by Annie Eppa
“Would you want me to exert a considerable amount of technique on you tonight?”
“No, you won’t.”
The general arched an eyebrow, and she went on, “I think you’re a little too besotted with your slave yourself, to seek out my bed.”
He smirked. “Besotted? With her?”
“Earlier tonight, when the Jackal talked about her… I saw the expression on your face when you looked back at him. You looked ready to throttle him, and all for something he said with little thought. And then later on, at the arrisque. The other masters were quick to share their own slaves, but you refused. And even after she had fallen asleep, you could have taken part in the other revelries, but you did not. I only saw you looking down at her, and I know what I saw.” It had been the same look Captain Thornton gave her sometimes, and in many ways, the Wolf reminded her of him.
The general was silent now, quiet for so long that Adelai worried if she had given offense. But then his features relaxed, and he sighed. “This is why I do not purchase shrinemaidens, though you seem more astute than many others I have met.” He lifted his face away from hers, the tense moment passing. “Then why are you sneaking around the Jackal’s manor? Are you a spy for some other kingdom, Adelai?”
“No,” she said, blushing.
“A pity, then. Otherwise, I would have asked you to join me.”
To her astonishment, the Wolf moved past her, entering the Jackal’s study himself. She followed him inside, where he began to rifle through General Kazer’s papers without any trace of embarrassment. “What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Proof of the king’s madness. Kazer is one of the king’s closest confidantes, but he is careless with the paperwork.”
Adelai stilled. “Does that mean… you’re one of the….” It had come as a shock. The Wolf was the last person she had expected to be plotting against the king. But then again, if he had reminded her so much of Captain Thornton, then it should not have come as such a surprise.
“Does your oath as a shrinemaiden bind you still?” Adelai nodded. She did not want to lie to him, but she did not know him well enough to divulge her own secrets. “Let us say that I am a loyal citizen of Sarcopia in my own way, though not in the manner the king might intend me to be.”
“But the other guests…”
“Are sleeping quite soundly. They had drained my cousin’s silverwine tonight, and failed to notice certain embellishments she had added into the drink. A slow-acting powder that took some time to take effect, but enough to keep them unconscious till morning.”
So that was why he had known the Jackal would pass out soon enough. “Your cousin is a part of this, too?”
“Why do you think she and her paramour are currently preoccupied on the Jackal’s foyer? It was a good distraction, in case anyone had been able to resist the effects of the drink. She balked at first, but she is not the prude she always appears to be.” The Wolf scowled, prowling the room like the animal he had been so aptly named after. “Where the hell does he keep his papers?”
“I might think of checking behind the volumes in his bookcase, milord,” Adelai said softly. At his incredulity, she hastened to explain. “General Kazer had said as much earlier. He talked about keeping me behind his books, so that no one else might see.”
“Perhaps you are not as neutral as you claim to be, Lady Adelai,” the general smiled, crossing toward the small bookcase the Jackal owned, where he kept a few meager books. He let out a small sound of satisfaction as he uncovered a hidden recess behind them, affixed by a lock. “Do you by any chance know how to unlock safes, shrinemaiden?”
“I can,” a voice said softly from behind them.
It was the redhaired girl. She was wearing a plain gown this time, and she appeared more composed than when Adelai had seen her last.
“I told you to stay in the room,” General Falen said. His voice was stern, but there was none of the anger Adelai had expected. Even more surprising was when the girl squared her shoulders and glared back at her master. “I can pick locks,” she repeated, stubborn.
Rather than berate her for her impertinence the Wolf actually grinned, as if pleased that she was standing up to him. He let her walk toward the safe, and study the lock. “Do you have some hairpins, milady?” The girl asked Adelai, as polite as she had not been to her own master.
Adelai produced a couple of small ornate pins, and the redhaired girl bent to begin the task, inserting them into the metal lock.
“What is your role in all this, shrinemaiden?” The general asked, his voice low.
“We are allowed to protect ourselves in times of war, General - even if that means taking steps to ensure none will come to pass. There are many shrinemaidens in Sarcopia, and I owe it to my sisters.”
“And not to Thornton Altfyre?”
She froze. The general smiled at her, knowing. “Your secret is safe with me, Adelai. It seems we are all in this together. What have you learned so far?”
She was tempted to tell him everything, but she paused. She didn’t know if she could trust him, or if this was his way of getting her to trust him, to report to his king afterward. She was already compromised, but refused to connect herself in any way to Thornton, so she pursued her lips and shook her head. “All I’ve heard of is a war Sarcopia plans with Atalantea. My temple is situated in between both your kingdoms, and would fare badly in its aftermath. You yourself confirmed it earlier with General Kazer, at supper.”
He chuckled. “Kazer insisted on talking shop at the table, though I much rather he hadn’t. I would be wary myself, had I been in your place.”
“Here,” The redhaired girl said quietly, who had successfully picked the lock. “Good girl,” the Wolf said, and the glare returned to her face. “I didn’t do this for you,” she snapped irritably.
“I think I like you better when you were writhing on my lap, Kinlee.”
The girl’s face turned as red as her hair. “You - you drugged me!”
“I sedated you. Your mouth has gotten you in trouble enough times for me not to take the risk. In my defense, I had no idea it would make you so… passionate.” Her blushing increased, and Adelai wondered about their relationship. Kinlee seemed wiling enough to play the slave for the general, but in private they were anything but.
“You - you displayed me in public! That - the man tried to touch me, and if you hadn’t - “
The girl was immediately silenced when the Wolf’s mouth came down on hers, feasting hungrily. Kinlee scratched vainly at his shirt for a few moments before giving up, leaning into his body as his lips savaged hers. Adelai looked away quickly until they were done, and Kinlee was short of both breath and words when he finally released her. Her lips were bruised, her eyes feverish. Was that how she looked like, Adelai wondered, whenever Thornton kissed her?
“Like I said, Kinlee - your mouth gets you often in trouble.” The Wolf strode over and perused its contents, a frown marring his lips. “It’s not quite the damning evidence I’ve been looking for, but you might be interested in this, Adelai.”
Puzzled, Adelai took the papers from the general. Her eyes widened as she took in the contents.
She’d been hoping General Kazer had the documents detailing King Garrant’s scheme to assassinate King Belair. That alone would have put an end to all of Sarcopia’s machinations, and she would have fulfilled her end of the bargain. She knew from the tone of General Falen’s voice, however, that it wouldn’t be as simple as that. Garrant was a shrewd man himself, even if he was a madman, and he wouldn’t have left any incriminating papers lying around for others to find.
What General Falen had given her was not a royal decree, but a bill of sales, for a cargo of slaves that had been shipped out to other kingdoms. Each slave was noted there by name, age and price, and the list was long. But what truly horrified her was how young many of these slaves were. Most of them were females between the ages of eight and thirteen, commodities referred to as “pleasure serf
s” on paper. A small handwritten note on the side, scrawled in very familiar writing, boasted “all female serfs sampled, and vouched for quality”
General Kazer was one of the two merchants listed as overseeing the transaction.
The other was the earl of Sevigne. That sneering implication, that he had enjoyed firsthand experience with those young girls before selling them, had been in his handwriting.
She didn’t know what to feel: betrayal and horror, undoubtedly, and shock. But most of all, she angry. A quiet fury was rising from inside of her, the realization that she had been spending weeks with what she had thought was a man who had always been polite to her, thinking that his son was exaggerating some aspects of his character because of the latter’s own bias. And now she was standing in General Kazer’s study, and she was holding proof that Daken was right after all; that the earl of Sevigne was the worst a slaver can be: one who sells young children for profit.
“Those fucking sons of bitches.” The Wolf said. “I recognize some of these names. They’re children of several nobles who’d been vocal against the crown for some time. It was believed they’d all ran away.”
“That’s horrible,” the redhaired girl looked stricken.
Adelai couldn’t find the words; they were all lodged inside her throat, and she couldn’t choke them out.
“Adelai,” the Wolf’s voice was sharp, helping her to snap out of it. “I take it you had no idea your patron was involved in this.”
“His son told me he dealt in the slave trade,” Adelai said, feeling sick, “but I had no idea he’d capture and sell young girls for money.”
“I’m surprised. I would have assumed shrinemaidens are only more gilded examples of this.”
“You’d be surprised at how many things outsiders have wrong about us shrinemaidens, milord. We are asked every step of the way if we are willing. I have known sisters who had chosen to leave during their novitiates, but most of us stay. We know what’s expected of us. These girls don’t.” She was so angry that she thought she would be capable of strangling the earl herself, had he been there at that moment. “I’d say the same about you. I saw you purchase slaves at the auction. They had no say in the matter, either.”
“You’d be surprised at how many things outsiders have wrong about me.” Unlike her, the general did not choose to elaborate. All this time, the redhaired girl said nothing, studying her master with her pale blue eyes. She wore a gentle expression on her face, but strange at the same time. The look on her face was one so hauntingly familiar that Adelai tried in vain to recall where she had seen it before.
“I could denounce Kazer to his face, but then I would need to explain how I came about this document in the first place. We must act fast. According to this, slavers from Corcusiva are expected to take these slaves aboard their ships a week from now, and the girls will be lost by then.”
“I have another idea, milord.” Adelai said, the wheels in her head turning.
“Oh?” The Wolf smiled. “I have never heard of a shrinemaiden going against her own patron before. Are there not rules to prevent this?”
“Not when what my patron has done is enough to get him blacklisted in the temple, milord. Your hands are tied in this matter. Perhaps I may have a solution.”
General Kazer had woken her the next morning, and if the drugs the Silvermaiden had introduced into his system still lingered, his actions showed it did not matter. Adelai was barely awake before she found herself pinned to the bed with the general looming over her, his tongue teasing her nipples into hardness. She moaned, still a little sore from last night, but the general would not take no for an answer. All too quickly he was sliding back into her, opening up her tight little hole with his long, thick cock. He began slamming into her again, little grunts every time he speared her clenching sheath, and he came quickly, too quickly for her to find any release of her own. He rolled off her with another low grunt. Still trying to catch her breath, Adelai felt him moving about the room, putting on clothes before leaving without a word.
When he was gone, she sat up on the bed and winced, feeling the Jackal’s seed seeping down her legs. She did her best to clean up, thankful that her gown was still intact and that there were clean towels left for her to use. Her absence had went unnoticed for those vital few hours when she had encountered the Wolf in the study, and it became obvious as she made her way back to the room that no one else had seen them.
This time, she had to force down the bile that threatened to rise in her throat as she entered the earl’s room. The sight of the handsome man, clad in a long dressing gown and smiling at her as she approached, now made her stomach churn. She didn’t know how she could stand being in the same room with him, after knowing all she did. Much less have him bed her, because from the way his eyes were traveling over her body, this was his intention that morning.
“And how was your night with General Kazer, my dear?”
“The Jackal is a little… vigorous, milord.” She said, watching how his gaze lingered on the marks on her neck, where the general, caught up in his desires, had left small bites.
“I can see that.” She could see his hardness through the front of his gown. “Please strip, my dear. I would like to see every mark the general left on you.”
He was aroused by the signs of abuse left on her body, and that only increased her horror, her growing disgust. But she could do nothing for the moment, because she had to bide her time to act. So, slowly, Adelai stripped. The earl’s breathing grew heavier as she stepped out of the material, standing before him naked. The general had been very generous with his lovebites, and they stood out like dark bruises all over her body, from the sides of her breasts, his teeth visible in one area, to between her thighs, where he had nibbled at the soft flesh.
The earl too, began to disrobe. Where General Kazer had been big and hulking he was lean and muscular, finely shaped.
“Beautiful,” the man said. He meant her marks, Adelai thought, appalled that these were what set him off. It explained why he had not chosen to touch her until the night before, that giving her to his son was not the only reason he was holding off. She had not had ample time to see his shaft the previous night. It was hard and long, graying curls at the base of it, pre-cum already gathering at its tip. He stood before her, his hands wandering her body, touching the places where the general had bruised her, and delighting in lingering there. Despite her revulsion, knowing now what he had done, Adelai bit back a gasp as he cupped her breast, still so tender. He moved down, gently separating her nether lips with his fingers, leaving her exposed.
“Are you wet, my dear,” the earl whispered, and little shocks of pleasure peppered her as he began to explore her inner folds, teasing the area around her clit, “or is it the Jackal’s seed spilling out of you?”
Adelai moaned then, as he sank to his knees before her. Her swollen clit was vulnerable to his gaze, no longer hidden by its protective hood. Keeping her spread like this, the earl leaned closer, and began to flick his tongue directly into the little button, and her knees buckled.
She was gripping his head with her hands, bent over toward him, crying out in earnest now as he attacked her sex like a man starved, swiping his stiffened tongue across her wet slit. She could see his tongue, tasting her.
“A pretty pussy, Adelai. Beautiful like the rest of you.”
He stopped just when she thought her legs would give out underneath her, did not resist when he led her toward his bed. She had left General Kazer’s bed wanting more, frustrated. The earl was stirring a fire in her loins that had been simmering there all this time, where she was desperate, where almost any cock would do to alleviate this sweet pain.
“Spread your legs for me, my dear.”
She obeyed, and he took her feet, holding them up in the air as he stared down at her body, his cock nudging at her entrance. He smiled at her, and for the first time she saw in his eyes the cruelty he was capable of, the delight he took in seeing the abuse, both
pained and pleasurable, that the general had given her. Adelai shuddered and closed her eyes, not wanting to see more.
But her traitorous body welcomed him, as he pushed the head of his cock into her. Her buttocks were nearly lifted off the bed in this position, leaving her helpless as his shaft pierced her slowly, then surged into her with more force, trying to push his cock as deep inside her as possible. He began driving his hips into her more rapidly, watching as her cunt swallowed up his cock every time it stroked in. She squirmed, but he grabbed her hips to prevent her from moving, and continued to pound himself inside of her harder, faster.
“Look at me, my little slut,” he snarled, a completely different person now than what she had known. Adelai opened her eyes and stared at him, watched as he pulled her legs higher around his waist, in an attempt to penetrate her more deeply. He was brushing something inside her that made her wail out in pleasure despite everything, and his grunts sounded like he was getting closer.
He paused in his thrusting to lick at her small bruises, moved his hands over her stomach to squeeze her breasts, hard. To her shock, he kissed her on the mouth, teeth nibbling against her lips. “Kiss me,” he demanded. Not wanting to make him suspicious she obeyed, mimicking his actions.
“I’m going to cum inside you, Adelai.”
She didn’t want him to. She didn’t want him to spend inside her, to have his seed in her the way those other girls had been forced to. But she could do nothing, and even as he reared back and groaned, even as his cock began to coat her womb, she felt herself explode in orgasm, no longer able to hold back.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Plans
Her relationship with the earl of Sevrigne changed drastically over the next few days, although the man himself was not aware of it. Adelai began to suspect every action he made, however innocent it might look. She fought hard not to act so tense and suspicious around him, and thought she had managed to hide it well enough. But she could not help the feeling of dread that would fill her whenever he would ask her to spend the night with him.