Finding Ana

As you make your way to where you think Ana's room is you contemplate if she'll be there. You did depart from the ballroom as she was starting the gangbang on Lashay, she might have fallen asleep in there rather than go back to her room.

"Lord Christopher." An older woman bows to you as you walk past her. She was at the ball last night, near the high table so likely an upper noble.

"My Lady." You say back with your own bow. You are only the son of Lord which means literally every noble woman outranks. You wake past her without any more interaction and go back to thinking about Ana. You only got a little time alone with her yesterday and you doubt you'll get more this morning.

"Lord Christopher." Another noble woman greets you, this one with her husband bowing as well. You greet them back and keep walking. Lord's son aren't usually greeted like this, your etiquette training may have bored you to tears but you enough to know that you shouldn't even be acknowledge by most other nobles.

The trip to Ana's room leads you closer to the front of the palace and where a lot of the nobles are gathering. You aren't sure if they are going home today or not but there seems to be an informal meeting happening. Surprised Aurora isn't here to observe or direct anything.

You keep being greeted while you walk. It only clicks as to why you are being greeted when you hear someone mention you are betrothed to Mary. "I'm not." You correct slowing your walk. "Mary and I are close but we aren't betrothed or engaged." Aside from the whole Ana's plan to hook you up with her twin sister not her older one, wow that is a lot weirder when you actually think about it. You don't partially like how Aurora keeps positioning you without any apparent difficultly and feel obliged to offer some form of push back.

The nobles acknowledge what you said and as you walk away you are only ten percent sure they care for your opinion on the matter and ninety percent care what Aurora says on the matter. Pointless it may be but you do keep mentioning it as you hear people mention you and Mary in the same sentence. You do like Mary but presumed betrothal is taking things a bit far. You've only her for a few weeks, though over the last week you can't say the idea doesn't have a certain attraction. Mary is kinda great to be around. She's fun, cares for you with an effort sort of empathy, challenging in a verbal sparing manner, and she's a lot of fun in bed. However, Ana is ... Ana ...

Didn't even acknowledge your missing arm, or ask about how you are feeling about the missing arm, or about how you are coping generally, when you filled her in her absent week. You're just fixating on that because it's the most recent thing that happened. There is not a doubt in your mind she loves you deeply, and sure she might be a little more on the evil than good side of things compared to Mary but you wouldn't be here without her, or have even a fraction of the happiness you do now with all the other people in your life. Even if Clare would say you did most of the relation building yourself it wouldn't have been possible with Ana bringing you here.

Why are you even thinking about this, you haven't seen her for a week and suddenly you're contemplating life with her sister?

You knock on her door. "Come in." Ana's says from inside.

You walk inside and find her sitting on a lounge with a book in her hand. She looked up at you then down at her book. "Christopher, aren't you and Mary spending today together?"

Maybe the deal with her mother hadn't quiet expired just yet. You take two steps into the room and feel an illusion spread out around it. It's basic, just to make it sound like you are talk politely to anyone outside. "No, is your mother punishing you for last night?"

"I did exactly what she asked, I was the perfect fiancée, I even let Lashay sleep with other women without being jealous." She set her book down on the lounge and looked you up and down. Her eyes lingers on your missing arm for a moment. "How long will it be missing?"

"I'll be teaching Gabrielle how to absorb and return my aura so, week or two hopefully, maybe more if it takes her longer to learn. I don't think that is what your mother had in mind from how angry she was at you."

She patted the space beside her and you sat down. She spun and lay down resting her head on your lap. "I missed you."

"Missed you to." You said back combing your fingers through her hair. You'd been thinking about her negative issues a moment ago but hearing the little noises she made as you combed her hair they faded behind the warm glow you saw in her aura at her touch. "How was the week away?"

"I've gotten more from all but the Duchesses, Asune and Vatarie will be invaluable when they take their mother's titles and I've more plenty of time to cultivate more ." She reached her hands up and stroked your cheeks affectionately. "Edin might need a bit of rest before you fuck him." You wondered if that translated as Blue confessed and they spent the week in bed. "He's a lot more popular with the noble ladies than I thought. Probably why Lashay's mother had him use the illusions he did. How was the meeting between the two of you?"

You feel like she might have skipped over the Edin part since that sounded less like he and Blue having mutual lovemaking week and more her pimping him out for noble . "Yeah he's, nice, a bit timid, loves painting and reading." You think about how'd been treating him and your fingers slow their combing.

"Oh it worked on you." She smirked up at you. "He's lying, maybe not about everything but about who he is." Your eyebrow rose in question.

You feel like you weren't having the same conversation. "What?"

"He's the son of Duchess and related to the royals of a different kingdom. I'm the only chance his family has of achieving a royal title in the future. And you are known as the biggest threat to our marriage and Edin is the only other man I allow around me. His goal over the week wasn't just to be seen at my side it was to try and convince you to not meddle in our engagement when he met you. Surprised he didn't try and fuck you already, it would probably have worked better for him to act like the marriage was a way to get closer to you without publicly itting to taking a Lords cock every night. Even if his mother wants the marriage to work the damage of having a son debase himself like that publicly would be a bit much." She squeezed her legs together and you saw arousal colouring her aura, probably as much as it was colouring her view of the situation.

"That doesn't ..." You trailed off and thought about last night and all your interactions with Lashay. There had been a certain familiarity to how he'd acted that reminded you of Edin, and not just the appearance.

"Son of a Duchess , you might not have been taught this becasue you are you, but sexual manipulation is something every noble boy is taught." She pulled her hand away from your face and little flashes of light happened around her finger. "Girls might have the magic. But boy have their bodies." Her hand stopped the sparkles and rubbed your chest.

"I," you were thinking about it now, "so he didn't really mean what he'd said, about the painting and," you recalled the moments he'd implied it wasn't Ana that held his interest, a lot more overt in your memory right now than it had been before she's started talking.

"Don't worry." Ana's smile at your presence became more predatory. "After last night I should have plenty of ways to decline the marriage but with a bit of hope that I won't I bet he'll happily let you put some lovely white on that dark skin. Before sending him back to his mother anyway." Her hand reached under her head and squeezed your cock. "Or maybe he could stay, Edin and Blue could do with another toy to play with for us." She leaned up and kissed you.

When the kiss broke you seriously thought about her for a moment. You could get indignant on Lashay's behalf but you do believe her. She might be being a lot more malicious than is close to necessary but politics like this is very much her world. However, "You could be nicer to him."

"You sound like my mother. How was the week with my sister? Accepting the marriage yet?"

"It was, good, I like spending time with her. And no, even corrected some nobles we aren't betrothed on the way here."

"Good to see my mother's plans haven't worked on either front." You rose your other eyebrow, the first one hadn't gone down as inquisitional perking had turned into a revelational perking as she'd spoken and it had simply refused to lower. Ana sighed. "You so luck you are handsome, and sexy, and fun, and fucking amazing in bed, and," she leaned her head against your cock, pushing her cheek against it, "ridiculously good with this." She sighed and stopped pressing herself against your growing erection. "I didn't get sent away so I couldn't talk to the ambassador, she was only supposed to be here for a few days not a week. I was sent away so you and Mary could get some alone time. Mum probably told her to be on her best behaviour. Bet she even scolded her in front of you for something." She watched your face then laughed. "Knew it."

"Wait so this whole time it had been about me and Mary getting some time ..." you trailed off, again thinking about the whole week and how much you'd loved being around Mary. You didn't even much time with any of the other of your Hanun becasue well Mary was either there or you had some reason to be around her. "Son of a bitch." You said it in your original language, like not from this world language, that is how surprised you are by this.

"What?" Ana asked. "What language is that?"

"Never mind. Do you think Mary was ..." you saw Ana raised eyebrow. "Right of course she was." You think about things closer. Ana waited for you patiently, she even picked her book back up to resume reading. "I don't mind." It kinda sucked that Aurora had put you together but there were two things that mattered more. You liked spending time with Mary and she'd helped with you missing arm a lot, something you doubt would have gotten from anyone else. Having someone around who'd seen others wounded and losing limbs in battle gave her a way to help you no one else did. Plus you know she wasn't acting differently from her normal self to make you like her more, she would not have a penitence for that. "Though I think I agreed to go on her campaign against the pirates whenever that happens."

"Oh is mum doing something about that finally?" Ana asked lowering her book. "About time, the local merchants are starting to get angry about their profits dipping." You didn't have time to raise your eyebrow this time. "The local merchant buy the goods then have them shipped over, they don't buy when the good arrive."

Oh right that makes sense. "Isn't there insurance?" Ana blinks at you. "They pay someone a set amount before the journey starts and if the ship is sunk or good damaged they receive however much of their money back. If the ship arrives without issue the insurer keeps the money."

"Oh that," Ana waved her hand. "That is what Cynthia's mother is managing, how do think Cynthia was able to buy into the academy, or how her mother was able to become the head of the merchants guild. Though the pirates are cutting into her profits rather seriously." Ana sat up. "Is that why mum is dragging her feet, trying to undercut my by showing that she has the power to return the profits and all I have a possible future promises."

You were about to say it was becasue they were avoiding the food crops being replaced with luxury crops but it is probably both. "I don't think I'll ever get you people." You said pushing her head back on to her your lap and combing her hair.

"You don't need to." Ana said reaching a hand under her head and stroking your through your pants. "You just need to look pretty and put this in my sisters for me." She smirked up at you.

"Oh right, Aurora and Lady Demise walked in on me Mary and Green post sex and demanded I give Mary a creampie in two minutes so she wouldn't get any angrier last night. Mary rode me until I came inside while Green sucked my balls and I came inside Mary then we all ran away." You watch Ana as her brain short circuited at the scene you just painted. She'd done the same to you repeatedly over this conversation so seeing it happen to her made you feel better. "That's what it feels like." You said leaning down and kissing her. "Love you Harea."

Ana blinked and coughed as her cheeks turned very red. "You know Lady Demise is outside the door don't you?"

You blinked at Ana then looked up at the door and stretched your perception outside it, indeed there was a Lady Demise outside your room, an amused Lady Demise at that. You sigh. "Yeah that seems right."

Ana laughed and lifted her book up to you. "She's just there to make sure we don't have sex. Read to me my Harea." You took the book and she smiled happily as you started reading to her. You feel a bit of disappointment outside the door, fifty fifty if it's at not catching you having sex with Ana for fun or not catching you for Aurora.