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Here it is, the last chapter in the free series of Rebel Priestess. (Kai’s not going to like this.) Is this the end of Lucy, Rael, Constance and Kai? No. I will be writing the sequel to this tale in e-book form, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested in such things, and sign up for Sappho’s Brats email updates or the RSS to stay on top of future free series and other events relevant to your interests.

“Lucy.”

Once again, consciousness was an unwelcome intrusion into Lucy’s dark bliss of nothingness. It was a fragile bliss however, and her name, spoken by that woman was enough to ruin it all entirely. Little shafts of light crept in between her flickering eyelids as she made out the dark, sinfully curved figure of her bodyguard.

“Oh gods, oh gods make it stop,” she muttered, rolling over onto her face in order to avoid looking at Constance.

“Lucy really,” Constance placed a kind hand on Lucy’s lower back and rubbed gently, a gesture clearly intended to make things better, but which made things worse by sending a warm sensation spreading through Lucy’s body. “I believe you may be overreacting here.”

Her tone was wry, and knowing that she found this somehow amusing made it that much worse for Lucy, who leaped away from her touch like a scalded cat. Constance’s lips twisted into an amused grin as Lucy took shelter on the other side of the bed, holding her hands up in a surrendered pose.

“I’m not overreacting. Really I’m not,” Lucy declared, blushing as she accidentally made eye contact with those sparkling blue eyes.

In which… well.. you’ll just have to read it and find out.

The battle of wills appeared to be lost to the mysterious mercenary, Lucy ruminated as she bathed slowly. Locked up in her chambers with the woman left her without much recourse, and to add an extra layer of misery to the entire situation she was turning out to be some kind of fundamentalist intent on forcing Lucy into the outdated role of priestess. Sitting in the tub with her knees drawn up to her chest Lucy frowned to herself. What to do, what to do, it was a quandary, a quandary with a potentially painful end. Her rear end.

An idea struck suddenly as Lucy climbed out of the tub. Constance claimed not to care for her role or her position, but she clearly respected the idea of the priestess. The battle of wills might have been lost, but there were other battles to be fought and now Lucy opted to fight the battle of wits.

With a wicked smile on her face, she went to her wardrobe and picked out an ornate gown. Perhaps Constance would not be so keen to send Lucy into the corner when it would mean besmirching the pale white robes draped with muslin that flowed dramatically with every step. She would strike Lucy, but would she so callously strike the priestess? Perhaps not.

Lucy was a born actress. If Constance wanted to her to play a role, she would play it. It seemed that nobody was interested in her true nature, indeed, her true nature was a liability. If people wanted the lie, the disguise, the masquerade, then she would let them have it.

Could it be? Two chapters in one day? Yes. Yes it could. Why? Because my writing schedule can best be described as erratic and mood driven. Enjoy the fruits of my hormones! (Alyx, you’re not going to like this one much either.)

Lucy cowered in the corner, shifting uncomfortably on her knees. Everything ached. Her knees, her bottom, her back, even her mind was pained.

Not five feet away Constance sat in meditation, her stockinged feet twisted up onto the opposing calf, her back ram rod straight, her eyes closed in contemplation. Not a word had been spoken since breakfast time, and as Lucy had suspected, throwing the first breakfast tray had resulted in not being permitted to eat from the second. The remains of breakfast sat on a small glass table across the room, tantalizing her with the scent of grilled pig meat. Her tummy growled, the only sound in the silent room, and she tensed a little, half afraid that Constance might leap up and punish her.

It would have been easy, so easy to hate Constance, but Lucy was forced to admit to herself that she’d probably deserved what she’d gotten. Constance was right. She had been patient and kind and restrained and what had Lucy rewarded her with? Brattery on a ledgendary scale. The memory of Constance’s face as the crockery and cheese descended towards her made Lucy emit a brief hysterical giggle of disbelief. What on earth had she been thinking?

Behind her, Constance opened one eye.

“90 degree angles amuse you, do they?” she asked coldly.

In which Lucy wakes up, and then things go wrong…

“Wakey wakey, rise and shine!”

Though she resisted the call of consciousness as best she could, eventually Lucy lost the struggle to stay in sleep’s pleasant embrace. Her eyelashes fluttered open to a sunny day and the intent and amused gaze of a pair of bright blue eyes just inches from her own face.

“Well hello, I thought I might have to toss you in the bath to wake you,” Constance smiled. A glance revealed that she was evidently feeling a lot better after a good night’s sleep in Lucy’s bed. The gloss was back in her hair and the color had returned to her cheeks. Lucy wagered that Illana would have had something to do with Constance’s quick recovery. The medicine woman was always sneaking potions into people when they least expected it. It was the sort of thing that Lucy would have gotten in trouble for, but for some reason, nobody minded when Illana slipped something in their drink. Lucy made a quick mental note to discover the elderly woman’s secret before responding to the good natured taunt of her captor.

“Hlmlph,” she replied through the now thoroughly damp muslin gag.

Constance smiled as she began to untie Lucy. “It’s tempting to simply leave you like this. It would make my job significantly easier, but eventually that would get unpleasantly messy.”

Chapter 5, in which someone finally manages to shut Lucy up

“And then there were two,” Constance murmured, dropping onto the chaise with a fraught expression. Though she was usually a picture of sleek menace, Constance was looking decidedly worse for wear. Her hair still bore remnants of grass and twigs and there was mud on her cheek, no doubt from where she had been dropped by Kai’s sleeping dart. Her slightly glazed and glassy expression revealed that whatever substance the dart had been dipped in had decidely unpleasant after effects.

Lucy considered feeling sorry for her, then decided against it.

“Only one for you to deal with, I will have this young lady moved to the infirmary. She is not well,” the elderly medicine woman spoke gravely from Kai’s side.

“Oh no! Please let her stay here, she cannot be that ill! She managed to escape from prison and run all the way through the forest. She’s just tired,” Lucy implored.

Illana looked at Lucy pitifully. “Look at her Lucy, she is not just tired. Whatever physical feats she managed were the products of willpower, not good health.”

Approaching the bedside, Lucy looked down at Kai. She already appeared to have dropped off into a deep sleep. Though her eyelids still fluttered, she was not conscious. Her skin had an unpleasant gray pallor to it, and every breath was accompanied with an unpleasant rasping rattle.

Chapter four of Rebel Priestess, everybody!

Lucy looked down at Constance’s motionless body. In the moonlight, Constance seemed more pale than ever. Her eyes with their long, dark lashes were closed as if she were sleeping, but there was a gray tint to her lips that worried Lucy as she crouched next to the fallen woman.

“Is she alive?”

“Hmm?” Kai said, sounding distracted as her keen green eyes scanned the surrounding fields. Eventually her gaze swept back to follow Lucy’s look of concern. “Oh, the bodyguard. She’ll be fine in a day or so.”

Lucy frowned. “And you? Are you okay? You look awful.”

Kai’s expression smoldered. “It’s no picnic in King Lucien’s dungeons.”

Lucy winced. The idea of Kai having languished in the dungeons had pained her every day and now that Kai was free, there was still a pang of lament. “No, I would suppose that it is not. I am so sorry Kai.”

“Sorry? What have you got to be sorry for?” Kai looked amused. “I was the one who wronged you, remember? I was the betrayer.” She said the words casually, as if she had long ago accepted and disconnected from her actions.

Chapter three of Rebel Priestess. Enjoy!

Though Constance’s words were comforting, it was difficult for Lucy to take life advice from a complete stranger who had twice turned her over her knee and spanked her until sitting was a distant memory. As soon as the lecturing and motivational speeches were over, she retreated from Constance’s embrace back to the window seat where she knelt and pondered the day’s developments.

Just that morning, things had been perfectly calm and normal and fine. Then, like a whirlwind, Constance had burst into her life, her chambers and her underwear, leaving Lucy exceedingly tender and sore. Now the woman sat on one of the chaises in Lucy’s chambers, looking perfectly at ease with herself, apparently bothered by none of the concern and dissonant feelings Lucy was nigh consumed with.

Lucy soon began to wonder where Lucien had found the woman. She certainly wasn’t one of the usual guards, Lucy knew all of them by sight, if not by name. No. She was someone new. Someone brought in specifically for this purpose. A mercenary? Perhaps. She obviously preferred light weapons, the sort of weapons that only really worked if you had the advantage of surprise. That was interesting. So was her appearance. She was odd looking. Light, straight hair was not common in Iskendar, and usually only those with northern blood had Constance’s pale complexion. Had Lucien sent to the North for the woman? It was impossible to say.

“Okay, who are you?” Lucy eventually asked from her perch at the window.

Constance looked over mildly. “I am Constance.”

The second chapter in the sequel to Rebel Princess, lesbian spanking novel. It’s best if you’ve read Rebel Princess before you read Rebel Priestess so you can understand where all the angst is coming from, but Rebel Priestess should still work as a stand-alone story too.

Though the ending to Lucy’s introduction to Constance had been a peaceful one, once Lucy revived from her post spanking nap sparks began to fly almost immediately as Constance attempted to coerce Lucy out the door of her chambers and into some worthwhile work.

“You’re a body guard, not a nanny!” Lucy protested.

“I am whatever I say I am,” Constance replied undeterred. “If you don’t like it, you can always complain to King Lucien, I am sure he will be sympathetic to your concerns.”

There was more than a hint of sarcasm in Constance’s tone. Lucy’s eyes narrowed as she realized what a bind she was in. Lucien was not happy. All of this bodyguard security nonsense started because of Kai, and Lucien blamed Lucy for Kai, that much was obvious. Going to Lucien and hoping to get some kind of help was out of the question. However…. Lucy’s smile grew wide. Lucien was not the only royal on the throne, was he?

“I am third in line to the throne, you would do well to remember that,” Lucy informed Constance haughtily, sweeping out of the room to take up audience with Rael.

Read more…