The Scorpion's Empress

by Yoshiyuki Ly

  “You’re so controlled,” I praised. Videl dug her tongue into me hard as innuendo. “Oh, I know. But you’re such a good little submissive. It’s temptin’ to see how I can push you before you break. If only we had time for that. Sadly we’ve gotta be somewhere in a few hours.” I stopped her right between me. She let out a pained whimper, her body shaking all over. “Make this time count.”

  I eased my grip over her roots. Videl closed the distance, full of hunger as she tasted me. The heat of need in her mouth filled my senses. Videl breathed me in like she never wanted to leave: through her mouth, reckless and zealous as she sucked me. Smoothness of her tongue against me—softening as she exhaled, hardening as she inhaled and sucked. The fucking sounds of me seeping through her mouth got to me just as much as her lips and tongue and how much care she took to keep her teeth away from me. Her shoulder muscles and her biceps pushed against my thighs, riding me hard against the headboard. I laughed in amazement from her aggression.

  “I should’ve had you earlier,” I said to her. She sucked me harder; I sucked in my breath and smiled. “Before the festival. On that first night we met, even. At the show. I’ve thought…so many times…about what it would’ve been like. If I’d taken you away from Mistress Fury sooner—made you suck me dry right in front of her. I don’t give a fuck that she picked you for me. You’re mine.”

  Videl pushed me up harder with her head alone. My want slicked itself around her face. The sight of her soaked of me was filthy enough to move me. I thought I still had plenty of control; thought I could keep spurring her with my words. She curled her tongue and fucked me with it. I couldn’t control myself. I stopped from tilting my head back, from moving away from her. I needed her closer. My body bent down to hold her closer to me. The tight curl I made my back suffer was worth it. Keeping her head in my arms was just as powerful as her tongue inside of me. She took me higher. She took me and I fucking needed her so badly; I couldn’t hear a thing anymore, not my own sounds, not her sucking me, nothing, nothing except this closeness between us. Loud and bursting and I couldn’t stand it alone. Videl carried me through this impossible state. She was there with me when I came back down. She didn’t move away, just rested her head along my leg, breathing hard.

  Something inside of me changed. I couldn’t let go of her—in every sense of the words.

  “Undress me, Videl… I want you on top of me while you do it.”

  Dutifully, she complied. Videl cradled me in her arms. She set me down over the bed with such care. I wanted it like this for our first time—almost vanilla, but with me in control. As I stared up at her through the dark, I questioned how in control I really was. I didn’t expect to feel this way…not this soon. I couldn’t describe it. The suddenness of it all got to me way too much.

  I kissed her mouth, her face, sucking and licking her clean. She curled her body for more space between us to fold my sari properly. Once she set my clothes aside, I pulled her closer, still cleaning her. Videl settled herself between my legs. I needed her closer still. I took her undershirt off. Videl tried to take it from me, to fold it; I held her tighter, moaning, skin-on-skin, sweat, and all. Her weight on top of me felt considerate. Like she didn’t want our breasts to press against each other too hard to the point of being uncomfortable. She didn’t want to lie over me completely. This balance she kept was perfect. I gripped her back and clawed up to her neck, her hair. I couldn’t stop kissing her. I wanted to know her, to know every movement of her head, how many strands of her hair I could cover with my fingertips, and just how soft her face was against my lips. I wanted to know everything. Videl’s shallow breathing let me know that she got the sentimentality behind my touch. For a moment I was scared I’d started smothering her. Every now and then she let out a soft sound, telling me that she liked this from me. Such a small thing heated my face down to my neck, my chest, soaring.

  Videl shuddered when I wrapped my legs around hers. She rocked against me, instinctive. I didn’t need a true ending to this. I needed this to keep going indefinitely. Videl stayed at this steady pace for me. I had never felt my heart beating like this before—pressing, fast, sharp, continuous. She bit down on her lower lip like she wanted to say something. Something important. I’d made that rule earlier about not talking. She wouldn’t break it.

  “What is it?” I asked her. “You can tell me.”

  “…I’m falling for you. So much.”

  Videl rested her head along my chest. I sighed in content and held her. Faint sounds of voices from my bandits echoed through the room. I had a weird feeling about them. It was only a passing thought compared to having Videl here with me like this. I reached over to my nightstand and got some of my black velvet. Pure relaxation took over as I inhaled it. I watched the glittering smoke swirl up to the dark ceiling. I only smoked a bit before Videl moved to kiss me again. The two highs couldn’t compete with one another. They tasted so different. The black velvet was artificial. She was pure and amazing and thoughtful in the way she touched me. Every time I felt her harness brush against me, I twisted underneath her. I wanted it but I wanted her to keep kissing me more. Hours must have passed with her mouth and hands worshiping my whole body. Vertigo had seized me long ago. I lost track of how many times she ate me out and made me scream for her, louder and louder each time. As I came down from the latest high she’d given me, my head just so happened to lull to the side. I could barely see my bedside clock in this pitch dark.

  “Mmm, Videl, baby,” I almost babbled, barely coherent. “The clock…right there…” Vaguely I felt my hand pointing toward it, floating. “What time is it…?”

  Videl laughed softly. She crawled over me to move closer to the clock. “It’s eleven o’clock,” she said.

  “Oh, fuck! I told Nyte I’d meet her at midnight! Shit!”

  “You still have an hour,” she pointed out, putting her undershirt back on.

  I threw my arms around her neck. “But I want you for more than an hour,” I complained. “Didn’t eat dinner. Didn’t check in with my boys. Satya’s supposed to leave in a few minutes and I ain’t touched base with her, either.” When I tried to sit up, I fell back down to the bed, dramatically, and held Videl closer to me. “God, what have you done? I don’t wanna move! We’ve gotta eat dinner. I’ve gotta get dressed, too. I just want somethin’ simple to wear.”

  “Are you going alone?” she asked. “To Slutgarden, I mean.”

  “I want you with me. Go ahead and put your clothes back on.”

  After Videl got dressed, she came over to me. She had me sit up from where I was. As she stood behind me, my back pressed against her, she put my clothes on me with such care. She caressed me with her hands and lips, her touch firm enough to get me going again. I felt completely surrounded by her in such a good way. I had to help her every now and then; she didn’t know how I wrapped my sari around my body. She was a quick learner. When she turned me around, Videl knelt down to hold my legs. She somehow never let go of me as she put my sandals on and fastened the buckles—as if her arms were made to cradle and carry me. She picked me up again and had us leave for the dining hall. We snuck some food from the kitchens and warmed it up, laughing all the while like a pair of teenagers. We had the whole hall to ourselves. After I lit a few torches along the walls, I sat at my usual spot at the table, with Videl right next to me. While we ate, we took the time to negotiate. I needed to make sure we were on the same page with things. I didn’t want any miscommunications in our relationship. From the way she handled me and responded so well, it was easy to assume we both liked the same things all the time.

  “One thing that’s real important,” I said, “Is the idea of dominance, you know? I think a lot of people assume that just ‘cause one partner is dominant, that they’ve gotta be in that stereotypical male role. I don’t agree. Even if you’re fucking me, with one order, I could tell you to stop, and you’d have to do it.”

  “It’s more of a mental understanding,” she added. “I know
what you mean.”

  “I think we’ve established that that’s the way to do things,” I replied, smiling.

  Videl returned my smile. “Then what are your rules?” she asked. “You said you don’t have very many. I assume these have to do with your hard limits.”

  “Not mine—yours.”

  “Mine?”

  “That’s right,” I answered. Videl seemed surprised. “What is it?”

  “Miranda never gave me a chance to develop my own identity. It was all about her all the time. My limits were her limits. I did grow to resent it. But I don’t think I’ve taken the time to know what I don’t want. You know how I feel about being androgynous. Even if it’s hard for me sometimes, I trust you with my body. I have no idea about the rest.”

  I hummed, thinking. That definitely made things complicated. It made her flexible, but at the same time, there was a real risk of putting her off. I wanted to avoid that at all costs. This was about what both of us wanted, not just what I liked. If she couldn’t enjoy herself with me, that took the fun out of it. There were some exceptions, of course. I looked around the room for some inspiration. Food didn’t do much for me. It was a staple, a given in life. I didn’t find it all that erotic. I stood up and slowly walked to one of the torches along the wall. That fire festival where we’d had our first time together… I took the torch and went back to her. Videl stared at me—expectant, anxious. I moved the fire closer to her face. She steeled her eyes and waited. She didn’t protest. She didn’t shirk away from me.

  “Ain’t you scared?” I wondered. Videl shook her head. “It’s fire for fuck’s sake! Any normal person would’ve told me to cut it out by now.”

  “You wouldn’t burn me with it. I know you like my face too much to do that.”

  I laughed and said, “Oh, so it’s all logic with you? Your imagination must be full of rocks.”

  “This might have played out differently if I were in subspace,” she pointed out. “But, right now, I’m not bothered by it. I can reason myself out of most situations. It’s hard to suspend my disbelief. I trust you to be logical, too. If you burned me, you wouldn’t get to show me off to Nyte later on.”

  “Show you off, huh?” I asked, putting the torch back. “You think that’s what I wanna do?”

  “I have a feeling you’ll want to when the time comes.”

  “We’ll see about that. For now I wanna see more about suspendin’ your disbelief.”

  Videl was about to ask me what I meant—until I picked her up and threw her down onto the polished wood of the table. I straddled her, watching her pulse pick up along her neck. She bit down on her lip to keep from making a sound. And she looked to the closed door, once, wondering if anyone would come in and see us like this. I kissed her hard and unzipped her jeans. I got a thrill from someone possibly walking in. She didn’t. She was afraid that her sister would find us. I knew she was. Videl thrashed around underneath me. She didn’t beg me to stop. She didn’t push me off of her like I thought she would. Her resistance sounded submissive as it echoed through my mouth. I wanted to fuck her there from that alone. It was too risky after the last time I’d had her. She had no idea that I didn’t actually plan on doing it.

  I whispered next to her ear, “So you do got a sense of imagination in that head of yours.”

  “Luna doesn’t know about this part of my life…”

  “Hmm? You mean she never heard about you bein’ a sex slave before? I thought Eden was full of gossip! She ain’t heard nothin’ from the grapevine yet? I doubt she’s that naïve, babe.”

  I didn’t expect Videl to start shaking in fear. She didn’t trust me as much as when I had a dangerous flaming torch right next to her face. But I didn’t want this to end—not completely. I zipped her jeans back up and gauged her reaction. Steadily, she calmed down.

  Anything involving her sister finding out about her lifestyle was definitely a hard limit. And Luna finding us in a compromising, but very vanilla position on top of the dining table? That was perfectly all right. I appreciated the fine line between the two. At the same time, my intuition told me that there had to be more to this. Now wasn’t a good time to probe. I moved to kneel next to her, watching her breathe as she stared up at the high ceiling. I grazed my nails down her skin; saw the thin hairs along her forearms stand up on-end, surrounded by shivers. I couldn’t tell if it was my touch alone that made her react this way, or if I’d triggered something a few minutes ago. She seemed like she’d moved on from it, bodily, but her mind was still there. I grabbed her shoulders and forced her onto her side. Videl let out a breathy whine. I liked it too much. I held her arm and pulled her back with the same force. She only sighed.

  Back to her shoulders I went. I gripped them, without moving her, and she nearly lost it. I let her go and she calmed down again. She had a sensitive spot here—right along her collar bone. I grabbed her there again and pulled her into a sitting position. Videl held my forearms and shut her eyes, trying not to make a sound. She wanted to, though. That was the important part.

  Seemingly unrelated, I asked her, “Do you like to share?”

  Videl stared down at the table. “Only with you,” she said. Then she looked at me in concern. “Unless you mean other people?” Yes, that was what I meant. “No, I don’t like the idea of it. But it’s…complicated. Technically, I can’t bear the thought of being with anyone other than you. And yet I would bear it, maybe enjoy it, as long as you wanted that from me.”

  “I believe you,” I replied. “Then again, there’s gotta be somethin’ you don’t want. No matter what. I think people are usually gross. If it’s not arousal or sweat, I want nothin’ to do with what comes out of our bodies. There’s freaky and then there’s that kind of freaky. I respect people who are into that but they’d better not try and convert me.” Videl smiled in agreement. I couldn’t help smiling back. “As much as I wanna keep this goin’, we’ve gotta dash soon. I still ain’t found Satya yet.”

  “You should go find her while I take our dishes back. I’ll clean them so the workers won’t have anything extra to do in the morning. I should let Luna know I’ll be out. Where do you want me to meet you?”

  “Mmm, downstairs’ll work. I’ll find you soon.”

  ***

  When I got to my office, I found a note from Satya on my desk. She’d already gone ahead to make sure Nyte got to the VIP section in Slutgarden—without Mistress Fury. There was to be a mix-up in their transportation, with Kurtz riding in the carriage with Nyte’s wife instead. We only had so much time before Mistress Fury got suspicious and started looking around the club. This had my name written all over it. All I needed was a few minutes to ask Nyte what she wanted to do about her wife. If she wanted to get away, I had a room ready for her to stay at Vassago. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  Finn wandered into the room. “So…does Videl have a job or is she staying here for free?” he asked, like he’d been holding onto the question for ages. “The guys are saying that’s not our policy.”

  I glared at him and said, “What was that? Didn’t quite hear you. Are you and the guys questionin’ me?”

  “Uh, n-no, Empress,” he stammered. “That was outta line, I guess. I-I mean they’re just wondering, you know, since Luna’s working, how come her sister…isn’t…? Maybe it has something to do with, uh, you two being bed buddies… Special treatment?”

  “Who thinks I’m givin’ her special treatment, huh?”

  Finn cringed. “Almost everyone,” he mumbled, staring down at the floorboards. “They’re just scared. Lots of folk are worried that…that you two’ll get close and you’ll change things down here for her. They’ve been saying some really awful things about you two…”

  “And when was anyone gonna bring this up to me?” I asked loudly. Finn staggered back, looking guilty. “The lot of you walkin’ ‘round whisperin’ to each other like we’re kids in school—hell, I assumed you were worried about Mistress Fury fucking things up. But no! You’re t
oo busy gossipin’ about whether or not we’ve fucked, and if her mouth over my clit is suddenly gonna make me change Elysium all for her! Are you fucking kiddin’ me?!”

  “I-I’m sorry, Empress!” he cried, shielding his face. “I’m only the messenger! Please!”

  “Oh, please what?” I mocked. “Did you think I was gonna pat you on the head and tell you what a great job you’re doin’, rattin’ out your other boys? No. I’ve only got one order for you: bring ‘em here. All of ‘em. Every single punk who thinks I’m outta line for goin’ after my own happiness for once—I want ‘em all in the conference room right the fuck now.” Finn just kept standing there staring at me in fear. “Did you not fucking hear me?! You’ve got ten minutes or I’ll toss you to Nirvana for the dirtiest whore they’ve got to fuck you up the ass!”

  Finn ran out of my office. He called for an emergency meeting, screaming down the halls like he’d seen a ghost. I buried my face in my hands. This was another reason why I stayed away from relationships for so long. Everyone down here expected me to live my life for them all the time. If I so much as took the day off, it was a sign of an apocalypse for them. They couldn’t stand on their own two feet without me. When I got to the conference room, I found all of the assholes in my gang arguing with each other. They wanted to know who’d snitched on them. Finn sat at the long table with his head down. It wasn’t my place to rat him out. If he wanted to fess up, that was on him. A small part of me did appreciate him being honest… I knew how hard it was to look me in the eye—or try to—and tell me what he did. But he really should’ve told me sooner.

  “Settle down!” I yelled. My boys stopped bickering and stared at me. “Now here’s what we’re gonna do. Since you all wanna act like bitches that tells me you need some time to cool off. Guess what? I’m happy to give you all the time you need!” I shut the door and locked it. A mob of my bandits rushed against the locked door, slamming their fists against it and whining. “You want out? Too bad! Don’t talk shit about me and my girl! You better learn your damn lesson by the time I get back!”