Queen Yavara Ch. 25

"The Noble Court recognizes Ambassador Elena Straltaira of Alkandra." The crier called. His voice reverberated about the room, its diminishing echoes seeming to sound louder with the drawn-out silence. Finally, Elena stepped forward.

"I am her." Her voice was small and tremulous.

I cleared my throat. "As ambassador of Alkandra, you have been invested with the powers of state by Queen Yavara Alkandi, ruler of Alkandra." I said, my voice hard and stately, "Your attendance in this court is a recognition of your queen's sovereignty over the Midland region, including the Great Forest and the Tundra." I turned to Ambassador Wentz, "Does the ambassador from Ardeni acknowledge the ambassador from Alkandra?"

Wentz gawked at me. "You are formally recognizing the Alkandran nation, Your Highness?"

"I am."

Wentz looked around the room, undoubtedly searching for the outrage he thought must be there. But there was none; Ternias had done his job well. Wentz looked to Elena. "You are Elena of House Straltaira?"

"I was." Elena wringed her fingers, "I have disavowed my family to be in the service of the Dark Queen."

Wentz chewed on his lip. "You are... a... a half-breed?"

"She's not a dog, Ambassador." I chuckled, "She is a hybrid of high-blood and dark, and so she was the perfect ambassadorial candidate to the Highlands. Queen Alkandi sent her here a fortnight ago, and she arrived just yesterday."

"And why wasn't I informed of this?!"

"Security measures." I said coolly, "We feared that certain... aggravators would benefit from Ambassador Straltaira's death on Highland soil."

Wentz's jaw twitched. "I'm not sure what you're implying, Your Highness."

"Only that there are opportunists who would seek to drive a wedge between our nations, Ambassador." I smiled, "Those who would like to frame the Highlands as bad actors so that the Lowlands -unbeknownst to them, of course-, would levy sanctions unjustly upon their oldest and closest friend." I tilted my head, "But as you see, Ambassador, the Highlands do not assassinate diplomats. We protect them; even those of our enemy."

Wentz looked back to Elena. "And how can I be sure this Ambassador Straltaira isn't being coerced?"

"I am here of my own volition, Ambassador." Elena attempted to tilt her head imperiously, but she failed to give the proper effect.

Wentz narrowed his eyes at her. "And where are you staying then? The Alkandran embassy?" He scoffed.

"I am under the protection of Queen Tiadoa herself."

"Under her protection?" Wentz gave me a critical eye, "Forgive me Ambassador Straltaira, but it would be easy to assume that you are in fact, under the imprisonment of Queen Tiadoa, and that you are acting as her puppet here in the court. How can I possibly verify otherwise?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but Elena spoke first. "The good queen has provided a communication mirror between me and my sovereign in Castle Thorum." Elena said, glancing side-eyed at me, "If you so desire, you may accompany me back to the royal office tomorrow afternoon, and speak with Queen Alkandi herself." Then Elena looked directly at me, "I am sure the good queen would allow you to do so."

My mouth hung open for a moment, but I managed to recover it into a congenial smile. "Of course," I said, watching Elena's lips curl into a small smirk. I turned to Wentz, "but only if it so pleases the good man from Ardeni."

"Forgive me Your Highness, but I must insist on this point." Elena's smirk turned into a smile nearly as disingenuous as my own, "I wouldn't want the ambassador from Ardeni to have any doubts as to your intentions."

"No, we wouldn't, would we?" I said through clenched teeth as Elena's façade of anxiety flowed from her shoulders like a discarded disguise. 'A naked expression of terror can protect better than an unyielding face of bravery.' My own words were reflected back at me in that devilish smile. "Now," I said with effort, "we have convened today to discuss the unprovoked attack on Castle-"

"Unprovoked?" Elena laughed. The nobles murmured amongst themselves, confusion on their faces.

"Yes unprovoked, Ambassador." I said, "You, as an ex-ranger, undoubtedly know that the Highlands and the nymphs had no quarrel before this."

"You recognize Queen Alkandi's claim from the Tropics to the Tundra, do you not?" Elena asked, her eyes sparkling with amusement, "That would make the nymphs of the Spruces kinsmen with the orc tribes of the Pines and the Maples. As you told the good man from Ardeni just now, I've been your ambassador for a fortnight. You've recognized Alkandran sovereignty weeks in advance of the retaliatory attack on Castle Thorum. It was the Highlands who struck the first blow when they raided the Terdini camp, and assassinated the chieftain's wife."

A louder murmur from the nobles this time. I held up my hand for silence, and the court slowly dwindled. "The raids against the Terdini were only meant to limit their capacity for war. The rangers did not take ground from the tribe, unlike Queen Alkandi, who holds Castle Thorum as we speak. There is an important difference between an attack and an invasion."

"Castle Thorum was an offensive staging point-"

"Castle Thorum was a guardhouse against the savage tribes of the Pines and Maples, and until your queen brings them firmly to heel, the Highlands will do what it must to defend itself!" I snapped.

"Defend itself, Your Highness?" Elena grinned broadly, "Are eighty regiments marching to the Tundra border just to reinforce North Fort?"

There were no murmurs from the nobles this time, just a silence that seemed deafening. Their eyes were wide and uncomprehending, looking from Elena to me. I didn't dare catch Ternias's gaze.

"Your Highness?" Ambassador Wentz said cautiously, "Is this true?"

I leveled my gaze on him, my wrath barely contained on my tongue. "Yes." The word echoed through the room.

Wentz blinked once, then shook his head. "Eighty regiments." He said with a hushed voice, "Your Highness, it is clear to me now that your recognition of Alkandra is in bad faith, and that in fact, it is nothing but a stalling method to placate my king before you betray his trust." He shuffled his papers, "Such deception is tantamount to war on the Lowlands itself. I will have no choice but to level sanctions on every import and cease all exports, this action is-"

"And why would you do that?" I asked, calming my voice.

He stared at me like I was insane. "You are invading Alkandra."

"I am lending aid to my sister in her time of need, Ambassador." I said. I could practically hear the jaws clicking open all over the room. I glanced at Elena, whose knitted brows and agape mouth almost gave her an expression of awe. Now it was my time to smirk.

"Excuse me?" Wentz said.

"The other day, Lord Ternias informed you that the Ten rejected Queen Alkandi's claim. Have you confirmed that?"

Wentz nodded.

"We anticipated this would happen the moment Yavara announced herself." I sighed for effect, "My dearest sister is well-intentioned, but she is, much like her ambassador," I caught Elena's eye, "a novice at statecraft. The return of the Dark Queen threatened the Ten's power, and so they denied her right to the Tundra. A right we all here recognize, is that not so, ambassadors?"

"It is." Wentz said.

Elena just nodded, speechless.

"And so by rejecting her sovereignty, the Ten are rebels of Alkandra." Now I looked right at Wentz, "And we all deal with rebels the same. The Ten are the single greatest threat to Alkandra's dominion, one that even Queen Alkandi, as powerful as she is, cannot surmount. She needs aid, whether she wants it or not."

Wentz opened his mouth, then shut it. Finally, he said, "You expect anyone to believe that?"

"The Lowlands refused to provide my sister the soldiers she needed to claim her kingdom. King Dreus gave her a paltry high-interest loan, then sent her on her way with a band of predatory mercenaries." I shook my head at the little man, "It's like he was setting her up to fail. If we truly want the dream of Alkandra to succeed, we must sacrifice more than money; we must sacrifice blood. It is unfortunate that the Lowlands have instead sought to take advantage of a state in its vulnerable infancy."

"My king-"

"Your king demanded access to Alkandra's silver mines, then ceased all exports of silver to the Highlands." I snapped at him, "King Dreus has used my sister as a puppet against me, and indeed, may well be the hand that guided her to attack Castle Thorum." I looked at Elena once again, "Because we all know that our beloved Yavara would never attack her own people."

"Now listen here-"

"That is enough, Ambassador Wentz." I said, easing myself back into my chair, "In retaliation for the ludicrous accusations leveled against us regarding Prestira Rasloraca, as well as the unjust sanctions, the Highlands will tax all Lowland imports at two percent." I sneered at him, "It is a small compensation for the sacrifice our soldiers will be making to secure the new Midlands kingdom. If King Dreus wishes to discuss this further, he may meet with me personally." I stood up then, and the whole room rushed to stand with me. "Ambassador Straltaira of Alkandra, if you so please, I have some documents I would like you to formalize as soon as possible."

Ten minutes later, I was riding Elena's face, my fists balled in her hair, my pubis grinding across her consuming mouth to smear my lust across her lush lips, to feel the frantic invasion of her tongue as she wallowed in the depths of her defeat. "You thought you could beat me at my own game, you bitch?!" I sneered at her, my dress torn to shreds with the fervency of our passion, the corset in tatters, the bodice plastered wetly to my flailing breasts by the sweat of my exertion, showing clearly the stiffness of my nipples as they bounced with the jiggling domes they centered. Elena moaned something below me, writhing with her legs pressing together, her pussy leaking between her grinding thighs, her cock pulsing rigidly, unattended. She gripped my ass with both hands, two of her digging fingers penetrating my anus, sliding vulgarly through my vile hole to please me how I desired. "The nobles all thought you put on a fantastic performance." I gasped, feeling her nose pressing between my folds, upending the bottom of my erect clit as her tongue compliantly licked that spot inside me. "Lord Ternias especially." I hissed, pulling her hair until I knew it hurt her. Her tongue writhed in response, pressing so hard I could feel the texture of it flat against my insides. A spasm rippled up my pelvis, and I cried out, grinding atop her face with even greater passion, looking into those azure eyes of hers, big and vulnerable. I'd never seen this side of her, not even when I was torturing her. It was submissive and compliant, a masochist of both emotional and physical pain, something that wanted to be defiled. I gasped and heaved atop her, my belly forming shadows with each undulation, my breath catching with exertion. Elena's eyes rolled back, her expression becoming mindless as she ascended without even having to be touched. As I succumbed to the gift of her tongue, I looked over my shoulder to see her cock spurting on its own accord, her pussy blushing and flowing thick nectar down her saturated tan thighs. My own thighs quivered with the aftershocks of my orgasm, my soaked bodice ballooning with my decelerating breaths. When I gained control of myself, I smiled down at her. "What were you thinking challenging me like that?"

Elena guided me to sit on her breasts, a glaze of my lust sheening her lips and cheeks. "I was thinking I could catch you off guard."

"You did, but it didn't matter." I took a dollop of cum from the pool that had formed in her navel, and brought it to her lips, "You're very talented with your tongue, Ambassador Straltaira," she compliantly sucked my finger, "but I'm the best there is."

"Are we dealing with euphemisms again?"

"It's true in both connotations." I grinned at her, tracing her lips with my thumb, then bringing my mouth to hers. Oh, how she kissed me; how she made me melt on her tongue like butter, sliding so viscously through the heat and wetness of her. I lost myself in it like I always did, and Elena regained the power of our joined bodies, rolling us on the couch until she was atop.

"I'll be expecting that mirror in the morning." She whispered, "I earned that at least."

"Ambassador Wentz will be so worried about the new sanctions that he won't care to check. The answer is no."

"The last chance of stopping that army went out the window when you pulled your stunt. What can I tell Yavara that would change a damn thing?"

"Nothing." I grinned against her lips, "You fought well today, Elena, but you lost, and I'm not in the habit of giving out participation trophies."

Elena gently clasped her hand about my throat. "I'm not asking." She said softly, "Yavara needs to know I'm alive."

"Perhaps I should send her your fingers then?" I hissed, "You've served your purpose."

Elena smiled. "The idea of her agonizing over my unknown fate must be a great pleasure for you." Her grip on my neck tightened, "Yavara has a dark mind, and it's undoubtedly gone to some dark places when she's lying in bed, thinking of what's happening to me." Her fingers pressed into my flesh, bowing the tendons in my throat, "But I know your darkness intimately, Leveria, and it casts a shadow over Yavara's." She squeezed until my throat closed, my windpipe compressing, the air stolen from my chest. My thighs rubbed together beneath her, my blurring gaze filled with the azure flame of her eyes. "You've shown me who you really are, which is why I know you're bluffing. Mother is waiting for me not two-hundred feet from here, but who is waiting for you, Leveria? You've adjourned court, and your husband doesn't even sleep in your bed. How long will it take for them to come looking? I could grab my mother and be half way across Tenvalia by the time they found you." She licked my gasping lips, "But you don't struggle in my grasp, because you know that though I choke the life from you, I won't squeeze the last drop. It's the same reason you won't put me back in chains." She brought our brows together, my vision filled with nothing but hers, "Does it scare you?" She whispered, releasing her grip.

I nodded. "I don't want you to see her, Elena! I don't want to lose-"

"Don't say it." She put her finger to my lips, "If you say it, then it's real. I don't want it to be real. I want to live in make-believe for a little longer, how about you?"

I nodded again, blinking the tears from my eyes.

"Do you trust me?" Elena asked. I bit my lip, and nodded.

THOMAS ADARIAN

Tribal drums sounded throughout the courtyard of Castle Thorum, the thundering rhythm fixing the cadence of dancing flames and the hellish shadows it cast upon the stone walls. The orange bonfire illuminated the dark corners of the courtyard, where the nymphs moved in piles of smooth flesh, brothers and sisters losing their innocence beneath the heathen night. They shone like demons in the firelight, their forms bathed orange and red, their eyes glimmering with animalistic avarice, all the pretense of civility gone from them. Arbor was in the middle of it all, her great wings stretched with her limbs, her body encased in her sons and daughters. They sucked the nectar from her swollen nipples, penetrated every one of her holes, and swayed with her in a sinuous dance of perversion, hands squeezing supple flesh. The vampires watched from the ramparts, only their red eyes showing in the flickering light, bored amusement shining from them. In the mall beyond the gate, thousands of orcs congregated to witness something that hadn't happened in over a millennium. Brock Terdini stood tall and proud before the bowing chieftains of the Ten, his silhouette a display of brute strength and savagery, his flesh steaming. An old shaman recanted some verse in a lost tongue, and the Ten echoed it. With every chant, a new iron was pressed to one of Brock's limbs, burning the symbol of that clan into his flesh. Then the leader who had pledged fealty would rise, grasp Brock's forearm, and diminish into the shadows.

I was naked and chained to a chair. Before me was April. She was wrapped in a mesh bodysuit that showed everything beneath the netting, her throat collared, Yavara holding the leash. The Dark Queen was encased in leather from sole to chin, her bodacious curves nearly bursting from the lustrous fabric. She watched the ceremony that took place at the center of the courtyard, absentmindedly petting my beloved like a dog. I wasn't sure if April was anything more. She was on her haunches beside Yavara, her tail swishing behind her, her ears perked up in intense canine interest as she watched Brock Terdini.

"April!" I hissed for the fifth time, my throat nearly closed with anguish. For the fifth time, she stared back at me, her head cocked in confusion, her eyes unrecognizing. No... not unrecognizing. They were no longer the violet tinge of succubus poison, but amber as they'd always been, that beautiful shade like maple sap in an autumn morning. And they knew me, they knew every memory, and they didn't care. Yavara glanced down at her dog, then followed her gaze back to me. She smiled just like her sister, her orange irises filled with cruel laughter, her purple-sheened lips quirked to show her teeth. She scratched April behind one canine ear, and April turned her attention from me without a second thought, and leaned into the touch of her torturer.

The last iron was burned into Brock's calf, and the last chieftain rose to grasp the Froktora's arm. The drumming stopped, the shaman went silent, and Brock stood alone before the bonfire.

"All hail Brock Terdini, Froktora of Alkandra!" Yavara announced.

"All hail!" Came thousands of voices in response.

Yavara dropped April's leash and sauntered to her Froktora. Brock knelt before his queen, and she rested her hands atop his head, looking purposefully at the Ten. One by one, they got on their knees, and put their brows to the stone.

"You once questioned my strength." Yavara said softly, but her voice carried for all to hear, "Now I stand before you in the castle that broke Alkandi and her armies like waves upon a rock. What she could not do with a hundred-thousand men, I did with a few hundred women. Do you question me now?"

"No, my queen." They said in unison.

"A harder queen might have your heads right here and now." Yavara said, stepping away from Brock to pace before the prostrating chieftains, "A crueler queen might put you on the rack so that your screams would be a warning for others, but I do not see these things as strength. A wise woman once told me that mercy is a strength, and so I will let your heads stay on your shoulders." She turned on her heel, and looked right at me, "A merciful queen I am, but a just one as well. See here, everyone, the queen's justice." Yavara whistled, and April dropped into a crawl, and made her away across the courtyard. The crowd murmured as she came into the light, the full extent of her abasement shown for all to see. She did not heed the growing jeers and laughter, but fixed her gaze on Brock, who rose to his imposing height before the love of my life, his merciless black gaze like ink, swimming with avarice. She stopped at his feet and got onto her haunches, her tail swishing behind her expectantly, her ears drooping demurely as she stared back at him. Her expression was one of terror, awe and hope, a puppy's gaze upon her new master, an instinctual, undeniable need to submit.

"You all know the guilt of Thomas Adarian." Yavara said, leering at me, "By all means, he deserves a slow death, but I am merciful. I am very merciful. The life of Sherok, Prestira and Elena is traded for just one April. It seems almost a gift, but even that is not the extent of my mercy." She took April by the chin, and guided their gazes together, "April, I give you a choice: go to your beloved Thomas, and I will free you both; or go to Brock, and become his slave for the rest of your life."