Scent of a Woman

She was beautiful.

Markus Torgadden, the governor of Windspire, ran his hand gently through the long blond hair of the woman who was sharing his bed. She smiled gently as she took his hand and kissed it. For two weeks she had been his lover, and every single night he had savoured her perfect form.

Two months ago, she had joined his staff as a maid after moving here from some small village in Layar, and she had immediately caught Markus' attention. In reality, she had caught the attention of every man in the building, but Markus ensured that he was the only one competing for her affections, using his position to make sure no one dared get in his way. So the other men watched from afar as he courted her, and eventually succeeded in bringing her to his bed.

"Are you alright dearest?" She asked, stroking his torso.

Markus smiled. "I'm fine Alana." He replied. "I'm just thinking about us."

Alana smiled again, that smile that could melt butter and make a man do whatever she desired. In fact everything about her was simply intoxicating, and Markus could not believe he had her.

"Us?" She asked simply.

"How we met my dear, and everything I had to do to win your affections." Markus replied as he ran his hand down her leg. "It was worth it."

Alana giggled. "It was dearest. I'm so glad to be here with you tonight."

Markus' smile faded a little. "Me too. I just wish I didn't have to leave for this treasury meeting."

Alana propped herself up on her elbow, and the sheet fell away revealing her breasts. Markus had to fight to stop focussing on them. "Why so late?" She asked.

"Unfortunately Windspire has been hit hard with the war. We're low on funds and with so many of our population on the front lines, we're not bringing in the income from taxes and trade."

Alana leaned forward and kissed his neck as he was speaking. "That's sounds bad dearest, you must be really stressed." She whispered into his ear.

"It…. Is stressful." He replied. He had to go, but every fibre in his body was telling him to never leave this bed again. "I'm not sure what we're going to do."

Alana's hand began creeping down his stomach as she leaned in further. "Perhaps you should do something with the taxes." She whispered.

Markus looked at her. "That's a…. last resort. We don't want to put the people under more pressure."

"But look at the pressure you're under dearest. It's only fair they share some of the burden in these terrible times." Alana purred, looking down. "In fact, let me help you relieve some pressure now."

Alana made her way back to the maid's quarters, smiling to herself. She had made poor Markus half an hour late to his meeting, though she was sure he didn't really mind. Her hair was tussled and it was obvious to all what she had been doing these last couple of hours, but she didn't really care about that. Walking past a number of the other staff, she caught scornful looks from the women and lustful looks from the men. There were a number of the men that caught her eye as well, but she'd best be a good little girl and not touch.

Alana finally made it to her room and closed the door behind her. Normally the maids share accommodation, but since becoming Markus' lover she had enjoyed certain privileges and had been assigned her own quarters, complete with ensuite. And ever since that day she'd been scorned by pretty much every woman in the palace. Disrobing again, Alana went to the shower to have a quick wash before bed. The water was warm and comfortable, and Alana smiled. She must be the only maid with a boiler attached to her shower.

Standing under the water she could feel it washing the dirty feeling away, though not completely. She didn't really care about Markus, in fact sometimes sharing his bed made her physically ill, but he had power and influence, and she needed it. Thankfully she could tell she was starting to break him down, and before long he'd be doing whatever she wanted. But she had to admit it was getting harder to keep this up, and silently prayed she wouldn't have to carry on much longer.

Looking down as she scrubbed herself she could see the pool of water at her feet had started to go yellow. She groaned at the thought of having to apply the hair dye again, but it was going to be a job for the morning. Right now she just wanted to get some sleep, so she finished up as quickly as she could and turned off the shower. Stepping out and wrapping a towel around her, Alana stared into the mirror as she dried her hair, removing the last vestiges of hair dye, and revealing the natural dark hair that lay underneath.

As she stared deep into her reflection, Clarissa knew that when this was all done and Windspire belonged to her coven, she would feast like never before.