A wisp of incense swirling in the darkness.
Flickering candlelights, slowly spreading into a circle.
Harmonious melody punctuated by words.
Harsh words.
Demanding words.
Soft words, crooning her name, comforting, reassuring.
Warm words and cold hands.
Cold. Like a stone floor.
Cold stone floor under her knees. Under her back.
Rough stone scraping at her legs, bruising her body.
And hands. Rough hands, wandering all over her body, hurting…
Whimper.
Hush, I've got you.
Delicate, tender touches. Fingers stroking her head.
You're safe now.
Caring. Strong, regular heartbeat calming her. Making her feel safe.
Heartbeat. Drums. Rhythm. Harmony.
Addling harmony underlined with incense.
And hoots and laughter and obscenities and scream.
Was she the one screaming?
Tight embrace and gentle rocking. Rocking like a cradle.
Rocking words. Coming and going and coming back.
MAVET!
=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=
With a start, Shizuru sat up looking panickedly around. Her chest was heaving erratically with short ragged breaths, heart beating painfully against her ribcage. Wide-eyed, she slowly took in her surroundings: the stone walls, the moonlight flooding the floor, the silken sheets encasing her body. The familiar presence sitting by the bedside and watching over her.
She didn't look in the King's direction, hanging her head down instead. Why would Natsuki bring her to her bedroom after... after what happened in the dungeon? Why didn't she grant her a merciful death as probably was the King's original plan?
"Seafarer?" The husky voice carried some unfamiliar note, some emotion she never heard in it. "You're safe now."
Safe? Shizuru wanted to laugh in Kruger's face. She was sitting in the bed of her owner whose sexual attraction to her was pretty obvious and with Natsuki's secret revealed, there was nothing stopping the King from claiming what was rightfully hers. At the very least, it shouldn't be worse than the guards, right?
When she finally dared look at her Lord, she almost immediately regretted her assumptions. The emerald eyes were dark with worry and righteous anger.
"What…" The brunette's voice sounded hoarse, almost as if not her own. "My Lord, what…"
"Drink. It'll soothe your mind and body." Hesitantly, Shizuru took the cup from Kruger's cold hands and even though she recognized the citrusy smell of the drops, she drowned the liquid in a few gulps. What would happen next, no longer mattered. "That bastard… he's dead and his head on display on the market square." Kruger scoffed. "Hopefully, it'll be a warning to whoever would like to try the same. As for the others… I had them put in pillories by their leader. Maybe by the end of the week there'll be nothing to pick up." Natsuki reached and tenderly stroked Shizuru's head, her fingers entwining in the mass of tawny hair. "I was too late, Seafarer…"
It no longer mattered.
Feeling the drug-induced numbness slowly overtaking her limbs, Shizuru turned her head away. The King's fingers lingered for a moment in her unruly mane, before being taken back rather abruptly.
"Pull away the covers and open your legs."
All the kindness was suddenly gone from the King's voice and the slave girl realized that after all it did matter.
"My Lord…" the brunette tried negotiating her position but Natsuki had nothing of it.
"Do it. Now!"
When Kruger turned away to retrieve something, Shizuru decided to take her chances. She clumsily rolled out of bed and tried crawling away until her pathetic escape was cut short by Natsuki looming over her.
"I said. Open. Your. Legs."
She was Kruger's property long enough to know that tone of voice which meant the the King wasat her wits' end. Slowly, as slowly as she dared, Shizuru lied on her back and followed the order. Closing her eyes and turning her head away, she waited for what was sure to come if judging by the drops. Her face scrunched as she tried to prevent tears and whimpers from escaping.
What a surprise it was when the expected intrusion didn't come.
Opening her eyes, Shizuru saw her owner focused on cleaning her intimate parts. White teeth kept worrying Natsuki's lower lip, while her hands delicately yet thoroughly wiped the brunette's inner thighs.
"I never meant for this to happen," confessed the King rinsing the wash cloth. "I thought my guards honest men - turns out I was wrong." She placed an open palm on Seafarer's stomach. "Not for the first time but this time..." Natsuki leaned forward and put her cheek where her hand was moments earlier. "You... You deserve so much better, Seafarer."
Shizuru's crimson eyes kept wandering over the high ceiling of the royal bedroom. She was a slave - how could she deserve more? No, this wasn't right. This must have been another one if these thoughts that seemed foreign to her, as if planted by someone in her head.
Like the fact that it was proper... to happen...
Shizuru mewled when the memories flooded her mind. In an instant, Natsuki embraced her and rocked her gently.
"I am so sorry, Seafarer. I will make it up~"
"My Lord." Shizuru put two fingers to the King's lips and shook her head.
Silenced, Natsuki gathered the other woman in her arms and carried her to the corner bedding, still present there even after all this time. She moved the screen away and sat on her heels by the slave's side.
"Forgive me, Shizuru."
Forgive? Forgive what? There was nothing to forgive as it was all bound to happen.
It was proper for all of this to happen.
No! This wasn't right. Nothing was right, not the touches and not the words.
Yet the candles and the incense said it was proper for this to happen. All of it.
How could that be proper? She did nothing, hurt no one and even if - was that a proper way to mete out a punishment?
But it was proper because fate had been sealed and the sentence was to be carried out.
Unable to resolve this conflict of what was proper, Shizuru's mind shut down.