Attending to an Incubus

"I apologize everyone, I should have arranged for an escort to ensure that we could proceed without interruption. But my aide should have her here quite quickly. Ah, here we go..."

A sudden gust of wind whips through the hall as the demon reappears in the doorway, a trail of lavender silk draped over his body. As he lifts Loralani, dressed in one of her most elaborate gowns, off of his shoulder, and lowers her unceremoniously to floor, I understand instantly why the demon lord didn't bother to arrange an escort.

The demon inclines its head.

"She was already en route sir." he says. "I hastened her trip."

The demon lord gives him a nod.

"Thank you." he says. "And Loralani, I believe you owe everyone here an apology for the unnecessary delay."

"I..." Loralani starts to speak, then falters. The blood drains from her face as she lays eyes on the demon lord for the first time.

"...I am not accustomed to making haste through my own castle." she says.

"Well, it's no wonder organization here has been such an issue," he says, "since you can't even manage your own schedule."

Loralani opens her mouth, but pauses without a sound. It might be that even her limited self-preservation instincts are finally making themselves felt, or maybe it's the fact that she's simply never in her life had the occasion to react to open mockery.

The demon lord crooks his finger towards her.

"Come here, Loralani." he says.

Slowly, with delicate steps made necessary by her full-length gown, Loralani approaches the demon lord's seat.

"Closer." he says. A hint of annoyance is audible in his voice.

She takes a few more steps.

"Loralani," the demon lord speaks with open exasperation, "you have forced the entire residence of this castle to wait while you've delayed the proceedings of this audience, and you have arrived improperly dressed."

He points a finger towards the bodice of her gown.

"Remove that." he says.

"I... I don't..." Loralani speaks in a trembling voice, then looks around the hall at the surrounding crowd.

"...I don't have anyone to undress me." she says.

As pathetic an answer as it might be, she has a point. She must still have had someone attending her to help her dress, because she's laced tight into the bodice and sleeves of that gown. I know firsthand just how painstaking a process it is to get it on or off of her.

The demon lord lets out a sigh. He raises a hand, and gestures to one of the biesi behind him, who approaches and hands him a knife from his own belt. He holds the blade between his fingers, and extends it towards Loralani hilt-first.

"You may undress yourself with this." he says.

She steps forward and reaches out stiffly to take the blade from his hand, then quickly retreats to a safer distance. The blade is barely more than the length of the biesus' hand, but it looks comically oversized and visibly trembles in hers. She cuts through the lacing on each of her sleeves, but, unable to reach the laces behind her, she pricks awkwardly at the silk of her bodice before managing to slide the blade underneath and cut through it up to the neckline. She pulls the tattered silk over her head, exposing her shift dress.

"Remove the rest as well." he tells her.

His voice is firm now, and she complies without a word, taking off her shift dress and the linens beneath. Stripped bare in front of him, covering herself with her arms, her eyes fixed on the floor and her ears stooped low with fear and shame, there isn't even a trace left of her usual haughty grandeur.

The demon lord looks her over. Although he's supposed to be an incubus, I can't make out even a hint of lust in his appraisal. Her figure, which seemed willowy and elegant when dressed in her best silks, looks meager and spindly in front of him, and her golden hair, still done up in an elaborate plait, looks like nothing but a pathetic affectation.

"Very well." he says. "Come here."

Loralani approaches his seat once again. He reaches out his hand, and without a word, she hands him back his subordinate's knife. He takes it, then tugs her forward, laying her face down across his lap, and raises his hand behind her in the gesture of a parent punishing an unruly child. She lets out a squeak, but makes no move to resist.

"First," he says, "I need to punish you for wasting my time personally."

He punctuates his words with a sharp slap on her behind. She lets out a yelp at the impact, and he quickly follows it with a couple more blows.

"Second," he says "you have wasted the time of everyone here, forcing them to wait while you dressed up and arrived late for an audience which could not proceed without you."

Another three sharp blows, and another yelp from Loralani.

"Do you regret your actions?" he asks?

"Ah, I... yes..." Loralani stutters out.

"Then apologize." he says.

"I- I'm sorry..." she says.

"Apologize properly." he says. "Tell them what you did wrong."

"I'm sorry for wasting everyone's time and making you wait." she says.

"Better." he says. "You have very many apologies left to make, so you'd better make them sincere."

The demon lord looks into the crowd, and crooks a finger at someone, beckoning them closer.

"Knight captain Coralon, come forward." he says.

The captain of the men-at-arms, the leader of the same forces who met the demon lord outside the gates a few days ago and welcomed him in, approaches him on his seat, stopping nearly within arm's reach.

"Loralani," the demon lord says, "You ordered the knight captain and his men to face my forces in battle, purely to guard your own position. When he told you that he knew of no strategy which could overcome my army, you told him that it was his duty to fight with valor and conviction, and to repel the enemy, clever strategies or no. You would have sent them all to die, for the vain hope of preserving your own luxury."

The knight captain steps forward, bracing one hand against Loralani's back, and begins to spank her. His sword arm might not be as long and muscled as the demon lord's arm, but his blows are far angrier, and Loralani cries out over and over again. The demon lord raises a finger, and the knight captain pauses.

"Do you apologize?" the demon lord asks.

"Yes!" Loralani sobs.

"For...?" he prompts.

She hesitates, but as her silence drags on too long for his patience, the knight captain begins striking her again, several hard blows before giving her another chance to speak.

"I- I'm sorry for sending you to die!" she gasps.

The demon lord raises his hand, and the knight captain steps back.

"I think everyone can agree," the demon lord says, "that that was hardly adequate penance. But I can only ask for so much of everyone's time, and Loralani has very many apologies left to give, and her bottom-"

He places his hand on one of her bright-red cheeks.

"...Is very sparse."

The knight captain laughs, and steps back to take his place in the audience, and the demon lord beckons someone else.

"Steward Tiralin, step forward." he says.

The demon lord invites up a whole winding succession of the staff, all of them nursing grievances against Loralani. At some time or another, it seems she's managed to offend nearly everyone in the castle hierarchy. Even the head maid, my own supervisor, who I've never heard speak a word ill of her before, takes a turn with obvious enthusiasm, and Loralani sobs out an apology in the demon lord's lap for disrupting household work and tormenting workers over petty grudges. Even if it's being delivered by a demon, even if this is really all about conquest and not justice, I don't even try to suppress my satisfaction at seeing Loralani punished on my behalf.

And so, I'm caught completely off guard when the demon lord sets his eyes directly on me.

"Maidservant Nalina, step forward." he says.

My stomach drops. The Demon Lord of the West, the conqueror who's already overthrown half our kingdom, whose presence is overwhelming even among demons, is addressing me directly by name. Wasn't the head maid standing in for all of us under her? Is he going to share in front of this whole audience exactly why Loralani has a grudge against me? Even if he is, at least Loralani's left me no stranger to public embarrassment. I step forward to take my own turn.

As captivating as the demon lord was when he first entered the hall, it's nothing compared to seeing him up close. I was expecting him to be commanding, but I've spent my whole life practicing careful obedience, so doing what I'm told comes easily to me. I expected him to be intimidating, but I'd resolved myself to fight down my fear. Loralani and her father already had the power of life and death over me after all.

I didn't realize he was so beautiful.

I've never traveled far from home before, and I haven't seen sights from around the world, but I know the forests near the castle. Seeing the Demon Lord of the West up close is like hearing the rushing sound of water through the trees, and winding your way through until you reach an opening, and seeing for the first time that the ground cuts away into a crashing waterfall, dazzling in the sunlight, which could swallow you up without a trace.

Sprawled pitifully across his lap, her face red and streaked with tears, is Loralani, my tireless tormentor of these last two years.

"Loralani," the demon lord says, "you have publicly abused Nalina, a maid who has spent her life faithfully serving your family. You have assigned her excessive labor, struck her, berated and humiliated her for invented failings, and demeaned her and her family out of envy and vindictiveness."

So, he's not going to expose my history with lord Loriel after all. Out of envy, really? I suppose that's one way to interpret her insistence on telling everyone that I'm ugly. But I can't possibly argue with calling her vindictive. And when she was on the verge of losing everything, her last act as lady of this castle was to lash out at me.

I reach down towards his lap, close enough to touch the demon lord himself, and stroke her hair.

"I'm sorry, Loralani." I say. "This has all been too much for you to bear, hasn't it?"

I pet her, as if soothing a small child.

"Don't be afraid." I say. "You're going to be alright. I'm sure that he'll have mercy on you."

As I straighten up, I can see the demon lord is looking at me and smiling. I think, out of everyone he's called up, I'm the only one he's given that smile. He doesn't strike Loralani, and he doesn't ask her to apologize.

Even if he did, she couldn't get out the words. As I turn my back on her and return to my place, I can hear her bawling uncontrollably behind me.

I'm the last one the demon lord calls up. He calls the audience to attention, then waits for Loralani to finish crying. His expression conveys mild irritation, as if she's an inconvenient and troublesome thing not worth the bother of reprimanding. The very picture of what it means to hold someone beneath contempt.

"Thank you all for bearing with her for so long." he says. "As I promised, this castle is due for a change of organization, and I believe it's clear now that Loralani has been a great burden on the administration of this land, for everyone. Henceforth, the steward Tiralin will be responsible for its management under me, and I hope he will learn well from his predecessor's mistakes. "

"Although I know Loralani has done little to endear herself to any of you, she has taken the time to apologize, and I'm sure that she will reflect on her actions. I hope you'll all show her tolerance and understanding while she finds something useful to do with herself here, because..."

He strokes a hand softly along her bottom, eliciting another whimper.

"I don't think she'll be able to ride anywhere else for some time anyway."

"So," he continues, "now that the castle has been provisionally reorganized, things should be returned to their usual order once the staff have proven themselves in their new assignments. Hence, the lockdown will be lifted once I have judged the competence of my new steward, and of one woman who will serve and attend to me while I am in residence at this castle."

"Thank you for your patience. You are all dismissed."

~~~

"That was amazing! I can't believe you did that!"

Although I could really use some time alone with my thoughts right now, when Ceralin approaches me after the audience I can't just turn her away.

"I know nobody really liked her, but really, she was always the hardest on you out of everyone." she says. "I mean, I guess trying to send her men to die for her was worse, but that wasn't personal the way it was with you."

She gives me an admiring look.

"I'm amazed you could forgive her after all that. I don't think I could have."

I keep my ears straight and hold back a sigh. Ceralin really isn't the brightest, although I feel bad for thinking that, because she's obviously a nicer person than I am.

"Thanks, but I really don't think it's something to praise me for." I tell her. "I think if you were in my place, your way of dealing with it would probably be healthier than mine."

She shakes her head, smiling. "I don't think so. If it were me in your place, I'd probably have bruised my hand, and I still have work to get done."

"I guess my way does have that going for it."

On the other hand, I might have a hard time getting to sleep at night.

I don't think most of the people in that hall were so naive. I wonder what they think of me now? It's true, what Loralani did to me wasn't as bad as sending her men to die hopeless deaths. But still, out of everyone, I was the only one who wasn't satisfied to leave her humiliation up to the demon lord. My condescending to her in front of everyone hurt her more than my bare hand ever could, and I knew it. More than that, when I turned my back on her, I was proud, that I'd made my punishment sting more than anyone else's.

Ceralin gives me a wry look.

"It sounds like you were wrong though." she says. "At the end, I mean, when you said you thought the demon lord would show her mercy. It sounds like he's still not done with her at all. She'll probably be waiting on him for quite a while before he leaves.

"Maybe." I say. "I think behind closed doors, he'll go pretty easy on her."

I'm still thinking about that when I return to my room for the night. Part of me feels like I ought to feel some kind of sympathy for Loralani. After all, the years I spent "attending to" her father were exactly what left me in such a miserable position after she took over as lady of the castle. I feel like, if my life were a story, this would be the part where I'd realize that the two of us really aren't so different, and I'd think something about vicious cycles, and feel a wave of unexpected pity for her. But I'm not much of a heroine, and I don't actually feel that way in the slightest.

It's not just how different the two of us are, and how much she's brought this all on herself, which keeps me from feeling sorry for her. The demon lord is nothing at all like her father after all. Not that Loriel was particularly cruel as lords go, but he was quite dim and thoughtless, and just as self-absorbed as his daughter. And even if he was probably a good looking man in his youth, he was hundreds of years older than I am, and not in good health. I'd only had one partner before him, who'd taught me not to set my expectations too high. Given that, it was easy enough to manage Loriel with false affection, flattery, and leave real desire to my fantasies.

The demon lord, I'm sure, is not as simple to please. I wonder what he'll really ask of her? I can imagine him treating her like her father did with me, but the reality will probably be more colorful than that. Now that I've seen him up close, there's no question he really is an incubus. I wonder if that's why this line of thought is having so much of an effect on me? At least thinking that makes me feel better about myself than supposing my tastes run towards seeing Loralani humiliated. I hesitate a bit at imagining that scenario, since before now I've never fantasized about people I know in real life. My imagination has featured plenty of wandering adventurers, sorcerers, and heroes from romance stories, but never anyone I've actually seen face to face. But even with the risk of making things awkward while he's still in the castle, I think I'd have a hard time keeping the demon lord out of my fantasies.

Thankfully, I haven't progressed too far down that train of thought when I'm interrupted by a knock on my door. Literally no one ever comes to visit me in my own room at this hour, so under the circumstances I think I deserve some credit for not letting out a yelp of surprise which can actually be heard through the door.

"Who is it?" I ask.

"I have a message for maidservant Nalina from his lordship." A man's voice answers from behind the door. The voice sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it.

I make sure my room is in order, and open the door, only to find a demon towering over me. It takes a moment for me to recognize him this close up, but he's the same attendant to the demon lord who carried Loralani over his shoulder.

"His lordship desires that you attend to him in his chambers," he says, "and requests that you wear this."

He hands me a small bundle of shimmering cloth the color of new spring leaves.

My mind spins with shock, but with my years of training as a servant, I'm able to respond on reflex.

"When does he desire my attendance?" I ask.

"As soon as you can dress." He answers.

I bow and close the door, and unfold the garment he gave me. As a servant in this castle, I've seen and handled silk countless times, but of course I've never actually worn it before. For a moment, I'm afraid this might be a piece from Loralani's own wardrobe. She's in no position to punish me for mishandling her clothes now, but they definitely wouldn't fit me. But as I hold it up to the light, I realize it can't possibly be hers. Not only does the pale green not suit her colors, she wouldn't own anything cut like this. While Loralani's gowns are laced tight and require a servant's help to remove intact, this is fastened with just a sash, and looks like it offers only a halfhearted commitment to staying on in the first place.

I hurry to remove my clothes. After a moment's hesitation, I remove my underthings as well. Apart from the fact that they don't match the fabric, this is clearly a bedroom garment, and the demon lord probably expects me to leave them off.

When I open the door, the demon is still outside waiting for me. It's hard to make out expressions on his coal-dark face, but he averts his eyes a bit as if he's embarrassed, not at all the sort of expression I expected of a demon.

"Do you need me to escort you?" he asks.

"Please." I say.

The demon lord is probably staying in the rooms that used to belong to Loralani's father, and I certainly know my way there. But I don't want anyone to stop and ask me what I'm doing wandering the halls dressed like this.

What am I doing anyway? It's not hard to guess what he's called me for, but why me? After his audience in front of the whole castle, he implied he'd be calling on Loralani, but I guess he never said so outright. But even if he wasn't going to call on her, that doesn't explain why he'd choose me, a woman with no standing in this castle, who he's called up once during Loralani's punishment and never even looked at apart from then.

But, I can't bring myself to ask the demon leading my way, so he walks ahead of me in silence.

We reach the entrance to the lord's chambers without encountering anyone on the way. It's surprising for this time of evening, and I think it must be a small blessing, until I remember that I'm dealing with demons, and any stroke of fortune is probably the opposite of a blessing. The demon escorting me knocks on the door.