by Eric Vall
“Ladies, enough,” I grumbled as I finally extracted myself from their clutches, and my words were sharp and curt.
Finally, Agatha rose with a sigh and pulled me to my feet.
“I hope we get to talk again after our meal, hero,” Priscilla simpered.
“Uh, yeah, sure, whatever you say,” I grunted, but I hoped I could find anywhere else to sit if we ever had to go back to that horrible drawing room.
I followed everyone down a dimly lit back corridor to a dining room with a high, arched ceiling. I looked up into the corners for cobwebs, and I wasn’t disappointed.
“Come, sit!” Lady Fontaine declared, and she positioned herself at the head of the table. Then she gestured at a seat next to herself, and I didn’t know how to refuse.
Agatha and Priscilla sat opposite me, and the princesses were relegated to seats further down at the opposite end of the table.
I glanced over at Cienna to my left, and she was clearly still fuming. So, I reached over to give her hand a fast squeeze, and I soon realized her stepmother had seen the action. Her keen eyes were locked on our intertwined fingers, but I refused to let go of my blonde wife, even if I was only supposed to be her “advisor.”
“So, Lady Fontaine, how long have you lived in this home?” I asked as I tried to defuse the situation, but she ignored the question. She now stared at Cienna with glittering eyes, and I wondered what was going to come next.
“I keep hearing Joe is this amazing hero,” the old woman said, and she shifted her eyes to Jessamine, “and I have to admit I have heard a few things about heroes over the years. I’m sure you princesses know all about heroes, too. Why, back in my day, a man couldn’t truly become the hero of legend until--”
“Your soup, madam.” The ancient-looking maid placed a steaming bowl of liquid in front of Lady Fontaine, which luckily interrupted her words.
I wasn’t sure what I would do if the old woman kept implying the princesses were sluts, but I wasn’t pleased. I looked at Cienna, but she hadn’t turned to me for assistance yet.
The crone handed out bowls of soup around the table, and I glanced down at what had been placed in front of me. Unidentifiable beige meat and slimy-looking leaves floated in a thin, milky broth that filled a cracked white bowl. I stirred the concoction with a grimy spoon and choked back my gag reflex.
Agatha and Priscilla began to eat enthusiastically, which was even grosser, but the rest of us merely sat back in our chairs and pretended to take spoonfuls of broth. Cienna and Lady Fontaine were currently deadlocked in a staring contest, and I looked over at Jessamine, who just shrugged helplessly with wide eyes.
Cienna said it would be bad, but this was even worse than I’d expected.
To top things off, a bare, clammy foot started to make its way up my pant leg, and I shuddered and kicked it harshly away. One of the sisters yelped, but I didn’t even bother sparing them a glance.
Thankfully, as soon as the first course had begun, it seemed to be over. The maid cleared the plates, and I wondered what could possibly top the soup. I soon discovered it included a platter that contained a whole fish in some sort of pinkish jelly sauce. Its unseeing black eye stared up at me, and I was grateful the situation didn’t seem to call for being polite. The fish was accompanied by a plate of the same slimy leaves that had appeared in the broth as well as a grayish roast. I might have started to imagine things, but I even thought the bread in the basket in the center of the table might be moldy. Nonetheless, I wasn’t sure what else to do but serve myself a plate.
“Don’t you like your food, hero?” a voice asked, and I looked across at Agatha, who regarded me with dull brown eyes.
“Sure, it’s fantastic,” I muttered. I stabbed my meat with the tip of a dull knife, but the blade was quickly stopped by a piece of bone or gristle. I immediately dropped my utensils to the table, and I decided I wasn’t even going to pretend to eat anymore.
“Wow, I’ve never had such… delicacies,” Jessamine chimed in, and she was doing a much better job at schooling her expression.
“Yes, the food in our kingdom is something else, isn’t it?” Lady Fontaine said with that strange glint in her eyes again. “I hope you find it comforting, especially after the tough time you’ve been through. That tent…”
A strange glimmer passed across Lady Fontaine’s face, and a chill suddenly went down my spine. I glanced over at Jessamine and Cienna, and I noticed both of them were suddenly on edge, as well.
There was no way Lady Fontaine should have had any idea what happened in that tent back in the woods before Cienna’s rescue, or anything at all about the tent, period.
Before I had a chance to think, a vision of what Cienna experienced in that tent flashed into my head. Rage surged through my body, and I was afraid it was going to be a struggle to maintain control of the situation.
“What exactly are you talking about?” I growled at Lady Fontaine through gritted teeth. “What do you mean, a tent?”
“Oh, well, I just knew Cienna had been traveling a lot lately, and I figured she might have to sleep outside from time to time.” The old woman fluttered her eyelashes at me, and when I slammed my fist on the table, I realized I was starting to lose my composure.
“I’m going to ask you again, because I don’t believe you,” I responded, and it took everything I had not to shout at her. “There’s no way you should have known Cienna slept in a tent, so why don’t you tell me what’s really going on”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Joe.” This time, Lady Fontaine stared directly into my eyes.
Then she smirked.
Oh. No. This bitch didn’t.
I stood up, pulled Genie’s Wrath from its scabbard, and laid it on the table.
“Tell… me… what… you… know…” I snarled. “Cienna is my wife, and we rule this kingdom, and it sounds like you knew she was captured and almost raped in a tent.”
Lady Fontaine and her daughters’ faces had gone white, and I was pleased to see the fear on their faces until a hand on my arm pulled me back into the moment.
“Joe… please,” I heard Cienna’s voice from what seemed like far away. “I know this is really fucked up, but they are my family. I think we can figure this out…”
“Cienna, I can’t let her talk to you this way,” I replied as I tried to clear my head. “There’s no way I’m going to sit back and let this bullshit go on.”
“I love you for that, Joe,” Cienna reassured me, and she squeezed my arm tighter. “Just… don’t kill them yet.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “But I have something to say first. Lady Fontaine, Agatha, Priscilla, you’re all a bunch of catty bitches with sandy cunts. Fuck you, Lady Fontaine, for insulting my wives. And fuck you, Agatha and Priscilla, for disrespecting them by daring to put your hands on me. Your house is disgusting, and your food looks like ass…”
I paused as I considered flipping my plate over onto the table, but Cienna interjected.
“And you need to treat me like the ruler I am,” my blonde wife said with her chin up in the air. “I’m not putting up with this shit from you anymore. You want something from me, you come to me and beg on your knees.”
I could tell her stepmother and stepsisters were speechless, but I had one last thing I wanted to mention.
“If you ever--and I mean ever--fuck with my wives again, or if I find out you did anything to betray your stepdaughter’s kingdom, you’re going to die by my hand.” I pointed a finger directly at Lady Fontaine’s face. Then I gestured to Genie’s Wrath on the table before I picked it up and put it back on my belt, although I couldn’t resist keeping hold of its hilt as a warning. “Cienna, Jessamine, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Although I could tell she was terrified, the gray-haired woman still couldn’t hide her disdain for us. She stared at Cienna and raised the sides of her mouth into a cruel mockery of a grin.
“Wow, Cienna, it’s so great you have a guard dog to protect you now--�
� she began, but then suddenly came a knock at the door, and she immediately began to rise from the table. “Whoever could that be? I best get up to answer it.”
“Why can’t the maid--” Cienna growled, but before she could get out her sentence, Lady Fontaine had walked out of the room to greet the visitor with her long, black dress swirling around her heels.
What the fuck was going on?
Chapter 4
When Lady Fontaine returned to the room, a young man was following her. He was slight, with short dark hair, and I could tell from his clothes that he was neither a peasant nor a soldier. He wore a crisp, clean white tunic over a pair of slim leather trousers and shiny black boots, and he didn’t have the tanned skin of someone who worked in the sun all day.
When the man saw me standing with my hand on my sword and my jaw clenched, he took a couple steps back. I could tell he was trying to figure out whether to simply cut and run, but he managed to look at Cienna and speak.
“P-Princess Cienna, it is such an honor to meet you,” he stuttered before he dropped into a slight bow. “I-I have a message for you, if you will allow me to give it to you.”
“And who were you again?” the princess asked, somewhat imperiously.
I was impressed by her ability to recover immediately from the situation at hand, and, even through my rage, I had to admit I liked it when she sounded regal.
“I-I’m just a messenger,” the young man stammered. He reached into a leather bag and pulled out an envelope, which I could see was pale pink with a lavender seal, and I could smell the perfume coming off the letter from a few feet away.
Cienna reached out for the envelope, but before the man could hand it to her, Lady Fontaine swooped in and grabbed it out of his hand.
“Um, I think that was for me,” Cienna told her stepmother with daggers in her eyes.
“Oh, Cienna, don’t worry.” Lady Fontaine smirked at her. “I can read the letter just as well as you can.”
I couldn’t believe this bitch was still trying to fuck with my wife.
“I don’t think so, Lady Fontaine,” I growled, and I ripped the envelope from her hand and gave it to Cienna. “Jessamine, Cienna, let’s go.”
Cienna’s stepmother went on as if I hadn’t spoken, and I couldn’t believe her nerve.
“Do sit,” Lady Fontaine said to the messenger and gestured to the table. “I can have the maid bring you some soup.”
The man eyed the table nervously, and I saw him take in the staring fish and the slimy greens.
“U-Uh, no ma’am, that’s okay, I think I’ll be on my way now,” he said, and he stared one last time at the princesses and bowed again. “Your Highness.”
I’d never seen anyone more ready to leave a house, and it was only about five seconds later before I heard the door slam.
“All right, I guess that’s our cue.” Jessamine pushed her chair back and stood up from the table. “I have to thank you for your… hospitality, Lady Fontaine, but this was about enough for me.”
“But you didn’t even stay for dessert,” the old woman whined, but her eyes still glittered as she stared at her stepdaughter. “I had a raisin pie baked for you, your favorite!”
“Oh, dear gods,” Cienna said and rolled her eyes. “Jessamine, Joe, let’s get out of here. Stepmother, Agatha, Priscilla, it’s been… an experience as always.”
“If I had my way, I’d gut you three bitches right now, so be happy Cienna wants you to live, ” I growled back over my shoulder as we left the room.
I heard the three women gasp, but they didn’t say anything else.
The whole house smelled like dust and something slightly rotten, but I was still relieved to be back in the main hall and away from that dining table and the smell of fish.
We exited the front door, and I gasped to be back in the fresh air. It seemed hard to believe it was still a beautiful spring day outside after being confined in that dank house.
“Jessamine, Cienna, hold on to me,” I said, and when I had a wife grasping my arm from each side, I took a deep breath and tried to let the anger flow out of me.
“What in the name of the gods was that whole thing about?” Jessamine asked, and I could tell she was also shaken.
“Jesus Christ, Cienna, you weren’t exaggerating,” I told the blonde, and I reached out to squeeze her hand. “The tent thing was so fucking shady, and I’m sorry I ever doubted you calling them bitches.”
“I’m glad you agree,” Cienna groaned. “They’re so, so bad. And that house. Can you believe I lived there and used to clean it all day long? What a nightmare. But what I really want to talk about is that message. Why would it have come to her house when we were just at the castle a couple hours ago?”
“Do you think the letter is even real?” Jessamine wondered.
“I’m not sure,” Cienna said in a grim tone, and then she glanced back at the house. “But I don’t think we should talk about it here. I can try to collect more intelligence, but you never know who’s listening.”
She glanced over at her guards, and I got the point.
“Oh, and Joe?” Jessamine told me, and I saw she had a sly grin on her face. “The way you stood up for Cienna was… quite… arousing.”
“Yeah, it was,” Cienna agreed, and she kissed me on the cheek. “I’m actually dripping wet. I’m definitely going to make that up to you later.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, and I offered the women a hand up into the carriage. I scrambled in after, and soon we were on our way back to Cienna’s castle. The short ride back was as lovely as the ride there, but I couldn’t get my mind off our new dilemma.
When we returned to the castle’s courtyard, Cienna bid goodbye to Starlight, and we headed back up to the room we all shared. When we got there, the blonde kicked off her shoes and flopped down onto the bed with the letter in her hand while I collapsed into an armchair big enough for at least two of me.
“I suppose we need to get down to this business,” my blonde wife said, and she pried the wax seal open and took out the letter within, which was printed on pale lavender parchment that matched the seal. She scanned it for a moment before she began to speak again. “This is actually pretty interesting. It says it’s from Princess Rachel, who’s having trouble from across the sea. They’ve seen possessed soldiers in their kingdom, and they need help.”
“If it’s even real,” I sighed. “Who’s Princess Rachel, anyway?”
“Another princess from a nearby kingdom,” Cienna murmured distractedly. “She’s of the ones I actually have heard of. But ughhh, what are we going to do?”
“So, to recap,” Jessamine began, “there was no way Lady Fontaine should have known about the tent, and now this letter came to her house. It’s all so weird…”
“The guards at the castle knew we were coming here,” I said in a grim tone. “But, yeah, I’m not happy with the three of them. You sure you don’t want me to just kill them now, Cienna?”
“No,” the blonde sighed as she smiled at me. “I do hate them, but I doubt they are traitors. I would guess they just heard a rumor about me getting captured and then decided to bait us. No one has ever stood up to them, Joe, and it was great to see you throw their foul words back in their smug faces.”
“Anything for you, Darling,” I purred as I winked at her.
“You also got us out of eating the raisin pie,” Jessamine said, and I could tell she was trying to cheer us up a little bit. Then the dark-haired princess climbed up onto the bed next to her sister-wife and clasped her hand. “We’re going to figure this out. Remember, you have a team now.”
“The raisin pie…” Cienna sniffled, but she had a big smile on her face now. “That soup was just beyond belief. At least it didn’t have actual eyeballs floating in it.”
“I’ve got to hand it to you, Cienna,” I said with a smile. “You managed to survive living in that house, somehow. What the hell is the deal with your stepsisters, anyway?”
“Oh, Agatha an
d Priscilla,” the blonde sighed. “Always horny, always disgusting. They try that with everyone, but they were especially into you, hero.”
“Yeah, I could tell,” I snorted. “It was the slimy foot up my leg that really put me over the top.”
“Anyway,” Cienna said, “thanks for cheering me up. We still need to figure out what to do about this Princess Rachel, though. I know the circumstances seem weird, but what if it is real, and someone needs our help?”
“Not to mention, the more princesses we meet, the stronger our power gets,” Jessamine reminded us. “Meeting Rachel could really help us on our journey.”
“How far is it?” I asked. “Across the sea, I mean.”
“Hmmm, a week’s voyage?” Cienna answered. “I’m not really sure, but I guess what I’m really worried about is my kingdom. Things seem fairly stable, but the General Grigsby situation was definitely concerning. I would normally leave him as head of command in my stead, but that isn’t an option right now. Plus, there’s the whole magical element. My army is great with actual soldiers who are alive, but I don’t know how they’re going to do if the undead come back.”
“I’m not sure we need to worry about the undead right now,” Jessamine mused. “They all vanished into dust after Joe stabbed Jamar. I think we may be good on that front for the time being.”
“That’s true,” Cienna replied, and her brow furrowed in thought. “I’m not saying no to going to rescue Princess Rachel, but I wish I had someone I trusted that I could place in charge while we’re gone.”
“Hmmm…” I said. “How big is your army--”
“Hold on,” Cienna interrupted as she bolted upright. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. Fiona helped us so much yesterday, I think I need to talk to her. The question is, are you all ready to see my fairy godmother again?”
“Yesterday was pretty intense,” I replied, and I shivered slightly at the memory of pumping her sexy body full of my cum.
“Yeah, it was,” Jessamine agreed with a faraway smile. “I always enjoy pleasing you, hero.”
