forehead.

  After she had time to collect herself, Imogen rolled over and placed her hand on Ben’s rising-and-falling chest.

  “Thank you, Ben,” she whispered.

  Ben kissed her. “Welcome to the family,” he said.

  Imogen’s eyes widened. “Do I have a child?”

  They both pulled themselves upright and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Looks like you do,” Ben said.

  Beside them, to Imogen’s left, a white egg perched on the bed covers. It was a foot tall and covered in bumps, like pebbles. The pale shell was streaked like marble.

  Imogen put out a hand to touch the egg, then drew it back. “Can I touch it?”

  Ben smiled. “Yes, you can. Nothing will happen to it.”

  Imogen picked up the egg and placed it on her lap. “It’s heavy.”

  “Too heavy for you?” Ben asked.

  Imogen laughed. “No, of course not. But heavier than I expected.”

  She laid her ear against the shell, breathing deeply as she listened.

  “I think I can hear a faint rumbling sound,” she said.

  “That could be my stomach,” Ben said.

  “Perhaps it is. Here, listen for yourself.” Imogen handed the egg to Ben.

  He too could hear a faint rumbling sound inside the egg, like small stones rolling down a hillside.

  “I hope it hatches soon,” Imogen said.

  “Don’t worry,” Ben said. “I expect we will have a lot of fighting to do in the next few weeks. I plan to get much stronger, so these eggs can hatch sooner.”

  Ben passed the egg back to Imogen. She smiled warmly as she took the egg between her fingers. Her face had a maternal glow as she carefully placed her egg with the others.

  “Come, let’s get washed up and we can join the others.” Ben led the way to the large bathroom that joined onto the bedroom.

  Imogen followed with dainty footsteps. Ben paused to admire her beautiful figure once more, his eyes lingering on the curves of her ass and hips.

  As they washed underneath the steaming waterfall in the shower, Imogen was much less shy than she had been before. She still didn’t have the boldness that Melody and Lulu had, but she seemed comfortable. She allowed Ben to wash her and she washed him in turn, showing none of the shame that had held her back before.

  Afterward, Ben helped her back into her complicated white garment.

  Just as they finished dressing, the door of the bedroom slid open.

  Chapter 6

  Lulu was the first to enter the bedroom, followed by Melody and Vinata. They marched in and came to a halt, all of their eyes immediately going to Imogen. It was as if they all wanted to know the details of what had happened over the last hour, but knew better than to pry.

  “We just finished getting dressed,” Ben said.

  Lulu looked at him like he’d just stated the obvious, and as if she were galled that he might think she’d be happy with so little information.

  “But you knew that already,” Ben concluded. “Were you listening outside?”

  Lulu smiled slyly. “Maybe some of the time.”

  Imogen’s cheeks darkened a shade. Ben simply chuckled. These nymphomaniacs were incorrigible.

  “Imogen, congratulations,” Lulu said, her arms open. She took the small mountain nymph in a warm embrace.

  Ben wondered if she would tease Imogen as she often did.

  Vinata and Melody made their way over and joined into a group hug.

  “Welcome to the family,” Vinata said. “Well, welcome officially.”

  It seemed like both nymphs would stop the teasing for a little while. Ben was glad. This was a special moment for the youngest nymph princess, and he hoped the others would let her enjoy it instead of having fun at her expense, however well-intentioned the fun might’ve been.

  “Well, aren’t you going to show us?” Lulu asked. “Do we have a new egg to watch now?”

  “Over here.” Imogen proudly brought the other women to see the marble egg. The women didn’t waste any time hurrying over and forming a circle around it and sounding their approval.

  “It’s beautiful,” Lulu said.

  Ben had never seen such a happy glow on Imogen’s face before. It was clear that the women all admired the egg, each of them whispering excitedly to one another about what sort of child might burst forth from it in time.

  “Where are all the other children?” Ben asked over their commotion.

  “Sir Gallant the Younger is keeping them amused downstairs,” Melody said.

  “I see.” Ben smiled as he remembered how Nipper had amused himself at Sir Gallant the Younger’s expense when they’d first met in the dungeons.

  Just then, the elevator doors outside opened, and Ben heard the clanking footsteps of Sir Gallant the
Elder approaching.

  The footsteps stopped outside. “Permission to enter, sire?” the knight asked.

  “Come in, Sir Gallant,” Ben called out.

  The knight hurried into the room, standing at attention when he finally reached Ben. The women were still chattering about the egg, and Ben nodded for Sir Gallant to step aside with him so they could speak away from the noise.

  “Sorry to disturb you, sire,” Sir Gallant said.

  “Is something the matter?” Ben asked.

  “I’ve observed movement in the south.”

  “How far south?”

  “A number of miles south of here, sire,” the knight said.

  “You can see that far from the tower entrance?” Ben asked.

  “I briefly visited the crown of the tower,” Sir Gallant explained. “I wanted to check for approaching enemies from a higher vantage point.”

  “That’s a good plan,” Ben said. “If you scout from there periodically, we can have better warning.”

  “My thoughts exactly, sire. And if I may say so myself, it was a good idea. I was able to spot movement that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen.”

  “You made the right call. And what did you see from there?”

  “There was a large group of folks traveling southward, coming from west of here,” Sir Gallant said.

  Ben paused to think, fixating on a specific word used by the knight. “Folk, you said? So not an army?”

  The knight nodded. “They appeared to have families and possessions with them. This was not a band of warriors.”

  “Could it have been the nymphs?” Ben asked.

  The nymphs in the bedroom tore themselves from the eggs when they heard that. They stepped away from the egg and hurried over to join the conversation.

  Sir Gallant shook his head. “They were heading further south, toward a small garrison town.”

  “It would be a bit strange for the nymphs to go there,” Ben said. “Then again, they don’t know that their princesses are in my tower. Perhaps they thought it wiser to avoid this place.”

  “I couldn’t be sure from this distance, SIre,” Sir Gallant said. “But these looked more like monsterfolk than nymphs to me.”

  Ben was puzzled. “I thought nymphs were monsterfolk.”

  “They are,” Sir Gallant acknowledged. “But they look much like humans and beastkin. Most people still distinguish them from the more, uh, peculiar monsterkin of the northern forests.”

  Ben looked to Melody for guidance.

  “The monsterfolk of the north have never bred with humans before, or at least, very little,” Melody explained. “Many of them still resemble beasts or other kinds of monsters far more than any of us do.”

  “And they’re heading south, you say,” Ben looked at Sir Gallant.

  “They are, indeed, sire. I watched for a good half an hour, and that was definitely the direction they were traveling in.”

  “Uzax said there was an outpost not far to the south of here,” Ben said. “Could these be more slaves? If they do have an outpost here, it would make sense that all commerce would go through there, including slave trafficking.”

  “That might be where the ogres were taking us,” Vinata said, with a shudder.

  “If these monsterkin are being led there, they will suffer a terrible fate,” Melody said.

  Ben shuddered at the thought of what the Xurian Realm might do to these folk. “This is my domain now. I can’t have slave trafficking going on right under my nose. I need these people on my side, not wasting away in a Xurian slave camp.”

  “Will we be going to rescue them?” Lulu asked, her blue eyes brightening, no doubt at the thought of shedding the blood of slavers.

  “Perhaps,” Ben said. “If Uzax was right about the outpost, he might be right about the presence of more mages there.

  “You could certainly make use of that extra power,” Melody remarked.

  “And our children could do with the food,” Lulu added.

  “I could rescue those slaves at the same time,” Ben said. “If the situation is in fact as it appears.”

  “Can we be sure of victory if we attack them?” Imogen asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Ben replied. “We can never be entirely certain, of course, but I don’t intend to barge into that town without knowing what we’re up against.”

  Ben got to his feet. The women all stood up and approached, ready to hear his decision.

  “I need to question Lexi, and see what she can tell me about that town,” Ben said. “She’s our only hope of gaining better intelligence right now.”

  “A wise plan, Sire,” Sir Gallant agreed.

  Ben left the women and took the elevator back down to the prison cells. He thought about the conversation he was about to have with Lexi. He didn’t think he would need any of the measures he’d had to use with Uzax.

  With Lexi, he’d need to take a different approach. Uzax had been spiteful and unwilling to help. Ben didn’t think Lexi was sold on helping him just yet either, but there was a far greater chance that she could be convinced. After all, he had major doubts that she’d be fine with the idea of slavers trafficking in monsterkin.

  But Ben knew he would need to show her that he was worthy of her allegiance. The best way of doing that that he could think of, was to prove that he was a friend of beast and monster kin, and not simply using them for his own ends.

  The hawkwoman was praying once more as Ben approached the cell. Again, he was overcome with curiosity about her religion, what her prayer meant. But there were bigger matters to concern himself with at that moment.

  Lexi smiled up at Ben, opening her eyes as she finished her prayers. But despite her superficial warmth, he could instantly see all the distrust hidden behind her friendly exterior. He suspected she’d had to practice that smile for a long time already.

  “You need something, my lord?” she asked.

  “You’re perceptive.”

  “Prisoners who don’t pay attention to the mood of their captors don’t survive long,” Lexi remarked.

  “You mean like Uzax?”

  “The Pyromancer has far too much pride to adapt.”

  “But you don’t?” Ben asked.

  “I survive,” was all she said. A book was open nearby, and she closed it slowly.

  Ben thought of the story she’d told, how she had become a warrior for the Realm right after they’d let her family be trampled to death. “And there’s nothing you value more in this world than your life?”

  “Nothing within my power.” Lexi’s shoulders slumped.

  “You live in a tangled web, don’t you?” Ben said.

  “What do you mean by that?” the cleric asked him sharply.

  He had her attention now. The pieces were fitting together in his mind at last.

  “You are bound by duty to serve the Xurian Realm, yet your heart pushes you to fight for the beastkin. You are bound by your office as a cleric, preventing you from carrying out the vengeance you desire.”

  Lexi nodded, appearing almost bored as Ben listed her restraints, as if the last thing she wanted was to hear of her difficult situation.

  “You are bound by fear of the Realm, preventing you from fighting your own battles.”

  The cleric frowned now, as Ben seemed to touch a sore point.

  “And now you are held prisoner by me, obliged to dance to my tune if you don’t want to suffer the same fate as Uzax.”

  A bright light blazed in her piercing yellow eyes. Ben knew he had struck true. She was impressed at his insight. The surface-level friendliness melted, giving way to a hard determination.

  “And why should I be any happier with the shackles you give me,” she pointed at the pleasant room, as much a shackle as any irons, “than with the bonds of the Realm which snatched away everything I love?”

  Ben leaned forward. He had to get this last point across. The cleric seemed skeptical, but he knew she was testing him now.

  “What
if everything were different?” he asked. “What if you weren’t paralyzed by the power of the Xurian Realm? What if we could put them in chains as I promised earlier?”

  Lexi raised an eyebrow. Whatever she’d felt a moment ago, it was gone. She was hesitant but curious.

  “You saw it yourself, you were the might of the Xurian Realm when you showed up on my doorstep,” he said. “I defeated you all, on my first day as Ruler.”

  Suspicion gave way to curiosity once more.

  “I grow stronger every day,” Ben insisted. “You know that I have your power now too, don’t you?”

  The hawkwoman’s eyes widened. “You have Healing Touch?” Perhaps she had not realized that.

  There was nothing to prove that spell with here, unless Ben wanted to cut Lexi’s arm and heal it. Instead, as an answer, he simply flicked his fingers and summoned a ball of flame in the palm of his hand. The flame floated in place, crackling and casting orange light onto the walls. Ben could feel the power of the flame as he held it aloft.

  “I have the Pyromancer’s spell too,” he said. Then he closed his hand, and the flame vanished.

  Lexi sucked in a breath. “To steal spells… such power is not seen outside of the capital. Yet you are no friend to the Grand Vizier.”

  “The more servants of the Realm I defeat, the stronger I will become,” Ben said. “I’m not making an empty boast when I say we can make them our slaves.”

  “Perhaps you are right,” the cleric whispered.

  “I need your help,” Ben said.

  She looked at him sharply, but the suspicion was being worn down. “What kind of help do you need from me?”

  “Uzax told me of an outpost to the south of here, where slaves and relics are being gathered. A base of operations for the mages in the north.”

  “And you need to know where it is?”

  “I know where it is,” Ben said. “I can see it from the roof of my tower.”

  “Of course you can,” Lexi said. “Not all of us have to stand with two feet on the ground, I forget.”

  “I need more information about the town,” Ben persisted.

  “Why don’t you just interrogate Uzax again?” Lexi’s eyes flashed at him. “Or interrogate me?”