This story is a long buildup with an extended payoff. Sex doesn't start until about 10,000 words in, but continues for a long time after that. It may be better not to start this one when you're feeling impatient.
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Buffing out the last spots on a silver candelabra, I place it back on its table, and breathe a quiet sigh of relief for the army poised outside the gates.
Just a few minutes earlier, Lady Loralani passed through the room while I was at work, without even giving me a glance. A couple weeks ago, that would have been unthinkable, but she seems to have finally decided she has more pressing things to worry about. Even though there's never been a time when it's mattered less, I put my best efforts into cleaning all the parts the castle I've been assigned to. After all, we're going to have new occupants soon. I can't imagine they'll care too much about how well the place is turned out when they get here, but it's still nice to think that after all this time, I'm finally doing the work for someone else.
I'm still dusting up when Ceralin shows up looking to talk. It's no surprise if she's finished her work before me, she probably had a much lighter workload to begin with, and she has less reason to worry if she rushes the job. But she helps me finish setting the room in order as she brings up the subject that's been on all our minds.
"So how do you think the demons will treat the place when they get here?" she asks.
"Well, I haven't heard of them burning any cities to the ground so far." I say.
That's an understatement of course. If there's one thing everyone's heard about the Demon Lord of the West, it's that he takes an extremely light hand with commoners. It's been three years since his army first appeared in this country, and he's seized control of nearly the whole Western half, almost bloodlessly. They say he makes surrender an extremely attractive option, for everyone except for the ones at the very top.
Her ears twitch as I say that though, and she gives me a worried look.
"Still," she says, "we'll have demons living in the castle. I'm sure the people in the town will be fine, but do you think we'll be safe here with them?"
"I think we'll be alright." I say. "People are still traveling from the lands he's taken over after all. If there weren't anyone to bring news, it'd be almost as bad a sign as waves of refugees, but so far no one's bringing any horror stories from the occupied territories. We might be stuck inside for a while, but I doubt that'll last long. It might even be an improvement."
"I guess that's true. Sorry."
Her ears dip a bit in embarrassment. Ceralin's kept her head down and gone mostly unnoticed by the masters of the castle for all the decades she's worked here, but she knows I haven't had it as easy. It only takes a moment for her to perk up again though.
"Do you think he's going to conquer the whole kingdom then?" she asks.
"Maybe. It doesn't seem like anyone's trying very hard to stop him," I say.
"That's true. I guess I can't blame them," she says. "Then we'll probably have an incubus for a king soon. Do you think he's going to rename the whole country then?"
The fact that our country is on the verge of being taken over by a demon lord, and her first concern is whether he's going to change its name, says a lot about why he's been having such an easy time of it. Our current king, Aleoras, has been on the throne for well over a hundred years, longer than I've been alive, and until three years ago I'd never heard anyone discuss whether he was a good king. I guess I'd always assumed he was a normal one, but now that there's someone else to compare him to, it seems like no one really feels any loyalty towards him at all.
Maybe because the Demon Lord of the West is an incubus, it's not in his nature to be especially violent. He doesn't seem to be especially wicked compared to what people already expect of their lords, so nobody sees much reason to fight for their sakes except the lords themselves. Probably quite a lot of people are actually happy seeing their lands conquered to spite them. Since this isn't how war usually goes in stories, I guess Aleoras must not be much of a king after all.
It doesn't matter much to me one way or another, but I give her my best guess off the cuff.
"I don't know if someone who's called the Demon Lord of the West is the type who'd care much about naming things." I say.
To my disappointment, she doesn't even crack a smile at that. Instead, she just cocks her ears and looks thoughtful.
"Hmm, I guess that might be true." she says.
It's at that moment that we're interrupted as the head maid slips through the door and beckons to both of us.
"Lady Loralani is making an address to the castle staff" she tells us. "Everyone is to attend."
I'd much rather muddle through a conversation with someone who doesn't pick up my jokes than sit through whatever Loralani has to say to us, but I suppose we don't have any choice. We hurry to put away our things and head to the lower hall to wait for her address. The whole domestic staff is there, not just the other maids, and we line up by rank and station to wait. Ceralin and I take our places behind the head maid, near the back.
It's not long before the last members arrive, but it takes a while still for Loralani to show up after us. Since we're not allowed to speak among ourselves while we wait, I can only wonder what she might have called us here for. Some sort of speech to keep up our morale under occupation? Maybe, but Loralani has never shown any sign of worrying about the feelings of her staff so far, just like her father before her. A farewell address? It'd make sense, but I don't think she has the nerve to face us all and admit that not even two years after the death of lord Loriel, her father, her time as the lady of this castle is already coming to an end. And if, against all odds, she has some brilliant plan to resist the demon lord's invasion, she should have shared it a long time ago by now.
When Loralani finally arrives, long after she has to have known everyone would already be assembled, late enough to impress on us that she's making us wait on purpose, she takes her place in front of the staff. She gestures for our attention, as if we've had anything to do this entire time other than wait for her to show up, and begins to speak.
"I know that many of you are worried," she says, "about the demon's army which encroaches upon our lands. You fear that his forces will overrun us, destroy our way of life and take away everything we hold dear."
That sounds like a fair description of what
she's
afraid of. It's why her father drank himself to death rather than face up to what was coming for him. Hopefully she knows better than to think that this applies to the rest of us.
"I am here to reassure you," she says, "that that will not happen. The demons may be strong, but they can certainly be defeated. Our men-at-arms have served for hundreds of years, and fought through fierce battles before. They will not submit to the enemy. And when the demons bring the battle to us-" she glares at us as she makes her pronouncement, "We will triumph."
I let my eyes flicker across the surrounding crowd. Everyone's faces are holding steady, but I can see several sets of ears start to twitch. Is she serious? This is more than delusional, she's basically feeding us bald-faced lies. A few of the castle's men-at-arms may have served for two or three hundred years, and fought under her father's banner for some earlier king, but most are much younger, and have never seen battle in their lives. Facing the demon lord's forces, led by biesi, demons of war, they have absolutely no reason not to surrender.
"Our men will triumph." she repeats. "They will repel the demon's forces and turn him away at our gates. Because they understand that that is their role. That is why they have remained in service to this land for centuries. They understand the meaning of loyalty, and they will prevail."
She pauses, looking over the assembled staff before she speaks again.
"All of you should hold yourselves to the same standard." she says. "Just as our men-at-arms will not waver in their duty, neither should any of you falter in your work out of fear or uncertainty. You bear the same responsibilities today that you always have, and the same as they will be in years to come. By upholding your duties, you serve as examples to each other, in good times and in ill."
Despite my position near the back of the crowd, as she looks over us, I can see her eyes linger for a moment on me in particular.
"It is as important as ever to remain steadfast in your duties. Who was it," she asks, "who was was responsible for tending to my room this morning?"
The head maid steps forward and bows her head.
"It was Nalina, your ladyship."
Of course, there's no way that Loralani doesn't know that was my job. I receive that assignment more than anyone, because Loralani has specifically instructed the head maid to ensure as much."
"Come forward, maidservant Nalina." Loralani commands.
I walk to the front of the assembled servants, doing my best to appear calm. This isn't the first time she's called out to me in front of the other maidservants, but it's the first time she's done it in front of the entire house staff. She steps closer, within arm's reach, and glares at me with undisguised venom.
"Do you feel," she asks, "that you discharged your duties appropriately? That you cleaned and turned out my room as you were expected to?"
Of course I did. I put in the same effort as I do every time I'm assigned to it, which is more than it took before her father died and she started constantly looking for reasons to find fault with my work. I've spent most of the last two years looking for ways to deflect her anger, and she comes back to this now, on the eve of an invasion from a literal army of demons?
I bow my head.
"Yes, my lady." I say.
She slaps me across the face.
With my eyes turned towards the floor, I couldn't see her hand coming until the last instant. Loralani may not have done a day's physical labor in her life, but the blow had all her strength behind it. Not only does my cheek burn with the impact, the heel of her palm clipped hard against my nose, leaving the back of my throat tingling. I raise my face, my ears aching with the effort of holding my expression steady, but when I look at her, I can see her pale golden eyes brimming with tears.
"How dare you!?" she yells.
"My room was left a complete mess! As if nobody had attended it at all! Because
you
