Chapter 8 - A New Plot???
After her first full day at Aecaster Citadel, the former serf settled into a daily routine. Elli would wake up, usually at the prompting of her king's libido, and bob either her face, breasts, or entire body up and down his demon cock. Then she and her new maidservant, Saph, would meet at the baths and either tour the citadel together or simply talk over a light breakfast. But the majority of her day would be spent in the grand library, often with Arisselia joining to provide private lessons.
Thankfully not every night was filled with a formal banquet. It was becoming the norm for King Orduzell to summon both his wife and concubine to join him for a private meal, which meant eating lightly because he would very quickly begin grabbing for one of them to fulfill his other appetites. Was it any wonder that the evening meal was Elli's favorite?
Unfortunately, the tournament is fast approaching, bringing a sense of urgency and tension among the new demonic aristocracy and the servants of Aecaster.
"It's hardly surprising," Saph begins to explain as the pair exits the side hall, fresh-baked pastries hidden up sleeves to provide a snack for studying in the library. "Lords and Chancellors and the like always do this. They get some grand whim and want to see it done immediately."
Smoke billows up over the damaged outer walls and into the courtyard, marring the afternoon sunlight. Their footsteps stir up a fine layer of ash that Elli could swear wasn't there yesterday.
"Ugh." The maidservant groans, "Maybe we should take the long way. I mean, look at this mess! Perfect example here. The nobility wants to hold a tourney, and we're still cleaning up after the mess of a battle! I really hope that's debris smoke and not 'we ran out of places to bury the dead' smoke."
Elli is silent for a moment while following her new friend back inside to find another route. "Is this... I mean, I've never lived through a real battle, so... Is this normal?" The destruction, the death. Elli isn't sure how to put her thoughts into words to elaborate, not when she's able to separate herself from the worst of it by being confined to the safety of the citadel.
The other girl makes a sour face. "I think so? Most of the major fighting happened in the outskirts and lower town. It's not like the nobles cared much about the rest of us, though the Knights did try to hold back the invading army. It's the first time Aecaster's been breached like this, supposedly. But I've also heard that the Sulari Cultists did a number on the lower town in the failed insurrection some oh... 150 years ago? But from what some of the servants that fled their homelands said, these sorts of things are a little more..." Saph looks around to make sure they're mostly alone. "You know... with the women getting... I mean, they don't usually leave anyone untouched if they can help it. These guys killed plenty, commoners and soldiers alike, but so far I've heard there wasn't a lot of the usual desecration. But I also suppose we were lucky to be holed up in the citadel for it. Perks of being a lowly servant is someone always could use more."
"Well I know one thing that got desecrated." Elli glances out one of the inner windows facing the reconstruction of the keep's inner sanctum. Soon, she might be restricted to living within the high inner walls of the citadel where she can be ignored or pampered on a single person's whim.
"What are they doing to it? I'm not a very worshipful person myself, but is he really trying to pick a fight with a god?" The other girl cups her hands around her eyes to try and get a better look at the stout creatures carrying construction materials back and forth.
"It's for the harem. I don't get it, but apparently we need some safe place to be hidden away where he's the only male allowed inside?"
"Do you think they already have their own eunuchs or are they gonna recruit from some from the Enlightened Sect? Or maybe make some?"
Elli mentally adds yet another strange word to her vocabulary list. "I wouldn't know, what's a eunuch?"
"Well, for starters, I've heard that they chop off..."
And thus begins another chapter of Elli's education into the lives of nobles and courts and weird religious subgroups. After being denied a simple life of becoming a peasant wife, it now seems she is also denied becoming an ignorant pet leashed to her master's side. One question becomes another, and soon both girls are pestering the queen for confirmation of Saphs's crude rumors.
The library is busier today, the minimal staff all present to help scour the depths of the Order's wealth of scrolls at the insistence of the new queen. Which was probably actually under orders of the king, but Arisselia took the task seriously.
"I don't have time to... yes, some harems have guards that have had certain things removed, but that's what these..." The statuesque sorceress gestures at the pair of tusked monsters guarding the doors, "things... are for." Wisely, neither guard responds.
A robed figure looks up from the strange drawings that Elli recognizes after a moment as maps. His silver hair has escaped some of his braids to fall onto the table. "They're not designed for carnal delights. They're really grown for numbers and intimidation." He quickly rolls up the map with a hiss of dissatisfaction, "I'm not about to find out for certain; however, by not being entirely animal, I think they already lack the necessary equipment to be a problem. The only thing we've had to worry about is when they're not well fed."
Elli takes a moment to think that one through before going pale. They wouldn't try to eat anyone, right? Not that she'd seen any of the creatures really fight except that one time against her. A quick glance to the side shows the same thought on Saph's face.
Arisselia sighs, rolling up another large paper sheet. "I'm still not having any luck. Can't you send out scouts?"
"That's trickier across oceans. It'd be easier to start boarding ships." The demonic one tries to conceal his own irritation. "Unfortunately all of the ships we captured in the harbor are only familiar with the near coast."
Saph, trying to ingratiate herself with her new rulers, tentatively interjects, "It isn't the right season yet. Aescaster only gets visitors from far away places come about summer. I think it's because there's still some dangerous blizzards? Oh, but they don't stay long because they have to get back 'cross before the next storms in late summer."
The silver-haired man nods and makes some notes on the parchment roll beside him. "Thank you, girl. So your people do have ocean transit. The ship captains have been needlessly tightlipped about that."
Arisselia looks sour-faced, "Did you expect them not to be, or can the grand Duzellian Armies compel everything out of their conquered subjects?"
Duzellian, that was also a new term. To be fair though, Arisselia took her role as queen seriously and Elli was a pet with very little experience outside of hearth and earth. She still had a lot to learn.
"You had better control your tongue, your majesty. Our Kingdom is still growing, but I wouldn't dare mock your King and husband if I was you."
Elli can see the tidy nails digging into the new queen's forearm before she responds, "I am well aware. Elli, inform the steward that I will be dining in the library tonight, and then go make yourself comfortable in our King's chambers. I won't be up to the task of entertaining his needs after the headache this dust is giving me."
"Are, are you sure, my Queen?" It sounded like permission to take her place at Orduzell's side for the night.
"Yes, I'd like to finish sorting the maps and campaign reports, so unless he suddenly decides none of this is urgent and sends someone to fetch me, I'll be here tonight. Be a dear and suffer in my place."
Elli felt her heart start to speed up. "Of course, my Queen! I'll be more than happy to."
Any hope for lessons dashed today, Elli heads back to her own room to prepare herself with her new maidservant at her side.
An hour or so later finds the young woman well-groomed, a little oiled-up between her thighs, and clad in her best armor, a practically translucent gown of tight, shimmering fabric. Elli clutches the thicker wrap tighter around her, thankful for the warmth. Saph had urged it upon her for something she called modesty, but it did serve to keep out the Citadel's drafty chill.
Feeling nervous about entertaining her master alone, she thanks him silently for only using her breasts and mouth that morning. The after-ache of sex is becoming normal, but she already understands why Arisselia refused him in the mornings. A night of passion is more than enough for one day.
She giggles as she quietly enters the King's large suite of rooms, noting that dinner hasn't been brought in, and that the fire needs tending still. Poking at the wood and rearranging to add another log, she allows herself to imagine what he'll be like in the morning.
Would he stumble out of bed, groggily put on a loose robe, and then go to the library and force his wife to relieve him? Wake her up with the gentle nudge of his foot on her chair? Or would he stay in bed and test out his concubine's limits until Elli couldn't even move on her own?
It'd almost be funny to follow him and watch. Arisselia would probably have her entire focus on one of those thick tomes stacked in the table while using one hand to please him. Oh, he wouldn't like that, but he might put up with it from his wife.
Fire roaring back to life, Elli looks around and drapes her unneeded wrap on a chair away from the table where they take private meals. She might as well go check on the bed. Make sure it is ready for the long night ahead.
Someone is in the bed. A brunette woman blinks at her before settling back against the pillow. Elli is speechless.
"Close your mouth, honey. You'll catch flies, not dicks."
Well, rude.
"Excuse me, but I think you have the wrong room." Elli tries to point out, but the other woman laughs.
"I'm new to the harem, go rest your legs. I've got this King handled for the night."
Like hell she does! Elli holds back the anger, but the temptation to go find one of the guards or another of her master's servants is growing.
"I was not informed of you, miss. I think it would be best if you leave."
The woman snorts, "Bold words from a little bitch. If you were the head bitch, the dark haired sorceress, I might feel compelled to obey."
"Head bi... how dare you call Queen Arisselia such a thing!" Elli's skin burns at her neck, a sign that the cold metal is dampening the pull on her magic. "First, he might just toss you to your death if he finds you in here, and if he doesn't, Arisselia will. Second, he's only interested in women with magic, not just any old... old... bitch off the streets."
