Countess of Desire (The Young Ancients Erotic Moments Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  Maria hmphed, and gave him an upset look.

  "You've had sex with her! Right here in the very room I'm in, when you were here. The tiny and very pretty one? She's still gorgeous, but now she's taller. About seven and a half feet tall. A wizard in her own right, Queen of the Moon, and probably the best catch in three worlds right now, since you can't marry Karina. Now, think about that one. No matter what else, it's on the table and ignoring her would be... Worse than foolish."

  There was a nod then, and a considering look.

  "I'll take that under consideration then, Maria. Can you make it to Duke Levitt's main house before you need to leave to travel to the Capital?"

  That was a real question, wasn't it? Duke Levitt held the most northern edge of the Kingdom, on the eastern coast. That he was in on things made sense, given that life was hard up there, and it was always easy to kind of blame the King for not doing more for you and your people, in cases like that.

  "I can be there in... Well, call it a few hours? I need some way to mark the landing, I've never navigated like this at night. The craft could get me there in minutes, but... My skill is new."

  "Ah? Impressive. I'll have a ring of lights put up, if possible?

  They broke off then, and she went to find Marvin, who was working by that time in his office, signing and reading papers for various things. Most of his real work was done that way, she knew. He tried to keep it separate from their lives, but he did it almost every day, for hours.

  "Love? I'm off to Duke Levitt's. To set things in motion. I should be back before morning. I wish I had one of those amulets that keeps you awake. Well, more of a reason to get on Alyssa Baker's good side-"

  Marvin held out his hand, a leather strap, thin and perfect, with a coin sized stone amulet on the end. It was etched, instead of glowing.

  "Petra suggested we stop by the magic shop there and collect some things. I got two of everything, one set for you. We can play with them later though. For now, this will keep you awake enough, I think?"

  He looked at her, his face serious. Worried.

  She took a deep breath and nodded. It was, after all, dangerous. If she'd made one mistake, or handled things the wrong way, she might well end up dead doing this. She was too well shielded and now armed, to go easily, but everyone knew that there were ways around that kind of thing. That was literally what they all had planned, wasn't it? Either through poison, or magic. While most of the best wizards lived in Harmony now, that didn't mean all of them did. Plus, she had no way of knowing that all of those people were actually working on the side of King Richard, did she? She may well find herself facing off against magics that she'd never even heard of, if things went wrong.

  That was why she couldn't take her husband with her. Two mouths lying were far more likely to be caught than one.

  "Thank you dearest heart. Know that I love you. Always." She held her hand out, and then, on impulse, kissed his hand, drawing it to her lips.

  He held her for a moment, leaning over greatly to make it work.

  "We could send guards or..."

  She knew what he wanted to do, which was go himself and share the risk. She shook her head.

  "In, out and back by morning. This will work. I should go. I'm nearly certain I'm going to end up lost. I should have told them I'd be there in the morning, but we're actually running out of time here." She had a date with the King, to keep after all.

  Maria held her love though, and finally pulled away, her eyes fierce.

  "Duke Levitt. If I don't return, get some help and raze his palace to the ground, with him in it?" She didn't ask for the entire Duchy to go, since that would be too great a war for a single County to win. They could take out one building however.

  "Without hesitation. I never liked him much anyway. Sour old goat, don't you think?"

  With no more words she nodded, then walked out, holding his eyes as she left, until she couldn't see him anymore. If it all went too far wrong, Maria didn't want to have wasted even one moment with him. Then she got in her craft, made to look rather plain and dark on the outside, unlit and not glowing in pretty colors, even though it could at will.

  Setting her mind as well as she could, she took a deep breath.

  "Into the dark then?"

  No one answered, Because, as odd as it seemed, she was all alone. That was a rare thing for her. Maria had friends, and loves, around all the time. Her problems were the ones of people that had too many around, too often. Not this.

  Flying off to her possible doom, like a fool. Or a hero.

  She chuckled then. No one would ever think that of her, would they? No matter how it turned out, she'd always be the traitor. The spy. The person that no one would ever really trust again, once it was all known.

  Then, because of beginner's luck she didn't doubt, Maria flew in an almost straight line, and ended up right on top of a large ring of magical lights just about where she figured would be the right place. They were in a dozen colors, with most of them putting out a nice amber colored light. It was a bit gaudy, but a good sign she was at least near the right spot. No one not a noble or a wizard could have pulled something like that off, she didn't think.

  Smiling she turned her clothing dark, making pants and a heavy workman's shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a simple single tail. Her face was made up, since she was still her, but the rest of her outfit spoke of someone come to discuss the most serious of workings. That was the simple truth, so she got out, took her craft down and slipped it around her neck, even as the three people walked over.

  The tall one in the center was Kedrin, and to his left was Duke Levitt. On the other side, to her surprise, was Holly Printer. Countess Printer.

  Maria fought for control of her face. That was going to hurt Petra, in the end. They were friends after all. Good ones, possibly.

  The woman was dressed in deep red, clothing that seemed like fine leather, her own blonde hair in a short bob cut, like a fighter. Her face was lean, and so was the rest of her, because she was a fighter from way back. Taller than Maria, by a few inches. Nearly six-six. So the shortest person in the group of rebel traitors, but tall for a woman.

  They all had very serious looks on their faces.

  It was Duke Levitt who spoke though, clearly thinking he was in charge. His voice was, as Marvin had pointed out, sour. Everything about the man was. Even the wrinkles on his old face reminded her of a person sucking lemons. Thin, and puckered around the lips. He used to have been a bit portly, meaning that the last years had been harder for him than not. Wasting plagues, lack of food and pure stress could do that for a body.

  "Countess Ward," The voice was a bit nasal and clipped. Almost like he was upset with her. She couldn't think of why that would be though. "I hear that you think my plan is... Lacking?"

  Ah, that would do it then. Rather than make a big production of saving his feelings, she shrugged.

  "Can we find a more private place to discuss things? Or... Here." She put her craft back up, after stepping away, then waved them all over. She didn't discuss anything, but had seats enough for ten large people in the back, as well as a bed set up. You never knew what would be desired, after all. They all looked at the interior, which was nice, if a bit plain, and set to reflect calming blue and green colors, in the main.

  Then she took them straight up, and locked the ship into orbit. This one, being the new kind, did it with a few simple thoughts.

  "There, let someone try to watch us up here. We can speak freely, I think."

  Holly looked out the window, then gave a low whistle.

  "You stole a space fleet craft?"

  Maria sighed and shook her head, pretending not to be pleased.

  "Stole? Me? I'm so sweet and innocent, how could you ever think that? Besides, no, this is a new kind of jump ship, one that doesn't have weapons, and it was given to me by my friend, Queen Tiera? She also gave me this..." She fished into the top of her shirt, which made Kedrin leer a little, being polite that
way, and Levitt sneer at her, as if she were going to show off a hickey.

  When she pulled the small cream colored stylus the only one that got it was Holly. She just nodded, then looked away for a few moments, thinking.

  "I see. So, you get entry to the palace on some kind of contrivance, and then-" She mimed pulling the weapon and killing King Richard in a few deft movements, clearly understanding how the thing worked.

  "That's the plan. Except that if I'm going to get it in, it won't be being pulled from around my neck like that. I have a way in."

  That got three truth amulets to be presented, which was an interesting idea, she realized. She had a fake one on her, but no sleight of hand would replace all three that were handed to her, and if she lied at all, it would show up instantly, wouldn't it? She raised an eyebrow, but took all three of the things, still sitting in the pilot’s chair.

  The trick to beating a Truth amulet was to control what was said as much as possible. If you tried to lie, it would show, but you could tell your own truth safely enough. Most of the time. It was still pretty dangerous, of course. She was, she knew, about to be caught, most likely. Before she could be questioned, the aura glowing around her being mainly white, with a goldenrod colored stripe down the center of her body.

  She looked at the Duke, her face holding its own sneer.

  "I worked out that it would be nearly impossible to get some random girl in place, so managed to get in with Petra Ward, to suck the King's cock the other night. I did a good enough job to earn an encore performance in five days." There was no hesitation or black streak to show she was lying. Since, of course, it was all true. "He still thinks that I'm totally loyal to him, before you ask why a traitor would be let in to get that done. I have to admit I was a little surprised that Pet actually did it too, but it worked well enough and he seemed happy in the end. More or less."

  That showed up as being honest, and the others all relaxed. She went on, her face set, suddenly.

  "So, when I get in, I'll get him alone, and pull the shield stripper. After that, well, if I kill him, the Royal Guard will end me, one way or the other. Can you three have anyone in place to capitalize on this? Like I told Kedrin earlier, if you can't, or won't, then we might as well just give this all up. I can probably get us all in to take turns servicing Richard." The funny thing there was that the Truth amulet didn't waver at all. None of them did, which got Holly at least to chuckle.

  "Not Prince Kedrin, surely?"

  Maria nodded.

  "Agreed. I meant the rest of us. He has an offer to go to Harmony. Marriage to Queen Tiera? Win or lose here, if we live through this. You can go in as the go between, Countess Printer. I won't be available for that, I don't think."

  Holly might not be either, of course. That was sad. Maria was nearly certain that the woman was loyal to the King, except for a few small issues. Most of them involving the treatment Petra had received after being tortured by Count Rodriguez. She thought that there should have been a war over it. Instantly.

  Instead the King had asked them all to hold their hands, fearing that it would fan the flames against him. It seemed cowardly, in a certain light, to the right kind of person.

  Duke Levitt glared at her, but softened after a moment.

  "You'd do this, even thinking that it will cost your life?"

  "Yes. It's the right thing to do." That showed as the truth too, because she really was doing it for that reason. She needed to get the Truth amulets out of her hands quickly though, before someone asked a good question. Holly was smart enough for that kind of thing.

  Maybe Kedrin too.

  Duke Levitt was bright enough, but old too, meaning he didn't get how to best use the new magics. Not really. Even owning one, he lacked subtlety.

  Holding her left hand out, she gave the things back.

  "Leave them on please? I've shown that I'm honest in this, for my part, but some reassurance would be nice to hear."

  She grinned, a bit wickedly. After all, the real job was in figuring out who needed to die, wasn't it?

  All of them got shifty, and Duke Levitt sneered again. It was a thing he was good at.

  "I doubt that we need to question King Kedrin here, do we?"

  She snorted, "Of course we do! If he doesn't really want the job, then we need to know now, don't we? Then Holly, you and I can go off and beg for our lives and see what Richard wants for us to do. If Holly isn't with us, well, I can kind of see that. She's been pretty bold about making sure we all know that this is about Petra and how she was treated, and a few other things. Really, until the King is dead we should hold her back anyway. If we fail or win now it won't be about military forces. We have to strike quickly, and set Kedrin up before anyone knows what's going on. That will take oaths and proof that Alphonse can't take the position right now. Karina..."

  Maria nearly winced, because they were going to have to at least plan the death of Princess Veronica, weren't they? Holly had that one in hand however, her face stern suddenly. There was some glaring as well, directed at her.

  "Veronica isn't Richard's child. As I have it she's the child of the Old Count Lairdgren, so can't take the throne. I find it a bit insulting that you think I wouldn't do my part in this."

  She was glowing, and it wasn't a deflection, though the words didn't really answer much, did they? Maria nodded, pretending not to see that.

  "So we don't have to take her, too. That's good. I actually like her. As for you Holly... I just managed to make up with Petra and Tor. It would hurt them both if you died in this, or lost too much. They both love Richard, as well. If I let you charge off and get killed right now, they'd both hate me forever. We'll need them, when this is over. Especially Tor. He's too well connected not to use. That means we'll need someone that can bring him around to our side, eventually at least. I'd do it, now, but..."

  Kedrin shook his large head, but it was at the Duke, who suddenly seemed angry with her.

  "No, Anthony, don't seek to go against her in this. She's right. We'll need Tor and his whole family. Right now they are firmly with Richard. If we don't have them, we might as well get ready to fail. I doubt we can take the forces of Harmony at present."

  There was a snort and another upset look.

  "You doubt the mettle of our forces? What do they have, some pretty ships and volunteers? We have professional fighting men and women. Ones hardened to the rigors of combat!"

  Holly took her own turn, snorting loudly.

  "Don't be a fool. Just one of those pretty ships would be enough to remove us all from the world forever. Those volunteers don't have to be warriors, just think the right commands to their weapons from a far enough distance." She turned on Maria then, her face skeptical. "I can't see how holding me back would do much though. I carry no great weight with Tor or his people that I know of."

  "Oh? Don't you? You run a school, paid for by him, don't you? That's hidden, but if I know it, then others do. Plus you stole all those amulets from him once, and what did he do? Let you go with a pat on the behind? He's a good man, but he's named you friend. If he can forgive me, then you two are practically lovers, aren't you?" She winked, knowing that those two had never done all that much together. Really, they didn't even talk.

  Holly smiled though, trying to act like she wasn't relieved.

  "Fine then. That will be my part. What do we do about the rest of this though?"

  That, naturally, took a lot more planning.

  By dawn though they had the basics worked out, and Maria had the names of the top conspirators.

  That was, really, her entire job, finished already.

  Chapter ten

  Getting the information to King Richard, so that he could do whatever it was he wanted with it was a chore, or would be, except that Maria didn't really need to hurry too much. After all there was no way anyone would get the King up at four in the morning, just to talk to her.

  No matter how cute she was looking at the moment.

  She did, of
course, look good. That thought got her to smile, since she was still dressed in black, plain clothing that anyone might wear to go to a manual labor job, and her makeup, while good, was a bit worn. Plus, there was very little way for her to make a morning visit to see Richard. That might give away the plan, and let the conspirators scatter to the wind.

  They should have done that. That wouldn't happen though, for most of them. Oh, some of the lower nobles would vanish for a while, not having any lands to defend, but the wealthiest, the highest ranking, had to either win, or die where they sat.

  None of that was her problem yet. No, her issue for the day was just getting ready for it. Hitting the new little waking amulet, she closed her eyes, feeling the effects of the magic come over her. It stripped the sense of tiredness away, and left her feeling just a bit amorous. She often had that feeling, so it probably wasn't part of what the magic actually did to everyone.

  It was early though, and she needed to find someone to play with. That or take care of herself that way. It had been a while since she'd bothered with that kind of thing. It was so very easy to find a friend, or two, who were willing to do that for her. For instance, when she walked into her play room she found the main ladies maid entertaining Martya, from in town.

  That was special, wasn't it?

  She cleared her throat, but smiled at them. The maids were allowed to use the space, when she wasn't, as long as they left as soon as she got there, if she had friends with her. Tonight she simply didn't.

  "Well, hello."

  "Countess! We were just-" The maid, Luisa, was a slightly older woman. Only about forty, and still quite good looking enough for Martya to be spending time with. She had a little gray, around the edges, but very few wrinkles. She was naked, and her dark skin shone a bit in the low light from the magical plate on the ceiling. It was turned down, which was interesting. She'd known that there was a function like that, but had never used it herself. Dark was for sleeping, but she enjoyed hard direct light for sex. Who wouldn't want to see what they were doing?