Nua took the Prince's hand and followed him into the palace, everything felt 'slower' somehow, surreal. 'I married. A human. A human. A human noble. For my own ends… but still.' A fragment of herself felt torn asunder, and through that rent world within herself, the sound of Raymond's name echoed again and again.
However, the days of Nua's enslavement served her well, and she kept her face dignified. Behind her and her new husband, two pairs of servants followed, at the top of the stairs, guards opened doors, and allowed the couple to pass through unimpeded.
The walk to the royal quarters was almost a blur, and then they were there. Nua looked down at the bed, and then over her shoulder at the Prince's half elves and her own attendants, "Leave us for a moment." She said in a quiet voice, a quick bow from the four, and the room held only two a moment later.
She didn't need to see the Prince's face to know his thoughts when she reached down and touched the bed. "This was where I lay my curses on Sobella… it seems strange to me. I'm married to the man she loved, it almost feels like I murdered her myself to come to this point."
Rasgen approached her, his long legs carried him to her side in a mere trio of steps and his hand touched the space on the bed beside their own, his pinky finger lay over Nua's thumb. Her body's lack of the same warmth as his own was not disturbing to him, he could feel the life flowing beneath her skin just as if it were his own.
"I know. It's like… like I- we... are going to consummate this over the still warm bones of the woman I loved." Rasgen's voice was rougher than usual. "Weddings, they're supposed to be happy occasions, I shouldn't be thinking about her now. But I do recall her last admonition to me. "Marry a good woman, and have strong children. Even then, I was all she thought about."
Nua gave a sad smile over to him, "I'm not a particularly good woman, Rasgen. I used to be, I think, but there's no room for just 'good'. You know that. But if we can't be good, we can be bad for the right reasons, that's goodness enough for me."
"And when I'm doing all that I do… one thing I promise you, I will bring her bones home to you. I promised her she would sleep only for a little while in that place of misery and death. I will go back one day, and I will lay her bones to rest in a place she loved." Nua turned suddenly, then grabbing his shoulder, she turned him to face her as well, and kissed him, cutting off any question he might ask about how she intended to do that.
It took him unexpectedly, and when she let herself mold into his body, he embraced her, and returned the kiss. Nua had no idea how long it went on, until the voice of one of the half-elves asked maybe a little louder than she intended, or maybe exactly as loud, "How long do you think they'll be doing that before they call us back in?"
Scandalized noises of 'shhhh' and admonitions to hush were enough for Rasgen and Nua to break the embrace with mutually bemused laughs and rubbing the backs of their heads in an awkward gesture.
"Enter." Nua called, and the door opened again. "Wine, and prepare something to eat, and two of you enter to see to our clothing."
She brushed the dark hair of Rasgen's beard, and looked into his heavy brown eyes, and then stepped away. He did the same, and while Kaiji began to work Nua's clothing with her fingers, the unnamed collared half-elf worked on those of Rasgen.
They worked slowly, the formality of the occasion not being lost upon either servant.
The soft feeling of her white dress sliding along her skin felt like it was taking forever, even though this had not been her first time naked with the Prince, it felt different. The soft orange glow of candles along the wall cast their shadows around the room, along with those of their diligently working slaves, until the last bit of fabric was gone.
"Leave us." Rasgen ordered in the princely voice of a man born to rule, the pair bowed to their master and mistress, and departed, closing the door behind them to take position outside and wait to be summoned.
Nua reached out and took his hand in her right palm and gave him a salacious grin. "I half expected you to ask one of them to stay.
Rasgen barked out a laugh at her suggestion, "No, not for this. You've adapted well to Pas'en, but I think that might be a bit much."
Nua smirked, "Why is it people only laugh when I'm 'not' joking? I really did expect that.
"And that is why it's funny. But no, if it were Sobella, or Lod-Tir, then perhaps, but not either of my half-elves. They're 'different' to my house." He explained as they walked the few feet back over to the bed.
"Is that why I never hear their names?" Nua asked with sudden curiosity.
"Yes, but I'll tell that story to you another time…" He said, and the pair lay down on the bed.
Who drew who into whose embrace, neither one truly knew. Nua took care that her false hand did not crush him, using it instead to brace herself and her softer right one went to caress his skin. There was no need for spoken words then as her breasts pressed against his smooth chest. Their bodies spoke enough. Though she hated much of her past, she knew very well how best to wring groans of pleasure from a partner as a result, and she used every technique she knew.
Her slender elven frame, powerful as it was, 'felt' different to his touch, and what she often thought of as the human addiction to the bodies of her race seemed no different in her new husband, though instead of taking pleasure, he seemed too long to give it. His mouth found her long, slender elven ears, and nibbled on them, blowing warm breath over the skin and just inside, sending shivers of pleasure up and down her spine, before he traced his way down to her breast, and his hand drifted down to find her delicate pleasurable places, his beard and thick fingers offered the fulfillment of desires she long ago buried.
It was not a battle of conquest, but rather a struggle to see who could make the other happier from one moment after another.
When at last she felt him nearing climax, she allowed herself to crest from the edge she'd held herself at, so that they came together, and he collapsed on top of her, covering her body completely for a moment until he raised himself up on his elbows.
"Sorry." He said with a sheepish grin.
"It's alright, I've been hit harder than that." Nua patted his cheek reassuringly.
"Still…" His sheepish grin didn't fade, and his new wife patted his dark bearded cheek.
"That wine has been waiting for some time now I think." Nua suggested tentatively, and Rasgen rolled off of her drawing the covers up, he clapped his hands to create a sharp echo, it was enough of an order, and the door slowly opened to admit Priceless and the uncollared half-elf wheeling a tray bearing cups and a silver tureen that, even covered, left a rich smell of meaty stew in the air.
'Nothing like a good meal after exercise…' Rasgen thought and sat up beside his wife. 'First a meal, and then… dessert.' He looked at his elven bride out of the corner of his eye, and saw her doing the same. 'I do believe I've married a mind reader.' He suppressed an undignified baudy laugh as their attendants quietly poured dark wine and ladled thick soup into bowls for the royal couple.
Sado woke up on his stomach, on a cot in the training room. His back felt like it had been stabbed with a thousand knives, at his side, the Pain Children were working steadily. They were preparing bandages in strips, coating them with a strong smelling clear liquid he recognized as pure alcohol.
Behind him near his feet, he heard Solution's voice. "Good, just like that, infected wounds can kill at unpredictable rates, and you need to know how to keep someone from dying 'without' the use of magic. You never know when you'll have to keep somebody alive and hide the use of spells or simply not have any potions. And of course… this hurts a lot."
Sado took that as a warning, and gritted his teeth while Straen laid a long white strip over his back. The burning sensation hit and he sucked in his teeth, but did not cry out.
"In case you're wondering, Prince of Chains," Solution said in her cocky way, "you fell unconscious and I had to drag your ass back here. And just so you know, 'for once' I'm leaving you in pain for something other than my own amusement."
"Is that so… My Lady?" Sado groaned while the little hand reached under him, grabbed the end of the bandage, and pulled it under him. He felt it tighten as the deft small hands tied the knot and tugged it sharply to secure it.
"Yes. All my students learn a great deal about pain, and how to bear it, but I'm a practical monster, and know I can't just hurt you all for nothing. Give you a reason to bear it, and you lower life forms can rise to the occasion instead of getting ground down." Solution's mocking laugh washed over him like the burning liquid that soaked the next white strip to lay over bloody wounds.
"And the reason… gah… this time?" He asked her, at a loss for answers he deeply wanted..
"Call it… wisdom." Solution giggled, "Your city was a rough one, wasn't it? Kaiji might have been kind enough to her possessions, but you had no laws requiring it, this is a taste of what your city's slaves lived with, and this is a taste of what your people endured after you failed them all. You want to wield the whip while never facing it? How absurd of lower life forms to feel so entitled to power and judgement… only the Supreme Beings can have that right. You have not got the will to claim, let alone wield power like that. And it is because you tried when you weren't ready that your people were cast down and ended up the property of your mistress." She gripped him tightly, her burning fingers hovered at the edge of a threat before she finished with savage pleasure, "Just like you."
"I-" Sado began, only to feel the firm hand of Solution pressing on his bloody injured back and her dissolving acidic state began to consume his blood, barely even singing his skin, but cutting off his words.
"And what's more, you could call this… a gift to my student." She crouched down close to his face, "You were shamed by your 'clean' end compared to so many, now you bear their marks, just like them. And you know a taste of what it took to create your mistress as she is."
She stroked the bandaged flesh as a sculptor would a masterwork nearing its completion, "When this heals, it won't be clean, you'll be riddled with scars, beautiful and ugly, if they linger for a few years, nothing less than a ninth tier spell will get rid of them… or literally carving them off your flesh. But I know of only one person who was able to endure that."
"B-But why…? Why are you doing all this…?" Sado gasped as another alcohol soaked bandage made the rounds, this time in a different set of hands.
"Because you have a use. When my student has accomplished all that she set out to do, I won't be staying, I will be going home. Someone must manage the Pain Children day to day. You're at ease with blood and death, and just as I've been carving up your hide, I've been carving away your illusions. My student hasn't recognized your usefulness yet, she still thinks of you as a brutish human with a romantic fixation. But the fact that you're here, that you sought me out, tells me otherwise. When the time comes, you will be ready to do anything that is necessary. Remember the women you visited who were being forced by the Starwatchers to bear children to men who put them on their backs? How far will you go to keep that from happening again? How much is your honor as a warrior worth now… Prince of Chains…?" Solution whispered her twisted truths into his ear, dripping them into his mind like water from a stalactite, they burned him like the acid of the monster's body.
"How far do I have to go…?" Sado said, his face flushed with the shame at their accusing looks when he'd been forced to bow his head and ask if they would have cared how he won, as long as he won.
"As far as you have to, and it's better if you learn to enjoy it. You're a killer through and through, Sado. You just need to get used to the new reality of 'how' you'll be killing. You're a shit Prince, but a good killer is something every Prince needs. You want her to need you, don't you?" Solution's words were as acidic as her touch, and he gave a very small nod while he sucked air in again when another alcohol soaked bandage wrapped around his body.
"My student doesn't need a warrior, she has thousands of those, she doesn't need advisors, she already has one of the best, or a teacher, she has me, or a husband, she has that. But someone dredged up from the pits of despair who is capable of giving an order to these…" She gestured to the four blank faced girls who took turns binding bandages down the length of his torso, "who will order death without conscience, who they trust to ensure they are well prepared for everything that needs to be done? That she doesn't have… unless…"
"She has me. I swear it." Sado finished the statement for her, and relaxed until the next bandage went on.