Sufferance Ch. 10

I genuinely felt confused here. No status and a Valsharess precedent against it? Why would Wilsira want me to catch from Kerse, then? How easy would it be to avoid spending two years at the Sanctuary by simply terminating the pregnancy due to the mixed blood? Surely D'Shea would have that part covered even if I did become pregnant...

"I'd like you and Kerse both to be with me when I talk to Cugia, Sirana. Will you take the edge off for my son, then we shall be on our way? It should not take more than a quarter mark, you do not even need to remove your uniform. Just take down your leathers."

I considered as Kerse perked up, and found myself reaching for my belt.

Then I froze.

No. There was no such thing as a "quick mounting" when I had to take a potion a full mark beforehand. What by Lolth's Snatch was she doing with her voice to make me want to be so lax and take her suggestions?

I shook my head. "You'll have to wait until the prevention potion takes effect, Priestess."

"My schedule doesn't allow that, Red Sister," she said. "And surely the timing of your cycle is not right anyway? If something happens, we can take care of it later."

*No...No. No.*

I shook my head again. "No, Priestess. My apologies. We wait, or..."

Somehow I felt an unseen pressure that settled in a similar place in my head as when the Duergar had made psionic attacks. It wasn't quite the same, but then I knew Wilsira was not psionic. No Drow was.

Still, the pressure mounted like water against a weakening dam, insisting I agree to immediate copulation...it wouldn't stop until I did. She'd never been this heavy-handed before...

*Vilrohn Drowen...* The voice—my voice— was derisive, and it seemed my answer should be obvious.

"Of course, yes. We can be safe and use use an alternative orifice, Priestess."

Wilsira blinked and did not look happy for a moment—quite irritated, in fact—as the pressure dissipated inside my head entirely. She smoothed her face soon enough and sighed. "Very well. I will not have him frustrated as he meets one of his past lovers again."

I shrugged as if I didn't care much about that. "Ask him to sit in that chair, Priestess."

She obliged me, and Kerse obeyed, watching the two of us with definite interest. He could sense the power struggle clearly, but was not playing it himself. He was acting the pawn, though he certainly wouldn't refuse the sex.

First I knelt to pleasure him with my mouth, much to his purring delight, but I did not wait long before setting my cloak just to the side on the floor and turning my backside toward him. I stood between his splayed thighs and lifted my belt to begin unlacing my pants.

Kerse chirped excitedly as I bared my bottom to him, his tongue flicking out to lick the skin and dive briefly into the crack, making me gasp. He knew perfectly well what I intended and did not even care that I would still have my reds and tools on.

Well, he might care a little as they poked him, but we'd see. It was a "quickie," after all.

I did have a small bottle of oil on my belt that could lubricate my passage, and I used that to prepare myself. Kerse never took his eyes away and I gave him the full show, taking my time to apply it inside and out. Then I sat down onto his lap, greasing up his member as it slid length-wise between my buttocks; he took hold of my bare hips and rumbled encouragingly. In due time, I shifted my hips and his erection, placing him at the ideal point for penetration, and slowly sank down on him.

"Let him see him spearing you in the mirror, Sirana, he'll finish more quickly and it will be better for him."

The bulge at the base of his member had formed by the time Shyntre returned with the food. In his mind it was possibly the worst scenario for him to walk in on. The incense was burning and at Wilsira's request, we'd already shifted to face the full-length mirror.

I was leaning back against Kerse's chest, had my pants bunched at my knees and had lifted my legs to plant my boots on his hard knees, spreading them wide. We were facing away from the door, but now we could see the wizard and he could see us in the mirror, Kerse clearly buried in my rectum. His mouth dropped open.

"Put that tray down, wizard, and come here." The Priestess opened her thighs and began lifting her robes.

Alas, Shyntre wouldn't be watching me run Kerse's crooked erection through my tightest hole for long. Soon enough, he was kneeling as well as serving the Priestess with his mouth.

The Draegloth helped balance me, holding my waist or my buttocks, as I stroked him under my own power, reaching to touch myself. It still felt plainly good the way his organ spread my body wide open, and I could let go of the worry that a potion would fail me. It wouldn't matter; he could spurt all he wanted in this hole and there would be no living consequences later.

Kerse gnarred next to my ear, hissing in pleasure, and let me set the pace. His yellow eyes were rapt on the action in the mirror and I knew I felt him throb a few times, spaced seconds apart; the Priestess had been right, he was getting close very quickly.

Fortunately, so was I. Shyntre walking in when he had made me want to laugh and only heightened the wickedly pleasurable sensations. I directed the pace for my own climb, not Kerse's, my fingers pressed to my sex and rubbing just so.

For a very sweet moment, I forgot that I was trapped into doing this, that I was being used and very much still in danger as Wilsira wouldn't give up so easily. I could let it go, just for this one glorious, upward sweep.

The unusual but now familiar shape of his prick started nudging more urgently at my back hole, his soft and pleading croons asking to allow the rest of him inside. He thrust his hips up in suggestion a few times but didn't try to restrain me or force me down onto him.

I ignored the hints at first, just to see how far he could be teased, and was a bit surprised when he did not get petulant or try to take back control. Something about the submissive sign of respect made me feel far more generous and excited at the prospect.

*Yes...oh, Lolth, I want that...*

Unlike his mother's claim, it didn't take me so long to work the knot in. I already had more control over that orifice in general, and I understood how many different sizes and shapes could fit in our pleasure holes.

I had also had the time to adjust, and I enjoyed the slow but inexorable expansion as Kerse nearly held his breath, going still as I controlled the final phase. We both squealed in glee as his knot at last slipped inside with a sudden lurch.

Unlike the last time, I was not so uncomfortable; I was squirming in delight and after a few harder fingers trokes on my pussy, I began to climax. I almost missed my Sisters on this account and wondered whether they would cheer at my accomplishment if they had been watching this? Jaunda and her team especially would enjoy the view and how full I was.

Kerse writhed beneath as my muscles flexed and caressed him from the inside, and he made a sound I'd never heard before as he began spurting inside me; much closer to the genuine, ecstatic cry of a Drow than the howl of a demon.

"Oh, my..." the Priestess breathed behind us, and I opened my eyes to look at her in the mirror as I came down, still feeling the pulses and throbs of her son continuing deep inside.

Shyntre still had his face buried in Wilsira's snatch and her face was flushed with energy as she was on the cusp of climaxing herself. She grimaced and buried her fingers in the wizard's hair, her breasts heaving as she huffed and gasped and more moisture smeared over Shyntre's face.

Immediately after she jerked him away completely by his hair, trying to catch her breath. She leaned back, releasing him and again seemed to have forgotten him completely as she watched us. I noticed the scent of the incense was dissipating.

Shyntre got up and started making his way to the bathing room quickly, his face a mask of anger of which I got only a glimpse. I could not do much until Kerse's bulb shrank enough to free me, and until then I had to sit on his lap impaled, but I hoped to still catch him in that moment of weakness if I could...

"Impressive, Sirana," the Priestess sighed. "You... genuinely enjoy him. I don't know how I will do without you."

That spoiled some of the afterglow for me as I fully recalled where I was once again, and Kerse shifted beneath me, now not sure what to do with his hands. It was almost comical as my boots touched the floor and we had to cooperate to stand, tied together.

I put my hands on the mirror, leaning over slightly for comfort as Kerse loomed over my back, still breathing deeply. I said to the Priestess, "Would you pass me that hand towel there?"

Chuckling, Wilsira deigned to visit the small wash basin by the vanity and pluck up the plush towel, handing it out to me. I draped it over my leathers between my legs and wriggled my hips a bit.

"Whenever you're ready," I looked up at Kerse in the mirror.

He tugged, testing, but we had to wait a little longer still. Wilsira checked the candle.

"We should leave soon, Sirana." She sounded far too amused. I probably would be, too, with the circumstances reversed.

"When practical, Priestess."

Finally, when Kerse could withdraw at last with that typical, mutual groan of relief, the towel protected my garments from the first globs of ejaculate. However, more cum dripped down my thighs as my open netherhole twitched at the sudden vacancy, trying to close itself again.

"I'll wash first," I said as I used the towel to give a cursory wipe. "Be out soon."

I tugged up my pants only enough so that I could walk without having to waddle, and let myself into the bathing room.

Shyntre was still there, sitting on the edge of an empty tub. He'd long since cleaned off his face but he jerked his hand away from his crotch when I barged in. His robes were still fully in place; if he'd been doing anything to himself then it had been through his clothes. But he still looked angry...and uncertain.

"Don't mind me," I said as I went to the sink and began washing myself up as well with a fresh cloth and hot running water.

He was quiet, observing me closely, until I had pulled up my pants and was in the process of resetting my belt and items where they should be. He never spoke, but he did sign.

*I hate it here.*

*It is not ideal for me, either,* I responded. *At least you rest first. You are staying here while we go out.*

He nodded, looking glad for that. I studied his robes for a moment then reached quickly to touch him. He didn't have the room to dodge or jump back so tried to grip my wrist instead, but he didn't have the strength to keep me from feeling his partial erection through the robe as well as the residual heat that told me he'd started softening only just now when I'd walked in. I let him go voluntarily and he breathed out in relief.

*Why not just make yourself climax, wizard, if you were aroused out there?* I asked. *Why sit frustrated?*

He shook his head. *None of your business.*

*Want help?* I smirked, making a stroking gesture. *The hand of another, perhaps?*

He shifted farther along the tub to get distance so he could dodge if I tried to reach out for him again. *Do Not. Touch. Me.*

*Careful, you will arouse me again.*

He glared, raised his hands, then thought better of what he'd been about to sign. My guess was it was something about his not being able to use the same hole again so soon after being stretched beyond use. Call it a hunch.

"Sirana? We must leave," Wilsira called out from the bedroom. "Kerse still needs to clean up."

"Coming," I replied, and gestured for Shyntre to follow.

There was plenty of motivation for the mage to exit with me and keep my body in between him and Kerse. The Draegloth and the Priestess had already helped themselves to the tray of food out of our sight, so unfortunately I couldn't do the same and neither could the wizard. I was growing hungry but would have to pass for now. The Priestess noticed but did not comment.

Once Kerse had returned, also clean, we prepared to leave.

"The night watch will be yours this time, wizard. Get some rest to prepare for it," Wilsira instructed, and he murmured an affirmative reply.

We left him alone to corner yet another victim already familiar with the Priestess's abuse.

****

"Allow me to go in first, Priestess," I murmured. "I'll make sure she hasn't set any physical trap."

"She would not have the spine."

I shrugged. "All the same. The door is locked. Best not get complacent, Priestess. Please stand farther away, will you?"

"Very well, very well," she said impatiently as she and Kerse moved back.

Thank Lolth for small favors. Although I knew the habitual behavior helped as well; I'd gone in first at nearly every door to which I'd escorted Wilsira on this trip so far. It would allow me my best chance at avoiding the single largest pitfall of this challenge.

It took moments to pick the lock and find the right angle on my bracer to break the small ward on the door. It was reasonable behavior for a paranoid Noble but not enough magical resources to even make it a challenge. I slipped inside the door and left it open a crack.

Curgia was sitting at her desk writing in a bound book by candlelight. I was moving just as she paused at the change of energy in the room—the warning that the ward was broken— before she had even thought to put down her instrument. It fell from her hand and clattered to the floor when I grabbed her and smothered her nose and mouth with my gloved hand, holding her tight against me with my arm crossed over her chest. She was still sitting.

"No noise," I whispered, and she trembled. "I'll have my favor in return, Noble, but not now. Right now, you'll do as I say. See what she has to offer you. She's right outside your door now. You've never seen me before, understand? If you look to me for direction even once, I'll save you the trouble of living through the next year and cut open your belly right here and now."

She hadn't seen me yet, actually, but she knew exactly who held her. She nodded urgently, pawing at my hand to at least allow her to breathe through her nose. I obliged, and she sucked in a desperate breath before she moaned in muffled dread.

"Understand? No direction. You don't know me."

Again she nodded, and I could see her eyes glistening. She was terrified, staring vacantly. I dug in my pouch for the wizard's bloodstone and placed it on her desk, covering it with her own book. I murmured the command word.

"Don't touch this. Talk with her. Make your deal, merchant, and you'll stay alive."

Again Curgia nodded, having the strength at last to glance at me when I released her mouth and stood up again. She at least understood I was not planning to kill her. This eve, anyway.

"Clear, Priestess," I said, only raising my voice a little as I glanced toward the door.

I hauled Curgia out of her chair, holding her by her hair and by tightly-gripped upper arm to face them as Wilsira and Kerse let themselves inside, closing the door behind them.

"Oh, Lolth," Curgia murmured, beginning to tremble more visibly as she indeed recognized them both. She didn't look directly at me but she did lower her head and lean toward me. My threat notwithstanding, she still felt safer next to me than she did in the middle of the room, closer to the Sanctuary representative. She wasn't even trying to get away from me.

Wilsira cocked a white eyebrow at me. "Why are you holding her that way?"

"She tried to run when she saw me," I answered casually. "I scared her rather badly, I'm afraid. She can barely stand."

Wilsira grunted. "Well, release her. I do not think she will try again."

I did, and Curgia had to catch herself to keep from falling. After succeeding in that, she stood lost between us, not knowing what to do. I could see the gleam of the predator in the Priestess's eyes as she looked at Curgia.

Kerse stood just behind Wilsira, actually looked apathetic except that he did glance once at the young Drow's modestly distended belly. He certainly understood the concept of mating for procreation—his mother's own language when she was horny practically shoved it down his throat—but I could not tell right then whether he would be curious, hostile, or indifferent toward Curgia's child, if it were ever born.

That truly remained to be seen.

Curgia focused only on slowing her breathing for the first few moments, and Wilslirathon chose her moment to speak.

"I received your messages, child," she said. "Forgive me for the lack of reply for so long, I've been rather busy. I'm here to discuss your options."

"Pr...Priestess," the Noble made an immense effort to collect herself and attempted a small bow. "You could not have announced yourself in a more...traditional fashion?"

The older Drow chuckled. "The Red Sister is overzealous when it comes to my safety. I apologize on her behalf if she startled you. I had thought she would announce me, but then I forget at times how...distant... from normal society the enforcers actually are."

Curgia nodded, and though she wanted to look at me, she didn't. Even if she had, it would have been a natural thing to do as they were talking about me. Nothing had been given away in this first moment, fortunately for me. I'd forced the Noble to feel all her fear and dread at once, and she'd had the perfect excuse for trembling with intense confusion when Wilsira walked in.

Now, with my warning behind her and the Priestess having reassured her that she was here to discuss a bargain, the intrigue continued, the merchant was back in more familiar territory.

Step one.

"Sirana, please stand outside? Kerse will stay with me, I will be safe. This is private."

Damn it.

I bowed slowly. "Of course, Priestess. Call me if you have need, or when you're ready to leave."

"Of course. Thank you, Red Sister."

At this point, I had taken a very necessary risk with that bloodstone; Shyntre could only cast it for visual or aural, and I'd chosen aural. Why? Only because I thought Curgia was not very proficient in signing complex conversations, and I'd rarely seen the Priestess do so. Both of them seemed to prefer to use their tongues, even in private conversations.

However, if they did mostly sign, then I was simply fucked, because I wouldn't hear a damned word from that stone.

But then again, if I'd chosen visual and they just sat and talked the entire time, I also wouldn't hear a damned thing. I'd only have managed, at best, a one-sided conversation from reading lips. And if I didn't catch the mouthed words the first time? Gone forever.

Luck played so much into spying, more than some realized, and no method was foolproof. It was why having a reputation was so important.

It was a very tense time for me standing outside. Servants gave me very wide berth and all I could think about was whether Curgia could follow my instructions, or whether the Priestess would intimidate her so that she would babble and give quite a lot away.

The longer I waited, the more I wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not.

What was taking so long?

Meanwhile, my conversation with Shyntre the previous cycle, having arrived at the second inn during a rare moment outside, played across my mind's eye as if I were watching from a bloodstone as well.

I had known, at some point, Wilsirathon would talk to Curgia. That was one of my ongoing missions; to find out more of the Priestess's interests at House Itlaun, especially regarding the pregnant Drow. I still had to act on that mission where I could, in spite of my personal entanglement in the plot, so I'd asked the mage for his bloodstone.

*You traded it to her without telling me, wizard, so you can trade it to me without telling her.*