The penultimate scandal, which took matters well beyond what Victorian society could countenance, occurred five months after the four survivors of the HMS Intrepid had made planetfall on the tropical moon.
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Scandalous behavior had been a regular occurrence since the lone escape pod had crashed into the lagoon. A day after their arrival, they had shed most of their clothing, which made the humidity easier to manage but which made their attraction to each other decidedly harder. The next night, they had given in and pleasured themselves while they lay next to one another. A month later, their behavior had progressed to pleasuring one another with their hands, lips, and tongues.
Victorian society would have expected Miss Anabella Locke to preserve her modesty and set a good example. She was the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Epsilon Pegasi, and as such had been brought up to reserve sexuality for marriage, and never to speak of it. But, as time passed on the tropical moon, she had slowly cast aside concerns about propriety. She had kissed her maidservant Shanti, deeply and passionately, and caressed her kitty until she came apart. She had taken her footman Robert's manhood into her mouth while he kissed her nethers, and felt her body explode with pleasure as his seed hit her tongue. And, for the past few months, she had watched avidly when her maidservant Ciara had mounted Roger, or wrapped her legs around Roger, and wound him up tighter and tighter until he let go and filled her with his seed.
It was not a surprise that, after three months of admitting Roger into her private parlor, Ciara was expecting an additional guest. It was still early, but given that the survivors wore hardly any clothing at all, the signs were quite clear. Ciara's bosom had grown fuller, and her belly had just begun to swell with her child.
The four survivors had reacted quite differently to Ciara's impending motherhood. Shanti was excited, and she frequently caressed Ciara's belly even when they were not engaging in amorous behavior. Roger doted on her, taking care to keep her from overexerting herself during the day. Miss Anabella's thoughts were often given to long-term worry about what their rescuers would think, but she occasionally found herself watching Ciara and wondering what it would feel like to have a child growing inside her.
On the night in question, Ciara and Anabella had just completed a small pantry for keeping the less-perishable food. Much of their diet consisted of fish, but the trees on the island also produced fruit that could be stored for some time. Shanti and Roger, meanwhile, had been testing out a small boat for purposes of extending their fishing range. As they finished their evening meal and prepared for bed, Shanti gave a hopeful look over at Ciara.
"How are you feeling?" Shanti asked.
Ciara stretched her arms behind her back and pushed her chest forward, which had the effect of drawing every eye to her magnificent freckled bosom. Anabella still blushed, occasionally, but she and the others had long since abandoned the pretense of looking away.
"I'm a bit tired," Ciara admitted.
"It's your night with Roger, though," Shanti said.
"I know," Ciara said. "I'm still tired, though."
Shanti sighed. "It's been almost two weeks since the two of you have...given each other your full attention."
Roger chuckled. "It's alright, Shanti. There shouldn't be pressure there."
Ciara smiled. "I appreciate you saying so, Roger. But Shanti, if you think he's missing out on that sort of personal attention, perhaps you should give it to him yourself."
Ciara chuckled as she watched the effect of this statement. No one could speak for a long moment. Anabella blushed and looked torn between offended Victorian sensibilities and deep excitement. Roger was having trouble gathering his wits, but he moved as if to put himself between Ciara and Shanti, as if to forestall any further teasing. Shanti, more than anything else, looked upset.
"You know I can't," Shanti said.
"You can if you wish," Ciara replied. "We've shared everything we have since we arrived here. Including one another."
Shanti sighed. "And what happens when rescue arrives? We'll have enough trouble explaining this already," she said, gesturing both at their nudity and at Ciara's belly.
"I will be able to help with that," Anabella noted.
"Not if more than one of us is with child," Shanti said.
Roger blushed, but he cut in on Shanti's behalf. "I promised her I wouldn't do anything she'd regret," he said. "You can tease if you want, but I'll hold to it."
Ciara nodded. She had a variety of smiles, from the sly grin that accompanied her entendres, to the lopsided panting smile that sometimes followed her climaxes, to the shining joyful smile that so often followed someone else's pleasure. This smile was not one that Anabella had seen much, and she was certain it heralded scandal and complication.
Anabella couldn't quite decide how she felt about that. On the one hand, these were her friends, and she fervently wished to protect them from scandal and ruination when rescue arrived. Shanti had spoken the truth - it would be difficult to escape scandal if rescuers arrived to find Anabella, and one man, and two pregnant women.
And yet, on the other hand, Anabella desperately wanted to see the acts that she knew Ciara was trying to provoke. Since the four survivors had landed on the tropical moon, they had shared nearly everything - food and shelter at first, and then their kisses, and their touch, and their pleasures. There was a beautiful symmetry to it, as they gave each other what they could and received what they needed. And yet, one act was forbidden to Shanti and Anabella, one which they both longed for. It would let them feel Roger's love, let them know the perfect sharing that this place could represent, but the closer they came to it, the further away from Victorian society they would be.
"Well, I think I will lie down," Ciara said, her plotting smile turning up a bit at one side. "Roger, if you truly wish to help Shanti avoid regret, you should ask her what she would regret most."
"Brat," Shanti said.
"She's proud of that," Roger noted.
Ciara gave Roger an additional smile, the one she generally used for partners and co-conspirators, then lay down on the far side of their modest bed and rolled over.
Shanti and Roger glanced around. Anabella knew they intended to discuss the sleeping arrangements, but she couldn't help but admire them for a moment.
Their months on the moon had given them all a bit more muscle than they'd possessed when they landed, but they all wore it differently. Roger was a bit leaner than he had been, and his muscles a bit more defined, but neither so much as to make his embrace hard or unwelcoming. Anabella had to work not to become distracted by the movements of his back and the shape of his arm when they went fishing together.
Shanti was slender, and the shortest among the group, a fact about which Ciara occasionally teased her. Her lovely brown skin had darkened slightly since their arrival, if Anabella's careful study had been accurate, but it still made a lovely match to her wavy black hair, and dark nipples, and intense brown eyes.
Ciara was facing away, but this couldn't deprive the others of her beauty. Her skin was pale and freckled, her curly red hair fell down her shoulder and across the bed, and many of her bountiful curves were placed in stark relief by her position on her side. Anabella couldn't see Ciara's face, but somehow she knew she was smiling, whether she was awake or not.
Shanti and Roger glanced over at her, and she had the bashfully pleasant impression that they were appreciating her in turn. Anabella had become much more accustomed to having their eyes on her, but it still made her blush at times to have such attractive people looking at her in such a way. She was taller than Victorian society found ideal, and far more muscular than a well-bred lady ought to be, but her friends made it clear on a daily and nightly basis that they found her quite attractive indeed.
"What do you think, miss?" Shanti said. "Will you also keep me safe from scandal?"
"So long as no one is watching, I can do so," Anabella said. "But what of Roger?"
Shanti gave him a quick smile. "Would watching us pleasure one another be sufficient entertainment?"
"Making you happy is all I want," Roger said.
Shanti sighed. "I know."
Anabella put a hand on Shanti's shoulder, hoping it would read as comfort and not solely a prelude. "Are you alright?"
"I...Ciara is just getting under my skin," she said softly. "And not in any of the pleasant ways."
"She just likes winding you up," Roger said.
"I'll talk to her about it in the morning," Anabella said. "She means well."
"Then why is she taunting me with what I can't have?" Shanti asked.
Anabella smiled. "She thinks you want it, that's all."
"I do," Shanti said. She lowered her head, suddenly unable to meet Roger's gaze, but equally unable to stay silent. "I love you all. I want to share everything with you, and I hate that if I do, Victorian society will be closed to us."
Roger took a deep breath. "It is unjust," he agreed.
Anabella thought of their place in Victorian society, the low rung that they occupied on the stultifying ladder of social order. She had come to know them as friends and lovers, but any of Anabella's peers in the Empire would never see anything but servants.
"Do you want to go back?" Anabella asked.
She realized, as she watched their faces, that if she had meant to calm their emotions she had not done herself a favor. They looked slowly over at one another, Shanti's eyes going wide, Roger frowning.
"We have to be able to," Roger said. "Ciara's child can't grow up alone here."
"People will come," Shanti said. "It's a beautiful world, close to a wormhole. The frontier is always...looser with rules than the heart of the Empire."
"People would still judge us," Roger said. "Judge you." He pulled her close and kissed her forehead, softly. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You have to," she said slowly, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Either I suffer the judgment of Victorian society for loving you, or I suffer your loss."
Roger winced, and Shanti lifted her hand to caress his cheek.
