The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Bae, rather than cause a panic, not only within the castle, but the kingdom as a whole kept a tight grip on the people moving in and out and the information they had and imparted to others. Beyond the healers and the White Guard now all but surrounding her, even the cleaning staff was sent away, told that the queen and the Guard were planning maneuvers. The queen’s right hand couldn’t use such a lie with the workers close enough to have seen or heard some of the event or its aftermath, but she impressed upon them that it had to be kept secret.

She knew that it’d eventually leak, and she could only hope it was later than sooner. She kept her emotions in check precisely because they ran deep, only managing to look annoyed, though everyone else in the room knew better. The queen finally had to make her feelings known. “Stop acting as though you stabbed me, Wyla.”

Bae’s green eyes darted to the queen before she forced herself still between the two hulking guards that stood watch. “She was allowed in. She was allowed to be close enough to the queen to try to murder her.”

“They might yet manage.”

Bae looked upon her with disbelief, “That you can joke about this, Majesty...”

“I’m not joking obviously, but, whatever might come, you aren’t responsible.” The queen watched as two guards finished wrapping cloth over the young page and carried him through the side door and through Bae’s offices intending to use one of the many side passages to remove him from the castle. She looked with a heavy heart at the blood stains on the floor that were his and watched him go, the image of him was burned into her eyes, brain, and soul. She said a silent goodbye as he vanished through the doorway.

Once gone, she turned to Tanik, head of the White Guard, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “I could not believe my eyes. It was so...quick, appalling, and brutal. I just...sat there like a fool.”

He gave a small nod, his brown eyes only slightly darker than his skin, carried understanding, “You are not used to the gore, Majesty. Add fear to that mix, and I have seen towering men cower like frail old women.”

She took a long breath, “If not for the time he bought me I really would be dead, and not just by half.” She cleared her throat to strengthen her voice, but it didn’t seem to help much. “I realize that since he was not one of your own officially that he cannot be interred with your order. But...I would ask...that if you can find a way to honor the fact that, even if not your own, he acted embracing your highest values, that you do so.”

“A detachment will be at his service, and I will speak the words myself,” Tanik told her with some pride. “He did act as any of us would and that deserves to be noted to his House.

Her mind grabbed hold of that next thing. “I should go to his home and pay my respects directly. It’s not right that he…die before me to protect me and I simply send a flowery note.”

“His family can certainly be brought to the castle, my queen...”

Evaline cut her off, her voice strong this time.“Told their son is dead, and then please, in your grief, make your way to the castle for an audience?” She shook her head. “No. I will go to them.”

Bae balked internally. The queen still was not safe in more ways than one, but at least the fortress offered more protection than the open of the city, but she knew that look in her queen’s eye. She was a heartbeat away from commanding it anyway. “Allow me time to secure a route.”

The queen nodded her assent as Neral and Nelina approached the doorway. Nelina tried waiting respectfully just outside, but Neral urged her forward into the room with a hand on her back. Neral gave Tanik, Bae, and the healers a nod, giving a small extra smile to Deres as Nelina bowed to the queen. It gave her pride to see her husband at the queen’s side for many reasons, not the least of which that it meant he was trusted by the queen herself. His skill and discretion was unmatched and Evaline took notice.

So did the poor and impoverished in the southern quarter. One of their own had come up from where life was hand-to-mouth for many to marry the leader of Erette’s military and stand within the queen’s inner circle. He gave them hope, not only by advocating for them, but just by being there at all. “General,” he said with all due respect.

Each got a dip of her head. “Deres. Healer Cass.”

“Stop it.” Evaline brushed her blonde hair away from her cheek, deliberately averting her gaze from that spot on the floor and taking a chance to have a moment’s levity. “Married for years and you still fawn over one another with glances and smiles.”

“I apologize,” my queen,” Neral told her, her tone dappled with a touch of whimsy. She saw the hidden pain in the other’s eyes and wanted to ease that if she could, even for a moment. “Would you prefer I hate him in your presence?”

She huffed, her spine straightening a bit. “You could at least behave like other married couples at your station, with cool detachment and indifference.”

“If it pleases you we shall be sufficiently chilled towards one another in the future,” Deres promised with a smirk.

Evaline shook her head, slightly galled, even as she looked at the two. “You don’t even fight, do you?”

Neral looked at him, remembering many an issue between them over the years. That pleased her as well in its own way. When she chose to subject herself to a spell of love to bind them together he promised she would still be her own person. That she could be annoyed by him showed her that it was so. That she had difficulty staying properly annoyed with him reminded her that she had made herself his.

And she liked that, too.

“We do not fight, Majesty. When it comes to disagreements and fights, each has a different goal. To disagree and argue over an issue is to seek compromise that both can live with. The goal of a fight is victory over your opponent, usually at the expense of your opponent. Grind your other into the ground to win a fight often enough and you begin to kill the love because how could you not? Your other begins to fear and loathe engagement because of what you might say and how.”

“Our disagreements are reasoned,” Deres added. “Sometimes the volume is...somewhat raised, but the words are always reasoned.”

She leaned back in the ornate chair “Both of you sicken me more than the blade does.”

At that, Neral looked again to the healers, this time puzzled. Cass had been Chief Healer to the Royal House most of his adult life. He was a wizened old man who would seem frail at first glance, but was decidedly not. His eyes were sharp, his mind clear, and his voice was a smooth baritone. He gave his white beard scratch as he began to speak. “The wound was serious, but caught soon enough and it has been healed properly.”

“The issue is that the blade was covered in a rather exotic poison or poisons that defy analysis.”

Deres cut in. “The exotics aren’t poisonous in and of themselves, but, as they break down and interact with the body they become toxic. It’s quite clever, actually. I respect it from a technical standpoint.”

Neral looked to the queen, beating back the trepidation she felt. What will Erette do without its queen? What will I do without my friend? “You cannot clear it?” She steeled herself for the answer, though she feared it wouldn’t be enough.

“Not without the blade,” Cass said. “We need to examine it. The toxins in her body suggests layers upon layers. We are only seeing the by-products. It’s complex, but we have come up with a suitable stopgap.”

With that, Evaline raised her right hand to display the ornate gold and diamond bracelet that wrapped itself around her wrist as Deres continued. “We can’t clear it from her body, but we can keep it from progressing.”

“If I take off the bracelet, I die,” she said bluntly as she touched it. It was an odd feeling to be so close to one’s mortality and doubly so to have it, in effect, be such a physical thing.

“We won’t be having that, my queen,” Cass said, putting a hand on her shoulder with tenderness. “My hands brought you into the world and I’ll not see you leave it so soon if I can help it.”

“And I certainly appreciate that. I have a bit more to do yet, I think.”

Neral saw the weight of it on the other’s features, from the worry in her eyes to the set of her jaw. What she dealt with now was unlike anything she could have reasonably been expected to even as queen. Neral knew that she would need those around her not to dwell on the fact and be strong in her presence so that is what Neral would be.

“Why go to all that trouble?” Nelina said before she realized she’d said it. Her cheeks blushed madly as she looked around the room, expecting to be instantly escorted out. When that didn’t happen, she decided she may as well complete her display of impertinence and looked to the healers, hoping for another piece of the puzzle that this horror was just now. “There are many simple, fast poisons that would do the job just as well and in a matter of seconds.”

“Which would point directly to a culprit,” Deres answered. “Assassins tend to become adept at one or two methods. Those that kill with weapons tend towards certain ones and poisoners do the same. Hawkseed is quick so some tend to favor it. Queel nectar makes for what looks like a natural death so others favor that.”

Cass nodded in agreement. “This is something new, so it may suggest someone new”

“It’s still a poison,” Neral added.

Bae agreed. “So the usual suspects with a new toy, perhaps.”

“Any hint of her?”

Tanik clenched a fist close to his body as he cradled it by the wrist with the other. “She...eluded us. We followed her blood trail some distance, but lost it near the mercantile section. We’ve sealed the city and continue to search with army support.”

“I never should have let her go,” Bae spat. It was yet another of her failures in her mind.

“And every second you spent with Wyrnn is time lost to a healer,” Neral told her, walking farther into the room to take a seat near the queen, keeping her posture formal, knowing well her place and that this wasn’t some casual gathering.

Cass was happy besting their expectations, “With the concoction, it’s clear they never expected her to live. They expected us to wasting time to attempt to clear it and fail, but Deres was inspired in that regard.”

He accepted the compliment with the humility of silence.

“What do we know of Wrynn?”

“Her papers, now obviously forged, were impeccable,” Bae said. No one was put within reach of the queen if they were anything but. “We may know nothing about her at all, yet we may know something. It depends upon how much of herself, if anything, was inserted into the lies on paper.”

“Why, Nelina, might there be even a grain of truth hidden within the lies?”

Even with her name spoken aloud, it still took her a moment to register that it was actually the queen speaking to her directly. Her heart raced as though she were running a speed drill where the punishment for not placing would be helping to dig the latrines on one of the extended survival exercises. Her mouth dried to parchment as the queen gazed upon her in curiosity and appraisal, her blue eyes tempting Nelina to wither. The younger Jaye looked to the elder, hoping to find rescue, but only heard a level, firm tone in response. “Your queen has asked your opinion. I suggest you answer at some point.”

Nelina took a deep breath and held it for a moment as she thought it through. It seemed like time was dragging to a stop when the reality was that only a few seconds had passed. “She was in her position for some time. Even making an effort to avoid others, she would never be able to entirely. There would be passing chit-chat with other workers from time to time, not to mention the fact that she was interviewed thoroughly up the chain, up to and including the queen’s right hand before she found her position.”

“I can speak of the grain fields in Dessin because I’ve been there. Speak to those she has spoken to and find out what bits she has dropped that do not conflict with one another. The more detail that exists, the more truth you may find. I have no doubt that her...vocation...has taken her many places, but if she spoke with particular affection for so much as one, it might prove itself a place to look.” Nelina placed her hands behind her as a cue to stop herself from rambling before closing her mouth tightly.

“Detailed interviews with the servants are already underway,” Bae informed them by way of agreement.

“I’m seeing to any and all who were responsible for placing her here. Things were missed by the regular procedures by accident or design. Fresh eyes should see to it.” He looked to Bae, some small sympathy in his hardened features. “I do not assign blame as, at this point, there is none yet to place.”

At any other time such a thing would have been a slight against her, but what had happened suggested that responsibility should be taken from her. “Notify me if I can be of assistance.”

“I will allow you to get to that task, Captain Tanik.”

He bowed to the queen at the gentle dismissal before taking two steps backward through the doorway and turning on his heel.

Evaline looked down at the floor for a moment weighing her options. “So the blade must be found if I’m to be brought back from the precipice?”

Cass knelt at her side. If her father had been cool and judgmental, Cass had always been the man in her youth where she could find genuine warmth and affection, even though both were always keenly aware of their respective places. Those barriers had lifted somewhat since Evaline had taken the throne, and old habits died hard sometimes, but he took her hand all the same. “The blade or the one created the poison for it.”

She nodded. “Since there are really only two of you that know what to look for, Deres, are you up to that task were you to be set to it?”

He did not hesitate. “I am, Majesty.”

She squeezed Cass’s hand, “Please know that I mean no insult.”

“None taken, my queen.” he took a second to take stock of things. “I have a fair bit of time before the next world calls, but something such as this should be left to those younger and more fit to adventure than I.”

“Deres?”

He stood before her and she met his gaze with ferocity, letting loose some of the anger she felt at the attack upon her her life. “Your words are my words, your hand is my hand, and I give you leave to use both as you see fit. Do you understand?”

He took the weight of it well as he nodded. She was giving him a free hand to do whatever had to be done without question. Already, he pondered how far he might have to go. “I do.”

“Can you use both in any way they might be required?”

He tilted his head as though the question were a curiosity. “Might we skip the pretense given that we are in a room of people who are no strangers to the practicalities in what we’re discussing? Yes. Though I am a healer by trade I could kill someone for cause, or if it were necessary to save my queen. I will do whatever must be done.”

Her face was inscrutable for a time. “I do like your bluntness, Deres Valtise. And I do like you. I know I don’t often say the words and that is a personal failing as much as a barrier that is part of my station. I wish you good luck for your sake as much as mine.”

He bowed, giving her a lopsided grin as he straightened. “Your feelings are clear and have been for some time, but thank you. It’s an honor to be of service to a queen that I can also say that I like as an individual. I will not fail you and I’ll leave as soon as I can determine how best to start.” He looked to Neral, warmth welling up from inside at the sight of her. She was still as perfect and perfectly beautiful as she was that day he spotted her in the upper markets. He smiled, “I hate you very much, Neral and I shall loathe seeing you at home this evening.”

Her eyes displayed her laughter even if her body and tone remained perfectly composed. “You will only see me if my efforts to avoid you aren’t successful.”

Evaline sighed in contentment and gave a small laugh. “Much better.”

After he took his leave, Cass followed suit before Evaline eyed Nelina from head to toe and back again. “This Jaye has a keen mind, though I would expect nothing less from one of Maia’s children.”

Neral had no less pride in her than her sister would have had she been standing there. “New to the service, but she earned her place at my side the same as any other.”

“No doubt.” Her voice lifted as though the next words were a proclamation. “Your aunt saved my life, Nelina Jaye. She saved my life and she wasn’t even here to do it. This movement, that movement...over and over for years to the point where sometimes half our visits would be taken up with them and I dreaded it.”

“Tell her why you didn’t stop them. You were heir to the crown and could have dismissed me with but a flick of your wrist.”

Evaline turned to her, her voice a playful dare with the sister she’d grown into having even though blood hadn’t made it so. “You tell her if you believe you know your queen’s mind.”

Neral answered without looking away from the queen. “Because it gave you pride to learn those things and know them. It gave you added pride to have the skill to defend yourself in no matter how small a way. That the king thought it unseemly only led you to embrace it more.”

That had been true. Her father thought it beneath her to ‘wrestle about’ as he put it. She had no shortage of guards to protect her, he said. He would unleash the army to protect her so there was no need for her to roll around with someone who was destined to live her days marching through muck even if she was a Jaye. They had fought over it more than once until he finally gave in, simply having more important other things to worry about. As long as she kept her rebellions within the castle walls he was willing to let the matter be.

Neral’s voice softened, “It was...my way of showing you affection as well. I know the royal life. Guards are not always there even though it appears so by design. I wanted you to be safe in those moments as much as you could be.”

Evaline’s voice grew softer still as her eyes grew misty, her round cheeks red. “And the reason I am alive at all now is because of your efforts.” She cleared her throat finding her royal voice once again. “Were you not scheduled to brief me on the Draleth and their movements?”

Neral, still straight in her chair adopted the tone of command. “My aid will be briefing you, Majesty.”

Nelina, swallowed hard, green eyes, much like her mother’s plotting escape, “I had thought under the circumstances...”

Evaline unleashed a full-throated laugh and it felt good, “That my near death would save you? I am still very much alive. Court and the people will know nothing of this for as long as it can be so, and, even when they do learn of it, the world still has to spin.” She sank back into her chair, her arms draped over those of the chair and looked upon her as the predator looks at the prey as it bats it about. “You may begin where you believe most relevant.”

She looked to her aunt and found no solace. And, for a moment, familial duty or not, innate need to serve or not, she questioned her desire to continue in the service.

Neral managed an adequate night’s sleep. Practice in all manner of situations over years allowed her to put worries aside long enough to get the rest she needed to function, but with dawn and wakefulness, the worry returned. It had been decided that Deres and Bryana would go together to see the guild mages, as they might have their own leads to offer. Indeed, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that a guild mage alchemist was responsible for the toxin.

The guilds were a hidden underbelly in society; mercenaries for hire that dealt in all manner of things, at best unfit for polite society, and, at worst, immoral and highly illegal. From a healer for a poor soul who couldn’t afford a legitimate one, to their own special brand of assassin, the guilds could manage it. Guilds stuck to their own regions for the most part, the only true thread of cooperation between them was in keeping themselves secret. If the world at large knew they existed to the extent they did and that they practiced all manner of forbidden magics there would likely be a bloody purge to rid the world of them all.

She slept between her mates often. It gave security to know that no matter where she turned in the dark of night there was someone she loved to hold who loved her back in full measure. As the light of the day began to give the thick drapery a halo, she caressed his thick, powerful arm as it draped across her chest to burn the feel of it to her memory before her fingers ran through his close-cropped hair, now just thick enough to be still be soft rather than prickly. That smile. That smile that suggested he took nothing seriously was there to keep her from worry, not that it would.

The fingers of her right hand ran through the thick, blonde tresses of Bryana whose head rested on Neral’s belly. “You will be careful, both of you.”

“An interesting notion, dear,” he began. “Caution? And here I had just planned to rush to and fro like a rabid animal. Now that you suggest otherwise, I might see how being cautious works out.”

“I was more talking to this one,” she said, which got her a defiant squeeze from Bryana.

“I do not foolishly risk my life anymore than you do, soldier dear, but I do what must be done.” She turned her head to kiss Neral’s breast before letting her tongue swirl around the nipple before sucking it in to bat it about so she could take the sound of Neral’s hiss with her. “I have too much to lose to game with my life now.”

“See to it that you remember that, as...I need my two.”

“And we shall return none the worse for wear,” he told her with a certainty that she could feel. She latched onto it, true or not, because, for now, that’s all there was.

Breakfast proceeded mostly as normal with chat about the day. There was so much back and forth at the table between the three of them, Khylen, and all the others that had found their way to call themselves part of House Jaye. From Tessa, to Cassea, the House Liaison to High Court, to Traymis Elan, soldier and now forever tied to Deres. Between Traymis, Cassea, and us, he seems to be building a stable. Neral thought wryly, but sometimes that had benefits all around.

Neral let Deres and Bryana have their goodbyes with Khylen in the house while she and Elan traveled the stone walk in front of the manor, which was only not called a castle because the queen’s dwarfed it. The day was dark and gray with a mist hanging over everything, It seemed appropriate somehow.

Elan was in her full leather armor that fit well to her slight frame. She looked as though a strong wind might blow her away, but Neral knew better. Elan was a wisp of young woman and soft spoken as though she didn’t want to disturb anyone, but she was like iron when and where it counted.

“I know they can take care of themselves, but the moment may come when they need a warrior’s skill or perspective.”

“And they shall have both.”

“You might have to raise your voice, you know.”

She was thoughtful, her ice blue eyes looking away for a moment. Their color made for an added contrast with her long white hair. Kylen occasionally teased that she looked like a wraith.“I’d like to think I have made strides there, General. Our home doesn’t abide silence.”

That was true enough. She was not quite the nervous recruit she was years ago when Elan joined Neral on a quest to end a witch that threatened to corrupt the world. That experience and a few in the intervening years where Elan experienced her first tastes of leadership had forced her to find her voice even though she still chose her words carefully.

Neral nodded. “This is so.”

She tried to force back the trepidation from his voice and was largely successful. “Please take care of them.”

She did find that firmness in her response.“General. I am his in all things. I am content and happy in that. If he were to demand my life or circumstances demanded I give it to save his, I would do it gladly. I would give it for Bryana because she is a friend and I don’t think I could bear to see his heart broken without her.”

“I would prefer you came home as well as I am fond of you.”

“You honor me, General.” She placed her fist to her heart and straightened in salute. “And I am fond of you.”

After sharing a quick, fierce hug, they walked together before Elan mounted her horse waiting. A short time later Neral stood next to Khylen as she finally let her father and second mother go with weeping eyes and a stiff lip. Neral knew her pain. As the daughter of a soldier, she had lived through that ache often, until the last time. She looked down at those tearing eyes and hoped with all her might that she would see the tearful reunion come before rather the alternative for her sake alone.

She scooped the girl up and held tightly as Elan, Deres, and Bryana waved goodbye and led their horses to the street. Neral heard her sniff before kissing her cheek, “It’s all right to be sad. Don’t hide from it, my sweet. It’s easier to handle if you face it.”

Her eyes wouldn’t turn from them until they disappeared. “I’ll be all right.”

“No doubt. I could use a hug though.”

They clutched one another tightly as Neral walked her back to the manor. She didn’t have to look to know that Khylen’s eyes were still on the road until there was nothing more to see but empty street.

As soon as they left the city proper and the outlying farms that helped feed it, far from eyes that might see, report it and lead to his trial and execution for the use of forbidden magic Deres drew his talisman and began weaving a spell. Before them the chill air stirred as the fabric of reality rippled on the path ahead like ocean waves. As they passed through, they went from gray, cool, and drab to snow falling in large, wet flakes that found a home in every crease of their cloaks and covered the path before them.

They were now about two days ride from home and the snow had been falling enough to cover the path as well as having settled on the bare limbs creating what looked like a lattice of spider webs overhead. Bryana loved the way it looked, wishing only that she weren’t quite so cold. She shrank into her cloaks as they rode, looking at the stoic manner in which the two followed on either side of her with a twinge of jealousy over their endurance. “Don’t suppose either of you are actually cold.”

“It’s cold,” Deres agreed in a matter-of-fact tone. “No reason to belabor it much. It’s not that far to a hearth.”

She looked to Elan on the other side of her, bow and quiver on her back, close quarters blades at her hips. “Immune to cold, waif?”

“Deres is right. We don’t have to travel far now. Besides, it’s not that cold. The breeze is light, and it’s at least not too cold to snow. I’ve been out in far worse.”

“Neral does enjoy seeing her troops suffer.”

“General Jaye builds character and prepares her troops for anything they may face. Ignorance kills.”

“So does cold.”

“You’re not cold,” he admonished, “you just like complaining.”

“It keeps me warm.”

“I’ll warm you later,” he promised.

She looked into those blue eyes. “I expect you to, though I’m sure it won’t be without play.”

“You are free to tell me no as you always are.” He couldn’t stop that bashful smile, “but I love you and you are beautiful. You can’t fault me for wanting you.”

She flushed at the praise. “You’re right, I cannot fault you, but, Master, you have so many.” Her voice became all tease. “Neral, me, Elan, Cassea, and occasionally Tessa. Now that I think of it you may be more desperate in the coming days as you’ll be down to two lovers.”

“I’ll endure it...somehow.”

“You’re so brave.”

“What’s the likelihood that we will find what we seek?”

“I do not know, Elan. It is just the best place to begin. I hope what we need will be there.”

“I have faith that the Guild Mistress will be successful.”

“I do like the sound of that,” Deres told Bryana. “It has always suited you somehow.”

As a member of the guilds before that position put her in the path of Deres and Neral and changed her life in so many ways, she had done her fair share of dark deeds with the guild. After a stronger magic than she could conceive changed her and bound her to them she maintained her place with them, if for no other reason than to try to control them as much as she could, and so she could be in a position to give intelligence on their doings to Neral. The circumstances of now were proof enough that they could be dangerous. It was hard to imagine that what was done could be done without them.

Bryana had spent the intervening years rising in the ranks of this particular guild until she stood as its most senior member in terms of both skill and time served. Of course, to keep her place she had had to engage in a fair number of gray area activities but she was always careful to bring harm to as few as possible. Even those few gave her guilt, but, now, as Guild Mistress, she had her pick of jobs as well as the ability to guide her own guild and influence others to more benign paths.

“Because part of you has always been amused at the thought of me being an evil sorceress.”

He played with the thought, and it did indeed please. “It adds to your allure.”

They veered left, making tracks in the fresh snow that tiny cyclones of wind were kicking up already fallen snow erasing them almost as quickly as they were made with Deres applying the magic almost without considering it. Another couple of miles led them to the remnants of a castle. Having been abandoned over a century before, it had spent the last decades being stripped of its stone and anything else of value until all that was left was something of a maze of gray and white stone that they could let the horses weave through while providing them some concealment from a distance.

They dismounted and made their way to the eastern ruins and the remnants of a turret base to a specific set of rocks on that wall. Bryana’s fingers touched them in a pattern of swirls and curls, layering one upon the next until the rocks vanished, revealing stairs and a path underground.

They took the winding, narrow path down the stairs to the tunnels beneath the castle that most had to allow the inhabitants to evade and escape invaders. Bryana was happy to be out of the cold and descending towards the torch light far below. Once they reached bottom they were met by Trace, a young mage apprentice that spent his time between studies being helpful where he could to the more learned mages. He was a small, lean young man with long, dark hair that he sometimes had to fight to keep from his eyes.

Bryana liked him. He was sweet and kind. He was never going to be able to do some of the darker things a guild mage could be asked to do, but he could make a comfortable living all the same, and that’s all he really wanted. “Greetings, Mistress.”

She took a step to the side as she removed her cloaks and shook off some of the wet before handing it to him. “Thank you, Trace. I trust all is well?”

He froze for a moment. He had met Deres a few times before, but Elan was a new face and those were generally unwelcome in a guild proper. Elan simply met his nervous gaze without reaction. “Umm...yes, Mistress.”

Bryana read his concern. “Yes she is a soldier in our midst, but she is also with me. She can be trusted.”

His cheeks reddened at her words, “I—I’m sorry, Mistress. I didn’t mean to imply anything untoward. We just...rarely get...visitors. Can I get you anything?”

Deres and Elan shook their heads while Bryana rubbed her hands to banish the last of the chill. “No. I expect everything I need will be in my chambers, which is where I’ll be. I’ll let you know if I need you.”

He gave a quick bow. “Yes, Mistress. Oh, and Devon asked to speak with you if you are able before he departs.”

She was already walking down the corridor, “I’ll remember. Thank you.”

Deres and Elan followed behind as she weaved through the pathways to the thick time-worn door that led to her chambers. With some effort and a squeak of protest it opened to reveal her inner sanctum Books lined the walls as a fire roared. There were several desks around the room, one opposite the door that was reasonably clear in that it allowed her space to work with the other smaller desks around the room stacked with papers, some loose and others bound with twine.

“I never have figured out how you keep track of anything in this, dear heart.”

“It only looks disorganized to you. I know where everything is and always have, same as at home.”

“Yes, Majesty.”

She turned to him, her eyes questioning. “Meaning?”

“You are queen here and you wear it well.”

She did like the feel of power in her position. The old her reveled in having power in the guild and sought it for its own ends. Now, it was a pleasant necessity, especially here as the guilds and their members sought weakness to exploit in order to benefit their own positions. It was a delicate dance and it was one that brought her closest to her old life. That said, it brought her peace that she didn’t need to wallow in it as she once did. “I do what I must to maintain my position because that position serves us.”

She shooed them towards the door, “I don’t need you hovering over me while I look over the books. Find some warm rum and a bath or read. I’ll call for you when I find something.”

“Yes, Majesty.”

He turned for the door so he didn’t see her glare back at him as he headed out with Elan just behind. When the door closed with a heavy thunk he took stock of the situation, “Since there is nothing to do but wait, how do you suggest we fill the time?”

“I suggest we take what luxury we can get while we can get it, since, who knows when the opportunity might come again. I smell a nice stew, so we should perhaps take in a hot meal?”

He looked into those eyes and looked upon those soft lips with that natural pout to them and cursed inwardly just a bit at Bryana for being more right about his temptations than she probably should have been, but he was the man he was, “Then perhaps that bath?”

Slave. Even though he only usually used the word to drive her insane with pleasure as he drove his cock home over and over, she heard it almost every time he spoke to her and, while with Cassea the word brought with it heat and shame that drove her passion with him, with Traymis Elan, it brought contentment. That fueled her passion, yes, but she enjoyed the certainty that came with it. She still dreamed of that moment years ago when he claimed her to save her from a mage far darker than he with designs on the world. She was lost in a sea of lust, mind broken legs wide as he drove into her, waiting for his whim to reshape her into anything from empty-headed slave, to soulless killer, or anything in between, but he needed her skill as the friend and soldier he’d journeyed with so he demanded she be herself, so she obeyed as much as she could.

She was herself and she was his. She would still become whatever he needed and do whatever he wanted done, but he had yet to ask her to do anything that fundamentally went against who she once was. Her nipples were pressing against the gray linen beneath her armor, scraping against the fabric, the discomfort causing as much pleasure as anything else. “Yes, Deres.” She could have gone on at length about how much she craved and wanted it. She could have cried even now about how her skin tingled in anticipation, but simple acceptance of what he wanted and that it would happen was enough.

‘Yes, Deres,’ was simply what a slave would say.

Some time later, their bellies were full as she slipped into the still hot water that, with the oils present, gave the small room a citrus scent. Her left leg slipped into the water between his legs and the rest of her followed suit. She splashed the water over herself more than once drenching her hair and body, rivulets making trails down her form as they caught the candlelight. Her prominent nipples seemed to never stop being erect. Her breasts were but a gentle sloping of her frame, but there was no denying her femininity.

She slid up his body, the feel of his muscle against her skin. His strong hands ran down her back to her ass, his cock pressing against her, already needing. She let herself feel the moment. He would tell her what he needed or guide her when he pleased. Such was one of the benefits of being a patient soul. That said, the anticipation drove her as much as anything, teasing herself with, “Anything special that you’d like?”

“Time with you is always special, Traymis.” Those eyes were such a unique blue. He could catch himself staring now and then. That the sky was the limit in the asking didn’t bore and he didn’t understand how it could. She was his and that was intoxicating and, in it’s own way, as intense as it must be for her. “What did Neral ask of you as we left?”

“To watch over you, as I would do anyway, even if I were not owned by you because my general asked it of me.”

He sighed, kissing her because there wasn’t really anything else to do. She whimpered, giving back fiercely and he relished the taste of her tongue and the animal in him growled at the promise of her. “I’ve looked forward to time alone with you. I’ve been spending a lot of time of late trying to think of ways to please one I adore.”

“To be yours is more than I could ask for, Deres.”

“That pleases me, but I need to give back, Tray. If not, I feel it is disrespectful to who you are.” He kissed her again. “It would be like treating you as a vessel and I do not wish to do that. I know what you like and want to please you, but what you truly like is somewhat...difficult to cater to.”

She kissed up the bridge of his nose to his forehead. “Tell me what I like.”

“You don’t know?” He tormented sweetly, questioning as he pulled those nipples, making her quake.

“I like when you use the words.” Anxiousness fought with her patience and both nudged her heat. “If pleasing me matters, please use the words.”

“You like me in your mind. You like my presence and power milling around in your mind, capable of doing anything; adding memories and thoughts as I please. You liked me in your mind demanding that you become who I please, even if what I wanted was you before.”

Elan sighed softly.

“Knowing that my power over you is absolute. I can tell you something to remember and your mind will make the picture and it will be perfectly true, even if it never happened.”

Her tongue dove for his mouth again, feasting on the taste of him, the tang of the air and the sloshing of water in the large tub as her nails raked his chest. He spoke as she nibbled his neck. “In your mind completely, knowing that I could smooth it to nothing, turning you into an empty little machine that just waited to be told what to do.”

The next sigh became a moan. He wouldn’t do it. It wasn’t the man he was and she knew it. But he could. He could wipe her clean and she would just stand there and let everything slip away until she forgot to care that everything was slipping away. It terrified her that it could happen and, worse, it terrified her that it thrilled her. It made her supremely grateful that she had become his over the witch, even if there was some hint of herself that might have...loved it. “I love you being in my mind, even as just a presence.

“So I am constantly left trying to answer the question of how to play with the mind of a lovely pet that I like as she is, yet so craves change that only I can provide.”

“You could take the craving,” she whispered. “You could slip into my mind and end it with a whisper.”

“And you would like that, too,” he said, dragging his fingertips up her spine, but to be honest, even that would change you. I wouldn’t want to take a joy from you. To be honest,” he began with a grin, “sometimes I enjoy my quandary. But I believe I have come up with something that would please us both.”

Her heart began to pound at the thought and she knew he could see it.

“Convince me to share it with you, you wet little slave.”

She bit her lip before giving him a coquettish smile in anticipation of pleasuring him as much as the promise of what might come. She kissed in a straight line down his breastbone to that long, thick prize between his legs. Even with the room warm, the shift above the water gave her goosebumps, not that she paid them any heed. It was a fine cock and she treated it so. There were always whispers of the men men and women of the southern quarter. Poor, downtrodden, dim, and beyond the social niceties of the high-born, all they did was fuck and breed. The men were said to be powerful and endowed enough to split any woman in half in the most divine of ways and the women were always eager for fucking and ready to orgasm at the slightest provocation. How much of that and every other wicked rumor was true she didn’t know or really care, but she could say that he fit the stereotype physically. His cock was long, thick, and proud and, as she stroked it with both hands slowly and with reverence, she could count the beats of his heart in that flesh.

Both hands, one on top of the other moved excruciatingly slowly up every inch. She held it firmly, hands coming up the shaft until the hand at the bottom was alone at the top to twist her hand around the plum head as the free hand found the bottom once again, starting the process over again. Elan watched his eyelids flutter and it pleased her. “You do that well, Traymis.”

“I have enjoyed learning what you like. Even before you claimed me, I took pride in being an attentive lover. It’s only more important with you.” She sped up her motions on his cock and he grunted in response. “I know what you like and need, as you do with me. We suit one another even if am completely yours.”

“We certainly seem to just now, don’t we, slave?”

“Do not call me that.” she said with surprising sharpness. “You commanded that I convince you, so do not distract me with that word.”

He was suitably contrite. “Do forgive me, slave.”

She bit her lip and endured the wave of submission and heat that went with it, but stayed focused. A bit faster for a moment before moving slightly faster still. In short order, she was happy to see him firmly gripping either side of the tub. He was finally ready for her to open her jaw wide, exhale, and open her throat to him. She had long since learned how to breathe and swallow him and let her tongue press against his skin and coil around his cock.

“Yesssss, Tray.” His own control threatening to fall away.

She moved quickly and forcefully, imagining herself as that little machine he could create as she cupped his balls, rolling them in her hands, cradling them too.” He tasted of the citrus oil which made her mouth water even more than from just the girth and length of him.

He watched her work and listened to the gagging sounds she made with each down stroke and he listened to her snort as she breathed harder trying to control her own excitement. Every few milking sucks from her mouth made his hips involuntarily jump upward. The added sounds from her that came with an attack on her throat threaten to push him to the edge.“You do so well for me, slave.”

She whimpered on his cock, a weak, dirty sound.

“Yes, my slave. Choke on it. Yesssssssss. Goddess, slave, choke on it.”

She all but shrieked on his shaft at the sound of that word in her ears and caressing her mind even as it was forever burned to her soul.

“Tray… my slave.” He looked up to the chandelier, candles flickering like stars before wincing, using all he had to control himself. The only thing that kept him from filling her mouth was the fact that she’d stopped sucking as she gripped the tub herself, shivering in an ecstasy so intense that the muscles of her arms and back rippled as though straining against an impossible weight.

Ready for more himself, and to reward her, he scooped her slight frame into his arms, kissing her cheeks and whispering sweetly as he watched her head roll like a doll’s head loose from its body. “Traymis, come back to me. Come back, my love. Come back, slave.”

It took several moments for her eyelids to lift fully so that she didn’t look as though she’d been drugged and several more before she was planting feathery kisses upon him in return.

“You’ve convinced me.”

Her reply still sounded a bit groggy, though she smiled for him. “I was... confident in my abilities, Deres.”

He took her hips and she took the cue, placing her hand at the base of his cock, nestling the tip at the entrance to the cleft just under a snow white tuft of hair. There was a sharp intake of breath on her part as he spread those lips and hummed as the pink beyond that entrance hugged his cock tightly before they began a slow, leisurely fuck, enjoying one another until Elan returned fully to herself. Having tortured herself with not knowing for as long as she could. “What will you do to me?”

He pressed his hand between her legs, thumb over her clit, massaging firmly, liking the quiver of her belly at the touch. “I was thinking that, since you are settled and happy, and, to tell the truth, I have grown quite fond of you, I’m not sure you need Vin in your mind anymore, do you?”

Her cunt clenched. Vin had been her love before that night her commander, Devine Kress had knocked on her door with the news that she was needed for a secret undertaking. She’d barely had time to say goodbye before morning, but he understood her duty and wished her well. Deres had not set out to own her, she knew that. But even if he had told her to go back to her old life as though nothing happened, she wasn’t sure she could, even with her compulsion to obey. He had left it to her to handle as she saw fit and would have sent her back to him if that was what she ended up choosing.

But, being with Vin again, she knew she had changed. She had been corrupted by one, and claimed by another whose only demand was that she be who she was before. But it was like writing every bit of who you were on a piece of paper before balling it up to throw it away, only to change your mind at the last moment. You can unfold it and spend forever smoothing it flat, but, in the end, while all you are is still there, it will never be entirely the same again.

All being with Vin did is remind her of that. She still cared for him, but it wasn’t the same and they both knew it. She had told him all the truth that he would understand in that the events of the journey changed her and it wasn’t fair of her to hold on to him, nor fair of him to expect that things would go back to normal, so, after more than a few pained discussions, they had parted ways. A year ago she learned he had found another and that relieved as much as pleased.

She began to pump herself up and down on his cock, slightly forward so that little sensitive bit of flesh could press against his shaft with just a bit more force. He took her hips, just to hold, just so he could feel her move on him. “Take him from my mind?” She was both terrified and thrilled at the prospect.

“Yes, Tray. That part of your life is over and settled. Removing most of it from you shouldn’t matter. Then you get what you want, and I get my own pleasure from pleasing you. Do you want that?”

“Do it. Fuck. Do it. Prove to me that you own me.”

“The quiet girl with the dirty little mouth.”

“Because it excites you.”

He smirked at her as he pushed her from him enough to grab the base of his cock and bring his manhood straight up into the air, “And my slave likes that.”

Elan lifted herself, spine now straight, gazing down upon him before placing her her hand over his. She began actively impaling herself again, her slight frame twitching as he filled her like no other lover ever had. The whine that escaped her throat was as much for that as the fact that he was also about to fill her in a way that no other lover ever could by occupying her mind and soul.

Deres reached and took firm hold of the back of her neck, pulling her down so their bodies were in full contact with one another. They moaned and grunted together for a time as he watched her body slide up and down his. He formed the magic even as he sighed through the pleasure and spoke to her. “You’re mine, Tray, and I am glad of it.”

“As am I,” she breathed. “Now, fuck my mind with your forbidden magic. Do it now.”

He was fond of the irony of her order just then. “Yes, slave.”

Their tongues played, intertwining as they tasted. Elan suddenly bucked as she felt him in her mind. His was a powerful presence, but reverent. He knew he could mold her or crush her at his will so he would always tread with care. She knew it too, and she couldn’t help but fuck faster because of it.

She felt the tendrils of his power worming through her mind, looking for very specific patterns in the tapestry that was Traymis Elan. Finding the first of the threads that he sought, his mind caressed it, tracing the line of it as it threaded through her being, knowing he would have to knot some areas once they were tugged while threading back through others to keep her mind whole. It wasn’t an elementary task, but not overly difficult since she was utterly open. The pleasure he felt and felt reflected by her to him drove them both.

Then she was there, seeing the memory of her and Vin’s first meeting at a party of a friend. He had been drawn to her exotic look and she had been drawn to his charisma and easy charm. They meshed within an hour, and an hour beyond that they were racing their horses along the nearly deserted back streets, and, when not trying to see whose horse was fastest or which rider more daring, they chatted. Their attraction went from warm to electric in that brief time. Elan remembered back at the stable how his hand tentatively came forward, hoping that she might take it.

She did, looking down at how his fingers looked laced in hers, then up at him as they drew closer, his eyes widening and her heart pounded in her chest knowing what was coming as she looked into his dark eyes. They had fascinated at that moment and they fascinated still as she watched them lighten while her lips drew closer, witnessing them slip from a smoldering brown, to pale. The color drained from them, leaving only the dark iris. Even that began to lighten to gray as the blush in his cheeks vanished as well. The gray spread over his features as though it followed the veins of his body.

But it wasn’t just him. Her mind’s eye looked around and the sky that was once blue was now colorless and bland, everything blending into everything else into a meaningless mass of drab, pointless gray. Her heart continued to pound, but, no longer because she was living in a moment that once was, but because she realized what was happening. Goddess, he’s doing it. Deres is taking him away...like he never was.

You’ll understand.

She heard Deres’s voice in her mind, firmly in control, and a moment later she did. She still remembered the moment, but it was now as lifeless as the fog of his power she found herself in the middle of was bliss. She could remember it and describe it if asked, but only as a mere recitation of facts. It wouldn’t do to completely remove bits of her life. The gaps drilled into her memory with that would cause problems for her, but this way was better even beyond that.

She could go back to the moment and wallow in how meaningless it now was to her. There was no attraction and no passion. It was like being forced to read aloud from a book that bored you to sleep. Even so, she could feel her cunt grip him in eager anticipation, reminding her of both how full she was, but that fullness of control that extended through every bit of her. “Yessssssssss,” her voice and mind hissed together as she pushed her nails into his broad shoulders, her hips having found a forceful rhythm.

Then her mind wandered to the first time she and Vin made love in his home. As fiercely as she’d given back, she deferred as well, being what he pleased and doing what he pleased and having fun with that. It was a small home, but cozy, and they’d made love in front of the fire in the main room until both were sweaty and spent. She remembered how Vin tried to impress her, bracing his hands on her knees and power-fucking her into the rug for all he was worth. Elan remembered feeling claimed by him then, before she knew what it really meant. As she explored the memory she shifted her own pace to meet Vin’s as she stared down into Deres’ eyes, loving how they simultaneously seemed fixated on her yet far away as he moaned.

As Elan felt the heat from the fire in her memory begin to fade she heard herself squeal at the thrill of it. As the color around her began to ooze away and the scene began to melt to nothing her mind raced as her body impaled itself. Vin, Goddess, you could never understand what it is to claim someone. What you were so proud of that night was less than nothing compared to this.

Her body pounded against Deres, trying in her own way to help it happen, pleasure crashing into her in waves and her sounds of her surrender filling the room.

You don’t understand what it is to be claimed. I thought I did that night, but the witch showed me. She showed me and he took me. He is everything and he is killing you in my mind, Vin.

And she wanted him to die. It was what he chose and Elan would have wanted it for that alone. But she wanted it, too. For her, it was a part of their intimacy that he seemed to enjoy as well.

When the memory of her lovemaking with Vin died and she knew it was dead; when she knew it was now devoid of physical and emotional meaning and it was nothing more than a recitation of facts, she came. She heaved against him and twisted herself on her Master’s cock.

The feeling didn’t ebb in the slightest as he sought the next memory.

She rode ecstasy that wouldn’t stop as she bounced on him while the color drained from that one too.

And on and on until gray was the most beautiful color that existed.