Chapter 1: Behind the Curtain

It turns out you don't have to be an active spy to benefit from the skills.

Queen Charlotte, quite obviously pleased with herself, hustled Ange into the changing room of her favorite dress shop. They had no dresses in hand as the attending shop assistant watched them disappear behind a curtain, though she could hear muffled giggling and the susurrous of fabric being removed. It was hardly a surprise to see the queen at that particular dress shop, as Queen Charlotte was quite vocal with her adoration of its elegant fashion, though Ange was a much rarer sight. While everyone in the kingdom knew of her relationship with the queen, the girl herself was an enigma often kept protectively sequestered within the castle - for whose sake, it was hard to say but easy to wonder.

On the other hand, seeing them together in public was hardly unheard of, yet the assistant couldn't help but puzzle after their unusual entrance, reminded that they had taken up the changing area with nothing to try on. With her sharp attention to detail (the result of being a tailor's daughter), she had noted the subtlest color in Ange's pale cheeks as they passed, but nothing more elucidating than a common rouge. She had half a mind to check on them, and would have acted on it had they been anyone other than the Queen and her consort.

Away from prying eyes, Ange's stiff posture relaxed slightly to slump against an armoire against the wall - but before her quivering legs could buckle, Charlotte was pinning her up against it, holding her in place. Her hands pressed against the wood on both sides, her face turning in toward Ange's neck. "Ange, how are you holding up?" Charlotte's voice was an intimate puff of breath tickling Ange's ear. She shivered and sucked in a breath as her tired thigh muscles spasmed.

"I'm alright," Ange said tightly, shifting her weight. "I think- I should last a while longer."

Charlotte chuckled, a breathy sound conveying more excitement than amusement. "You're incredible, Ange. Even with three, you manage to stay so composed, yet I can barely contain myself just standing next to you." She paused to draw a simple breath, somehow making the sound erotic with no effort at all. "Knowing what you're hiding..."

Charlotte's hands slipped down Ange's waist, lifting beneath her skirt to drag it upward like a rising theater curtain. Her eyes alighted on dark pantyhose and the three small devices strapped high on Ange's thigh, their cords disappearing down the hem. Charlotte longed to reach down and touch the dark oval of dampness spread along the seam, but if Ange was still willing to continue the game, then she would hold out as well.

"Then give me just one moan, turtledove, and I'll stay my hands for now."

Ange shivered hard this time as Charlotte's sultry tone did more to erode her will than hours of constant stimulation. It took all her espionage training to stop herself from bucking against the leg braced between her thighs. She tipped her face upward and closed her eyes against the current dragging at her self-control, breathing deeply through flared nostrils. Slowly, agonizingly, the spike of desire faded enough to form coherent thoughts.

At first, no sound came out; Ange's control was tight as iron shackles, choking off any sound before it could begin to form. She started trembling again as she fought against that wall in her mind. Mortar of liquefied steel held together a matrix of interlocking granite slabs, though she could imagine them vibrating as the moan quivered within her chest. She tried again, concentration beading along her hairline as she balanced on the thin edge between whimper and scream, knowing that if she let up just a hair too much, she would lose all control over her volume. There was at least one witness who might overhear, a circumstance that was undoubtedly contrived by Charlotte herself to raise the stakes. So with the delicate ease of prying open a lock, she parted her trembling lips.

"E-Excuse me, is everything all right, Your Highness?"

Charlotte's hand covered Ange's mouth faster than the girl could draw a breath, her reflexes surprising the seasoned spy. The voice had issued from the other side of the curtain, a scant foot from where the Queen and her lover braved themselves. A shiver rippled through the curtain for a moment before it stilled again; it seemed that the shop assistant had the sense not to barge in. Even so, the two froze in place, all eyes fixed on the fabric screen for any hint of movement. If Charlotte listened carefully, she could just hear the faintest buzzing beneath the sound of Ange's raging breath.

"Yes, there is no need to worry," Charlotte said after a pause that was a little too long. "Ange's corset came undone so we needed a private place to fix it. Right, Ange?"

Ange had just enough time to squeak out a, "Yes!" before Charlotte's hand returned over her mouth. It was suspicious, but would have to be good enough.

"Then, may I be of assistance?" the woman asked warily, her shadow wavering at the threshold. "I can make quick repairs, even if the garment isn't of our design-"

"Ah, that's quite all right! We've almost fixed it already."

Throughout the exchange, heat had started to build up again in Ange's core like an oven once the door has been shut. It rose from beneath her navel and swelled through her nerves in pulses. Only the weight of Charlotte's body allowed Ange to suppress the next shudder wending its way through her, though it was also a considerable cause for the reaction in the first place. With no way to breathe through her mouth, Charlotte's perfume smothered the rest of Ange's senses in heady lavender and honey.

"Very well. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything."

"Of course, thank you," Charlotte called back as the assistant retreated to the front of the shop. She waited an extra twenty seconds before relaxing and loosening her grip. "Now quickly Charlotte. Let me hear how much you want it."

By now, the build-up was too much to bear. Ange was going to vocalize her arousal then and there even if the shop assistant were standing right in front of them. Had she the wherewithal to process Charlotte's words, she would have thought the use of her real name a touch overboard, but as it was, she could barely recognize her own name. Her hands fisted in the Queen's dress and the sound rose slowly from deep in her belly - a long, low groan that she muffled against Charlotte's clavicle. It continued to spool out of her until she was sure she had no more breath to sustain it. Explosions burst behind her eyelids as they squeezed shut with painful force, long cracks unfurling in the wall of her mind. Through them, she could just perceive a vague movement against her left thigh as the burning in her core jumped a few extra degrees. Charlotte continued to coo in her ear and stroke her hair, holding her close enough to feel every tremor as Ange buried her whines and feverish face against her lover's collar.

When her voice finally cut out and the unbearable heat dissipated, she felt relieved. Not as much as it would when she comes, but enough to hide her need once again. Sweat trickled between her shoulder blades from the delicious mixture of exertion and tension. Her eyes fluttered opened to find Charlotte watching half-lidded with desire, her lower lip pinched between white teeth and pulsing.

"I love you so much. Now, let's finish our outing, shall we?"

Without warning, Charlotte's right hand snapped up and flicked the curtain aside at the same time her left hand gave Ange a push. Cool air hit her flush face as she was turned suddenly toward the open shop where several customers had gathered in a short line to wait for the changing room. Ange had the fraction of a second it took the women to look up at her face to school it into a collected mask. The women returned her simple smile but were too preoccupied with greeting the Queen to wonder over the redness of her face. She slipped past quickly to ensure they would never get the chance, but was stopped by a hand grasping her sleeve.

"You know, Ange, we might as well get you fitted for a new dress while we're here. You need something cute for that ball coming up next week." Ange turned to see Charlotte smiling that predatory smile she always used during their old missions when delivering the coup de grâce.

It seemed she was intent on pushing Ange to her limit this time.