Crusade Gone Awry Ch. 18

Lilly rolled her eyes and sighed. "Close enough, I guess. All the cockatrices have husbands now apparently. Rose found some men to feed off and the centaurs found a defector, I think."

"You think?"

"Either that or she's just kinky."

Jadira stared at her queen, but ultimately decided to let it go. The maid then cut her eyes away and shuffled uncomfortably. Lilly noticed her discomfort and already began to feel a smug sense of satisfaction. She had a pretty good idea of what was coming.

"Is there something I can help you with?" the queen asked, overflowing with politeness.

Jadira grunted and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, I've been spending more time with the pigwomen..."

"Oh really?" Lilly asked, her voice flat.

"They're in a tough time. That just need a lot of help and guidance."

"Do they? Wow."

Jadira growled and glared at her queen. "Okay! Maybe I was a bit hasty!"

"A bit?"

They were both silently staring at each other, one angry, one smug.

"I just need a little more time," Jadira admitted.

"Oh, my goodness. Really? You were making such a reasonable decision before." Lilly's sarcasm was palpable.

Jadira put her hands on her hips. "I just want ONE more brand. Just one. Once I've gotten them situated, I can finally rest easy."

"It's a good thing you discovered there are people who still need you and you shouldn't just throw away whatever time you've got left. If only someone could have told you that before now."

"I should have beaten that sarcasm out of you!"

"I'm a demon, it wouldn't have hurt."

Jadira narrowed her eyes at Lilly. It was true. The only person who could have caused her pain was the Demon King, and he doted on her too much to do it often. It was probably why she was so willful. That or she took after Jadira.

"You don't have to be so smug about it," the maid finally said.

"I don't have to, but I sure want to," Lilly replied. Jadira threw up her hands.

"Fine! You were right! I'm sorry!"

"THANK YOU!" Lilly replied. "You humans sure are stubborn."

"Oh yes, HUMANS are the ones that are stubborn." Now they both finally laughed a little. Jadira gazed off to the side.

"They don't blame me," the maid said.

"Of course they don't. If anything, they should blame father for trying something he didn't understand the consequences of. You were just listening to the king, like they were."

"I know, but...I didn't think they would miss me."

"Everyone misses their mother when they're gone."

Jadira briefly flashed her eyes towards Lilly before cutting them away again. The maid let out a shaky sigh.

"I'm not sure about all of them though..." she said, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, you mean the one you had sex with?"

Jadira jumped and snapped her head around. "What!? How do you know about that!?"

"Minerva, the pigwoman leader told me. At least Sam calls her that. Had a meeting with her earlier to discuss what happened with them and the catarians. I told them they could have sex with whoever they wanted, catarian or not, and she let it slip who you did it with.."

The maid flushed and her eye twitched. She was going to have to give Minerva a stern talking-to.

"She just kind of...jumped me," Jadira muttered.

"You're not a monster and your brands only affect you a little. You could have pushed her off."

"It had just...been so long! That's all!"

"Uh-huh." Lilly's speech had gone back to being flat.

"The atmosphere of the place just overwhelmed me!"

"Wow."

"It's not going to happen again."

"Amazing."

"STOP THAT!"

Lilly scoffed and shook her head. "Jadira, just have some fun. It's fine."

"But she's my descendant! We're related!"

"You gave birth to the first of them ages ago, it barely counts. Also, demons and monsters don't suffer from incest, you know that. Even if they did, you're both women."

The maid appeared uncomfortable but didn't argue.

"Look, Jadira, just get out of the palace and mingle with your people, no matter how kinky they are."

"Alright. Just one more brand is all I need."

"Good!" Lilly hopped off her throne, an evil glint in her eye. "I know just where to put it!"

"Wait, what do you mean? Hey! Let go of me! Ow! Get off me!!! Don't put it there!!!! GET OFF!!! OW! OWWWWW!!!!"

*

Marcus sat alone near the edge of the settlement. He had to stay focused to keep his emotions in check. If he got too emotional, he would come crawling back to Lilly. He didn't want to take his anger out on her, even if it didn't actually hurt her. He stared up at the stars. For the first time in his life, he stared at them without a sense of religious wonder. No longer did he marvel at the sky that Vordan had made. He just saw them as twinkling lights, glowing down at him. The light was cold, like the desert night. The world, the universe, it was all cold now.

He turned back to the desert. He had to find that archbishop. Everything else had to be pushed to the side. The battle was about to begin. Until he came face to face with Riker, he had to wait. He sighed and soothed his seething anger. Just a little longer. Then he could finally have his absolution...as dark as it now was.