Out of the Ashes Ch. 20

Chapter 20: The biggest favour

(7,2k words, futa x futa, dialogue, plot chapter, drama, romantic, sex scene, huge breasts, huge boobs, huge penis, handjob, size praise, off-screen growth, hyper sizes, erection, huge quantity of cum)

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Sunset came and left, but Margaret didn't return like she promised.

Alexia's usually homely sickbed started to feel increasingly confining, her cosy bedsheets ever more suffocating with every minute she decided to wait.

Margaret was never late. Not once in all those days, and certainly not when she explicitly promised she would drop by later during her hasty, earlier visit the same day.

She looked defeated and kept her answers short. The few she was willing to give. No attempts to brighten her mood or open up about what was weighing down on her soul found fruitful ground. She offered simply nothing to latch onto. Only that she swore to explain everything that was going on after taking care of something "very important".

There was no doubt in Alexia's mind that this sense of urgency arose from the archduchess' visit... and her offer. Especially after Helena assured her that despite the warm words this "offer" was not received as such by any of the onlookers. It was a demand from her directly to Margaret... that she should take her daughter's hand or face the consequences.

No image was burnt clearer into Alexia's imagination than the vivid vision of Margaret, dressed in all white, her stomach swollen and round with their child, awaiting the bride, who would be somebody else.

This reoccurring picture left the former commander restless although she could never have hoped for anything more. Only fools could hold on to such naïve hopes. She was a nobody, ever since joining the royal guard. A nobody with no titles, no riches and no influence that could be of use to a young king. All she could offer was love and passion. But even if she had won Margaret's heart; Nobodies do not marry kings.

Another hour passed and Alexia had enough. She needed to see Margaret. She rose from her bed, tightened the bandages and grabbed the only thing she swore to share every moment of her journey with before leaving for Margaret's bedroom.

The walk across the whole palace was a tedious and exhausting journey for the weakened soldier. She managed to avoid any of her sisters by using passages only a handful of people knew. Thankfully that included the former commander of the royal guard as well. Each step felt more tormenting than the previous one. Beth's sword dangling from her side also seemed to put on pounds with each new step of Alexia's weary feet.

But while the familiar pain swelled on her battered side, so did her determination to see Margaret. She rallied her stray thoughts and directed them to her lover which also helped her forgetting about the gaping wound for a bit longer. As well as allowing her mind circling around the events leading up to this taxing odyssey away from her sickbed.

There was nothing more she could have done. She gave Margaret her all, even things she could have never seen herself offering. There was no price too steep to at least fight for this love with every weapon she had in her arsenal. She even allowed her love to find passion and relief in the arms of someone else, although it was the arms of a friend -- one that could be trusted. Just the thought of Margaret fucking and even worse... loving someone else, made Alexia's empty stomach twist and turn in ways she once would have deemed impossible.

No, it was the right decision at the time. A painful one yes, but the right one. If Margaret had to find pleasure in the arms of someone else, it could only be Helena, who promised on her life that she will just fulfil her duties. Nothing more.

Others would not have done so without any bigger motives in mind. Especially none of the battalion of noblewomen who longed to seduce a king who stood no chance against such temptations if her needs were not taken care off by then.

Yet, it changed nothing. Even this sacrifice was not enough to keep Margaret at her side, not if the kingdom was still reigned by the generation that forged it. There was nothing more she could have done, Alexia was aware of that fact, but it offered no solace to her... only more pain and anger.

Her breath was deep and frantic by the time she reached Margaret's bedroom and she was also seemingly not alone. Voices echoed past the wooden door that marked the entrance to Margaret's most private sanctuary. Familiar voices. The former king's and queen's voices.

Her worst worries were proven right in that moment and her furious determination yielded to resignation. She leaned back onto the wall in mute defeat, not interested in listening to anything the royal family was exchanging, despite literally just needing to pay the slightest bit of attention. She was done.

The former king and queen and their successor kept debating for a bit longer until the wooden entrance opened and freed Alexia from the numb emptiness that clouded her mind.

She had no time or means to hide in time. There was only one hallway leading up to Margaret's room and silently outpacing someone with her gaping wound without risking further injury would have been impossible anyways. So, she stood firm, ready to meet the gaze of those two women who took a major role in robbing the life she could have had... with Margaret... and their child from her.

Alexia raised her chin, straightened her back and didn't flinch when both Anastasia and Euridike looked at her in surprise. Neither looked angered by her presence, if anything they looked increasingly sad and more miserable by the second.

They closed the door carefully behind them and didn't reveal Alexia's presence to their daughter yet. If they had any words to exchange to their former bodyguard this would have been the moment.

The massive couple slowly walked closer, their presence more towering and dominating as they appeared to grow taller until they stopped right before Alexia. She was not sure what she was supposed to say, nor were they as it seemed.

"Your highness," she said and bowed with her last bit of loyalty and respect left towards Anastasia while adding "Your Grace" and bowing once more when meeting Euridike's azure blue eyes.

She remained in that posture for a bit, expecting they would ask her to raise her head again. Or maybe whisper words of harm and threats into her ear. That she should stay away from their daughter or will face a horrible fate. Or would they even show some empathy and apologize? She didn't really know what to expect anymore. And still she was totally taken aback on how the royal couple reacted.

A hand was softly clapping her on the shoulder and made Alexia look up. The former highking, standing at a staggering 10 feet, clearly branded by the strain that was put on her in the prison and beyond, looked down at her in a caring warmth Alexia had never seen from her before.

She didn't say anything, but a gaze can often tell much more than words were able to convey. Warriors like them knew that better than most. A moment later she put on a soft, almost proud smile and slowly passed by her perplexed former commander without looking back.

Alexia's gaze followed the king into the darkness until steps behind her reminded her that she was still in the presence of former royalty.

"Your grace...wh -," she said softly and once more set out to bow, but the 9ft blonde came seemingly crashing down on her.

Euridike's hug would have been an even heartier one, wouldn't it be for her consideration for Alexia's still healing wounds robbing the former queen's embrace of some of its passion. But none of its warmth. Still, Beth's sheathed sword rattled with the rest of Alexia's body by the sudden embrace.

Like her wife, she didn't offer any explanation to her bewildered, former bodyguard. But unlike with the former highking, Alexia didn't mind and sank into the warmth of her former queen without the same doubts holding her back.

Euridike's softness spread over the soldier's hardened body and once more assured Alexia how much her daughter blossomed to become just like her mother.

"What is the meaning of this, your highness?" she eventually dared to ask amidst a hug that seemed to go on forever.

The blonde giantess smiled warmly and stood proud in all her amazonian height before Alexia. Her similarities with Margaret were striking, more so in this moment than in any other. Euridike's smile was also Margaret's, garnished with some wrinkles that slowly started to grace the blonde's still youthful face.

"That will be Margaret's burden, not mine," Euridike said, with one hand reaching out to Alexia's face and softly caressing her cheek. "She needs you right now. And I see you need her too. Go, don't leave her alone in these sombre moments."

The expression on Euridike's face was impossible to decipher. A trait each member of their family seemed to share in times of struggles. Her face and mouth shone with the same joy she always displayed, but her eyes. There was some forsaken terror in her eyes when she looked down at Alexia. Something clouded her mind and put fear into her heart... and Alexia came to only one logical conclusion: That she was the reason for that.

"I will. Thank you... your grace," she said cautiously, but Euridike once more reached out to her.

"If anyone has earned to right to call me by my name it is you... Alexia."

"As you wish... Euridike. Thank you," Alexia said timidly.

This time the blonde's face brightened up with nothing but light. All the darkness in her gaze was gone for a little moment that clearly gave her strength and by proxy also Alexia.

"Go... don't let her wait, my child," she said and like her wife vanished into the hallways' darkness without looking back.

Alexia's knocks were at first not met with any reaction past the wooden door. And just when she thought Margaret's exhaustion might already have claimed her the door opened, revealing a blonde king, that looked like she was truly in need of every bit of rest she could get.

Despite being dressed in the same glamorous clothes from earlier, she somehow managed to look like the colour of the fabric as well as on her face were washed and dulled out. With an expression that looked like life itself was being stolen from her as the hourlong conversation must have claimed its tribute on her. The only thing that displayed the last spark of the woman Alexia knew she could be, was the vivid colour of her blue eyes, shining almost as bright as her birthday ring she wore as a makeshift necklace.

She looked horribly drained, exhausted to the point that another visit surely might have been the last thing on her mind... unless it was Alexia it seemed.

Her pale face once more filled with youthful redness, one of joy and passion, as well as one of rage.

"Are you out of your mind?! You should lay in bed! Look at you! You are as pale as the moon!" Margaret shouted.

"I have rested enough. I wanted to see you," Alexia said with a soft smile.

"I... I would have come later! I... really should have told the guards to watch over you."

"And still wouldn't they have known all the secret ways their former commander knows," Alexia mused.

Margaret as well started to grin, her anger vanishing with every new moment she was with her friend and lover.

"Come in then... hope you don't mind the mess. People keep knocking at my door when I am least prepared these days."

Alexia didn't mind at all. It felt like years when she last set foot into this room. A room for a princess, one that spent way too much there for her own good, but one that had no other place she could retreat to. So, she often sat on that bed, reading and daydreaming when neither her tutors or mothers were expecting her to be the princess she was supposed to be.

Now this princess grew into a king, but still looked like she needed the safety of a room that felt nothing but inadequate to her overly royal figure.

"I can see why you have such a hard time sleeping. Your feet must be touching the floor whenever you are laying down," Alexia grinned.

"I wished, that was the reason for all those restless nights," Margaret returned at first with a smile but one that slowly morphed into a thoughtful grimace.

Alexia reached out, her hands found her lover's and stopped their nervous interplay.

"Are you alright? You... don't look like you are," Alexia said softly.

"No... I... am not. There are things I need to decide. And I am not sure I can."

"Can I help?"

Margaret's eyes fired up but she refused to give an answer right away, although her eagerness to speak clearly swelled within her for every second her mouth remained shut.

The blonde broke the soft grasp of her lover's and turned away while composing herself.

It was horrifying how much she resembled Euridike in that brief moment Alexia shared with her in the hallway.

The same darkness befell Margaret's face and made her gaze seem distant, yet her eyes remained piercing. Things were weighing down on her she could not bear to share. Most likely things she could not bear to share with Alexia especially, she concluded, as the pause grew more and more eery.

"Lexi... I have been tasked with a burden that I would not wish upon my worst enemy. It's been just weeks, but it feels like I am losing myself and what I hold dear already. Every day a little bit more, until nothing more is left. And now I have even been forced to choose what I truly cannot live without," Margaret said and faced Alexia.

Sadness and happiness simultaneously oozed off her face. Her blue eyes were watery with tears that started to pour down her cheeks and that filled Alexia with dread.

"I feared that you were forced into such decisions," Alexia said.

She had to force the words out of her throat. Each syllable felt like shards cutting into her vocal cords and still this pain was nothing to the shivering cold residing in her chest. Making her heart's pounding feel like it had to fight its way through thickening ice.

"Lexi. I have one last favour to ask of you. And I wish I would not have to. I at first thought this was what I wanted, something I could have lived with, but I am no longer sure," Margaret whimpered as her entire body shook.

"Anything you can ever ask of me; I shall give to you. Now or ever," Alexia said with words that were reduced to the same whisper as Margaret's.

The height difference of over one foot grew more apparent as Margaret stood right before her friend and rested her restless fingers on Alexia's.

"Even if that means trading in your life for one you will dread? One that you might learn to hate with every fibre of your being and that will make you curse me for having asked this of you?"

Alexia barely felt her body any longer. Her limbs were numb, the two holes in her battered mid disappeared as everything around her shrunk down and vanished. The image that kept her restless before once more took centre stage instead of a reality she would have hoped for herself.

"If it means I can be of help to you... and our daughter. Then I will gladly choose any life you ask of me," she said with the last remnants of strength within her.

She lowered her gaze and almost erupted with the same tears; she saw travel over Margaret's face. The touch of her friend only further made her hold on to a life she now knew was ripped away from her. Including her love and daughter.

"I want you to be my queen."

Time stopped. The curtain pushed back and life returned from the mist that had replaced it. She looked up and didn't trust her senses with what message they delivered to her brain.

Her questioning eyes met Margaret who wept stronger and stronger, equally in joy and overwhelming sadness. But Alexia's ears remained in the mist for longer than her eyes and kept her deaf to any sound.

The grasp of the blonde's fingers digging into her own, barely prompted any reaction from her and made Alexia questioning if her mind was just coming up with a scenario that would take the weight off her broken heart.

"What?" she asked in a tone she hoped was comprehensible to Margaret, since she didn't register any sound escaping her lips herself.

"Be my queen," Margaret whimpered again in a voice that was barely hers.

The world Alexia found herself in proved too contradicting to be anything but her wishful thinking turning itself into confusing torture.

Why would Margaret cry so miserably over such great news, she wondered but failed to come up with any logical conclusion.

"Why... are you crying?" Alexia asked without raising her voice by even one octave.

This might be a confusing, utterly unfathomable reality, but one she wanted to claw onto for a bit longer and hope that she might find enough that kept her hoping for a few more moments at least.

Margaret leaned into Alexia; her bulging bosom almost touched her lover's face before she started to bow down.

"I should never have asked you for such a favour, Lexi. Anyone but this one. But I am too selfish... I need you at my side... and I hate myself for it," she cried.

Alexia, still coping with words that made her mind spin in frantic agony, was gently laying her hand around her friend's waist and pulled her closer -- almost daring to dream that this was truly happening.

"I... would give anything I have to be your queen," Alexia said softly and eagerly awaited Margaret's reaction.

The blonde's eyes flared up with sheer happiness before once more plummeting into deepest sadness.

"You... would? You can't. No, you don't know what awaits you," Margaret said in a growing panic, but Alexia held her in place as her caution slowly turned into faith.

"Then tell me," Alexia said, barely able to hold back a smirk that would only have bewildered her lover.

Both corners of her mouth twitched in supressed excitement with every moment her mind was warming up to reality. The encounter with both Anastasia and Euridike now made sense. The reason for them being there and sowing the doubts that took hold of Margaret as they must have discussed all this together. Even their reaction upon seeing Alexia. The way they seemed to open themselves to her being more than just their former guard. Now it started to make sense. And why Euridike also called her "my child".

"You... it's... people like Theresa, strong and powerful people will not stand for our marriage. Nor would we ever be able to marry properly. They barely would accept me, yet alone if they knew what I am planning for this kingdom wouldn't it be for my mothers... but you? You would be seen as nothing more than a concubine to most. Even the titles you gain will be nothing but targets they will take aim at. And maybe they will shoot. By the gods, they might shoot, Lexi! They will lurk in the shadows, scheming and conspiring while they await their opportunity to strike. Sowing unrest and making plots because of our connection. This will be enough of an excuse for them to act on all the things I NEED to change. It might be Theresa or anyone else. Maybe tomorrow or many years from now, but the second my mothers' shield falls there will be nothing standing between us and them. Either holding out their hands in friendship or holding a cold barrel at our chest. I can't promise you or our daughter a place where you could have a life that is worth living. Not when the watchful eyes of an entire kingdom are resting on you two," Margaret said and seemed to shrink as soon as she finished while sinking into Alexia who shone brighter the grimmer her friend's words had gotten.

"And still, I can't stop myself from wishing you at my side. Even if that means you will have to endure all this until the end of your life."