Chapter X: Secession and Union

"You know, I think it was really your way with words that sold me. You're so eloquent." The queen of the land was mocking me. I cleared my throat and closed my eyes for a moment, trying to focus.

"Yes, well. I-I'm sorry." I said, gaze falling down to the table. She reached out her hand and lifted my chin to meet her eyes again. I managed to mutter. "It's just that you're so beautiful and th-that dress is..."

She smiled and gestured down to it, which caused her chest to shift. Not that I was staring at her chest. I could just see it. "This old thing? It's just something I had laying around."

"I-I just wish that I had known this was h-happening. I would have dressed better. I would have cleaned up. I just came from practice and am a mess. And I can't smell great either." I muttered, taking the bottle of wine. With a grunt of effort, I managed to get the cork off. She waved a hand at me and I felt a tingle all across my body. A soft smell of flowers crawled over me. I froze with the bottle in my hand and looked at her.

"Better?"

"Y-yeah. I guess. Do you always do that?" I said, pouring her a glass, then making one for myself. My hand was shaking a little. I still had not gotten used to magic.

"Oh no. I prefer a nice, hot bath." She took her glass and took a deep breath, expanding her chest as much as it could. "Letting the water soak deep into me. Caress me."

I almost dropped the bottle of wine as I put it down on the table. I could not help but stare at her. She was too much. I realized that there was a tray with our food off to the side. I stood up. I tried to do it slowly and at an angle where she would not realize that there was less space than normal in my pants. Her eyes immediately went down and her smile spread to a full grin. I ignored it the best that I could and uncovered the meal. There was roast beef, peas, potatoes and some bread. I divvied out a portion to each of us and she watched me serve her happily. She did not reach for her fork until I had served myself and sat back down. I reached for a fork and she looked at me curiously, watching my hand. I froze. There were four different types of silverware beneath my hand. I knew what to do with the knife and I recognized the soup spoon, but there were two different forks. I hesitated and looked at her. She had not picked up a fork. She was waiting for me.

This meal did not have a salad. It was a one course meal. A little sparse for a queen, from what I had learned from the etiquette book, but I also think she preferred simpler meals. I reached down and grabbed one of the forks. There was not much difference between the two. Most country folks only needed one fork for all of their meals. Occasionally I would get orders for a full royal set, and my master had taught me how to make them but never explained the difference. I don't know if he knew the difference. Apparently, she was satisfied that I had chosen the right fork and picked up her own and started cutting into the meat. As with every meal that I had experienced here, it was delicious. Unfairly so. I was getting used to this. I was getting used to having Carmella and Emilia around me. I was getting used to being around Meryl. A queen. And I was getting used to being spoiled with good food that I did not make for myself. I laughed. Meryl grinned and asked "What's funny about this?"

"I was just thinking about someone I met in town. He said that he fell in love with his husband and only realized it when he got back home and missed his cooking." I smiled at her. "And I was thinking about how hard it would be for me to go back now."

"Because of the food?" She asked, her own smile fading a little. I chewed for a long time before answering, meeting her eyes. I let her stew for a bit. I could practically see all of the gears turning in her head. Eventually I swallowed and responded.

"Yeah," She looked heartbroken. "Well, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a factor. But honestly, the food isn't why I couldn't leave."

"Oh," she responded warily. "Then why can't you?"

"I mean I have all of these fine clothes, too." I said, gesturing to myself. "Hardly fit for a blacksmith. They'd be ruined if I so much as stepped into a forge."

"Yeah, I guess so." She visibly deflated. She had stopped eating and was just twiddling with the fork in her hand.

"And there's this other thing," she looked up at me, her face set in stone. She was trying to give nothing away. "When I got here, I was apparently given a bunch of responsibilities. This woman just expected me to drop everything in my life and do as she asked. I don't know what's with her. She acts like some kind of noble. Just expects people to do things because she said so."

"Ah." She said, a smile creeping onto her face. "That's not very nice of her. Why do you think she can get away with it?"

"Well, for one, she's packing major muscle. She's got this insane woman around her who could defeat any man. Not only that but she has this tiny elf girl who says she's a maid who watches me wherever I go. I think if I tried to leave, one of those two would almost certainly catch me and bring me back to this woman."

"Sounds pretty stressful." She said, her voice dropping again.

"Ah well, that's the thing," I continued. "She orders people around and makes demands of people. And almost everyone does what she says immediately. She's very forceful that way. But I don't think that's who she really wants to be."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. See, I managed to steal a kiss from this woman and she blushed and couldn't talk for a few moments." I gestured with my fork as I spoke. She blushed and looked away. "And she reads these really trashy romance novels."

"What!?" She glared at me.

"Yeah. I found the one she was reading and it was rea-" she thrust a spoonful of mashed potatoes into my mouth and I swallowed carefully, almost choking. Her face, which was already slightly pink from whatever makeup she had put on, was now completely red. I laughed.

"She's also just really cute. Like absurdly so." I managed after a moment. "Especially when she's embarrassed."

"Shut up." She was pouting. I made the queen of the nation pout and blush. Life was good, sometimes. Weird, but good. After a little while longer, we finished the meal and sat there for a while. It was a lighter meal than was typical in the castle. But it was still nice. I drank a little more wine. I was not really all that into alcohol, but I figured now was a good time. I wiped my face and she did the same for hers and we just looked at each other for a while longer. She seemed to be waiting for something. Eventually, I caught on. I'm a little slow on the uptake, but I usually find the right answer. I got up and offered my hand. She took it. For someone that was my height, her hands were so small. Thin and nimble. I pulled her to my chest and slid a hand down her bare back. Her lips parted slightly as she stared into my eyes. I leaned in and kissed her. She kissed me back. Forcefully. We staggered slightly as we both tried to guide the other to the bed.

We hit the bed and basically tripped, falling onto it. It broke us apart. She climbed on top of me, her dress falling askew. It was not the first time seeing her bare chest, but it was the first time I was not going to run away from it. She leaned down and kissed me again, straddling my hips. My hand ran down her back and over her ass. I gripped it and she yelped into the kiss and started laughing. "My, you're bad."

With my other hand I pulled her back into the kiss, the hand on her ass sliding to her side. She shivered and I could feel her smile against my lips as we continued. I carefully picked her up off of me and flipped her down onto the bed. She gazed up at me, mouth agape. I wrapped my arms around her neck and undid the string that had been holding her dress up, not that it was terribly effective anymore. Her eyes widened as I stripped her of her dress. She climbed up further onto the bed. "You... You're a little more direct than I thought you'd be."

"I read your book. I... I thought you might like it better that way." I said, trying to sound casual about it. Truth be told, I did not know what I was doing. Truth be told, I really never know what I am doing. She looked a little self conscious and her lip trembled a little bit.

"I don't know. I've been with a couple of guys and honestly. They didn't really do it for me." She said, eyes locked on her bare feet. "They don't do the things like they do in that book. I think it's because the book was written by a woman. A woman almost always knows how she wants to be touched."

I nodded slowly and gripped her ankles, slowly pulling her back to the edge of the bed. Her eyes widened as she glanced up at me. "W-what are you going to do?"

I did not say anything. I pulled her into another small kiss, then kissed down her neck softly. She put a hand on my shoulder and arched her neck to give me more access. At the nape I sank my teeth into her and she moaned, pushing into my mouth. I suckled on her softly and she squirmed slightly. When I broke free, I blew gently on that spot. She shuddered against me. I kissed down her chest and found her nipple. It was still a little hard. I took it into my mouth and suckled on it gently, avoiding any teeth. She pressed her chest into my mouth as well and her fingers entangled themselves in my hair. Her breathing was ragged when I pulled away and I stared up at her. That nipple now stood erect from her breast. I went to the other one, playing with her now hard nipple with my hand, suckling on the other one. I felt her body tense under me. After another moment I pulled away from that one, and kissed down her stomach. I would gently nip at it. I could feel her eyes on me.

When I reached her pubis I stopped, letting my hand slide down her and gently rub the smooth skin. She was completely hairless still, which was not the case for any other woman that I had been with. Except for Carmella. I marveled at the sleekness as I gently massaged it. She had her legs clamped shut but I slowly pried them apart, putting a hand on either thigh and gently rubbing there as well. When they were open, I got down on my knees and gently kissed up her thighs. I heard her gasp and fall back. I looked over her pelvis and she had both of her breasts in her hands and was kneading them gently. I went back to my duty. I spread her legs further apart, kissing the space in between one and her gender. There was already some wetness spreading across her lower lips. I blew a breath against it gently causing her to whine softly, before moving to the other thigh. I nibbled at it gently. She shifted and tried to push herself closer to me but it was not all that effective.

What was effective was when I ran a hand over her pussy lips and spread them ever so slightly to allow one of my fingers to gently caress her gender. She let out a soft, but definite moan. It took some exploring but I eventually found a similar button to the one on Carmella and I focused on rubbing around it. She began to grind her hips against my finger. I spread her lips out a little bit further and kissed her pussy, my tongue slipping out and massaging her folds. I lapped up the juices that were leaking from her. The queen's breathing became increasingly erratic and desperate. One of her hands left her chest to grab my hair again. She pressed herself against my face as I continued to suckle and lick her gender. It was not long before her moans and gasps became cries. I watched her the entire time I was enjoying my... dessert. I watched her stomach contract violently, her body convulse a little sometimes, as I spread her thighs further. I noticed it becoming more and more frequently the longer that I suckled and licked and lapped up her gender. Her hips started to move more erratically as something inside of her built up. She gripped my hair harder. Her legs convulsed around my neck and she raised off of the bed, her stomach clenching. She screamed. I never stopped consuming her, tongue circling around her labia and that small, sensitive button, and she bore it all. She collapsed back to the bed eventually, breathless and sheened in sweat.

I pulled away and patted her leg. As I did, her hand shot out and she grabbed my arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

I stared at her for the count of maybe three before she pulled me to the bed and started stripping me of my clothing. She made quick work of everything and before I knew it, I was just as naked as she, on the bed and staring at her. "That was pretty good, but we're not done yet. You're going to give me what I can't get from Carmie or Mils."

She said this as she crawled on top of me. She had started to recover her breath, but it was not quite there yet. I reached up and pulled her down to me, grabbing her by the neck. She let me kiss her as she took my dick and ground herself against it, moaning softly into my lips. She then sank down an inch onto it and shuddered. I gripped her hips and eased her further down. She decided to take me entirely immediately and slammed down onto my length and cried out, collapsing against my chest. Her chest heaved and she shivered. She closed her eyes and started gently moving her hips against mine. I pressed up into her and she gasped, arching her back. I kept one hand on her waist and the other slid up to her breast. I squeezed it and pinched the nipple between two fingers. Her hand clasped over mine, crushing it to her chest, her other pressed onto my chest, nails digging into my flesh. She began to ride me harder, raising and slamming herself down onto me, her stomach convulsing almost every time.

After sometime she collapsed to my chest, her lust still clamped tightly around me. I gathered her in my arms. She smiled against my neck. At least until I picked her up and changed positions again. She cried out twice. Once when I picked her up and there was a lot more of her weight on my cock and again, when I let her down onto the bed. She slapped my chest. "You're such a jerk."

"You have no idea," I said with a smirk, then I started to pull out of her. She gasped and gripped my back, wrapping her legs around me. I thrust back into her and she moaned and arched her chest up. I let her lay completely down before doing it again. And again. And again, slowly picking up speed. She whined and whimpered until I got a steady rhythm. I rested one hand on the bed and the other on her breast, squeezing it with every inward thrust. The sound of our skin slapping together started to overpower the sound of us trying to breathe and the occasional groan or moan. It was not all that long before I felt my own convulsions start. She clenched around me as I flexed inside of her. I felt my arms shake. She reached up and gripped my shoulder and pressed as hard as she could against me as I continued to pound against her. And in another moment I shuddered and released inside of her. She moaned and pulled me down to her as my lust undulated inside of her, filling her entirely. The heat of her seeped into me and she moaned softly into my ear.

I wrapped my arms around her and held her to me, as I shivered against her. She pressed her head against mine and nuzzled into me softly. I did try to get up eventually but she refused to let me. She just held me to her for the longest time. Whenever I would try, she would just clutch tighter and whisper, "Mine."