Disclaimer: I do not own She-Ra or its related characters. All is the property of Noelle Stevenson, Dream Works Animation, Netflix, NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Filmation, Larry DiTillo, and J. Michael Straczynski.
Inconvenient Arrangements
Chapter Eleven: The View From Keldor's Side
Skeletor had a mental checklist of things to do when he got back to Snake Mountain.
The ore stockpiles Evil-Lyn brought back from Krytis had to be appraised for one. Then they had to find a facility capable of refining it that was also far enough off the Empire's radar to get the job done without being molested. Not an easy thing to find when the Empire controlled most of the known universe.
Continuing to sew discontent and unrest among Empire held worlds would be easier than Skeletor expected. Nordor and Denebria had been an experiment. Not the launch of a true rebellion. But it was an experiment that worked. The mutants of Nordor which orbited the planet Denebria managed to overthrow the occupying Imperial forces and take over the Nordor base. If they could do it there, they could do it on other worlds too.
Skeletor still had a lot of work ahead of him. He could not take time to sit and relax at Snake Mountain.
However, sitting and relaxing seemed to be exactly what Evil-Lyn wanted him to do.
She greeted Skeletor with a mug of hot cocoa and a blanket. She passed him the mug of hot cocoa and tried to drape the blanket over his shoulders. "How are you feeling?"
If he still had the face to do it, Skeletor would have raised an eyebrow at her. Instead, he just paused and stared. Shrugging the blanket off his shoulders, he tried to keep moving. Nordor had just been an experiment. They needed to decide where to stage the next rebellion, and it had to be a higher value planet this time. They also needed to appraise and refine the ore from Krytis. There wasn't time to curl up in a blanky and drink hot cocoa.
"I'm motivated." He told her.
"I was gone by the time Monstrong arrived at Krytis. I didn't see Hec-Tor." She volunteered without being asked.
"Those were my instructions." He reminded her. "You were supposed to leave before he arrived. Why would you see him?"
"I just thought you might like to know how he's doing." Evil-Lyn informed him. "You were married to him for many, many years."
"And I left him after many, many years." Skeletor reminded her. It was a fact she seemed to forget, and forget often. "It was an arranged marriage between me and Hec-Tor. I never loved him, and when I saw an opportunity to get out of it, I left. And I do not look back. I do not love Hec-Tor, and I have never loved Hec-Tor."
"Oh, really?" Evil-Lyn crossed the space between them. She yanked on the collar of his hood, pulled down enough to reveal the metal chain he wore around what was left of his neck. With her other hand, she lifted the chain until the ring slid out from behind the fabric. Holding it up between them. "If you never loved him, they why do you still carry his ring around wherever you go?"
Skeletor snatched the ring out of her grip and tucked it back under his hood. "I just haven't found the proper method of disposing of it." He said. "My reasons are my own and none of your business. I was still very young when I was made to marry Hec-Tor. He was a large part of my life. This ring is a reminder of more than just him. It's… By the Goddess, Lyn! I was only eighteen when I married him!"
"Which is another reason why I think you should talk about it." She continued to insist.
"I don't wanna talk." He repeated. "We have far too much work to do to allow ourselves to be sidetracked by my old teenage angst. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to get back to work."
…
Keldor threw his makeshift rope out the window. A line made from tying his sheets together. With a cloak over his shoulders, the hood drawn up over his head, a runaway bag over his back, Keldor climbed out his bedroom window.
He made it to the ground without incident.
Darting from shadow to shadow, Keldor made his way around the castle to the gardens. There was one old tree close to the garden wall he could climb to get over it and out. If he could just get out before the Imperial party arrived tomorrow, then he could get away from his marriage.
He did not make it to the tree.
Keldor came skidding to a halt. His heels digging into the grass-grown gravel with his sudden stop.
Sigal, his father's concubine, his mother, stood between him and tree. Her arms crossed. An expression of stern severity on her face. "Out for a midnight stroll, Keldor?"
"I'm not getting married, Mama!" He announced.
That severe expression not wavering, Sigal uncrossed her arms and marched up to her son. Keldor was noticeably taller than her, yet he still shrunk away as if afraid when her hand lanced out and grabbed his arm. "You are getting married, and youwill get married."
"You can't make me!" He continued to argue, even as his mother pulled him back into the palace. "Have you seen Prince Hec-Tor? He looks like a wight! There's, like, a giant gaping hole where his nose should be, like a skull! And those glowing eyes, like some other-world demon from Despondos! And- and those teeth! I cannot kiss something with teeth like that!"
Sigal pulled Keldor inside and shoved him against the wall. "Stop shouting!" She commanded. "You are too old to be acting this way. Your father removed you from the line of succession. You will never be ruler of Eternia. But you can be a Prince of the Empire, and that's even better! If I could fuck your father to get my power, you can fuck a space bat for yours."
Keldor frowned, unimpressed and unmoved by his mother's words. "Pretty sure having to fuck a space bat is worse, Mama."
"Not really." Lady Sigal insisted, even though she knew next to nothing about what it was like to sleep with a space bat. "Just close your eyes, bite the pillow, and think of Eternia."
"Great advice, Mama." Keldor scoffed. "Real sagely. I'm totally looking forward to this marriage now."
Grabbing him again, Sigal began dragging him back to his bedroom. "A marriage is not something to look forward to. All those romantic ideas about love, and passion, and desire, those are nothing but fiction. Real marriage isn't about romance. Real marriage is about power. You are about to come into a lot of power thanks to this marriage."
They reached Keldor's room and Sigal wrenched the door open, dragging her son inside. She paused when she saw the open window and rope made from bedsheets. Locking the door behind her, and placing a spell on it so that her son couldn't bolt the moment she let go of him, Sigal pulled the makeshift rope back inside, then shut the window. Sealing it with another spell for good measure. Keldor was a good student when it came to magic, and he could become a powerful sorcerer. But, at the moment, Sigal was better. He would not be able to break her barrier spells before it was time to meet his intended in the morning.
That done, she rounded back on her son, glaring up at him. "Now, do I need to stay here all night and guard you? Or will you quit acting like a petulant child and do your duty for this planet and your family?"
Keldor said nothing. At the moment, he didn't care much for Eternia, or his family.
So, Sigal added, "If not for your planet or your family, then for yourself. Horde Prime currently has no heir, and they say his wife cannot bear a living child. That would make Hec-Tor his Heir Apparent for now. Play your role well, and you could be consort to the Emperor of the Known Universe."
Keldor looked away. Avoiding eye-contact with his mother and muttering more to himself than speaking to her. "That still means I have to fuck a space bat."
…
Sigal was still there when Keldor woke up.
She way laying out a formal tunic and brocade vest for him to wear when he met his intended.
"Will you come with me to the introductions?" He asked.
Pulling a chair over to his bedside, Sigal started pulling a comb through his hair. "You're a grown man, Keldor, you don't need your mother holding your hand when you meet a boy."
…
Keldor would hardly call Prince Hec-Tor Kur a 'boy'.
Keldor wasn't short. He was on the taller side of average for a male Gar. He towered over his mother, and was as tall as his father.
But where Keldor was a tree among the forest, Hec-Tor was veritable castle spire. Towering over Keldor and all the rest of the members of the Eternia party. Rail thin, and standing straight. His spine as stiff as a poll. He was so stiff, he didn't even look real. Less like a person about to be married and more like one of those dolls Randor was always playing with. (Or, 'action figures' as he insisted they were called.)
The idea was actually really funny. Imagining this stoic looking space bat as one of little Randor's little toys. His mind even played a soundrack of some of Randor's most often used sound effects. ('Hyah!' 'Kya!' 'Cha!', and the ever popular, 'Myehh!')
Keldor couldn't help but laugh.
He knew he shouldn't. He wasn't supposed to. This was a formal meeting, and he was a Prince. He was supposed to be on his absolute best court behavior. Act the part of the charming blue flower that a Prince of the Empire would want to pluck.
And that reminder just made him laugh more. Just how serious and ridiculous this was, in equal measure.
Keldor clapped his hand over his mouth to try and stifle the laugh. But the damage was done. Hec-Tor heard him.
"What's so funny?" He demanded. Sounding much less tiff than he looked. Sounding just as irritated and unhappy as Keldor felt.
"You are." Keldor told him, still smiling.
Grinning now, actually. The damage was done, and he couldn't take it back. He laughed at a Prince of the Horde Empire, to his face. But the Horde Prince wasn't some big terrifying space monster. He was just as much of a frustrated youth as Keldor himself was. Except, while Keldor felt his frustration, experienced it as an emotion that was valid and real, Hec-Tor seemed to suppress his under years of court etiquette and discipline.
"You're so stiff," explained Keldor, "like one of those windup soldier toys my brother still plays with. Can you do anything else besides posture and pose?"
Keldor watched as those glowing crimson eyes went wide. He wasn't expecting an answer like that. Openly admitting that he found Hec-Tor's stiff, formal, almost military posture and discipline comical. Hec-Tor blinked, sputtering non-sense.
Horde Prime, however, was but better at getting his words together. "Is this what you teach your children, Miro? To insult their guests."
"Keldor!"
He flinched at the harshness of his father's voice. But it still wasn't enough to wipe the grin off his face. Keldor was still smiling when he dipped low into a deep apologetic bow. His hair falling over one ear to partially hide the grin. He may never like Hec-Tor, but he could enjoy teasing. Their marriage might not be romantic, but at least it would be entertaining.
…
Spending time with Hec-Tor was not entertaining.
Not even sort of.
As part of their contract mandated bonding, Keldor's mother suggested they take a nice, leisurely stroll through the gardens –heavily chaperoned, of course.
Dylamug, was a robotic diplomat and part of the Imperial party that accompanied Prince Hec-Tor and Horde Prime to Eternia. He acted as the chaperone from the Imperial side. While Keldor's chaperone was a Gar warrior his mother had selected.
Next to him, Hec-Tor sneezed and Keldor wondered if all the pollin in the air might choke out his prosthetic armor, or irritate his breathing. Maybe Keldor would get lucky and the Imperial Prince would just drop dead and Keldor would never have to get married.
Keldor yawned, board. There was no way that was happening. If the gardens really were a danger to Prince Hec-Tor, Horde Prime never would have let them outside in the first place.
Not that Keldor really considered the palace gardens to be any version of 'outside'. For Keldor 'outside' was outside the palace. In the city of Eternos, or the outlying country beyond. He had never been the type of Prince to stay inside a castle's walls pampered and protected. He was a warrior, as all members of the House of Grayskull were trained to be. He was a sorcerer, and his mother taught him to be. And he was a Gar, and had explored the ancient and semi-sacred island of Anwat Gar. He was not used to being cooped up in his own home and chaperoned like some toddler than needed constant supervision.
He glanced down the path and noted the tree he had planned to use to escape a few nights ago when he tried to run. The tree was close to the garden wall, and several of its branches extended out over it. That portion of the wall extended down into a narrow alley behind one of Eternos' less wealthy neighborhoods. It really was one of the perfect escapes.
If Keldor could just get to it…
Lancing out without warning, Keldor grabbed Hec-Tor and pulled him off the path and to the tree.
"Wha-!?" Hec-Tor began an objection, but Keldor smacked a hand over his mouth quickly, before the other man could voice another syllable.
"Shh!" Keldor hissed at him, hair falling over his ears as he pinned Hec-Tor to the tree. "Follow me."
Keldor began climbing up the vine-covered trunk. Then, when he noticed that Hec-Tor was not immedietly following after him, he leaned down and pulled him up.
"What are we doing up here?" Demanded the Imperial Prince.
"Don't you wanna get outta here?" Keldor asked.
For a hot second, it looked like Prince Hec-Tor was seriously considering. Getting out of the palace and away from their keepers. Keldor might have been born a Prince, but he never did take well to being a 'kept man'. He enjoyed his freedoms too much. With how still Hec-Tor had been this whole visit thus far, he didn't think the other man much cared for freedoms outside the walls he was kept in. If he really was considering escaping with him, then Keldor decided he might actually have some respect for this stiff action figure of a Prince Imperial.
Then Hec-Tor shook his head. "What we want is immaterial in this matter."
Keldors burgeoning respect for him deflated. Never mind. He really was just a still and well trained action figure. Cast in the same mold as every Horde Prime before him. No hidden depth or articulation. Exactly what it said on the box.
"Wow. They're got you really well trained."
"I beg your par-!"
Keldor shoved him hard and Hec-Tor went tumbling over the wall, making a sound that Keldor was not expecting could come from his throat. Apparently, space bats made interesting sounds when they were startled, or scared, or stressed. It was halfway between a squawk of surprise, and a shriek of horror, accented by some chittering chirps of panic.
Sighing to himself, Keldor grabbed a fist full of vines and slid down after him. "First time ditching your keepers?"
"What have you done!?" Hec-Tor demanded.
"I told you. We're getting out." Keldor scoffed at him. "Don't tell me you were actually having fun on our 'quiet and leisurely stroll through the gardens'." He slid down the vines a fraction of a meter, expecting Hec-Tor to follow him. "C'mon. I'll show you the real Eternia!"
Hec-Tor did not follow him immediately. In fact, for a brief moment, it looked like the Imperial Prince was trying to climb back up. But then he changed his mind and slid down to join Keldor in the alley. He watched Hec-Tor land tentatively and lean against the palace wall, breathing hard. Sliding down the vines couldn't have been that strenuous.
"You having a panic attack or something?" He asked.
Hec-Tor fixed him with a glowing eyed glare. Or, rather, he tried to fix Keldor with a glowing eyed glare. But to spite his sharp pointed ears, angular cheek bones, skeletal nose, and glowing eyes, it was hard for Keldor to be very scared of a creature that looked like it could be knocked over with a feather.
Keldor grabbed his hand again. "C'mon. There's a bar I like down this way."
By 'a bar he liked' Keldor meant 'a bar that was close enough to the palace that he could go there, have a drink, and get back before his own keepers noticed he was missing. It was not particularly nice. It was not particularly clean. The drinks weren't even particularly good. But they were frothy and –so long as he paid her enough- the bartender pretended not to know that he was Prince Keldor, eldest son of King Miro, and a soon-to-be Prince of the Horde Empire.
After haggling a little over bribes, Keldor walked away from the bar with a drink for himself and one for Hec-Tor. Maybe putting a couple of drinks in him would get the other man to loosen up a little. Hec-Tor was much too stiff. At least, he hoped it would get him to loosen up when he pressed the tankard into his hands.
"I cannot drink this." Was the first thing Hec-Tor said since they entered the bar.
"Sure you can!" Keldor insisted, his frustration and dislike of the space bat growing even more. It wasn't bad enough that he was just outright terrifying to look at, but to be a kill-joy and wet blanket on top of it. Now that was just being cruel. Someone who looked as monstrous as him should at least know how to have fun! "Just put it in your mouth and swallow."
"I mean it will make me very ill." Hec-Tor informed him.
Yeah, hangovers weren't fun. Keldor had to admit that was true. Had had woken up 'very sick' plenty of times to know. "Yeah…" He agreed reluctantly. "But you'll have a lot of fun first."
Hec-Tor pushed the tankard away from himself, making it clear that he had no intension of drinking with Keldor. "I would like to go back to the castle now."
Of course he would. Goddess forbid he have a single moment of independence from his stiff and rigid upbringing. Keldor chugged his drink quickly, surveying Hec-Tor over the rim of the tankard. When it was almost completely empty, he lowered the tankard and let out a very un-princely burp. "Aw, but we only just got here. I haven't even gotten into a bar fight yet."
Hec-Tor arched an eyebrow at him and frowned. He clearly had opinions about a Prince sneaking out of the palace to drink at dirty dive bars in the slums, and get into bar fights with random strangers. His thin white lips parted, probably to begin some holier-than-thou lecture on appropriate conduct for a member of a royal family.
But Hec-Tor was cut off before he got the chance.
At that exact moment, a large Qadian came up to their table. A dark scowl on his feline face, arms crossed over his chest with disproval. "You, Gar," he hissed, "you're at my table."
"Never mind." Keldor grinned across the table at his intended. "I'm right on schedule."
He turned around in his seat to face the Qadian. Whenever he wanted to get into a fight, I could always trust the streets of Eternos to provide him with at least one low-life that hate Gar on sight.
He smiled up at the Qadian and blinked his eyes in mock innocents and surprise. "I am? I'm so sorry, I had no idea this was your table, Mr. Torg Sisters Wholesale Furniture Warehouse! That is your name, I assume, as it's the only name written on it."
The Qadian's whiskers twitched asymmetrically. "You can't sit here, Gar."
"I can't?" He gasped, as if truly and honestly shocked. He looked down at his chair. "By the Goddess! It must be a miracle. Look! I'm sitting! Here!"
Losing patience quickly, the Qadian grabbed Keldor by one of the belts crossed over his chest. "Listen, you Blue Bastard, we don't want your kind here!"
Keldor bared his teeth at the 'blue bastard' comment. He began gathering power in his hands, beginning to silently cast a spell. He was a fighter like all members of his father's house were. But his true gift was the magic and aptitude for sorcery he inherited from his mother. Often times, people didn't even realize he was casting his magic until he'd already used it on them.
But Keldor did not get the chance to use it.
Because Hec-Tor did something entirely unexpected.
"Let him go!" Hec-Tor commanded, putting all the regal command and pompous attitude he had into his voice.
Unfortunately, the Qadian was not impressed. He looked Hec-Tor up and down, noting that he was tall, but much too skinny to be any kind of real physical threat. "And what are you supposed to be?"
Not many people knew what a space bat was, even if this Qadian did, Hec-Tor and the members of the Imperial family did not look very much like the other members of their race. They were too inbred, the gens too cut off from the rest of the pool.
Keldor was glad nobody recognized Hec-Tor, because he did not need anyone recognizing him as Prince Keldor.
Then Hec-Tor had to open his stupid, pointy toothed mouth of his. "I am-"
"This is my fiancé." Keldor cut him off before the idiot could blow their cover and spoil all of his fun. "Uh… Hordak!" He blurted out the first vaugly space bat sounding name he could think of. "Hordak, sweetie, say 'hi' to the nice kitty."
Hec-Tor frowned in confusion, not seeming to understand what was going on here or what Keldor was trying to do.
"Are you making fun of me!?" The Qadian appreciated beign called 'kitty' about as much as Keldor appreciated being called 'blue bastard'. For every race or cultural group on Eternia, there was at least one (usually more than one) derogatory term or outright slur for them, and everybody hated it. But nobody did anything about it.
"I'm usually making fun of everyone." Keldor smirked. He had opinions on everything and had grown used to being untouchable.
With a hiss and a snarl, the Qadian threw Keldor at the table.
Moving quickly, Keldor reached a hand out to grab the edge of the table and catch himself. Then made a quick duck and weave move to avoid a fast but clumsy punch from the Qadian.
Then the table up and vanished.
Keldor looked behind him to see that Hec-Tor had unexpectedly joined the fight. The space bat, in an unexpected feat of strength, picked up the whole table, lifting it over his head. He threw the whole table, legs and all, over Keldor's head. Aiming for the Qadian. …and for the first time since meeting Prince Hec-Tor, Keldor felt the slightest stirrings of arousal. He might look like a waif-like nightmare wight, but was willing for fight for Keldor, and that was very sexy of him.
The projectile didn't connect, though. The Qadian had cat-like reflexes and jumped out of the way.
And Hec-Tor, whom had looked sickly from the moment Keldor first laid eyes on him, immediately passed out. …and that was decidedly less sexy of him.
Keldor would be facing his bar fight opponent by himself, it seemed. He turned back to the Qadian, hands at his sides, but not in surrender. He was silently casting spells, gathering his power in his palms.
Behind the bar, the bartender was reaching for her personal comm. Since Prince Keldor became a semi-regular patron of her bar, she added Man-at-Arms and Lady Sigal to her speed dial.
The Qadian stepped around the broken table that laid on the floor by him, circling Keldor.
Keldor stepped over his fiancé's unconscious body, circling the Qadian right back.
With a hiss as the only warning before he moved, the Qadian jumped into the air, back arched and claws extended, pouncing on Keldor.
But Keldor was ready. He knew how to handle cats. He lifted his left hand, and the shield spell he had been casting. There was their briefest flash of light when the Qadian pounced on an invisible wall of power above Keldor's head, and then bounced off. From his right hand, he shot a spell that drew moisture from the air to conjure water, and Qadians hated to get wet.
Within moments, the Qadian was stumbling off balance on the other side of the room and soaking wet. All his fur puffed up in abject horror.
"Fucking Gar!" Snarled the cat.
Keldor only smirked back. "Meow, bitch."
The Qadian looked like he was about to jump at Keldor again. But he didn't get to.
Keldor didn't get to throw any more spells either.
Both of them found themselves inexplicably frozen in place as the door to the bar burst open, and a hooded figure stepped in, one blue arm raised. The fingers splayed, and glowing with the power of a spell of her own.
Raising their other arm, the figure reached up to lower their hood.
"Mama…" Keldor whined at his mother. It was about all he could do since her spell kept him frozen in place.
Lady Sigal made another motion with her hand and Keldor's mouth was sealed shut so that he could not speak. She knelt down next to Prince Hec-Tor to make sure he was just sleeping and otherwise unharmed. When she was satisfied that the visiting Horde Prince was indeed unharmed and Eternia was not about to suffer the wrath of the full Empire, she turned to the Qadian.
Waving her hand, she released the feline from her immobility spell.
"You- you're Lady Sigal." He gaped at her. His eyes flicked to the one he'd just been fighting with. The one who had just called Lady Sigal –the King's concubine- 'Mama'. "He's Prince Keldor?"
"Leave." Sigal commanded. She did not raise her voice, or growl, or even place any inflection on the word at all. It was a flat, even command. Almost polite. The controlled command of formal court training.
The Qadian didn't just leave, he ran. Eternia had stories about the Gar sorceress that had seduced the King and was mother to his eldest Prince. Nobody wanted to get on the bad side of Lady Sigal.
She rounded on her son. Glaring at Keldor with a level of severity that made her expression the night he tried to run away look downright gentle in comparison. Still unable to speak, Keldor swallowed a lump of nerves with apprehension. He knew, better than most, that the stories were not all that absurdly embellished. His mother was a force to be reckoned with.
Peering over her son's shoulder, Sigal addressed the bartender instead. "Prince Keldor was never here." She announced. "Neither was his companion, and neither was I."
Stiffly, the bartender nodded her understanding. That was to be the official story. "O-of course, my lady."
Finally, Sigal released Keldor from her immobility spell.
"Mama, I-"
"Pick him up." Sigal cut her son off before he could ramble out an excuse. She pointed to Prince Hec-Tor's unconscious body just to make sure there was no room for interpretation. Keldor learned to exploit ambiguity in wording from her. "You will take him back to the very same spot in gardens you disappeared from, and if asked, you will say you were just so overcome with affection that you needed to be alone with your intended."
"But, Mama, I-"
"Do not make me repeat myself, Keldor." She said in that same flat and even toneless voice of command. The words rolling with silent power and hidden temper.
Keldor lowered his eyes. He knew when he could argue a point with his mother and when he had to do as he was told. "Yes, Mama."
Kneeling down, Keldor lifted Hec-Tor by the arms and slung the larger man over his back. Lifting with his legs, muscles straining because while the space bat was thin, he wasn't exactly a feather. Keldor carried Hec-Tor like a sack over his shoulders.
He cast one more pleading look at his mother, silently begging her to save him from this marriage. He was met with only another severe glare. He would get no rescue from her. Hanging his head in defeat, Keldor carried his unconscious finace out of the bar and back to the alley that bordered the palace's garden wall.
…
The wedding night was not exactly as terrible as Keldor was imagining it would be.
After the reception, when it was time to- -consummate, Lady Sigal pulled Keldor to the side and offered him something to make the evening's labors more tolerable. Pressing a tiny plastic baggie full of a finely ground powder into his hand.
"To take the edge off." She muttered.
He took it without thinking to ask his mother any follow-up questions.
As the servants were helping him disrobe from his wedding clothes and helping him into an easy to take off robe, Keldor opened the plastic baggie and sniffed the powder experimentally. It was an herbal mixture. Keldor recognized some of them from his own studies. Herbs to ease tension and relax the nerves. But there were others that he didn't recognize. (Later, Keldor would learn that it was a mixture of natural aphrodisiacs, but he did not know it at the moment.)
Trusting his mother's herbology and potions to get him through the beilager, Keldor mixed the powder in a glass of water and shot it in two gulps. He then washed it down with a second glass of water so that his mouth wouldn't taste like medicinal herbs if he had to kiss Hec-Tor.
Oh, Goddess! He would have to kiss Hec-Tor!
Keldor bit the nail of his thumb, feeling his heart hammer against his ribs and the bottom drop out of his stomach. He pictured Hec-Tor's glowing red eyes, solid sclera with no iris or pupil. Of that gaping arrow-shaped hole where a nose would be on an Eternian. And those teeth! Elongated canines, and sharp pointy all the others, all of them an unsettling shade of red almost the same as the glow of his eyes. Keldor did not want to kiss that mouth with those unnatural red teeth.
He wiped a finger around inside the little plastic baggy, trying to scoop out every last particle of the herbal powder. Then licked it off his finger. He was going to need all the help he could get to make it through the night.
He tried to remember that single moment of attraction he felt when Hec-Tor tried to back him up in their bar fight. But it had been fleeting, and the memory of that small feeling was easily overshadowed by the nerves he felt over what was about to happen. There was nothing arousing about what was about to happen.
Taking a deep breath, Keldor pulled the sash of his robe tighter around himself and stepped into the bedroom that had been prepared for them.
Luckily, Hec-Tor looked just as nervous as Keldor felt. Standing on the opposite side of the bed. Wearing an almost identical robe. Looking down, and avoiding making eye-contact with anyone else in the room.
Keldor took a deep breath to steady his own nerves. Then walked around the bed to him.
Hec-Tor also took a breath. "I am… uncomfortable." He admitted.
"Me too." Keldor was also avoiding meeting anyone's eyes. Especially his fiancé's -husband's, they were husbands now- especially his husband's eyes. Keldor did not think he could do this if he had to look at that nightmare face of his.
Keldor untied the knot of Hec-Tor's robe. He reached up to slide the fabric off the other man's shoulders and noted that he was trembling under Keldor's hands.
Still not looking up at his face, Keldor examined Hec-Tor's body. Noting the odd patterns and color changes in his skin. The gray-blue and white intertwining more like veins rather than stripes, or spots, or other natural color patterns on other creatures. Keldor found himself wondering if the patterns were natural to the space-bat species, or if they were one of the many physical deformities that plagued the Kur dynasty. Horde Prime had two extra eyes on his right side, and Hec-Tor had… vitiligo? That wasn't a physical deformity. Lots of other people had that. It was normal.
He was even thinner with his armor and clothing off. Without the fabric and metal plating adding extra bulk to his form. There was even matter missing from his arms. An oval shaped hole on each arm large enough for Keldor to see through, right between where his ulna and radius would be.
Then he remembered that he was not supposed to be the only person participating in this. Keldor chanced a glance up at Hec-Tor's face. Quickly decided he was not comfortable enough with that nightmare face yet, and looked back down. His hair falling over his ears again. "You can touch me too, ya know."
Nervously, Hec-Tor glanced to the side, to their observers. For the most part, they seemed to not be all that interested in what they were doing. For the lawyer, this was just another boring day at the office to her. She just wanted them to get it over with so she could sign her documents and leave. The Priestess of the Goddess look politely scandalized. Beilager was not an Eternian custom, not an Eternian (or a Garish) one. She had never had to bear witness to anything like this before, and she did not appear too keen on watching two teenagers have sex.
The only one that appeared interested in what they were doing –or what they were about to do- was Horde Prime. He wasn't just watching them. He was leering with acute interest. Acute interest that was focused almost exclusively on Hec-Tor. For one heartbeat of a moment, Keldor felt bad for the other man. Hec-Tor might look like a monster from a children's tale, but he was just as humiliated and scared as Keldor was.
Hands sliding down the arms, carful not to curve his fingers into the gap between ulna and radius, Keldor took Hec-Tor's hands in his. "Let's lay down."
They both crawled onto the mattress, and Keldor reached for the bottle of lubricant.
"We'll need-! That. We will need that." Hec-Tor announced, louder than he needed to.
Setting the now open bottle back down, Keldor leaned over his husband. Eyes focusing on one white and gray shoulder when he said, "We also need to relax."
They had both been avoiding looking down the other's body. But neither of them needed to actually see the other to know that they were not particularly aroused. Very little was arousing about this situation.
Keldor ran his tongue around inside his mouth, tasting to make sure none of the herb mixture his mother gave him could be tasted. The he closed his eyes so that he didn't have to look at Hec-Tor's face, then leaned over and kissed him. Chastely at first, just the slightest brushing of lips against lips. A closed mouth kiss. Like they did during the wedding ceremony.
He was a little relieved when Hec-Tor did not kiss back.
But they had to do this, so to just get it done, Keldor tried again. Still keeping his eyes closed and imagining he was with a much more desirable partner. An open mouthed kiss this time, lips parted. Not demanding at all.
Keeping his mental image of a more ideal partner in his mind, eyes still closed, Keldor started trailing kisses along his jawline, and down the throat. When his lips felt cold metal, he paused, opening his eyes to blink at the ports where Hec-Tor plugged his armor into his body. After a pause, he decided it was best to just avoid those parts of his husband's body all together. He didn't understand how they functioned in partnership with Hec-Tor's prosthetic armor and he did not want to risk messing anything up.
As he continued to travel down his partner's body, leaving a trail of kisses to mark his path, Keldor felt himself start to relax. The herbal mixture of tension relaxers, and aphrodisiacs finally kicking in. This wasn't so bad. He could do this!
Except that Hec-Tor remained tense beneath him.
Opening his eyes, Keldor looked to the side, noted that Horde Prime was standing closer to the bed than he felt was appropriate. Not only that, but staring at Hec-Tor with wrapped attention, on hand moving in his pocket.
Reaching his hands up, Keldor framed Hec-Tor's face. Turning his head to look at him, and forcing his own eyes to look up and meet the other man's gaze. He tried very hard not to blink at that all red glow. He moved his fingers to make sure he was blocking Prime from view.
"Close your eyes." Keldor said. "Pretend they're not there. There's no one here but us."
Hec-Tor did close his eyes, and Keldor tried kissing him again. This time, he did kiss back. But hesitantly. Mouth still not opening all the way, still no tongue. But at least participating. And Keldor found that it actually put him more at ease.
Keeping his own eyes closed, calling up the fantasy of his ideal partner again, Keldor resumed trailing kisses down his partner's body. Every caress of his lips against skin heating his blood in a way he didn't think he could feel for Hec-Tor, and knowing that it was the result of whatever drug his mother gave him.
"Keep your eyes closed." He whispered, voice sounding heavy even to his own ears.
Keldor paused when he got the juncture between Hec-Tor's thighs. Eyes opening to look at the organ that was quickly beginning to swell with interest. He took a breath. It wasn't like he never sucked cock before. Kedor's tongue flicked out to tease the tip. The taste wasn't all that bad. Better than some of his past boyfriends, actually.
Hec-Tor gasped at the sensation and tried to sit up.
But Keldor shoved him back down. He didn't wanna have to look at him. "Just relax and enjoy, your Imperial Highness."
Keldor closed his hand around Hec-Tor's organ and began stroking gently. "That's better."
He could focus on the dick, and not think about the person it was attached to. Just the dick. And it wasn't a half-bad dick either. Nice and thick. Long, but not too long. Without a foreskin, but- Keldor paused, feeling the texture change as Hec-Tor grew more aroused and spines began to protrude from the shaft.
Fuck! He forgot.
Spines.
On his dick.
Oh. Hell. No.
There was no way Keldor was going to let that penetrate him. He thought Hec-Tor's stupid space bat face was a thing of nightmares. That was before he discovered his nightmarish spiny cock!
The dossier he was given on his intended did mention something about space bat anatomy, so he did have some idea of what to expect. Keldor just wasn't expecting them to feel quite so… solid. Almost the consistency of wet fingernails. Softer and more pliant than actual fingernails, but still harder and sharper than something a person would want inside them –unless they were into that, which some people were. Keldor was not.
He tucked a lock of hair behind one pointed ear. "I had heard…"
"Heard about what?" Hec-Tor tried to sit up to see his husband.
Keldor flashed him an almost self-deprecating smile. His mother's advice was to close his eyes, bite the pillow, and think of Eternia. But Keldor decided very quickly that there was no way he was going to bottom for a spiked dick. No amount of aphrodisiac in the world could make him horney enough to want a rod of spikes fucking him in the ass.
He gave the shaft a few more strokes, feeling the spines scrape against his palm. Yeah. No. "You'll forgive me if I'm not quite ready to have something like this inside me."
Hec-Tor glanced to the side again, looking to his brother. Horde Prime was probably expecting his brother to top, for the Empire to assert its dominance over Eternia by Hec-Tor asserting his dominance over Keldor. But like fuck was Keldor gonna go bottom for spiky space bat cock! Fuck Horde Prime, and fuck whatever expectations he had for their marriage. Their marriage shouldn't be any of his fucking business!
Keldor grabbed Hec-Tor's face again and forced the other man to look away from their observers. "They're not here. It's just you and me."
He leaned down and placed another kiss to Hec-Tor's lips. This time when Hec-Tor kissed back, it was not quite so chase. Lips parting to invite Keldor's tongue inside. Keldor didn't know if it was the aphrodisiac or not, but with his eyes closed so that he didn't have to look at him, Hec-Tor was actually not a bad kisser. He could enjoy himself.
Reaching for the bottle of lube, Keldor slicked up his fingers.
Hec-Tor flinched slightly and let out a small gasp when the cold lube slid against the inside of his thighs and Keldor looked up to make sure he wasn't hurting his partner. Mouth slightly open, Keldor could just see the points of two crimson red fangs, and he looked back down at what he was doing. He did not want to look at Hec-Tor's face while he was doing this.
"Lift up a bit for me?" He asked.
Hec-Tor hesitated. "Should I- should I not turn over?"
Again, Keldor looked up at his face, to gauged where his partner was with all of this. There was more than just sex going here. Being observed by Horde Prime, their wedding night was as much a political power play as it was two people trying to fuck. Keldor need to make sure he was not giving Prime the impression of overpowering or asserting dominance over his brother. As the Empire was the nation in command over Eternia, Prince Hec-Tor needed to appear to be the one in command over Keldor.
As much as he did not want to look at that nightmare face of his, Keldor needed to Hec-Tor's expressions to know how much was too much.
Keldor schooled his own expression into something he hoped resembled 'timid affection'. They had known each other for a week, how much affection did anybody expect really? Then he lied through his teeth. "I wanna see your face."
Pinching his eyes shut, Hec-Tor lifted his knees, offering Keldor easier access.
He slipped a finger inside. Not very deep, just to the knuckle. Wiggling it around, trying to loosen Hec-Tor up. He was so nervous and tense, it was making him so tight! Not, like, the sexy kind of tight. The vice-like, pinching your dick off, un-sexy kind of tight.
"You need to relax." Keldor told him, eyes looking down and away from his face again. Speaking more to his abdomen. "Otherwise, we could use all the lube in the Empire and it'd still be uncomfortable."
Keldor squeezed more lube into his hand and tried again.
This time, when pressed his finger inside, it slipped in much more easily. "That's better."
He slipped in a second finger. Also only to the knuckle at first. Not wanting to tear anything. Wiggling them both around, scissoring them to loosen him up. When he was able to fit three of his fingers inside, Keldor decided Hec-Tor was ready enough. And he was anxious to get this over with.
Reaching for the bottle of lube again, he slathered it over himself messily. He grabbed Hec-Tor's ass and held the other man over his lap, and thrust up into him. Forcing himself inside. Maybe a bit rougher than he should have. But the aphrodisiac he took before spurred him on and he found he didn't care quite as much as he should.
Now Hec-Tor was the nice kind of tight. Not to too tight that it pinches your dick of tight, that Keldor was afraid of. The firm, but elastic kind of tight that hugged and squeezed his cock so deliciously. The lube letting them slide together without friction. Just tight sensitive skin around hard sensitive skin. Keldor sighed with appreciation. Closing his eyes to block out the image of the space bat and just enjoy the base and visceral pleasure of penetrating another living being.
Hec-Tor whimpered as Keldor pressed himself deeper, and he had to pause again.
"Do you want me to stop?" Keldor had to ask. He opened his eyes and forced himself to look Hec-Tor in the face. Trying to gauge if he was hurting the other man or not.
"No." Hec-Tor braced his arms on the mattress for leverage and pressed his pelvis down on Keldor's lap, forcing his length in deeper. Both men groaned in appreciation at the sensation. "Don't stop."
At the side of the bed, they both heard Prime's breath hitch.
Keldor reached out with his hands to catch Hec-Tor's face before he could look all the way over and see what, exactly, Prime was doing while watching them.
"Don't focus on them." He commanded, punctuating the order with another rough thrust of his cock. Making sure he hit nice and deep. So deep, that the crimson glow of Hec-Tor's eyes flickered ever so slightly at the sensation. "Focus on me. Focus on what I'm doing to you."
"I like what you're doing to me." Hec-Tor moaned between thrusts.
Smirking slightly, Keldor turned his head to look at Prime. Meeting the Emperor's eyes and holding his gaze as he fucked his brother.
Prime's lower lip curled in a sneer of displeasure. But he did not say anything, and Keldor noted that his hand was still inside his pocket, moving to an even and steady rhythm of its own.
Keldor pulled Hec-Tor up, having him straddle and sit on his lap. Hec-Tor wrapped his arms around Keldor's neck and leaned in for a kiss. Keldor maintained eye-contact with Horde Prime as he kissed Hec-Tor. He made it as wet and messy as he could. Open mouth, tongue slithering out, and between Hec-Tor's parted lips. He was still mindful of those terrifying crimson fangs of his. But between the aphrodisiac and now taunting Horde Prime, it was much more bearable.
When their lips parted again and they paused for breath, a string of saliva dripped between them.
"Harder." Hec-Tor begged, that crimson glow of his eyes flickering again.
Keldor pushed Hec-Tor back down onto the pillows and lifted one steely blue-gray leg over his shoulder for better access. He cast one more taunting glance over at Horde Prime, before closing his eyes and pounding into Hec-Tor with almost reckless abandon. Grinding hard and going deep. Hitting that spot just behind the prostate that made Hec-Tor make the most lewd and obscene squeals and moans.
"Keldor…" Hec-Tor muttered, voice almost pleading. Like he was trying to ask for more but forgot how. Like his brain was already scrambled by sex and he couldn't think or speak but still wanted more.
Keldor wrapped his hand around Hec-Tor's thorny cock, to try and push his partner over the edge. But only stroking in one direction so as not to scrape his palm on the nightmare spines that covered it.
Hec-Tor was panting so hard when he tried to speak again. Like every word was a labor all its own. "Stroke- ngh –stroke it both ways."
"It's okay to pet in the wrong direction?" Keldor asked,more concerned for himself than any consideration for his partner's comfort. He didn't much like the idea of being scratched up by what felt basically like finger nails covering a cock.
"There- -is no wrong direction." Hec-Tor pleaded, panting hard. "Just- Fuck! Keldor, I'm so close!"
He was so close. This could all be over soon. Keldor just had to finish him off. He could do that. Keldor obliged. The wrong direction of the spines scraping his palm, irritating the skin into a darker –more indigo- blue.
Hec-Tor moaned with appreciation. The attention to his cock and the motions inside him finally giving him the extra push he needed. Hec-Tor fell over the edge as his orgasm ripped through his body. Cumming ropes of thick cum over Keldor's hand and his own belly.
And then, the crimson glow of his eyes flickered one more time, a last warning before Hec-Tor passed out completely. The force of his orgasm rendering him unconscious.
Keldor was left on the bed, holding his limp body, flopped under him liked a boneless fish. He looked up at their observers, confused and at a bit of a loss.
The Imperial lawyer looked just as board and disinterested as she had all night. She made a note on her data pad and then pressed her thumb to the document to sign it into legal record. This was just another boring day at the office for her.
The Eternian Priestess of the Goddess looked absolutely scandalized. Face completely red, one hand up to try and hide her embarrassment, the other clutching at the sign of the Goddess that hung around her neck. Observing a marriage consummation was a foreign concept to her and she was not having an easy time adjusting.
Horde Prime, however, looked equal parts frustrated and yet oddly satisfied. Keldor watched him withdraw his hand from his pocket and wipe it off on the underlining of his robes.
Keldor held his gaze for another moment longer. He knew what he had been doing, even if Hec-Tor and their other observers did not. Then, slowly, deliberately, Keldor shifted his gaze to the Imperial lawyer. "Is that all? Or do you need to watch me cum too?"
He was still stiff inside his partner and Keldor got the feeling that it would not be going down any time soon. Not until whatever combination of herbs he took before they started was finally out of his system. Next time, when his mother offered him drugs, he was going to ask what it was before just taking it without question.
"This is sufficient." The lawyer assured him, tucking her datapad under her arm. She was the first to turn to leave the room.
Seeing the lawyer begin to head out, the Priestess of the Goddess practically fled. Pushing past the lawyer on her hast to escape the scene she just witnessed.
Horde Prime lingered.
The door shut behind the other two.
Keldor glared at him. He withdrew from Hec-Tor and shifted the other's body enough to pull the blankets up over them to cover both their naked bodies.
"What? Expecting an encore?" Keldor demanded. He decided very quickly that he did not like Prime. He did not like Prime even more than he did not like this marriage.
"I do not enjoy being taunted." Prime announced.
Keldor was not intimidated. He didn't know if it was because of the drugs still in his system dampening whatever feelings he would normally have, or if his instinctual dislike of Horde Prime was just that strong. But Keldor did not shrink away from that harsh and cold acid green stare. "Would your little brother enjoy knowing you jack-off to him being fucked in the ass?"
Prime's lip curled in another sneer, and Keldor could only imagine all the nasty and biting comebacks he was thinking in his head. But instead of voicing any, Prime just turned to leave. Only pausing in the doorway to make one promise. "You will not enjoy living on Horde World."
Prime made sure to slam the door loudly behind him.
Keldor pulled the sheets up some more, enough to cover Hec-Tor's face. Even passed out asleep, the space bat Prince looked like a thing of nightmares.
"No, I don't think I will." Keldor had to agree.
…