To the Hilt

Note: this story has a lot of background to it. If you just want the spicey parts you can skip to where the lines are and start from there.

Clove is 24 at the time this story takes place. The prince is 26. None of the characters in this story are underage.

Clove believed her family had been cursed for centuries. In every generation, no matter their elaborate and carefully planned attempts at expanding their wealth, they always fell right back where they were. Her great grandfather, for example, had been a cordwainer who made the finest shoes for the commoners. He had started to make them with increasingly expensive materials and with finer and finer craftsmanship and moved his shop 6 times to try to get closer to the wealthier buyers to no avail. His son, her grandfather, had joined an army and tried to push his way to wealth through his immense strength and talent with a sword, but he wasn't well liked by his peers and was eventually stabbed while dueling with another man. Her father had gambled their little remaining money on investments in ships but they had all been sunk in a hurricane. In his shame, and to avoid his debt, he left clove and her mother without a word or a goodbye.

So, clove was a peasant. She had nothing. Her mother had less than nothing. When she turned 16, instead of getting pretty dresses and doing her hair to try to attract a husband as most girls her age had, she walked with a slip of parchment in her hand and case full of all her belongings to the castle. The royals were always hiring new maids for their household. But that also meant they were always firing their existing staff. Clove interviewed very briefly with a frantic cook who took the note her mother had written and passed her along to the head house maid who gave her one look up and down and said "you'll do", then stomped her way through the servants quarters to a small room barely large enough for a bed and a wash basin. Clove poked her head in, put her trunk under the bed, and followed the head house maid through the quarters again, remembering the location of her room for later.

From then on clove had done what she was told, exactly what she was told. She had been quick on her feet and an even quicker learner. While most maids came and went, clove stayed for 8 years and even outlasted the head house maid (who had been caught stealing books from the library and selling them) and the cook (who had damaged her back while working and could no longer stand and chop vegetables). Clove was smart, strong, and capable. She was also beautiful and witty. She won over the staff at their barebones mealtimes, often talking to the other maids about the beauty of the young prince. He was the least vicious of the lot, though still brutal, and he was young with a proud face and broad shoulders. They all clambered to work for him instead of his parents or sisters. They were all jealous when clove got the job just after the queen had died of a severe illness. All the prince's maids had been fired in his grief, and they needed new ones.

She worked for the prince directly for a full 6 months before she received a letter from her mother. The money she had been sending back was more than enough, until her mother had fallen ill. There wasn't enough for her to get by without help. Clove would have to go home, work when she could, and take care of her mother, or find a way to send more money. So she tried something she had never considered before.

She prepped the prince's bath and as soon as she heard the light splash as he slipped into it, she began to carefully open his drawers. Surprisingly, they were almost entirely filled with papers, most with his notes. The king never took notes. He always had a servant do it for him. Mostly, his advisors ran the kingdom. But the prince was different. His handwriting was sloppy, sloping at odd angles over endless sheets of parchment. Searching for something valuable, she ruffled through them until her hand knocked against the bottom of one of the drawers with a hollow thud. She turned to open the drawers on the other side of the desk.

Wait.

Hollow?

She fumbled around and slid open the bottom of the drawer to find a bottle of dark black liquid with a warning label on it, a necklace, and a fancy flask of some kind of liquor. She recognized it, she realized, as the king's favorite. The kind she had been serving him for years now. Shit. She had seen something she wasn't supposed to and that wasn't valuable to her. She grabbed the necklace and was about to slide the drawer closed when she heard the door open. Shit.

The prince came through in only a purple robe and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her.

"Oh." he said, looking her up and down and seeing the drawer she had opened and the necklace she held in her hand.

Clove didn't respond. She didn't know what to say. She took a look at her only exit, out into the hall, and bolted for it. Before she could reach the door the prince had covered her path in two strides. She nearly smacked into his bare chest in her attempt to burst through the door, dropping the necklace as she stopped short. He reached towards a side table, pulled out a key and locked the door from the inside, placing the key string around his neck. Clove, again, was speechless. She could feel her pulse elevate and she felt her lungs tighten. Now what? The prince looked at her dead in the face, breathing heavily from his brief sprint. He let his breath settle, swallowed, and closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them again the prince walked over to his desk, and sat back in his chair. It slid slightly backwards as he slumped into it. He reached behind him to where his sheathed sword hung on the wall and pulled it into his lap. With his other hand he rubbed his temples.

"What's your name?" he asked, still looking down at the sword.

"... Clove..." she said, barely a whisper.

"Speak UP." he shouted, annoyed now.

"Clove." she said, holding her ground against the change in his tone.

"Well clove, you little idiot, you've seen something I should never have let you find. The way I see it, you have two options, drink the contents of that little black bottle, and die, or find a solution with me." he said.

Clove was sharp. She knew she had to pretend to have the upper hand here, even if she knew the sword and his status made this situation impossible. Even if she made it out of this room he could ruin her life at a moment's notice. She cooly walked over to the desk where he was sitting and sat on it, directly in front of him. Her dress brushed his knees. She made a show of making a thinking-face. She was being dramatic, trying to throw him off, but she also was actually thinking.

"What if you had something on me?"

He seemed interested in that.

"My mother. She can't live on her own anymore. You could bring her here. I couldn't tell anyone because I'd put her in danger."

The prince considered it.

"How do I know you care about her? Maybe she's dispensable to you. I never loved my mother very much."

"For someone with a lot of secrets you're really shit at keeping them."

The prince smirked. "For someone with a lot of wit you're pretty fucking stupid."

Clove paused. "I needed money for her. My mom."

"And I need the throne. Maybe we can help each other out." He reached into the desk drawer and pulled out the bottle and the whiskey.

"Here's the deal. You're a servant, yes?"

"Maid"

"Close enough, sweetheart. You can do this. I'll bring your mother to the castle. Can she write?"

"Yes. She taught me."

"Good. I'll give her a position. You won't tell a soul because when you walk out of this room you'll have this stuff on you." he gestured to the bottle on the desk "You'll be in this with me. And if you get caught somehow while on this little errand I won't be blamed."

"Seems like I'm getting a bad deal."

The prince stood. His chin was just above her head. He looked down at her. Fuck. He was hot. The prince took the sword from his and held it out with one hand at its tip and one hand at its pommel. He lifted it over her head and slammed it down behind her back. It was loud and it shocked her. She flinched. The prince now had his arms on either side of her with his nose nearly touching hers. He looked angry, but he was looking her right in the eye.

"There's your other option, sweetheart."

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TLDR for those that didn't read the intro: Clove is a maid for the prince and her mother needs money. She tries to steal something but stumbles into the prince's plot to kill his father instead. Clove and the prince make a plan that serves them both.

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Clove hesitated. She took a deep breath and tried to look calm. Her flinch might have given her away though. She'd lost this game. She would have to risk her life in his place. Killing the king would get her a punishment worse than death if anyone found out. That thought terrified her. But she was also mesmerized by his face. His jawline was sharp, as was his nose, but his eyes were kind, even when he was afraid and angry as he was now.

"Ok." she whispered. He stood up straight again and was about to move away when clove closed her legs, bumping her knees against his thighs. He stopped short, looking down at her. Then he smiled. His smile was devilish, and addictive. He leaned in again, placing his hands on the sword and his lips near her ear.

"Is there something else you want, my little idiot?" Yes, she thought. But she wouldn't say so just yet. She pulled at the string of his robe, exposing his entire front.

He chuckled. "Now you're getting a good deal, huh?" he whispered to her again.

She could feel his hot airy breath on her ear and it made the hair on her neck raise. He started to kiss her there, on her neck just below her ear. Her head tilted to the side to accommodate him. He moved to her collarbone and peppered feather light kisses there until he reached the ties in the front of her dress. He licked her, his rough tongue sliding up the exposed parts of her breasts, right along her cleavage and she shuddered. He bit at the strings of her dress and pulled, allowing it to loosen. Then he stood straight once again and pulled the two sides apart exposing her body to him like she had exposed his. He slid the sword out from behind her back and placed it next to her on the desk instead and as she was watching him do that he pushed her hard on her shoulder. She fell backwards with a thud onto the desk with a gasp.

"You look delicious like that, you know?" Clove let out a puff of air, chuckling at the absurdity of that statement.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Fuck no." She said.

"Close your eyes." he said. She did as she was told anyway.

She felt his hands pulling at her skirt, undoing the last of the ties and pulling it away, leaving her entrance completely exposed to him. For a moment she was afraid. She was, after all, in a very precarious position with a very powerful man. She felt his hands reach for her exposed entrance and caress her. He started with her clit, making slow careful circles with very little pressure. It was agonizing. Clove wanted more. She shifted her body slightly to push his hand just a little further. The prince seemed to get the message. He moved down slightly to her waiting pussy and plunged a finger in without warning.

Clove opened her eyes suddenly when he did. He grabbed her chin with his free hand, jerking her head upwards and lightly banging her skull into the desk top.

"What did I say, little idiot?"

"Stop calling me that." She said. He swirled his finger inside her a few times and hummed.

"Hmmm. Are you sure? You seem to be enjoying yourself." Clove closed her eyes again.

The prince added a second finger, plunging deeper this time. Clove cried out. This felt so good. This wasn't her first encounter with pleasure. She had invited her fair share of gardeners and stable boys into her bed, but none of them had ever done this. She was used to beginning her evening on her knees, a position she rather enjoyed, and ending it with her face in a pillow and her ass in the air, which she also enjoyed. But this was different. This was dangerous. It was wrong. She wasn't in control, but she felt safe somehow. Clove's moans grew louder as the prince began to curl his fingers upwards, pulling each breath out of her with his movements. In her own room she would have worried about the sounds. Sex was always a quiet affair in the maid's quarters. Too much noise could get you in trouble. But the prince had an entire section of the castle to himself. There was no risk of being heard. Even if she was heard, no one would bat an eye. The prince could do what he liked with whomever he liked. So she moaned.

The prince pulled his fingers away and clove was struck suddenly by how cold the room felt and how wet her pussy felt. She kept her eyes shut as she was ordered to do. Then she felt something colder push against her entrance, asking to be let in.

"Do you trust me?" the prince asked again.

"No." she answered again, without opening her eyes.

The cold entered her slowly, agonizingly slowly. She arched her back off the table, pressing her cunt down onto it as it slowly inched in until it could go no further. The edge of whatever it was rubbed against her clit as it fully entered her. Whatever it was was long enough to completely fill her. It warmed quickly as her juices spread around it. The prince began to pump it in and out of her slowly, tilting it upwards towards her navel each time he inserted it. It made sounds, low wet noises, as it came in and out of her. Before long, clove felt like she was melting. She squirmed on the table and the prince held her down by pressing a hand on her abdomen. The pressure was soothing, but her core felt like it was on fire. He started to pump the thing in and out of her faster, the noises growing lounder, and her moans piercing the air even more. The prince lazily let his hand drift over her body, to her hips, her breasts, her lips. Just as she was about to reach her peak, the prince spoke.

"Open your eyes." He said. Clove did.

The prince was slightly more disheveled now than he was before. His long blonde hair that was usually tied back was starting to fall into his face. His robe was still open and clove's eyes wandered from his broad shoulders down to his rolling chest, and further still to his cock. He was hard. His cock moved slightly each time he pumped in and out of her. She looked down a little more. She jolted when she realized that he was fucking her with the hilt of his sword. The sheathed end went safely past his hip and he was artfully moving it with his hand. She began to protest when he put his hand over her mouth.

"Shhhh, little idiot, it's ok you're almost there I can tell." and he was right. Clove breathed heavily into his hand and threw her head back in pleasure as he increased his speed. The guard of the sword pressed even more against her clit each time he worked the sword in and out. He was smiling, she could see. That smile would be the death of her, she thought. And then her orgasm came like a rush of vertigo. It was a hot wave that started in her core and moved to the tips of her fingers and toes. She moaned into the prince's hand. He rode with her all the way through it, letting her come down into soft bliss afterwards before removing his hand. He removed the sword, let it fall to the floor still covered in her wetness, and leaned over pressing his chest into hers.

He kissed her softly. Clove felt shivers ripple down her spine. She put her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer to her and he let her. The kiss was long, soothing, and clove enjoyed it through the haze of her orgasm.

When the bliss had ended, so too did the kiss. The king straightened his spine and pulled clove up with him. He walked to the bed and sat on the end and looked at her. His legs were spread apart and his cock was nearly straight up.

"Don't you think you should say thank you?" He hummed.

Holy shit. Clove slid off the desk slowly. When her feet hit the floor she let her dress finally drop away from her down to the floor and she took long strides over to him, letting him look at her body the whole way. He leaned back into the bed, pressing the heels of his hands into the mattress behind him. Clove leaned over him in return and kissed him like he had kissed her. Her hand found his jaw and she pushed it slowly towards the back of his neck, holding it there. He leaned into the kiss, pulling his arms around her waist. She let him go, pressing his forehead to hers. They breathed together, for a brief moment, before she started to kiss him lower, starting at his jaw, then his neck, then his collar, then his chest. She pulled the robe off his shoulders completely, brushing him slightly with her nails as she did. She felt him shiver. He was ticklish. Interesting.

He leaned back further, resting now on his elbows instead of his hands. He let his head fall back slightly and his long golden hair fell almost completely out of the ribbon, flowing down off his head in long shimmering waves. Clove went lower, now reaching his hips. She kissed him there, pressing her hands against his knees and pushing them apart. She knelt below him, kissing and licking at his inner thigh. The prince lifted a hand and placed it at the back of her neck, asking for more, and directing her mouth where he wanted it to go. Clove obliged. She kissed the tip of his cock slowly. Then again, opening her mouth just slightly more now. The prince let go of her neck and moved his hand up to her hair, pulling at it slightly as he moaned a low sound. Clove let her mouth open a little more, allowing the full head to slip past her lips. She swirled her tongue around the base of the head, playing with the ridge there. Then she let the wide flat portion of her tongue cup around the tip, sucking on it slightly. The prince's moans became deeper, more of a grumble than anything else. She could tell he wanted more. She pulled away for a moment and looked up at him, waiting.

"What?"

"Am I still a little idiot?" She asked.

He smiled, letting his head fall back again. "Maybe not quite so stupid." he said.

Clove took him inside her again, this time taking him all the way in at once. She began to suck harder, letting her throat open as she took him in and out. The noises were obscene, nearly as loud as the sword had been, and just as wet too. Then the prince pushed the back of her head. He was somehow pulling her hair hard and pushing her head down in the same motion as he gripped her. He was looking at her too, making dead eye contact. Clove closed her eyes, focusing on not gagging. But she gagged slightly anyway as he pushed her just a little further. He chuckled. He liked that. Clove continued to suck, he toyed with her hair as she did. She picked up the pace on her own now and the prince released her hair just a little and took him deeper still. She didn't gag anymore, this time she had warning. She continued until she felt his cock start to pulse. He came in her mouth suddenly. It nearly overwhelmed her, but she reacted fast enough to swallow. She moved to pull away but he had his hand gripping her hair still and she couldn't pull away. His head was thrown back, hair now completely released from the ribbon, he looked beautiful. Then he made eye contact with her.

"What do you say?" He asked. Clove knew what he meant. The dangerous and devilish smile was back on his face. That smile that made her simultaneously want to run away from him, and run towards him. She gave him what he wanted.