Countess of Desire (The Young Ancients Erotic Moments Book 1) (4 page)

"Now, I
want you to get on all fours again. Do it. Now."

The man
groaned, sounding a little scared of her. She understood that one. The natural
assumption would be that she was about to return to fucking his ass. Probably
with an even larger and more painful tool. She wasn't even half that cruel
though, and when he flipped over and got his arms and legs under himself, she
simply started to milk him with her hands.
Hard
.

It forced blood
into the tip of his penis, and he groaned as it happened. It wouldn't hurt him
though, or cause much pain. It was however, him having to put himself in a
vulnerable position, leaving her in control of him. She wasn't exactly being
gentle either. After a few minutes of this, she slapped his behind with her
open palm. Not very hard, and only to get his attention.

"Now, I'm
going to do this again until you spend a second time. Then I want you to clean
up and leave. Remember to limp on the way out. Do you think you can do that?
Or...
I
know."

It was a
different toy, and nearly as thick as the mid-point of the one she'd used on
him already, but much shorter and meant to be worn under the clothing. If she
sent him off with it, she'd need another, but that was fine. They weren't that
hard to purchase. There were shops in the market that sold them, after all.

Making sure he
finished first, stroking him hard as he was on all fours took a long time.
Almost nothing came out this time too, but it was enough she knew that he
hadn't just faked his response to try and get away.

A bit wickedly,
she slapped him again.

"Now,
don't move. This will help you. Here."

His ass took
the plug she had for him easily enough, being recently stretched, and it didn't
hurt him, for all that wearing that kind of thing was awkward. Getting a towel,
she wiped him down, since he was covered with sweat, and had been laying in his
own seed at one point. She lingered over the task, trying to make it feel as
nice as possible. It was one thing to play a bit harshly with her friend, but
another to send him away thinking that he'd been
forced
to do what he
had.

Again, she knew
it was a fine line to tread.

If he felt
truly abused, there could be a duel over it. Possibly one where he challenged
her for her actions, or her husband for causing it. Or, if he were less bright
than she thought, Tim Baker, because his name had come up in the matter. There
could even be assassination attempts, or other less than honorable lashing out
toward them. So she made a point of helping him clean himself, then covering
him with a smattering of soft kisses, turning the whole thing into a game, of
sorts.

"There we
go, love. Now, bear this well on the way out and make certain that you get that
food to your people? Please? I'll take it as a personal favor."

The man sighed,
but got his pants back on, and started to move away, but at the curtain he
stopped, let it fall and crawled back onto the bed.

For a moment
she expected that he'd want to take her behind in the same fashion that he'd
been used. That would be symmetrical, she knew. Uncomfortable, but she could
bear it, in the interest of keeping him on her side for the time being.

Instead he
reached into his trousers’ inner pocket, and pulled a folded piece of paper
out. He didn't speak about it, just handing it to her, then walking away. She
knew that she needed to go with him, but opened the thing first. It was clearly
the message that he'd wanted to give her.

Looking at it,
reading the whole thing, Maria nodded, knowing that no one would see her. It
wasn't complete by any means, but she could get a good sense of what it meant,
even at a quick reading. The rebellion was about to make a last effort to take
the throne and place Kedrin, the King's brother on it. The idea was to use
poison, but not one administered by food. No, they wanted to put it on, and
in
,
a woman, and then have her entice the King to have sex with her.
That
part was nearly brilliant.

If they used
the right lady, then no one would be able to search her that closely, and no
one used a poison detection amulet on another person, just food and drink.

The plan itself
seemed to be one of desperation however. A true last gasp. If the King
didn't
die, like he was supposed to, with his heir still on the Moon, unable to come
back for several years, then the whole thing was finished. If found out, trying
such a thing would be a good enough reason for anyone taking part in it to be
put to death. Count, Countess or offline Prince.

Several people
seemed to be part of the plan, but she couldn't tell
who
exactly. No
names were used, just codes for each of the people that were taking part in it.
One called Corbie, who was to provide the special poison for instance. The one
that was supposed to put it on the woman was called Wren. Songbird had people
inside the palace who might be able to help the lady who did the actual deed
get out. It was far from certain of course. Those people were all low ranking,
and didn't know that they were going to be blackmailed to such an end.

If any of them
stood on honor or duty, then that part would fail, leaving the assassin to be
captured, and probably tortured to death.

Of course, as
far as the rebellion knew, there was only one woman on their side that could
possibly get past the Truth amulets used at the palace gates.

Her.

At any rate,
they wanted to use the special amulet that the Wizard Timon had made, which
could be substituted for a regular Truth device, thus allowing the young lady
to come and go unchallenged, even into the company of King Richard.

Those lines
were enough to convince her that Riven hadn't read the missive he was instructed
to pass, at least. If he had, then he might have been a lot less unkind toward
the wizard in question. No one sane would go after a man that could kill them
and then lie to the world baldly about the deed, while making it seem that they
were totally innocent of all wrong doing. That several people knew about the
thing made sense though. It was the excuse that she and Marvin had used to
explain how they could swear fealty to the King and not really mean it at the
time.

They had, of
course, but Tim had saved them when challenged on it, by producing a working
amulet that could allow exactly what they needed. The thing there was that she
and Marvin didn't actually
own
the thing. It was, as far as she knew,
with Timon Baker, on the Moon.

Where it belonged.
They'd never claimed to
own
it however, just that they'd rented the use
of it, which the coconspirators seemed to understand.

No, the rebels
just wanted her to go to Harmony, along with Marvin, since they weren't sure
who had the needed connections there, and retrieve the thing, then work out a
plan to get it into place at the right time, so that the rather attractive
woman they'd chosen could get into place to try and seduce King Richard. Killing
him with her love, as it were.

There were so
many holes in the idea that it was doomed to fail, right from the start. In
fact, it was such a bad plan that she almost felt bad for the people involved.
At almost every point, it pretty much had to go wrong, didn't it?

First, even if
she could get the amulet, getting it into place was going to be almost
impossible. Yes, they'd claimed to have done it before, and she actually might
make that part happen, by simply going to the King himself and begging him to
set that part up, so they could finally end the rebellion and she could have
her life back. The people she was working with didn't know all that though, and
wouldn't have trusted her if they did.

Then, even if
that part worked, the King wasn't exactly the sort to just jump into bed for
every set of sweet red lips that were moist and ready to part for him. He
could
have been, if he wanted, being both the King and not too hard on the
eyes, but most of his time went into actually
ruling
, and when he
bothered to dally with anyone, it was almost always either his own wife, the
Queen, or with his lover.

His
male
lover. Baron Coltress.

Maria's father.

Sending in some
chipper little doxy to offer a bit of unusual bed play probably wouldn't work
for him, given all of that. So if they wanted to set anything up like that, it
would need to be a lot more clever than anyone in the rebellion seemed to be
ready for.

She wanted to
roll her eyes, but simply read the letter several times, then put her clothing
on. It was a different outfit this time, since the evening meal would be coming
soon, and in Ward they ate outside in the warm months. She opted for a soft,
almost see through gown of white, which was traditional for the area. She made
a small inner pocket on the left hand side, which was different than normal for
her, and took a bit of focus to get the magic in place properly. The paper was
refolded and placed in it. The thing was damning enough that she wasn't going
to keep it anywhere that a maid, or one of the footmen, might find it. They
might feel honor bound to try and stop her, to protect the King. Even if sworn
to the Count, some of them would probably turn on them to protect a beloved
ruler.

That meant it
was staying on her until it could be memorized and destroyed.

To her surprise
Riven was standing at the door, waiting for her, so they walked out together,
the large man limping a lot, still holding the plug in his behind. It would be
mildly uncomfortable, but not so much that it would truly damage him. It did
serve to make it seem like the man wouldn't be sitting well for a long time.
Almost as if she had nearly ruined him that way.

It had to be a
bit embarrassing for him to be taken out to his carriage, led by her like she
was doing. She held his hand the whole time, and saw her husband looking on,
from near the high table at the front. No one was outside for the meal yet,
being a bit early, but he was taking time to speak to one of the local women.
She was short, being of merchant stock, and rather pretty.

Debbie Smalls.

It was very
clear that Marvin was more than a bit smitten with the woman, and that they'd
been lovers for years. Maria didn't mind, given the hardships that the
successful lady had been through over time. Marvin was paying most of his
attention to first Baron Klepter, and then, as the man rode away in his shining
wooden coach, to her.

She moved over
easily enough, and hugged Debbie closely. The woman had never been
her
lover, or suggested it, so Maria hadn't pushed the point, but it would be fun
to try that sometime, if they got the chance. They were friends regardless.

The Count let
his eyes follow the Baron, as he left.

"I take it
that he won't be making such mistakes again anytime soon?"

Maria sighed,
but had to shake her head.

"I don't
know. I tried to be harsh with him, but I fear I'm too kind for such things
really. Still for a time he should have the right message."

That got her
smiled at, from her giant husband.

"Well,
that's all we ever really get, isn't it? A few moments of peace before the next
storm rolls in." Then he rested his hand on her shoulder, and gave it a
small squeeze.

She nodded,
knowing that was just true. The best you ever really got was a momentary
improvement. You couldn't punish people into permanent change. They had to want
it for themselves.

Riven, when it
came down to it, just didn't.

He was happy
with the power he had and didn’t think of the responsibility he should have,
for his people.

Debbie, being a
complete sweetheart, had come simply to make sure
they
were doing all
right. Her shop had been doing brisk business, since Tor had made a point of
sending her things to sell in her shop. Magical items the likes of which could
only rarely be found outside of Harmony now. They were friends however, so even
though the Wizard lived on one of the special stations that circled Mars, a
different world altogether, he made a point of seeing that his friend was well
provided for.

The idea made
Maria want to cry, actually.

Not in a
pleasant way either. The man was
darling
. He always had been too. Sweet,
kind, gentle and brave. So attractive that anyone sane would have bed him, even
before he'd gotten his growth and become clearly one of the high nobility. When
she'd known him, he'd been small still. Tiny really. Delicate and pale of skin.
So fair that he would have shone in the moonlight.

So, when he'd
asked her out one time in school, what had she done? Accepted like any
reasonable girl would have, and spent the night of the party servicing him so
well that he'd want to do it again? No... She'd thought that he'd been set on
her by his roommate, Prince Alphonse, meant as a distraction. A way of telling
her she wasn't fine enough to be Queen someday.

Yes, she'd been
stupid to think that sleeping with the tall redheaded boy a few times would be
enough to win his heart. He was a Prince after all, and well enough looking,
even if he were hiding his identity at the school. She'd been young though, and
had honestly believed that her looks and skill in bed would be enough to win
him over. Men liked sex, as a rule, so why shouldn't it? To her fourteen year
old mind it had simply made sense, way back then.

So, rather than
simply feel a bit sad that she was being put off, and grabbing the proffered
replacement that he'd set at her, she...

Well, it was
the worst thing she'd ever done that didn't involve actual violence, wasn't it?

Maria, being
youthful and stupid,
screamed
at the very pretty boy as he rather cutely
asked her to one of the student dances. It had been done so properly the whole
thing practically screamed that he was being put forth as a replacement for the
heir. It had been incredibly rude of her, bad enough that several other older
girls pulled her from the dining room after she'd thrown his very nice flower
arrangement in his face.

Then
they'd beaten her enough that she couldn't stand for several hours after.
Worse, each of the three had been huge girls, muscular and well trained in
fighting, unlike her. She'd had the basic tutoring, but wasn't slated for that
kind of thing at all. These three had known what they were doing at the time,
and harmed her just enough, in exactly the right ways, so that no one would
back her in any kind of claim against them. Not short of a duel.

Which of
course, any of them would have won against her. Easily.

They'd been
careful not to damage her face beyond simple bruising, and left her major bones
unbroken.

To add salt to
the whole mess, each of them outranked her, too. She was the third daughter of
a Baron. The other girls were all Conserinas. Karen Derring, Holly Printer, and
Petra Ward. All of them were beyond her reach now too, for different reasons.
Holly was a Countess, and her lands bordered Ward on the north side. Petra
wasn't just Marvin's sister, but he actually
liked
her. Not that Maria
couldn't see why
now
, years later, but back then it had been pretty hard
for her to deal with. She'd rather pushed him not to be too kind to the girl
over her pride being hurt about the beating she'd received.

The worst one
though was Karen. Oh, she was a Conserina First now, meaning she stood in line
to inherit an entire county, but that hardly mattered compared to the rest of
it. The woman had managed to become
immortal
. An Ancient. As if to
personally spite her, the Wizard Timon had also made the fairly plain and boxy
looking girl incredibly lovely when he'd magically transformed her. So the one
thing that Maria had really been superior to her in had been stripped away, in
mere moments.

On the good
side, she'd come to realize years
before
that she'd sort of deserved the
thrashing she'd taken that day. The knowledge of that had come a bit slowly,
since she'd been called away from school by her parents, who had arranged a
marriage with Marvin for her. They knew of what she'd done, making herself into
a Doretta like she had, but neither of them had even so much as scolded her for
it. That was for one simple reason, naturally.

They’d both had
expected her to understand her error without being told. It was one thing to
beg off such an invitation, if a person were truly foul, or gross. Even then it
had to be done with care however. It was like with the situation that she and
Riven had been in, if in a less intimate manner. More dangerous too.

Riven might,
possibly, take umbrage at what she'd done with him. But it was done with his
consent, and not in a way that would leave him scarred, physically or mentally,
after that day was done. At least if she'd done it all correctly. By the time
he was back home, he would, hopefully, just think it a new game that she and
Marvin had played with him. A punishment, but only the naughty kind that lovers
and friends might arrange.

With Tor...
She'd taken a sweet and innocent boy and damaged him for
years
.

The story of
Doretta was a simple enough one. A woman of good standing had scorned a common
man, only to find years later that he rose in power and came back for
vengeance. Her power had grown too, but not enough to protect either her or her
people from the rage that she'd created.

It was one of
the first stories her nanny had told her. There was no way for her to claim
that she hadn't understood the reasoning either, since it had been covered in
classes. At school, and with her private tutors before that.

No, she was a
Doretta, and the
very
next time she'd encountered Tor, he'd grown from a
young looking, very lovely, boy she'd encountered that one day and abused, into
a powerful Wizard. It had only been a few years time, too. He was so strong
that when Marvin had been goaded into a combat rage, along with Prince
Alphonse, the tiny, very common, looking man had simply stood between them, and
refused to let them fight.

No one did
that. More to the point, no one tried it, because anyone who did,
died
.
Except for the Wizard Tor. He simply held out his hands and refused to let them
harm one another.

Then, weeks
later, it turned out that he was a Countier, and had been the whole time.
Refusing to attack her even though he could have, because he was
that
good of a person. Countier Lairdgren, having been in his own county when she’d
mis-stepped like she had. He could have ordered her dead for it at the time,
and even her own family would have been hard pressed to take him to task for
it. Instead, he let it all go, as far as she was concerned.

It was worse,
in a way than if he'd tried to kill her for what she'd said to him. Then she
might have at least pointed at his actions and been able to say that his
beastly nature was what had driven her that day. Instead, he first saved her county
from a foolish war, and then, when she'd been taken prisoner by seven Larval
Assassins, all of them much larger and stronger than he was, and faster than a
human rightly should be... He accepted a duel with all of them, in order to let
her escape.

Seven super
human men, and at that they required him to face them naked, unarmed and with
no magics at all.

She hadn't seen
the battle, but her friend Patricia had told her of it. How he'd made the world
explode around him, nearly dying in that act of magic, and then battled, deaf
and blind, against the remaining killers. Until he
won
.

To save
her
.
The bitch of a Doretta that had left him feeling like he wasn't good enough to
be loved by anyone, for years.

Honestly, he
should have let her die there, and simply walked away. There was no real reason
for him to do what he had. The rest of the people had already fled, after all.
Marvin would have fought, and perhaps a few others, but Tor could have pulled
one of his powerful weapons and easily killed them all where they stood. No one
watching would have thought that wasn't enough. Not even her Count.

That wasn't
what he'd done however. No, he'd risked certain death, a battle no warrior
could hope to win, to save her from the clutches of those evil black eyed
beings.

Blinking she
realized that she'd faded a bit, and not managed to get her husband away for a
meeting, like they needed to have. He was standing very close to Debbie, who
kept touching his arm gently, trying to not make it seem like they were
together. That was the polite thing to do, when you were with a lover,in front
of their spouse. Of course, most of the time when that happened, it was to
spare the poor husband or wife, who may well not have been as well liked as the
chosen partner was.

It might have
been ego, but she really doubted that Debbie was loved more by her husband than
she was. It would be fine, of course, if it were the case, but they had a rare
relationship that way. They were actually very close. If she'd felt threatened
or hurt by Debbie getting his attention, he would have sent her away, just
because Maria asked. He'd even hinted at that.

She wouldn't
hear of it though. The woman was very nearly her best friend anymore. They
might have been of different stations in life, Debbie being a merchant as she
was, but short of Patricia, she couldn't think of anyone that she was actually
closer to. That would probably have been even more so, if they were lovers.

Blinking a bit,
she let a slow smile play over her lips.

It was pretty
clear that she wasn't going to get her attentions that night, wasn't it?

"You know,
I think we should all take a trip together. If I can entice Prince Gerent to
take us, we could all go to Harmony for a time? We haven't been in ages. Over a
year. We should make certain we keep in touch with our friends there, don't you
think?" It was sound logic, for all of them, but a bit out of the blue, as
well.

Plus, she
didn't exactly have Prince Gerent in her pocket. That was a mistake, of course.
The former midget had grown to good proportions, and if he wasn't comely, he
was certainly well enough aspected to pay attention to.
Also
a nice
person, which did mean she'd been a bit neglectful of him.

Married now to
Petra, so family after a fashion, too. That was enough of a reason to get in
touch with him, she decided. Not that she really needed a reason for that kind
of thing. They were, more or less, friends. Really, she was on better terms
with Gerent than with her own sister in-law at the moment. That she hadn't had
sex with either of them was a reflection of that, honestly.

Petra was
lovely, in her own way, after all. It had been the hard feelings they both
shared for so long that had prevented it from happening. At least Maria assumed
that to be the case. She'd never actually asked, or even hinted, that Petra be
anything more than what she was to her. Sure, when she'd had some troubles, a
few years past, Maria had tried to be there for her, but it hadn't been even
what she should have done for a person she barely knew, much less a family
member, had it?

Wincing,
internally, she tried not to let that insight show on her face. She failed
though, it was clear. Marvin put his large hand on her shoulder, and looked
concerned.

"Are you
well?" It was his way of asking if she was about to lose it, Maria knew.
In his mind it was probably all about Riven, and what he'd made her do to the
man. She loved her husband, but he sometimes tried to take on too much
responsibility for what she did. Out of love, and concern, but it could be a
bit hard to let him know that she was the guide of her own life, at times.

Rather than
defer, which was what she'd always done on the topic in the past, she glanced
at Debbie, her friend, and then hugged both of them. It was a little awkward,
given the relative sizes, but got the point across.

"I was
just going over that I've been a rather huge bitch to Petra, and should fix
that. I said that we were friends, but never sought to actually become closer
to her, have I? That needs repair. I'm not going to get to it any sooner by
putting it off, am I?" It was a real enough idea, but for some reason her
husband softened a lot, and let his hand fall to her upper back.

"That
would be good. I haven't wanted to suggest anything, since I know that there
are old matters involved, but..." People were starting to come out, so he
hesitated to speak.

It made some
sense, given that Debbie was right there with them. She was Tor's good friend.
Possibly lover, though if that was the case, it was hard to see when they might
have met up for such things. Not that she'd blame either of them for taking the
chance, if it did come up. They were both wonderful people.

The thing there
was that her friend didn't know about the harm that Maria had once done to
Torrance Baker, when they were both so very young.

For some
reason, possibly foolishness, she let her face go wry and touched the other
woman on the shoulder. She froze a bit, which was strange, since she was used
to being touched by Maria, in a friendly fashion. It probably meant that she
was worried about giving offense at the moment. Why though? Did she think that
Maria was about to go into a combat rage? Since she didn't have that condition,
it wasn't likely. Still, she was a Countess, so possibly that was enough to set
the woman on the defensive?