The morning air felt thick with anticipation. Or maybe that was just the sll of vendors setting up food stalls for tomorrow’s festival.
lisa walked through the palace corridors, noting how even the servants moved with nervous energy. Whispered conversations stopped when she passed. So nim nodded respectfully. Others looked away.
[Great. Nothing says "unity" like people acting weird around you.]
She found Sirah first, standing alone on a balcony overlooking the city. The darian’s massive fra hunched against the railing, her one hand gripping the stone.
lisa left her to her brooding.
Elsewhere, the sounds hit her before she even rounded the corner. Wet noises. Moaning. A rhythmic thumping against a wall.
[Of course.]
Isabella had Kimiko pressed against a pillar in the hallway, their tongues wrestling while their hips ground together. Both their cocks strained against their clothes. A passing servant walked by without even glancing, like this was totally normal. Knowing the Matriarch, maybe it was.
"Really? In the hallway?"
Isabella pulled back just enough to grin at her.
"Morning, l! Want to join?"
"It’s barely noon!"
"Perfect ti for a quickie!" Kimiko agreed, reaching for lisa’s hand.
lisa stepped back.
"I need to check on everyone else."
"Boring!" Isabella went back to devouring her mother’s mouth.
The thumping resud before lisa even made it around the corner.
The rchant square buzzed with activity. Vendors hawked everything from silk scarves to questionable potions. lisa spotted her parents at a jewelry stall, Margaret holding up a necklace while listair examined the price tag.
"It’s beautiful," Margaret said, the gems catching the light.
"It’s expensive," listair countered.
"Everything here is expensive."
"Okay. This is especially expensive."
Margaret turned to the vendor.
"Would you take forty suns?"
"Forty? For genuine starstone? The price is sixty!"
"Fifty."
"Fifty-five."
"Deal!" Margaret handed over the coins before listair could protest. "Oh, lisa! Perfect timing! Help put this on."
lisa fastened the clasp while her father shook his head.
"You didn’t need another necklace."
"I didn’t need the last three either, but here we are." Margaret admired her reflection in a mirror. "How are you holding up, sweetheart?"
"I’m fine."
"You look tired."
"Thanks, mom. Really what I needed to hear."
"I’m just saying! Have you been eating enough? Getting enough sleep? Enough sex?"
"Mom!"
"What? It’s a legitimate concern for our kind!"
listair coughed.
"Perhaps we could discuss this sowhere less public?"
Margaret rolled her eyes but grabbed his arm.
"Fine. But we’re having a proper talk later, young lady!"
They wandered off to terrorize another vendor.
Near the main gates, Raven stood stiffly beside two kitsune guards, notebook in hand.
"And the periter checks?"
"Every hour," one guard said, clearly confused why this human teenager was interrogating them.
"What about magical wards?"
"Three layers, plus the Matriarch’s personal barriers."
"Escape routes?"
"Why would we need—"
"Seventeen pre-designated evacuation points," the other guard interrupted, shooting his partner a look. "All marked with blue banners."
Raven scribbled furiously.
"Good. What about—"
"Raven." lisa touched her shoulder. "They’ve got it covered."
"We don’t know what the Shadow Mages are planning."
"Which is why the entire guard is on alert."
"But—"
"Co on. Let’s get so food. You can interrogate the kitchen staff about poison protocols."
Raven actually considered it for a mont before realizing lisa was joking.
"I’m just trying to be prepared."
"I know. But driving yourself crazy won’t help anyone."
They walked toward the gardens. Raven’s hand twitched toward where her blade usually hung, forgetting they’d been asked to go unard in the palace.
"Isabella and I had sex," Raven said suddenly.
lisa nearly tripped.
"You’ve done that a few tis now, yeah."
"This ti..." Raven trailed off. "It was... adequate."
lisa snorted.
"Adequate?"
"Very adequate."
"High praise coming from you."
Raven sighed.
"She’s surprisingly considerate for soone so..." Raven searched for the word.
"Horny? Slutty? Insatiable?"
"Enthusiastic."
lisa laughed.
"That’s one way to put it."
---
She found Aria in a quiet garden, sitting on a stone bench beneath flowering trees. The queen looked smaller sohow, without her formal robes and crown. Just a young woman in a simple dress, tired from carrying too much weight.
"Mind if I sit?"
Aria shifted to make room.
"How’s the preparation going?"
"Rakia has... opinions. Many, many opinions."
"Seems she usually does." Aria rubbed her temples. "I’ve been fitted for six different outfits. Apparently, none of them properly ’capture my essence.’"
"What’s your essence supposed to be?"
"According to Rakia? ’Regal but approachable, commanding but soft, with undertones of sexual frustration.’"
lisa snorted.
"She said that last part out loud?"
"Very loudly. To my face. While adjusting my chest binding."
They sat in comfortable silence, watching birds hop between branches.
"I’m exhausted," lisa admitted. "And it’s only been a week."
"Try doing this every day for years." Aria’s lips twitched. "Though I suppose you might have to, given how often you’re at the palace now."
"The advisors back ho love that much?"
"They tolerate you. Which, for them, is basically love."
"How touching."
Another stretch of quiet. The garden slled like jasmine and sothing sweeter lisa couldn’t identify.
"It’s been interesting," lisa said. "Seeing different sides of you."
"Oh?"
"I dunno. You’re funnier than I expected. More... human."
"Careful. Can’t have people thinking the queen has feelings."
"Your secret’s safe with ."
Aria turned to look at her properly.
"When this is over, the festival and politics and everything..."
"Yeah?"
"We should spend more ti together. Without the ceremonies and etings and assassination attempts."
"Are you asking on a date, Your Majesty?"
Aria’s cheeks went pink.
"I’m suggesting we could benefit from continued diplomatic relations."
"That’s the least romantic way anyone’s ever—"
"LISA!"
Rakia appeared from nowhere, grabbing lisa’s arm.
"Final rehearsal! Now! We have exactly twenty-seven hours to perfect the third movent!"
"The third movent was fine yesterday!"
"Fine is not TRANSCENDENT!"
She started dragging lisa away. lisa looked back at Aria, who was trying not to smile.
"Diplomatic relations!" lisa called. "We’ll discuss terms later!"
---
The rehearsal space had been transford. Silk banners hung from the ceiling, mirrors lined every wall, and Rakia had sohow acquired a full orchestra to practice with.
"From the top! And rember, you’re not just dancing, you’re telling the story of two peoples becoming one!"
"Through grinding?"
"Through ARTISTIC EXPRESSION that happens to involve grinding!"
They ran through the routine twelve tis. Each ti Rakia found sothing to adjust—a hand placent, a hip angle, the precise arch of lisa’s back during the lift.
"Better! But your sexual energy needs more desperation!"
"How do I make sexual energy desperate?"
"Think about sothing you want but can’t have!"
[Like a full night’s sleep?]
By the ti they finished, the sun was setting. lisa’s legs shook. Her ceremonial outfit was soaked with sweat. Rakia, sohow, still bounced with energy.
"Perfect! Well, adequate. Well, it’ll have to do!"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"You’re going to be magnificent." Rakia grabbed her face with both hands. "The crowd will lose their minds. The Shadow Mages won’t know what hit them. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll prevent a racial war!"
"No pressure."
"Exactly! Now go eat sothing. You need energy for tomorrow."
lisa stumbled toward the door.
"Now go! And no sex tonight! Save that energy for the performance!"
"You literally just told to think about sexual desperation!"
"Exactly! Edge yourself! For art!"
Walking back to her quarters, lisa tried to quiet the anxiety building in her chest. Tomorrow would determine so much. The festival. The city’s future. Maybe even the relationship between nim and kitsune everywhere.
Whatever the Shadow Mages were planning, whatever chaos they intended to unleash, lisa and her friends would face it.
They had to be ready.
[We better be ready.]
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