Chapter 431 (2/2)
”I did warn you,” Lady Keena said, smiling.
Nakteti closed her eyes and shuddered.
Lady Keena poured herself a drink and took a long pull off of it, smacking her lips appeciatively.
”Whiskey from the Blue Hills Forge Hall,” she said. ”Dwarven make. Tribute to my magnificence.”
Nakteti just nodded. When she looked up she saw the fading bite marks on Lady Keena's neck and breasts and looked back down.
”I don't understand,” Nakteti said.
Lady Keena set her glass down, then speared a piece of meat with the short pointed wooden stick and lifted it to nibble on it, looking at Nakteti intently. Nakteti shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable under such a predatory gaze.
”Are you bred?” Lady Keena asked.
”What? How do you mean? My mother bred with my father,” she started.
Lady Keena laughed. ”No. Are you a virgin, dear?”
Nakteti stared at the floor. ”No. I was pair bonded twice by the Central Population Authority Computer, but never had children.”
”Do your people have breeding cycles?” Keena asked, spearing a piece of cheese. ”Is it instinct, painful, pleasurable, what?”
”What does any of that have to do with anything?” Nakteti asked.
Lady Keena chewed on the piece of cheese for a moment then speared another piece as she swallowed. ”You're not familiar with Terran breeding, are you?”
”No,” Nakteti said.
”You watch the edited movies, where they remove the sex scenes. Standard practice, I know I wouldn't want to see a Treana'ad matron going at it,” Lady Keena laughed. She looked at Nakteti. ”Human impulses are: survive, breed, eat, kill. Breed is pretty high up there, to the point that it can overwhelm other impulses.”
Nakteti nodded. ”Well, yes.”
”Is arousal a feature of your genitals? Does genital stimulation produce arousal?” Lady Keena asked.
Nakteti looked away. ”We cycle.”
Lady Keena smiled again. ”We do for ovulation, but copulation, sexual intercourse, is not dependent upon ovulation for humans.”
”Really? So the two of you weren't just overcome by some breeding impulses in the hallway?” Nakteti said, attempting to put a sarcastic spin on it.
Lady Keena, however, completely missed the sarcasm.
”No. For humans, sex is done for recreation, out of boredom, out of spite, to establish dominance, for love, for affection, to ease another's emotions, hell, even out of punishment or battle fury,” Lady Keena said. She speared another chunk of meat. ”Thank the Gods.”
”But why... why... that?” Nakteti asked.
Lady Keena ran the point of the short thin wooden stick around the edge of the plate. ”I needed something from Curtis. He's been doing this longer than I have and we have a long history together,” she said. She suddenly laughed. ”He's the father of eleven of my children, I am the mother of six of his children.”
”Your poor birthing organs,” Nakteti said softly.
Lady Keena laughed, putting one hand on her scarred belly. ”Oh, I'll admit I'm sore. He's vigorous enough to blow out your back and has a dong large enough to destroy your pussy, but...” her eyes twinkled mischievously. ”it's so much fun doing it.”
”But why? Why the insults? The anger? Calling you names in your own throne room? Why?” Nakteti asked.
Lady Keena chuckled and chewed on a piece of meat, topping off Nakteti's glass then her own.
”Because he and I have played that game for over a century. We both get a thrill out of it. If he came to my throne room any other way, people might be suspicious and start wondering why I wanted to see him,” Lady Keena said. She slapped her belly again. ”Everyone knows I run bare bellied and hot...”
”Bare bellied?” Nakteti asked.
”I don't use birth control of any kind, I don't have any safeguards on my womb, and I don't hold back on my lusts and carnal impulses,” Lady Keena said. Her face suddenly got serious. ”I do not deny what it means to be human, and part of being human is yearning for another's touch and the womanly pleasure of a swollen belly. It is as much a part of being human as caving in someone's face with an axe or sword. It's all blood, thick, rich, red, hot, steaming blood.”
She waved her hand in the vague direction of outside the keep as well as patted her skirt over her crotch. ”Blood makes the grass grow, Matron.”
Nakteti looked at her glass for a long moment. ”But why?”
Lady Keena took a sip off her drink and set the glass down. ”Because Curtis is a former cyberneticist, former Space Force military doctor, before he came here to be Duke Tangeeran, before he donned plate mail to become the Armored Wrath of King Aragantoo.”
Nakteti looked up. It was hard to imagine the large Terran, covered in thick muscle and swirling tattoos that glowed and moved, to be anything more than some barbaric warlord.
”Inviting him as Curtis would be insulting him by ignoring everything he has accomplished here,” Lady Keena said. ”Crafting insults to bring him here to publicly denounce me, then having a private discussion with him, that is acceptable to his honor and pride and reputation. The discussion came after you had fled, but I knew we would have honest discussions.”
Nakteti suddenly understood.
”I will do anything to succor my baby brother. Curtis wants another child, from my womb not a steel womb, and has wanted another one for about five years,” Lady Keena said. She gave a wide smile. ”Now he has something I want. Eventually I would have borne him another child. He's an excellent lover and a stimulating opponent as well as a doting and wise father and patron to his children.”
”You're all crazy,” Nakteti said softly.
Lady Keena laughed. ”Of course we are, dear.”
”We're human.”
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Nakteti watched as Duke Tangeeran stood at one end of the cryopod, his hands on the slightly rounded top. He was stripped to the waist, sweating profusely, his eyes closed. She watched his muscles twitching as a pair of Lady Keena's maids kept wiping his down with soft cloths.
A year ago and I would not have understood what I am seeing, she thought to herself. She knew he was using mental focus to control nanites that were examining Major Carnight's brain and body. The blue nimbus around his hands was to show he was at work, programmed into the nanites rather than being an unavoidable side effect.
After a few more minutes he stepped back, letting the maids wipe him down. He was actually steaming from the heat his body was putting off, the sweat evaporating into the cool air.
Nakteti wanted to start questioning the human male but held off, instead sitting silent on the chair at the side of the room next to Lady Keena's larger chair.
After a moment the Duke sat down on a stool, picking up a mug of thick brown alcohol and taking a long drink off of it. He wiped his brow and sighed, lifting the tankard to rub his forehead with it.
Finally, he looked at Lady Keena and Nakteti.
”Who decided to put him in cryo-stasis instead of just bringing here still active?” Duke Tangeeran asked.
”I did,” Nakteti said, sitting up straight and lifting her chin.
”You saved his life,” the Duke said, slumping again while a maid gently rubbed cloth against the flesh of his back. ”By hours at the most, more than likely by minutes.”
”Can he be helped?” Lady Keena asked, staring at her fingernails, looking remote and uncaring.
”Yes. Not many people could do it, but I can,” the Duke said. ”Without transferring him to a new body or relying on his busted SUDS.”
”What do you need?” Duchess Keena asked.
”Time, magic,” the Duke replied. ”I will need a week, maybe a bit longer.”
”You have a month,” Duchess Keena said. ”A month where you shall toil to succor my baby brother during the day, and serve me between my thighs at night.”
”Trollop,” the Duke growled.
Nakteti was paying close enough attention to see the sparkle in his eyes was humor, not rage.
”Do you want to be a prisoner or a guest?” Duchess Keena asked. ”Last time, you were my prisoner, but I don't want to spend the time defeating your armies or bodyguards.”
”Guest is fine,” the Duke said. He took another drink off his tankard then stared intently. ”How are the children?”
”Fine. They're coming back to see you. They've missed you,” the Duchess said. She tapped the arm of her chair. ”I've commanded all the children to return,” she looked slightly pained. ”Eight of my children were on Terra when the Lanaktallan attacked. I do not know if they have survived.”
”You're their mother, I'm sure they're just fine,” the Duke said. He stood up and rolled his shoulders. ”All right, first thing's first, I need to make sure he doesn't suffer tissue or hardware rejection.”
Nakteti just stayed silent, watching.