Chapter 67: Two Queens and the Whims of Love

The two of them were still naked, pressed against one another, lying on the floor of the nest atop what was left of their scattered clothes.

They had first come back to their senses, which had wandered rather too far these past few hours, taking the time to recover from all that pleasure and let their breathing settle.

Then, as they should have done from the start, they began talking about everything and nothing at all, simply and lovingly, Freya curled up in Aria’s arms with her head resting against her bare body, one of the demon’s hands tracing lazy circles across her back.

The hours went by like that, the two of them simply enjoying the conversation and laughing at things of no importance whatsoever.

Freya told her about the slimes, and about how their fate weighed on her more than she cared to admit. About those small lives raised in bulk, counted, fed, then slaughtered. She confessed that she found it genuinely sad, this intensive farming that led nowhere but to death, and that she’d ended up releasing several entire litters into the forest.

Aria heard her out to the end, then comforted her the way only she knew how, reminding her that very few rulers in this world had ever concerned themselves with the happiness of a creature that insignificant, and that it was precisely that sort of detail which set her mistress apart from the rest.

Then it was Aria’s turn to talk about her return, and her own astonishment walking back through the corridors. She described what she’d found on coming home, the new buildings she hadn’t even known existed, the new species swarming through the galleries, the throne in the Heart chamber, the translucent hive fixed to the wall whose light colored the entire room.

"But the best part was the statues," she added, her hand going still against Freya’s back. "There wasn’t a single one when I left, and now there are dozens of them everywhere."

She paused, and her voice dropped a note.

"I couldn’t help stopping in front of every last one of yours, taking in your beauty even in sculpted form~~..."

Freya went red at that.

"What?! Is this an attack?! Are you trying to make my heart give out?!"

They both burst out laughing.

At last, the two women had found each other again. You could even say that in that moment, they had truly found each other for the first time.

The conversation shifted when Aria brought up something that had clearly been weighing on her, her hand stilling against Freya’s back.

"I’d like to be able to keep calling you madam, or mistress, when we’re not alone, Freya."

Freya looked up into her eyes. She found something unusual in them, a held-back hesitation, as though the demon genuinely feared having this last privilege taken from her, one she valued more than reason allowed.

"Of course, Aria. I know it matters to you, after all."

A smile of pure happiness spread across the demon’s lips as Freya granted her request, and her fingers resumed their movement along her back.

Freya went on, however, propping herself up on one elbow.

"That said, I’d like us to change the way we do things together. I know I’m the owner of the dungeon and everything else, but I’d like you to see yourself in it as..."

She seemed to search for the rest, catching Aria’s hand and idly playing with her fingers, folding and unfolding them one by one.

"I’d like it if instead of me being the only one who governs, you did it just as much as I do. That I’d be the queen of the day, and you the queen of the night. That we complement each other, and above all that we dare to contradict each other, without those titles you’re so attached to ever getting in the way of it."

She let a moment pass, looking up to make sure the other was following.

"Because a servant who obeys everything is no use to me. If I make a mistake one day, I want you to be the one to tell me."

Aria opened her mouth to protest, purely by reflex. Freya laid a finger on it before a single sound could come out.

"That’s my only condition, Aria. That our mistress-and-servant arrangement be nothing more than a front."

She removed her finger and smiled.

"And that instead, it becomes a weapon."

The silence lasted a full second. Then the demon instinctively grasped what Freya meant, and you could see the precise moment the idea settled in behind her eyes.

Because nobody would ever be as wary of a servant as they would of a queen.

She started laughing. Not her usual polite laugh, but a low, drawn-out, frankly diabolical one that made her breasts shake beneath Freya’s cheek. And Freya, hearing that laugh, started laughing too, bringing a hand to her mouth without managing to hold it in.

The two women laughed at their little scheme for a few more seconds, until Aria inclined her head slightly, as well as one can bow while lying down and entirely naked.

"It shall all be done as you wish, madam."

Hihi~... Looks like she gets it~

It was then Freya’s turn to bring up an awkward subject, without doubt the most complicated one of all, and it was perhaps for exactly that reason that she started playing with Aria’s fingers again, a little more nervously this time.

Which the demon noticed immediately. She let her mistress hunt for her words a while, watching without saying anything, fully aware of what this was going to be about. Then, as always, Aria rose to the occasion for the woman she loved, and went first.

"I won’t kill her."

Freya’s head snapped up.

"All I’m asking is to be allowed to torture her a little."

She said it in exactly the same even tone she might have used to offer tea.

"I’ll make her more compliant that way, and above all make sure she knows her place. It’ll be far more useful to you like that, besides."

Freya stared at her for two seconds.

Is... is this real?! Did she actually just say that?!

Her eyes began to shine, and she did absolutely nothing to contain the joy rising in her chest. She climbed up along Aria’s body, took her face in both hands, and kissed her first on the cheek.

SMACK—

"I love you, Aria!"

SMACK— on the mouth.

"I love you!"

SMACK— on the nose.

"I love you!"

SMACK— on the other cheek.

"I love you!"

SMACK— on the mouth.

"I love you!"

SMACK— back to the first cheek.

"I love you!"

She kept going like that, unable to stop, under the delighted laughter of the demon, who was half-heartedly trying to shield her face without ever putting the slightest conviction into it. And Freya kept going still, expressing her love with everything she had, in the most adorable way she was capable of.

She did eventually stop, out of breath, forehead against Aria’s. Then, as though nothing had happened, she moved straight on to the question that had been burning on her lips for hours.

"Now you have to tell me about Nymeria! I’m so curious~~!"

She let a beat pass, and her voice dropped a notch.

"And about that woman!"

The tone had stayed cheerful, but something had gone out of it, almost imperceptible because she’d done everything to hide it. Aria caught it regardless, though she didn’t call it out, simply tucking a strand of hair behind her mistress’s ear.

"Let’s get dressed and go join the others. I’ll explain everything to everyone at once, and I’ll be able to introduce that woman to you directly, as you put it."

She stood up first, entirely naked and entirely unbothered by it, and gathered the scattered clothes with a wave of her hand. They floated over to her, then turned slowly in the air as she passed her fingers above them, water and dust evaporating in seconds while the creases smoothed themselves out. And above all, that sweet, clinging smell soaked into every fiber vanished completely, replaced by a perfectly neutral scent of flowers.

Maid’s secret, as usual, I suppose?

Freya dressed in silence, then, just before they stepped through the doorway, caught Aria’s hand to hold her back and looked her in the eyes, unable to leave without saying it one last time.

"I promise, Aria. I won’t do it again. I won’t so much as take another woman in my arms, or anything else."

Aria looked at her a moment, then nodded with a smile, squeezing her hand a little tighter.

"I know, Freya. Because from now on we’re not a mistress and her servant. We’re two lovers, two queens, who can count on each other with their eyes closed."

A smile spread across both their faces, and they left the nest hand in hand, finally returning it to its rightful owners, who came back to reclaim the place with entirely justified caution.

They then made their way through the dungeon corridors, and the trip took considerably longer than expected, because Aria stopped in front of every statue. Every single one, without exception. She would tilt her head, walk around it, comment on the fall of the fabric or the position of the hands, then move on wearing a thoroughly satisfied expression~.

By the sixth, Freya finally grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her along without ceremony, as much out of impatience as out of sheer embarrassment.

"Let’s go!"

"But this one really does flatter your shoulders, mad—"

"LET’S GO!"

They eventually arrived at the door of the lavish bedroom, and Freya stopped dead, hand on the handle. Because behind that door was the entire dungeon, there was the scene she’d made a few hours earlier in front of absolutely everyone, and above all there was that woman.

She slapped both her cheeks to pull herself together.

Freya, you can’t run away! Face the consequences of your actions like a grown woman!

She breathed in hard, once, twice, three times, then opened the door.

Every gaze turned toward her and Aria in a single motion, and the dragonoid woman shot up from her seat. Her eyes were already red, tears running down her cheeks, and she broke into a run straight ahead, breasts bouncing with every stride, arms flung wide open.

So she really was that close to Aria? I wasn’t imagining things after all? Let’s just wait and see, and this time let’s stay calm and dignified—

Except her trajectory didn’t shift by a single inch, and she went right past Aria without so much as a glance at her.

Wait. Wait wait wait, toward ME?!

She had no time to react, enhanced body or not. The woman was already wrapped around her, carrying her backward under the impact, and Freya found herself sitting on the floor in the middle of the entryway, her mind gone completely blank. Then one single thought came back with appalling clarity, that of the promise she’d made to Aria barely a few minutes ago.

What... what do I do?!

She didn’t even dare look to her left, while the woman, half sobbing, tightened her arms around her and shouted, crushing Freya’s face into her breasts in the process.

"LADY FREYAAAAA! I’M SORRY FOR EVERYTHING, FOR ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!"

She squeezed tighter still, which did nothing whatsoever to improve the situation.

"I SWEAR THERE’S NOTHING BETWEEN ARIA AND ME! IF I CAME HERE, IT WAS FOR YOU! SO PLEASE, MARRYYYY MEEEE!"

Every jaw in the room dropped at the same moment, with the sole exception of Aria’s, a collective "huh?" escaping them all despite themselves.

Freya’s dropped as well, which accomplished absolutely nothing given that it was still buried in the dragonoid’s chest, the woman continuing to squirm in every direction, her breasts bouncing against her face with each movement.

And Freya, growing steadily more aware that the newcomer had nothing whatsoever to envy her own summons where madness was concerned, couldn’t help but think.

So I suppose this is the moment to say it again...?

She did try to say it out loud, but her answer was lost entirely in the chest smothering her, emerging only as a completely unintelligible mumble.

"Mhh... bishinesh ash ujuhal..."