A Bargain Made: A House Fallen Ch. 03

Neral sat in her study to the left of the cracking fire, light reflecting not only in her brown eyes, but from the dagger before her. Usually sheathed to her hip, she let the light dance as she contemplated what to do with it. "If it is him, I can't kill him. I want to. Under other circumstances I could, but not like this."

"You have more than enough evidence, my love," Bryana answered, her disdain for the people they were discussing crystal clear.

"Evidence that I can't use publicly," she said, fighting the urge to groan in frustration. "Ordinarily I could lay the claim, Lord Vesik would be tried based on my evidence, and could either accept the verdict or challenge me. He would never accept the verdict, so he'd take the challenge, and then I kill him." She said it with the certainty that another would in claiming that the sun would rise in the morning. As Commander of Erette's armed forces who had seen more than her share of battle in her still young life, she could afford that certainty.

She stretched her legs as she contemplated her position. She wore a simple gray gown, preferring simple when at home compared to the body armor or formal dress required for the day. The long skirt was slit up the side to afford freedom of movement, and one of her few eccentricities was that boots were a near constant part of her attire. From regulation uniform boots to every other style she possessed, she simply felt more comfortable and secure in them, probably from having spent most of her life trudging about in them. The soft leather of her black ankle boots was a bit of a balm just then.

"I cannot go to the queen with what I know because, what do I tell her? It all comes to me from my husband the Healer and his apprentice, but they are not simply healers. They used forbidden magic and manipulated minds so that I can know what I know. Whether or not *he* is tried would be the least of my worries."

Bryana paced in front of the bookcase on the other side of the room in her white-sleeved burgundy gown. It was simple, but gold trim gave it a touch of class. Her blonde hair moved with her in such a way that it seemed to share her agitation. She stopped, turning toward Neral, crossing her arms, "Let me kill him. No one will be able to trace it to you. No one will be able to trace it at all. He would simply not wake up one morning. It would be more peaceful than the end he plotted for you and the queen."

"No."

She was incredulous as she approached the table. "How can you say that so quickly and firmly? He was going to use you to kill the queen. He was going to kill you." Her tone softened just slightly, pushing back guilt and shame that came with remembering, "I almost succeeded in making that a reality. You cannot just ask me to sit idle and let what he's done go unanswered. We've already ended people in this."

Deres watched them go back and forth, saying nothing until now, marveling over how things had turned and twisted to reach the point where they could live as lovers and squabble like marrieds. And that it had become the three of them together was glorious. His wife had chosen to bond with him irrevocably, and, while Bryana hadn't chosen the changes to her, she was happy and was precisely where she wished to be. "Middlemen," he said smoothly and casually. "Ending them makes such plots more difficult to employ in the short and long run. We didn't kill Prince Kudan and, for many of the same reasons, we shouldn't kill Vesik."

"We're not even completely sure he's responsible yet." She set her blade down and ran her fingers through her brown hair, fighting off a wave of mental fatigue. "So Kudan saw Vesik's house mistress pick up a money drop. It certainly suggests that she is involved, but not him." In her heart though, she knew it was likely true. The House of Vesik and the House of Jaye had sparred for generations, and within the last few, Vesik had fallen slightly as Jaye had ascended. Such was likely to continue to be the case with her family's close ties to the royal family. Any one of those reasons was enough to attempt to eliminate the queen and the Jayes in one action.

"We'll know soon," Deres told her.

She turned to him, marveling at the light in those dark blue eyes and the strength in that body that belied his true skills. "We will?"

He nodded. "Things are already in motion on that front. We'll know in a few days. I'll handle it myself."

Bryana almost rolled her eyes and Neral smirked knowingly, "You will, will you?"

"It has to be done quickly and correctly, so I'll be the one to handle it."

"And it has nothing to do with said house mistress being comely in the extreme, of course?"

He looked correctly appalled at the idea. "Certainly not, Neral. I am a married man."

"And, as we all know, marriage prevents dalliance," she nipped, enjoying the rest from the back and forth up until this point.

"You would know," he jabbed back.

"That my activities happen at all are things *you* made part of me, I will point out."

He shrugged, "You and Bryana are happy. I suspect if I called in your other bedpet and asked her, she would be most pleased as well, so...you're welcome?"

"I am so," Bryana said, her voice sweetness.

Neral looked at her, "I am, too."

The sorceress leaned forward, propping herself up on the table with her palms, "Then let us accept as a given that the comely house mistress will likely be cumming, and let's move on." Her tone turned more serious. "If the dear Lord is involved, let me end him."

"No," she said again, more firmly, as if speaking to a subordinate, and, in some ways she was. "Others may choose to connect it to me because they heard whispers second or third hand of Vesik's plot. That such would put my family in danger anyway is intolerable enough, but what if someone decided to believe or act on the wrong whisper? One of his allies acts against a family otherwise oblivious to this in his name? Or they simply take advantage of the turmoil to gain position? The result is potentially the same. If there were a clear path of evidence..."

"That a man like him would never allow to exist to start with," Deres added.

Neral ignored it, but it was true enough. "If there were a clear path of evidence, I could act and the fallout would be limited and such that the queen's skill could control it. I am the protector of the people and I won't risk unleashing Goddess knows what mess by killing him without law and tradition at my back."

Deres finally rose from his chair, "Then, if he does have responsibility in this, and he cannot be killed, he has to be ruined. He has to be so publicly shamed that, not only does he lose position, everyone around him will distance themselves from him like rats from a burning house and no one would *want* to retaliate in his name."

Bryana contemplated his words, "Also, if it's outlandish enough, those close to him that might know or suspect he employed those versed in forbidden magics would be too paralyzed to act even if they wanted to out of fear of...equal reprisal."

Neral studied her carefully, noting the wheels turning behind her eyes. "You are still evil."

Bryana noted the wide grin on those full lips, "Only in your service, love."

Deciding that, if they did not yet have a plan or even the makings of one, they had a goal for said plan, she felt calm enough to put away her blade and the daydreams that went with it. Slipping it into its sheath, her skin tingled knowing his eyes were upon her leg that was now exposed to the thigh. She loved and wanted him; that magic made that true didn't matter. It was a magic she chose and she was glad of it daily. "What are you looking at?"

"Just noting that where that long, beautiful leg should stop, there is simply more long, beautiful leg."

Neral deliberately draped her skirt over it. "Perhaps you can explore them later."

"And later still, amuse us all with a dissertation comparing and contrasting her body with that of the house mistress."

Deres's eyes narrowed, "I never should have allowed you to regain speech."

Neral rapped her knuckles on the table, "Lady and gentleman, we should focus on what we should do in the event Lord Vesik is as responsible as we believe him to be. I will be perfectly happy to listen to you trade barbs later." She genuinely would be, too. They were words of love and mutual admiration disguised and it gave her joy to listen to and share in the occasional battles of rapid-fire wit.

They spent the next two hours on the what and the how depending on what the questioning revealed. It was wicked and it was twisted, but, if successful, it would ruin his position, if not his House, and wouldn't cause any ripple effects beyond at least a decade of whispers at Court.

With everything as decided as it could be for the moment, they prepared to leave the study for the late supper that her own house mistress, Tessa, was no doubt making sure was kept warm for them. At the door of the study, Neral wrapped her arms around her husband's waist and looked deeply into the eyes of the man who owned her in every way she wanted to be. "You know you do not need my permission for...whatever with that girl. You have it anyway."

"She is a temptation," he admitted, pulling her close to him, "though I have many."

"Just make sure she shares what she knows and helps us, and you are free to do as you please, as you always are. Though, to be honest, I would not mind that dissertation at some point." Her fingers went through that close-cropped dark hair, enjoying the almost bristly texture.

"Goddess."

They paid Bryana no mind as he nodded. "As much detail as you wish. I do...like how you have settled into yourself."

"I like what I am. Wasn't that your hope?"

"It was. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy it in its own right."

She kissed him. "Fair enough."

Days later, Neral took some time to enjoy the changes from old self to new. When moved, canceled, and shorter than anticipated meetings left her with a couple of unspoken for hours on a mid-week afternoon, she took the time to meet with her own house mistress. That the meeting was taking place in the general's grand canopy bed was increasingly becoming, while not the norm, less and less unusual. What had started simply as Tessa coming in to report that she'd given Deres the information that Vesik's house mistress would be at the markets that afternoon as he'd asked had evolved quickly. Tessa thought nothing of the request. What she had been able to gather from about the house suggested that she or her master had wronged Neral in serious fashion, so whatever response would happen was called for, as Neral Jaye was not prone to overreaction.

Before the spell that bound her to her husband, Neral was often rigid in manner and worldview. That formality was something that was still a part of her and would always be due to upbringing and position, but she could relax now, shedding it all for a time to simply enjoy being. {He made me better.} And wasn't that the purpose of marriage regardless of its inception: to make one another better?

Being able to see the beauty in any woman as much as any man was undeniably better as she looked upon the sweet, quiet soul who managed her house and, in many ways, her life while the young woman straddled her. Tessa's flaming red hair fell to her mid-back and was usually as meticulously kept as the rest of her because she knew well that her appearance and bearing invited judgments more on her House of birth and employment, and the latter's Mistress than Tessa herself. It was something she took as seriously as her mother and all her mothers before her almost as far back as she could trace.

Neral amused herself simply looking at that mother earth body. Tessa's thighs were meaty, but muscled and the rest of her body was plump in ways that only served to accentuate her femininity and invite fingers and tongue to explore that softness, from the fullness of her ass, to the way a hand could sink ever so slightly into that belly, to the breasts that hung large on her chest with the pale nipples that begged to be sucked and bitten as they had been very recently.

The sheets were rumpled and sunlight streamed in through the windows as Neral busied herself with the all important task of looking into those emerald pools and trying to count the freckles that dappled her chest. The tactician in her also was curious to see how long it might take the girl to blush under the scrutiny. The answer was, 'longer than expected,' but it still pleased Neral to see those cheeks redden. "Yes, Mistress?"

A hand went down the younger woman's breastbone before squeezing and hefting her right breast, causing a pleased yelp. "You are so beautiful, Tessa."

"Thank you, Mistress." She eyed Neral critically and hungrily. "And I have always thought you so. I've always admired that body." She became just a tad wistful as she gazed, "Envied it, really. I watch you spar and I've heard stories of you on the field from those that were there; you bettering five men at once." She leaned in to gently kiss a scar that went across her ribs just under the left breast.

"I know that story, and it was only three."

Tessa laughed as she rose from planting kisses, "You say that as though you expect it to diminish your skill."

"Only correcting the record. But don't discount your own body. It's capable of more than you think. I would be happy to teach you, if you wish."

Her eyes lit. "Really?"

Neral nodded. "You might need a skill or two. I see how the men follow you around the markets."

"And speak to me for half an hour before they look up and realize that my voice doesn't just come from the air around them." They shared a laugh as Tessa placed Neral's hands on her own hips and ran her hands up and down her forearms lovingly, "I accept that they will be necessary to continue my line properly...but you do know that...men have never been my first preference, don't you?"

"I do."

"I have always been discreet in that. I would never bring shame on my House or yours by flaunting such in front of those that might care."

Neral rose and wrapped her arms around the plush redhead, letting her hands caress her back, "Let the fact that we've never once had the need to discuss it be my response to that."

Tessa kissed Neral's temple and down her cheek as they embraced. "I only mean, ultimately, that I have always been...available to you and am happy that you're now choosing to take advantage of that."

"My loss until now," Neral admitted.

"Know that I am also available to your husband and your other. I don't fear the guild mage."

Their play stopped for a moment. Neral could not quite hide her surprise and Tessa enjoyed that even as she feared displeasing her, explaining, "Healers don't wear guild marks and runes on their skin."

"For allegedly secret guilds, it seems that everyone knows about them but me."

"Don't feel badly. Nobility only seems to see what at it's level. For the poor and working poor that can't afford what you can and still need, they seek out other means. I know of them. I'd never deal with them. They can be unpredictable and, for me to deal with them would invite punishment for myself and perhaps for you. I would risk neither. There is also the truth that you have seen and understood more of the lives of those beneath you than most of Court. It's another reason I admire you."

"Pragmatism, Tessa." When she looked at Neral in wonder, the general continued. "It's always seemed prudent to acknowledge and respect those who make make your house and, in more ways than one, make your House run. That they know where you sleep and prepare your food is no small matter either."

She smiled. "You are respected as well."

"That pleases me." She wanted to go back to something that piqued her curiosity, "You don't fear the mage?"

She shook her head. "She is here because you wish it and I know you, you would not endanger us. Aside from that, she lives as your protector. It's in her eyes and the way she walks, even here in the safety of your home."

Neral searched those eyes. There had never been deceit or manipulation in them even once. She would take secrets to her grave if need be. "I will tell you the whole story one day."

"You will tell me when and if you decide it becomes my concern. Until then, all I see tells me it does not need to be. A concern I *should* like to discuss?"

Neral began to kiss across her pale shoulder, "Yes?"

"Now that you have a husband and...one day down the road I should like to carry forward my line and would prefer to forgo courtship and marriage to a male...?"

Ties between Houses were complex, and, usually generational things. One family begins work in a high position within nobility, trust is built, and then, for nobility, that House becomes first choice for other positions and ties deepen. Indeed, Tessa's mother still proudly served Neral's. Lines blurred with time passed and affection built. Perhaps the first instances were a barren Mistress wanting a child or one with a wandering husband who simply didn't care so long as he strayed with one so trusted. Children that came from such mixing were generally favored and got opportunities from the more powerful House that would likely not appear otherwise.

At any rate, Neral understood so completely that she didn't bother to stop her petting. She had in fact expected it whenever it happened that she did finally wed. "When that time comes, whenever it does, we would be happy to assist."

Tessa squeezed the iron-firm thigh within her reach, shivering at the fact that it gave so little as she noted and enjoyed the word choice. "We?"

"I care for and respect you. It would," she groped for the proper word even as she groped those full, alabaster breasts, "wound me to know you were suffering alone with the gender not your preference, necessary as he may be." Lust crept into her voice, "I believe I can make it easier for you."

"A man is not exactly torture." She gasped when she felt and saw Neral obscenely try to put as much of one breast as possible in her mouth while pawing the other, "But I would like that very much, Mistress."

Neral stopped what she was doing to purr, "Considering all the things we have done up to now, and all we probably will do, when we are like this: alone and intimate, you can certainly call me Neral."

"Perhaps I prefer to call you Mistress." A coquettish smile came with the words.

Neral's brows lifted. "Is that so?"

She nodded. "Next to you as a thousand men and women wait for your command? It makes my toes curl."

Neral kissed her. "Just when I think I know you, you surprise me. Well, dear. Let's see if we can't make those toes curl now."

To Be Continued...