by Robin Roseau
“Sure. So we actually need four lists, each of us with, say, four progressive handicaps.”
And somehow, without my actually agreeing, that became our rules.
Others made their own arrangements. And then I sat down across the table from Tyleeza. We received terrible cards, and lost the first round. Then she and I switched chairs so the order of play would be opposite, with me playing after Shalendra instead of before her, and we lost a second game due to poor play on my part.
We were down two-zero.
We won the third game, so it became one-zero. And then we lost. And lost. And lost. I couldn’t even blame the cards. Shalendra was good, and Tess even better.
And I studied my partner, who was pointedly not looking at me. “You didn’t,” I said.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You did!” I exclaimed.
“You can’t prove it.”
Tess was grinning, but then her smile faded. “She just figured out Tyleeza threw at least two of those games?” She sighed. “Does this mean it doesn’t count?”
At that, Tyleeza finally met my gaze, looking into my eyes evenly. No one spoke, all waiting for me. “Apparently,” I said, “My partner wanted to give you and your partner a significant handicap. I think I would be a poor competitor if I suggested that was foul play.” But I waved a finger at her. “It was, however, a trick.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tyleeza said with a smile. “Tess, you and I didn’t actually discuss duration. I will offer three days. However, if you agree to accept advice from some of the women here with far more experience than you have, I’d accept until the morning after we reach Charth, if you prefer that.”
“I’ll take any advice I can get,” Tess agreed. “In case I still lose, could we go after Sa-sa and Shalendra?”
“Cute,” I told her.
* * * *
I was almost certain I was going to lose. I didn’t mind. I hadn’t decided how I felt about Tyleeza’s trick, although the only part that bugged me was that I wasn’t sure why she’d done it. Was it a gift to Shalendra? Tess? A desire to see me in red? Or did she just want to be a pleasure slave for a while? Maybe it was simply a desire to trick me, which she certainly had done. We’d been friends for years, after all.
We changed into shifts, Shalendra and I in our tent. She asked me if I was upset.
“No, Darling,” I told her. “I actually would have accepted this handicap, anyway, if it’s what you wanted.”
“This was funnier. Your expression when you figured it out. I thought it was obvious.”
“It never occurred to me, until it did.”
“What happens if I get lost again, like I did our first time.”
“I don’t think you will, but if you do, eventually someone will help me.”
“So Tess and Tyleeza won’t just claim us?”
“Well, it might depend on how far I’m gone, but probably not.”
She nodded, and then we emerged.
Everyone was waiting. I looked around and found Tyleeza. I thought she was trying to look inconspicuous, a fact I confirmed when I walked towards her and she tried to hide behind Gionna. We played a little game, Gionna laughing, but I finally trapped Tyleeza’s wrist, pulled her out, and into a hug.
“Please don’t be mad,” she whispered.
“Does this feel like a mad-hug?”
She laughed. “No.”
Shalendra and I would end up going first. We had the tub, and it was waiting for me. I accepted help into it, the first of Shalendra’s four handicaps.
She tied my wrists to holds outside the tub. Handicap number two. Number three was when she did my legs, and she was a little severe about it, pulling me further into the resin, with my ankles secured at the upper edges of the tub, my legs well spread.
I was entirely vulnerable to her. I did mention I was going to lose.
The final handicap was simple. She would only be using a single-ended device rather than climbing in with me. Unless she lost to the resin, this would be simple taking.
Shalendra then knelt beside the tub, looking at me. Others were clustered around on their own chairs, people being quiet now. Here and there, I heard a few people talking. I presumed the younger kids were being kept away, but I hadn’t thought to look, and now I couldn’t see very well.
I didn’t know this at the time, and by the time it happened, I would be too out of it to register, but most of them would end up standing so they could see better. They wouldn’t see everything, but they’d see me, and the resin, and they would know when Shalendra had won.
But for now, I looked into my wife’s eyes. “I love you,” I whispered.
“I’m so glad you picked me.” She grinned. “And that you let Tyleeza trick you.”
“I honestly didn’t see it coming,” I said. “I think I should have.”
“Is this when I admit she and I talked about it weeks ago?”
I laughed. “I was thoroughly played, then.”
She began touching then, and bathing me with more of the resin. “Try to hold out,” she whispered. “I like seeing you like this.”
I smiled but closed my eyes. I could feel the resin already going to work.
I don’t know if I tried to resist. I don’t think I did. But Shalendra took her time with me, touching, whispering, teasing, and I was at least half gone before she entered me. Even then, she went slowly, teasing and touching until I cried out for her.
* * * *
She took me to our tent, and then she told me, “Make me feel good.” And I did, and I did, and I did, until finally she declared it was time to sleep.
I woke in the night. Shalendra was awake, whispering to me, touching me. “Help me touch you,” she ordered. And so I guided her hand, and it was amazing. A while later, she fell asleep, my shoulder her pillow.
I lay for a while, simply holding her, utterly happy.
We made love once more in the morning, this time the way Shalendra liked taking me, me on my knees with my butt in the air. She whispered to me the entire time, and I cried out loudly at the end.
* * * *
“Do you want to help these people, Sa-sa?” she asked, an hour later.
“Yes.”
“Then until we reach Charth, during daylight hours, you may let anyone touch or hold you, the way you let me. But when we come in sight of Charth, you will ride with me, and you will not allow further such touches, except from me.”
“Yes, Shalendra.”
“They’re all curious. Step forward, and see what happens then use your judgment.”
And so I did, striding into the middle of our camp, then waiting to see who would approach. Renishta stopped by, smiling. She gave my cheek a kiss and a caress on my arm. “I love you, Sa-sa,” she whispered before moving on.
The others stepped closer. I waited, and it was Sakaala who came closest first. “What are you called like this?”
“Sa-sa.”
“I’m supposed to ask before I touch.”
“You may touch,” I said. “You all may, if you are polite.”
She caressed my arm, and then I moved to her, letting her hug me. A few others stepped up. I felt a hand on my back, another on my shoulder. No one took excessive liberties. “Will you ride with me, Sa-sa?”
“I’d like that, Sakaala.”
That morning, I rode with her. In the afternoon, it was with Ava. Over the course of the ride to Charth, I would ride with all of our charges.
Mariya asked if I would ride with her one morning. She sighed a lot as we rode. “Are you all right?” I asked her quietly.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m not used to feeling this relaxed is all.”
I thought it was more than that, but I didn’t question her.
* * * *
During the day, Shalendra let me share myself in this fashion, and she was right. It was deeply pleasant. It was quite different than sex, morning, no
on, and night, but it was deeply pleasant, the simple act of being held by someone who so appreciated it.
At night, we shared our tent and our bodies. She accepted pleasure in one way, and then she delivered it in others. Each night, and sometimes in the morning as well, she took me from my knees, and when she did, she made it the most intense of the ways we made love.
And then we reached the outskirts of Charth.
Finale
What would happen next probably wasn’t really a finale. For many of us, it was a beginning, and I’m going to tell this slightly out of order.
All the women who came with us would undergo her First, including those members of my staff who hadn’t done so yet. This also included those teenagers who were of legal age in Charth.
Sakaala accepted Allium’s offer. The other young girls fostered with other families in Charth, families with a girl or two nearer their ages. When all was said and done, everyone was well.
Those we had recruited in Barrish would remain in Charth and make lives. Those from northern Flarvor chose to remain a group, and Olivia found a good village about two days from Charth. When last I saw them, they were excited for their new lives, and the opportunities available. It is too soon to determine how many will become subjects of Queen Lisdee, but I would guess most, if not all, will chose to stay.
It wouldn’t be many years before Ressaline would have more cash crops to trade to us.
* * * *
Shalendra and I had a conversation with Olivia and Gionna. “I have three staff, courtesy of my grandmother. They will be undergoing their Firsts. I would like to know if there’s any way we can see whether their loyalty is to me or Grandmother, or perhaps someone else entirely.”
“Darfelsa,” Olivia said gently.
I dropped my gaze. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“That’s not what I was going to say. It’s clear in the way they look at you. It’s clear in their words. They’re in love with their princess, all three of them.” She paused and grinned. “And what makes you think we haven’t already been doing that?”
“Excuse me?”
“We haven’t had to do anything to enhance loyalty towards you, Darfelsa, but we’ve certainly verified it. Everyone loves you. They all feel loyalty to your father, and somewhat to Ahlianna, but they are all in love with you, and they all intend to be yours the rest of their lives. Not a single one would ever act against you.”
I felt humbled and didn’t know what to say to that.
“What would you do if you found conflict?” I asked eventually.
“We’ve been doing this for a very, very long time,” she said. “The woman in question wouldn’t even realize we were adjusting her attitude. This is one of the many reasons I am so careful in appointing the right women for First for your staff. We couldn’t be quite so careful with your honor guard, although I was the most careful with Sergeant Felist. Well, Renishta first, and then Mariya.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I would most prefer when you bring someone new here, she’s been with you a while. Give her a chance to develop loyalty naturally.”
“I will.”
“All right then.”
* * * *
We would stay in Charth while my newest staff underwent their Firsts, and then for a while after, so they could recover. Shalendra and I would play, much like we had in the past.
But I found myself doing something. I found myself, without prompting, kneeling on the bed for her, my head down, and my bottom up, asking to be taken. She never turned me down.
* * * *
But I skipped something, something important, and I’m going to back up to it. The day we arrived in Charth, I did so with my wife’s arms around me, me still in the red of a pleasure slave. Claary saw to settling the guests, at least until their first, and the rest of us dispersed as we might normally.
But then Shalendra told me, “Come.” We gathered Allium and Valsine then walked to Olivia’s home. We were already expected, and Dee brought us to the parlor. Lisolte was there with Olivia and Gionna. I helped to serve and then was going to sit at Shalendra’s feet, but she said, “Sit here, beside me.”
“Sa-sa,” Olivia said. “I need to speak to Princess Darfelsa. Do you think I can do that?”
I nodded. “Yes, Olivia. Did something happen?”
“Not yet,” she said. “I wouldn’t normally have this conversation with a temporary slave, and we should have discussed it before, but Shalendra asked me not to.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What is your primary goal in Charth?”
I smiled. “Ahlianna wants me pregnant.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to carry Shalendra’s baby.”
She cocked her head. “Is that what you would tell me if you weren’t a pleasure slave?”
I cocked my own head, thought about what she was saying, and then said, “Ah. Yes, Olivia. This is what she and I discussed. The people of Flarvor aren’t going to believe us if Shalendra comes home pregnant. They won’t believe it’s my daughter.”
“And you wish to become pregnant during this trip.”
“Yes.”
“For women who have lived their life here,” she said. “This isn’t difficult. For those who are fairly new to our magic, it can be difficult.”
“Are you saying we can’t do it?” I paused. “Did Gionna tell you about my hands, and the resin?”
“She did. And if you were trying to give Shalendra a baby, that would be a very, very good sign. But she is trying to give one to you.”
“Oh. Can you help us?”
“Of course I can. I am leading somewhere.”
“I’m not a child, Olivia.” I looked over at Shalendra. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you known?”
“It came up in one of the afternoon conversations, when you were off doing something princessy.”
“That’s not a word.”
“She can handle the truth, Olivia.”
“Sa-sa.” I turned. “Almost any of us can readily impregnate one of our slaves.”
I began laughing. “That’s where this is going.”
“You have to decide. Do you want to do this now, or do you want to let Tyleeza trick you a second time?” I laughed again. “Before you answer, I will also say that the longer you are a slave, the more settled the relationship.”
“So it’s harder for her if we have a challenge, she does it, and then she lets me go.”
“Yes.”
I turned to Shalendra. “What do you want to do?”
“I want you to decide.”
I shook my head. “I want to know what you want.”
“And I think that if you’re going to ask that, I have to free you before I answer.”
“I came to get pregnant and think we should do whatever Olivia says is our best plan. What do you want to do?”
She laughed. “I want you to carry my child, and I’d love if that were to start tonight.”
“What do we have to do, Olivia?”
“Neither of you know what to do,” she said. “You will need a guide, and it would help, Darfelsa, if it’s someone you love and trust.”
I glanced at Lisolte, understanding why she was there, then turned to Shalendra. “Did you know that part, too?”
“Yes. I can’t say I love Lisolte, but I like and trust her, and if we need a guide, I think she would be a very good choice.”
“Well then,” Lisolte said. “I want the two of you to go back to the embassy. I want you to bathe each other, and offer sweet, gentle touches.”
“By that she means no sex,” Shalendra clarified.
“I got that.”
“Do whatever feels sweet,” Lisolte said. “I will come after dinner. If you feed each other, do so with some caution. You do not want to be overfull, and no alcohol.”
Shalendra stood up, pulling me with her.
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* * * *
We spent the remaining afternoon doing as Lisolte suggested. The embassy staff helped, ensuring we were well-supplied but otherwise not intruding.
It was perhaps the softest, sweetest afternoon I’d ever experienced.
We fed each other, right from our fingers, and we touched, but they were sweet, soothing touches, and kisses besides.
And then there was a knock. I answered the door. Lisolte was waiting, looking lovely, and I invited her in.
She stepped past me, walked directly to Shalendra, and the two of them kissed, rather deeply. And then Shalendra handed me to Lisolte, so of course, we also kissed, and I sighed, pressing myself to her, Shalendra’s hand on my shoulder.
“This comes in two parts,” Lisolte said. “This is actually not the way we typically do this. Normally, when a citizen puts a baby into a slave, she knows what she is doing. When there are three, like we are tonight, they are typically lovers, like Claary and Gigi with one of their slaves. Tonight, I will need to be a third lover. Shalendra, please direct Sa-sa to obey me.”
She did that, and then Lisolte said, “I want you to act as if you are seducing us both. You will remove our clothing, but then I will help you make very careful love to Shalendra. Then she and I will do the same to you, with just a small difference.”
I grinned. Shalendra smiled nervously, but I kissed her, and then Lisolte, and then I took turns, removing clothing, touching, kissing, and getting myself quite excited.
But I thought Shalendra enjoyed my touches, and she enjoyed it more when Lisolte and I drew her to the bed. We both touched, and we both kissed, but it was my hand that teased, and then, with Lisolte guiding me, I used a device, a special device, to enter my wife.
“Slowly now,” Lisolte explained. “Shalendra, you must give a child to your wife. It is magic, so you don’t need to understand; it is your intention that matters.” And then she whispered, and guided my whispers.
I raised Shalendra’s passions, which I well understood by now, drawing them out until she called out, not with my name, but with orders to take this child of ours. Lisolte set her hand atop mine, stilling me, and then slowly withdrawing the device. She held my wrist, but told me to cuddle my wife. So I did, as best I could, as Lisolte held my hand, with the damp device in the air.