Ch. 08: Consequences of Nobility

This is a rewrite of a previously published work. There is a lot of new content in it, but it is not wholly new content. There will be new chapters coming.

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Something swept across my face in my sleep.

Red hair was in my face as I opened my eyes and I grimaced, trying to compress myself into the pillow further as she stared down at me. All she said when her eyes met mine was "You snore."

I wiped my mouth of the drool that had collected and started to get up, then I froze, realizing what she was wearing. It was the least practical dress I had ever seen. It was a solid black and barely went down a third of her thighs. It was embroidered with a unique, lacy design. What was worse was that her chest was also revealed. The dress wrapped around her neck and back, but left a window that left her chest on clear display. And she had a larger chest than Meryl by leaps and bounds. Which conjured images of her jumping up and down. I sighed and fell back to the bed.

"What's this?" She asked, playfully. I felt her hand land on my lust which was pointing inconveniently up to the sky. She gripped it through the blanket and I twisted, trying to escape her grip.

"What are you doing?" I glanced up at her with worry and still fought to get out of her reach. That was when I noticed, with her bending over in the way she was, that she had no undergarments on. "You're not wearing underwear!"

She grinned at me and pulled her dress up in a curtsy, revealing her bare pussy to the light. She was also bare down there. And her soft, brown skin didn't lighten so much as a shade under her clothes. "Neither are you, m'lord."

I could not help but lick my lips before staunchly meeting her eyes. "Why aren't you wearing any?"

"Mm, queen's orders. She said I had to find a way to keep your attention." Her voice was a purr. I swallowed, trying desperately to keep my eyes directed above her collar bone. She was pleased by this reaction.

"Que-en Meryl ordered you to..." I paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, choosing to stare her in the face instead of... anywhere else. Which took a considerable amount of willpower. And felt like a waste. I didn't know the woman all that well, but this did seem like something she'd approve of. "And th-this is how you choose to... grab my attention... Why?"

"Because," she poked my nose softly and put a knee on the bed. "It's fun."

"B-b-but, won't Queen Meryl or L-Lady Carmella be upset by this? By you uh..." I strained for words to try and defend myself.

"They know my intentions. I told them after I first got to know you." She made her way closer and I spun out of the bed on the other side, bringing the covers with me and held them up to shield at least my lust and held up a hand. "Why do you think that I was assigned to watch you?"

"I-I have a job for you," I stammered, trying to find any means of distraction from... whatever this was. "I-I mean a request."

"A request, you say?" Her eyes were locked on the blanket and she still wore a smile. "And what would that be?"

I made my way over to the two swords that were lying on a table in the room. I took the sheets with me as I crossed the room, trying to maintain a sliver of dignity. Which didn't really work. "I want you to put these in Lady Carmella's room without her knowing that you did so. Can you do that?"

"I can deliver your..." She took a couple of steps forward and I stepped back, losing the blanket in the process. I hit the wall behind me and she closed the distance faster than I would have suspected she could have. Her eyes met mine and she reached out. I figured it was for one of the swords, but she gripped my... Hilt and finished her sentence, "Sword." My entire body stiffened. Especially where she had grabbed. I swallowed. She continued, not letting go. "But why don't you do it yourself?"

"B-b-because," I stuttered, desperately trying to get my mind to focus on anything else. "I don't want to make a show of it. She already has a hard enough time having to deal with me being here. I don't want to make it worse."

Emilia considered me for a while longer. It felt like an eternity because she had not removed her hand and it was warm and soft. She then nodded slowly. "She'll know it was you."

"I figured. But I just don't want to make a big deal out of it, okay?" She shook her head after I finished and picked up the swords and examined them.

"Get dressed. I was told you haven't gone to court for the last few days. You're going today." I shifted uncomfortably at her words and mumbled about not wanting to go. She put the swords down and closed the distance between us, pressing me into the wall, her hand on my chest. "If you don't want to go... we can just spend all day here. Alone."

I gulped and tried to ignore the fact that my cock was pressed up against her and my heart was beating faster than it ever had before. "I-I'll go."

"We'll go. Get dressed now." She said with that same vulpine smile. Her hand brushed me all the way down as she departed, causing me to jump. I quickly got dressed, trying to ignore the fact that she watched me the entire time, toying with her short dress. I also made an effort to look at her face instead of her thighs, which were surrounded in tight stockings that caused a little bulge of flesh above them. They went up to the middle of her thigh and were still half a hand below her dress. In an effort to not pay attention to this, I focused on her head. And her pretty red hair, in particular. That's when I noticed that her ears were pointed. They stuck out pretty far but were subtly hidden by her hair. I got closer to the woman and stared down at her. She smiled up at me.

"Did you change your mind about spending the da-" She cut off when I reached up and caressed her ear. I traced the entire thing with my fingers and she could not stop herself from leaning into the touch. Suddenly her breathing was quicker and she bit her lip which did not suppress her soft moan entirely. I stopped and pulled my hand away.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, taking note of the flushed look she was wearing. That was quite the reaction. "I just didn't realize before. You're an elf."

She met my eyes and muttered almost too quietly to be heard "Half."

"Half?" I asked placidly. I was thinking about playing with her ear some more, but I kept my hands at my side. "Oh. You're a half elf."

"Y-yeah." She sounded upset. She started turning away from me and I caught her arm.

"What's wrong?" I asked, dropping my hand. The last thing I want is for her to feel trapped.

"It's nothing." She lied. It was incredibly obvious.

"Liar." I retorted evenly. She looked at me, searching for something in my expression.

"I know how humans feel about elves. Because of the war." She said, pain in her voice. I didn't know much about any wars. I know that a century ago, there'd been something between the elves of Wyefalls and Bayfield. But I didn't really know any details. She started to walk away, words spilling from her lips as she did, "I try to hide my ears. I don't want people to look at me that way. Like I'm going to hurt them."

"Wait," I called out, catching up with her before she could leave the room. She stood at the door. I reached out for her hand and she didn't resist as our fingers interlaced. I led her over to the mirror. Her face was red with emotions she was trying to suppress. I took a moment, running my hands through her hair. She stood there passively. Her lip was trembling and it was honestly pretty heartbreaking to see. Eventually I figured out how her braid worked and I started to undo it. She reached up and grabbed my hands. "What are you doing?"

"You have a pretty new dress. Your hair is lovely," I began, running my fingers through her hair. Her eyes drifted closed and she leaned into my chest. "but I think you need a new hairstyle to go with it."

"I don't want people to see my ears," the Head Maid mumbled half-heartedly, as she covered her ears with her hands.

"And I think they should. I can't make you, if you really don't want to." I responded, sliding my hands under hers and started caressing her earlobes softly between two fingers. She moaned softly and let her hands fall down. I continued to rub them, running my fingers to the sharp tip and then back down. She shuddered under my touch and her breathing quickly became ragged. "You are what you are. And I guess I'm here to stay, so if anyone causes any issues, you can come to me and I'll fix it."

She reached up and put a finger to my lip, her head moving against my hands unconsciously. We stood there for a long while until she started shuddering and a loud moan escaped her lips. Her knees went out from her and I caught her and held her up. She wrapped her arms around me and shivered into my chest. There was a little bit of drool leaking from her mouth and she wiped at it absently. I was fairly certain that I understood what happened, but I was not going to say anything.

After a few moments, she pushed off my chest and walked over to my blanket, which was still on the floor next to the table with the swords. She grabbed it and tried to subtly wipe her inner thighs with it. I watched carefully, noting the wet spot that came away and I flushed. Her legs were unsteady as she threw the blanket back on the bed. "A-alright. Let's go, Johann."

"Would you change your hair?" I asked in a quiet voice.

She searched my face for a long moment, mouth working. She eventually managed to ask "Why?"

"Because," I considered for a moment. "I don't know what all happened in the war or what happened to make you ashamed of your ears, but I think they're really cute. And I want to be... friends with the cute half-elf maid cleric. Gods, that's a long title. And I want people to know what she is so that they can know that they're friends with her, too. Maybe that'll start to mend the rift between men and elves."

When I called her cute, her entire face became darkened and never really changed as she walked over to the mirror, considering. "Is this an order, m'lord?"

"No, I don't have the right to order you to do... Anything, really," I began, hesitating only slightly. "I can't even get you to leave me alone when I bathe." I met her eye in the mirror. "But I would like it."

She watched me in the mirror. "What if I say no?"

"Then you say no and we go about our business." She watched my reflection carefully, then turned to face me directly.

"I'll try it... on one condition." She put her fists on her hips and squared up. I raised my brow. Despite the fact that she was much shorter than I was and this was adorable, I was certain she would get her way. "You have to stop resisting this so much."

"Resisting what? I'm here. I haven't run away since that first night." I laughed nervously. "I've learned that that's about as useful as locking my door around Meryl."

"You keep running away from me. From Queen Meryl and Lady Carmella." She looked nonplussed. I shifted uncomfortably.

"No! I do not!" I protested, putting some distance between the two of us.

"You jump every time we touch you," the Head Maid countered in an almost bored tone.

"Carmel- Lady Carmella has never touched me." I said, my voice cracking a bit. My mind flashed back to her caressing my hair until I fell asleep. "And she doesn't plan on doing so any time soon. And the rest of you shouldn't either."

"I'll redo my hair so that... so that it shows off my ears if you don't resist the next time a woman is in your bed." Emilia grinned knowingly. "Well, resistance can be fun. But you can't run out of the bed for your life. It's not as though we're trying to kill you."

I stared at her as though she was insane. She stood there, waiting for me to make a decision. I mean, it's not like one of them would go that far with it. They are reasonable people. It is not as though one of them would go all the way just because I stayed in bed. Right? Right.

"O-ok-kay." I managed eventually. Her grin was gigantic. She nodded and started redoing her hair. It somehow took both more and less time than I thought it would. I never really thought about how much work some people put into decorating their hair, but when she was done it was so intricate and neatly done that I had to ask. "Did you use some kind of magic to do that?"

She laughed at me and shook her head. "No, just practice."

After she was ready, she escorted me, arm in arm, to the court. The queen was sitting on her throne, legs crossed. She was also wearing a dress that was a little more risque than she normally did. Nothing like Emilia or even the one Carmella was in yesterday, but it showed off more of her chest and legs in the right position. She smiled at me and when I took my place a few steps behind and to the left of her, she motioned me closer. I stepped closer and leaned over, figuring she had something to say to me, but she just ignored me from then on out. I stood there next to her chair, admiring the gilding and listened absently to her petitioners. There was not anything that I felt confident commenting on.

I watched Emilia come and go, making sure people had drinks and were comfortable. Some of the people pointed to her ears when she had her back turned and whispered among themselves. I glowered at them and any who saw me dropped their hands and their eyes.

After some time, she stopped helping people and stared at the floor. Her hands were clenched into fists and were shaking. I edged back to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me with tears brimming her pink eyes and she took in a deep breath and smiled. It was the first time I had seen her force a smile. At least so obviously that I could notice it. I squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. She didn't move away but I don't think it did much.

"Why do you have an elf serving people here?" Words coming from a petitioner cut through my focus on Emilia. "What if the knife-eared cunt is a spy?"

I whirled around and stared at the man who was speaking. I stood in between him and Emilia, even taking a few steps forward. He was tall with dark hair, blue eyes, and wore incredibly fine clothes and a sword at his waist. He held his chin high and his hair framed his face. Queen Meryl held up a hand to stop me. Or perhaps to stall the man from continuing. She shifted to loom over the man even further, straightening her back. "Who I have as a servant is none of your conce-"

"The fuck it's not!" The man cut her off, gesturing with a hand covered in jewelry. Between that and the silks he was wearing, I figured he must have been a merchant. Merchants usually knew better than to insult potential customers and a queen to boot, but not all of them were all that intelligent. "Elves are monsters. They use their terrible magic to wreak havoc upon us!"

I stepped forward glaring down at the man. He continued spewing nonsense until I was right above him. By a fair amount. He had not risen from his prostrated form he had taken while addressing the queen. I looked back to Meryl and to Emilia. Both of them looked worried. I turned back to the man and tersely said "I'd like you to leave, sir."

"Why!?" He demanded haughtily.

"Because you're making a scene and you're insulting my... My friend." I mentally kicked myself for hesitating even slightly.

"You're friends with knife ears? Traitor!" He stood up. He was taller than me by a head and a half. I was taken aback; I was never all that tall, but meeting someone taller than Lady Carmella was a shock. "I should gut you where you stand and anyone else that lives with that thing!"

When the man had first started talking, a lot of the remaining crowd had seemingly agreed with him, but as he became more irate, less people were on his side. People looked uncomfortable. Even if they hated elves, they were not okay with this. I looked back to the queen and the maid and Meryl had schooled her face to a neutral mask. I thought I could see anxiety wrinkling around her eyes. Emilia bit her lip and I thought I could see tears threatening to escape her eyes.

With a sigh, I realized that I had made a mistake. I had made several mistakes. I had not realized that people hated elves this much. It didn't make a lot of sense to me. But I had never fought in a war. "Sir, if you really want to do this, we can do that outside where we won't stain the nice carpets here. It would be rude. But I'd also point out that you did just threaten the queen, which is treason, if I'm not mistaken."

The man blanched and glanced at the queen. His hand was on his sword but it relaxed slightly. "W-why does she support the elves? Maybe the queen is a traitor to us!"

I gauged the reaction of our audience and it was not favorable to that statement. It's one thing to insult an elven maid, but it's another thing entirely to insult the queen of the land. Meryl's reaction was a neutral disinterest. She met my eye and raised a brow. I spoke loudly enough so that everyone in the court could hear me. "Okay. You are committing treason. In front of the queen. Because of a maid who was kind enough to bring you a drink while you were waiting. I just want to emphasize that. You're doing all of this because you were brought a drink by a person you have never met and could have just ignored."

"You besmirch my honor." His tone started out quiet and dangerous, as he drew his sword. It grew into a shout as he continued, "I challenge you!"

"What?" I asked, thickly, my own hands hovering over my sword.

"You and your elf tricked me and will pay with your blood!" He leveled the sword at my neck.

I laughed. I could not help it. Which I admit was probably also not the best reaction. At least I didn't point at him when I did it. Though I'm not sure it would have made anything worse. His face flushed with rage and he flourished his sword at me. Surprisingly, the guards did not rush in to stop him. It didn't seem like he was trying to hit me, just attempting to intimidate me. But I'd spent a month sparring with the First Knight, so, it didn't quite have the desired effect.

"Alright." I stepped into his range and grabbed his wrist, still chuckling some. "You challenge me. Forgive me, I'm a little new to all of these courtly things. But like I said, if we're going to do something, let's go outside. They have nice carpets in here."

He roared and tried to pry his wrist from my grip. But I am a blacksmith. It would not be that easy to escape my grip. I let go slowly and prepared myself if he swung again. He did not. He was still furious, but he managed to contain himself. I started on my way out to the castle grounds. I was careful to make sure that he did not just outright attack me from behind, since none of the guards seemed to want to intervene. Surprisingly, everyone but the guards followed. All of the remaining petitioners, Queen Meryl, and Emilia. Meryl kept the same cool expression. I really wish I could know what she was thinking. All I kept thinking was that I had screwed up and would not be able to recover. Emilia looked terrified and mortified. People were stealing glances at her and whispering, but most of the attention remained on us.

We got out to the courtyard and I stood about ten paces away from the merchant. I looked around. Everyone was eagerly watching the two of us. "Okay. How does this work? I've never had to do anything like this before."

"Draw your sword. We battle to the death." The merchant's fury was seemingly replaced with a haughtiness. He expected to win this with ease. There was still rage underneath it all. I could tell from the way he held his sword. I bared my own blade. It was shorter than his by maybe a pace or so. He dashed forward and slashed. I managed to step out of the way of the first but the second he brought slashed through the flesh of my arms. He reversed the flow of his sword and brought it down towards my shoulder. I managed to raise my own sword blocking it, but only just. He took his blade away and slashed at my legs. I jumped back and narrowly avoided the long-sword. He was definitely the better swordsman.