Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“What? Seek my pleasure?” I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know anything?” she demanded impatiently. “Your pussy has to be bare while you drink so you can ride the cock of the male you’re drinking from!”
“What?” Now I was really getting upset. I turned to Lady Nolana. “Please tell me she’s joking! I’m not going to do that! Especially not in front of everyone,” I added, thinking of the guards and Mordren. I’d rather sit across from him at dinner every night for the rest of my life than let the slimy Lord Regent watch me doing something so intimate.
“I’m afraid this is the way it’s always been done, my Lady,” Lady Nolana said apologetically. “The Thirst is always tied to sexual need and both must be sated—usually at the same time. I know it must seem strange to you since you were raised among the humans, but these are the ways of our people.”
“But does everyone have to watch?” I demanded, clutching the heavy robe to my breasts.
“From a discrete distance,” Lady Nolana assured me. “But the officers of the Court must be certain that you’re truly quenching the Thirst. If you let it go unchecked, you’ll become quite dangerous, I’m afraid. That’s what happened to one of your ancestresses—Queen Olandra.”
“Queen Olandra? What happened to her?” I asked, frowning.
“Oh nothing—she just let her Thirst get out of control and then she slaughtered everyone at the High Table during the evening banquet one night,” Lady Elgiana said casually. “I was there you know—though not at the High Table, thank Lolth! Blood everywhere—not a single High Fae at the table survived,” she added, smirking at me again. “Because she drained every single one dry.”
“But that’s impossible!” I protested. “I mean, the average human body only holds…” I frowned, trying to remember. This had been a question on one of Chris Junior’s senior biology exams and it had stuck with me for some reason. “One and a half gallons—give or take,” I finished, dredging the fact up at last. “So there’s no way someone could drink enough to drain everyone at the table dry. No one’s stomach could hold that much!”
“Silly Princess,” Lady Elgiana sing-songed in a tone that suggested I was about five years old and exceptionally stupid. “The blood doesn’t just go in your stomach.”
“You absorb it everywhere—it goes all through your body, replenishing your own blood as well as refilling your magic,” Lady Nolana told me. “One reason the Spider Queen is so powerful is that she is able to take in the magic of others as she drinks their blood.”
“But I don’t want…” I paused again for a coughing fit—my throat felt like I had been gargling sand. “Don’t want to drink anyone’s blood—especially not if I have to, er, ride them while I do it!” I managed to get out.
“If you don’t want to ride a cock and be penetrated, maybe you’d rather strap on a phallus and do the penetrating yourself while you drink?” Lady Elgiana asked.
“Oh yes—we do have some lovely phalluses—just over here.”
Before I could stop her, Lady Nolana had stepped out from behind the privacy screen and was leading me across the room to a cupboard which was embedded in the wall. Throwing it open, she revealed a wide array of leather harnesses and dildos that fit in them. Most of them seemed to be carved of smooth wood and all had been painted or stained Royal Purple.
“There you are, Princess,” Lady Elgiana said, giving me a nasty grin. “Just strap one on and have at the male of your choice mewling at your feet!”
“What?”
I was completely aghast now. Not that I didn’t understand what she meant—I did. I read spicy romance—or I did before my divorce, anyway—so I knew a pegging harness when I saw one. I even kind of thought the idea of pegging a willing man was hot…but again not in front of everyone and not while I was drinking his blood.
“No thank you!” I shook my head emphatically. “I’m not doing that. In fact, I’m not doing any of this. I’m out of here.”
I started for the door of the dressing room, only to see it suddenly fly open. Standing in the doorway was Lord Mordren flanked by two of the Palace guards.
“Hey!” I exclaimed, doing my best to cover myself with my arms. “Don’t you knock?”
“Well, well—I see you’re all ready for your first Quenching, Princess.” Mordren’s eyes raked over me and he got a lustful look on his face that made my skin crawl. “Aren’t you a lovely little thing when you’re dressed right?”
“Stop it!” I snapped. “You can just leave so I can get changed because I am not doing this—any of it.”
I started to turn away from him but Mordren stepped in front of me.