The Shrinemaiden (The Maidens)

by Annie Eppa

  Still, she did have one important role to play that night - to keep the earl distracted and relaxed so that he would only know about what had transpired after the fact. Lady Shannika invited them earlier that afternoon to her estate on the pretext of business. The earl and her father had been partners in certain mining interests, owning several scattered throughout Sarcopia, and the former also had numerous investments in the Silverwine trade. As Shannika had now resumed control of her father’s papers after he had passed away, the noblewoman wanted the earl to sign several documents to facilitate a smooth transition of ownership. Khalid was absent, and the earl himself commented on that fact.

  “He’s being punished, milord,” Lady Maestre told him, and a small smile played on her lips. “He’ll be indisposed for most of the day. Or until I decide he’s had enough.”

  While the earl and the Silvermaiden talked, Adelai and Daken kept themselves busy, with the boy offering her a tour of Lady Maestre’s manor on her behalf, having visited enough times to be familiar with the place. Like Adelai, the lady was keen on flowers, and her gardens were extensive, rivaling that of the Temple of Inne-Anneah’s, much to the shrinemaiden’s delight. Daken was amused as she chattered happily away, pointing out several rarer specimens and giving him a thorough herbology lecture for the next couple of hours. “I’m afraid I have more knowledge on blue orchids now than I know what to do with!” He said, laughing. “I’ve never seen you so animated.”

  “It was a hobby of mine, back at the temple,” Adelai said, blushing at having been carried away by her enthusiasm. “Sometimes when I come across gardens as beautiful as these, it makes me feel a little homesick.”

  Lady Shannika offered to have them stay for supper, but the earl declined, citing more work to be done that night. “I’d like to have this finished as quickly as possible,” he explained, “I’ll need to draw up a few more documents to finalize your ownership, milady, and I can have everything finished by tonight.”

  Adelai would have preferred it if he had accepted Shannika’s invitation - she would have felt more at ease with the other woman present, who knew the earl better than she did. Still, neither of them could think up a good reason to insist, so Lady Shannika reluctantly acquiesced, and they returned to the manor.

  She had taken great care not to be outwardly nervous, falling back on her temple training by taking the slow, breathing exercises she’d been taught, offering a silent prayer to Inne-Anneah as she did. Daken must have sensed this, because he offered to have the servants make some tea for them after they had finished the meal, and Adelai had accepted. He personally brought the tray over, and was solicitous in every way. He left the room again to badger the cook into bringing them some desserts, and by the time he returned with sweet almond figs and iced currant cookies Adelai’s teacup was already empty, and she looked more visibly refreshed.

  The earl had disappeared into the study some time before, but had returned less than an hour later, smiling to himself. “You’re in a good mood tonight, milord.” Adelai teased.

  “It’s always a good feeling to have accomplished all the work for the day, with enough time to relax. Would you like some wine, my dear?”

  Adelai shook her head. “I think it might disagree with the tea I’d just taken, milord. I already feel a bit queasy.”

  “Very well then. This is a very good vintage from Shannika’s stores though, so if you would like a glass later on, do not hesitate to let me know.” The earl poured a liberal amount of wine into his glass, then did the same to Daken’s. “There is much cause to celebrate tonight.”

  “To celebrate finalizing the new business arrangement between you and the Lady Shannika?”

  “In a way, yes. Rather, I am celebrating taking over all of Lord Maestre’s holdings and interests shortly after that, because my name on those documents mean I can take over her businesses should anything befall her - and the lovely Silvermaiden shall find herself languishing inside the deepest dungeon the palace has soon enough, for treason.”

  Adelai sat up very straight in her chair. The only sound in the room was the tiny clinking noise as the earl and his son toasted each other. Both were smiling.

  “I’m not sure what you mean by that, milord. Lady Shannika has not committed treason.”

  “She will tonight. When her men arrives at my little safehouse, they will find no slaves, and certainly no noble runaways to rescue. I sent word to the slavers yesterday, and shipped the girls this afternoon, several hours ahead. Even as we speak, those poor waifs are on their way to their new Corsucivan masters, never to return. You’ve lost, Adelai.”

  She said nothing. Daken wore a smile identical to that of his father’s. In one second, the mask of his youth slipped away, to reveal a cruel, gloating face.

  “You thought you were clever, weren’t you? King Garrant suspected Belair would pull something like this, though I must confess, I had never expected him to do so through a woman.” The earl laughed. “Are you even a shrinemaiden, Adelai, or some slut bought and paid for, to spy on my household?”

  “And I suppose Daken had been in on this all along?” Adelai asked slowly, ignoring his question.

  “My son has been acting as a spy for me, pretending to be sympathetic to the rebels. The Lady Maestre will not be the only one heading for the executioner’s ax, my dear. Daken has provided me with the names of these people attending their little whorehouse meetings, and they shall keep her company in the dungeons.”

  “I wondered,” Adelai said, “Daken had been so free with that information, like he had wanted to tell me all along.”

  “I suppose you thought you were so clever,” Daken sneered. “But when I dangled the opportunity in front of you, you fell easily enough into the trap! The king will call us heroes, we have the profits from our little slaving business, and we are richer now than before, thanks to the Silvermaiden herself. Perhaps I shall send a small gift to her cell, in gratitude. And that leaves you. Just how willing are you to avoid imprisonment?”

  Adelai’s eyes fluttered. “What - what do you want me to do? I feel a little - ”

  “Ah, that must be the tea working. Daken took the opportunity to slip something in your drink when you weren’t looking. It’ll keep you too weak to fight back, but strong enough so you can take your punishment.” He tipped her head back, and Adelai began to struggle in earnest again, despite knowing she could never hope to overpower the two. Daken forced another wineglass between her lips, not relenting until she had taken several gulps of the wine. “In a few minutes, you will be very, very willing - to supply us with all the information we need to break the rebellion, to let us use your body for our own pleasures Adelai.”

  “I - I don’t - my body feels so - “

  “Let go, Adelai.” She felt them lifting her up from her chair, guiding her toward the earl’s study, Daken locking the door behind them.

  “You look a little flushed, my dear. Perhaps it might be better if we take your clothes off.”

  They gave her no time to do it herself. Daken all but tore the gown off her body, tossing its remains over a nearby chair. Adelai gasped, tried to cover herself from instinct, but the earl’s hands held her fast.

  “An attempt at modesty now, Adelai? We have both seen your naked body countless times, and many a day we have spent comparing what we like most about you. Daken here seems to prefer your sweet rosy cunt,” His son’s fingers dipped low and pinched cruelly at the small nub there, and Adelai whimpered in pain. “But I confess that I prefer this tight little asshole.”

  “Why - why are you doing this?….”

  “Because we can, cunt,” Daken said with a hoarse laugh, and lifted her legs up without warning. Taken unawares, Adelai cried out, but the earl was still holding her tightly, an arm crossed around her waist while the other was around her shoulders, keeping her suspended in the air between the two. Daken had already ducked his head, and began lapping greedily at her soft, pink folds. Despite her dismay, and her struggles, Ade
lai couldn’t help but moan as his expert tongue violated her.

  “I must say that you are the most expensive whore I ever had to buy,” the Earl murmured against her ear. “Ah, don’t struggle so, my dear. You will submit to us eventually. They all do. Perhaps if you cooperate with us, we can be persuaded to keep you as our slave, rather than as a prisoner in the dungeons.”

  Adelai could barely listen to his words, shuddering racking through her body as Daken continued, teeth grazing against her, biting harder than he used to do, making her gasp. She heard the sounds of paper being discarded, heavy thumps as books and other objects hit the floor, and she was being moved to the table. They set her down on her stomach, her legs dangling over the table. Daken’s hands landed on the back of her thighs, keeping her from crawling away. The Earl stood on the other end of the table, already undoing his breeches to free his hard, throbbing cock.

  “No teeth, my dear,” he squeezed painfully at her breast, “You don’t want me to scar you, now do you?” And then he was forcing her cock past her lips, sliding into the warm cavern of her mouth. “Ah,” he sighed, not stopping until she had been forced to take the entirety of his length, until he had nowhere else to move. He withdrew, and Adelai closed her eyes, forcing her throat to relax as he began to fuck her mouth leisurely, her nose burrowing into his thatch of graying hair whenever he went in deep. Behind her, she could feel Daken’s finger working its way inside her spread cunny lips, heard him laugh.

  “She’s wet, father. She likes this.”

  “Little slut,” the earl groaned, picking up the pace. Daken discarded his own trousers, and she felt the head of his cock against her entrance. Rather than shove it in, as she had expected, he seemed content to run the length of it along her cunt and asshole, nudging against her labia on occasion. Adelai realized to her disgust and horror, that her hips were lifting up against him, a silent plea to let him ram his cock into her. Her head was spinning, and she was beginning to feel a little dizzy. The wine, she thought numbly. What was in the wine?

  “Looks like the little aphrodisiac is working,” the Earl murmured, answering her question. “It keeps my little slaves docile, Adelai. What’s good for them is good for even shrinemaidens.”

  “Tell me to fuck you, Adelai.” Daken demanded, Adelai whimpered when she felt him press into her, a few inches of his cock sliding inside… only to slip out, leaving her gyrating against nothing. She felt like she was on fire, that her cunny was on fire, that the only thing that could ease the horrible, horrible ache was his cock.

  “Mnuunh,” she moaned around the earl’s shaft. He pulled out of her mouth, a thin trail of saliva bridging the growing distance between it and her lips. He slapped her face with his rod, mocking. “Answer him, Adelai!” He barked.

  “Please,” Adelai nearly sobbed, as the sensations grew, making her nearly mindless with desire. “Please, please fuck me!”

  “You’re not a shrinemaiden, aren’t you?” Daken taunted. He plunged into her without warning, and Adelai shrieked, hating it and wanting it all at once - but then he withdrew completely from her again. “Who sent you to Sarcopia? Are you here to spy on behalf of King Belair?”

  “No!” Her legs thrashed. “I’m a shrinemaiden from the Temple of Inne-Anneah!”, she wept. “Please fuck me! Please, please fuck me! I’ll do anything you want!”

  “Who sent you?” Another rough thrust, another withdrawal. She felt like she was going to die, but she had one secret they didn’t know of, and she focused all her being into resisting them.

  “My high priestess!” She wailed out, “She sent me here on a contract! She knows nothing, I swear!” Daken drove into her one more time, but this time kept himself sheathed inside her, letting her feel his largeness, the promise he might move if she would continue to be truthful.

  “We have all night to break you, Adelai. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to wait that long. Move her, Daken.”

  She was being lifted again, but only so that Daken was lying on the table, and she was being draped over him. His cock was poised underneath her, about to enter her cunt. She was forced to watch as the tip of it sank into her again. Daken grabbed her hips and thrust upwards, impaling her in one stroke. She cried out.

  He didn’t move, simply held her wrists so that she was riding him, her back arched and desperate. Behind her, she could feel the Earl’s cock nudging at her backdoor.

  “Relax, Adelai. It’ll feel better going in, because I’m not going to be using anything to make this better for you.” With only her own saliva on his cock for lubricant, she felt him begin to enter her, stretching her snug little hole. Adelai sobbed as he sawed back and forth, only prolonging the torture, until his whole rod was settled inside her. She was forced to lean forward against Daken’s chest, whimpering as she tried to adjust to both cocks, feeling so full.

  “That’s nice, Adelai.” The earl murmured, “I think I like it better when you’re dry, your ass clenches around me even tighter this way. How does it feel now, with my cock in your ass and my boy’s in your lying little cunt. Now, tell me again - who sent you here?” He pulled back and shoved deeply into her, and Adelai’s eyes watered from the sudden lance of pain. She bit down hard on her lip, willing herself not to scream out again.

  He began to fuck her ass harder, and each time he drew back, she eased away from Daken’s cock, and then was forced back into him when he plunged back in, making her move and fuck herself on his son. All this time the earl continued to whisper words in her ear.

  “You’re going to love the king’s guards, Adelai. Would you like to be the army’s whore? Thousands of cocks to fuck, you’ll be filled with so much cum you’ll barely be able to walk.” Daken squeezed her breasts again, which were swaying with the force of his father’s thrusts.

  “Ah, Adelai, that’s it. Fuck my boy, while I ream your ass.”

  The pain had ebbed somewhat and the desire was back in full force. Helpless, Adelai could do nothing but withstand the assault, hoping she would last long enough. The earl was fucking harder and faster by the second, sounds of wet rutting filling the room as he slammed into her ass, flesh slapping against hers.

  “Spread your legs, Adelai. Let me hear your moans while we’re fucking you.”

  She complied without thinking, wailing as her body shook, the orgasm washing over her. And still they wouldn’t let up, continuing to assault both her holes until she climaxed again, and then again, and then again, and then again. Every time Daken pulled out the earl would ram into her, and when he did Daken would slam his shaft into her depths, so that she had no chance to catch her breath.

  “Yes, move your hips against me. Look at how much you love this, you stupid slut. By the time we’re done with you you’ll never be this tight again.”

  The drugs were in her body, making her so sensitive that one harder thrust was enough to send her spiraling into ecstasy. She couldn’t take this. She knew that if they kept this up any longer she would tell them everything, anything to find reprieve.

  And then she heard it. It was a faint noise, muffled sounds of people, of running feet, and it gave her hope. She prayed to Inne-Anneah that neither men heard it.

  “What are you doing in Sarcopia, Adelai?” The earl hissed, his cock jackhammering into her without stopping.

  “Waiting,” Adelai gasped out, her vision blurry, no longer able to control her body, bucking mindlessly.

  “For what, slut?”

  More noises, more apparent now. Did she imagine it, or did she hear Lady Shannika’s voice?

  “For them,” she panted, trying to remember the words she wanted to say, “to come and arrest you.”

  Both men paused. Daken laughed coarsely. “Arrest us, shrinemaiden?” He sneered. “For what? The Silvermaiden’s men shall find nothing in the safehouse. The ships have long since sailed.”

  “The men aren’t planning to attack your safehouse tonight,” Adelai whispered, her throat raw. “They attacked your safehouse this afternoon. They intercepted
the slaver ships, and the women have been rescued. The note you read tonight when you entered your study, telling you that your plan was a success, was a ruse.”

  She couldn’t see the earl’s face from where she was, but she could see Daken’s staring up at her, eyes starting out of his head. And then a loud hammering sound came from outside the door to the study, like someone was doing his best to bash the wood in.

  This seemed all the proof the Earl needed. With a snarl, the earl withdrew, all but yanking her off Daken, who cried out in pain. And then his hands were around her neck, choking her.

  “You little bitch!”

  The door burst open, the wood flying inward. Both men stopped, stunned by the unexpected intrusion, but Adelai could only topple forward, no longer able to hold herself up. Breathing hard, her eyes closed, she could barely process the jumble of noises around her, the earl and Daken yelling at the intruders. And then they were lifted off her, and something warm and comforting was wrapped around her. Wheezing and gasping, Adelai could barely hear a familiar voice murmuring against her, soothing and calming, before everything else faded, thankfully, into darkness as she lost consciousness.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Strategy

  She dreamed often, and fitfully.

  She dreamed that she was strapped to the bed with the earl and his son standing beside her, laughing as they marked her body with bruises. But she felt none of the pain, her gaze trained on the man at the foot of the bed, watching her impassively, blue eyes blank.

  She dreamed that she was back at the Temple of Inne-Anneah, and she was in the gardens once more with Thornton, but with the high priestess Saleia looking on. “Bend over and lift your skirts, my dear,” the old woman was instructing, “if you must bed a king, then you must learn how to bed him properly.”