The Slave Queen of Etherion Ch. 28

Chapter 28

Malachite Palace, Lysannum

In late spring, both Jade and Xenia began to suspect that they were pregnant again, despite the fact that they were still breastfeeding Lilly and Raven. Neither had begun to menstruate again after they had given birth, but Jade's supply of milk had suddenly dropped off, and while Xenia was still producing milk, she was feeling nauseous in the mornings and generally run down. Jade had sent a message to Yukira, but Yukira had just given birth to her and Asher's baby, a healthy daughter with sky-blue hair whom they had named Aimiko, after Asher's deceased wife and Yukira's sister.

Since Yukira was indisposed, Maga Flomedica came from the university to attend to them, and announced that both Jade and Xenia were indeed pregnant.

"But... we were still breastfeeding!" Jade protested to the maga. "I didn't think that it was possible for a woman to get pregnant while she's breastfeeding! Besides, we haven't had our periods either."

"It's certainly possible, Jade," Flomedica replied. "It's been ten months since Lilly was born, and that's more than enough time for a woman to get pregnant again, even if she breastfeeds the whole time, and you've already said that she's also eating solid food now."

"It's only been two months since Raven was born," Xenia added. "And he breast-feeds from both me and Jade."

"What can I say?" Flomedica threw up her hands. "It's common for breast-feeding to prevent pregnancy, but it's almost as common that a woman can become pregnant during breastfeeding if she doesn't take precautions... which I presume that neither of you were taking?"

"Uh... no, I wasn't," Jade replied.

"I wasn't either," Xenia added.

"Well, I have only one question for each of you, then: Do either of you want to terminate your pregnancies?" Flomedica asked. "It's not considered good for a woman to bear children too close together."

"No, I don't," Jade replied immediately.

"Don't you dare!" Xenia replied at the same time, putting a hand protectively over her lower abdomen.

"Well, if that's the case, then, congratulations!" Flomedica smiled. "Though in that case, I suppose I should remind you of the things that you should and shouldn't do while you're pregnant. First, you should..."

Xenia's son Raven was growing and maturing very quickly. He had been born in early spring, by mid-spring he was as big and well-developed as a one-year-old, by late spring, he was the size of a two-year-old, and by early summer, he was as big as a three-year-old... and he was doing all the other things that a child of those ages could do, though he still drained Xenia's breasts at every opportunity, though Jade's milk that he had been sharing with Lilly had dried up some time ago. Fortunately, he was also eating solid food, especially since Xenia felt that her own milk production was beginning to dwindle, despite Raven's ravenousness. He was running all over the palace and getting underfoot, with Lilly, Xenia and Paige trying unsuccessfully to keep up. He also scared the palace staff occasionally with his sharp claws and teeth and his occasional tendency to get grumpy and become hotter... not incandescently so as he had done not long after his birth, but hot enough that a few people had mild burns and Jade wasn't the only one who had nightmares about him getting really angry and setting the palace on fire one day.

So, when the palace butler Gilroy announced the arrival of Ambassador Faltorios of Vaewolt to Jade as she sat in her office one day, Jade was happy to see him.

"Have the ambassador shown into my office, Gilroy," Jade replied from behind her desk. "And once you've escorted him here, please find Xenia and bring her here too."

A few minutes later, Gilroy showed the satyr ambassador into Jade's study, before withdrawing to fetch Xenia.

"Ambassador Faltorios! It's good to see you again," Jade greeted him. "How long has it been since we last spoke? Nearly two years, isn't it? Please, have a seat," she gestured to one of the armchairs in front of the unlit fireplace.

"It's good to see you too, your Majesty," Faltorios bowed before sitting down. "I bring you greetings from Vaewolt... and we've missed you, your master and your sister-slave at The Rut," he smiled.

Jade sat in an armchair facing Faltorios. "I'm afraid that we've been too busy to indulge in such entertainment. Though tell me, what happened to your elf slave girl? My father's and grandfather's notes suggested that she had been with you for a very long time and went everywhere with you."

"Celemon won her freedom from me and set out for her home a short time ago," Faltorios replied in tones that Jade thought sounded a little odd.

"So, Ambassador, what brings you to Tharnirion today?" Jade asked.

"Rumours and hearsay, your Majesty," Faltorios replied in his usual tone of voice. "Like a cauldron of bats on the wing, rumours are flying about Etherion that your sister-slave Xenia gave birth to a... shall we say, a powerful faerie child, of whom people are becoming fearful. As ambassador to Vaewolt, it is my business to investigate such rumours."

Jade sighed. "I'm afraid that there may be an element of truth to some of the rumours," she confessed. "Xenia's son Raven had an unfortunate birth, fled into the countryside, and caused some havoc in my kingdom before Xenia recovered from his birth and was able to take him in hand. Since then, he's been a loving son... but his development has been extraordinarily precocious, and his physique and powers give him the potential to be very dangerous. Magus Woodbark at the University suggested that he may need to be fostered in Vaewolt."

"Magus Woodbark? Do you mean the satyr Magus Woodbark of the Arcadian Scholars?" Faltorios asked.

"Well, he is a satyr, and I think that his lineage is the Arcadian Scholars," Jade replied. "Do you know him?"

"We've met and spoken a few times in Vaewolt -- or Arcadia -- but never in the mundane lands," Faltorios replied. "He seemed like an observant fellow, and not as off-putting as most magi."

There was a knock at the door, then Gilroy opened it from the outside to allow Xenia to enter with Raven in her arms, then entered and closed it behind them.

"Hello, Xenia," Faltorios greeted the green-haired faun.

"Faltorios," Xenia replied, standing rigidly and glowering at the big satyr. "Where's Celemon?" she asked in a stern voice.

"Mum! Put me down!" Raven said as he began to wriggle in her arms.

"Remember, don't touch! The things in here are not toys," Xenia said in much more friendly tones as she put Raven down.

Faltorios watched Raven as he began to run around the room, looking at everything that interested him. It was immediately evident to him that the strange child wasn't permitted into the Queen's study very often. After a moment, he looked back toward Xenia.

"Celemon... won her freedom from me," the satyr said, again in that slightly odd tone.

"It's about time the poor thing got out from under you!" Xenia replied, again in uncharacteristically grumpy tones, crossing her arms over her breasts.

Jade was looking at the interaction between Xenia and Faltorios with a somewhat puzzled expression on her face.

Raven's investigation of the room took him to Faltorios. "Who are you?" he asked.

Faltorios smiled at the strange, inquisitive child. "I'm your..."

"Ha-hmmm!" Xenia cleared her throat loudly. When Faltorios looked at her, she shook her head firmly as she continued to glower at him.

"My name is Faltorios," the big satyr said, looking back from Xenia toward Raven. "Who are you, little one?"

"I'm Raven... and I'm not little, I'm big!" Raven replied. "Mum says so!"

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Raven," Faltorios said, holding out his big hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, Sir," Raven recited with the tone of a child repeating a formula, and took Faltorios' hand.

Faltorios shook the child's hand gravely.

"Now, Raven, can you take Gilroy to find Paige and Lilly?" Xenia asked her son kindly.

"Yes, Mum!" Raven said, then ran over to Gilroy, took his hand and started tugging at it. "Come on, Gilroy Follow me!"

"All right, Raven, I'm coming," Gilroy said patiently as Raven pulled him toward the door.

Raven waited impatiently at the door, glancing occasionally at Xenia and Jade, until Gilroy opened it, then he darted ahead, pulling Gilroy behind him until Gilroy shut the door.

Jade looked back and forth again between Xenia and Faltorios. "What is going on here?"

"I'm Xenia's father," Faltorios said.

"You're not my father!" Xenia snapped. "You're just the satyr diplomat who seduced my mother and sired me, then couldn't take responsibility for what you'd done, even when her parents enslaved us, sold me, and drove her to hang herself!"

"I'm sorry Xenia... I had duties that took me away from Etherion and I didn't realise what had happened until years later. I would never have expected your... her parents to react the way they did," Faltorios apologised, appearing to shy away from the term 'your grandparents' at the last moment.

"Xeni... you never said!" Jade exclaimed.

"I was trying to put it out of my mind, Jadie," Xenia replied. "Besides, I didn't figure it out until the end of that 'Rut' shindig we went to a couple of years ago... then I didn't want to make a fuss."

"But... You and he had sex at the Rut, Xeni!" Jade said, looking aghast.

"Yes, we did... but I didn't realise who he was until afterwards because of those animal masks we all wore, then I couldn't say anything when we crossed paths when we were leaving because we were wearing those night masks that prevent us from speaking... and it was rather good when we did it... and you know that it takes a lot for me to stay angry for any amount of time," Xenia said. "Besides, your father was more like a father to me and I fucked him too."

"I know... I was peeping when you and he first did it, and I was quite shocked at the time," Jade admitted.

"We both knew you were peeping," Xenia grinned. "It was a lesson for you. Still, my point is that I made up my mind long ago to never regret a good fucking, no matter who gives it to me."

"Even...?" Jade began, then stopped, raising her eyebrows and glancing briefly toward the door through which Raven had left with Gilroy.

"Even that," Xenia nodded solemnly. "Even given the consequences."

"Well, while all this is enlightening, I asked Gilroy to bring you because we need to discuss Raven," Jade said.

Xenia sighed. "Yes, we do, as much as I hate to have to admit it."

"So, Xeni, why don't you sit down, so that we can discuss it."

Xenia looked like she was going to continue being stubborn, but then she suddenly sat down. "Shouldn't our master be here for this, Jadie?" she asked.

"You know that he's busy learning magic again today," Jade replied. "And besides, Faltorios' time is difficult to obtain."

"Tell me about it," Xenia muttered to herself.

"We can talk to Rodger about it tonight, since I doubt that we'll reach any conclusion today," Jade said.

"I agree with Her Majesty." Faltorios added. "While there is a good possibility that I could find a suitable family to foster Raven, I would need to consult them first. It wouldn't be proper to simply bring him along with me and hope that they'll take him."

"He's not ready yet, anyway," Xenia said. "Maybe in two or three months, at the rate he's growing."

"There's also the matter of how I will be compensated for my services," Faltorios said.

"You'd require your own daughter to pay you to have you help see to the well-being of your grandson?" Jade said scornfully.

"Jadie, repayment of favours is expected in Vaewolt, even between friends, family or lovers," Xenia explained. "Though I am interested in what my sire would want in exchange," her tone suggested that he had better not be unreasonable in his demands.

"Xenia... in return for this favour, I'd... like you to acknowledge me as your father and the grandfather of your children, and not merely your sire and your children's grand-sire," Faltorios said.

Xenia sighed. "I... might be willing to do that... but there would be conditions. You'd have to act like my father and not merely my sire... but you'd also have to acknowledge that I'm an independent, grown woman, capable of making my own decisions, and not try to control me as I've seen other fathers do with their unmarried daughters."

"I can accept those conditions," Faltorios replied. "So, Xenia, can you tell me about Raven... and yourself? It will help if I know about him so that I can find the best possible foster family."

Faltorios spoke with Xenia and Jade for hours, mostly about Raven, but also about Xenia. When Rodger returned from his lessons, he joined the conversation over dinner with the four of them, along with Raven, Lilly and Paige. Paige seemed to blush every time she looked at Faltorios.

Faltorios departed after breakfast the following morning, promising to return once he had discovered the possibilities for Raven to be fostered in Vaewolt.

Stypell Palace, Pthaelensis

By mid-summer, a month after going to Vaewolt with Faltorios, Alyssa was pretty sure that she was pregnant. She had missed her period, she was feeling more tired than usual, her breasts were feeling a bit tender, and she had started feeling ill in the mornings. She ought to be delighted, since she and Jan had been trying to conceive, but there was just one problem...

The timing of Alyssa's pregnancy was right for her to have been impregnated by Faltorios, as well as by Jan.

Alyssa worried about the possibility that her baby might be Faltorios' and not Jan's, so she didn't tell Jan as soon as she suspected she was pregnant. Jan was a worshipper of evil gods and she was afraid of what he'd do if her child was not his. She wasn't afraid for herself since she knew that Jan would never hurt her. Rather, she was afraid that Jan would convince her that her child should be sacrificed, or that Jan might seek revenge upon Faltorios. While she could forgive Jan his evil ways and deeds, she would prefer it if she didn't have to. It would help if she knew whose child she was carrying...

Alyssa had prayed to a number of deities to be blessed with a child; Alaya, goddess of fertility and farming, Fortuna, Goddess of Luck and Lunaria, goddess of the Moon. While Lyssa was the goddess of love and sex -- and she had likely blessed Jan and Alyssa with their love for each-other -- she wasn't a goddess of fertility. Likewise, there were deities who could help Alyssa by telling her whose child she was expecting; Worshippers of the Astral Gods could cast horoscopes, while clergy of Lunaria could give prophetic dreams. However, Alyssa was a slave, and leaving the Stypell Palace to consult with clergy of the Astral Gods or Lunaria wasn't an option... at least not without obtaining Jan's permission, and he would want to know why.

In the end, the choice was taken out of Alyssa's hands, when she woke up one morning and had to rush for the garderobe in order to vomit into its stinking depths, as her morning sickness finally got the better of her.

"Are you all right, love?" Jan asked as Alyssa walked slowly back toward their bed. "Are you ill? Do I need to call for a healer?"

"No, I'm fine," Alyssa shook her head as she headed toward the water jug for a cup of water.

"Are... are you pregnant, then?" Jan asked. "Don't women vomit in the mornings when they're pregnant?"

Alyssa couldn't lie to her master. It was one thing to say nothing, but another to tell a falsehood. "Yes, I think so... probably I am," she replied shortly

Jan climbed out of bed and went to her, and enfolded her in his arms. "That's good news, love... but you don't seem as excited as I thought you'd be. Is something wrong?"

Alyssa sighed. "It might not be yours, it might be Faltorios'. The timing's right for both you and him. You're not angry, are you?"

It was Jan's turn to sigh. "I am a bit irritated, but I'm not angry at you. I knew that this was a possibility when I agreed to let Faltorios take you with him."

"I prayed to Alaya, Lunaria and Fortuna to become pregnant," Alyssa said. "In hindsight, it may not have been so wise to pray to Fortuna."

"This pickle is rather what you might expect from praying to Fortuna," Jan agreed. Fortuna was known for giving with one hand and taking with the other.

"So what are we going to do, Master?" Alyssa asked, turning in Jan's arms to return his hug and rest her head against his hard-muscled chest. "It's worrying me that I don't know."

"What would you like to do?" he asked.

"You're asking me? I'm just your slave!"

"Yes, I'm asking, and you're not just my slave."

"I prayed to Lunaria to become pregnant and she can give dreams of the future," Alyssa said. "Perhaps...?"

"There is no temple to Lunaria here in Pthaelensis," Jan replied. "But there is one in Secarium, and we'll be moving the court there next week. I'll take you there as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Master," Alyssa said, before she kissed Jan on the lips.

As Jan returned Alyssa's kiss, he picked her up and carried her to the bed, where, after certain crude and lascivious handlings of her body, he lowered himself between her legs and expressed his appreciation of her with an intimate, though welcome, intrusion of his cock into her cunt.

Esphobel

King Jan and Alyssa travelled from Pthaelensis to Secarium one fine mid-summer's day, a little over a week after he had learned that Alyssa was pregnant. The journey was only nineteen miles or thirty keymiles in Scholar's Invention units, but it took all day to travel that distance, from sunrise to sunset, in the luxurious coach in which they travelled, since there were no established roads, and the king's entourage had to travel over the grassy plains of southern Esphobel.

The journey was long, dull and hot, and it was none too comfortable, even in the luxurious royal coach. The weather had been fine for most of the last week, so the soil of the plains had time to dry out, but crossing the occasional wheel-rut made the coach rock. The air was still and the sky was cloudless, the sun beating down on the coach and heating it until its occupants were sweating prolifically. Jan spent a lot of the time looking appreciatively at Alyssa's sweat-beaded skin beneath her sheer outfit, but it was too hot for either of them to want to progress matters to making love. They would both have preferred to ride, save that riding was inadvisable for pregnant women, and the combination of the cloudless sky and Alyssa's sheer clothing would have led to her becoming sun-burned.

So, there was little to do save to stare out of the windows at the plains and rim-mountains to the neasting, or the plains and the Sweet Sea beyond it to the westing, and to listen to the songs of the birds that flew over the grasslands.

Secarium, Esphobel-Mensalia

It was late afternoon by the time that King Jan's entourage entered Secarium. The people of the city flocked onto the streets to watch their king arrive, and Jan waved and smiled to them from his coach, and encouraged Alyssa to do so too. Behind their coach, royal servants handed out largesse on Jan's behalf, giving coins to the poor. This continued from the edge of the city to the grounds of the Palatium Ebenum, the Ebony Palace, and their passage through the city was accompanied by cheering in their wake.

Jan and Alyssa's coach halted in the grounds of the palace, beneath a grand portico. Despite its name, the Palatium Ebenum was clad with a variety of white stone that was probably marble, roofed with verdigrised copper, and it was only the window frames and doors that were dark, providing highlights to the pale building. However, the building's interior was different. The grand foyer was brightly lit by a huge crystal chandelier, the floor was paved with polished black white-streaked marble, and the walls were panelled with dark timber. Only the ceiling was pale, with a yellowish-white surface that reflected the light from the chandelier.

The Palatium Ebenum had a huge bathroom set aside for the use of its owner and their guests, with black marble walls and fittings, and huge baths lined with bright blue tiles. Jan and Alyssa enjoyed a pre-dinner bath in water that ranged from cool at one end of the tub to warm at the other. There was a smaller, hot bath, and a steam room.

After a day spent sweating in an uncomfortable, hot coach, Jan and Alyssa began to make love in the cool water as they washed each-other. Once they were clean, Alyssa floated on her back in the cool water while Jan fucked her, until they were interrupted by a servant.

There was the sound of a throat being cleared. "Dinner is served, your Majesty," the serving man announced.

After the private dinner, during which Alyssa had to acknowledge that she was eating for two, and Jan insisted that she eat whatever she wanted, Jan led Alyssa to the Temple of Lunaria. It was a particularly appropriate time, after dark, on a clear, warm night on which the moon was visible in the sky.

The temple to Lunaria was a round structure with nothing but bare beams where a roof might have been, surrounded by a wall. It stood in the middle of an area of common parkland between the back yards of a block of upper-class residences. As Jan and Alyssa approached, they could hear the sound of music, played on harps and accompanied by human voices, though there were no intelligible words to the song.

Jan used the crescent moon-shaped knocker upon the double doors, lifting it and letting it fall with a hollow boom that echoed around the common.

The door opened to reveal a young man and woman, neither wearing anything but paint upon their faces, black and white markings that matched the phase of the moon in the sky.

"Welcome, strangers! Enter the temple of the Moonlady!" the young man said.

"Welcome, guests!," the young woman said. "Enter the temple of the Lady of Dreams!"

The interior of the temple was simple, merely a wall that supported curved beams that were barely visible against the dark sky. In the middle was a floor covered in tiny black, white or grey tiles, that formed a mosaic picture of the full moon. As musicians played hand harps, naked worshippers with their faces painted in phases of the moon danced as male and female couples around the edge of the space, singing wordlessly to the same tune as the harps, while in the middle of the floor, another naked, painted man sat cross-legged, with a woman sitting on his lap with her legs around his waist, the two of them writhing in a dance that was a choreographed act of copulation.

The dancers were of all ages, from only-just-adult and wearing the image of the waxing crescent moon, to old and grey, wearing the image of the waning crescent moon, and each couple's age matching that of the phase of the moon that they wore. The dance was blatantly erotic, with the circle of dancers making gestures suggestive of courtship, foreplay and love-making, while the couple at the centre writhed in choreographed ecstasy.

Jan and Alyssa remained silent and watched as the dancers whirled and postured, and listened as the music and singing became more urgent in time with the arousal of the pair copulating at the centre of the dance floor. The performance came to a climax simultaneously with the central couple, who gasped and cried out in orgasmic bliss as their bodies bucked and writhed with pleasure... still in choreographed unison. Then, as the couple's orgasms wound down, the music declined and changed as the performers began to leave the dance floor. As the woman at the centre stood, so too did her lover, and he soon departed with the others, leaving the woman at the centre standing alone and finally curtsying gracefully as the music came to an end.

The priestess walked calmly from the centre of the dance floor and approached Jan and Alyssa.

"Good evening, Your Majesty. Welcome to Secarium's Temple of Lunaria. I am Priestess Novella, chief priestess for tonight. How can I help you?" the young, nude, painted priestess introduced herself.

"Priestess Novella, my slave, Alyssa, desires an augury," Jan said, nodding toward Alyssa.

"Of course, your Majesty, I can oblige," Novella inclined her head gracefully. "However, such a ritual has a certain expense, and the traditional payment is seven silver coins."

"Of course," Jan replied, reaching for his belt pouch. He withdrew seven large silver coins and offered them to Novella.

Novella took the coins. "If you'll excuse me for a moment while I fetch the necessary paraphernalia. While you wait, Alyssa, you'll need to remove all of your clothing, and you'll need to compose the question that you want to have answered. Please be aware that the dream sent you in response to your question will answer the question exactly as you phrase it, so you need to be careful that you ask it in such a way that allows all possible responses to the knowledge you seek. The more specific you are, the more detail you'll receive, yet the less that will be revealed about things that you didn't directly ask," Novella trotted away and descended down a staircase at the side of the temple, between and behind the other worshippers who were washing off their face paint and dressing themselves.

Wordlessly, Alyssa began to undress herself.

"Do you understand that, love?" Jan asked, taking Alyssa's clothing as she removed it.

"I think so," Alyssa replied. "I'll have to think about this."

Novella returned a few minutes later, carrying a carpet bag. "Could you excuse us please, your Majesty?" the priestess asked. "It would be helpful if you could wait upon the seats by the wall."

"Of course," Jan nodded, and withdrew.

Novella opened the bag and began to pull out various objects, including candles, a brush and ink, and a knife with a crescent-shaped blade.

"Now, before we begin, what did you want to know?" Novella asked. "If you tell me, I can help you compose your question."

"I want to know about the child I'm carrying... if I am really pregnant, that is," Alyssa said.

Novella stopped and looked at Alyssa. "You are indeed five weeks pregnant, so you needn't ask that. But what do you want to know about your child... or children?"

"Children?" Alyssa asked. "Will I have more than one?"

"That, I cannot see," Novella replied. "But you should consider asking as if it is a possibility. If you were to ask about a child if you were having more than one, you would receive a dream only about one of them, while if you were to ask about more than one if you were carrying only one, you might learn only that you were not carrying more than one."

"Oh... all right," Alyssa replied.

"What is it that you want to know about your child or children?" Novella asked.

"How the birth will go, who their father is, what they'll be like, what will happen to them," Alyssa replied. "That sort of thing."

Novella's eyes flickered towards Jan. "You suspect that your master might not be the father?" she asked, then continued before Alyssa could speak, "Never mind, I don't need to know. I can't tell you what to say, since the words have to come from you. It doesn't have to be phrased as a question, but you do need to say what you want to know, all in one sentence."

"All right," Alyssa nodded.

"I'll begin in a moment. Follow my instructions and don't speak until I ask you what you want to know," Novella instructed.

Alyssa nodded.

Novella began to chant in High Argraine as she began to lay out and light a series of candles, and instructed Alyssa to sit at their centre in a particular posture, with her back straight, legs crossed and her hands palms-up upon her knees, and to not move. The chant continued as Novella began to draw symbols in black ink upon Alyssa's body with a small brush, and Alyssa struggled to avoid giggling and twitching at the ticklish sensation. When the symbols were drawn, Novella put the brush and ink down behind her, took up the crescent-bladed knife and began to walk around Alyssa and the circle of candles, making strange gestures with it and her free hand. Alyssa knew some High Argraine, and it was distracting to hear the words and know what some of them meant, to understand that Novella was calling upon Lunaria in her role as the Lady of Dreams and mistress of the cycles of nature to provide knowledge.

"Alyssa! State your query!" Novella commanded her as she came to a stop in front of her with her arms raised, looking toward the waxing-half moon.

"I wish to know about the offspring I am carrying, how they will be born, what their parentage is and what their character and ultimate fate will be!" Alyssa announced.

"Lunaria! I beg you, answer Alyssa's query!" Novella called, then collapsed to the ground, as if curtseying so deeply that her forehead touched the ground and her arms were outstretched to either side of Alyssa. As she did so, the candles around Alyssa flickered and went out of their own accord, even though there was not the slightest breeze.

After a moment, Novella sat up and started collecting the props and putting them into the carpet bag. "Now, Alyssa, you need to go to bed and go to sleep as soon as possible. Do not remove the marks I drew upon your skin until after you have woken... in fact, I'd advise not putting your clothes back on either... and avoid sex and physical intimacy too, since they could also deface the symbols," she instructed. "If you need help interpreting your dream, you could come back tomorrow evening."

"Do you think I'll need help?" Alyssa asked.

"Perhaps. Sometimes the dreams are straight-forward, and other times they're full of symbols that you might not understand."

"Well, thank you for your help, Novella," Alyssa said as she stood up.

"You're welcome," Novella replied. "Is it appropriate that I offer congratulations on your pregnancy?"

"Well... I suppose so," Alyssa replied doubtfully. "I'll know tomorrow."

"Of course," Novella nodded. "I hope that I'll soon join you in motherhood."

"Oh... then I wish you and your husband good luck," Alyssa said.

"Thank you... but I'm not married, that was just another worshipper whom an augury said would be the best sire for my child," Novella said. "You should remember that a dream is filtered through your own mind. The important details will be accurate, but you'll experience the minor details in terms of your own expectations... so things may not look like you remember when you actually experience them."

"I'll try to remember that. Thank you again," Alyssa replied.

After taking their leave from Novella, Alyssa and Jan made their way back to the Ebony Palace, Jan leading Alyssa by a leash attached to her collar. Alyssa was feeling a little embarrassed at being nude, since she had been wearing clothes again long enough to become accustomed to them, even if they were rather revealing, but her embarrassment wasn't unbearable.

By the time they returned to the palace, it was quite late, and it wasn't too onerous to wait until Jan had undressed and climbed into bed before she got in beside him. She lay still for a long while before she finally fell asleep, despite the fatigue of the day's journey and events.

Alyssa dreamed that she was heavily pregnant, her belly protruding a long way in front of her, and she was awkwardly walking up and down in the moonlight as pain gripped her body. The pain was rather mild, only a distant dream compared to what she would truly feel when she gave birth, but in her dream, she groaned and swore with each contraction. She could feel her baby coming, so she squatted down with her knees wide apart and groaned as she pushed, and a dark-haired head began to emerge from her vulva. She groaned and pushed again, and pulled gently at the head as it came out, and with a rush, her child was born. Alyssa looked at her baby, and soon saw that it was a little girl, pink, greasy, wriggling and protesting noisily at her eviction from her former home, but perfect and beautiful, and still joined to her by her umbilical. The umbilical was tied and cut, and her baby girl was taken from her, though she knew that she wasn't done yet, that there was another baby inside her that she had to bear. She walked again until it was time to squat down in the moonlight and groan and swear as she pushed out another head, this one bigger than the last, but also covered in dark hair. More pushing, and she pulled out her second baby. This one had tiny horn buds, a cock and balls, and a short tail and furry legs with solid horse-like hooves with smooth, rubbery, white finger-like growths dangling from them. It seemed quite obvious to Alyssa that her baby boy was the child of Faltorios, since he had satyr-like traits. Soon, Alyssa had delivered the afterbirth, and she lay in a bed as her newborn children were brought to her so that she could suckle them, one on each breast.

The dream moved ahead a year or two...

"It's obvious that she's my daughter," Jan was saying, as they watched their beautiful, dark-brown haired toddler daughter playing with her equally young and handsome satyr brother beneath a blue sky with a pale crescent moon visible in it.

Alyssa nodded in agreement. "Of course she is. She looks so much like that picture of your mother as a young girl that was hanging in the Stypell Palace gallery."

"And while there's no doubt that he's Faltorios' son, he's a good lad," Jan said. "I don't begrudge him the space he took in your womb nor the milk he drank... far from it, in fact."

The dream moved on again... a decade and more.

The toddler was a grown woman now, tall and beautiful in a way that few women were, with wavy brown hair tumbling down her back. She wore a form-fitting floor-length red dress with a low decolletage that showed much of her generous bosom, with a neckline that plunged below her navel, held together only by a jewel between her breasts. Her face was elegant and serene, and her body was flawless.

A man entered through a door, through which the moon could be seen in the night sky. "May I kiss your foot, Mistress?" he begged when he saw her, practically quivering with excitement that he may be permitted to do so.

"You may," she replied with a smile, as she moved her foot forward, displaying her foot in a delicate fashionable shoe.

The man knelt and prostrated himself so that he could kiss her foot.

"Your daughter shall be a queen of her domain, loved by its people," a disembodied female voice of indeterminate age said. Alyssa knew it to be Lunaria herself. "She shall be a mistress of hidden knowledge, privy to powerful men's secrets, and her authority and determination shall make her a great leader in her domain and feared by her foes."

The dream moved on to the satyr, grown now to a powerful man, handsome enough to make a nun weep, wearing casual clothes, with a sword and dagger at his waist. He was walking along a street beneath a dark, moonlit sky, with his arms around two provocatively-dressed ladies. As he walked, he was confronted by a pair of men who were also armed with swords. He released the women and confronted the men. There was a flurry of steel from all three, and in moments, the two newcomers were lying dead. The satyr led the women away from the corpses.

"Your son shall be a great swordsman, as renowned for his loyalty to his liege and his skill with his two blades as he is for his skills of seducing and pleasuring Lyssa-blessed ladies of all classes," Lunaria announced.

The dream moved forward in time, to show the woman in bed, her hair turned white and her face lined with age, surrounded by many people, the moon visible in the window behind the clouds in a night sky.

"Your daughter will meet her end in her bed after a long life, surrounded by her children, grand-children and great-grand children," Lunaria declared.

The scene shifted to the satyr, also lying in bed, his hair grey, his face and hands scarred. He was also surrounded by people.

"Your son shall also pass from his life in his bed at a respectable age, surrounded by his students, lovers and descendants, each hoping for a final revelation that will fulfil their own ambitions or ease their hearts."

Jan was often affectionate and lustful in the mornings, and the following morning was no exception. Alyssa found that being woken as Jan began to make love to her was delightful, and any thoughts of the previous day were temporarily forgotten as Jan played her body like an instrument, until her skin was tingling and her cunt was wet and throbbing. She encouraged him to climb on top of her, and revelled in the feeling of his cock sliding in and out of her cunt and his muscular bulk pressing her into the bed, making the frame and ropes beneath the mattress creak as he thrust. She clung to him with arms and legs and fastened her mouth to his, their tongues thrusting and intertwining between their lips. She moaned with pleasure whenever their mouths parted, and she lost track of her orgasms... after a while it seemed that she was just cumming continuously. Of course, it had to end, and his lustful growls became snarls of pleasure as he came, filling her cunt with his seed.

A little while later, in the palace's luxurious bathroom, Alyssa told Jan about the dream that the goddess Lunaria had sent her as they relaxed in the warm water.

"I dreamed about my children last night, master," Alyssa said as she leaned back against Jan.

"Are you going to tell me, slave?" Jan asked as he idly toyed with her breasts.

"I was told that I'm going to have twins. The first will be a girl, who will be your daughter. The second will be a satyr, Faltorios' son, obviously."

Jan sighed. "In hindsight, it would seem that the old goat did his best to plant his cuckoo seed in your belly."

"I wondered why he was sniffing at me," Alyssa said. "I suppose now we know."

"You're sure that our daughter will be born first? That the second will be the boy?" Jan asked.

"Pretty sure. Why?" Alyssa asked, then thought of the reason. "Esphobel has agnatic primogentiure, doesn't it?" she referred to the rules of inheritance which meant that girls were excluded from the line of inheritance and sons inherited before brothers, in order of birth.

"That's right. I had an older sister, Halcyon, but since she couldn't inherit the throne, she was sent off to marry Prince Gorm of Cyrstendran."

"I thought that King Gorm was married to Anemone of Clynastrum?"

"Oh, he is," Jan replied in somewhat irritated tones. "Poor Halcyon was rather immature, despite her age, when she married Gorm, and she must have fallen pregnant on their wedding night. She and her son died in child-bed, and it wasn't even a year later that Gorm married Princess Anemone."

"Anemone's had only the one daughter, though," Alyssa replied. "Gorm declared Princess Tansy his heir a few years ago."

"There wasn't much else he could do," Jan replied. "I'm probably going to have to do something of the sort too, or else Faltorios' get will end up on my throne."

"King Steven made absolute cognatic primogeniture the law in Tharnirion before Jade was born," Alyssa said. "Considering that he won Angharad's hand in her nuptial challenge, and they had no living sons before her death, it might have been quite complicated otherwise."

"You're sure that our daughter will be born first?" Jan asked again.

"That's what I was told," Alyssa replied.

"Then I'll have to make absolute cognatic primogeniture the law in my domain too... before you give birth," Jan decided. "I'd really rather not have to kill him if he's born first."

"Why would it matter?" Alyssa asked. "I'm a slave, not your wife... aren't I?"

"Like Jade of Tharnirion and Rodger, you're both, actually. So all of your children are my heirs."

Alyssa turned and kissed Jan on the lips before turning back. "I didn't realise."

"You didn't read the paperwork."

"I had other things on my mind at the time," Alyssa said. "But... why would you care about another man's child?" she asked, half-dreading his response.

"Oh, I don't. I'd kill him if he got in the way, but there's my public image to consider, and infanticide isn't a good look, and it can be so hard to hide that sort of thing forever."

"You know, Lunaria told me that my son would be a great swordsman, renowned for both his skill with his two blades as well as his loyalty to his liege."

"Two blades?" Jan asked.

"That's what Lunaria said," Alyssa replied. "Why?"

"Two blades is more a Maingarian thing. Here, it's usually sword and shield or a two-handed sword."

"Does it matter?"

"Not really. It only matters that it sounds as if he might be useful to me after all," Jan said.

In the days that followed, Jan declared that absolute cognatic primogeniture was the law in his Unified Domain. A week later, he announced a ball for all the VIPs of Etherion, to celebrate his moving in to the Palatium Ebenum (and the announcement of Alyssa's pregnancy, should she not have miscarried by that time), to be held in mid-Autumn, in a bit over two months.

In late summer, over a month after Jan and Alyssa had moved into the Palatium Ebenum, Alyssa had a visitor; the elf Princess Celemon of Citarioth. She arrived during one of Jan's public audiences. Alyssa was riding Jan's cock at the time, her hands between his feet and her feet up near his shoulders as she often did. There was no longer any need for such exhibitionism since she was pregnant now, but she loved Jan and loved demonstrating it, despite the lingering embarrassment she felt when making such a public display.

When the last petitioner left -- after a seemingly disapproving glance at Alyssa -- the secretary rose from his seat and cleared his throat. "Your Majesty, the next petitioner is Princess Celemon of Citarioth."

Alyssa watched Celemon enter from her position between Jan's feet. The elf princess was no longer wearing the sheer gauzy outfit that Faltorios had put her in, nor was she nude any longer. She wore a silver breastplate that was polished to a mirror-like sheen, which looked as if it had been made to fit every curve of her body, replicating her nipples, the edges of her areolas, the edges of her ribs and the indentation of her navel. She also wore a white silk gown beneath her breastplate that covered her from neck to wrists and ankles, and a polished silver coronet sat upon her head, while shiny silver shoes peeked out from beneath her gown as she walked.

Celemon walked toward Jan's throne, her attitude managing to convey that she was now a princess and no longer a slave. She curtsied to Jan, managing to convey both respect for his title and the suggestion that she considered herself his equal.

"Your Majesty, I bring greetings from Citarioth and Quelring," Celemon said.

"Greetings, Princess Celemon. Welcome to my Unified Domain," Jan replied. "I must say that I'm surprised to see you here without Faltorios."

"I won my freedom from Faltorios some months ago, with the assistance of your slave," Celemon replied.

"Indeed?! Well, I congratulate you upon your freedom," Jan said. "I hadn't realised, though I must confess that I was somewhat distracted the last time that I had opportunity to notice."

"That's to be expected," Celemon said, her gaze dropping briefly to Alyssa, who was still riding Jan's cock. "However, your slave's assistance in obtaining my freedom is what brings me here today. I beg your indulgence to have a private conversation with your slave, Queen Alyssa of Cyloniae."

There was a long pause, and Alyssa couldn't see the expression on Jan's face...

"Let us adjourn to a more private location," Jan smacked Alyssa lightly on the bum twice.

The secretary announced the adjournment of the audience as Alyssa dismounted Jan's cock and stood up, straightening her revealing clothing that had been displaced to allow her to mount her master's cock. Jan also tucked his cock back into his codpiece unhurriedly.

Jan led the way through the black-marble and ebony halls of the palace to a private sitting room. He opened the door to a private sitting room, and gestured for them to enter.

"Take as long as you need, ladies," Jan said, before he took Alyssa in his arms and kissed her passionately. "Come to my office when you're done," he instructed her.

Celemon entered the sitting room, and Alyssa followed and closed the door behind them, as Jan headed toward his office.

"Please, have a seat," Alyssa said.

The two ladies sat on one of the couches.

"I'm sorry that it took so long to come to see you," Celemon apologised.

"It's all right, I expected that after such a long absence, there would have been a lot to do," Alyssa replied.

"Well, yes, there was," Celemon agreed. "However, that's in the past now. I've come to see if you've decided how I can repay you for helping me regain my freedom."

"Well..." Alyssa paused for thought for a long moment. "There's nothing I want right now. I'm pregnant with what Lunaria said would be Jan's daughter and Faltorios' son, and I rather like my life. So... I think that it would be best if I could reserve that favour until there's something I truly want. I hope that doesn't upset you."

Celemon smiled. "A human lifetime is not a very long time to elves... at least not once we're no longer filled with the impatience of youth. Now that I'm grown, a human lifetime seems like what somewhere between a week and a month seemed to me when I was an impatient girl in my teens and twenties... though I have no idea how it would seem to a human... like the life of a mouse, perhaps."

"Perhaps, though no-one I've ever spoken to keeps such vermin," Alyssa replied.

"Of course," Celemon smiled again, then she reached into a pouch hidden beneath the opaque folds of her white silk gown and drew out a small piece of folded parchment that had been crudely sealed with an unstamped blob of red wax. "Anyway, since you wish to reserve your favour until a later time, I have had a token prepared, with which you can call upon me... if you wish to accept it?"

"I am a slave, and there's no guarantee that I'd be allowed to keep anything you give me," Alyssa said. "But I'll consider it."

"I anticipated that," Celemon said, breaking the seal and carefully unfolding the parchment and showing the contents to Alyssa. Inside it was two tiny semicircles of silvery metal, looking like the same silvery but rust-free metal from which Alyssa's slave collar had been made. "This should fasten around the ring in your collar and look like a part of it, it won't come off accidentally, and it won't easily be removed... unless your whole collar is removed, of course."

"When Jan first put this collar on me, I'd have gladly been rid of it, but now it's like a part of me, and I'll never willingly give it up," Alyssa said. "So I'll accept your token."

Celemon took the two halves of the bead in her hands and gestured toward Alyssa's slave collar. "May I?" she asked.

"Of course," Alyssa replied politely, forbearing to add, 'I'm a slave, so you don't need to ask.'

Celemon put one half of the bead beneath the ring dangling from the front of Alyssa's collar, then put the other over the top of it, taking a moment to get it aligned, then she squeezed it hard, until there was a faint, high-pitched click.

"If you wish to call upon me to repay my debt to you, you must squeeze that bead between your fingers, think of me as clearly as you can, and say my name three times, 'Princess Celemon of Citarioth'," Celemon instructed. "I won't appear instantly, but I will appear within the day, barring unforeseen circumstances, in which case I'll arrive as soon as I can."

"I understand," Alyssa said.

"And remember, you can call upon me for a personal favour, something that you want for yourself, as long as it is in my power to grant. However, I will not grant another person's wish merely because you ask it of me, unless it also benefits you."

"I understand that too... you said that before, in Vaewolt," Alyssa nodded.

"Now, I must take my leave of you. As much as I'd like to stay and talk, I have other demands upon my time."

Alyssa saw Celemon out of the palace, to where she had left the stallion upon which she had arrived. Her horse was almost glowingly white, and seemed too perfect to be real. The groomsman tending the horse bowed to Celemon as she approached.

"Please remember my debt to you, Alyssa," Celemon said. "I'd hate for you to miss an opportunity to take advantage of it out of forgetfulness."

"I'll remember, Celemon," Alyssa promised. "Farewell!"

"Farewell, Alyssa, until we meet again," Celemon hugged her briefly, then leaped onto her horse and rode away, her horse fading from sight before it reached the palace's gates.

Malachite Palace, Lysannum

At the start of the late summer month, Queen Jade received the invitation to King Jan's ball at the Palatium Ebenum in Secarium, to be held on a particular mid-autumn day. She kept it to hand so that when Rodger had finished his lessons for the day, she showed it to him.

Rodger took the invitation when Jade handed it to him, and read it carefully. "So... King Jan wants all the royalty of Etherion to come to Secarium. I can't help asking what's wrong with this," he said.

"Why does something have to be wrong with it?" Jade asked.

"Jan's been acquiring territory since he became King of Esphobel," Rodger said. "Mensalia, Radsarnum... it all seems a bit too convenient."

"Mensalia was the result of the Great Blizzard of '17, and so was his accession to the throne. How could that be suspicious?" Jade asked. "As for Radsarnum, he and Alyssa fell in love. You've heard the stories about the two of them, surely?"

"There are ways of conjuring a blizzard," Rodger suggested darkly. "As for Alyssa and Jan... rumours suggest that they didn't become so loving toward each-other until after they were married."

"Are you suggesting that Jan might have had a member of Morgaine's clergy make the winter worse? Because if so, there aren't any of her clergy on Etherion that I know of," Jade said. "And what's so unusual about a couple in an arranged marriage falling in love?"

"It just seems too convenient... all of it," Rodger grumbled.

"Do you have doubts about Jan because he was one of my suitors?" Jade asked.

"Well... yes, I do," Rodger admitted. "The first time I saw him, he voted to have you stripped and paraded in front of the men present for the announcement of your nuptial challenge."

"Yes, he did... and so did you, as I recall," Jade smiled. "Besides, I'd anticipated that, and it wasn't unwelcome."

"Still, I didn't know you then and he did, and he was ruthless enough to insist despite all the disapproval," Rodger said. "That shows me that he's the right sort of pragmatist to want to add yet more provinces to his domain... At a guess, I'd expect Cyrstendran, Clynastrum or Isolian to be next. Most likely Cyrstendran, given its contiguity with Mensalia."

"Not Ardthalen?" Jade asked seriously.

"Probably not," Rodger considered. "Earle's a thug and was one of Jan's friends, if I remember correctly. That'll keep him safe... for a bit."

"Probably. However, King Earle's supposed to marry poor Princess Delilah of Isolian next spring," Jade said. "Considering that Earle likes to beat his women, if he kills her, there could be a call for his removal from Queen Severine."

"I hadn't heard," Rodger said. "If that's the case, take Isolian off the list... for now."

"So, that still begs the question, 'Should we go to Jan's ball?'" Jade asked.

"Since I expect that we'll be sailing from Lysannum direct to Secarium across the Sweet Sea, I expect we'd be safe enough... and Jan could claim that anyone who didn't come had slighted him," Rodger mused. "Besides, there are some Galadian dances that I'd like to introduce, and most of Etherion's royalty will want the opportunity to indulge in some intrigue."

"True," Jade agreed. "Even Kael of Kelvortyne, the Accountant King; his advisers will be telling him that he needs to get married, and where better to find a bride than at a ball that everyone will be expected to attend. So, I'll send my acceptance then?"

"Yes," Rodger nodded. "But don't be in any rush. The last minute will do."

"Now, about those Galadian dances..."

Raven had become quite a handful as the months passed. Given their pregnancies, neither Jade nor Xenia were breast-feeding any more, and fortunately, Raven had put breast-feeding behind him. He was growing precociously, and while he was only six months old, he was as big and capable as a child of six years. Princess Lilly was thirteen months old, but Raven had left her behind, no longer content to play with her. Lilly was an early talker, but when it came to walking, she was only just beginning to toddle around, and she was frequently frustrated that Raven didn't want to stay still to play with her, and that she couldn't keep up with him. Raven was running around, trying to play with the bigger children of the palace servants, and he frequently managed to disappear, finding any number of hidey-holes in the sprawling Malachite Palace.

Xenia, Jade and Rodger were all worried that Raven would become very angry or frustrated, and become hot enough to set the palace on fire. He had already left a few scorched hoof-prints and hand-prints in places where he had become moderately frustrated or angry. The fact that the servants' children he wanted to play with were old enough that they were starting to be assigned jobs didn't help his equanimity.

Xenia and Jade were four months pregnant by this time, long enough that it was time for Jade to announce her pregnancy to the world, and long enough that their pregnancies were just beginning to slow them down, though they wouldn't become really hampered until their third trimesters. They were able to keep up with Raven to a degree, but they could both envision a future, not too far distant, in which Raven was bigger, faster, and they were even less able to keep up with him.

So, when Ambassador Faltorios returned in late summer, Jade was quite ready to see Raven fostered elsewhere, and while Xenia wasn't eager for it, she was resigned to its necessity.

The palace butler, Gilroy, knocked and entered Jade's office to announce Faltorios' arrival. Jade instructed him to send Xenia to her before showing Faltorios in.

Xenia arrived a few minutes later.

"Gilroy says that my wayward sire has returned," Xenia grumbled as she entered Jade's office.

"You don't sound happy about that," Jade prompted.

"No, I don't," Xenia agreed as she sat down. "You know the problems I have with him... and I expect that he's come to take Raven away too."

"Yes, I do know... but Raven does need someone with some experience with faerie powers to help teach him," Jade said.

"I know," Xenia sighed. "He's growing up so quickly, but he's still my son... even though a few of the rugs have needed to be replaced and walls repaired because of him."

"So far," Jade added.

"Yes... so far," Xenia agreed with a sigh. "I know... he could burn the palace down one day."

"You said it, not me."

Gilroy knocked at the door, and Faltorios was soon admitted. He, Jade and Xenia exchanged greetings, and he took a seat.

"Do you have news, Ambassador?" Jade asked.

"Regarding a suitable foster family for Raven?" Faltorios asked.

"Of course," Jade replied.

"As it happens, I do have news," the satyr replied. "I spoke to many lords around Vaewolt, but only one family was prepared to foster Raven. That was Lord Emmerich Vulkanstein of Steinfeuerreich, and his wife, Lady Valeria."

"What can you tell us about them and their land?" Xenia asked.

"You might consider Steinfeuerreich to be a bleak, barren land covered in black stone, with a low, broad mountain that spews red-hot liquid rock. There are few trees, save around its borders," Faltorios related. "However, that barrenness makes Steinfeuerreich an ideal place for Raven to be fostered, since there is little there that he could burn, and the people who live there are used to the occasional rain of red-hot stone when its fire-mountain is active. Lord and Lady Vulkanstein are honourable, well-respected people who have three grown sons, so they are familiar with the needs of children."

"They sound suitable to me," Jade said. "But it's your decision, Xeni."

"I know," Xenia didn't sound particularly eager to make that decision.

"Perhaps Faltorios could talk to Raven about Steinfeuerreich over dinner," Jade suggested. "If you wanted to stay, Faltorios?"

"I would love to stay," Faltorios replied.

"All right," Xenia agreed. "But I think I know what Raven is going to say. I expect he's going to want to go."

At dinner that evening, with Rodger also present after his day's lessons in magic, Faltorios told Raven about Steinfeuerreich and Lord and Lady Vulkanstein.

"Can I go, please, Mum?" Raven asked. "It sounds exciting!"

Xenia hugged Raven, who was sitting next to her. "You would be gone a long time. You probably wouldn't come back until you were grown up," she warned.

"I still want to go," Raven replied. "I know that you, Uncle Rodger and Aunt Jade worry about me setting fire to things."

"Of course you know," Xenia replied. "We tell you often enough that we're worried."

"So, can I go, Mum?" Raven asked. "Pleeeeease?!"

"Yes, love, you can go," Xenia decided, hugging her son again with tears dripping from her eyes.

The following morning, Xenia had prepared a backpack for Raven that held his belongings; a few sets of clothes that he hadn't yet outgrown, a few toys that he had likewise not yet outgrown, or might soon grow into. Xenia had added a letter that she hoped that he would one day be able to read... he could read already, but not at an adult level.

Jade, Rodger, Biblis, Gilroy and a number of other staff and their children came to join Xenia in saying farewell to Raven. The children were more upset that he was leaving than the adults. In the end, Xenia hugged and kissed her son, was hugged and kissed in return, and she stood with Rodger and Jade as Faltorios led him away.

"I'm really going to miss him!" Xenia sniffled once Raven was out of sight... then she burst into tears.

"We'll miss him too," Jade replied as she hugged her best friend.

* * *