Desira flushed. “I am not your bitch,” she told the orc sharply.

  The brute laughed roughly. “Fine. Not bitch. Yet. Now suck cock.”

  Desira frowned, but leaned forward. She opened her mouth as wide as she could, shaking a little. Never had she imagined this happening to her. Giving a blowjob in a dark alley, and to an orc of all creatures. Yet something about the depravity of it tingled deep in her core. She felt a dampness grow against her undergarments, her ass puckering with a strange sensation she had no name for. Slowly, she let her lips enclose the hardness of the orc’s shaft.

  The taste of him burst upon her tongue. Her lashes fluttered. She knew that orc musk was a powerful aphrodisiac. That the brutal creatures had enthralled many of the women they took with their musk. But she knew as well it took time for a woman to be addicted to them. To fall into an eager submission. She merely had to make sure that never happened. That this was the one time.

  She just wished it didn’t feel so good.

  Argin groaned as her lips slid up and down his shaft, barely able to take even half of his gargantuan length, but her hands attended the rest of his thick manhood, stroking his veiny thickness while her lips ran up and down his cock.

  “Good princess,” the orc groaned. “Good. Take deep. Deep. I teach how to take deeper, but this good for now. This enough.”

  Desira felt a quiver of lust ping through her at his words. Arousal burned through her. She started to bob faster, faster. Gods. Was she really doing this? Was the princess of Lamor really sucking off a chained orc in an alley? She moaned, her thighs quivering as she felt her panties adhere to her slit with dampness. Her head bobbed with ever more eagerness. Her moans vibrated through her throat.

  “Good. Good princess! I close… I… Rrrrraaaa!”

  The orc exploded in her mouth. His thick, musky seed burst onto her tongue. She choked, tears springing to her eyes at the thick, heavy deluge of cum. She tried to pull back but the orc grabbed her head, holding in place. She had no choice but to swallow, her throat working as she sucked down the orc’s massive load.

  At last, with a grunt, the orc released her. Desira fell back onto her ass, gasping, her tongue heavy with the taste of the orc’s cock, her panties drenched. Some of his seed drooled down the side of her mouth. She wiped it away, mustering up her pride and glaring up at the brutish monster.

  “That hurt,” she said thickly.

  The orc laughed. “You get used to it, princess. Do better next time.”

  Desira pulled herself to her feet, glaring at him. His cocky grin remained, widened in fact when his nostrils flared, scenting her desire. “You liked,” he said, glancing down.

  Desira flushed, stealing a glance to make sure none of the dampness of her panties showed through her dress, though she knew well enough Argin didn’t need to see it to know it was there. She scowled at him. “Then we have a deal, orc? You will help me?”

  Argin laughed and thumped a fist on his heavy chest. “I make deal. I help princess. Give word.”

  Desira took a slow, heavy breath, let it out. “Good,” she said shortly. “Cera?”

  The ranger stalked down the alley. She glared at the orc, to which Argin merely smirked back. Desira spread her hands as if to silence any argument from either. “Come,” she said. “Argin? Tonight you’ll stay in the dungeons. It won’t do if too many see you.”

  The orc’s brow lowered. “No cages,” he growled.

  “It won’t be locked. But you have to remain in the cell until I come and fetch you. The council won’t take it well for an orc to be wandering about the castle.”

  The orc considered that. “Hmm. Fine. But only if when you do, I get fuck breasts.”

  “Cur!” Cera barked.

  Desira sighed. “If it means you’ll cooperate, fine. Cera? Take his leash. Let’s head back.”

  The ranger, flush with indignity, took the orc’s chain. Danger flashed in the orc’s dark eyes, but when he glanced at the shapely princess the anger faded, his lips again turning up in that cocky grin. Desira sighed as she pushed back up her hood, her finger lingering on her cheek where the dollop of the orc’s seed had slipped. Hastily she rubbed the spot, then led the pair out of the alley and once more down the streets.

  Confrontation

  Desira sat alone in her room, quietly contemplating the family crown. The jewels in its settings gleamed as she slowly turned it over, the sweep of its peaks silver and gold. More a tiara than the solid, bulky crowns of some Borderland kings, its elegance betrayed none of its weight.

  And it would be hers to wear, soon. The throne as well. Once the orcs were gone, her uncle would have nothing to hold the guards to him, she would be the hero who rid the land of its menace, and the city she’d been sworn to would be hers at last. She sighed, feeling a tear in the corner of her eye. Oh but it would be so good to be done with the fear. To send her uncle packing. Her hands tightened on the crown, her jaw clenched. She would do this. She could.

  The door thudded under a fist. Desira raised her head, scowling.

  “What?”

  The door opened and one of her uncle’s guards stepped inside. “Princess. Lord Gavor commands your attendance.”

  Desira narrowed her eyes at the man. She rose slowly from her seat. “Oh does he?”

  “Now.”

  Desira momentarily considered simply refusing the man, but she didn’t like his look. She wondered how far her uncle was willing to push it… Now wasn’t the time, she reminded herself. Soon enough her uncle wouldn’t have a leg to stand on, once the orcs were gone. “Very well,” she said.

  The guard turned and led her out of the room and through the arched halls of the castle. When she realized where they were going, Desira’s eyes narrowed further. The guard threw open the doors of the throne room and Desira pushed past him, walking into the hall.

  Windows glowed in intervals along the walls, their light broken by tall pillars lining the way. Heavy banners hung on the walls fluttered faintly, stirred by the door’s opening. Only a few guards stood within, all wearing the tabard of her uncle’s personal troops. The man himself sat at the end of the room, in the tall throne at the top of the dais. Around the rest of the chamber were the high functionaries of the city, heads of merchant guilds, the city councillors and petty nobles. Desira took note of them closely, unease roiling in her stomach. There was something going on here. A glance at Gavor’s grin of mocking triumph confirmed it for her.

  Desira grit her teeth in anger and stopped before the throne. “What are you doing, uncle.”

  “You should ask me that?” he said.

  “I should.” She levelled a finger at him. “Unless you’re wearing the crown, you have no right to sit there!”

  Gavor’s brows knit. His smile turned to a sneer. “You dare lecture me, girl?”

  “What do you want?”

  Gavor forced his temper into check, interlaced his fingers, glaring down at her. “My darling niece. I was only hoping you could explain something for me and the court.” He gestured at the wary nobility scattered about the room. “Namely, why you who brought an orc into the castle.”

  For a moment Desira was caught off guard. Her uncle grinned cruelly, catching at it. Murmurs swept through the crowd. Desira glanced about, seeing suddenly what her uncle was trying to do. A sudden flash of anger pulled her from her shock, rallying her. Of course he would find out. No doubt he kept a particular eye on the dungeons of late. Desira drew herself up, defiantly meeting his eyes. “I did, uncle. Because since you cannot bring yourself to pull the army from the walls, I needed to find a way to deal with the orcs in our lands.”

  His smile twitched. “What are you babbling about, girl?”

  “A negotiation. I intend to bribe the orcs into leaving.”

  Gavor stared. He opened his mouth. Closed it. “I… you… That’s… that’s madness!”

  “Is it? How so, uncle?”

  “We… we cannot deal with those monsters… Our coffers-“

  “Would the price be so great?” Desira demanded, pressing the advantage, every word nailing her uncle to his throne. “Would a simple payment not be enough to stop them harassing our people? Raiding our peasants and farms? Interrupting our trade? A paltry sum compared to peace. This is my answer, uncle. A possibility to be rid of them without risking the safety of the city. Or,” she asked, smiling sharply, “have you a better idea?”

  Murmurs grew in the chamber. Gavor’s eyes snapped in every direction, sweat beading his brow. “Princess,” he began, his voice falling into the familiar, whining croon. “I don’t think-“

  “Tomorrow, I send the orc to speak to the clan,” Desira said dismissively. “And should a deal be reached, our city, and our people, shall be saved. Good day, uncle.”

  Desira turned, her gown rustling about her as she marched away. Gavor jumped to his feet. “I have not dismissed you, girl!” he shouted.

  “Only the king can dismiss me,” Desira said, her heart singing with her triumph.

  “Don’t turn your back on me!”

  The guards hesitated as she passed them, but their chance to block her was lost before they could muster the will. She threw open the doors of the throne room and swept down the hall. Her smile made her cheeks ache, but she just couldn’t stop.

  The Night

  Desira jerked awake as the door to her room flew open and slammed off the wall. She gasped, yanking her blankets to her throat as Cera bounded inside, the ranger’s eyes bright, a sword gleaming in her hand.

  “What? Cera! What’s going on?”

  “Princess! We have to go!”

  The ranger rushed to her side and pulled the startled princess out of bed. “Quickly! My lady. Your uncle. He’s coming! I was eating in the courtyard with some soldiers. I noticed a number kept leaving and followed them. They were meeting with your uncle in the guard room and they were all armed.”

  “Cera!” Desira breathed. “What are you saying?”

  “Princess,” the ranger gasped. “They’re coming to kill you!”

  A numbness passed through her in a wave. Cold dread and the realization of the danger. Yet, mingled within it, there came a sense of torpid relief. That what she had dreaded for so long was happening. She didn’t need to fear it anymore.

  Cera tugged her arm. “Quickly, princess! They’re coming!”

  Desira shook herself from her stupor, listening to the faint thump of approaching footsteps. “We won’t get past them,” the princess breathed, thinking frantically. “This way!”

  She tugged Cera towards the far wall. She pressed a particular stone beneath a portrait of a valley in summer. The stone creaked, the portrait sliding open a crack. “In here!”

  Cera slipped in. Desira moved to follow, then hesitated. She turned back and snatched up her crown from the table before dashing into the hidden passage. The young princess pressed down on another stone, the hidden door sliding silently shut.

  Not a moment too soon. Muffled by the wall, Desira heard the door of her room break down in a splintering crash. She pressed herself against the wall, listening, her heart beating quickly in her breast at the sound of rough shouts.

  “My lord! She’s not here.”

  “She has to be!” her uncle’s voice snapped like a whip. “Check the closet. Tear this place apart!”

  Desira shivered in her night gown, listening to the splintering crash as the guards searched every corner of her room. “Nothing, sire.”

  “Idiots! I told you that ranger of hers would be trouble. She can’t have gotten far. Search every inch of the castle. Move! By the end of this, someone’s head will be on a pike!”

  Desira leaned against the wall for support, her breath shuddering in gasps of relief at the sound of the guards leaving. But it was short relief. Sooner or later, they would find the secret passage. And if they did, and if she was still inside…

  The thought choked her with terror, but emboldened her with grim purpose. No. They wouldn’t catch her. She pushed herself off the wall, gently reaching out in the dark and finding Cera’s hand. “This way,” the princess breathed, her bare feet slapping the cold stone steps leading down through the winding passage between the walls of her family keep. Every castle across the Borderlands had their secret passages. Even before the Wizard Wars tore through the region and unleashed their horrors across the land, every lord and minor king was wary of being trapped in their holds by their quarrelsome neighbours.

  Silently thanking whichever of her ancestors had thought it wise to build this particular passage from her room, Desira raced away and down the winding corridors. She’d explored every nook and cranny of the passages, knew them like the back of her hand. She knew she was getting close to the end when the corridor grew colder, cutting through her slim nightgown and straight into her chest.

  “Mistress, where are we going?” Cera whispered.

  “The passage opens out near the loch,” Desira whispered through the dark. “Once we’re there, we’ll be out of the city.”

  “But what then?”

  Desira bit her lower lip. “I’ll think of something.”

  Cera was silent the rest of the way, which Desira found acutely comforting. But the trust the slender ranger had in her was a little off-putting as well. Such a thing would be par the course when she took the throne, she recalled. Her people trusting her to do the right thing.

  Of course much of that hinged on their being able to survive the night.

  At last, Desira saw a low silver light ahead. By its glow she began to make out the rough stone corridor and the ancient steps they walked down. “Slippery ahead,” she warned as they headed on. The stones grew damp, and ducking out of the tunnel it became apparent why. A small pool of water lay at the end of the tunnel, moonlight shining through like silver captured in the dark. A small stone statuette of a nymphic woman rose at the opposite side of the pool, her head bowed and eyes closed serenely.

  Desira took a slow breath and stepped into the frigid water, shivering as she took a deep breath and dove. A small tunnel cut through the rock, opening into the bay of the loch lay before her. Swimming through, she surfaced with a gasp. Around her the widened surface of the loch spread out, its surface placid but for the distant shape of a few late vessels. She turned quickly away, making for the shore. Shivering, the princess climbed out onto the rocky shore and glanced back. Not a hint of the entrance was visible, but atop the cliffs, she could see the castle looming overhead, every window ablaze with light. Desira smiled in grim satisfaction. No doubt her uncle would be tearing his hair out at the moment in wondering where she’d gone.

  But her anger couldn’t keep her warm as the cold wind sliced through her soaked nightgown and cut her pale body to the quick. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself as Cera surfaced with a gasp a moment later and climbed out of the waters. The ranger looked towards the castle, brushing some hair from her eyes.

  “They’ll be quick about looking for us, my lady. They’ll start searching the city, then the countryside.”

  Desira nodded. She forced herself to her feet, trying to ignore how her damp nightgown clung to her voluptuous body. “Yes. You’re right. We have to get out of here.”

  Cera took the lead. They were in her territory now, and Desira had little doubt of the ranger’s skill. They walked along the shore a short distance, the cold cutting deeper with every step.

  They kept moving for a while, plunging into the heavy forest that surrounded Lamor. Desira winced, her clumsy movements a sharp counterpoint to Cera’s silent step. Desira grit her teeth at the noise, but ignored it. The cold was a far more pressing concern to her. She wrapped her arms about herself, shivering as the damp nightgown clung tightly to her. She bit back any complaint, soldiering on grimly as the night deepened.

  At last, Cera called a halt. She led them into a small hollow among the heavy trees, one hidden beneath an overhanging stone. “I camp here during some of my forays,” she said as she shoved aside some branches to reveal a store of wood. “It’s well hidden, considering some things that lurk in the dark. We’ll be safe until morning.”

  Desira nodded silently as she took a seat. Cera gave the princess a worried look but set about preparing their fire. Soon enough flames were crackling, the glow beating back the suffocating dark. Desira settled down before it, basking in the warmth with relief. As she settled in, she realized she was still clutching her crown. She brought it out, holding it before her. She closed her eyes tightly, a sense of failure falling on her like a weight.

  “Princess?”

  Desira opened her eyes and looked towards the worried ranger. “Yes?”

  Cera gnawed on her lower lip. “Princess. Where shall you go?”

  Desira laughed bitterly, turning over her crown as she spoke. “Go? Cera,” she said, shaking her head mournfully. “You’ll soon regret tying yourself to me. Don’t you get it? There’s nowhere I can go. My uncle is out for my blood. By tomorrow, assassins will be everywhere and his troops combing the roads, looking for me. And even if we do avoid them, who will take me in? No lord within a week’s riding has the men to attempt to fight my uncle’s army so long as he sits on the throne. And if they did, I’d be little more than their puppet. A tool to use.”

  Cera gnawed on her lower lip as she poked at the flames. “Well… something will come up, mistress. I’m sure of it.”

  Desira smiled wearily. “Thank you, Cera. Let’s get some sleep. Things will look better in the morning. I’m sure.”

  Cera nodded, but looked unconvinced. The ranger rolled over, her breathing soon steadying as sleep claimed her. Desira settled down before the fire, but sleep did not come so easily. Instead she sat, warming her cool flesh against the flames, her expression dark with thought. No. No lord would help her take back her family’s throne. So what remained for her, she wondered grimly. Perhaps take on the life of a peasant? Or go to live as an exiled princess in some distant court? Perhaps among the inner kingdoms.

  Her hands tightened on her crown, the points digging into her palms. Her eyes burned as she recalled her uncle’s face, imagined him seated on the throne that was hers by right. She grit her teeth, anger warming her like the fire never could.

 

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