The Shrinemaiden (The Maidens) (26 page)

“Adelai,” the Wolf’s voice was sharp, helping her to snap out of it. “I take it you had no idea your patron was involved in this.”

“His son told me he dealt in the slave trade,” Adelai said, feeling sick, “but I had no idea he’d capture and sell young girls for money.”

“I’m surprised. I would have assumed shrinemaidens are only more gilded examples of this.”

“You’d be surprised at how many things outsiders have wrong about us shrinemaidens, milord. We are asked every step of the way if we are willing. I have known sisters who had chosen to leave during their novitiates, but most of us stay. We know what’s expected of us. These girls don’t.” She was so angry that she thought she would be capable of strangling the earl herself, had he been there at that moment. “I’d say the same about you. I saw you purchase slaves at the auction. They had no say in the matter, either.”

“You’d be surprised at how many things outsiders have wrong about me.” Unlike her, the general did not choose to elaborate. All this time, the redhaired girl said nothing, studying her master with her pale blue eyes. She wore a gentle expression on her face, but strange at the same time. The look on her face was one so hauntingly familiar that Adelai tried in vain to recall where she had seen it before.

“I could denounce Kazer to his face, but then I would need to explain how I came about this document in the first place. We must act fast. According to this, slavers from Corcusiva are expected to take these slaves aboard their ships a week from now, and the girls will be lost by then.”

“I have another idea, milord.” Adelai said, the wheels in her head turning.

“Oh?” The Wolf smiled. “I have never heard of a shrinemaiden going against her own patron before. Are there not rules to prevent this?”

“Not when what my patron has done is enough to get him blacklisted in the temple, milord. Your hands are tied in this matter. Perhaps I may have a solution.”

General Kazer had woken her the next morning, and if the drugs the Silvermaiden had introduced into his system still lingered, his actions showed it did not matter. Adelai was barely awake before she found herself pinned to the bed with the general looming over her, his tongue teasing her nipples into hardness. She moaned, still a little sore from last night, but the general would not take no for an answer. All too quickly he was sliding back into her, opening up her tight little hole with his long, thick cock. He began slamming into her again, little grunts every time he speared her clenching sheath, and he came quickly, too quickly for her to find any release of her own. He rolled off her with another low grunt. Still trying to catch her breath, Adelai felt him moving about the room, putting on clothes before leaving without a word.

When he was gone, she sat up on the bed and winced, feeling the Jackal’s seed seeping down her legs. She did her best to clean up, thankful that her gown was still intact and that there were clean towels left for her to use. Her absence had went unnoticed for those vital few hours when she had encountered the Wolf in the study, and it became obvious as she made her way back to the room that no one else had seen them.

This time, she had to force down the bile that threatened to rise in her throat as she entered the earl’s room. The sight of the handsome man, clad in a long dressing gown and smiling at her as she approached, now made her stomach churn. She didn’t know how she could stand being in the same room with him, after knowing all she did. Much less have him bed her, because from the way his eyes were traveling over her body, this was his intention that morning.

“And how was your night with General Kazer, my dear?”

“The Jackal is a little… vigorous, milord.” She said, watching how his gaze lingered on the marks on her neck, where the general, caught up in his desires, had left small bites.

“I can see that.” She could see his hardness through the front of his gown. “Please strip, my dear. I would like to see every mark the general left on you.”

He was aroused by the signs of abuse left on her body, and that only increased her horror, her growing disgust. But she could do nothing for the moment, because she had to bide her time to act. So, slowly, Adelai stripped. The earl’s breathing grew heavier as she stepped out of the material, standing before him naked. The general had been very generous with his lovebites, and they stood out like dark bruises all over her body, from the sides of her breasts, his teeth visible in one area, to between her thighs, where he had nibbled at the soft flesh.

The earl too, began to disrobe. Where General Kazer had been big and hulking he was lean and muscular, finely shaped.

“Beautiful,” the man said. He meant her marks, Adelai thought, appalled that these were what set him off. It explained why he had not chosen to touch her until the night before, that giving her to his son was not the only reason he was holding off. She had not had ample time to see his shaft the previous night. It was hard and long, graying curls at the base of it, pre-cum already gathering at its tip. He stood before her, his hands wandering her body, touching the places where the general had bruised her, and delighting in lingering there. Despite her revulsion, knowing now what he had done, Adelai bit back a gasp as he cupped her breast, still so tender. He moved down, gently separating her nether lips with his fingers, leaving her exposed.

“Are you wet, my dear,” the earl whispered, and little shocks of pleasure peppered her as he began to explore her inner folds, teasing the area around her clit, “or is it the Jackal’s seed spilling out of you?”

Adelai moaned then, as he sank to his knees before her. Her swollen clit was vulnerable to his gaze, no longer hidden by its protective hood. Keeping her spread like this, the earl leaned closer, and began to flick his tongue directly into the little button, and her knees buckled.

She was gripping his head with her hands, bent over toward him, crying out in earnest now as he attacked her sex like a man starved, swiping his stiffened tongue across her wet slit. She could see his tongue, tasting her.

“A pretty pussy, Adelai. Beautiful like the rest of you.”

He stopped just when she thought her legs would give out underneath her, did not resist when he led her toward his bed. She had left General Kazer’s bed wanting more, frustrated. The earl was stirring a fire in her loins that had been simmering there all this time, where she was desperate, where almost any cock would do to alleviate this sweet pain.

“Spread your legs for me, my dear.”

She obeyed, and he took her feet, holding them up in the air as he stared down at her body, his cock nudging at her entrance. He smiled at her, and for the first time she saw in his eyes the cruelty he was capable of, the delight he took in seeing the abuse, both pained and pleasurable, that the general had given her. Adelai shuddered and closed her eyes, not wanting to see more.

But her traitorous body welcomed him, as he pushed the head of his cock into her. Her buttocks were nearly lifted off the bed in this position, leaving her helpless as his shaft pierced her slowly, then surged into her with more force, trying to push his cock as deep inside her as possible. He began driving his hips into her more rapidly, watching as her cunt swallowed up his cock every time it stroked in. She squirmed, but he grabbed her hips to prevent her from moving, and continued to pound himself inside of her harder, faster.

“Look at me, my little slut,” he snarled, a completely different person now than what she had known. Adelai opened her eyes and stared at him, watched as he pulled her legs higher around his waist, in an attempt to penetrate her more deeply. He was brushing something inside her that made her wail out in pleasure despite everything, and his grunts sounded like he was getting closer.

He paused in his thrusting to lick at her small bruises, moved his hands over her stomach to squeeze her breasts, hard. To her shock, he kissed her on the mouth, teeth nibbling against her lips. “Kiss me,” he demanded. Not wanting to make him suspicious she obeyed, mimicking his actions.

“I’m going to cum inside you, Adelai.”

She didn’t want him to. She didn’t want him to spend inside her, to have his seed in her the way those other girls had been forced to. But she could do nothing, and even as he reared back and groaned, even as his cock began to coat her womb, she felt herself explode in orgasm, no longer able to hold back.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Plans

Her relationship with the earl of Sevrigne changed drastically over the next few days, although the man himself was not aware of it. Adelai began to suspect every action he made, however innocent it might look. She fought hard not to act so tense and suspicious around him, and thought she had managed to hide it well enough. But she could not help the feeling of dread that would fill her whenever he would ask her to spend the night with him.

Now that she was intimately involved with the earl, she began to see some of the kinks he had, and wondered if she would have still been so blind had she not known about General Kazer’s documents. Daken continued to bed her, but even then the earl insisted that she spend the night with him afterward. She was a little repulsed to discover that coming to him after another man had spent in her, aroused him greatly, and he would often only send for her after she had finished coupling with Daken, so he can add his seed to that of his. Daken said surprisingly little whenever this happened, though he knew she was finally beginning to understand what kind of depravities his father harbored.

Daken had also admitted to her that he had suspected his father of molesting some of the female servants, quickly sending them away when he grew bored with them, but had never been able to conclusively prove it. He thought his father abused some of the slaves as well, but seemed oblivious to the fact that the earl was also kidnapping young noblewomen and selling them off. Privately, Adelai decided to hold off telling him about what she had discovered about his father. She knew well enough that the earl could claim the documents to be forged, and that he had played no part in the girls’ disappearance. His personal seal, almost impossible to duplicate, was not on them. She needed something more solid to go by.

General Falen had entrusted her with the papers - if he had been truthful about knowing her true allegiances, giving them to her for safekeeping was proof of his own commitment to the rebellion. It was another mark in his favor, though Adelai didn’t quite trust him yet. He had promised to do all he can to track down the missing women at least, along with other slaves sold in this manner, and Adelai was glad something could now be done for them.

She still also had the Jackal to contend with. The general had began calling on them, asking the earl to lend her to him some nights, and he was never refused. Adelai had no reason to turn him down without antagonizing him. So many times she found herself on the Jackal’s lap, riding his thick cock and whimpering while he took her as many times as he wanted to until he was completely spent - and the general had a long stamina. She had learned to prepare herself before visiting his manor, because the general was not a man who wanted to waste time pleasuring his bed partners first when his own needs were in the way. She oiled her rear entry and touched herself until she was wet and ready beforehand, to make it easier on her, more pleasurable. Rather than be jealous, Caera was relieved to be given a few nights’ respite from the general, though she also seemed apologetic that Adelai had to bear the brunt force of his shaft, stretching and pummeling her tight sheath.

And when the general was finally done with her, the earl would take over. It was not uncommon that, after arriving from General Kazer’s mansion the next morning, she would be summoned to the earl’s bed. The man took great delight in any new bites the general left on her body, ordered her not to clean herself up so that she would come to him heavy with another man’s cum. He would take her this way, and Adelai accepted him despite her soreness. Much to her horror, the general’s rough ministrations often made her more sensitive afterward, and she would almost always find her release with the earl, wailing into the sheets while he pounded into her from behind. She was ashamed she could find such pleasure even knowing his depravity, but that didn’t stop her cunt from milking him every time, bucking against him as he fucked her.

She knew her room might be searched, and that her trunk would be the first place they would look. She secreted the documents inside one of her elaborate dresses instead, in a small hidden pocket invisible to all who do not know its secret. That she had compromising papers against the earl inside his own house made Adelai nervous, and it took all her training not to let it show. She needed something more to go on, more concrete evidence that there would be no doubt at all in anyone’s minds that the earl was just as guilty as she knew he was.

She was given more leeway to explore the city on her own, and she was quick to take advantage of this opportunity, albeit for a different purpose. She had made it a habit to go into the city shortly after dawn every morning, to make her own purchases at the marketplace, so that no one would be suspicious to see her leaving early. This time, she wandered till she was there long enough to be recognized, then disappear into an abandoned alley she had discovered many days ago. Her gowns were deliberately picked because they were thin enough to be stored away in the large bag she carried with her, because it was easy to change into a starchy peasant’s gown and a hood to hide her face. Previous explorations had shown her where to hire a wagon for the day - in the wagoneer’s mind, she was no doubt a jilted lover, or a jealous wife.

The earl was to leave on a business trip that morning, and sure enough the carriage bearing his coat-of-arms came down the street. Adelai’s cart followed closely behind, and she ignored the faint stench of pig and hay as she kept her eyes on the coach, fearful that the wagon may not keep up. Fortunately, it was a road frequently used by other farmers, and they blended in well enough. When the coach turned into a narrower road, she told the driver to keep their distance, putting more miles between them until clouds of dust were the only markers to show where they had passed.