A Harem Fantasy Ch. 14

I called a meeting with the Great General of the united Armies and the lesser General of the troops stationed in the Capital. Joining us were the captain of the queens guard, the entire upper level of the Harem, including Lucius and Marxim, and lastly, Cassipe, whom I had appointed to be my personal advisor.

We met in planning room of the Queen's- my personal chambers. In the rooms around us, as directed, lower harem members were bustling to remove the cruel trappings and colors of Antal's house, and pulling pieces from storage that would better suit me.

The first order of business was to have those who had not knelt in fealty to me do so; and with happy delight I discovered none held any obvious reservations. Still Cassipe motioned to me to keep a smile from my face.

"Welcome. I trust everyone here has been told or witnessed what happened this moonrise. The last Queen is my prisoner, and the High Priestess will want her alive. The High Priestess is gathering her forces. I cannot arrest her or any priestesses without causing riots and the nobility, who are not assured."

This opened up the discussions. For a long hour they argued, some in favor of striking silently and swiftly, killing the High Priestess, some in favor of sending a messenger and cutting a deal to exchange Antal for the High Priestess' submission, and some for waiting.

In the end I could not yet decide. I did instruct the generals to lines the city walls and restrict the entrance of more priestesses, and had the queens guard post a line of guards in front of the palace. I tasked the warrior knights with organizing the harem and make ready for any assault. With the guards out front we would have to police ourselves.

I asked Cassipe to form a council of advisors and to spend the next day formulating a plan to keep the nobility calm and begin winning them over.

All that was accomplished was a lot of talk and bare precautions. I felt my measures would serve us no matter what course we took. Cassipe told me privately after I had dismissed them all that he would also see to riders to carry the news of succession to the provinces.

There was more important work to do, I knew. When a new queen succeeded, the old queen's consort was given the choice to die as well or retire into the harem at large. However, it was the feeling of Lucius, Marxim, and Cassipe that I should keep Marxim as a Consort. The nobility were used to him and he had been a late addition to the Harem, coming from a high family and achieving his own fame as a youth.

We were left alone, the three of us, and Marxim's blue eyes strangely held fear. I knew what he feared most and poured us all some wine so we could sit and drink. It was nearly morning, the sun was coming up to blot out the moons, and still below us the Harem stirred.

"Marxim," I began at last. "I will never let her hurt you."

"If you take me for a consort and through some treachery of Antal's you fall, she will kill me."

"You mustn't talk like that," Lucius said, placing a hand on the other man's arm.

"It will not come to that. I swear to you Marxim that shall I live or die, Antal will never again rule. She is gone."

His blue eyes looked at me with dreadful hope and I knew I had best take his mind off the current state of affairs. It had happened so rapidly, more rapidly than I had hoped, and we were all reeling.

"Tell me about your families. Marxim, you first."

"My mother is a Countess in Haliryam," he casually began, assuming we both would know that was the richest city in the Western Lands. I did and motioned at Lucius not to interrupt. "I have three aunts, one is the high priestess there, another is my mother's captain of the guard, and the other is in the army, she has the rank of lieutenant general. I have two sisters as well, my mother's heir is the eldest, and the youngest of the family is in the army, she has just made the rank of captain in the field. I have a brother, a younger brother, he is married to the Duchene of Jaralyn." That was the furthers large city of the western lands, I knew, a rich port city. "Her family commands a fleet of thirty war ships."

I knew he was listing off connections, ever the consort he surely knew what I would ask, but I would not until the next evening.

"Tell me about yourself. How did you come to be chosen for the harem?"

Marxim took a long swallow, his throat working through his nerves, and then he smoothed his long black hair. "My aunt, the high priestess, saw in me the calling when I was young. I trained with her as a priest from an early age, away from my family. My mother could never visit, but her sister could. At the time when she first began training me in the martial arts she was only a captain herself.

"I showed great skill and my aunt the priestess knew I should purse knighthood, but there was nowhere in my homeland I could do so, so I was brought to Caldor.

"Caldotta, the old high priestess, had just been executed for crimes against humanity. Her ward, Antal, became Fisine's new spiritual progeny. I lived with them to finish my studies as a priest and was tutored in knighthood under Lady Harlick.

"When I was young I was infatuated with Antal, and foolishly thought she had escaped the horrid teachings of Caldotta and Fisine, I thought-"

"Shh," I patted his hand. "A pretty face has fooled us all at one time or another."

He smiled at e, shaking it off. "I am nearly twice your age. It feels so odd to be counseled by one so young."

Lucius grinned. "And that is why she is our queen."

Marxim returned the smile a shade dimmer. "What of you, Lucius?"

"My mother is not titled, but holds lands in the far north, thousands upon thousands of acres. Our arbors bring the sweetest wines and our mills produce the finest wool, not so necessary here in Caldor. My mother sought to have me train as a knight to fetch a titled daughter-in-law and my first tutor Lady Garlian saw in me the training ability to be a priest. My mother denied me that training for so long, fearing it would drive away the nearest titled families, but then the old queen came through on a visit.

"I still am not sure why she picked me but she did, and I left my mother, father, and sister to come here. She died just after I arrived and Antal declared she did not want me tattooed. I have studied my final lessons of the priesthood under Fisine which was most...unkind."

From each I had learned there were connections, aid to my cause, but what I heard was the desolation of men treated as property their entire lives. I reached to both and they took my hands.

"In my world there is choice. You are not slaves, not property. You are human beings with the power to choose your own destiny. I do ask you to stay with me now, to help this world transition to the new dawn that awaits, but I will never force you to stay."

"What do you mean?" Marxim looked between Lucius and I skeptically.

Smiling, I squeezed their hands. "I know there has been much discussion and debate about who will be my consort. I am asking that you both be my consorts."

The men stared at me as if I had gone stark raving mad.

"Come," I dropped their hands and stood. The chamber was bare stone and wood for now, my colors would but put up soon. Behind us in my sleeping area the sounds of women removing the old bed, designed for pain, and installing the new, were all that broke the silence.

"My queen, that cannot be!"

"Marxim is right, there is always one Queen and one consort, to honor the goddess and god," Lucius said even as they stood.

I clasped their hands once more and drew them out to the balcony and alter, this area more bare than the other. "Come, what do you see?" I pointed to the breaking of dawn as the twin moons sunk to the horizon and the great blaring sun was peeking out.

"The moons and dawn, my queen."

"Virtal, Marxim, in private I ask to be addressed by name."I felt him tremble at that.

"My- Virtal, what would you have us see?"

"The great moon is the goddess and the sun our god, but there are three great beings in the sky. Don't you see? There is masculine energy, feminine, and the power of love. There are three aspects. If I am to honor them, there must be three."

I closed my eyes, feeling the warm breeze on my face, holding their hands. I closed my eyes and called to the god and goddess and saw them smile. "Do you feel that?" I whispered. "Close your eyes, see with me."

I did not open my eyes to see if they closed theirs, I waited for their soft exhalation of surprise. "I meant it, what I said at the ball. Love is the way, the path to the light," I expounded for Marxim's benefit as he had not heard my speech at the ball.

"She's right," Lucius said.

I opened my eyes and raised our hands to the dawn. "Do you hear that?"

"What my- Virtal?" Marxim said with a laugh at my gay voice.

"Our new bed has been installed. Come."

***

Lucius and I had such a short time to know one another but we had used it well and his thoughts echoed mine so well. It was Marxim we had to tend and heal, and his deepest scars were inside.

I knew Antal had often forced men together but I did not know if this was a natural inclination of any or something they merely submitted to, but I remembered a night that seemed so long ago when Marxim's naked body had drawn Lucius' eye as well as mine.

I sat on the bed between them and turned to Marxim, holding his face in my hands. He trembled with fear, the fear Antal had bred into him that this act would bring swift pleasure and swifter death.

I kissed him and he cried out in anguished surprise. Behind me Lucius molding his hard body to mine, his hands stroking seductively along my sides, patiently stoking my fires.

The larger man trembled beneath me, hands balled into fists clenched tight to his thighs. I let one hand trail to a bunched bicep as I used my tongue to coax his lips open. Lucius kissed my neck and I moaned as one of his hands captured a breast, palming it.

I concentrated on the magic, calling to the goddess and god for help, and suddenly where we all touched magic flared. The men gasped and I could only smile as Marxim melted by small degrees. Finally he raised a hand to cup my cheek and kissed me back.

He tasted sweet and dark, and soon his mouth moved across my face, turning my head to kiss my neck. Lucius took my lips then, tasting tangy and salty, familiar. Their hands covered me, roaming, Marxim exploring and Lucius teasing. The pleasure was so drugging I could only clutch at Lucius' face and Marxim's shoulder.

One man slid down the strap of my dress and a hot mouth covered the shoulder; the other slid a hand up my thigh teasing my hips into undulation. They shifted and I was laid back, and Lucius' green eyes told me to relax, that Marxim needed to explore.

I did not want to be passive but if this was the path to healing I would do what as needed. Their bodies pressed into my sides, heating me through, and I kissed them in turns, desperate to touch them but keeping my hands gentle.

Soon my breasts were bared and twin hot mouths covered the tips. I cried out and arched, the tips so sensitive as tongues flickered across them at different tempos. I wanted more but bit my tongue. I would be the one in control soon enough, here I needed to show them they were not toys for my amusement. I closed my eyes and let myself go, my body flowing with theirs. One man was sleek, lithe muscle, the other hard and bunched, both of them strong, both of them skilled.

I stoked where I could but I accepted with the grace of the goddess. Hands glided along my skin, teasing, pleasuring, spiraling my desire higher and higher as they danced with hot mouths. I found a peak at last, a wave of the ocean crashing against rocks, and the power flew.

Sparks of magic surrounded us, a blessing freely given, and as my pleasure ebbed I began to laugh joyously. This only made the men redouble their efforts and the next peak was the crash of a sudden thunderstorm, the next eruption of a volcano, and on and on.

We flowed as one without conscious thought and at last I was able to give the same as I had received. Tenderly I took Marxim into my mouth to gift him with the deep kiss of my soul. I showed him pleasure where for so long he had known pain, and when he spilled his seed I took it for the gift it was. Lucius stroked deep inside me and reached his peak with me and Marxim, the three of us shivering together.

The morning became a blur. Lucius relaxed with a smile as I took Marxim gently into my body, and Marxim lay replete while I let Lucius take me. Looks passed between them but something unspoken had decided today was not the day for full exploration.

Still when I was with them both is when I felt the sacred gift best. At long last I draped Marxim across the bed, so dark against my matted white sheets, his curling black hair spilling out beatifically He still trembled, but with need and exhaustion now, sweat sheening his perfect body like polish on marble.

I slid down and he filled me deeply, the force hard as Lucius guided my hips. His tousled blonde hair tickled me as he bent, working a nipple so sensitive I rode the thin line between pleasure and pain. My younger consorts arms helped me to move as my own muscles fluttered, pushed to the limits. I reached down as Marxim reached up and braced myself on his hands, looking into those fathomless blue eyes as pleasure toke him.

Lucius left us and I rode Marxim hard and fast with the freedom of a horse, driving his need and mine higher. I saw Lucius looking through the pots brought from my old chamber and knew what he was about. Both men had taken my nether hole that night and this would e the last time, but with them together inside me I could bear anything.

"Slow, please," Lucius said voice hoarse from his own innumerable cries of pleasure.

We groaned but did as bade. My darker lover spread his legs, flexing inside me, and I had to close my eyes to still the hot spurt of need. The cream Lucius had spread on himself he now spread on me, and my heart beat rapidly. This was nothing new, but I sensed this moment, with the three of us, I the Queen and both these men my consorts, this was important.

I reached out for the god and goddess and felt them reach for me. Lucius slid in with surprising ease and once seated the connection to the eternal filled us all. We began to move in concert and the feeling of pleasure was so immense it should have shut the deities out, but it opened the flood gate and they filled us more and more.

Lucius movement drove me, more against my other lover than along with, but the pleasure was there for us all. I kissed them in turns, felt them each take a breast with their hands, and I could bear it no longer. This peak was a tear in the fabric of the night sky, the light burning through stronger than anything. It exploded in my head as my body shivered with it. I heard the men cry out with pleasure in the voice of the god and suddenly night pierced the daylight sky. Light and ark danced, flowed perfectly, and the very earth itself seemed to notice and shimmer along with us until we collapsed.

It came as no shock then, that as we drifted to sleep while the market bustled below, the sky darkened with a solar eclipse. And by the grace of the goddess and god, my legend grew while we slept.

***

"My Queen," an urgent voice woke me, and Halfath loomed over us. Someone, I hoped on of the men, had covered us with a sheet and I woke sleepy, drugged and covered with dried sweat and other things, anxious for a bath.

"What is it?"

"You must rise and bathe quickly, there is an urgent matter that needs your attention."

I grumbled but rose, my consorts still in sleep's embrace. By the sun in the sky I knew it was just past mid day, early for court life which I had grown used to.

Halfath would not leave as I was attended to in a quick bath and dressed. With her were two of my guard who kept eyes on guard, avoiding me.

I was dressed as my station now demanded. My dress was again white, trimmed with my colors of purple and red, and the amount of gold piled onto me and my hair was easily a stone's worth. As a knight I had been trained to fight in heavy armor and the necklace reminded me of the preferred dress for naval battle. The sabers of sailors were quick to cut off heads and as that was the preferred execution method for a queen I wondered if there was a practical aspect to it.

"My queen," Halfath pulled me from my thoughts. "The guard have caught four women all calling for your execution and the restoration of Antal. We have brought them here to await your orders."

"My sword," I ordered my attendants who brought it and belted it quickly around my waist. I thought of the night before when I had worn it and won a Queendom; I already longed for the day when I would need not bother with it.

"Who are they?"

"Children of noble houses, young women, lazy wastes in my esteem."

"Say no more. Let us go."

We walked to the throne room where a crowd had gathered. Some to see the new queen, some with mundane business, and some to see the captives. Four women were in chains, all of them well dressed clean young women, scuffled and bruised in their capture. Cloaked guards held their swords which I could tell on sight marked these women as knights in training, not yet eighteen.

"Release them from chains!" I ordered as I took my throne. All kneeled and the girls were forced to, glaring at me with hatred.

"Rise all but the captives. I would have your names."

As they were released the guards had to threaten them, but at last they spoke.

"I am Joliyn Darevins," a lithe blonde said.

"Kassin Martick," A broad blonde who appeared to be a cousin said.

The girl with brown hair in the middle had to have a knife pressed to her throat to speak, the look in her eyes telling me she was the leader. "Halic Frinns."

The smallest girl with the same shade of hair spoke without prompting. "Yuling Frinns." Her quiet eyes told me she was forced into this game.

"And what have I done to any of you?"

"You stole the throne from the true Queen!" Halic yelled.

Suddenly the hall was filled with thundering gasps and murmurs, and I wondered just how many felt this way.

"Silence!" I ordered and at least that command was obeyed. "In the tradition of all High Queens I took the throne by right of combat. This was witnessed by many of noble birth, priests and priestesses, knights one and all. There is no dispute; only the oddity that I chose not to kill my predecessor. Is that what bothers you Halic? Does my love for life seem weak to you?"

"You are weak! A pretender!"

I stood and drew my sword. "The challenge me, here, in open court. Any of you may challenge me. If you are so wise in the right and wrong, challenge me and take my throne."

Halic smiled and looked to the large blonde. "Kassin."

The blonde rose. "I will accept your challenge."

"Guards, return her sword. Nobles and all people, back up, give us safe space."

Eyes were wide and behind me I heard the thump that told me my consort had arrived, but Halfath was keeping them at bay as Kassin strapped on her scabbard. I bowed to her as was tradition, she did not returned the favor, opting to strike with as little grace as I had ever seen.

I swung my sword in the most basic deflect and hers was thrown. My temper barely leashed I grabbed her collar and forced her to her knees, my sword to her neck. "Until you are a knight do not think to ever challenge me again. Know that without grace, knowledge, and honor you shall never be a true knight."

The woman was larger than me, heavier, but trembled like a lamb. In disgust I threw down my sword. "No one shall ever be barred from speaking their minds in my land, but know that opinion and call to action are different. If you call to action you best be prepared to fight your own battle." This last I directed to the smirking Halic.