“And nobody will find it weird that you and your mother are in one together?” asked Hal.
“It’s normal for the families of the participants of dawning ceremonies to be in silk carriages,” said Zoria. “And it will give us the perfect alibi. Gardius will be at Kendri’s dawning ceremony too, no doubt about it. She’s planning something.”
“And her being there gives us an opening,” said Hal.
“Exactly. You’ll wait until Kendri’s dawning ceremony is underway and then slip out the back. Gardius’s hive isn’t far from the fountain where the ceremony will be taking place. And Kendri will take at least an hour or two to get to the end of it, I’m sure.”
“Alright,” said Hal. “Are you coming with?”
Zoria shook her head.
“Better for me to stay behind,” said Zoria. “I can’t be sure what Gardius has planned. And my absence will be more noticeable than yours, if something does happen.”
Hal nodded.
“How do I get inside her hive?” he asked.
Zoria pulled a key out of her pocket and pressed it into his hand. It was odd looking, long and skeletal, but with a small crystal inset into the handle.
“Use this,” said Zoria. “It should open the servant’s entrance in back.”
“And what if a servant or a slave sees me?” asked Hal.
Zoria’s smile was feline and predatory.
“You take care of them,” she said. “Better if you just aren’t seen.”
Hal nodded, though he wasn’t as confident about it as she seemed to be. He crossed his arms, considering his options.
“And after,” said Hal. “I’m assuming you also have a plan to get me back to the surface?”
Zoria nodded, though her expression became a little colder and a little harder.
“If you really must leave the Upper Realm, yes,” she said. “It shouldn’t be a difficult thing for me to do.”
Hal ran a hand through his hair. Ideally, he would have liked to get in touch with Vrodas and Willum again before leaving, but he suspected that they would still refuse his offer of escape. He would have to go alone, which made him feel a little guilty, given how Vrodas had been captured alongside him.
“Alright,” said Hal. “Anything else?”
Zoria shook her head. She gave him an odd look, as though she was analyzing the details of his face and expression.
The two of them spent the next few hours relaxing around the domicile. Hal took a closer look at the books in the library above the sitting room. He’d grown comfortable with the spoken eklid language over the past weeks, but it was still somewhat of a challenge for him to read it at speed. The books he did peruse seemed to be historical or reference material, nothing as lurid as the eklid texts he’d enjoyed back in the Collected Provinces.
Kendri and Felice arrived back at the domicile shortly before sunset. Felice went into Kendri’s room with her, and Hal could overhear the mother fussing over her daughter as she helped her dress in the clothing for her ceremony.
“It’s too tight,” complained Kendri.
“It’s supposed to be tight,” said Felice.
“I don’t like how it fits,” said Kendri. “I don’t mind showing skin, but this dress doesn’t give me an option about it.”
“That’s the point,” said Felice, her tone amused and more than a little prideful.
Hal came down into the sitting room and almost did a double take. Kendri wore a tight white dress that barely made it down to her mid thighs. Horizontal slits had been cut along the length of it, revealing strips of nude flesh. The one across her breasts allowed one of her nipples to pop free, the other only barely covered and promising to pop loose eventually.
Zoria cleared her throat as she came out of her room and saw Hal. “You’re staring, you know.”
Hal felt his cheeks flush.
“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just… a very flattering dress.”
Felice laughed. “Flattering,” she said. “Interesting word choice.”
“Mother!” cried Kendri. “Quit making fun of me. I’m already nervous enough.”
Felice set her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and started giving her a reassuring massage.
“You’ll do just fine, Kendri,” said Felice. “You’ve been intimate with men before. This is no different. It’s just a test and a lesson on the power of your sexuality. Nobody ever fails their dawning ceremony. It just takes longer for some, than it does for others.”
“And if it goes on for too long, I’ll have to live with the shame of it,” muttered Kendri. “No man will want me if I bungle through the ceremony.”
She scrunched her face up, pushing strands of long blonde hair back behind her ears. Hal was again struck by how much she looked like Zoria, but the difference in their maturity levels showed as clear as day in the young elf girl’s expression.
“Relax, Kendri,” said Felice. “Tensing up will do you no good. Try to have fun with it. They’ll be trying just as hard to bring you pleasure as you will to them.”
The four of them shared a light supper, with Kendri too nervous to take any food for herself. Then, they headed out to the storage shed next to the domicile. Felice brought out the silk carriage, which as really no more than a platform with red cloth screens and wheels studded with large grey crystals. Felice held some type of steering wand that protruded in front of the foremost bench, and once they’d all loaded in, she used it to set the carriage’s course.
The fountain wasn’t far from the area Hal had spent time with Bilma earlier in the morning. There was already a crowd assembled, several hundred people at least. The fountain itself was white marble and polished to uniformity.
The water flowed from a spigot in the center, which was surrounded by a raised stone dais with three channels cut into it. It was smaller than Hal had been imagining, and the most grandiose thing about it seemed to be the way the setting sun left a smear of orange and crimson across the water’s surface.
The silk carriage drew to a stop in line with the rest of the crowd. Zoria and Felice both looked at Kendri in silence, smiling, but clearly nervous for her.
“Are you ready, my daughter?” asked Felice.
Is that a fair question to her, when she has no real choice?
Kendri was trembling slightly, but she gave a slow nod. Hal climbed out of the silk carriage alongside Felice and Zoria, who each kept a hand on the young elf girls shoulder. Kendri peered around at the waiting crowd for a moment before stepping forward and walking toward the fountain.
CHAPTER 38
It was easy enough to pick Gardius out amongst the crowd. She had a cruel smirk on her face, the type of expression that made it clear to everyone that she would be thrilled if it took Kendri an extended amount of time to make it through the ceremony. It made Hal smile a little as he thought about what he and Zoria had planned.
On the other side of the fountain from where Kendri approached from stood the male eklids who would be her counterparts. They were all naked, and some of them were already aroused. Hal could only imagine how intimidating of a sight it must have been for the girl about to go through the ceremony.
As she walked toward the fountain, the dress shifted on Kendri’s figure, revealing glimpses of her nipples and buttocks. It felt like a tease of what was to come, a way of wetting the crowd’s appetite for the erotic showcase of Kendri coming into her full sexual power.
Kendri, for her part, looked as though she was as liable to sprint back to the silk carriage as she was to make it to the fountain. She walked with self-conscious posture, her shoulders hunched upward, her arms held deliberately at her sides, as though it was taking an effort for her to keep from shielding her exposed bits with her hands.
She had to lift a leg to make it over the lip of the fountain, and the movement set the slits of the dress completely askew. With her breasts exposed through the chest slits of the fabric, it was almost more arousing than if she’d been completely naked. She wi
nced as her legs entered the water, though it was hard to tell whether it was from the cold or her nerves. She kept walking and came to stand in front of the stone dais, facing the naked men watching her.
“I am Kendri, daughter of Felice,” called Kendri, in a shaky voice. “And I stand here on the dawning of my womanhood, open to all those who might test me.”
The crowd responded in unison with a series of words in the eklid language that Hal didn’t recognize. And then, the first of the elven men stepped forward. Hal noted that there were no human or maug men in the crowd, though he wasn’t overly surprised by that.
It was hard to guess at the age of an elf after they’d reached adulthood, but the first elf to join Kendri in the fountain was an exception. He was short, and he had a chubby face and cropped red hair. His posture mirrored the tension Hal had seen in Kendri as he approached the fountain, and he kept his gaze on the water, rather than her as he climbed over the lip.
It was exactly the kind of break Kendri needed. Hal noted the change in her demeanor as she looked the boy over. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and lifted her chin in a show of confidence that didn’t seem fake or forced.
“Come on,” whispered Zoria. She tugged him back up into the silk carriage. There were several other carriages of a similar style parked around the fountain, and nobody seemed to notice or care as they loaded back into theirs.
Hal was fascinated by the ceremony and couldn’t take his eyes off Kendri through the carriage’s curtains. She moved slowly, taking the chubby elf’s member into her hand. He’d been one of the ones who’d been aroused, watching earlier, but he’d wilted a bit on the walk to the fountain.
Kendri flashed a wicked smile, one that Hal had seen many times before on her older sister’s lips. She leaned in closer to the chubby elf and whispered something in his ear that made him blush. She kissed him, first on the neck, and then on the mouth, her hand moving and stroking down below.
“They send the ceremony partners out in a certain order,” whispered Zoria. “This is just a warm-up for her.”
Hal nodded. Kendri had pushed the chubby elf back until he was sitting on the side of the stone dais, and now seemed to be deliberating over whether she needed to use more than just her hands to finish him off.
“You’re sure this is going to go on for long enough?” asked Hal.
“She’ll probably have ten partners, at a minimum,” said Zoria.
“Alright, but when does the ceremony actually end?” asked Hal.
Zoria smiled at him.
“When Kendri tames one or more of the men to the point where they’re willing to speak, or even fight, on her behalf,” said Zoria. “She and they will decide when it’s over.”
Hal turned his attention back toward the fountain. Kendri was still stroking her first partner off, but she’d brought her face in close to the tip of his erection. She seemed to be toying with the idea of using her mouth, and from the expression on the boy’s face, he desperately wanted her to.
It didn’t seem to be necessary, in the end. The boy tensed up and bucked his hips, his seed spilling out onto Kendri’s hands and into the water. She gave his shaft a squeeze, and then planted a parting kiss on it, which only made the boy blush even deeper.
A new elf walked to the edge of the fountain. He also looked young, but where Kendri’s first partner had been doughy and out of shape, this boy had a muscular physique. His hair was long and blond, and he had a cocky smile on his face as he climbed over the lip and into the water. He was aroused as he approached Kendri and said something that Hal couldn’t make out as he came in close.
“Here,” said Zoria, pulling his attention back inside the carriage. She passed a small dagger into his hand and nodded to him. “In case you run into trouble.”
“Wouldn’t it make trouble for me to use this?” asked Hal.
“I thought you wanted to go back to the surface after helping me?” she asked, her voice slightly bitter. “It’s only for if you need it. Obviously, try to get by without it, if you can.”
Hal nodded.
“Gardius’s hive is just around the corner from here,” she said. “You can’t miss it. It’s bigger than the nearby buildings and painted a disgusting shade of red. The key that I gave you will open the servant’s entrance around back.”
Hal nodded, palming the key in his pocket. He glanced back at the fountain. Kendri was kissing the muscular elf, the two of them engaging in more traditional foreplay than she had with her last partner. There was real passion on display in the scene, and Hal overheard a faint moan as the boy groped at one of her breasts. Zoria snapped her fingers in front of his face.
“Focus,” she whispered. “Don’t let this distract you, master.”
“Right,” said Hal. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Stay hidden and move quickly,” said Zoria. “And be careful.”
“I will.”
Hal slipped out of the silk carriage. He glanced at the fountain one last time. Kendri had shifted her partner so he was sitting on the dais, and was in the process of slowly mounting him, her bare breasts pressed into her face.
He made a mental note to write up a firsthand account of what he’d seen, for history’s sake, and then set off. There were enough silk carriages in attendance for him to be able to slip out of the fountain area without being seen, and from there, began to walk casually through the streets.
There weren’t as many people out as there would have been normally, given how many had been drawn to Kendri’s dawning ceremony. Even if there had been, Hal got the sense that he would have been ignored, as a slave.
He found Gardius’s hive without much trouble, and true to Zoria’s description, it was painted a garish crimson. It was cordoned off from the rest of the city, but Hal didn’t have much trouble sneaking around to the back and climbing over the fence. The one guard on patrol duty seemed to favor the front of the estate, where he could chat with pedestrians and keep himself entertained.
Hal found the door he assumed to be the servant’s entrance and tried the key. A small flash of light came from the keyhole as he turned it, and the door swung open easily. He stepped through into a long hallway that, judging from the smell, connected to the kitchens and dining areas.
He wasn’t sure whether to sneak through the estate, or whether to try to blend in, and ended up doing an odd mixture of both. He walked normally up to the edge of each corner, stopping to peer around and make sure the coast was clear before continuing.
CHAPTER 39
The rooms he passed by were heavily decorated. Carpets with intricate patterns covered polished wood floors. Paintings and tapestries adorned the walls. If not for the fireless, crystal lamps used for lighting, it would have been a mildly dangerous setup.
Hal waited for a group of two elves chatting in loud voices to pass by before slipping upstairs to the second floor. He took a moment to reorient himself and headed toward the side of the hive which would overlook the small courtyard outside.
He found the room easily enough, and instantly knew he had the right one when he heard the sound of Bilma’s voice coming from within. He crouched behind a marble statue on one side of the door, listening and waiting.
“The mistress wasn’t thrilled to have you out and about this morning,” said a female voice that he didn’t recognize.
“She’s usually alright with it,” said Bilma. “And I did ask her in advance.”
“Did you at least have fun?”
Bilma let out a girlish sigh. “Kind of. He was a bit of a bore. Fresh from the surface. He was in the Dragongrounds, and I guess I thought he’d be more exciting.”
A bit of a bore? Seriously?
“Good for a tumble around the grass though,” said the other girl. “They say men born on the surface have beast blood in them.”
“Janus!” said Bilma. “I’m not that kind of girl. For your information, I never even let him touch me.”
Hal grinned and rub
bed his fingers against his chin. He heard footsteps, and made himself as small as he could behind the statue as the girls passed by.
He waited for another minute before slipping into the room. Gardius’s decorating taste was not limited to the hive’s exterior. The room felt like it had been furnished by someone with a deep sense of insecurity about their wealth, with gold framed paintings and a bed that looked more like a display piece than something comfortable to sleep on.
Hal rummaged through the bureau up against the wall, trying to keep quiet as he searched. He found clothing of all kinds, including undergarments. In a small drawer in the top right, he found what he was looking for.
Gardius’s jewelry was carefully organized, with tiny indentations for each ring and turnable spools to wind necklaces around. Hal found the ring that Zoria had described to him, a gold band inscribed with eklid runes and letters. He slipped it into his pocket and pulled the drawer further open.
The heartgem was near the back. Hal reached out to take it slowly, pulling the leather cord of the necklace free from the spool it was wrapped around. He felt a mixture of relief and disbelief as he stared at it. It was a deep red teardrop, still in its ruby state. It reflected some of the light of the crystal lamps, gleaming in a way that emphasized its color.
He only realized how much he’d missed it as he pulled it back on. The weight around his neck was familiar and comforting. The gem felt warm when he slipped it underneath the fabric of his shirt, and it seemed to press into his skin directly over his heart.
“What are you doing in here?” came a deep, accusing voice. Hal jumped, bumping into the bureau as he turned around and saw an elf standing in the doorway.
“Uh…” Hal scrambled for words. “Looking for Bilma.”
He said it with far more confidence than he felt, but knew that it wouldn’t be enough. The male elf who’d discovered him was tall for his race, with short brown hair and loose silk clothing. He wore a sword, and rested his hand on the hilt of it, the threat clear without needing to be voiced.
Dawning Ceremony (Sexcraft Chronicles Book 3) Page 21
