Pet: Tales of a Drow Slave
Siblings
Hilfy stridently scrubbed away at her Mistress's midnight-skinned back in the large palace spring. Small blue flames from eternally-burning magic torches lent a dim, graphite luminescence to the water and the lichen-covered stone walls.
Part of House Auvryant's influence came from the fact that its palace, captured from a rival clan generations ago, sat upon one of the natural artesian springs that fed water into the vast caverns in this province of the Dark Kingdoms. A side benefit was that water was never an expense for them, and they had one entire room set aside, with diverted run-off from the spring, for their own small, personal bath chamber. A few enchanted heating stones here and there ensured the waters were always at a pleasant temperature, and the small network of shallow pools became a very pleasant focal point of house activities, for lord and servant and slave alike.
"Scrub harder, Pet," Vinlesu directed her body slave. The high-born Drow was a necromancer in training, and had just finished a very grisly night's work. Master Necromancer Grixx had been teaching her the enchantments needed to animate a corpse's skeleton as an automaton under her control, and had made her do it over and over until she got it right.
The ritual involved using spells to distill a corpse's remaining flesh, organs, and viscera into energy and then storing that magic potential in a finger bone. Vinlesu reveled in this newfound power of being able to reanimate the dead, to have such forbidden knowledge to enforce her will upon the world.
One aspect of it she did not revel in, however, was the stench, especially after the spell caused the fresh viscera of the corpse to break down into liquid in accelerated putrefaction. And the process was far from neat. She got splashed more than once. One detail non-wizards never understood was just how sloppy and disgusting a process magic could be. And it didn't help that all the dying screams from the slaves and criminals condemned to be Grixx's training subjects had given her a throbbing migraine.
Hilfy pressed the soap-moss into her Mistress's
Vinlesu leaned back into her body slave, giggling almost girlishly, and drew Hilfy's soapy hands around to her front to rest on her breasts. Hilfy smirked. "I believe I've already scrubbed there most meticulously, Mistress."
Vinlesu chuckled, then gasped a bit as the Wood Elf's thin fingers slicked over her dark nipples. "One cannot be too clean, Pet."
"Yes, Mistress." Hilfy's hands hefted her owner's soft mounds, squeezing and tweaking. Vinlesu arched her back, hands shifting back to Hilfy's creamy alabaster thighs. Hilfy was very pleased to see her Mistress's rib injury was fully healed, sustained the month before when the Drow had dueled an ogre. Even a week ago her Mistress would have winced at such movement.
Vinlesu's hands shifted together behind her, tickling playfully at Hilfy's pubic mound. It was Hilfy's turn to giggle now, as she kissed at Vinlesu's neck and her hands slid lower to return the favor.
The Drow shifted, and Hilfy's fingers accidentally encountered the emerald ring that pierced Vinlesu's navel. Her father's ring. Both women froze.
Hilfy usually avoided touching it, and her Mistress, even at her darkest and meanest, had never pressed the issue. "Foolish," Vinlesu whispered.
"Mistress, I'm sorry..."
The Drow shook her head, sighing. "I wasn't talking about you, Hilfy. I should have that removed."
The elf slave blinked. The second time in a month her Mistress had used her real name! Something was definitely changing in her owner. She had been acting much more affectionately toward Hilfy in the past year or so, becoming significantly more tender and playful.
"Mistress, please, no. It just startled me right now, is all. Besides, if you have it removed, it would raise uncomfortable questions with your siblings."
In the battle in which Hilfy was taken prisoner, Vinlesu had managed to kill Hilfy's father, a veteran Wood Elf patriarch, in the confused pitch of battle. Her first kill in combat, and a very prestigious one at that. Her Mistress had taken the ring as a trophy and badge of honor among the Drow. For her to want it removed spoke volumes of a turmoil Hilfy could only guess at in her Mistress.
Vinlesu sighed and turned to face her property. "Blast it, you're right Pet. Jaelna especially would jump at any opportunity to avenge his humiliation at the tavern, and I should give him no fuel for scandal. But if it hurts you..."
Hilfy reached to the side of the small pool to grab an obsidian bowl. She used it to gently wash the last of the soap moss from her Mistress's body. "I would rather you keep it, Mistress, if it pleases you. My father..." she bowed her head and looked away. "My father always said that we cannot know love without knowing forgiveness. That ring is love to me. It was once worn by someone I loved dearly. It is still worn by someone I love dearly."
Vinlesu's brows arched high, unsure of what to say. "Pet..."
The Wood Elf knelt in the water, shoulders just above the surface, and very gently, very conspicuously, kissed the ring in Vinlesu's navel. The Drow's expression was unreadable. Hilfy just smiled and began planting kisses down Vinlesu's dark, flat stomach, and lower still.
Vinlesu cooed and stroked her body slave's red hair gently as Hilfy found her most secretive places. "Good Pet," she whispered breathlessly as she was licked repeatedly, giving no hint of the tear trickling down her dark cheek.
- - -
Jaelna had a feminine boy slave under each arm, leading them down the twisted corridor toward the house's baths. He had borrowed them for the night from the stable at the Illithid's Claw, since the tavern's fat owner Anraku owed him mightily for letting his sister outmaneuver him the month before. The scantily-clad elven boys giggled with exaggerated girlishness, one tossing his long white hair streaked with gold filaments enticingly at the Drow lord.
Jaelna stopped abruptly at seeing his sister and her favored body slave in the baths already, the pale-skinned Wood Elf kneeling in the water pleasuring her Mistress. He scowled, turned, and stalked away. The boy slaves looked at each other in confusion, then ran after him. "My Lord?" one asked as they all turned the corner.
"Leave," Jaelna snarled low.
"But my Lord, we would gladly..."
Jaelna slammed the smaller male hard in the gut, making the boy crumple to his knees, gurgling for breath, tears of pain streaking down ruddy cheeks. The other backed away a step, suddenly terrified. "Leave!" he growled. "If you are not back at the tavern by the time the wyverns call the morning, I'll make sure Anraku has you both lashed!"
The one boy helped the other up, and they both fled without another word. Jaelna made a mental note to have them both lashed anyway.
After fuming for many minutes, he retreated to the palace courtyard, and ordered the slaves to fetch his training equipment. He stripped off his shirt, took up sword and battle knife, and proceeded to train hard through three dozen katas for the next two hours straight.
Toward the end of the second hour, his eldest sister Sadra strolled through the courtyard. Sadra was the tallest in the family by a few finger-widths, taut muscles on a wiry dancer's frame, a warrior known far more for her speed and subtle skill than her strength. She watched her brother intently for a few minutes, throwing back a ghost-white braid that reached to the small of her back, then sent a servant to fetch her own weapons. She stripped off her shirt, revealing a small, snug halter that held her breasts in place.
Weapons in hand, she stepped in front of her brother and slid into a battle crouch. Sweaty and breathless, he stopped his training kata, smiled at her, and slid into his own battle stance. Without another word, they rushed each other and attacked.
Sadra and Jaelna, both training to be elite warriors for decades now, had sparred together countlessly. No formalities were needed. Tempered steel clashed and sparked, their blades whirling from attack to block to parry to counterstrike in a continuous blur the attending servants found hard to follow. They were both skilled enough to be able to deflect potential killing blows to each other at the last second, and there were many.
Still, when they pulled away from each other fifteen minutes later, gasping doggedly for breath, they sported a dozen shallow cuts each, mostly on their left parrying arms holding their battle-knives. Sadra laughed, blowing stray streamers of hair from her face. "Well done, brother! It is about time you stopped being so defensive and started cutting loose with your attacks. I swear, sometimes you hoard your blocks to you like an old human woman."
Jaelna snickered, slipping into another battle crouch. "You are one to talk. You lead and feint at your opponent like you are flirting with one of your addled suitors at the Imperial Ball. Sometimes you need to just go for the throat, sister."
The tall Drow female pouted playfully. "And where would the fun be in that?" She called for their servants to replace both their battle knives with another full-length sword, so they could practice the two-bladed styles. They clashed again, less vigorously this time. They had the measure of each other now, the challenge gone, and this was strictly for exercise. "But I do notice you seem to be much more passionate today, brother. Almost angry."
The Drow male scowled, and redoubled his attack. Sadra blocked it, but not easily. "It is Vin and her red-haired 'pet,'" he snarled. "I saw them together in the baths this morning."
Sadra laughed, leading him into an elaborate series of feints-within-feints, almost catching him off guard in the shoulder, before he blocked it barely in time. "Ah, I see. You still smolder for Vin humiliating you at the Illithid's Claw, I bet."
"I was not humiliated!" Jaelna growled, launching a vicious series of offensive slashes.
Sadra danced into their midst with well practiced ease, whirling around him and poking the point of her sword into his backside as she disengaged. He yelped. "Clumsy, brother. Anger is only good if it is channeled at your foe. Otherwise, it is a distraction."
Jaelna rubbed his backside, ignoring her advice. "I was not humiliated," he repeated. "The slave was used publicly as punishment, as I wanted. The only thing Vin managed was to switch her partners." That had cost her greatly, as well, in the form of a punishing duel with an ogre to make the switch.
Sadra shrugged. "But that still did not prevent the incident from gaining you our mother's displeasure, and making Vin her new favorite."
The male grunted, calling for a servant to bring them a waterskin.
"I bet you would like to get back at her." Sadra said, thinking, then smiled wickedly. "You know mother has ordered Vin to satisfy you sexually should you ever crave it."
Jaelna's scowl deepened. "I'd rather not go down that path again."
Sadra canted her head at her brother. "I don't see why not. None of us could miss how immensely pleased with yourself you were when you first starting using her. What Drow male wouldn't be, making a sexual slave of his comely little sister? It was especially delicious when you began truly humiliating and hurting her. Even with magical glamours it took over a year for that one scar on her back to fade..."
Jaelna shot her a warning scowl, but his older sister only laughed more. "Oh, we all know about your 'appetites,' brother. Half the brothels in the Dark Kingdoms are richer because of them, even if they're less a few whores here and there. And you couldn't exactly keep venting them on poor little Vin, could you, with mother constantly watching?"
He called for his servants to fetch his swords, mopping his face with his discarded shirt. "This session is over, Sadra. I'd rather not discuss this again." He turned to go.
Sadra shrugged. "All you really need do, brother, is pretend to support the Matron, and Vin could be yours again. Keep mother pleased, and you could pay Vin back for the tavern, and for many more of the incidents she has heaped upon you. And all with our Matron's blessing! Tell me that taking Vin to your bed again does not appeal to you, brother."
Jaelna stopped. He stood still for a long time, thinking, before turning back to his older sister. "Perhaps," he said with a predatory grin.
- - -
"Excellent, Jaelna," their mother beamed at their
traditional
Vinlesu shifted uncomfortably in her seat, frowning. She had to admit her brother had just pulled off yet another major coup as far as family politics was concerned. He had done that more than a few times these past weeks. His latest announcement that he had obtained for their Matron a seat on the Dais with the High Priests at the next ritual sacrifice had electrified their mother. One area where the House Auvryant was sorely lacking any significant influence and contacts was the Priesthood.
Her older brother shrugged around a mouthful of moss-baked cavern slug. "More than a few people owed me gambling debts. I let them pay in favors owed rather than money, then shuffled them around and bartered them to needier persons."
What disturbed Vinlesu most about the arrangement was Sadra's pleased smile. Normally, their eldest sister would be the one most upset with one of her siblings gaining favor in the Matron's eyes. She jealously guarded her position of influence like a dragon guarding its last gold piece. She was up to something.
Her mother's smile was predatory, thinking of the possibilities Jaelna's arrangement presented her and the household. "I am very glad you are finally learning the value of things, Jaelna. There's more to gold than just its glitter, and more to politics than just empty promises." She reached out and patted his hand. "I'm glad you are finally learning how to think like a Drow."
Vinlesu brooded as the meal quietly wore on, only occasionally engaging in the usual conversation. Finally, when they were finished and about to part for their own individual pursuits, Jaelna spoke casually. "Oh, by the way, Vin. I'll be visiting your quarters later tonight."
Everyone in the room froze, Matron and high-born Drow and servants alike. Vinlesu felt a sharp stabbing at her chest at his words. But she couldn't refuse, and disobey a direct edict from her mother in front of everyone.
"V-very well," she said in a small voice, a knot in her stomach pulling taut. Looks of surprise shot through the servants as they hurriedly went back to their tasks. Her mother's expression was unreadable, as was Jaelna's, as if he'd just asked her to pass the wine.
And that's when she spotted Sadra, grinning ear to ear.
- - -
"You are to spend the night in the slaves quarters, Pet," Vinlesu hastily told her body slave. "Corrum has already made sure that there is a bunk free and fresh hay for you.
"M-Mistress?" Hilfy asked, unsure. It was the first time in over two years that she wouldn't be allowed to sleep in Vin's quarters without obvious cause. "Have I displeased you?"
Vinlesu sighed wearily. "No, Pet. It is nothing like that. I simply...um, need to be free from distractions tonight. For my necromancer's training." The Drow Elf shifted uncomfortably. Lying to her body slave had become much more difficult than she ever thought it would be. But if Hilfy were here, Jaelna would either insist that she take part, or watch her Mistress be humiliated. Vinlesu couldn't stand the thought of either possibility. Better only she suffer her brother's abuses, and have Hilfy somewhere relatively safe.
"Very well, Mistress," was all Hilfy could think of to say. On the way out, in the hallway, she passed Lord Jaelna approaching her Mistress's quarters. He ignored her completely, as he had done since that incident at the tavern weeks ago. Vinlesu, with the Matron's blessing, had issued an order than Hilfy was to remain untouched by any in the household. And since Jaelna could not torture or use her, he chose to pretend that she didn't exist.
Still, it was odd. Hilfy could never remember seeing Lord Jaelna smile quite so broadly as he did just now, entering his sister's bedroom.
No, that's not quite true. She had, years ago, when she had first become a slave, but could not quite recall the cause. It had been so long ago, and Hilfy had been struggling with her family's death and her new enslavement at the time that she had not paid much attention.
The Wood Elf hastily bustled to the slaves' quarters, praying her Mistress would be well without her.
- - -
"Strip for me, Vin."
The Drow female's cheeks burned under black skin as she moved to obey her brother sitting on the edge of her expansive bed. He watched her with great anticipation. His eager grin would be almost comical, a caricature of male sexual lust, if she did not already know what waited for her later in the night.
She perfunctorily moved her hands up to lower the wide straps of her dark blue robes. She absently tried to think of all the spells she knew that could cause him pain and the places were she would most like to cast them on his body. But of course she couldn't. Her mother would be apoplectic if she used magic to harm one of the family, and it would scandalize the house besides.
She sighed. The only thing she could really do at the moment was her duty, as her mother had instructed her. But that was all she was required to do.
Cloth whispered over her skin as her silken robes puddled to the floor, revealing her ebon-skinned body to him. His eyes roamed over her hungrily, from her rounded shoulders, lingering for long breaths on her pert breasts, down her flat stomach and to the white triangular thatch of pubic hair. "You were always very pleasing to look at, Vin," he breathed. "Very pleasing."
She looked away from him, her face impassive, emotionless.
He frowned. "You never acknowledge me when we do this anymore, sister. Why won't you speak to me?"
Her voice remained steady, betraying only a hint of the anger rising in her. "I only do my duty."
Jaelna growled angrily and sprang to his feet. He grabbed her roughly by the arm and threw her to the bed. She bounced once and sprawled in the satiny folds on her stomach, about to turn over when she felt her brother's weight over her, one hand on the back of her neck and the other pushing her legs apart and rubbing over her sex rudely.
She bit her lip, not wanting to cry out. She was sure that was what he wanted the most, to make her a victim. She would not give him the satisfaction.
His fingers began exploring her exposed body obscenely all over, one hand gliding over her neck and shoulders, the other roaming her rounded buttocks and her most intimate places. "It does not have to be like this, Vin. You don't always have to fight me. I could give you anything you want here. Make you feel very good..."
She gritted her teeth as a rough, callused finger was shoved into her, dry. "I only do my duty," she hissed.
His finger forced its way all the way in, unmindful of the lack of lubrication. Vinlesu cried out in pain and violation. "Always your duty!" he shouted in her ear, grinding his finger in and out of his sister, bringing her to tears. "All you ever care about is duty! That and the Wood Elf slut you keep in your bed every night!"
He withdrew his finger only to slap her hard on her backside. Within another heartbeat he had his belt undone and was lashing her rump and the back of her thighs, raising stinging welts with every blow.
Vinlesu had actually played sexual games similar to this before. The Drow lived so long that they cycled through a great many fetishes and sexual distractions every few decades. But with her brother this was no game. He honestly reveled in hurting her, humiliating her. She bit hard at her lip, doing her best to tamp her rising agony.
The blows stopped, and she heard fabric rustling as he divested himself of his clothes. She knew what was coming next. She lay there, inert, trying not to shiver in disgust.
To her surprise, she felt a tongue on her sex, hot and moist, making her gasp with surprise as it worked its way into her. Not something he had done in the past. Had he learned something in the intervening years? Or was it simply that he didn't want the struggle of entering her dry?
Still, he was down there a long time, and even licked at her welts. She shivered again, now disgusted with herself as she felt herself beginning to feel pleasure from his attentions. She had to truly struggle not to moan at the sensations. Was she really such a whore?
He shifted forward, and she felt his weight again on her back, something hot and throbbing at her entrance. His breath was beside her ear. "Say my name, Vin. At least give me that."
Silence.
A strangled growl of frustration later he shoved himself into her hard, almost burying himself completely in her with one long stroke. She grunted and clutched at the sheets, trying not to make any more sound than she had to as her brother began pounding into her relentlessly. He bit at her shoulder and wrenched her hair painfully back, but the most that ever escaped her throat were occasional soft grunts.
He began slapping her behind every few thrusts, making it quiver, stinging her new welts. She tried not to whimper, only urging him silently to hurry up and finish. Thankfully, he began jackhammering into her, a powerful shudder working down his larger frame that Vinlesu recognized as one of his precursors to climax. She felt his warm sweat drip onto her neck.
His fingernails raked down her dark back, causing her to arch in surprise and pain. Despite herself, she whimpered just a bit. That seemed to have been what he was waiting for, as all at once his thrusts became very ragged just before he went rigid. Vinlesu could feel his shaft spasm as her brother's hot seed shot deep into her.
He rolled off her after he emptied himself, panting. She looked at him briefly as his eyes met hers, then she turned her head to look away.
He dressed and left without another word. Far off, she heard a loud crash of something being smashed against a wall.
- - -
Hilfy sat on her bunk in the broad slaves quarters deep under the palace proper, worrying about her Mistress. The rumors of what was happening between Lady Vinlesu and Lord Jaelna was running rampant. As most of the slaves rarely saw anything of the world outside the palace, in-house gossip was by far their favorite past time. Since Lord Jaelna's behaviors had gotten so much worse since he last slept with his sister, some did not even expect Lady Vinlesu to survive the night.
Hilfy could only hug herself as some took bets on her Mistress's life.
The House Auvryant employed mostly surface elves as slaves, and most were not kind to her. She could not help to overhear their gossip over the years, calling her a Drow whore, wondering at how she could ever have lowered herself to become the sexual plaything of the Drow who had killed her father.
Hilfy always ignored them as best she could. They hadn't been there at that battle. They hadn't known what it was like. Everyone had been massacred except for her. Some Drow in that battle would probably had killed her father sooner or later, the odds against them had been that bad. Just that in the heat and confusion of the struggle it happened to have been her Mistress, and with a lucky arrow shot at that.
Hilfy remembered blaming Vinlesu for years afterward, but as her training as a slave wore on she realized how stupid her attitude had been, especially if she had wanted to survive. Once her Mistress had stopped abusing her--and she realized now that most Drow wouldn't have--her last feeling of resentment evaporated away.
She lay back on her cot, closing her eyes and waiting quietly to go to sleep, trying not to think about what might be happening between her Mistress and Lord Jaelna at that moment.
Suddenly her eyes snapped open, memories of her early days as a slave bubbling up of their own volition. And she saw something about that time she hadn't noticed before. Vinlesu had stopped using Hilfy for her public spectacles shortly after her brother started sleeping with her all those years ago. She wondered now if that had been coincidence. Maybe her Mistress, being abused herself, suddenly realized what she was doing to her body slave.
She of course, could never be sure. Her Mistress had been very affectionate and close to her lately, but Hilfy knew that was one thing her Mistress would probably never talk to her body slave about.
Suddenly the low murmur of gossip on the other end of the room stopped. Hilfy looked up, hearing soft footpads slowly approach her. She looked up just as a large cheetah-spotted felinoid plopped down onto the cot next to hers. "Hilfy?"
She looked up, startled, then smiled brightly. "Kerran!"
She bounced up and gave the large felinoid an affectionate hug. She nuzzled his fur, as soft as she remembered. The creature at first look startled, then hugged her back. "I'm so happy to see you!" she said.
Over a month ago, Kerran had been forced to perform sexually with her in public in the tavern of the Illithid's Claw. But a few years before that, they'd had a brief but very pleasant tryst. After seeing him perform at the tavern, the Matron had made him her favored body slave. Even though he was part of the palace staff again, Hilfy had seen him only a few brief times in the weeks since the Illithid's Claw.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him. "Is the Matron displeased with you already?"
He shook his feline head. "Not at all. She was feeling ill of a sudden and did not want me to catch whatever might be troubling her, so she sent me here for the next few days. It was odd, though. She did give me specific instructions to bunk next to you as long as we both had to stay here."
Hilfy nodded absently. Despite her many years in service to the House Auvryant, she'd had very little truck with the Matron, except to occasionally scurry out of the way of the elder Drow and try not to be noticed.
Kerran whispered softly so that only Hilfy could hear, the other slaves keeping a good distance away from the intimidating felinoid. "And I am sorry to hear about your Mistress Vinlesu. The entire house is abuzz with the depredations that will be visited upon her by her brother. Most of the rumors I hear I would dismiss out of hand, if they weren't talking about Lord Jaelna."
The Wood Elf nodded, hugging herself. "I have never understood why he feels the need to be so cruel, especially to her. I remember when I first came here, my Mistress and Lord Jaelna seemed somewhat close, as brother and sister should be. But when they started sleeping together, everything changed. Lord Jaelna had been delighted at first, my Mistress less so. As things wore on, he became... discontent with her."
Kerran nodded. "To put it mildly, from what I hear. The Matron herself talked idly of it once, while we were...recovering in her bed. She called ordering Lady Vinlesu to Lord Jaelna's bed one of the worst mistakes she ever made. The two had been very close as children. The Matron thought they would enjoy their time together sexually. Such incest is not uncommon among the Drow, though such things are rarely talked about openly. But she in fact came very close to severely punishing Lord Jaelna when he began abusing Lady Vinlesu before he stopped on his own."
Hilfy hugged herself. "I've never understood Lord Jaelna. There is so much anger in him. But even so, what could have pushed him into such cruelty against his own sister?"
She was about to continue her musings when she saw Kerran's eyes grow wide, the skin under his thin facial fur turn ashen. A shadow fell across Hilfy from behind just as a hand with an iron grip encircled her arm. She turned, her heart skipping a beat as she saw Lord Jaelna's angry scowl just inches from her own face.
"You won't have to wonder any more, slave," the Drow said with a growling whisper. "Come with me."
- - -
He had a hooded cloak waiting for Hilfy and dragged her out of the palace and into the city beyond as soon as she was wrapped in it. He pulled her through the streets, up and down winding streets, never letting go of her arm. More than once he pulled her into dark shadows of various alleys, hissing for her to stay quiet for a long time, while he listened intently.
Jaelna finally pulled her into a run-down dive of a traveler's inn, not even a true inn, but a series of lichen-ridden caves hidden back from the main megacaverns. He shoved her into a small room, with damp, roughly-hewn granite walls. He sat her down on the bed, bidding her to be quiet once more, as he went to the doorway, weapons drawn, listening.
Hilfy sat quietly, trying to keep from trembling, knowing with a dread certainty she would never leave this room alive. She could think no other reason why he would drag her here, by herself and away from the protection of the palace. She tried to think of her Mistress, and of all the loving moments they'd had together.
The Drow warrior finally seemed to relax and turned toward her, sword in hand. She closed her eyes, determined not to cower or beg before him. She sat straight, the only betrayal of her fear her trembling lip.
Metal rasped on leather, and she opened her eyes to see the weapon nestled snugly in its sheath. Lord Jaelna looked down at her, scowling around a deep sigh. "We should be safe from my mother's spies here. And no, I didn't bring you here to kill you, slave." He looked away. "I know I am not as smart as the women in my family, but I'm not that stupid. Killing you would only drive a greater wedge between me and my sister."
"My Lord?"
The Wood Elf saw many conflicting emotions war with themselves in his dark expression, and despite his words, she still quivered a bit with fear. She had once been trained as a warrior, but that was decades ago, before her enslavement. Even if she thought it would be a good idea to fight a high-born Drow lord in a city full of his kind, she would still have no chance against such a bigger, stronger, and much more skilled opponent.
Finally, the male drew a weary sigh, and looked her in the eye. "You must never tell anyone what transpires here between us, not even your Mistress."
Her voice quavered, suddenly fearing things other than death. "I--I cannot betray her..."
He threw up his hands in exasperation. "I am not asking you to betray her! I'm not going to rape you or hurt you!" Suddenly, in a burst of molten anger, he kicked over a nightstand beside the bed, sending its porcelain contents crashing. "Dark gods! Why is this so difficult!"
"My lord, I do not understand. If you did not bring me here to--to kill me,
or to use me, or to involve me in a scheme against my Mistress, then
why..."
"How did you get my sister to fall in love with you?"
Hilfy blinked. Long heartbeats passed. She blinked again as she suddenly realized she was holding her breath. "She...she is in love with me?"
Jaelna rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Spiders of Hell, you dimwitted elf...Yes! Yes, she loves you! That has been obvious to everyone for quite some time, except, obviously, to you. How could you not see it? I just want to know how you did it."
Hilfy snapped out of her shock. Perhaps she had known of it, but simply had been afraid to acknowledge it. Even though her Mistress had seemed to have changed substantially in the past few years, Vinlesu had abused Hilfy for so long in the early years of her enslavement. It had been easier to believe that her Mistress' behavior was simply another passing mood, albeit a long-lived one. In the world she was now a part of, hope could be more painful than any whip.
For now, though, at the mercy of an angry and dangerous Drow Lord, it might just be best to deal with the situation at hand and talk to her Mistress later, if she got the chance. She turned to Lord Jaelna, wondering herself exactly how she did get her Mistress to feel the way she did. "My lord, I don't see why you would want to know such thing, unless..."
Hilfy drew a shocked breath as she suddenly knew. What the Matron had said to Kerran, what she had seen in her early days as a slave, how he was always so angry with her Mistress. There could the only answer. "You love her. You're in love with her!"
Jaelna turned away, fists balling. "Yes. No. I don't know anymore. At one time, I would have done anything for her. Anything at all. Now, I'm not so sure. I still feel...something. Maybe even something like love. But gods, she makes everything so difficult!"
Hilfy sat on the bed, unsure of what to say or do. The male Drow continued. "As you may have guessed, things were not always this way between us, slave. At one time Vin was just my little sister. I watched her grow up into a very beguiling young woman. Dalliances among family among the Drow are a diversion a number of us indulge in. I flirted with her often, and she seemed to like the attention, but was never interested in letting it go beyond that. I was actually content with that, and turned my attentions elsewhere."
He stroked back his long shock of snow-white hair. "Heh. My exploits in the taverns and brothels over the years grew pretty wild. My mother began to fear I would be a liability to the family or she feared I would squander my talent as a warrior. Or worse yet, that I would offer my services to someone other than her, lured away by carnal delights. That's when she ordered Vin to begin sleeping with me, to bind me stronger to the household with bait she knew I could not refuse."
"When I first slept with Vin, it was exquisite. There are no other words for it. Like a fine wine you've heard about all your life, and when you finally taste it, it actually exceeds your expectations. It would have been impossible for me not to love her. Even though affairs among family are common enough, there is an unspoken understanding that they must never go beyond the brief pleasure that they provide. But I did not care. I had the most exquisite female I could imagine, and did not want to let her go for anything.
"And she was very responsive at first. But as things wore on, she began resenting it. Resenting at being at my beck and call, resenting me being her bother, resenting that her time with me was not the fun, quick little affair she had hoped it would be.
"She began just...lying there. Just enduring it when we were together. Not moving, not talking, just letting me use her like she was a lump of flesh. Do you know what that's like, slave? Having the person you loved most in the world treat like just another unpleasant chore?"
The long-time slave bit her lip. "I...have some idea, yes, my Lord."
He looked at her, smirking. "I suppose you do. But you're a slave, that's to be expected. I was her brother. We played together for decades. I was her confident, her friend, her..." His voice cracked just a bit. "...her lover."
"And that's when you began hurting her," Hilfy said, shocked at her own boldness. Such an outburst at the palace would have gotten her punished for sure.
Jaelna hardly noticed, just nodding. "Yes. I tried asking her, begging her, talking to her, getting her gifts, doing things for her, but always--always--she just lay there. She would not even say my name. I just started getting so angry. So yes, I began hurting her, just to get some reaction out of her. But no matter what I tried, it never worked. And more, I found out some of the things I did...I liked. A lot. Especially on others who would actually react."
"But with my sister, it just got to be too painful for me, so I stopped. And when Sadra suggested that maybe I should bed Vin again in one of her tiresome schemes, I thought that perhaps enough time had passed that Vin and I could start over again." He scowled. "But as tonight showed, apparently not.
His tirade wound down, and they were both quiet for a long time. Despite herself, Hilfy only had one thought bubble up over and over in her mind: My Mistress loves me!
But she also regarded Lord Jaelna, so full of anger and hurt. "My lord, I am so sorry, I do not know how you can get my Mistress to love you. I do not even know how I got her to love me, if in truth she does."
She looked him directly in the eye, something she had never done in all her years as a slave of House Auvryant. "But I do know the one thing your sister needs from you above all else," she said.
- - -
Vinlesu made her decision: she was going to kill her brother.
She could have endured his abuse until he got tired of her again, she was sure. But when she'd gotten news that he had dragged Hilfy out of the palace and they had both disappeared into the city, something inside her broke. Not a single person in the palace doubted that they had seen the last of the red-haired Wood Elf. No more, Vinlesu decided. It was only a question of how and when, now.
She had just returned from searching the city for her body slave, desperate to rescue Hilfy, when she was told by one of the other slaves that her brother waited for her in her bedchamber. When she heard his hearty laughter through the closed bedroom door, she was already preparing a killing spell.
She threw open the portal, only to have the spell die on her lips. Jaelna and Hilfy were seated on her bed. To her utter astonishment, Hilfy was laughing along with her brother. "What goes on here!" Vinlesu yelled.
Her brothers' pervious jovial smile faded, his face becoming coldly serious. "Things need to change, sister."
"What have you done with my body slave!" she screeched at him. "If you've hurt her or bewitched her, Jaelna, I swear to the dark spirits...!"
He held his hands up placatingly. "Nothing like that, Vin, I swear! Look, I know I can be a bastard..."
Red hot rage erupted in Vinlesu, memories of the painful night before and the day spent terrified for her body slave very fresh in her mind. She spoke an echoing word that was ill-fitted for a mortal throat. Jaelna's dark skin flashed with eldritch light. He gurgled, his every muscles spasming before he collapsed to the rug strewn floor, gasping raggedly.
"You have no idea the kind of bastard you are!" Vinlesu screamed, towering over him. "You think you're strong? You think your little knives give you the right to just take whatever you want? I'll show you what real power is, as I send your soul screaming into the pits of Hell!" She began speaking the words of another spell, he hands glowing with mystical power.
Hilfy threw herself on her knees between brother and sister, arms outstretched. "Mistress, no!"
Vinlesu's eldritch words guttered to a stop a second before the magic would have reached its crescendo, her spell interrupted. The glow in her hands fizzled away. "Pet! Are you insane? I could have killed you!"
"Please, don't! He's your brother!"
Vinlesu stopped short, confused, her eyes narrowing. "How can you say that? You know what he's capable of, what he would have had done to you in that Tavern!"
Hilfy was on her knees before Vinlesu, tears streaming from her eyes. "You mean have me raped? Before a crowd of hundreds? Would he have been the first?"
The Drow sorceress blinked in surprise. "P-Pet... I..."
"If you kill him, it will tear your family apart. Worse, it will be something you will never forgive yourself for. I know you, Mistress. Your anger will fade, to be replaced with regret and guilt." Hilfy reached out and touched Vinlesu gently on her stomach, her trembling fingers on her navel through her robes. "Mistress, I beg you, remember where you this ring came from. And what I had to forgive to love you."
Vinlesu blinked back hot moisture. "P-pet?" The Drow slid to her knees before her body slave. "I--I was stupid, when I did those things to you. So stupid and arrogant, about so many things. I made so many mistakes. I never meant..." She began sobbing.
Hilfy took her Mistress up in her arms, her own tears mixing with Vinlesu's. They held each other, crying silently, Hilfy finding herself in the unusual position of comforting her Mistress.
Vinlesu's emotions finally wound down many minutes later. She shivered. "I am so sorry, Pet. If I could change what happened, I would."
"I know, Mistress. But you can't." She looked into her owner's eyes. "But you can listen to your brother."
Both women looked back toward the Drow male, who had recovered and had quietly moved to the bed, where he sat and listened. He saw them look at him, and he looked away, his face a cloud of confusion and hurt.
"How can things change, Pet? After everything that has happened between us..."
"Just listen to him, Mistress," Hilfy said quietly.
Brother and sister looked each other across the room for a long time. Jaelna's stood and kneeled along with his sister and her body slave. He looked away, fist balling as emotions warred within him. And then he said three words Vinlesu would never have imagined could pass through her brother's lips: "Forgive me, Vin."
- - -
Hilfy started awake into darkness.
She was nestled between two warm naked bodies. Her Mistress behind her, spooning her close as usual, arm protectively over her waist.
But to her momentary surprise, Lord Jaelna lay on her other side a few inches away on the expansive bed, snoring softly, his callused hand resting lightly over hers.
Then she remembered; they had all slept together.
After Jaelna's startling words, they had settled down, and her Mistress and her brother had started a very awkward conversation, their first true talk in years. It went on for hours. They occasionally had Hilfy fetch food and wine...and then startled her by inviting her to eat with them, and even letting her talk a little herself.
They talked a lot of their past, of their childhood growing up together, of adventures shared. And then, slowly, haltingly, they talked about what happened to them after their mother had ordered Vin to his Jaelna's bed.
There was a lot of yelling then, snarling and thrown furniture. Hilfy retreated into the bed, huddling against the far wall. Then, to her surprise, Vinlesu and Jaelna slowly, haltingly, calmed down again and began to seriously talk about what happened. More tears flowed, one even escaping down Jaelna's dark cheek.
The sibling even embraced awkwardly afterward, recalling their earlier, more innocent times. Hilfy breathed out gustily in relief. The point of danger, when they were at each others' throats, seemed to have passed. It appeared they could even start anew from this point, perhaps slowly rebuilding the bond they had once had.
"This is all well and good, Vin," he said finally. "But mother will still worry about my loyalty, and may still order you to my bed to ensure it."
Vin nodded. "I am aware, especially with Sadra trying to drive a wedge between us. Perhaps we should still give her the illusion that we are still together, but happily this time. It would rub her craw to see that her scheme has backfired. But you will have to sleep on the floor when you come to my quarters, Jaelna. I'm sorry, but it will be a long time before I'm ready to even contemplate taking you as a lover again."
Jaelna's fingers curled into fists, his hurt obvious, but then he slowly uncurled his hands and nodded. "Very well. I agree we should at least act like we are bonded strongly again. But it will be very frustrating, being in the same room with you and not being able to slake myself."
Before either could speak up, Hilfy offered, "I--I can sleep with Lord Jaelna, Mistress."
They both turned to her, surprised. Hilfy continued, "If he needs to sleep with someone while he is in your quarters, let it be me. I am only a slave, and will gladly serve my Mistress and my Lord. Pleasing many lovers was one of the things I was originally trained for, after all."
The Drow looked at each other and, surprisingly, it was Vinlesu who nodded in approval. "Very well, Pet. I think that is a very good solution. Jaelna is not very adept at hiding his feelings--I'm sorry, brother, but you are not--and it would be well for my mother's and my sister's spies to see him leave here in the morning looking genuinely satisfied."
She turned toward her brother. "But only if you treat my Pet well and be tender with her, Jaelna, and do not hurt her in any way. And I must be present, to make sure you do not go back on your word about this."
Jaelna thought about it for a few heartbeats, then dipped his head in agreement. "I will try, Vin. But tenderness is not something I was ever very familiar with."
Hilfy scooted of the bed and very tentatively lay her hands on his thick arm, smiling nervously. "If it pleases you, my Lord, I can show you..."
Things quickly turned sexual then, Vinlesu hanging back and allowing her body slave and her brother to explore their bodies and passions, perhaps as a test for her brother to make sure he could do it without the cruelty that so marked his reputation.
Awkwardness and hesitation marked their early touches, but Jaelna's natural aggressiveness soon asserted himself. He grew frustrated here and there as Hilfy reigned him in gently with verbal admonishments when he got too rough. It took nearly an hour for them to work to the point where Hilfy spread herself on the bed's expansive sheets, her sex well-licked, spreading her thighs and actually finding herself eager to feel Lord Jaelna's saliva-slick member enter her.
Watching them for over an hour, kissing, licking, caressing, sucking, had apparently become too much for her Mistress. Jaelna had been in between her legs, holding her hips up to him with his powerful arms, pumping madly in and out of her when Vinlesu had ripped off her clothes and straddled Hilfy's face. Soon Hilfy lapped hungrily at her Mistress' puffy, taut little nub, her fingers plunging in and out of the Drow's already slippery entrance. All three of them quickly moved beyond words, a powerful shudder working through them all as they all felt their climaxes rapidly approaching.
As Hilfy paused to gasp for breath she saw up through her Mistress's shapely dark legs that Vinlesu was leaning forward spontaneously and passionately kissing her brother, their moans escaping past dancing tongues.
Then Jaelna cried out, his peak on him as he clutched hard at her hips, his warm seed splashing deep inside her. His orgasm triggered Hilfy's own shivering, shuddering climax, and in turn sent Vinlesu over the edge. They cried out as one, their ecstasy echoing through the room. They had all collapsed into sleep soon afterward.
The memories of their moment of shared ecstasy must have made her stir, for she felt soft lips brush her pointed ear. "Awake, Pet?" Vinlesu whispered.
Hilfy nodded.
"You saved me from a horrific mistake today, Pet. You have done your Mistress a great service. I have never been prouder to have you as mine."
Hilfy blushed. "I am glad, Mistress," she whispered back.
"But you still defied me, Hilfy, when you stopped me from killing Jaelna. No matter how well intentioned, I must now punish you for that."
Hilfy swallowed in a suddenly dry throat. "O-of course, Mistress."
Vinlesu chuckled softly, kissing her body slave's ear again. "Your punishment is to love me forever, Pet. Can you do that?"
Hilfy giggled a bit in relief, snuggling back into Vinlesu's warm body, her voice nothing but submission and affection. "With all my heart, Mistress."
They cuddled and whispered to each other for a little while more, before they both fluttered their eyes shut in contented sleep.
- - -
Sadra looked down into the house's courtyard from a high parapet, watching her brother train again, his blades flashing madly through the air. She'd heard some disturbing rumors about him and Vin and Vin's body slave, that they were now a loving threesome, but he refused to talk about it at all. He had only been to Vin's quarters four times in the last two weeks, and their sister was definitely showing fewer bruises and far more smiles.
Sadra frowned. What had gone wrong? By all rights her siblings should have been at each others' throats by now, and she would have one, perhaps two, less rivals for her eventual bid for her ascension to the head of the House Auvryant.
Sadra spotted the signature long red hair of Vinlesu's body slave. The Wood Elf held a basket and moved to the side of the courtyard to the blooming nightblossoms, one of the few types of flowers that thrived in the dim lichen-light that permeated most of the Dark Kingdoms.
She was halfway through filling her basket with the dark blue petals when Jaelna stopped his kata and approached her. She straightened and they talked. Much to Sadra's frustration she heard soft shared laughter waft up to meet her ears. And Sadra's frown turned all the deeper when she saw Jaelna gently put a blossom in the elf's hair, only to have the slave blush and smile prettily.
"Something wrong, daughter?"
Sadra started and twirled around to see her mother walking to join her on the edge of the balcony. She bowed low. "Matron Auvryant."
Her mother pursed her lips, unimpressed. "My, such formality in our own house." She looked over the parapet. "Oh, yes, that little elf. She does seem to be making quite an impression around here lately. Jaelna seems to be the latest of my children who is quite smitten with her. You are not also planning on courting little Hilfy as well, are you, Sadra?"
"Mother!" the younger Drow spat, as if the Matron had suggested she sleep with a wyvern. She was the only one of the family who did not keep a body slave or sleep with any of the staff; she considered it beneath her when there were so many Drow lords and freeholds willing to share her bed. "I am just surprised by my brother, is all. He seems changed."
The Matron shook her head, sighing. "Not that changed. He was at his favorite brothel last night, and had to pay quite a bit extra for a harlot-slave he kind of 'broke.' Whatever is happening between he and Vin and her body slave, it has not quelched his appetite for cruelty. But at least he is now learning to keep those things out of the household. Even a wyvern knows enough not to soil its own nest."
The younger Drow could not help letting a contemptuous "hmph!" slip from her lips.
"Or perhaps that's what you wanted, Sadra?" her mother asked. "To have him or Vin mess the nest with blood?"
"You know that isn't true, Mother."
"Isn't it? I know that it was you, not Jaelna, who arranged all those favors for me. Quite an effective distraction, daughter, and you did do the House a good service with them. But was it really just a smoke screen to throw your brother and sister into bed with each other again, to see which one ended up murdering the other first?"
"Mother..."
"Silence!" The Matron hissed. Sadra gulped back whatever protest might have been on her lips.
The Matron looked down at the courtyard. Hilfy waved a good day to Lord Jaelna. The Drow male watched the Wood Elf retreat back into the house with a look of male longing both women knew all too well. "Be thankful for that elf slave, daughter. If your scheme had succeeded, you would not be breathing now. I am not stupid. No one moves against my house and goes unpunished, not even one of my own." She flashed very dangerous eyes at her daughter.
Sadra quavered, her hand resting tightly on her blade hilt. If she could strike fast enough, she might have a chance...
But no. Her mother was one of the most powerful sorceresses in the Dark Kingdoms. Even death might not be enough. It was always why Sadra had to move and plan so carefully if she were to grab what should rightfully be hers.
But her mother's shoulders relaxed, and she resumed watching her son begin his exercises again. "Yet, fortunately for you, your scheming this time resulted in bringing your siblings closer together than they have been for decades. Helped to correct one of my own worst mistakes. They may even turn out stronger for it. Jaelna, especially, finally seems to be finding some balance in his life."
The Matron turned toward her daughter. "I suggest you do the same, Sadra. Before you do irreparable harm to your family... or to yourself."
The matron walked casually away. Sadra watched her go, fuming as she turned back to the courtyard. Her nails raked across the marble railing of the balcony, barely containing her mounting rage.
Still, her mother had been right about one thing. Her siblings were growing stronger now, and worse yet, forming a true alliance. Very dangerous to her long term plans. She needed to find a way to drive them apart again.
Jaelna was still wearing that silly grin, even as he mimed slicing and cutting imaginary enemies. Sadra's lips drew a grim line. Perhaps it was time for that elf they both prized so much to change owners...
Sadra turned and left the balcony, another scheme already on the edge of her thoughts.