“You’ll never catch me now,” Lucy taunted, laughing as she scampered about the large sand training arena, her long curls glowing in the sun, her curved rump displayed to perfection in tight, short breeches. “Motherhood has made you slow and weak!”

“Don’t bet on it, brat,” Rael replied calmly, watching Lucy run hither and thither, smiling slightly as she began to pant and gasp under the hot midday sun. Unlike her younger niece-in-law, Rael did not bother dashing about like a chicken missing its head. Instead she stood still like a predatory statue, immovable and deceptively calm as she awaited her prey.

Lucy giggled with glee and stopped dashing about for a moment to breathe heavily as she tried to plan her next mode of attack.

Months of peace had reigned in Iskendar. With King Lucien installed on the throne, and the little princess safely delivered and under guard, all was right with the world.

Almost. Ever the thorn in Lucy’s side, Kai still languished in the Iskendari dungeons. For sweet, kind Lucy, the memory of Kai was sharp and bitter. It is said that betrayal bites deep in the breast of the lover, and Lucy was no exception to that rule. Many of Lucy’s nights were spent gazing alone at the stars, and many days were spent moping about in the great library of Iskendar, idly reading texts that held no real interest for her. Though Iskendar had found peace and a brilliant young Royal family, Lucy had found only heartbreak.

For the moment however, Lucy had forgotten her cares and was deeply engaged in one of her favorite past times, taunting Rael. After circling the Queen a few more times, she darted in close, then dashed away once more, staying just barely out of arm’s reach.

The rigors of new motherhood had perhaps dulled Rael’s reactions a little, but a rusty Rael was still far keener than most warrior men. As Lucy dashed past on another mad run, she simply reached out and caught her by the hair, quickly reeling her in with quick turning motions of her wrist that wrapped Lucy’s hair about her strong hand in coils.

Caught without so much as making Rael move her feet, let alone break a sweat, Lucy yelped and pouted.
“Not fair!” she complained, squirming in Rael’s firm grip.

Rael smiled down at her and tightened her grip slightly. “Life isn’t fair.”

Lucy wrinkled her nose a moment, then laughed. “Okay, let me go.”

Rael’s pleasant low voice showed her amusement, “I don’t know if I should. You were caught so easily. Perhaps I should teach you a lesson in the importance of evasion.”

Giggling and squirming in Rael’s tight grip, Lucy did her best to free herself as Rael easily drew her into traditional spanking position. It would have been bottoms up for Lucy for sure had there not been an unplanned interruption.

“Excuse me, your Majesty.”

Lucy tensed as she heard the words. The voice was familiar, and yet somehow different. At the edge of the arena, clad in what remained of a guard’s uniform, stood Kai. At least, Lucy thought it was Kai. A moment later, as the figure stepped into the sunlight, she realized that it was not Kai at all, but merely one of the prison guards.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Queen Rael,” the guard bowed, waiting for Rael’s permission to approach with the message.

Turning away from Rael, Lucy cursed herself for her stupidity. It wasn’t even a female guard! Yet she saw Kai everywhere. Around every corner, as she walked into every room. Kai had betrayed her, but some things are stronger than betrayal. Some emotions persist long after their usefulness has departed. As much as Lucy hated Kai, she loved her, and torn in the bonds of love and loathing she remained as much a prisoner as Kai.
“Lucy!” The note of gravity in Rael’s voice broke through her maudlin reflections.
“Yeah?”

“To the King’s chambers. Immediately.”

In the great royal chambers, Lucien sat on his throne, a perfect picture of regal agitation. His long dark hair flowed over his broad shoulders, and though he had changed battle armor for royal robes, he looked no less menacing as he glared at his unsuspecting niece.
“Did you let her escape? Did you?!”

“What?” Lucy gasped.

“Don’t play dumb with me! You’re the only one who would have done this!” Lucien was angrier than he had been in a long time. Fatherhood had softened him considerably, but as he frowned furiously at Lucy from the throne, she was instantly transported to unhappier times.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she protested, taking refuge in an expression of pretended indifference.

“Yes you do. Kai has escaped.”

“Kai has escaped?”

Lucien nodded and sneered slightly. “But you knew that already didn’t you. You were no doubt the one who helped free her.”

“No!” Lucy exclaimed, wide eyed with disbelief. “She betrayed me and tried to sell me into slavery, remember? Why the hell would I let her go?”

Unconvinced, yet clearly unwilling to continue to push the point, Lucien sat back in his regal chair and took a different approach.

“You have not moved on from her. It has been almost a year.”

“So?” Lucy shrugged.

“So you should find someone nice and settle down.”

Lucy knew exactly who he was referring to by ‘someone’. “I’m not getting back together with Chaudean. And don’t you dare give me away to another one of your ‘friends’. You’re almost as bad as Kai was.”

Uncle and niece glared at one another across the great Royal Hall of Iskendar, still trapped in the battle of wills that had begun when Lucy’s parents had died and commended the much younger Lucy into his care.

Lucien snorted and waved his hand dismissively. “If you insist on remaining single, then you will submit to being shadowed by a bodyguard of my choosing. Until Kai is found, every member of this family is at risk.”

Lucy smirked at the mention of a bodyguard. She may not have been a good fighter. She may not have been a very fast runner, but she was expert in giving people the slip.

“As you wish, Uncle,” she demurred.

Lucien’s keen dark eyes lit up with secret triumph. “She is no Chaudean, so do not think you can fool her by playing dress ups.”

“Of course not. When do I meet her?” Lucy was curious now, eager to learn the weaknesses of her latest foe.

“She thinks it better that you do not meet her until it is necessary, but she will be watching over you, so please Lucy, for your own sake, be on your best behavior. I have given her full disciplinary rights. It would be best if you were married, but if you will not be married, you will at least be in the care of someone competent.”

Again Lucy shrugged. “Very well, Uncle.”

Lucy left the hall in a daze. Kai was free. The knowledge made her both happy and afraid at the same time. Happy that the woman she loved was no longer languishing in the dungeons, afraid that Kai’s anger at being imprisoned might manifest in vengeance against someone Lucy loved.

“Wherever you are, Kai, be well,” Lucy whispered to the sky.

Faced with the momentous news of Kai’s escape, Lucy took to bed and spent the rest of the day curled up in her chambers. It had been some time since anyone had spoken Kai’s name at all. Simply to hear Lucien say it brought all the memories flooding back, the times when they had lain naked in one another’s arms, the times when Kai had been tender, and the times when she had not been tender at all.

A quivering tremor of pleasure ran through Lucy’s belly as she remembered the way Kai had taken her over and over again. ‘You are mine,’ she would say in fiercely possessive tones. And she had meant it too. She was lean and rather slight of build, but she had such power about her. She was so completely different from anyone Lucy had ever known.

Lucy moaned softly, allowing her fingers to drift beneath the hem of her dress. “Kai…” she gasped as she allowed her delicate fingertips to trail up her inner thigh, teasing, caressing. She was already wet with arousal. Potent memories had seen to that.

“Oh my…” she gasped, tracing her fingertips ever so lightly around her soft lips. Trembling excitement was taking her higher and higher. In these states, it almost seemed as if Kai was still there, in the room, as if Kai’s spirit were taking Lucy once more.

Sliding a finger inside herself, Lucy arched up to meet her own palm grinding against her clit. “Fuck me…Fuck me Kai,” she whimpered softly to herself as tears formed on her eyelashes. Pleasure, pain, they were as one, and though it was anguish itself, her arousal continued to build as she imagined Kai inside her, taking her again, asserting herself over Lucy.

“Girl, you need to get laid.”

A dry voice broke through Lucy’s fantasies, and her eyes flew wide open with horror. There was someone in the room. Someone standing just beyond the gauze curtains that modestly covered her bed. She could see the outline of the figure. It was clearly feminine, had its hands on its hips and was looking right at her.

“Come on girl, get out of bed, it’s three o’clock in the afternoon.”

Lucy scowled at the tone the woman was taking with her. Her irritation was so strong that it overpowered her embarrassment.

Bursting forth from her bed in a flurry of white muslin nightgown, Lucy launched into a full blown lecture.

“How dare you enter my chambers! I will have you thrown in prison for this, you filthy pervert!”

The words were out of her mouth before she had truly taken in the woman standing before her. She was an older woman, at least as old as Rael, but she was far more tanned, as if she’d spent a lifetime out in the sun. Deep blue eyes gazed at Lucy under shoulder length straight blonde hair, and Lucy saw that the woman did not wear a guardsman’s uniform, but rather a form fitting dark leather ensemble that showed her slim, neat form off to perfection. About her waist, was a thick belt laden with throwing knives, stars, vials of various liquids and bags of powders that Lucy did not recognize. Lucien’s insignia was emblazoned over the left breast of the outfit however, and Lucy realized that this must be the bodyguard her Uncle had warned her about.

“It’s my job to enter your chambers or anywhere else you might happen to be,” the woman said calmly, a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. Lucy got the impression that she was enjoying the awkwardness of the moment.

“What is your name?” Lucy demanded imperiously, doing her best to assert the proper roles. The woman was a mere employee of the king, certainly no match for the erstwhile Priestess of Iskendar. She would be put in her place, and she would be put there quickly, if Lucy had anything to do with it.

“My name is Constance, but you may call me Ma’am,” the woman replied, clearly unimpressed by Lucy’s tone. “Let me start this little introduction by saying that I don’t much care what your rank is in this house. I don’t care if you’re the Queen of the Universe. It is my job to keep you safe and I will do that as I see fit. You will speak to me with respect and you will do as you are told. Understand?”

Lucy found herself pouting as the woman lectured her. She had not agreed to this. A bodyguard was one thing. An overbearing woman who had no respect for rank? Quite another.

“Report to Lucien and tell him that I have dismissed you. I have no need for your services,” Lucy said curtly.

Constance laughed heartily. “You do not have the authority to dismiss me, little girl. Now, get up and get dressed. There are more important things for you to be doing than playing with yourself.”

Lucy colored with embarrassment. How dare she? “How dare you!” she spluttered.

Constance folded her arms over her chest and looked at Lucy calmly. “Are you going to get changed by yourself, or do you need my help?”

“Lay a hand on me, and loose it,” Lucy growled.

Constance’s expression grew grim at the threat. “Never make threats you can’t make good on, Lucy.”

“Try it and see if I make good on it,” Lucy taunted, growing full of her own bravado. So what if the woman came complete with her own chemistry set? Lucy had learned a few things in her travels too.

“Very well, I suppose we are going to start this association with one well spanked little girl,” Constance mused.

Lucy took evasive action, but it was already too late. Constance moved like a cobra, and before Lucy could utter an enraged shriek, she found herself tossed back onto the bed and pinned on her stomach, her nightgown up around her shoulders.

The cool air on her behind mortified her. Constance, that bitch, could see everything.

“Stop! Stop! This is highly improper!” Lucy demanded.

“It’s nothing I haven’t already seen you playing with,” Constance replied casually as she laid a hard and hearty slap across Lucy’s poor bare cheeks.

The humiliation and the sudden shock of pain, a pain she had not felt for many months broke something inside Lucy. One moment she was swearing in outrage, the next she was sobbing copiously into her sheets as Constance slapped her bare bottom soundly.

“Learn your lesson this time, Lucy, and we will not have to repeat the treatment in the future,” Constance said firmly, catching Lucy’s reddened cheeks with upswinging swats that made her rounded cheeks jiggle and burn.

Lucy did not reply, hers was a deep misery and pain, a pain that went beyond anything Constance could do to her bottom. Though she was being spanked, the pain of the spanking was nothing compared to the pain in her heart as she cried and cried.

Evidently realizing that something was amiss, Constance broke off the spanking, and looked down at her charge with concern.

“Lucy, this is not that painful, what is wrong?”

“Shut up and leave me alone you stupid, stupid woman,” Lucy sobbed, earning herself a very hard swat to her bottom that made her squeal loudly.

“Calm down Lucy,” Constance ordered.

Lucy did not calm down. Lucy threw herself into a tantrum that even the little princess would have been proud of. She kicked and squealed and screamed every insult she could think of, and some that were not coherent at all. Months of frustration and rage had been building up inside her, and they were all unleashed on Constance.

“By all the gods,” Constance muttered to herself as she watched Lucy writhe around on the bed like a baby.

“When you are done with your tantrum, we will resume the spanking,” she informed her charge calmly. The announcement set Lucy off again into another round of swearing and howling, but eventually, as with all things, her tantrum came to an end, her anger began to subside, and she collapsed, exhausted on the bed, where she whimpered pitifully to herself.

“Are you done?” Constance asked.

“Yes,” Lucy said softly.

“Very good,” Constance replied. She sat down next to Lucy, lifted her up over her lap as easily as if she weighed nothing at all, and patted her pink bottom.

Held in the distinctly juvenile position, and thoroughly exhausted from her fit, Lucy lay still. True to her word, Constance began spanking again, though this time it was softer and much lighter than before, and though the slaps stung Lucy’s bottom, they did not cause great bursts of burning pain. As Constance spanked, she spoke to Lucy in soft tones.

“I know that the last year has not been easy for you Lucy. I know that you have been largely alone. I know that the one you loved was imprisoned and that the King and Queen have been far too pre-occupied with the child and that you have been at a loss. But Lucy, the city loves you. They miss you. It is time you returned to your duties. You are not alone, and you have not lost your only chance at love. So dry your eyes, little priestess.”

Squirming and whimpering, Lucy listened to Constance’s words and found her eyes slowly closing. Though she was undoubtedly the meanest, bitchiest woman ever to walk the earth, for some reason, her voice was soothing and reassuring, and before Constance finished speaking, Lucy had fallen asleep over her lap.

“How dare you enter my chambers! I will have you thrown in prison for this, you filthy pervert!”

The words were out of her mouth before she had truly taken in the woman standing before her. She was an older woman, at least as old as Rael, but she was far more tanned, as if she’d spent a lifetime out in the sun. Deep blue eyes gazed at Lucy under shoulder length straight blonde hair, and Lucy saw that the woman did not wear a guardsman’s uniform, but rather a form fitting dark leather ensemble that showed her slim, neat form off to perfection.

About her waist, was a thick belt laden with throwing knives, stars, vials of various liquids and bags of powders that Lucy did not recognize. Lucien’s insignia was emblazoned over the left breast of the outfit however, and Lucy realized that this must be the bodyguard her Uncle had warned her about.

“It’s my job to enter your chambers or anywhere else you might happen to be,” the woman said calmly, a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

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