A Dream of Empire Ch. 019

"But, don't you... already have a sorceress?" Alanna breathlessly asked.

"I do. The talented Lady Jeanne, an enchantress in her late seventies who has grown tired, bitter, and unapproachable in recent years. She has more than once expressed a desire to leave my service, provided I found a suitable replacement."

Alanna frowned. Bitterness was the ultimate destination for all enchantresses, as dictated by their powers of empathy; assuming she hadn't a merge-mate like Talos, that is. Lady Jeanne obviously hadn't read the Mschuleft Catalogue yet, or perhaps the solution within had come to her too late in life to be of help.

"I see the gears spinning in your head," Alfred declared with a pat of Alanna's shoulder. "And to the kind soul behind your eyes, I swear to her that she wouldn't be forcing anyone to the gutter by accepting my offer. The Lady Jeanne will retire with more coin than half of the Imperial nobility."

Alanna shook her head. "No, no that isn't it. I understand your sorceress's plight all too well. It's that... I'm young, Alfred. I'm inexperienced, and far too unskilled for such a post."

"No, Alanna. You're unmolested by the troubles of our world and you are modest, and you have a wondrous joy I've never before seen in a mage. You're perfect for such an honor. You've gotten me to trust a mind-reader in a matter of hours, and you got the dreary Solomon to like you over supper. You joined my High Council without warning or preparation, yet you entered our discussions as if you owned them. I've made mistakes in my life, Alanna, but this surely isn't one of them."

Alanna beamed, her cheeks red with pride. "I-if you say, Alfred. But, it... isn't my choice to make, in any case," she exhaled. "You must talk to my man."

"And I will," the King said with a pat of her back, "but only after you speak with him first. You would accept otherwise, would you not?"

Alanna shook her head, smiling softly. "I could never refuse, Alfred. All sorceresses dream of such an honor, yet very few can ever hope to see those dreams realized. It's... almost too good to be true. If I'm not overstepping, I'd like to ask something else of you."

"Yes?"

"I'd like you to allow me in, so I know if you speak true," she asked with a glance. "It's... a requirement for enchantresses, before we can truly trust another. Or, at least it's a requirement for me."

"Then enter," he curtly replied. Alanna glanced at him again in shock, almost disbelieving that he accepted so quickly. Alfred smiled.

"Okay... okay. Just a moment," she exhaled, leaning against him whilst his hand remained on her back. She shut her eyes and calmed her heart with a deep breath, then laid still for a minute as she swam through the dreams of a King.

"You lied to me," Alanna whispered with her eyes still shut. "You would have me in your bed."

"And how could you possibly know that?" Alfred gruffly replied, finally at a disadvantage in conversation. Alanna opened her eyes and scooched away from him, placing a hand on his knee.

"I didn't," she giggled. "Until just now, anyway. But I also found that you seek Talos' allegiance as you do mine, and that is a prospect I cannot promise. He's a free spirit, Alfred, and despises royalty of all kinds. Even the good ones."

"Perhaps you could convince him to make an exception? I've looked into him since the Battle, and found he has a victorious history no matter where he trode. With his noble upbringing, he could even be leading an army come the spring if he so desired."

"He's put that behind him, Alfred. Please don't make me ask," Alanna murmured.

"Then I won't. The prospect of your radiance gracing my court is already enough of a victory for me. I trust you will ride with me and my men come the morn', though?"

She smiled in agreement. "I will. Talos desires and needs solitude in the days to come, and I won't interrupt him. I can't promise Tanya will do the same, however, since she... she thinks I... we..." Alanna sighed, bouncing off from the couch. "Alfred, I need to go see to her. She thinks I slept with you!"

"Go then, and placate the troubled Tanya," Alfred agreed with an outstretched hand. "I'll see you on the 'morrow."

-=-=-

Alanna rushed down the spiraling steps of the King's tower, through the main hall of Eastwatch, and towards the eastern tower offered to her and Tanya for their overnight stay. She spun about when Solomon offered her conversation, absentmindedly allowing her skirt to rise, and promised him plenty in the days to come before she spun about again. The steps up the eastern tower were plenty, forty-eight in all if Alanna had been counting, and she stopped for breath and an adjustment of her disheveled hair before opening the door to her room.

There she found Tanya sitting atop the room's only bed with her legs crossed, with a floating spell tome and an orb of light fluttering about before her. Tanya looked on her with a devilish squint, glaring at her for trespasses that were obvious and known. Alanna shut the door, and paced towards her.

"Tanya, I know what you're think-"

Tanya snapped her book shut with an unseen hand, and extinguished her reading light in the same instant.

"I know what you're thinking," Alanna exhaled. She shook her head, continuing, "but it wasn't like that. The King only invited me upstairs for a polite and chaste conversation, nothing more."

"Oh no, Alanna. That isn't what it looked like to me. The way you... threw yourself at him!" Tanya declared, rising from the bed as her book fell to the ground. "You were all over him through all four courses, and you're telling me he only offered a tour of his bedchamber for conversation?! I may not yet be wise, Alanna, but I am surely not stupid. Talos will have your head for this."

"He will know I speak true!" Alanna exclaimed with raised arms. Tanya's arms were at her sides, but Alanna noticed two raised fingers on her right hand; a precursor of spell. Teleportation, if Alanna knew her at all.

"Obliviate your memories, force him not to pry, fine!" Tanya shouted. "But I will tell him under a ward you cannot break, and he will have your head regardless."

"Tanya... stop this," Alanna pouted. She found her fellow sorceress truly frightening when she wanted to be. "I-I-I need you to believe me. The conversation in his chambers. He... he offered me a position on his council! And sure, perhaps I thought he wanted to bed me, and perhaps I thought I'd accept, but I pussed out a-and stammered my prior devotions as soon as the door was shut!"

Tanya dropped her fingers, and her brows raised just a touch. "A position on his council?"

"Yes! He wants me to be his Court Sorceress. Me!"

Tanya sighed with relief, casting her gaze to the floor. "Oh. That certainly explains him buttering you up all night. I'm glad for you, Alanna," she softly replied. "Did you accept?"

Alanna took in a deep breath, her thumping heart finally given reason to rest. "Not yet. I... I told him he had to speak with Talos." Tanya shook her head with a soft smile.

"You've more restraint than I, then," she murmured. Tanya looked up at her, and outstretched her arms. "Come here, Alanna."

The enchantress didn't need to be told a second time. She skipped towards her friend, wrapping her arms around her neck with a grin and squeezed herself tightly against her. "You're not jealous?" Alanna whispered in her ear.

"No," Tanya whispered back as they held one another. "It's a shock, sure, but enchantresses make proper court sorceresses. They're more useful on the day-to-day. Plus you're... really great with people. I was anxious enough just sitting between Counts and Lords, I couldn't even imagine how timid I'd've been beside the King. I apologize for doubting you, Alanna."

"No, I apologize," Alanna moaned. "I can't believe I even... even considered such a thing. I'm disgusted with myself." Tanya nuzzled her cheek against Alanna's forehead.

"It wasn't an intelligent move, true... but, don't be so hard on yourself. He's a King, and yet you denied him anyway; that tells me all I need to know of your devotion."

Alanna nodded into her neck, and happily realized they were still holding one another. Tanya was so soft. So comfortable.

"You know... Alfred even trusted me enough to allow me read him. Enough to disable his ward. Then I thought... if a great King could trust me enough to do this... why's it so difficult for you? Don't you trust me, Tatiana?"

"I... do. I really do," Tanya murmured. "And I think you'll appreciate that I've already decided to leave myself unguarded in your presence. Once I can master my safe-phrase to reengage the wards, mind you, which is on the agenda for my next visit home."

"'Safe-phrase'? That doesn't sound like trust, dear," Alanna giggled into her neck.

"I know," Tanya replied with a squeeze. "But it's the best I can offer. Believe me when I say I'd rather Talos be capable of reading me, to know all I know, and to employ my font of knowledge at his will. But, unlike the King... I also know what you're capable of."

"I'm... only jesting, Tatiana. Mostly. Thanks for staying by your word."

"You're welcome."

The girls silently held one another for a time then, appreciating one another's natural warmth. Eventually they did part, though, to hold one another by the waist an arm's length away. Both attempted to speak at the same time.

"I'm sorry, go ahead," Alanna chuckled.

"No no, you go ahead," Tanya conceded.

"Nope, I insist that you do."

"Okay," Tanya conceded. "I was, um, wondering... what the end game to all of this will look like. Say our man finds Casiama, and you go to Solais to start your new job, and I... slink back to the shadows, and return to Redstone?" Tanya nervously asked, getting Alanna to pout. "It-it's just that I'm only now thinking of it. Being alone again. It worries me."

"I think... I feel as if Talos will run away with Cass for a time," the enchantress truthfully replied. "But he'll return. Old Cass would feel remorse for separating us, but if the old Cass doesn't exist anymore, then..." Alanna removed a hand from Tanya's waist to point at her own head. "I will force him to return. Similar to last year."

"Force him?" Tanya teased.

"Yeah?"

She giggled. "If you're going into politics, Alanna, then you shouldn't call it force. You should refer to it as 'reminding him of the errors of his ways,' or something similar, then imply that you're forcing him; because only lowborns say it forthright. Anyway, that... sounds respectable. Your plan, that is."

"Mhm," Alanna mumbled, deciding not to remind Tanya that she was, in fact, lowborn. "As for you... I don't want you left alone. Perhaps you could live with me in Solais while we wait?"

"I was thinking, um... that's really generous... but I was thinking I could oft teleport to you instead," Tanya alternatively suggested. "So we could spend time together. Because you're a really good... friend. You're really sweet," she blushed. "B-but what were you going to say?"

"Uh... well I was going to ask if we were lovers now," Alanna murmured, gazing into her eyes. "Though I can live as friends. Don't think I'm pressuring you, or anythi-"

"Yes!" Tanya exclaimed. "I mean. Yes, Alanna. I think we are. The last two weeks have been positively eye-opening for me. And I was jealous of you. Before. For having Talos that is, not this whole thing. But, I... have an ask. I'd like you to remain chaste for me."

Alanna giggled, "I think that ship left harbor quite a while ago."

"I mean! I meant in the future. Starting now. Your salacious actions towards others, your frequent dalliances, I... I want those to end. I'm a jealous person, Alanna, I know that now. Don't think I was mad at you earlier all for Talos' sake."

Aw! She's already grown possessive of me.

Alanna pushed Tanya to the bed so she landed on her butt, then shared a grin with her. "Would you believe me if I said you're all the woman I'd ever need?"

Tanya shook her head, letting her brunette twin-tails swish playfully behind her.

"So I have to prove it to you?"

Tanya nodded, her joyful lips puckered in expectation while her eyes widened with delight.

"Alright," Alanna giggled, swaying her hips, "then I shall... do..." she pounced on Tanya, pushing her back onto the bed to dive in for a passionate kiss - a kiss performed so poorly that teeth jousted with teeth, causing her to reel away in shock.

"Ah, sorry!" Alanna nervously giggled, bringing a hand to her mouth. "You make me so giddy!"

"Mm," Tanya smiled with mouth shut, wrapping her wrists around Alanna's neck. "I'm convinced it's the coffee."

"Perhaps it's both?" Alanna laughed, leaning in to her. Her second kiss, performed once her anxious giggle-fit had subsided, was far more successful than the first. Both girls slacked in one another's grasp; two sets of eyes fluttered shut, two hearts thumped at a matched pace, and two sets of feet intertwined as they made out with one another.

Alanna's roaming hands were soon working on removing Tanya's dress. It was an action that had already been performed half-a-dozen times in half-a-dozen days, but always with their man nearby. Taking Tanya alone had been a dream of hers for quite some time now, and was a thought so distant and forbidden that she actually found her hands fumbling with her dress. Tanya must have realized this as she pushed Alanna away to arch her knees up, then helped pull the hem of her own dress to her waist, revealing her pale, lithe, gorgeous legs.

"I adore the looks you give me, Alanna," Tanya giggled, spreading her legs to allow her back in.

"Am I that obvious?" she cutely replied, her curious hands already caressing and squeezing Tanya's thighs.

"Yes. It's the very same look he gives just before he ravishes me."

Alanna chuckled, then leaned in to plant kiss after kiss on her soft, pale neck. She brought a hand to Tanya's panties, tugging on the exquisitely-soft material for a moment before deciding to push them to the side.

"And now you're my whore, too," Alanna whispered to her before sucking on her earlobe. She slid a sensual finger between the moist folds of her pussy, then ran it upwards to land on her clit. She gently swirled her finger over Tanya's button whilst assaulting her cheek and ear with kisses, drinking in her agreeable moans for a time.

"Oh... Alanna..." Tanya lustfully sighed and cutely squirmed to her soft touch. Alanna pecked her on the lips, then nuzzled her nose with hers.

"I want you naked," Alanna playfully whispered, gazing into her eyes.

Tanya bit her lip. "And I you."

Alanna wrapped an arm under Tanya's trim waist, lifting her, then gripped the hem of her dress to pull it over her head. Tanya straightened her arms to help with it's removal, then giggled sweetly for her lover when she was left bared, only remaining in her blue lace panties and bra.

Tanya returned the favor just after. Alanna's bodice and shirt were far more difficult to remove, however, with lacework aplenty and many a piece, so both girls worked together to remove it with haste. Alanna hadn't worn a bra underneath her bodice - an enchantress's game to allow her tits to sway freely as she moved - and so she was soon left bared from the waist up in all her jiggling glory. Alanna brought an arm up to chastely cover her breasts, as if she still had an ounce of modesty remaining. Her arm was soon brushed away by a giggling Tanya, who then leaned in to suck on her nipple.

Alanna held onto one of Tanya's twin-tails as she sucked and bit at her nipple. She reached her other hand around to loosen the lace on Tanya's bra, who let it fall away when it was untied before returning her attentions to Alanna's tits. She sucked on one, kneaded the other, and gazed into Alanna's eyes before moving her mouth to the other. Alanna moaned for her, not quite understanding where the timid Tanya had gained such a skill... but, by the gods, she didn't mind at all.

"Tanya! Mmh... how did you know I liked that?" Alanna exclaimed through her sultry moans. Tanya lifted her mouth after another playful bite, grinning at her.

"All women do, right?"

About four in five, Alanna thought to herself. "Do you?" she asked instead.

Tanya nodded. She brought her hands to Alanna's skirt, only for Alanna to slap them away, then push her back onto the bed so she could dive onto Tanya's cute tits instead. There she returned the favor for a time, sucking and licking on her nipples while Tanya moaned and sighed, her eyes fluttering shut.

Alanna was practically bursting with desire by this point. She slipped a hand under her own skirt, pushed her panties to the side, and slipped two fingers into her pussy. She was wet. Really wet. And... warm...

Fuck. She unsheathed her fingers from her snatch, inspecting them, then popped off of Tanya's nipple.

"Poor tidings, dear," she sighed, showing off her two glistening, reddened fingers to her lover.

"At least you're not carrying again?" Tanya shrugged. Alanna leaned in to kiss her.

"There's the silver lining," Alanna giggled as she retreated from the bed. "Give me a second. And don't you dare get dressed," she warned with a playful glare.

"Mm," Tanya concurred. She actually did the opposite as she watched Alanna tidy herself by the corner bath, removing her gloves, socks, jewelry, and hair ties, until she was down to only her panties and Talos' amulet. Tanya laid on her tummy then, swinging her legs in the air behind her.

"If only you had a cock, Alanna; then we wouldn't be so rudely interrupted by the moon's phases."

"Planning on giving me one?" Alanna warmly replied through the mirror.

"No," Tanya giggled. "Though, I suppose it'd be up for discussion if such a spell existed."

"You're telling me that we can travel to other worlds and create castles from naught but dust, yet we can't conjure a simple penis?" Alanna chuckled. She fixed her hair in the mirror for a moment before turning back to the bed, and smiled at the blushing Tanya.

"Oh, I'm sure we could. It's more likely that the patriarchy simply destroyed all knowledge of such a spell. Could you imagine, sorceresses usurping man's only redeeming quality?" Tanya playfully asked her. Alanna shrugged, then hopped onto the bed.

"I suppose you're right... they wouldn't have much of a use at that point. But, imagine this," she said, rolling onto her back and waving both hands towards the ceiling. "Talos goes somewhere for a month or so. A month where he can't find any women to lay with him."

"So, imaginary land?"

"Right. And then he returns to us, so incredibly overwrought by this theoretical lack of femininity, and demands we see to his needs first thing." Alanna turned towards Tanya on the bed while sneaking a hand under her own skirt. "And we do this, of course; we run up to him, we hug him tightly, and then..."

Alanna extended her forefinger under her skirt, then pushed it against Tanya's leg. "Surprise!"

Tanya snorted with laughter. "No! He'd kill us!"

"But how could he, when we'd have two swords to his one?" Alanna cutely mused.

"Oh gods! You're absurd, Alanna," Tanya declared, rolling towards the adorable enchantress and wrapping her legs around her. "Next you'll tell me that he'd appreciate the gesture."

"Now that I could never say," Alanna chuckled. "Like one time I jested, merely jested, about a soldier's threesome with him... and he ignored me for half the day."