Herald of Steel

"....."

As the group waited for Alexander's verdict, his own eyes drifted between the two parties, before finally landing on the third piece- the box containing the proposed jewelry.

It did not take a brilliant man to find it suspicious that Cambyses would have such a specific ornament so conveniently with her. Not only were these items custom made but also, only the most trusted goldsmiths were even allowed to make them.

And these men worked solely for the nobles and were known to keep their mouths shut about whatever 'adult' toys their masters ordered.

Because whatever you might want to say about the Adhanian nobles and whatever they did in their homes, one thing was certain- they were very careful about public image and never aired their dirty laundry.

Hence for Cambyses to have such a precious item without Alexander's knowledge….

Read new adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

The man chose to openly ask his wife regarding this, to which Cambyses frankly admitted with a shrug,

"I was already planning to ask you to put this on the lady when you met her next month. We have done so much… this is the least she can do to show us her loyalty!"

Really, Cambyses wanted to just put some kind of mark on Lady Parthia, as a mark of her conquest. She thought the victory over Tibias was not complete without it.

And it was something she even defended, lightly clenching her fist to posit,

"So what if I want to? What is wrong with this? Most defeated queens either commit suicide or are put in chains and raped. Yet we are treating her like a queen. *Snort*, and what did we get for that? Not only is she disobedient, she is even disloyal! Why else would she continue to keep something her lord does not like?"

"..." Lady Parthia's fine eyebrows instantly darkened at the accusation, an aura of thunderclouds rippling across her body.

She could of course retort.

However, she chose to restrain herself for now, waiting to hear what the man she was sitting on had to say.

And much to her glee, Alexander did not disappoint, as speaking out aloud, he firmly declared,

"It is only me- the Pasha of Zanzan, who can declare who is loyal and disloyal here. Not you Lady Cambyses. Not yet! I can say without any scruples that Lady Parthia's conduct till now has been entirely without reproach!"

"..." Cambyses's darkened face instantly dropped to an all time low at her husband's words, while the unreasonable anger she felt towards Lady Parthia appeared to smolder and blaze even faster.

However at the end of the day, she did not dare argue.

Because she knew that although Alexander gave her a wide leash and let her have a lot of freedom that other women did not even dare possess, there were still some limitations.

When all was said and done, Alexander was the man of the house.

Whatever he said went.

Of course, he rarely used his power as he always preferred to be diplomatic. But when diplomacy failed….

Cambyses clearly sensed Alexander would not allow her to make unfounded accusations about the Tibian queen.

And sensing the same on the other side, the victorious Lady Parthia almost gloated at the 'ruling', even finding it a bit strange that Alexander's trust would mean so much to her. It made her so happy.

Fortunately, being much more mature than Cambyses, the Tibian queen quickly hid her euphoria and instead of kicking her opponent when she was down, let out a few gentle pleasantries, brushing the whole incident aside as nothing more than a heated exchange of ideas and even offering some words of comfort to the losing side.

"... think nothing of it my lady. I am sure you were just trying to please Lord Alexander."

But somehow, even though Lady Parthia sounded magnanimous, the sanctimonious, holier than thou attitude stung Cambyses perhaps even more. It felt like Lady Parthia was flaunting her aristocracy, acting so kind because her privileged upbringing demanded so.

However as she was currently facing her husband, Cambyses could only grit her teeth and take it, no matter her true thoughts.

Seeing this Lady Parthia believed she had firmly won.

So she was just about to celebrate by taking Alexander inside her, claiming him right in front of his wife as a way to show off, when suddenly, she heard the man chime from the back,

"However Your Highness, I do not understand, just what are you so reluctant about? Why do you not want to wear those rings? I have allowed you to keep your hair as a show of respect for your man, yet, why do you deny mine? You can keep both can't you?"

"...." Lady Parthia's heart skipped a beat at the ask.

Because she suddenly found she no longer had a strong voice to rebut Alexander! She had already used that capital to clear her name and win against Cambyses.

Thus she could simply claim she was loyal to Alexander and did not need the 'mark'.

'Was this their plan? No, impossible!' She thought darkly about the possibility of a trap, suddenly feeling her hands and feet grow cold.

And then to make matters worse, Lady Nanazin, her ally of all people decided to go against her, chiming in with a cruel smirk on her lips,

"That's right my lady! Alexander is a man chosen by the gods. There is no woman in the lands who does not wish to be graced by him! So why do you deny it? As one of his priestesses, you should be ecstatic! It is a boon straight from the son of god Herself!"

"No! I…. that…"

Being unexpectedly attacked from this theological angle, Lady Parthia suffered grievous damage to her nerves, losing command over her words in a way she did not think even was possible.

It was a reaction that even surprised Alexander because, in his eyes, this was not really that powerful of an attack.

Lady Parthia could have frankly said that her priestesshood was a result of a treaty rather than actual belief. Or that even though she believed in the Great Mother, that did not mean she was Alexander's slave.

Or simply, this and that was fundamentally different. Her faith was religious, while this was sexual. So Lady Nanazin was really comparing apples to oranges.

Any of this, and Alexander would have understood.

However, the reason behind Lady Parthia's intense reaction had mostly to do with the conclusions she came about Alexander today.

The lady would never reveal it, but the real reason why Lady Parthia agreed to today's shameful bullying was due to wanting to please Alexander- the son of a god.

Being generally quite religious herself, the thought of being able to mate with the descendant of a divine being proved an irresistible allure for her.

Of course, it was something she could never actually admit.

Thus the excuse she gave Cambyses- a convenient screen to justify her actions.

But when Lady Nanazin laid it out like that… Lady Parthia did not even have the time to blame Lady Nanazin over her 'betrayal'.

"No! How can I be loyal to two men? That is impossible!" Ultimately though, Lady Parthia managed to bring her voice back and with it her shame and rationality.

Thus shouting the decision, she solemnly declared, "I belong to my husband. How can I wear such rings? How will I ever explain myself to him?"

It seemed Lady Parthia still very clearly held hope over her man waking up and hence, the consequence of wearing the piercings appeared too nightmarish for her to even contemplate.

Alexander could very clearly feel the lady was not going to agree.

'Should I offer her some land and title,' Thus the man even wondered, and yet, 'No, I don't think she is going to agree no matter what.'

After interacting with her so many times, Alexander learned to generally understand the lady's mood.

She was adamant about this.

"Ahhh! If that is what you are worried about, then rest assured, my lady, you can take these piercings off any time you want!" Which was when Gelene of all people decided to come to his 'rescue'.

Stepping up with a crisp step as the whole room turned to her, the black lady quickly took off her simple gown and then white bra to reveal her own large pair of breasts as well as the golden nipple rings adorning it.

After which,

"See! You can just press the needle here and it opens up! Then you just slide it across." She quickly demonstrated how to take one off, as well as how to also put it back on, "And then you do the same thing in reverse. See!"

Restoring the hoop shapes rings in their place, the ebony lady turned to give the amazed Lady Parthia a flashy grin, and even further commented about her experience,

"Admittedly it is a bit harder to do with young or small nipples, their holes tend to be too small and so close up if you do not wear them regularly."

"But that should not be a problem with you my lady. They are mature and are about the same size as mine. You can take them off and on as you wish!"

"Yes, yes, these are just like earrings!"

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

Please come Here!

=>Link to the original /book/herald-of-steel_24388579605084705