The Knight and the Acolyte
Book Ten: The Flaming Woman
Chapter Nine: Betrayed
By mypenname3000
Copyright 2017

Knight Angela – Dominari’s Lair, Despeir Mountains

The goddess’s words struck me like a blow. The white light washed over me, assaulting me with truth and…

I witnessed.

King Edward IV of Secare groaned and gasped as he lay on his back, a youthful maiden of fiery hair riding his cock. Around him, three other Secaran maidens watched, their eyes lidded with lust. One nuzzled the red-haired maiden’s throat, the girl gasping in a foreign tongue as she rode the king’s cock.

“Fill her up with your cum!” the licking maiden purred.

What is going on, I thought, blinking in shock as I floated disembodied in the room, staring down. Is this…the Sekar Oracle? Is this King Edward’s coronation? He became king not long before I received my Quest. Like every king before him, he ventured up the Lone Mountain to hear a prophecy to guide his rule.

Why is Slata showing me this?

“Slata’s cunt, yes!” groaned King Edward, his face twisting in pleasure “Work that pussy, Oracle. I’m gonna cum so hard.”

I just killed him. I just killed the king. Why was he even here?

“Yes!” moaned another of the Oracle’s attending maiden, humping against the King’s thigh, cumming. “Yes, yes, yes.”

The King’s face twisted with passion. The Oracle slammed down his cock, her apparently youthful body writhing as she screamed her orgasmic pleasure. Emerald light shone from her eye and mouth.

And then she spoke ancient music and the maiden cumming on the King’s thigh translated:

“You shall die, Mighty King, upon the Hero’s Blade.
The High King’s Empire shall rise once more.
The Hero of the Lilies departs on perilous quest.
Duty shall compel her darkness,
But vengeance shall compel your death.
You shall die, Mighty King, upon the Hero’s Blade”

The Sekar Oracle predicted I would kill King Edward? Confusion wreathed me as the world blurred around my disembodied form. What was going on? If he hadn’t hurt Sophia, I never would have killed him. He was my king.

I floated now in a bedchamber, blonde Queen Lavinia lounging on a bed, belly swollen with pregnancy. The King sat at a nearby desk, an elderly man with a bald pate talking to him. I swallowed, trembling. The Lesbius Oracle said we were all betrayed. Me, my friends, even Lady Delilah.

Why would Slata want to show us this? What did she hope to gain?

“I don’t need to hear the words again!” King Edward snapped at the old man holding a piece of paper. He had just finished reciting the prophecy. “They’ve echoed in my head for the last three days. What do they mean? Who is this hero, and why shall she kill me?”

Because you hurt my Sophia!

“Yes, she is right,” the old man nodded. “Very surprising. Scholars had long thought the Hero would be male, and yet the Oracle’s words refute that theory.”

“What are you talking about?” demanded the king.

“This prophecy is one of the simplest ever given down by the Oracle.” A smile crossed the advisor’s aged face. “So simple.”

“Then speak plain and explain how I may thwart the future.”

Is this how I was betrayed? King Edward wanted to kill me to save his own life?

“Have you forgotten the studies of your youth, Your Majesty? Did your father waste all his money on those tutors.”

The king grinned in a slimy fashion. “Not all the tutors.”

“Yes, I imagine the sort of lessons you endeavored at,” laughed the old man. “I hope you know of the High King.”

“I mean to recreate his empire and not let some woman do it.” The King sneered. “How can a woman even hope to rule?”

Sophia believed I could do it. And I have a cock now. And you’re dead. You hurt her!

“The Hero was prophesied as High King Peter lay dying,” explained the advisor. “His final words were a promise that his descendant would claim his sword and restore his empire. For Peter knew that he died without heir and his empire was doomed to shatter. Once dead, his words were so feared, his sword, forged by the God Krab himself, was shattered and hidden throughout the Empire.”

“If he died without heir, how could he have a descendant to reclaim his throne?”

“He had descendants. Only none were male. Lily, his third child by his second wife. All his sons died, but his daughter survived and had children.”

The king frowned. “That sounds familiar. Wasn’t there a curse?”

“Holy Slata was angered at her husband Pater’s devotion to his bastard son Peter. She cursed Peter and ensured all his sons died, and that his daughter Lily and all her descendants would only birth women. As I said, the prophecy is simple. One of Lily’s descendants shall kill you.”

The King glowered. “And how many of those are there? It’s been a thousand years. Do we even know her bloodline after so long?”

“Of course.” The advisor grabbed a book from a pile on the kings desk. At the same moment, a draft rustled the room. Queen Lavinia gasped, looking up from her embroidery. A sly smile crossed her lips.

What?

The king looked to his balcony and there stood Lady Delilah.

What is she doing here? My heart raced at the sight of the red-haired woman. Is this where she gave the King the amulet by mistake? Is that the betrayal Slata wants me to believe? Stubborn anger filled me. She trusted the King. That’s not betrayal.

The King’s breath caught at the sight of Lady Delilah. She is an enchanting creature. Even this pig lusts for her. Her armor clinked as she walked towards him, the chainmail loincloth swinging between her thighs. But you don’t know she can grow a cock, do you?

They didn’t hear me.

“When did you return, Lady Delilah?” gasped the King.

“Oh, I have been back for a few days,” she answered with a smile then nodding at Queen Lavinia. “Have you solved your little prophecy yet?” she asked as she sat beside the King.

“I have,” the adviser said, his eyes growing hard. “How have you heard of it?”

My stomach roiled. She knew about his prophecy?

Lady Delilah smiled back at the old man. “I would love to know who you think the Hero of Lilies is? Which of the High King’s descendants shall kill our noble king?”

“As I was about to explain before your…um…timely arrival, the answer lies in this book.” He tapped the tome. It had a stuffy title: The Complete Genealogy of Lily of Hamilten, Princess of the Realm, Twenty-Third Revision. “The College of Allenoth has kept meticulous track of Lily and her descendants. Currently, there are eighteen living descendants scattered across the Old Empire’s lands. Including five living in our kingdom.”

Me, my mother, my two cousins.

“And which is the one that will kill me?” the King demanded.

What was Lady Delilah doing here?

“Yes. The telling line is ‘The Hero of Lilies departs on a perilous quest.’ It really was quite easy to deduce. Only one of Lily’s descendants is a Knight. Her name is Angela, and according to Lord-Commander William, she will shortly finish her squireship and embark upon her Quest to earn her spurs and become a full Knight Deute. She is the daughter of Count Francis and his second wife, Countess Agnes, who herself can trace her lineage back to Lily in an unbroken line of mothers and daughters.”

“Then she must die,” Queen Lavinia said, her hands rubbing at the curve of her pregnant belly.

A chill shuddered through me. I would have to…deal with that child to conquer Secare.

“Yes,” the King agreed, glancing at Lady Delilah.

“She must surely die to protect your kingdom,” Delilah answered, her lips curling in a smile.

The words slapped me. What was Lady Delilah doing? Why was she plotting my death with the King?

“This must be delicately done, Your Majesty,” the advisor said. “The Knights Deute protect our realm. But they are neutral in manners of politics. If we are found to interfere, there could be…repercussions.”

Lady Delilah laughed.

The advisor glared at her. “Do you have something to add, madam?”

“Killing her will be no great chore. She is about to embark on her Quest!”

I wanted to throw up.

“And?” the King asked. “It is rare for a Knight to die on a Quest.”

Lady Delilah leaned forward and rested her hand on his thigh. “Not all Quests are equal. There is one that has been attempted many times and not been completed.”

The king scowled. “But the Quests are drawn by lots. That is one Quest in a hundred. I cannot gamble the future of my kingdom on such low odds.”

“Then rig it.”

Lady Delilah put this in motion? She made sure that I would have to go on the quest to fight Dominari? Anger surged through me. It wasn’t chosen by chance? She set me up? Manipulated us into such danger? She risked Sophia’s life time and time again so that her plan to restore Peter’s empire would happen?

Fire raged in me. My Sophia wouldn’t be lying badly wounded, maybe dying, if Lady Delilah hadn’t changed my destiny. She lied! She said the King wanted to help me! What else has she lied about?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Acolyte Sophia

“Witness the truth of your betrayal, Sophia ev’Tith,” Slata said as the refreshing, milky potion poured down my throat, shocking my thoughts out of sluggish pain.

And then the white light slammed into me.

Confusion held me. I floated, disembodied, in a room staring down at people I knew.

The High Virgin Vivian, the highest-ranked member of Saphique’s church and leader of the Temple of the Pure, sat in a room with King Edward of Secare. At her side was Virgin-Superior Elizabeth, the administrator of the Temple of the Pure. Queen Lavinia embroidered in the corner while an old man with a bald head sat by the King.

Why am I seeing this?

“What you are asking is…improper, King Edward,” High Virgin Vivian said slowly, her words careful.

“Do you want to see Secare and the world consumed by chaos of the High King’s Empire restored?” said King Edward.

What? Are they talking about…Angela?

“I do not,” the High Virgin said. “But the Knights Deute have always entrusted the Temple of the Pure to fairly choose their Quests for their female knights. Why should we betray that trust?”

Betray? The very idea shocked me. Saphique trusted our order to aid the Knights Deute.

“For the future,” insisted the King.

“Your future,” responded the High Virgin.

Virgin-Superior Elizabeth snorted a laugh.

“Angela must die, but it must look accidental,” King Edward said.

Die? I screeched, wishing they could hear me. This is why you sent Fireeyes after us? To protect your kingdom? How did you even know that Angela would walk down this path?

“The good of all the Kingdoms is at stake,” continued the King. “It will be war if Angela somehow tries to press the High King’s claim. Haz, Valya, Thlin, Athlos, and the Principalities will rise up. Even the Magery of Thosi will become involved. This could plunge the continent into decades of suffering.”
You just want to hold onto your power! My Queen will make the world better!

The High Virgin glanced at Elizabeth who arched an eyebrow. “But such a betrayal of trust is monumental. It might offend even our holy Goddess.”

It would. How can you even consider this? You’re her High Virgin! Saphique entrusted her church to your guidance!

“An offering could be arranged,” the King said.

“A bribe?” Elizabeth asked. “Something the Knights Deute could point at and cry foul.”

The old man studied Elizabeth for a moment then said, “A concession, then.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Your father granted our temples exemption from tax collection for five years. That ends next spring.”

You would betray our goddess for that? For money? Disgusted fire raged in me.

King Edward paled. “My father was senile when he made that decision. The coffers need that income of the lands—”

“They do not,” the old man interrupted. “And even if they did, the price can be borne. Right, Your Majesty?”

The King froze. “Right. Perspective. Fine. I will have it extended for another year.”

“Twenty.” Elizabeth countered.

“Five. Be reasonable.”

“Fifteen,” suggested the High Virgin.

This is disgusting! You’re betraying our Goddess! If I wasn’t a disembodied spirit right now, tears of outrage would pour down my cheeks. I wanted to reach out and strangle her. She betrayed my Goddess and my Queen.

The King’s jaw clenched. “Seven.”

The High Virgin glanced at Elizabeth who gave a slight nod. “Agreed. Angela will draw the quest to slay the dragon Dominari.”

As my outrage boiled my blood, the scene shifted to the Temple of the Pure. The High Virgin strode into her office, glancing at the me of the past. I looked so young, sitting petulantly in the chair. I had just gotten in trouble for…sleeping with those twin novices, inducting them into lesbian pleasure. I looked like such a spoiled child pouting as I waited for my punishment.

I followed the disgusting High Virgin into her office, Elizabeth at her side. How could they betray our goddess?

“There is one thing, Vivian,” Elizabeth said once the door was closed. “We have to sacrifice an acolyte along with Angela.”

The High Virgin froze. And then a smile crossed her lips. “I know just whom to send.”

It struck me right then. Why I was chosen. Me. The worst acolyte of the temple.

Elizabeth gave the High Virgin a curious look.

“Sophia.”

You bitch! You’re my spiritual leader! I am one of your flock! And you sent me to die! Just so you could avoid paying taxes! Slata’s hairy cunt!

“Her mother will object,” Elizabeth said.

I screeched my rage.

“Why? It is a great honor to be chosen. I have three letters from her mother demanding to know why her daughter has never been chosen for a Quest.”

“Because she’s useless,” Elizabeth muttered. “I’m not sure she has ever paid attention during lectures on divine magic.”

“Exactly. We can be rid of the little bitch and appease her mother all at the same time. Send her in so we can give her the great news.”

I tried to rip out her throat. And then a chill hit me as realization washed through me for a second time. I knew why Saphique aided me. Why she gave me magic. She knew of the corruption in her priesthood. She wanted to give me a chance to survive. To fix it. Oh, when my Queen rules, I will fix it!

Vivian and Elizabeth would pay for betraying our Goddess!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xerathalasia

Witness the truth of your betrayal, Xerathalasia,

The Goddess’s words struck me, flinging my soul from my body. I tumbled into the dark, welcoming gloom of the Deorc Forest. I would have blinked if I had a form. I turned, looking around, confusing wreathing me and…

Stared at myself.

I stood with my hunters, my body painted in greens and browns, forming the patterns that would blend her flesh in with the trees. I held my bow in one hand, the other hugged tightly about my wife, Atharilesia.

She’s not pregnant, I thought, staring at my wife. Though Minx had swallowed my heart’s affection, seeing my wife again reminded me of our love. Of coming home to her smiling face after long and dangerous hunts.

“I know you will slay the wyverns, my love,” Atharilesia said, my wife’s words breathy.

Wyverns…? This was a…year ago.

“Watch over her,” past me smiled to my sister, Nyonthilasara, when I broke the hug with my wife.
“You know I will, dear sister,” Nyonthilasara answered, her ears twitching. I never realized how alike we were, though she was not my match in height. Our faces were almost the same.

“That eases my heart.” Past me looked at my fellow hunters.

It feels like an eternity since I’ve seen you all, I thought as I stared at Relythionaia, Deliasonele, and Quenyathalee. It was a good hunt. A short hunt. What does this have to do with betrayal?

Last, my past self hugged my wife a final time, the pair of us sharing a hot kiss. I remembered that kiss, smiling. Then my past self broke away and took the hunters off into the woods. Atharilesia and Nyonthilasara watched my past self vanish along with the families of the other hunters. Then the elves turned and went back to their lives.

The world blurred and left me more confused as I appeared in the hollow in the tree I lived in with my wife. I stared at her lovely beauty, naked save for the necklaces I had given her. I missed her so much. My heart ached. What had she named our daughter?

“Oh, I love when you’re in heat while Xerathalasia is gone,” moaned Atharilesia, her hands stroking down her stomach to the green bush adorning her pussy. Her legs were so hard.

“It does make things so interesting,” agreed Nyonthilasara as she moved to the prone elf. She stroked a huge dick thrusting from her dark-green bush.

A twinge of fear rippled through my stomach.

“Just remember to pull out,” Atharilesia moaned. “I doubt your sister will return from her hunt before her heat ends.”

“I will. Don’t I always.”

I struck me what they meant. My sister…fucked my wife with her elf-dick in her pussy. She…cheated on me. If I had a body, I would have thrown up in shock as my sister mounted my wife and rammed her cock into her pussy.

Violated our marriage.

My wife was free to suck as many cocks as she wanted, even my sister’s, or let them use her asshole. But to let my sister into her pussy, to risk conceiving a child with an elf who wasn’t her spouse, wasn’t me…was monstrous.

I would never slide into a hermaphrodite’s pussy with my cock. I would never cheat on my wife. And she did it. With my sister?

“Oh, yes,” Atharilesia moaned. “Oh, why did I have to be so drunk that night and confuse you two. This is the cock I should have fucked. You.”

“My sweet bluebell,” cooed Nyonthilasara, her hips pumping faster and faster, ramming her cock into my wife’s married cunt. “You always did love your drink too much.”

“I did! Oh, yes. Oh, ram that dick into me. Oh, you’re going to make me cum so hard.”

I couldn’t look away from the betrayal. My wife and sister… My wife…regretted our marriage? We were drunk the night I made love to her the first time, sliding into her pussy and cumming in her snatch, uniting us forever. But…she didn’t stop me from doing it.

I thought she wanted me.

“Oh, Matar’s cock, I love you,” my wife moaned, writhing beneath my sister, their bodies heaving. “I want you to spill into me.”

“What?” gasped my sister. “You might conceive.”

No! The horror struck me.

“It feels so good. I love it when you cum in me. I took the herbs. I shouldn’t conceive. It should be safe. Let’s risk it. Yes, yes, yes! Cum in me!”

“Yes!”

I could only watch as my sister flooded my wife’s womb with her cum while the world flickered and there they were again, lying on the bed I shared with my wife, their bodies pressing together, my sister sliding her cock into my wife’s pussy.

“You can cum in me,” moaned Atharilesia. “I conceived yesterday. It doesn’t matter now.”

“But the herbs,” groaned Nyonthilasara.

“Don’t always work.”

She’s not my daughter… All these months, aching to see our child and…she’s not mine. Despair crashed into me.

“If my sister comes back in time,” groaned Nyonthilasara, “you must fuck her. She must think it’s hers.”

“I will. But I’ll be thinking of you!” My wife shuddered. “And maybe she won’t come back. Maybe the wyverns will kill her.”

How? How could I never see the truth? My wife…hates me.

The world blurred again.

“This is perfect,” Nyonthilasara said to my pregnant wife. “You have to encourage my sister to go with this human. No one comes back from Dominari’s lair. No one.”

Atharilesia’s eyes widened. “Yes! Then I shall be a widow.”

“In need of a new wife to help you raise your daughter.” Nyonthilasara hand rested on my wife’s pregnant belly. “My sister needs you to convince her. To prod her.”

My wife’s words echoed in my mind. She had prodded me to go with Angela. She had told me I had to help the knight. She had been…eager. Oh, Matar, how did I miss it? How could I be so blind to the truth. I wanted to weep. I wanted to scream.

I didn’t have a daughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Warlock Faoril

“Witness the truth of your betrayal, Faoril Lesibourne.”

Slata thrust me into truth. I blinked, shuddered, and looked down at a summoning room in the Collegiate Tower. Past me, wearing the same red robes that I had adorned, drew a magical circle on the ground. If I had a body, I would have frowned as I thought. What betrayal was I meant to see in here. I recognized the circle. I was about to summon the lemures so I could harvest their cum to use in my upcoming Test.

“What are you summoning?” gasped Saoria, leaning against the walls, wearing identical pair of red robes.

A stab of anger shot through me, noticing Saoria. She had turned on me when I failed my test, gloating how she had passed, how she was a Master Mage, revealing how she had just feigned friendship so I would tutor her and aid her.

“Lemures,” past me answered.

It was so strange to look at myself. Is my hair really that short? And aren’t I taller? Perception is such an interesting thing.

Saoria’s eyebrows furrowed. “Oh, you are really trying to overachieve if you plan on using their cum in the test.”

It backfired, Saoria. Oh, I bet you loved that.

“I plan on passing,” past me said as she inscribed the summoning circle.

I admired my work. It was flawless. I nodded approval at the five-pointed star past me made, studying the arcane names of the five elements written in their proper place.

“Are you sure you can handle them?” Saoria asked.

She feigned concern. Irritation rippled through me.

“Yes.” Past me waved a dismissive hand. “Lemures aren’t that bad. You just need to be firm with them. And once I manipulate their cocks, well, they’ll be much less angry.”

Saoria’s grinned. “Well, you may have a point there. Even the spirit of a dead man likes cumming.”
Past me finished the circle and stepped back, placing the chalk into her pocket. Then she pulled out three glass vials with leather stoppers and set them, with care, on the ground.

I would have flushed in pure embarrassment if I had a body. There they were. The three glass vials that I botched the preservation spells on. Does Slata just want to remind me how a simple mistake destroyed my chance to be a Master Mage?

What a petty goddess.

Then past me produced a fourth vial, this one full of preserved cum, and swallowed it. With it, past me powered the summoning circle. Anti-light burned from the black lines she drew on the ground as she reached into the Astral Realm to summon the lemure spirits. She spoke the arcane words to reach into the Astral Realm and pull the spirits into the circle. A mournful wail echoed while black mist swirled in the circle. Saoria shivered as red eyes appeared in the mist.

Then past me arcane words chained the spirits and yanked them into the mortal world. The mist coalesced into three bodies with long arms and sharp claws, their bodies still misty, on the edge of insubstantialness. Past me finished her spell as the lemures thrashed against the perimeter of the circle, trapped.

“How are you getting the cum?” Saoria asked.

“By letting them enjoy my body,” past me said with a smile. She slipped out of her robes, folding and setting them on the floor.

That was fun. Those lemures enjoyed my body. I came a lot.

“That’s kinky,” laughed Saoria. “No fear of them tearing you apart instead of fucking you?”

“Not with a little life magic,” past me answered, pussy cream trickling down her thighs.
I could feel the life magic that past me wreathed herself in. And it made me so juicy. Maybe I should summon lemures again once this was all over and Angela was High Queen.

“Mmm, I love that scent,” Saoria purred.

Right, I thought with sarcasm. You are such a bitch, Saoria. I can’t wait until you have to accept me as a Master Mage.

“Once they’re ready to cum, will you hand me the vials?” past me asked.

Saoria glanced where I set down the three vials. She nodded and picked them up. “I will.” Her blue eyes studied them. “You enchanted them yourself?”

“I want to make sure my cum maintains its potency,” past me answered, so arrogant.

“Always so smart,” Saoria laughed.

Not this time.

Past me stepped into the circle and the lemures rushed her. As she writhed in passion, Saoria smiled, staring at the vials. Then she produced one of her own out of her pocket, downing the cum in it. She shuddered for a moment, that rush of power every female mage feels at ingesting a man’s seed.

And then she sent life magic into the vials.

You bitch!

Realization crashed into me. Saoria sabotaged my vials. She ruined the preservation spells. She made sure I failed the test so she could…pass. She knew I was the best. That out of all of us testing, I would be made a Master Mage. She knew she was in the middle. If she wanted a chance, she had to ensure I failed.

Rage surged through me. “I trusted you! You bitch!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thrak

“Witness the truth of your betrayal, Thrak of the Red Eye Orcs.”

The words battered me out of my body. I shook my head, tumbling through the whirling scenes, images flicking too fast for me to understand. And then I floated above the tundra. The grass was green with new spring growth. The yurts of my tribe scattered across the valley.

And if I had a breath to catch, it would have as I stared at my wife hugging my past self.

“Good luck, my love,” Serisia said, the human woman looking so tiny in the hulking orc’s embrace, her body crushed to my past self’s chest by my own swarthy arms. “Come back.”

This was the last time I saw her alive.

“To a successful hunt,” Bruk, my brother, said, his words a harsh rumble.

“Feed the tribe,” Serisia said, the traditional words an orc wife would say to her husband before leaving on a hunt.

“He just wants to feed you,” laughed Bruk.

“Always,” my past self laughed, releasing my wife. “I will bring back a mighty feast.”

“Mmm, you always do,” my wife purred. Though human, she looked like an orc, if smaller and paler, her face adorned with born piercings, wearing their same rough clothing, her body glistening with fat smeared across her skin.

My past self led his hunters across the grass.

Don’t go! I shouted at my past self. I looked so confident. So sure of myself. I was Thrak, the leader of the strongest tribe. I had my wife. None could conquer me. You will leave her undefended. They’ll take her!

I turned my disembodied spirit to watch my wife, drinking in her beauty. The next time I would see her, it would be her violated body. Why was Slata showing me this? Just to hurt me? To show me how I failed my wife?

The scene changed and I stared in my yurt. It felt like a home, all the little feminine touches Serisia had placed in it. How empty it had felt after her death.

Serisia slept on the furs, her face placid in sleep. She rested on her side, hugging piled furs like they were me. A dark form opened the yurt’s flap and slipped in. A club held in a thick hand. It slammed down on her head.

Knocking her out. And then Bruk lifted my wife over his shoulder and carried her into the night.

Bruk!

Stunned horror gripped me as I watched my brother carry my wife off into the dark, leading her away from our camp and towards the direction of the Ghost Wolves territory. Anger burned in me. I wanted to unleash my rage, to reach into the past. Why was he doing it? Why had my brother…

I wanted to look away as he threw my wife into the grass and mounted her limp body, blood matting her brown hair. He grunted with savage pleasure as he raped her. Over and over he pumped his hips as I watched in sick, impotent rage.

My brother. My flesh and blood.

He killed her.

He killed her and then looked me in the eye and told me the Ghost Wolves had taken her while I hunted. I had massacred them. I had killed dozens and dozens of them thinking they were the ones who raped and murdered my wife.

I howled. I will kill him. I will bash the bastard’s head into pulp! My sweet Serisia will be avenged!

“Now the tribe is cleansed, whore,” Burk spat on the violated corpse of my wife as the sun rose, his lusts satiated.

I will strangle the life from your body with your entrails, brother!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chaun

“Witness the truth of your betrayal, Chaun, Bard of Az,” the Goddess said, such truth in her words.

They carried me away from my body and the shock of Sophia’s wound. And then I was in Prince Gruber’s castle, floating in Princess Adelaide’s sitting room. She sat in a regal gown of soft lavender, one of her maids standing at her chair’s side. It was the past. A few years ago.

“He was definitely with Lady Heidi last night, your highness,” the maid said, a buxom blonde with round cheeks. “And this morning, he was with Lady Ava.”

Anger flashed across Adelaide’s face. “He was? But he said he loved me!”

Are they talking about Prince Gruber? Why is Slata showing me something from my past?

“He is a changeling, your highness. Can one of them ever truly love.”

If I had eyes, they would have widened in shock. I remembered Lady Heidi and Lady Ava. I seduced all the women of Gruber’s court. I entertained them when I wasn’t reveling in passion with Princess Adelaide. The jealous anger in her eyes was startling.

But it shouldn’t have. Not after the way she behaved when she found me in the dungeon or met my wife.

“He has to learn a lesson, I think,” Princess Adelaide said. “Something to remind him that I am the only woman for him.”

“Yes, your highness.”

Lesson? What lesson?

“Invite him to my bedchamber tonight,” the Princess continued. She grabbed her cup of tea, the brown liquid steaming. “Tell him I want him to wear my husband’s appearance. He will enjoy that.”

“He will, your highness,” the maid agreed.

Princess Adelaide gave her maid a sharp, suspicious look.

Did I sleep with that maid in the form of Adelaide’s husband? I struggled to remember, but there were so many women to please at Prince Gruber’s castle. But Adelaide knew I loved her back then. That they were just idle amusements when I couldn’t entertain her.

“And then send word to my husband that I need him tonight. Tell him I will be most generous if he abandons his foolish hunt to seek my bed.” The princess grinned. “Tell him I will give him what he had long been denied.”

If I had a mouth right now, it would have dropped. She ensured that her husband caught me in her bed wearing his form. She ruined my career as a bard out of jealousy? She had me running for my life because I fucked a few other women. And how many lovers did she have? How many other men did she take into her bed.

I never cared!

Adelaide kept apologizing to me after we fled the dungeons in Unmik. She kept saying she was sorry. Because she betrayed me to her husband and regretted it. Regretted trying to get me killed? What did the idiot woman think her jealous husband would do?

Why would Slata even show me this? To anger me? To annoy me? It confused me. It seemed such a petty, pointless thing to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minx

“Witness the truth of your betrayal, Marianne of Baraconia,” the Goddess said.

Annoyance stabbed through me. I wanted to shout, “My name is Minx!” but the magic washed over me and whipped me away from the cave. How did she even know my real name? I am Minx!

Minx!

“Then it’s fifteen paces to the skylight, Minx,” Fox said, leaning against the side of the ally, the halfling a few fingerwidths taller than me.

“He put in a skylight,” chortled my younger self. Gods, I looked like a kid. “What an idiot!”

Fox smiled.

My heart ached. Or would have if I had a heart. Oh, that dumb Goddess better put me back in my body. I stared at my dead, older sister. I remembered this. It was right before everything went wrong. We were going to rob this fat merchant with far too much money and get out of Raratha. Then we’d head back to Baraconia to live like queens. We’d get away from small-minded Spray and her harem of halfling thieves. The nixie was too afraid to ever go after the merchants to make any real scores, content with eking out an existence pickpocketing the docks.

“So a quick rappel down the ropes, and then we’ll hit the strong room.” Fox’s grin grew. “Oh, there will be so much wealth. We can be out of here. No more being whores for Spray.”

She wasn’t that bad, I thought as past me said, “She’s not that bad. She makes us cum.”

“There’s more to life than cumming.”

“There’s gold,” my past self chortled, excitement burning in her sapphire eyes.

Fox nodded. “There’s gold.”

Movement attracted my notice. My disembodied form turned and there, crouched on the roof above my past self and sister lurked Spray. The Nixie’s face twisted with murderous anger. She leaned back so as not to be spotted, listening as we plotted.

Spray knew?

Everything changed. It became night.

“If these thieves really try to break in, you will get your reward,” the man dressed in a silk toga, his hair oiled and glistening, said.

“Good,” Spray said. “They will. Tonight. Through the skylight.”

You conniving bitch! Anger spluttered through me. That’s why the guards were waiting for us?

Lightning electrified my body as I realized what happened next.

“It’s okay,” Spray whispered, sounding so gentle, so loving as she hugged my sobbing past self. “You don’t have to watch.”

We stood on a rooftop overlooking the broad plaza were the gallows stood erect. Seven criminals, six humans and a halfling, had nooses around their necks. They all looked dejected, knowing what their fates were.

No! If I had my daggers. If I was real, I would stab Spray. Don’t believe that bitch. She’s the reason Fox is dead!

“Execute the sentence,” a bored official said. The watching crowds cheered as the trapdoors went taunt.

Fox dangled, her body swaying as she choked to death.

“Don’t look,” Spray whispered, her damp hands stroking through my past self’s metallic hair. “I’ll protect you. You were lucky to escape. Your sister loved you so much. But it was so foolish. This is why we don’t rob the merchants. We never get away with it. We hang.”

“W-we w-were s-s-so sure,” my past self cried.

You Gods damned whore, Spray! Cernere’s black cunt, I’m coming back! You didn’t want us to go, so you sold us out! How much Las-damned gold did they give you, bitch! How much!

“I’ll be here for you, Minx,” Spray cooed. “I love you. You’re one of my wives. I’ll keep you safe. You just have to trust me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aurora Xandra

“Witness the truth of your betrayal, Aurora of the Black Glass Aerie,” spoke the Goddess Slata, her word slamming into me as I poured the healing potion into dying Sophia’s mouth.

I chirped in shock as the world spun about me. And then I was soaring above Black Glass Aerie. I blinked, seeing my home from a bird’s perspective for the first time. I could fly now. I laughed for a moment.

Then wondered why the Goddess brought me here.

And then I heard my husband singing and playing his lyre. My trilling voice accompanied him. This was after we escaped Mount Peritito and the imps. There was a celebration. I moved down, seeing my past self. It was only months ago, but I looked so girlish and innocent beside my obsidian-skinned husband.

“Just need to relieve myself,” Chaun told my past self, giving me a kiss.

A giddy thrill ran through me.

“Oh, yes, hurry back,” past me said.

Chaun moved away. A woman in white robes stood and joined him as he walked away. Chaun frowned at Acolyte Sophia, his silvery eyebrows narrowing with suspicious confusion. He asked, “Yes?”

“You keep staring at Xandra’s mother with interest,” Sophia said.

It was strange hearing my adolescent name. I shed it. Then I blinked, realizing what Sophia said. My mother? What is going on?

A nervous twinge rippled through my stomach.

Chaun tensed. “And?”

“Are you looking to enjoy a married avian?”

Oh, no, I chirped, my stomach twisting more. This was when Sophia took me off and made love to me. What was Chaun doing while…? I wanted to sick-up. Oh, no. Please, don’t show me this, Slata.

“You are reading too much into simple glances,” my husband laughed. “I am just being polite. She is, after all, my mother-in-law.”

Relief soared through me at my husband’s words.

“And very beautiful.” A grin crossed Sophia’s lips. “Like her daughter. Just delicious.”

“Maybe it’s you that is looking too much at Shathil.”

“I’ve been looking at Xandra.”

Chaun paused and studied Sophia. “Do you want to sleep with my wife?”

An impish grin flashed across Sophia’s lips. “It would keep her away from you. I notice how…close she’s been. I keep your wife busy, and you can have your vulgar fun with the mother. Everyone wins.”

My stomach twisted more. Sophia seduced me so Chaun could… With my mother… Oh, no. Oh, please no. He didn’t do this. He couldn’t do this. She’s married to my father. She made sacred vows to Luben.

“And do you think you’re going to continue a relationship with Xandra?” Chaun asked.

“Hopefully.”

“I get to watch if you do.”

Sophia bit her lip, excitement fading from her green eyes. “Fine. She is your wife. But no joining in. You want a threesome with Xandra, you’ll have to find someone else.”

“It’s a deal,” Chaun agreed.

No! I wanted to stop this. He had to fail. He…wouldn’t. I knew my husband’s powers.

“Good.” Sophia squealed, briefly hugged Chaun, then darted off to my past self.

Chaun watched the Acolyte kneel beside innocent past me and whisper in her eyes. My sapphire eyes widened as they sought out Chaun. Then past me nodded and let Sophia take her to a nearby cave. Chaun grinned, eager.

Please, I don’t want to watch this. My stomach twisted more as I watched Chaun slip into a cave and steal a loin cloth. Then he became my father, Thunderhead. He changed into his appearance. And then he went in search of my mother.

No! I howled. No, Mother, that’s not Father!

But Mother couldn’t tell the difference. I wanted to sob, but I had no body. I wanted to throw up, but I had no stomach. I was just a spirit. And I had to watch my husband, in my father’s form, seduce my mother into violating her marriage vows. He pleasured her. He made her gasp and moan and writhe, sullying Luben’s words.

Chaun! My mother! How? Why?

My mother’s passionate moans echoed through my thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lady Delilah

“Witness the truth of your betrayal, Dominariath,” the foul words of Slata boomed, slamming into me.

No, I snarled as my spirit was flung from my body. Why are you here!

“To show you the truth of your betrayal,” laughed Slata. “I thought you finally deserved to know just how pointless and futile everything you have done was. I’ve been waiting to show you for so very long.”

It doesn’t matter! My anger raged. You won’t stop Angela. She will be High Queen. She will restore my husband’s empire! You won’t thwart my husband’s will again!

Slata laughed in my face as I was dragged into the past.

“Be safe,” Queen Rose said, embracing our husband and my past self. I wore a similar guise to Lady Delilah’s form, my hair the same shade of fire.

“We will not be gone long,” High King Peter said, smiling at his second wife. “Just a minor annoyance.”

“There are always so many of them,” past me said. “But I will keep him out of mischief.”

Rosa laughed, such joy in her blue eyes. “I know you will. He is too headstrong for his own good.”

If I had eyes right now, I would cry. Rose and Peter. They looked so happy as the three of us kissed. I remembered that kiss. There was a problem with the orcs. They were chaffing at Peter’s rules again. We had to go pacify them. Our lives were small islands of peace where the three of us were together then pulled apart to keep his empire intact.

The three broke their kiss and my past self rippled. She became a red-scaled drake, a small dragon large enough for my husband to ride upon, but too small to inspire terror in any who might glance into the sky and spot me. Dragons, after all, were supposed to be extinct.

“My love goes with you both,” Queen Rose said, her smiling face framed by her soft-brown hair. “And I will make sure our sons keep out of mischief.”

“They take after their father,” past me rumbled as the High King mounted her back.
“Too much of Pater’s blood in them,” laughed my husband.

Rose waved as we left.

Why are you showing me this? I demanded as my past self flew off with my husband. This was a millennia ago.

“Watch,” Slata purred. “And know the truth of your wife’s betrayal.”

My stomach twinged as my wife turned from her balcony and headed into her apartments. I loved Rose as much as Peter had. She was as much my wife as his. The three of us made love so many times. My husband and I loved sliding our cocks into her pretty ass and hot pussy, using her together. And she loved it, too. Whether I had my dick our not, I made love to Rose. I worshiped her.

And she loved me.

So how did she betray us? Why would…?

A God sat on her bed.

“Holy Father,” shuddered Rose in ecstasy as she looked at the God Pater. He looked much like his son, the High King, but amplified. Like every one of my husband’s attributes, his athletic handsomeness, his regal bearing, his dominating strength were but a rough statue made of clay compared to the marble perfection of the King of the Gods.

“I see you have missed me,” Pater said, his voice deep and smooth.

“Always,” Rose said, her hands unlacing the ties of her dressing gown.

No, I thought. No, no, no. This didn’t happen.

“It did,” Slata said, her voice tight. “My husband loves to cuckold his sons. For a year, every time you and your husband left Rose, he visited her. Oh, at first she tried not to succumb. But every woman does. He makes them all his whores.” Anger burned hotter and hotter in her words. “My husband has to spread his love. He has to BETRAY me!”

I watched in horror as my wife, my love, spread her legs for her godly father-in-law. Her moans were so wanton as Pater mounted her, fucked her hard, with such virile passion. Her orgasms started almost immediately.

Please, this can’t be true.

“It is,” snarled Slata. “Watch.”

“You will bear a child this time,” groaned the God.

“Your divine child?” moaned Rose, her voice crackling with her orgasmic pleasure as she bucked beneath the King of the Gods, the Father of All.

“Yes! A daughter. Name her Lily. For she shall be as fair a flower as her mother.”

Truth gutted me to my core. Lily. Angela’s ancestor. She’s not Peter’s descendant?

“But she is his heir,” laughed the Goddess Slata. “She’s descended from his half-sister. Shouldn’t that be good enough?”

The anger, the rage, I had kept chained inside me ever since Peter tamed me, showed me he was stronger, burst free. For a thousand years I suffered. For a thousand years, I controlled my impulses. I didn’t slaughter more than I had to. I didn’t revel in destruction. I focused all on his descendants. I didn’t bear any of his children, I couldn’t breed with Peter, but Rose’s children were mine as much as his.

Except Lily wasn’t his. She wasn’t mine.

SHE’S NOT HIS DESCENDANT!

I crashed back into my body. I was in my cave. Angela shook her head, her eyes snapping to me, face growing hard with anger. She thought she had cause to be mad at me? “You betrayed me, Lady Delilah! You set this all into motion!”

“I BETRAYED you?” I demanded, my fires swelling. “You hold his sword! HIS! You are not worthy to touch it! Not with that whore’s blood in you!”

I embraced my true form. I unleashed my fury. No longer would I deny myself.

I. Would. Feast.

To be continued…

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