Steampunk Harlots Ch. 33

Leira embraced him, swelling her breasts as he leaned forward to kiss her. She could feel him stiffening between them. As he kissed her neck, Leira noticed Foxy watching from her perch and shooed her to go away and get back to work. She knew she was safe and didn't need a chaperone. It was also clear the young man either got told the right things or had good instinct because the bites at her neck were perfectly gentle and his hands none too eager. Not that she wouldn't have enjoyed the roughness, but it felt like it would have been out of place in the role she was playing. Again, the lessons the other girls tried to tell her started to make sense.

"I had no idea..." Leira shook her head with a smile.

"What is that?" he mistook her words for him.

"So big," Leira recovered, holding him by the manhood and appreciating its size.

She stroked it for a bit, but knowing he probably lacked the control to last, she slid it inside herself for him and watched as his eyes glazed over in the unbelievable pleasure. Leria was slow, moving gently to draw out the whole experience. She guided his mouth to her breasts so she could enjoy the feeling of his tongue on them. It was difficult to keep them small enough not to intimidate him but she managed. As she expected, he didn't last and she felt him stir in surprise at releasing his seed for the first time. She hushed him and let him flow into her in peace.

He seemed confused at what happened, but responded well to Leira kissing him and holding him tightly.

****

Vile had stayed in the room Laurel said she would have used to take a shot at Hannah. How she went unnoticed by the figure who moved a long table to lay on facing the window she wasn't sure. Maybe being so massive and standing in an alcove, she had been dismissed as a statue of some kind. She stood watching as the person opened a case and took out the parts that would assemble into a rifle. One stomp of her hoof caught the attention of the cloaked figure. As she stepped out of the alcove, the figure opened its cloak to reveal a great many tools of death underneath.

****

Liddy was pondering how to extricate everyone from the whole situation in case things went bad when a person, on fire, burst out of a room on the fourth floor of the estate. The person was grabbed by a massive red arm and tossed into a nearby fountain. Everyone could see Vile standing in the window, shrugging that it couldn't have been helped. The whole crowd rushed over to see what was going on and came across a young man entangled with a mermaid, sitting on the fountain, and water pouring over their naked bodies.

"Why is nobody looking at the guy who was on fucking fire!" Leira shouted as she pointed at the man trying to get out of the fountain.

As Juno and Astra hauled him out of the water, Vile yelled. "He had lots of weapons on him, I think I got them but be careful!"

That, of course, meant stripping him naked with knives in front of the whole court. Most of the court were rather set on looking at Leira, who was almost certain the young man inside her wasn't going to finish a second time.

"Clear the garden!" Hannah commanded, followed by Inky enforcing the command.

****

Hannah burst into the courtroom where the nobility had been collected while she had been trying to speak with the assassin. Astra had him brought up to the platform where her chair sat and took a seat as he was dropped to the floor in irons. Everyone had kneeled when she walked in and risen when she sat down. Wanting to throw them some frustration, she stood up again and watched everyone drop to their knees. The ones who took the longest were either the old or the resentful.

"This man here, a professional who is unlikely to tell me who hired him, tried to kill me and may have very well been the one to kill the Duke. I've taken his actions rather personally. Now, as much as I'd like to spend a few days taking him apart," Hannah drew the knife from Astras' belt and cut the man along the cheek. "I know from experience that torture is seldom useful in getting the truth. So, what am I to do?" She addressed the crowd, making gestures to emphasize her point and keeping the knife visible. "Anyone want to confess?" She looked around to see if anyone wanted to make it easier for her. "Even wild accusations would be helpful." More silence. "Nothing? Fine, if you won't give me someone to punish, I will punish everyone." There was a fearful intake of breath. "No, no, I won't be cutting you all up or anything. It just occurs to me that none of you has paid tribute to your new Duchess yet so I will simply make it punitive rather than the simple token it normally is." She gave them a moment to digest the uncertainty. "Bring to me, all your Emberborn slaves. I will make a decision, but anyone who holds back their favourites or what-have-you will be punished most severely."

Hannah had walked around the prisoner to address the nobility. Then, to emphasize the point, she took the trench gun from Astras' back and fired it into the back of the assassins' skull.

"I'd hate for this fate to befall any of you. It would be most uncivilized." Hannah left the court when she was finished and left the nobility to stare at the body.

****

Hannah teased the naked body of Ving as she laid on the desk. They were in Hannah's new private office - but without matters of state to deal with, they found something else to do. The delicate touching along the fair skin caused shivers to run through Ving's body and gave her goosebumps. Hannah let her hair fall down as she leaned over her lover, slowly letting it brush along, from over her breasts to between her legs and down to the feet.

Ving groaned in frustration at the teasing, watching the silk dress that clung tightly to Hannah's body as she moved over her. The outline of the black lace bra and the fishnet that connected it the garter and stockings were visible through the red silk. Ving resisted the urge to reach up and touch. She wanted this, to be so close yet made to wait. Just as she felt a hand lightly run along her thigh to tease her again, a knock came from the door.

"A nobleman wishes to speak with you, my Duchess," Conna called from just outside the door.

Ving growled in frustration, but caught Hannah by the eyes and saw the wicked smile they were attached to. She hid under the desk after Hannah nodded at her and waited.

"Let him in," Hannah replied, happy she had tossed Ving's clothing into the corner.

The man that entered as Conna opened the door walked with a confidence she recognized. Hannah knew he at least 'thought' he had something on her. She smiled and shifted her bum onto the edge of the desk to let her dress throw him off his game.

To his credit, while he did notice, he collected himself to speak. "Apologies for my intrusion. I had a matter to discuss."

"Not how one traditionally addresses their liege?"

"No, indeed not." He replied, not bothered by her counter.

"So then this isn't about the assassin or who hired him?"

"Not unless this was a ridiculously thought out and convoluted plan, no. I saw you on the ship you arrived in. You had it dock here, and now its crew hold the highest station in the city. If you are who you are thought to be, it seems odd that a ship of harlots would be your passage into the city."

"An assassin has killed the duke and attempted to kill me. The less obvious method of ingress the better."

"Then why not kill you with the Duke?"

"I took cover. It wasn't the first time I have hidden from a sniper."

He nodded. "Curious set of skills you have. Learn any while on that ship? I was entertained there. I saw you serving drinks. A servant's job for an heiress? The picture on the wall, did you do more than serve men drinks?"

"I've held no title before today. Where do you think I got the money to feed myself? Did I do more? Absolutely! I've taken more men on that ship than you have shaken hands with in your life. I needed passage, work, and entertainment. All found on that ship. Considering your use of our services, do you not have those same needs?"

"Of course, but I'm a man."

Hannah stared at him flatly until he shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "You think any woman on that ship entertained you exclusively for the money? Who was it?"

"The woman with the green hair."

"Ving, a racer. Someone who could easily feed herself at the track without spreading her legs once." Hannah smirked, aroused at the man in front of her having had her lover. "Yet, on that ship, allowing you to pay for the pleasure of her company. Why? Why would she do that if she didn't enjoy it herself?"

He seemed confused for a moment, then shrugged.

"Because she loves it. So do I! You think that I'd stop taking men now? I've long passed the need for money to eat. We do it because it is fun for us. I did it while I served in uniform at Crater Peak. Noblemen I spend the day escorting can't resist me and I ache for it. You think women are only concerned with pleasing you? I admit, there is pleasure in pleasing another. Yet, our own need is what keeps us wanting more."

"It's not proper."

"Because I am a woman or because of my station? It's a human need, an animal need. The class we live in just provides the context. What is it exactly you are trying to imply by coming here?"

"You don't belong as Duchess. A harlot and at best, an illegitimate daughter, who has lived like a lowborn." He seemed to concede the possibility of the Duke being her father.

Hannah smiled, knowing he doubted his rather correct assumptions he made before entering. "The young Lady Louise will be Duchess soon enough. If not when she comes of age, then perhaps the day after her birthday celebration. For now, an illegitimate daughter should be enough to satisfy the council. A harlot should be enough to satisfy you."

He started when he felt her hand reached down his trousers, wrapping around his manhood as she smiled softly. "This won't change anything about what I think you to be."

"On the contrary, I think it will." Hannah unfastened his pants and let them fall to the floor. "You think women are just to please men, and that those who do it outside of marriage only do it because they think that's what they are for. I am going to show you that I am doing this for myself. If it pleases you at the same time, then wonderful. Sex shouldn't be just for one person but for everyone involved."

He wasn't sure how she did it, with one hand on him, but her free hand unfastened her dress and it dropped to the floor. The lace and fishnet coverings on her body were new to him. Seeing her breasts strain against it, he reached up and felt the mounds and watched as Hannah smiled at the touch.

Ving, using the small space at the base of the desk where her hands could fit, reached under and grabbed the dress and put it on herself. She loved the feeling of touching herself with the silk as she could hear Hannah filling her throat with the man she had taken inside herself the other day.

Hannah was thankful there was a hide rug with soft fur under her knees as she kept smiling with her mouth full as she looked up at the man. She unfastened her bra and tossed it, with only the fishnet to keep her breasts contained. Pushing him back as she rose, she jumped up into his arms and slowly lowered herself onto him. With a bit of wiggling from her hips, she felt him sliding inside her and made sure he watched her face while she did.

"This feels amazing to me, to have someone inside me, to feel their flesh pulse within me. Is it so strange that something so pleasing for you would be wrong for me? Hold me close, feel me around you, kiss me deeply."

He responded as he was told, his arms around her body to push her breasts into his chest while her legs wrapped around him and flexed with her efforts to feel him slide in and out of her body. Their lips met and he felt her tongue entering his mouth and tasting his. He pushed his into her mouth and felt himself inside two parts of the woman. Neither realised how close to the desk they got and he felt her weight shift onto it as they continued to kiss. Now, it was his turn to provide the thrust and he felt Hannah gasp into their kiss. For the first time, he paid attention to the woman he was with, thinking of her actions as her own expressions of pleasure instead of an act to satisfy him. He wondered what else he could do to the redhead to make her moan.

Hannah felt him push her back to lay on the desk, he lifted one leg up on the edge and rested hers on it. Then he started to thrust into her with vigour and watched intently as her breasts bounced under the fishnet. She climaxed hard as she gripped the edge of the desk and felt Ving touch it gently to remind her of where she was. It was too much for the man and he grunted. Hannah pushed him back, getting back on her knees, and licking his long shaft for a moment before his seed burst onto her face. She licked all along it as it continued to flow and teased the end of it with her cheek until he was spent.

"See this?" She asked, kissing him gently on his shaft as it started to soften. "I enjoy this. Feeling this." With a little help from her hand on herself, Hannah climaxed again. "Is it not 'more' proper that we both enjoy this? Instead of just one?"

"I suppose. Though it does seem to have been one-sided for me in the past," he replied, introspectively.

Hannah smiled, standing with his seed still on her face, seeing that he was having trouble looking at her like that. "Then how about you make up for it."

He wasn't sure what she meant until she pushed him down to his knees in front of her, sitting on the desk. When Hannah pushed his head between her wide open legs he got the message and, rather clumsily, explored with his mouth. She allowed him the use of his fingers and kept pressing him down on her until she flexed and felt another climax flow through her body.

"Now then, how did that feel for you?"

"Well, not as good as before."

"That's why it's best to do this as a warm-up. But now you know somewhat what sex is like for women who aren't really into it. It just gets worse the less it's wanted. So keep that in mind. Your Duchess thanks you for kneeling for her. Feel free to gossip about this. All the things you think would have been a scandal to reveal is who I am. That is why I can sit above you, with your seed on my face, and still be your Duchess. Leave now."

The man rose, took a bow after getting dressed, and left. Conna smirked as she looked in after he left. Ving came around to the front of the desk and kissed Hannah.

"He tastes better when he's on you," Ving whispered, licking Hannah's face.

"You got my dress wet," Hannah replied, feeling between Ving's legs.

They both broke down in giggles as Ving climbed on top of Hannah on the desk, so entirely done with being teased.

****

Cat found it difficult to decide on her feelings. "Do you even know what political capital is? Currying favour?"

Hannah shrugged. "If it's anything to do with manipulating the ruling class, I like to think so."

"Short term yes! But this is different. You can't just bang everyone and hope for the best."

"Everything about us on that ship was going to come out eventually, I just made sure it fit with the narrative."

Liddy watched them. Foxy was trying to focus on if she could hear anyone else listening in, and Emma sat in the big chair, feeling smaller than ever.

"That's only half the issue. There is still the matter of the blood stain on the floor here." Cait pointed to where the assassin had died.

"Exactly!" Hannah shouted. "If I hadn't done that, they would have hired more. Thinking that killing was beyond me. Now, people will hopefully think they can manipulate me with talented lovers instead of assassins and blackmail."

"My god that's brilliant!" Liddy exclaimed. "Finally a political system that works!"

Cat pondered her words. "So, you want to replace underhanded tactics with... something under sheets?"

"Yes, that is exactly it. As a result, no assassins at all last night. Slept great. Well, slept with Ving, so yeah."

"Fine. But you still don't know how politics work in the long term."

"We aren't going to be here long term. As soon as the young lady has her birthday party, we start heading out."

The big doors at the end of the court hall opened and admitted the man Hannah spoke with the other night.

He knelt. "My Duchess, it is enjoyable to see you again. I must say I did not expect our meeting to go quite the way it did."

"Thought to coerce me into giving up my title? Or something like that?"

"Something like that, certainly not sex." He smiled bashfully.

"Good, had you come to coerce me into such actions, while certain parts of you may have still been in my hands, they would have no longer been attached to you."

He turned pale when he finally understood what she meant. "The nobles and I have assembled our slave holdings for your inspection."

"I'll be there presently," Hannah responded and dismissed him. "SEE! It works!" she explained to Cat after the man had left.

****

Out in the garden, rows of Emberborn were gathered on the grass. It broke the hearts of all the girls to see them standing there, in such pleasant surroundings, looking so dejected and broken. As if they dared not enjoy the garden because its beauty wasn't meant for them.

Hannah marched over to a table that had been brought out where guards had been stacking ownership papers in neat piles. She saw the nobles standing in front, trying not to regard their 'property', yet concerned theirs would be the one chosen. Hannah grinned, knowing how much they were about to lose. The guards finished with the papers and stood aside.

"Emma." Hannah made a scooping gesture as she looked at the elf. The papers were gripped by a spectral hand and held high as Hannah spoke again. "Vile." Hannah snapped her fingers as if she was casting the spell herself to turn the papers into ash in a ball of fire. "Given the popular decree in the capital, and that nobody has offered any aid in identifying those responsible for the assassination, I am declaring any and all contracts of ownership or indentured servitude, null and void."

Everyone was shocked, not quite understanding what was going on. Easy, being seen for the first time, stood on the table with the rest of the Emberborn crew gathering around her.

"This is real!" Easy shouted. "Not some hope that will be dashed tomorrow!" She spoke exclusively to the Emberborn. "There is a city, one just for us. We will see you safely there, where you can have the freedom to decide your own fate! You have a home now!"

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One more chapter after this and Book 2 will be done. Thanks for all the comments everyone, please keep them coming. Feel free to discuss.